novelraw Chapter 184 Slavery
Chapter 184 Slavery
Chapter 184 Slavery
Uncle San didn't know what to say about this, he just said: "If you think about it, we've only stayed for less than ten days, so it shouldn't cost much money. Three or five taels should be enough."
I'll go get you the silver. You take it over there. Your father sent that person away, and now that we've safely brought them back, let's not let anyone talk about us. You and your siblings are getting older every year; we can't let anyone gossip about us!
If you give away three or five taels of silver, no one can say that the Lianshan family is heartless if anything happens in the future.
“We don’t need to pay any money.” Gu Tang told the truth frankly. “My father said to others that he hadn’t paid any money and that it was all owed. This was because when the family was dividing up, he was afraid that they would make a fuss and want to bring my grandmother back, so he deliberately told them this.”
My father knew that he and his son were frugal, and upon hearing that they still owed money to the inn, he knew they wouldn't go to fetch my grandmother without my consent. In fact, they had already given several taels of silver in advance; it was enough for their expenses for the next few days.
Upon hearing the truth, the third uncle breathed a sigh of relief: "So that's how it is... In that case, go over there later and tell them what happened, so they can hurry up and pick up the person without any further delay."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."
After explaining the matter of Madam Feng, the Third Uncle calculated the time and asked Gu Ping'an to go to Doctor Gu's house to get the medicine.
"Your brother's medicine should be ready by now. Take some copper coins and go to Doctor Gu's house later to get the medicine and start brewing it. When I left just now, your brother's head was still burning hot, so the medicine I gave him earlier probably didn't work much."
After saying that, the man got up and went to the east room, saying he was going to give Gu Ping'an some copper coins.
Gu Ping'an wanted to say no, as he still had some copper coins in his hand, but Gu Tang secretly pinched him, and he immediately shut his mouth.
After the man left for the east room, Gu Tang glared at him and said, "If the master gives you this small amount of money, then take it. If we don't spend the master's money, he won't feel good about it."
Not feeling right?
Why does it not taste right?
Gu Ping'an looked bewildered, not quite understanding.
Gu Tang ignored him and called out to the east room, "Master! I'm going now."
"Hey! Drive carefully!" Uncle San from the east room quickly replied.
At the Gu family's house at the end of the village, the father and son trudged through the mud until they reached home, their feet covered in mud.
Gu Liansheng hadn't tied his legs, and his trouser legs were covered in mud. Thinking about how he hadn't accomplished his task and now his clean cotton trousers were soiled, he felt both frustrated and angry.
Once inside the courtyard, he walked toward the east wing with a gloomy face, not uttering a word and completely ignoring his own father behind him.
When Grandpa Gu saw his son so angry, he felt a pang of sadness, but considering that the family hadn't been eating or dressing well these past few days, he could understand his son's anger.
Back in the east room of the main hall, the dirty clothes in the basket were still piled up and no one had taken them to wash. Old Master Gu had no clean clothes to change into. If he had to go out, he could only pick out some less dirty clothes to wear, which was unacceptable to him.
Two days earlier, he had instructed the Gu sisters, Gu Qing and Gu Lian, to take these clothes to be washed, but the two girls insisted on taking good care of their hands. They also said that Li Shi from the Wang family had promised them that once their hands were healed, she would send them off to enjoy a life of luxury.
Now the two girls are completely infatuated. They don't do any housework, only thinking about getting their hands healed so they can go and enjoy a life of luxury with Mrs. Li.
After sitting for a short while, my stomach started growling again, and I felt very hungry and uncomfortable.
Gu Tianbao cooked porridge for breakfast, but it was too watery. I ate two bowls and barely felt full. Now, after urinating a few times, my stomach is empty again.
Old Master Gu never did any housework in his life; Feng Shi always took care of him, providing him with clothes and food. He just had to wait to enjoy the food.
Now that Madam Feng is not at home, the second branch of the family has also been adopted away, and the granddaughter of the first branch is disobedient. There is no one to wash his clothes, and he is unwilling to do it himself, so he tries not to go out so as not to have no clothes to wear.
The meals were the same every day, and no one stepped forward to cook. Even Grandpa Gu was unwilling to cook, so in the end he had to ask Gu Tianbao to learn how to cook.
At least cooking kept him warm, so even though Gu Tianbao was reluctant, he still held his nose and did it!
But he wouldn't do laundry. He wouldn't wash other people's clothes, and he wouldn't even wash his own dirty clothes. He never went out anyway, and he didn't care at all whether his clothes were dirty or not.
