novelraw Chapter 265 Marry her as soon as possible!
Chapter 265 Marry her as soon as possible!
Chapter 265 Marry her as soon as possible!
These words exposed Feng's true colors, and for a moment, she was consumed by rage, her ears rang, her vision blurred, and her mind was buzzing.
When she came to her senses, her eyes immediately turned red, and she started yelling and cursing at Gu Qing like a madwoman. The foul language she uttered made Gu Qing's eyes turn red as well.
If Gu Lian were here, she would probably have covered her face and run away crying long ago.
Unfortunately, Gu Qing was not Gu Lian. She forced herself to remain calm, and no matter how much Madam Feng scolded her, she only said one thing.
"Like father, like son! You learned this from me! You're the one who seduces men into bed, how can you expect to raise a decent person?"
Gu Qing's words left Madam Feng speechless. She was morally deficient and had no way to defend herself, so she could only keep pointing and cursing, her voice extremely loud, hoping to cover up her mistakes in this way.
The commotion caused by the grandfather and granddaughter was so great that not only Old Master Gu in the west room heard it, but even Gu Liansheng in the east wing heard Feng's cursing.
Gu Liansheng grew increasingly impatient with Madam Feng, finding it extremely annoying that she would yell and curse at him several times a day.
He pulled the blanket over his head, not wanting to deal with it.
The east wing is some distance from the main hall, so it's not too noisy. But the west wing is a different story. It's very close to the main hall, and the noise keeps Old Master Gu from getting any peace, giving him a terrible headache.
Originally, Old Master Gu did not want to go to the east room to get involved in this matter. He had already lost patience with Madam Feng, and the smell of excrement and urine in the room made him even less willing to go in.
But as time went by, Feng's cursing showed no sign of stopping.
Knowing full well what kind of person Madam Feng was, Old Master Gu knew that Madam Feng was doing this on purpose, trying to lure him over.
Unable to bear the harassment any longer, Old Master Gu had no choice but to give in. With a livid face, he went to the east room, leaning on his cane.
The door to the east room was not closed, and the smell inside spread out. The main room, which originally had only a slight smell, now smelled much stronger, making people want to vomit!
Old Master Gu couldn't stand the smell. After hesitating for a while, he didn't go into the east room, but instead stood at the door and scolded the people inside.
"Qing'er! What did I just tell you? I told you to empty the chamber pot in the room, not to go inside and argue with your grandma!"
As soon as the old man spoke, Madam Feng, who had been cursing, fell silent and then burst into tears, lamenting her miserable fate.
The shrill cries were even louder than the shouts and curses. Old Master Gu frowned deeply, barely suppressing his anger.
Gu Qing was not to be outdone, and directly repeated the words that Feng had scolded her when she came in: "I would like to empty the chamber pot, but listen to how my grandmother scolded me."
She said I slept with some random man! In broad daylight, she actually started vomiting! She even said I took after my mother, that we both love to seduce men and get into bed together!
Old Master Gu's face darkened instantly.
As Gu Qing spoke of this, tears welled up in her eyes: "Listen to these words! What kind of grandmother would scold her granddaughter like that? If outsiders heard this, what would they think of our family?!"
"...Your grandma has always been like this; she...she has a sharp tongue but a soft heart..."
"Master, I'm not Lian'er, I'm not stupid!"
Gu Qing wiped away her tears, walked past Old Master Gu, and left.
"Where are you going!" Old Master Gu was stunned for a moment, but when he realized what was happening, he immediately shouted angrily, "Come back! You haven't emptied your grandma's chamber pot yet!"
"I'm a whore who sleeps with random men! I wouldn't dare touch her things!"
Gu Qing, standing outside, blurted out these words without any attempt to hide his voice, seemingly unafraid of being overheard.
Grandpa Gu was instantly furious!
He could no longer bear the nausea and rushed into the house, lashing out at the still-crying Mrs. Feng.
"What are you trying to do? The family is already in such a state, and you still want to cause trouble! Do you have to make such a scene that everyone in the family is terrified of you before you're satisfied?!"
When Feng's crying stopped, she started cursing again: "You heartless bastard! How dare you say I'm making a scene? I bore you children and took good care of you for most of my life."
Who would have thought that after I fell ill, you would join them in despising me! Look at this room! If any of you had any conscience to care for me, I wouldn't be sleeping day and night in this room that reeks of excrement and urine!
"Who can you blame for this?" When the topic came up, Old Master Gu was furious. "When we called the doctor last time, didn't he specifically tell you to use your cane every day and walk around inside and outside the house more often, to move your hands and feet more, so that it could improve your poor condition?"
