novelraw Chapter 266 Leaving Home, Selling Myself!
Chapter 266 Leaving Home, Selling Myself!
Chapter 266 Leaving Home, Selling Myself!
Just like this money today, my son originally wanted to host a banquet for his classmates and friends before the wedding to inform them of the wedding date.
I've talked to my husband about it several times, but he just won't give me any money. He insists that we can just send out wedding invitations and that we don't need to have an extra banquet.
My son's friends are all scholars from well-off families. They will be taking the imperial examination together next year. It is only proper to host a banquet to inform them of this.
Otherwise, on the wedding day, the bride will be so busy with her studies that she might not be willing to come.
Thinking of his son saying that he didn't have enough money, Old Master Gu hesitated for a while, gritted his teeth, went back into the house, and took out one tael of silver from his private savings.
No one knows about the old man's secret savings. If he gives this money to his son today, it will be the same as telling his son that he has been hiding money.
I'm afraid my son will keep pestering me for money from now on.
But if we don't give it to him, what if our son loses face when he hosts a banquet for his classmates because he doesn't have enough money? That might affect his concentration on his studies.
Clutching the silver, he pondered for a long time, and finally went to the east wing again to give the silver to his son.
Gu Liansheng's eyes flickered slightly as he took the silver, and he instantly understood that the old man had hidden some money in his private stash!
"Does Mother know about this?"
"Shh—" Old Master Gu's expression immediately changed. "No one can tell you about this! Especially your mother. If she finds out, she'll definitely make a huge fuss about it!"
"Your mother's temperament has changed drastically. If she takes all the money your father has, it will be difficult for you to secretly subsidize him in the future!"
"Don't worry! I won't say a word about it!"
Gu Liansheng looked resolute and even raised his hand to swear an oath to put the old man's mind at ease.
However, since the topic of private savings has come up, it inevitably aroused Gu Liansheng's curiosity.
He leaned closer to the old man and asked in a low voice, "How much secret wealth does my mother actually have? You seem to keep bringing this up."
Old Master Gu had never explained this matter in detail to Gu Liansheng before, and he still didn't intend to explain it in detail now, only telling him with a serious expression.
"I don't know exactly how much, but I do know one thing: your mother has more money than you think!"
Son, be sweet to your mother, and visit her often. She's very easy to please.
If you can win her over and make her happy, she'll give you all her savings!
These words made Gu Liansheng's eyes light up.
He's good at coaxing people; he's the one who won over the Qian family!
"Don't worry, your son has remembered it."
……
The father and son were so engrossed in talking about Feng's secret stash of money that they didn't hear a thing when Gu Qing opened and closed the door outside.
Gu Qing changed her clothes, putting on the few decent clothes she had left, and carried a small bundle on her back. Then she took the straw hat hanging on the wall and quietly left the courtyard.
She went to the main room earlier to talk to Madam Feng about Wang Laosan's plan to take her away and sell her, but she didn't expect it to end badly. She had a big argument with Madam Feng and they even brought up each other's shortcomings.
Gu Qing was very clear-headed. If she contacted Wang Laosan through Feng Shi again, given Feng Shi's current hatred for her, she was afraid that Feng Shi would interfere and instigate Wang Laosan to sell her to a dirty place.
After much thought, Gu Qing decided to go to Wangzhai Village herself and talk to Wang Laosan, asking him to find her a wealthy family to work as a maid.
If Wang Laosan is unwilling, then she can go to Bei'an City and find human traffickers herself!
She refused to believe that if she was willing to sell herself, no one would want her!
As soon as you step out of the yard, the howling wind makes it hard to open your eyes.
Gu Qing wrapped her head in a cloth, leaving only her eyes exposed, and walked out of the village against the cold wind.
No one in the Gu family knows about her departure yet.
Grandpa Gu and his son Gu Liansheng were still talking inside, while Madam Feng was waiting for Gu Qing to come and empty the chamber pot. None of the family went to knock on the door to ask why the person was so late.
The only person who knew that Gu Qing had left was Gu Tang from Third Uncle's family.
As luck would have it, Gu Tang was cleaning the stove. She thought the ashes were too dirty to dump in the yard, so she opened the gate and planned to dump them under the trees outside.
Just as she opened the door and came out, her eyes glanced casually to the east, and unexpectedly she saw Gu Qing walking out of the village.
At first, she didn't recognize that the person was Gu Qing. She only recognized the clothes first, and then guessed that the person might be Gu Qing.
The dress Gu Qing was wearing was light red, and it was the only one of its kind in the whole village. It was bought for her by Wei Shi on her birthday last year.