Touching his belly, Old Master Gu couldn't understand how he had ended up living such a life.
He had previously thought that if all else failed, he would spend some money to hire someone to come to his house to help with chores, but he was reluctant to use the money he had secretly saved, so he set his sights on the Feng family's private savings.
He knew that his wife had worked as a maid in a wealthy household in her younger days, and that she was quite shrewd and had amassed a considerable fortune. However, she had always kept that money, and he had no idea where she had hidden it.
In the past few days, in order to find those silver coins, he really turned the whole house upside down, even searching through the rat holes in the cracks of the walls, but he couldn't find a single copper coin!
Out of desperation, he then set his sights on the silver that his daughter-in-law, Wei, had stolen.
However, her eldest son was extravagant, and he spent all the money that Wei had amassed over the years, even squandering all of Wei's dowry.
In the end, only two options remained: either bring his wife back and have her contribute her savings to the household expenses, or use the money he had on hand.
The money he had was for his son's education and couldn't be used casually, so Old Master Gu had no choice but to bring his wife back.
But it costs money to bring people back!
Old Master Gu and his son spent a long time inside the house counting on their fingers. The expenses for the two old women, the inn's accommodation, food and drinks, and medicine, etc., all added up to several taels of silver!
They can't afford it, and even if they could, it shouldn't be their responsibility. Whoever sent the person away that day should bring them back!
So the father and son went to their door today.
However, the result was far from satisfactory.
With a long sigh, Old Master Gu got up, leaning on his cane, and headed towards the east wing. He wanted to talk to his eldest son and also tell Gu Qing and Gu Lian to wash their clothes.
If cold water hurts your hands, then light a fire and wash them with hot water!
Upon arriving at the east wing, the old man first went to find the sisters Gu Qing and Gu Lian, and sternly ordered them that the clothes must be washed today.
The old man was furious, but Gu Qing, as if relying on something, still didn't move. She just pursed her lips, very dissatisfied, but not afraid.
Gu Lian's reaction was much more normal. Seeing the old man's anger, she stood up nervously and quickly agreed to do the laundry. After the old man left, Gu Qing muttered under her breath, "That old geezer just knows how to order people around!"
After scolding her, she glared at Gu Lian and said, "Have you forgotten what Auntie and Aunt Li said? They told us not to do any manual labor, but to use the balm Aunt Li gave us to apply to our hands every morning and evening. Once our hands have opened next year, they will be white and tender, and then we can work in the Cheng family."
Gu Lian lowered her head in silence, her hands twisting the hem of her clothes. She wanted to go but didn't want to go; her mind was wavering, and she couldn't make up her mind.
Gu Qing couldn't bear to see her so pathetic, so he got up and took out all the perfumes from her cabinet, then put them all into his own cabinet.
"Since you're going to do the work, this perfume shouldn't go to waste. Give it all to me, and I'll apply it all over my body. Next spring, when I come to the Cheng Mansion to live a life of luxury, you can stay at home and be beaten and scolded, and go hungry and cold!"
Seeing Gu Qing's actions, Gu Lian suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that she didn't have to make the decision herself anymore; Gu Qing had already made the decision for her. Without the perfume to nourish her hands and face, she wouldn't be able to enter the Cheng family mansion in her current state.
These past few days, all the burdens I've been carrying have been lifted off my shoulders, and I feel incredibly light all over.
After giving Gu Qing a deep look, Gu Lian walked briskly out of the house.
After leaving the house, he went straight to the east room of the main room, took out all the dirty clothes that the old man had accumulated over the days and put them in a basin. Then he picked up the basin, took the washing stick, and planned to go to the river in the village to wash clothes.
Just as they reached the courtyard gate, Gu Tianbao from the east wing ran out and said he wanted to come along.
Gu Lian didn't stop him and led him to the pond at the foot of the mountain.
The pond here is close to the Gu family's house, and few people come here, so Gu Lian always comes here to wash her clothes.
The Gu family's dirty clothes were easy to wash. There was not much oil stains, just some dirt or paste, which would come off with water. After beating them with a stick, the clothes were considered washed.
The water in the pond was so cold it was icy and bone-chilling. Before long, Gu Lian's hands turned red and started to sting.
Gu Tianbao snatched the mallet from her hand and, without saying a word, imitated Gu Lian's movements, pounding the clothes.
Gu Lian was startled by his actions, and then her eyes reddened.
Gu Tianbao has lost a lot of weight these days, and his chubby face has become more defined. After washing a piece of clothing, he stopped and stared intently at the river.