But what did you do? You absolutely refused to listen to the doctor, not only refusing to walk with your crutches, but you also refused to go to the outhouse to relieve yourself! It's one thing to use the chamber pot at night, but you also refuse to go to the outhouse during the day! You insist on using the chamber pot!
"It's snowing outside! If I fall while using crutches, won't I be the one who suffers?!" Madam Feng disagreed with these criticisms; she was only thinking about her own safety.
"Who said you were to go by yourself? Didn't I tell you? If you need to use your crutches to go to the outhouse, I'll go with you, or I'll have Qing'er go with you. Nobody told you to go alone!"
Feng fell silent.
Just as Old Master Gu thought he had persuaded her and was about to say something conciliatory, Madam Feng spoke up again: "In the end, you still think I'm a burden to you."
Grandpa Gu: ...Why can't this be explained?
Madam Feng: "I'm only asking you this: are you willing to serve me or not?"
"Look at my legs now." Grandpa Gu made her turn her face. "I can't even lift a basin of water now. I have to carry my cane with me all the time. I get very breathless and my chest hurts after walking just a few steps."
How am I supposed to serve you? I can't lift the chamber pot, and I can't carry water to wash your hands and feet. I'd like to serve you, but I'm simply too weak to do so!
Old Master Gu was not lying. Madam Feng could see whether he was in good health or not. If he were to take care of someone, he would collapse in less than half a day.
Madam Feng was filled with grief: "What should I do? You can't take care of me, and neither can my son. Tianbao and Lian'er are nowhere to be found. Now, only Qing'er is left in the house!"
You should know what kind of person Qing is. Expecting her to serve me is like waiting to die! What am I supposed to do? Lie in bed and wait to die?
Old Master Gu's eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "I said before that we should change the date of Lian Sheng's marriage, spend some money, ask the matchmaker to talk to Madam Qian, and bring him back as soon as possible."
"It's only natural for a daughter-in-law to serve her mother-in-law. Qian is young and strong; she'll take care of you day and night. How could you possibly have a bad life?"
Master Gu had mentioned this matter to Madam Feng a couple of days ago, but Madam Feng had been hesitant to express her opinion.
There's no other reason than that changing the wedding date requires spending money to hire a matchmaker to persuade the couple, and also spending money to find someone else to calculate the date again.
As for the Qian family, if she is unwilling to bring it up in advance, we will definitely have to send more betrothal gifts in order to persuade her.
Each and every one of these amounts to money.
The family's savings for medical treatment, medicine, and doctors were all spent, and the ten taels of silver obtained from selling Gu Tang were also gone, which were used to buy three fur coats.
If Feng wants to marry Qian Shi into the family ahead of schedule, she will have to use Feng Shi's own private savings.
Previously, Madam Feng was reluctant to part with her husband, Gu Qing, and Gu Lian, thinking that she would not lack people to serve her. But who would have thought that now no one would be willing to serve her and she could not rely on anyone.
Now that the matter has been brought up again, Madam Feng is somewhat hesitant.
After a moment of silence, she asked, "How much silver will this cost?" "Not much, one or two taels of silver will be enough. There's also the cost of the wedding banquet, but that's not a problem. We can cover it first, and the cost will be recouped once the relatives return the gifts on the day."
Madam Feng nodded. She didn't care about the cost of the banquet; once the gifts were collected afterward, the money spent would be recovered.
It's just that changing the date cost a bit too much.
"It's just a matter of choosing another date for the wedding. Isn't one or two taels of silver a bit too much?"
"Don't just think about how much we'll spend. Think about Qian's dowry! Once she's married into the family, do you think her dowry won't be filial to you?"
This is true.
Mentioning Qian's dowry, Feng's cloudy eyes lit up: "Qian was after her son's status as a scholar and wanted to use her dowry to climb the social ladder by marrying into our family!"
If we suggested moving the wedding date forward, she would be more than happy to accept and wouldn't object at all!
"That makes sense!" That's what Grandpa Gu thought too.
Having made up her mind, Madam Feng reached under the bedding inside the bed and groped around for a while before finally pulling out a silver coin.
"This silver coin is worth about two taels. Take it to the matchmaker and talk to them about changing the date..."
"Sigh!" Old Master Gu calmly reached out and took the silver, carefully stuffing it into his pocket.
After accepting the money, he glanced at the chamber pot behind the door, a look of disgust flashing in his eyes!
But to appease Madam Feng, who had just given him the money, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'll try to see if I can lift that chamber pot. You're the one I begged to marry, and for decades the family has depended on you. Now that you're sick, I can't just do nothing..."
Hearing this made Madam Feng feel extremely comforted, and her previous anger immediately subsided by more than half.
