Gu'er glanced at Uncle Shitou. 'He's a sharp one,' she thought. Grandma Sun's goal was to force Cao Qiu to write a formal agreement. With a written document and so many witnesses, she wouldn't have to worry about Cao Qiu going back on her word.
If Cao Qiu had kept up her act a little longer, Grandma Sun would have been the one to suggest the agreement. But now that someone else had brought it up, it was even better.
Cao Qiu froze. A written agreement?
The villagers didn't have the concept of lawsuits. They didn't even know that caring for the elderly was a legal obligation. They had no idea if this agreement would be legally binding. All they knew was that a written agreement was a guarantee. It was like in the old days working for landlords or borrowing things—you always had to write an IOU and press your thumbprint on it. If you didn't do what it said, the landlord could send people to deal with you, or even seize your children and sell them to settle the debt.
