Chapter 14 The Turn of Events
"Mom, this is not a job for humans. Are you willing to let your own son suffer here? I don't want to. From now on, I will farm well at home."
Gu Dashu rejected Tong Huaqiong's proposal without hesitation.
"You also know that this is not a job for humans, so how can you feel at ease watching your elder brother carrying sandbags here for several years?" Tong Huaqiong snorted coldly.
Gu Dashu pursed his lips and said nothing.
Liu Yue'e curled her lips and felt indignant for her man.
A stepson and a biological son, can they be the same?
My mother-in-law seems to be possessed by the Virgin Mary these days. She is extremely nice to the old lady.
Even if the Bodhisattva came to her in a dream to atone for the sins committed by the eldest wife, she couldn't just throw the good things at the first wife. According to her, being able to be acceptable to the first wife was already a great achievement for a stepmother.
Anyway, they are not my biological children.
Tong Huaqiong didn't care what Liu Yue'e thought. She used the remaining copper coins from selling steamed buns and the change she had saved to buy a roast chicken and two pounds of pastries. She put the cakes in her arms under the greedy eyes of her fat daughter and grandson, saying that they were for Man'er's health and no one else should think about them.
Qinghe Bay, where the Gu family lives, is twenty miles away from Pingchuan County, which is not far for the Gu family who are used to walking.
It would cost about five hundred coins to hire a carriage to Qinghe Bay. Tong Huaqiong was reluctant to spend the money because her family was not only poor but also owed the Zheng family fifty taels of silver.
Thinking of the fifty taels of silver, Tong Huaqiong felt a little worried.
She said she would pay it back in a month, but that was just a delaying tactic.
Where does she get the money in a month?
Tong Huaqiong took Gu Dashu all the way towards Qinghe Bay. She felt that it was a good thing that Tong Dashu did not bind her feet, otherwise, on the dirt roads of that era, she would not be able to reach home after walking for half a day.
Halfway through the journey, he was caught up by a carriage.
Zheng family's housekeeper He jumped off the carriage and blocked the way of Tong Huaqiong and his group.
He was humiliated after being scolded by his master, and he had to get back at the Gu family.
He originally planned to go to Qinghe Bay to ask for the remaining fifty taels of silver, but he didn't expect to meet him on the road.
That’s perfect, it saves him from having to make an extra trip.
"Give me the remaining fifty taels of silver." Butler He asked for silver as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Didn't we agree that it would be delivered to your door in a month?" Tong Huaqiong said calmly.
Housekeeper He wanted to take advantage of the night to block the people, and she and the three evil bamboos behind her were not easy to bully.
Sure enough, Gu Dashu stopped in front of Tong Huaqiong and said in a deep voice: "It's not even a month yet, butler He is afraid that we can't make it yet? He blocked us on the official road in broad daylight."
To be honest, Gu Dashu had no idea what the amount was, as it was fifty taels, but he had to keep his composure to support his mother.
"That's right, it's not even a month yet, why are you in such a hurry, Butler He?" Gu Taohua stomped her feet and stood in front of Butler He like a mountain.
Butler He was shocked as he watched the sky getting darker and darker.
He had seen the widow Tong's ability to throw a tantrum today, as well as her son's eyes that could poke a bloody hole in someone's face, and the fat girl who was like a mountain bear and could slap anyone away. Butler He secretly complained that he was so busy collecting debts that he forgot to bring his servants.
He was afraid that Widow Tong would get angry, so he dug a hole on the spot and had the two villains bury him.
It's his bad luck to face this family alone!
"Our master said that one month is too long and we should return it in five days," said Butler He.
Gu Dashu was furious after hearing this. Five days? How could the Gu family come up with fifty taels of silver in five days?
Tong Huaqiong was silent for a while, then gritted her teeth and nodded: "Five days is five days."
"What if you can't pay it back after five days?" Butler He asked sinisterly.
"At worst, I can endure the hardship and bring good luck to your eldest son." Tong Huaqiong said.
Butler He was half choked to death.
"If you can't pay it back, you, a fat girl, will have to come to the Zheng family and be a maid." Butler He pointed at Gu Taohua.
You are not fit to be the eldest lady of the Zheng family. Just be a maid.
"Who are you referring to? Even if they send eight bearers to carry me in a sedan chair, I will not go to the Zheng family." Gu Taohua brushed off Butler He's hand with just a light flick, but her hand was so strong that it almost broke Butler He's fingers.
"My daughter is no good. She is lazy and greedy." Tong Huaqiong pointed at Yaozu on Liu Yue'e's back and said, "If you can't pay it back, I will send my eldest grandson to the Zheng family as a servant."
"mother!"
The turn of events was unexpected.
Gu Dashu and Liu Yue'e were horrified.
How can this work!
This is the only incense among the grandchildren of the old Gu family.
"That's fine."
Butler He agreed readily.
Compared to the fat girl who could crush people to death, his eldest grandson satisfied him more.