Gu Qing loved this dress very much and often wore it around. Gu Tang couldn't help but recognize it; she had seen it so many times that it was etched into her memory.
But if you're not staying home to warm yourself by the fire and keep warm in this heavy snow, where are you going to brave the wind and snow?
Could it be that I hit her too hard before, and now I'm going to see a doctor?
Wearing a bamboo hat, Gu Tang stood outside and watched for a while. He saw that Gu Qing didn't turn any corners and kept walking straight, as if he were leaving the village and not going to find a doctor.
The village doctor, Gu, lived on the south side of the road. Gu Qingzao had already crossed the intersection that led south.
As she walked further and further away, the dense snowflakes obscured her vision, and Gu Tang turned around and went home.
If it doesn't concern me, I won't worry about it.
She didn't take it to heart and didn't mention it to her third uncle.
After returning to the courtyard, I put down the basket and went to the kitchen to help my third uncle start the fire.
In the morning, the whole family didn't eat breakfast, just had some pastries to tide them over, and now they're a bit hungry.
The old man asked Gu Tang what she wanted to eat, and Gu Tang said she would just have two bowls of noodles and didn't want anything else.
After the meal, the grandfather and grandson waited inside the house.
In the afternoon, there was finally a knock on the courtyard gate.
Upon hearing the knock on the door, the grandfather and grandson beamed with joy and hurried out of the house to open it.
The gate opened, and the sight outside startled the grandfather and grandson.
There were five oxcarts and one horse-drawn carriage parked outside the gate, which was different from what had been said before.
"Why are there so many vehicles?" Third Uncle asked, bewildered. "Were these hired separately?"
Didn't we agree not to hire an oxcart to avoid attracting attention? Why has it changed now?
“They weren’t hired, Sanlang bought them.” Gu Lianshan pointed to the young men driving the carriage and said, “These are all servants of Sanlang’s household, they all help drive the carriage.”
Servant?
Gu Tang paused, looked up and sized up the servants, and realized they were all children. Could they be those little beggars?
"Master, these servants were all bought by me. Don't worry, they won't say anything out of line."
Ah Gou knew what the old man was worried about, so when he was looking for someone to drive the carriage, he specifically asked for a little beggar from the charity hall.
These little beggars were very obedient to him, and since they all lived in the charity hall, they rarely met outsiders and would not gossip.
"Since it's your servant, then I can trust you. Quickly bring the carriage into the yard; it's not good to leave it outside..." So many carriages; if the villagers see them, it might arouse envy, and who knows what kind of trouble it might cause.
The third uncle, who had kept a low profile for most of his life, didn't want to attract too much attention.
He pulled Gu Tang outside, clearing the courtyard gate so that Gu Lianshan and the others could lead the car into the yard.
Seeing that Gu Ping'an had also stepped aside, Gu Tang waved to him, signaling him to come over.
Ah Gou noticed this scene and felt a little anxious. Could it be that he was asking about the oxcart? That kid surnamed Gu likes to talk badly about him!
She wanted to go over and listen to what the siblings were saying, but she was afraid that Gu Tang would get angry.
After hesitating for a while, before he could make up his mind, Gu Lianshan, who had already entered the courtyard, called out to him, telling him to come in quickly.
Having his thoughts interrupted, Ah Gou had no choice but to deal with Gu Lianshan first.
Gu Tang called Gu Ping'an over, but didn't ask anything else except about the oxcart.
"Did Gu Sanlang really buy this extra oxcart?"
“He said yes, when my father and I arrived, he was already waiting with an oxcart and a servant.”
"That's thoughtful," Uncle San interjected. "I guess they saw that the snow was falling too heavily and wanted to make sure it was all done in one trip."
“Yes, that’s what he told Dad.” Gu Ping’an nodded.
Gu Tang didn't say anything more, only saying, "Let's go into the courtyard and see if we can lend a hand to move things."
As they helped the old man back into the courtyard, they saw the servants busily carrying things into the house.
After moving half of the goods from the six large carts, the west wing of the warehouse could no longer hold them.
Gu Lianshan cleared out a room in the east wing so that they could put the rest of their belongings there.
Looking at these things, Uncle San's heart calmed down, and he felt relaxed all over.
He lowered his head and whispered to Gu Tang, "With so much food, we're not afraid of a snow disaster."
Gu Tang nodded: "That makes sense. Having grain in hand gives you peace of mind."
With the various self-defense weapons she obtained from the system, she had no need to fear the snow disaster.
With many people and quick movements, it didn't take long for all six truckloads of goods to be moved.