After watching for a while, he turned to look at Gu Lian and suddenly said, "Second Sister, how about we don't become maids? Is being a maid an easy job? Don't they say in the plays that maids are lowly and their lives are decided by their masters?"
He didn't understand how his eldest and second eldest sisters, who had only gone to the Wang family to call their aunt and uncle back to help support them on the day of the family division, ended up going to the Cheng family with their aunt's sister-in-law, Li, without any explanation.
If they really wanted to visit a wealthy family, they could have gone, but the two sisters stayed for two days.
When the others returned, they said they were going to the Cheng family to work as maids!
Although he wasn't good at studying, there was one thing he knew: being a slave was neither a good thing nor a pleasant job. Your life and death were in the hands of your master; if they wanted you to live, you lived; if they wanted you to die, you died!
Gu Lian pursed her lips, feeling that there was some misunderstanding. Although she no longer wanted to go to the Cheng residence, to be fair, the Cheng family was very generous and kind to the maids.
“The Cheng family mansion… my elder sister and I went to see it, and it’s different from what’s described in the plays.”
"What's the difference? In the end, it'll all be the same!" Gu Tianbao said sharply.
Gu Lian paused for a moment, then simply told him everything she had seen at the Cheng residence: "The Cheng family only has one son, who is extremely spoiled. He has a personality somewhat like a girl, preferring to be served by pretty maids and disliking old women and servants getting close to him."
The Cheng family always indulged their young master, keeping dozens of pretty young maids in his courtyard. They ate and dressed almost the same as the Cheng family's daughters, and were raised to never lift a finger, only spending their days joking around with the young master to relieve his boredom.
Young Master Cheng is very generous. If you make him happy, he will give people all kinds of gold and jade as rewards. I personally saw a little girl who could whistle. Because her whistling was so beautiful, Young Master Cheng immediately had someone give her a bracelet made of jade beads as a reward!
Aunt Li said, "If that jade bead bracelet were sold through someone, it could fetch at least ten taels of silver!"
Gu Tianbao didn't believe this: "Second Sister, are you telling a story? Even the young master of the Emperor's family wouldn't be so wasteful!"
"It's true! I'm not kidding you!" Gu Lian raised her hand and swore, "I swear, this is absolutely true!"
Gu Tianbao paused, no longer expressing disbelief, but he was still somewhat skeptical. He said, "If they're happy, they'll be rewarded; but what if they're not? Will those little girls be punished?"
Gu Lian was taken aback; she really hadn't thought of that.
"See! You don't know either." Gu Tianbao seized on this loophole and continued to persuade her: "I know what you're thinking, trying to get some money from the Cheng family to send out, but do you know how to coax people? You can't even whistle!"
There will be rewards, but there will definitely be punishments too. Aunt Li definitely didn't tell you the truth! If you don't know how to appease people when you go in, and they punish you, what will you do? You'll be left crying out to heaven and earth in vain!
And you know what? These words struck a nerve with Gu Lian; she was most afraid of being punished!
She said, "My elder sister took away my perfume. I'm not as pretty as her to begin with, and now that I don't have the perfume to care for my hands and face, I can't go to the Cheng residence even if I wanted to. I'll go to my aunt's house in a couple of days and explain to Aunt Li that I'm not going."
Finally hearing what he wanted to hear, Gu Tianbao smiled: "Our family doesn't need you to earn money..."
At this point, he glanced around and then whispered to Gu Lian, "Although Mother is gone, I know where she hid the silver! I overheard Grandpa and Father talking earlier. Grandpa said he had silver, and Grandma also has silver. When Grandma comes back, I'll ask her for the silver, and I'll give it all to you!"
Upon hearing this, Gu Lian's tears instantly fell.
She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, shook her head and said no: "What would I do with money? I'm not greedy for food or clothes. My life is good enough right now. I know what it means to be content."
If you can get any money, then secretly save it yourself. Don't be like our father; he can't hold onto any money. He spends everything he has, and even the biggest fortune can't last forever!
“I’m giving you this money so you can save it for your dowry! How old are you? I’ll let it go this year, but if you don’t go to the Cheng family next year, I’ll definitely arrange a marriage for you. When you get married, do you still expect me to prepare a dowry for you?”
Gu Tianbao swears that his father will never prepare a dowry for his second sister!
Gu Lian was well aware of all this and never expected to receive a dowry from her father.
It's my own younger brother, though. It's amazing that such a young man would think of me like this.
"Then I'll listen to you. If you can get the money, I'll keep some for my dowry. If I ever turn my life around, I'll repay you a hundredfold or a thousandfold!"