The village chief tugged on Aunt Liu. "Do we really have to borrow the money? Why don't we just try to get household registration papers? Maybe we can bluff our way through."
Aunt Liu flung his hand away. "You tightwad! Is this really the time to be worrying about money?"
"If they find out, our whole family will be beaten with planks, and after a beating like that, we'll be completely laid up. Just look at all these people around us. When that happens, do you think we'll be able to protect our family's food supplies?"
"Not only will our silver and food supplies be stolen, but our grandchildren might even get snatched up and sold! And us? We'll either starve to death or die from our injuries!"
The grim scene Aunt Liu described flashed through the village chief's mind, and he nodded in resignation. "Fine, let's borrow the money. Sigh... fleeing this famine has wiped out everything we had. If I had known, we never would have left home."
Aunt Liu glared at him. "Not left?"
