Chapter 414 Bracelet Incident
"Why didn't you invite monks to chant sutras for the deceased?"
Mr. Gu walked in, took a look around and began to express his dissatisfaction.
Gu Jingzhe said, "Grandpa, we can only invite monks on the fifth anniversary of his death."
This is the custom of Yanguan Town. It is impossible that Mr. Gu is unaware of it. He is just deliberately making trouble.
"Grandpa has lived in the south for a long time, so he must want to follow the southern customs. It's my fault for not communicating with him in advance."
Seeing that Mr. Gu was dismayed, Gu Jingzhe took the blame on himself to give him a way out.
"Grandpa, the time has come. We should go to the ancestral temple to burn incense." Gu Jingzhe said.
Old Man Gu didn't make things difficult for Gu Jingzhe and stood up.
Old Man Gu stood up, and the other men in the clan also stood up.
"This child should not go. It is not appropriate for him to go there." Grandpa Gu pointed at Xiaolong and said.
Xiaolong had a blank expression on his face; he hadn't planned to go in the first place.
According to the customs of Yanguan Town, only male members of the clan can enter the ancestral hall to burn incense on the anniversary of the death, while women are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall.
If it were in the past, Tong Huaqiong would have cursed loudly, but now she wished it would happen just like that.
After the man left, only the women were left in the room.
"Sister-in-law, the bracelet on your hand is so beautiful." Gu Honglian said, holding Tong Huaqiong's hand.
Tong Huaqiong pulled his hand away calmly and said, "This is Dashu coming back from the capital to show his filial piety to me."
Gu Honglian pouted.
She said this deliberately in front of many aunts and sisters in the clan, thinking that her sister-in-law would be embarrassed to not give it to her in front of everyone.
Old Mrs. Gu glanced at Tong Huaqiong, but Tong Huaqiong remained indifferent.
Gu Honglian couldn't help it and said, "Sister-in-law, let me wear this bracelet."
Tong Huaqiong said in a reasonable tone: "Your nephew is filial to me. If I give it to you, wouldn't it be a betrayal of your nephew's filial piety?"
Everyone was secretly surprised. Everyone knew that Tong Huaqiong treated Gu Honglian like a mother.
The person who is cold towards Gu Honglian now doesn’t seem like the same person.
Gu Honglian was rejected in public, looking aggrieved and tears welled up in her eyes.
Old Madam Gu was heartbroken. She glared at Tong Huaqiong and said, "You two have always been very good friends. Although you are Honglian's sister-in-law, she treats you like her mother. Now that you are living a better life, shouldn't you take care of her?"
Tong Huaqiong buckled the bracelet and said, "When Honglian gets married, I will give her a dowry."
Old Mrs. Gu was so angry that she fell backwards. There was no sign of her getting married yet, and now her daughter Honglian only wanted the bracelet.
Seeing that Gu Honglian was about to cry, she looked at Tong Huaqiong with tearful eyes.
Zhao, the mother-in-law, came out to smooth things over and said, "Honglian is becoming more and more beautiful. Has the marriage been arranged?"
Tong Huaqiong's mouth twitched. It was not because of her appearance that she was humiliated. Gu Honglian and Shui Ling were completely incomparable.
Sure enough, Gu Honglian lowered her head shyly when she heard the word "marriage".
Old Lady Gu was not easy to show to her grandson's wife's mother, and said, "There were several families that proposed marriages to her earlier. Some of them were from educated families, some owned shops, and some had dozens of acres of fertile land. They were all good matches. I didn't agree because I knew I would have to come back, and I didn't want Honglian to be alone in the south."
Old Mrs. Gu said this without blushing at all. Anyway, no one in the village knew that Gu Honglian's engagement was broken off years ago.
Zhao was amazed and said that with Gu Honglian's character and appearance, she would definitely be able to find a good marriage.
So the bracelet incident was resolved.
At this time, Tong Pandid came in with a teapot and poured tea for everyone.