In order to prevent Tong Huaqiong from defaulting on the debt, Butler He was well prepared. He took out a pen and ink from his pocket and quickly wrote a contract.
Tong Huaqiong signed the contract without changing her expression.
Liu Yue'e was about to cry. Her mother-in-law was so cruel!
She treated her son like a cabbage and abandoned him at will.
"You don't have to send it in person. I will go to Qinghe Bay to get the silver in five days. If you can't collect fifty taels, your grandson will be mine."
Butler He pinched Gu Yaozu's strong arm and said, "It's very good. He is a good worker."
Butler He was not afraid that Tong Huaqiong would go back on her word. With the contract in hand, he also knew which direction the Gu family's gate faced, so he couldn't run away anyway.
If this widow behaves like she did today in front of the master and his wife again, he would dare to cut off the Gu family's youngest son's education.
Gu Yaozu was so scared that he lay on Liu Yue'e's back and trembled. All he could think about was that his grandmother wanted to sell him, just like she had wanted to sell his sister Man'er before.
After Butler He's carriage left, Gu Yaozu burst into tears.
"Mom, are you really going to send Yaozu to the Zheng family as a servant?" Gu Dashu asked in surprise and doubt.
"Didn't my second brother always say that you and my second sister-in-law would have plenty of sons in the future? Why are you still reluctant to bring honor to the family?" Gu Taohua rolled her eyes.
Gu Taohua, she is the little bully at home, she will step on anyone she catches, even her own brother is no exception.
Gu Dashu was speechless for a moment.
That was true. He believed that he and Liu Yue'e could have many sons, but Yaozu was going to be a servant, not the master of the Zheng family like Man'er had been.
What future can a servant have if he is a slave?
"Mom, this is your eldest grandson. How could you bear to do this?" Liu Yue'e burst into tears.
"Why should I be reluctant? I will have plenty of grandchildren in the future."
Tong Huaqiong looked at Gu Dashu and his wife coldly. Now it was her son's turn to feel distressed, right? At the beginning, these two didn't care about Man'er's life or death, and Liu Yue'e didn't understand Chen Sufen's feelings as a mother.
Now they need to feel some pain and understand the situation that Chen Sufen and her daughter experienced at that time.
Liu Yue'e hugged Yaozu and cried.
He began to blame Gu Jingzhe in his heart. If he hadn't sacrificed himself for the Zheng family in order to study, so many troubles would not have occurred.
It would be easy if Wanliu Academy was willing to return the fifty taels of silver, but from what Gu Jingzhe said that day, it would be difficult to get Wanliu Academy to return the money.
In her opinion, Gu Jingzhe should be used to pay off the fifty taels of silver.
"Why are you crying? We still have five days to collect the money," said Tong Huaqiong.
"Can we collect the silver in five days? That's fifty taels." Gu Dashu had no confidence at all.
Even if we sell the entire Gu family, including the people and their land, we probably still won’t be able to raise enough money.
"If not, then give me a solution."
"If you want Yaozu to stay at home."
……
Tong Huaqiong, Gu Dashu and others walked until dark before returning home. Their good mood due to the successful cancellation of the engagement and the success of selling steamed buns was turned into a gloomy mood by the fifty taels of silver.
"Mom, I'm back."
Chen Sufen came out to greet them.
"I'm back. I brought you and Man'er some buns and pastries."
Tong Huaqiong saw Maner behind Chen Sufen and handed over the buns and pastries.
Chen Sufen and Maner were flattered.
"Thank you, grandma." Maner thanked her obediently and took the initiative to hand Tong Huaqiong a handkerchief and tea.
"Then the Zheng family... didn't make things difficult for mother, right?" Seeing Gu Dashu's ugly face and Liu Yue'e's crying eyes, Chen Sufen didn't know what happened and asked with a nervous look on her face.
"No, sister-in-law, let me tell you that mom was amazing today..."
Gu Taohua vividly recounted Tong Huaqiong's heroic deeds in the Zheng family.
Chen Sufen's eyes turned red after hearing this. Her mother-in-law had really changed and was even willing to sacrifice her own reputation to force the Zheng family to cancel the engagement.
No matter how harsh her mother-in-law was to her in the past, just because she had protected Maner these days, she had to forgive her mother-in-law for all the bad things she had done to her in the past.
"Mom, you've been tired all day, let's eat quickly."
Chen Sufen then arranged to serve food to Tong Huaqiong.
These days she found that her mother-in-law's temperament and taste had changed. She didn't like eating millet and corn, but liked eating noodles. So she made white noodles for her mother-in-law and cracked two eggs.
"I'm exhausted from pulling weeds all day, sister-in-law, hurry up and serve me some food."
"Sister-in-law, please wash these clothes for me tonight. I need to wear them tomorrow."
Tong Huaqiong's eyes turned cold. The tone of a boss who ordered his sister-in-law like a servant showed that it was the genius boy Gu Jingzhe.