"Forget it, don't force yourself. Go out and call Qingya over so she can take it out and empty it." Madam Feng felt sorry for her husband and was afraid he would get tired.
Grandpa Gu paused for a moment, then seized the opportunity to back down: "Alright. Don't worry, if Qing'er refuses to come, I'll go find the second son! His parents are suffering here, and he doesn't even bother to come and see them!"
"The second son's family is back?" Upon hearing the name of the second son, Madam Feng thought of Gu Tang. "And that tough-as-nails fourth daughter is back too?"
"You're back! The injury on Qing's face was inflicted by Siya just now!"
"What a pity... that girl got away!"
Madam Feng's face darkened, and she couldn't help but think of Wang Laosan: "Tell me, what's wrong with Wang Laosan? He promised to come home and take Qing'er away, but several days have passed and he hasn't come even once, not even a whisper!"
"My daughter is the same. She said she would ask Wang Laosan what happened when she went back. But after she went back, she disappeared! Qing'er doesn't want to come either. It's better that she didn't come. If she did, I'm afraid there would be another commotion."
Mentioning this incident filled Madam Feng with rage: "That ungrateful little brat! What a waste of a chicken!"
"Calm down, I'll go call Qing'er to come and empty the chamber pot. Try to control your temper, or you'll drive her away."
Madam Feng looked unwell, but thinking of the nearly full chamber pot, she reluctantly nodded and promised not to scold her later.
Grandpa Gu breathed a sigh of relief and left the east room, leaning on his cane.
Come to the entrance of the main room, leave the door wide open, and let the smell in the room dissipate.
It was still snowing outside, though the snowfall had lessened compared to before.
Grandpa Gu didn't wear a straw hat and walked into the snow, carefully making his way to the east wing.
He went to Gu Qing's room first, stood outside the door, and called out twice through the door to ask Gu Qing to empty the chamber pot in the east room.
Gu Qing, who was inside the room, ignored him and only quickened her pace in packing her clothes.
Regardless of whether she replied or not, after giving his instructions, Old Master Gu went to knock on his son Gu Liansheng's door.
Gu Liansheng hadn't gotten up yet, and upon hearing the knock on the door, he said impatiently, "I'm not up yet! If it's something, wait until I'm up."
"My son! Your father has come to see you about your marriage..."
Upon hearing this, Gu Liansheng immediately snapped to attention, his mind clearing instantly. He quickly got up to open the door.
"Dad! Come in quickly!"
After opening the door, Gu Liansheng, with a smile on his face, pulled the old man inside.
After being pulled into the house, before Old Master Gu could even stand properly, he eagerly asked, "How did it go? Did my mother give me the money?"
"Here you go, here you go..." The old man was overjoyed as he took out the silver given to him by Madam Feng from his pocket and handed it to Gu Liansheng.
“Your mother said that this piece of silver weighs about two taels, which should be enough for you to treat people to drinks.”
"Only two taels!" Gu Liansheng's face changed, his tone full of dissatisfaction. "This little bit of silver is simply not enough! I'm hosting a banquet for my classmates and friends, and I need to choose some prestigious restaurants. How can this amount of silver be enough?"
"That's quite a lot, and this was all swindled from your mother!"
Speaking of deception, Old Master Gu asked him with concern, "Have you reached an agreement with the Qian family? Have you confirmed that the wedding will take place in five days?"
"It's been discussed. I bypassed the matchmaker and discussed it directly with Madam Qian. The wedding will take place in five days, and our family can go to present the betrothal gifts tomorrow."
"Didn't you say you didn't want a betrothal gift?" Old Master Gu was getting anxious; this was different from what he had said before!
“Indeed, no dowry is needed. Madam Qian said we should just put on a show to make her feel better. You can find some cheap things to stuff into the box, and we can take it over tomorrow.”
Grandpa Gu breathed a sigh of relief: "Alright, I'll go look inside later. By the way, you must not let it slip to your mother. If she asks you about the money, just say that you gave the matchmaker an extra gift, had someone else calculate the date, and also sent some cloth to Madam Qian."
"Don't worry, your son knows what he's doing." Gu Liansheng said impatiently, "Why are you being so careful with such a small amount of money?"
Seeing his son like this, Old Master Gu didn't say anything more and told him to continue resting and wait for Qingya to finish cooking before calling him.
As he came out of his son's room and looked at the snow outside, the old man couldn't help but sigh.
Perhaps because of his illness, his wife is holding onto her money even more tightly. In the past, whenever their son asked for money, his wife would give him some.
But things are different now. Unless it's for buying writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, or books, my wife won't give my son money whenever he asks for it.
She wanted money to buy writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and she also wanted to see the newly bought items with her own eyes to prevent her son from squandering the money.
Has your son ever been so wronged?