In the past, villagers were curious or even disdainful of the fact that Tong Pandidi lived in Tong Huaqiong's house as a divorced person. But after a few months of getting to know her, they found that she was capable and called everyone "Aunt" and "Sister-in-law" affectionately, and their attitude toward her began to change.
Now most people in Qinghewan have accepted her.
Tong Pandi's coming in attracted Old Lady Gu and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law Jia and Wei.
After all, it was their first time to observe Tong Pandi, the first person to divorce from Yanguan Town, up close.
"Are you Pan Di?" asked Old Mrs. Gu after taking the tea.
Tong Pandi nodded and said, "The last time we met was when we were kids."
Old Lady Gu looked Tong Pandi up and down, and said with a sarcastic smile, "I still remember when you got married, your aunt went to see you off. Why aren't you at your husband's house, and what are you doing at our Gu's house?"
Tong Pandi said calmly, "I am divorced. Thanks to my aunt's pity, I have a place to stay."
Old Mrs. Gu was very dissatisfied with Tong Pandidi's attitude. You are a divorced woman, yet you speak so rudely.
In Mrs. Gu's mind, divorce is against women's virtues and the woman would be thrown into a pond and drowned.
So he said disdainfully: "I have only heard of women being divorced since I was a child, but I have never seen a woman being divorced."
Tong Huaqiong added, "That's because you don't have much experience. Since the court law allows divorce, it's not wrong for Pan Di to divorce."
Old Madam Gu said loudly, "You have been saying a lot of wrong things since you married into the Gu family. I'm not saying that your niece is living in our Gu family after getting divorced. It will affect the reputation of our girls. Taohua, your sister-in-law, Xiaoxue, and other unmarried girls in the clan will all have their marriages affected."
Tong Huaqiong said, "Old lady, Taohua and Xiaoxue haven't got engaged yet. How did you get the conclusion that this has affected them? When you asked me to give money to my second brother to do business, you always said that the quality of a girl's marriage is related to the quality of her family. If my second brother's business is good and he has money, all the girls in the family will be able to find a good marriage. Now my second brother's business has failed. Could it be that you have set your sights on a family that flatters the powerful and wants to marry someone, but they don't agree. You don't dare to blame my second brother, so you put the blame on Pandi?"
"Old lady, do you know the daughter of Mr. Huang in our town? She broke off the engagement with the Lian family a few years ago, and then was proposed to by the imperial merchant Lu family in the prefecture, and now they are married. How come the broken engagement didn't hinder her from getting a good marriage? In addition to Miss Huang's beauty and talent, her family is also very supportive. If Second Uncle had such a big rice business like Mr. Huang, would you still worry that Honglian's marriage would be affected by Pandi?"
Tong Huaqiong's words caused an uproar in the room.
The sisters-in-law in the clan all knew that Tong Huaqiong had always dared to challenge her mother-in-law, but they didn't expect that her firepower was so strong that she even involved the second wife.
But think about it, what Tong Huaqiong said makes sense.
In the final analysis, a girl's marriage, apart from her own character and appearance, depends on the strength of her family.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just take Tong Huaqiong as an example. Since she was conferred the title of Suifeng Xiangjun, several girls in the Gu family have found marriage partners that they would never have dared to think of before. Everyone knows that they are targeting Suifeng Xiangjun.
Old Mrs. Gu said that it was a bit far-fetched for Tong Pandi to delay the marriage of the girls in the Gu family.
Old Madam Gu and the second wife's wife, Jia, had faces that turned purple with embarrassment.
Everyone in the family knew that the second branch's business was losing money, but no one dared to speak of it in public.
Now that Tong Huaqiong had exposed the fact that the second house's business was losing money in public, Old Lady Gu and Jia were naturally unhappy.
Especially Jia. Ever since Gu Youtian made money in business, her status in the clan has risen rapidly. In the past, she would always sit at the head of the female family members at weddings and funerals in the clan.
Today she still came with the style of a successful wife, and looked down on the sisters-in-law present.
Now everyone in the clan knows that her family is bankrupt, and she feels very ashamed.
Jia just wanted to regain her face.