"Hurry inside and warm yourself by the fire, then have a cup of hot tea to warm yourselves up!" Uncle San greeted the children, who were still quite young, with a smile.
The servants didn't dare to move, but instead looked at Ah Gou.
Ah Gou didn't really treat them as servants, and waved his hand at them: "Listen to my master, I'll let you in. Just go in."
The servants were instantly delighted.
Gu Ping'an then stepped forward and arranged for them to follow him into the house.
Gu Lianshan and his group returned later than expected. The tea in the kettle had been heated up three times, and it was now boiling over. The aroma of tea filled the room.
Gu Ping'an was delighted upon smelling the aroma; it was the fine tea his second sister had!
Gu Lianshan and Agou followed closely behind and also smelled the aroma of tea.
Ah Gou wasn't very interested in the tea; he only sniffed it a few times and didn't say anything.
Gu Lianshan grinned and exclaimed, "My daughter really brought out her best stuff today! This tea smells wonderful!"
Ah Gou was stunned. Was this tea brought out by Gu Tang?
He immediately exclaimed, "Uncle is right! This is truly a treasured item! My cousin is so generous!"
Gu Tang, who was helping her third uncle in, happened to hear this and was speechless.
Your compliment is completely insincere!
Gu Pingan poured tea for everyone and let them taste it.
Whether they were sincere or not, everyone said it was good after drinking the tea.
Third Uncle asked Ah Gou to sit next to him and asked him how the journey was.
"How deep is the snow on the road? Is the road still visible?"
Ah Gou obediently replied, "We can still see the road now, but if this heavy snow continues all night, we might not be able to see it tomorrow."
“It’s not just that the road is hard to see.” Gu Lianshan suddenly interjected, “Beian City is quite lively today. I guess many people are feeling uneasy about the snow and have braved the heavy snow to come into the city to buy things.”
Take the charcoal we bought, for example. Guess what the price of charcoal is today?
"It can't double again, can it?" Uncle San couldn't guess the specifics, but he thought the worst that could happen was that the price would double.
"Twice? If that's the case, then that's great!" Gu Lianshan held up three fingers, his face full of amazement: "Overnight, it tripled!"
"Three times?!" Third Uncle was dumbfounded. "The price had already increased several times before, and now it's increased three times?"
"There's no way around it. The price has been steadily rising even when it's not snowing, but now that it's snowing heavily, the price has skyrocketed! Everyone wants to make a quick buck at this time!"
Third Uncle sighed, "It's really... fortunate that we bought it early. Although the price had already gone up quite a bit by then, it was still considered cheap compared to now."
"That's true. Compared to today, the price was really cheap when we bought it!"
"The price of charcoal has skyrocketed, so the price of grain will probably remain high as well."
Speaking of this, Uncle San suddenly remembered Gu Tianbao. "Tianbao has rented a courtyard. With charcoal so expensive, firewood will definitely go up in price too. Now that he lives in Bei'an City, he's probably going to have a tough time."
When Gu Tianbao was mentioned, Gu Lianshan showed no sign of worry.
He said, "That kid was lucky! On the day we moved, I took him for a walk around West Street and we bought a lot of grain, charcoal, and firewood. If we're careful with what we eat and use, it'll be enough for the three of them to get through the winter."
Uncle San was very surprised: "If that's the case, then he's really lucky! If he had bought it a day later, he would have had to spend three times the price!"
Thinking about all this, Gu Lianshan couldn't help but sigh, "Indeed, it's only been one day."
On the day of the move, he originally did not approve of Gu Tianbao buying so many things. People say that you should compare prices at three different stores, look around more, and negotiate more prices. How can you buy everything in half a day?
But the boy wouldn't listen. He said that neither he nor his mother were good at bargaining and didn't know the prices here. They were afraid of being ripped off, so they kept pestering him to help them bargain. In half a day, they bought everything they needed.
Looking back now, that kid was indeed quite lucky.
Gu Tang's mind was filled with the word "luck" at this moment, and her eyes were shining!
She had several unopened gift boxes in her system inventory.
Why isn't it open?
Because her luck is unpredictable.
If Gu Tianbao is truly blessed with good fortune, we can try using him to open blind boxes in the future!
Thinking of this, Gu Tang felt annoyed again and secretly glared at Ah Gou!
My luck is inherently unstable, fluctuating wildly, and then Ah Gou borrowed a portion of it.
She had originally thought that since this person was a spirit of the underworld, his luck should be quite good, and she should be able to benefit from it.
Unexpectedly, this person turned out to be an unlucky fellow plagued by bad luck!
In the end, she didn't benefit from other people's good fortune; instead, she lost her own!
This is truly going against the natural order!