Micro-Fiction — Guarantee Mold 微小说——《保霉》
Chongzi was the first great‑grandson of his great‑grandparents. The old folks couldn‘t quite say “great‑grandson,” so they shortened it to “Dazhong,” and the whole family called him that. Outsiders called him Chongzi — little bug — and he didn’t mind. His mother was the village barefoot doctor. Her specialty was IV drips — headache, drip; fever, drip; even a scraped finger, she‘d hook you up to two bottles. Erxiang was frail, always at her clinic for a drip. The two families got close.
Chongzi was sharp and didn’t need to study hard. In primary school, he spent his days shooting marbles, even betting a few cents here and there, using his winnings to buy popsicles. In middle school, he played cards with friends, but the school was strict, the homework was heavy, and his parents kept a close eye on him, so he never went off the rails. He still got into the best high school in the county, and later went to the local institute of technology. He had the brains, but his ego grew. Somehow, he picked up gambling, and the deeper he went, the worse it got.
That Spring Festival, Guozi came home from Jiangnan. He had just bought an apartment there, paid for renovations, thrown a housewarming party, and was short on cash. So he gave Erxiang and his wife less money than usual. Erxiang‘s wife didn’t say anything, but her face showed it. No sooner had Guozi left than the couple started grumbling: “Waste of a son.”
Chongzi somehow got wind of it. Two days later, he showed up with a thousand yuan.
“Uncle Erxiang, I heard Guozi is tight this year. Take this, buy yourself something nice.”
Erxiang hesitated, pushed back twice, but Chongzi insisted. Erxiang‘s wife tucked the ten hundred‑yuan bills into her pocket and showed them to everyone she met: “Look how thoughtful Chongzi is — a hundred times better than my own two sons!” During those months when Guozi was buying and renovating his apartment in Jiangnan, the old couple never once went to see it, never even made a phone call.
Not long after, Chongzi came again. This time, he wanted a loan — no, a guarantee.
“Uncle, I’ve got a business opportunity, just short of some capital. Be my guarantor at the credit office. Just a signature, costs you nothing.”
Erxiang hesitated. But Chongzi‘s thousand yuan was still in his pocket. Take a man’s money, and you‘re in his debt. Besides, Chongzi was always so clever and likable — could he really be tricked? Erxiang murmured, “It’s risky,” but his hand moved on its own, pressing a fingerprint on the guarantee. Tens of thousands of yuan were lent out, and Chongzi took the money.
The money never came back. Chongzi stopped mentioning the business. When Erxiang asked, Chongzi said he‘d lost it — wait a bit.
What came were debt collectors. Chongzi had gambled it all away and owed a mountain. Word was, on a freezing winter day, they stripped him naked and hosed him down with tap water until his whole body turned purple.
Erxiang panicked. The credit office didn’t chase Chongzi — they chased him, the guarantor. He scraped together money here, paid interest there, rolled over loans. In the end, he threw away nearly ten thousand yuan and still hadn‘t closed the hole.
Guozi got a call in Jiangnan. It was the credit office, telling him to repay his father’s debt. Guozi said, “Who borrowed, go find who borrowed.” He hung up, his hands shaking for a long time.
The year San Tuzi‘s eldest son got married, Guozi came back to help. He drove nearly a thousand kilometers round trip to pick up and drop off the wedding party. After getting back, he had just sat down at San Tuzi’s house and hadn‘t even taken a sip of water when the credit office collector showed up. The man walked right in, pointed at Guozi in front of everyone, and said, “A father’s debt is the son‘s debt. Your father guaranteed the loan — you pay it back!” Guozi’s teacup crashed onto the table, splashing tea all over his face. He couldn‘t squeeze out a single word. He put down the cup and walked out.
In the end, a few of Chongzi’s uncles couldn‘t stand it anymore. They pooled money, split it with Erxiang’s family, and paid off the rotten debt.
And Chongzi? Gone. They said he went south, never came back.
From then on, Erxiang never guaranteed anyone again. When someone mentioned Chongzi, he waved his hand: “Don‘t mention it. Don’t mention it.”
Erxiang crouched at the doorstep, smoking half the night. He thought of his own father, Lao Qian. Back then, Lao Qian had played matchmaker and ended up making enemies of two families, regretting it until his dying day. The old saying that Lao Qian always repeated came back to Erxiang: “Don‘t be a go‑between, don’t be a guarantor, don‘t be a matchmaker — three generations suffer.” Erxiang hadn’t believed it then. Now he did. But what good was believing now?
虫子是他曾祖父母第一个重孙子，老人家不会叫“重孙子”，就简成“大重”，家里人都这么喊。外人叫他虫子，他也不恼。他妈是村里的赤脚医生，最拿手的是挂水——头疼挂水，发烧挂水，连手指头破个皮，她都能给人挂上两瓶。二祥身子骨弱，三天两头去她那儿挂水，一来二去，两家就熟了。
虫子打小聪明，读书不费劲。小学时天天打玻璃球，还赌几分几毛钱，赢了就买冰棍。上了中学，跟人打牌，好在那时候学校管得严，学业也紧，他大他妈盯得也紧，没让他太出格。后来照样考上县里最好的高中，又上了本地工学院。脑子好使，可心气也高了。不知什么时候沾上了赌，越陷越深。
那年春节，郭子从江南回来，刚在那边买了房，又装修又办酒，手头紧，给二祥两口子的钱就少了些。二祥嫂嘴上不说，脸上挂不住。郭子前脚走，二祥两口子就在家发牢骚：“白养了，白养了。”
虫子不知怎么听说了这事，过了两天，揣着一千块钱上了门。
“二祥叔，听说郭子哥今年紧巴，这点钱您拿着，买点好吃的。”
二祥愣了一下，推了两回，虫子硬塞下。二祥嫂把那十张票子揣进怀里，见人就掏出来给人看：“你看虫子多懂事，比我那两个亲儿子强百倍！”郭子在江南买房装修那大半年，老两口从没去看过一眼，连电话都没打一个。
过了没多久，虫子又来了。这回是借钱。不，是让二祥担保。
“叔，我看上个生意，缺点本钱，您帮我在信贷点担个保，就签个字的事，不损失您什么。”
二祥心里打鼓。可虫子那一千块钱还在兜里，拿了人家的手短，话也说不出口。再说，虫子平日里机灵讨喜，能骗自己？他嘴上说着“风险大”，手却不由自主地在担保书上按下了手印。几万块钱贷出来，虫子拿走了。
钱没回来。生意的事，虫子再也不提。二祥去问，虫子说亏了，再等等。
等来的是一群要债的。虫子输光了，还欠了一屁股。听说大冬天被人扒了衣服，拿自来水管子往身上滋，冻得浑身发紫。
二祥这才慌了。信贷点的人不找虫子，找他。他是担保人，钱得他还。二祥东拼西凑，今天还利息，明天转贷款，前前后后搭进去近万把块，窟窿还没填上。
郭子在江南接到电话，那头说是信贷点的，让他替大还钱。郭子说：“谁借的你找谁。”挂了电话，手抖了半天。
三秃子家大儿子结婚那年，郭子回来帮忙，来回跑了近千公里接送新人。送完回来，刚在三秃子家坐下，水还没喝一口，信贷点的人就追来了。那人进了门，当着满屋子人的面，指着郭子说：“父债子还，你大担保的钱，你来还！”郭子端着的茶杯哐当一声砸在桌上，茶水溅了一脸，愣是没挤出一句话。他把杯子放下，起身走了。
后来还是虫子几个叔叔看不过去，凑了钱，和二祥家平摊，才把这笔烂账还清。
虫子呢？人不见了。听说去了南方，再没回来。
二祥从此不敢给人担保。有人提起虫子，他就摆手：“别提了，别提了。”
二祥蹲在门口抽了半宿烟。他想起自家大大老黔，当年给人做媒，落得两家结仇，临死都在后悔。老黔常挂在嘴边的那句话又响起来：“不做中，不做保，不做媒人三代好。”二祥当时不信，现在信了。可信了，又有什么用？
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Suzhou Victory Textile Co., Ltd. （苏州维特瑞纺织有限公司）is located in Changshu city(belongs to Suzhou District) Jiangsu,China. 80 Kilometers away from Shanghai Port.
Our team has been working in textile over 18 years.Our mainly products are Tie dyed Fabric,Velour/Velvet,Quilt Fabric,Jacquard Fabric,Single Jersey, Pique,Rib Fabric,Bird Eyes/Mesh Fabric, Interlock, French Terry/Fleece, Polar Fleece, Coral Fleece, Flannel Fleece, PV Plush, Sherpa Fleece,Coarse Needle Fabric etc Fabrics.
Compositions include Polyester,Cotton,Spandex/Lycra,Nylon/Polyamide,Rayon/Viscose,Modal/Tencel,Bamboo,Arcylic,Soybean,Wool,Flax/Linen,etc.
Functional Fabric:Sportswear Fabric(Coolmax,Coolpass,Coolplus,X-dry,Cooldry,Feelcool Ice,Topcool,Sorona,Supplex etc.),Waterproof,Fireproof(Aramid,Polyimide),Heat(Thermolite),Antibiosis(Sanitized),Uvioresistant,Radiation-proof,Recycle,BCI,Organic,Pima/Supima etc Fabrics.
We also have invested a home textiles & garments factory where we move our fabrics to sew many kinds of Garments, blankets etc.
Our marketing team and QC department are checking all the day in every process and keep close contact with customers to make sure customer knows every stage of the production. All the fabrics and blankets are inspected by our QC before packaging and shipping. Also we can provide some certifications Such as Oeko-Tex standard 100, SGS, Intertek etc.
We have production capability 5000 tons of various type of fabrics annually.Our products are mainly transported to China, southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe and America etc.
Welcome to our company. We will highly appreciate any inquiry and question from you and respond asap.We believe you will enjoy one-stop service from us if you work together with us.