novelraw Chapter 289 Disdain for Insufficient Gift Money
Chapter 289 Disdain for Insufficient Gift Money
Chapter 289 Disdain for Insufficient Gift Money
Gu Baoshan, who was lying on Guan's body, paused in his sobs, a sense of panic rising in his heart.
The Guan family has six sons!
They were all tall and strong.
If they saw the Guan family's miserable state, how could he possibly have a good ending?
Standing in the snowdrift, Jiang was displeased upon hearing this. She struggled to walk down the corridor, shouting and cursing at Gu Lianshan.
"Pah! You heartless bastard! They, mother and daughter, were suffocated under the rafters! What does that have to do with my son?!"
So what if the Guan family comes? Do they think they can just lie and pin the blame on my son?
Everyone looked at Madam Jiang, who was walking towards them covered in snow, with Gu Chuntao following behind, shivering from the cold.
When Gu Baoshan saw his mother and sister looking like this, his eyes widened immediately: "Mother! What's wrong with you? Why do you look like this?"
It would have been better if this matter hadn't been brought up, because as soon as it was, Madam Jiang glared at Gu Tang fiercely: "It's all because of this heartless little whore! You and your father are equally heartless!"
Gu Tang felt a bit wronged.
She wasn't the one who kicked the person just now!
That was kicked by Ah Gou!
Are you trying to smear her?
Good, good! Nobody knows this routine better than her!
She stopped her third uncle, who was looking for Jiang Shi with a dark expression, and glared back at her father, Gu Lianshan, who wanted to curse on her behalf.
Gu Tang spat at Jiang Shi in front of everyone: "Pah! This is truly a case of the thief crying 'stop thief!' What did my father say wrong? Three out of the four walls are cracked, so why doesn't your son live there?"
You forced Aunt Guan and her daughter to move in. What were you thinking? Did you really think no one knew?! And what about the house collapsing? Such a loud noise, didn't your whole family hear it?
The noise is loud enough to wake a dead person, yet it couldn't rouse you three! You're really something! When the Guan family comes, they can skin you alive and no one in your clan will come to your aid!
"We've all learned from you, you can't hear a loud noise! Let the Guan family kill you all! That way, people won't say our Gu clan is a den of wolves, only good for harming other people's daughters!"
Gu Tang's words were like poison; she ripped away the fig leaf that everyone was too embarrassed to remove, directly pointing out the illogical points that no one could avoid.
After cursing, Gu Tang still felt unsatisfied. She pointed at the already lifeless Guan mother and daughter, deliberately trying to scare Jiang.
"As the saying goes, those who are murdered harbor the deepest resentment! My aunt Guan is also a vengeful person; her only daughter went with her. Just wait and see, I'll see what fate awaits your family!"
People in this era are most superstitious about ghosts and gods, and Gu Tang's words made the guilty mother and son look terrified.
Gu Baoshan, in particular, reacted the most, his face turned pale, and he retreated repeatedly, not daring to approach Guan and her daughter any further.
Seeing his reaction, everyone understood perfectly well.
The girl from Lianshan was right; the deaths of the Guan mother and daughter were most likely a trap deliberately set by the mother and son.
Jiang shuddered, her lips trembling, and she forced a smile as she defended her family: "We didn't harm them, mother and daughter! They are..."
"They didn't lay a hand on them? Besides the main room, there are two unoccupied rooms in the east wing of this courtyard. Why weren't they allowed to live in the east wing? Who told them to live in the west wing?"
who is it……
Jiang dared not admit that she herself had forced Guan and her daughter to live in the west wing.
Before the snowfall, Guan mentioned this matter, saying that she wanted to move to the east wing because she was afraid that the west wing would not be able to withstand the snowfall.
She did not agree to this, saying that she had other uses for the room in the east wing.
When it started snowing, Guan brought up the matter again, but was refused once more.
Yesterday afternoon, Guan, unable to bear it any longer, smashed the lock on the door to the east wing and insisted on moving in with her daughter.
She was furious, so she had her son beat up her and her daughter, locked them in the west wing, and refused to open the door or give them any food.
If the Guan family comes, I wonder if they will examine the bodies of Guan and her daughter. If they do, I wonder if they can hide the injuries on their bodies.
Seeing that Jiang remained silent, Gu Tang questioned again: "The house collapsed, and you dare to say that your family didn't hear such a loud noise?"
"If you dare say that in front of the Guan family, they'll definitely come to your house in the middle of the night, set it on fire, and tear down the walls! They'll let you experience what it's like to have nowhere to turn for help!"
Chiang Kai-shek could not refute this statement either.
How could you not hear such a loud noise when the house collapsed?
After the collapse last night, the whole family got dressed, opened the door, and went out to see what was happening.
Seeing that the west wing had finally collapsed, they were overjoyed but also extremely panicked. Standing on the west wing, they could still hear the cries for help from the Guan mother and daughter.
But in the end, they didn't try to save the person...
"Can't say anything? If the deaths of Aunt Guan and her daughter have nothing to do with you, then you should at least give me a reason."
These words enraged Gu Chuntao, who had the most fiery temper. She looked terrified, but stubbornly refused to admit that the deaths of the Guan mother and daughter had nothing to do with her family.
"What's there to say?! Your father and his family dug them out from under the house! They either died when the house collapsed or they froze to death! That's their fate! We didn't kill them with our own hands!"
Gu Chuntao's statement is nothing but self-deception.
Gu Tang: "No matter how eloquently you speak, the Guan family isn't stupid; they won't believe you. If they really beat you up, who's going to help you?"
Gu Chuntao pointed around, listing all the people who had helped dig up the Guan mother and daughter.
"We're all from the same clan, you all have to come and help!"
"So what if we're from the same clan?" Gu Lianshan stepped forward, unable to bear it any longer. "You're plotting murder! Are we, who are from the same clan as you, destined to be unlucky enough to stand up for your family?"
Gu Chuntao shouted in a shrill voice, "My family didn't kill anyone!"
"What are you yelling about? Everyone here isn't stupid or naive; they all think things through for themselves. I'm telling you straight today, I'm not getting involved in your family's mess! Let your family make a scene however they want, that's what they deserve!"
After saying this, Gu Lianshan called his third uncle and Gu Tang to go home.
Ah Gou and Gu Ping'an, who had been left behind, hurriedly followed.
After Gu Lianshan left, everyone else also left, leaving only a few to escort the clan leaders and elders back later.
Gu Chuntao's face turned pale, and she realized that her family had been abandoned.
Gu Baoshan squatted on the ground, clutching his head, completely panicked and at a loss.
He is neither opinionated nor capable of handling things. Whether it's his own affairs or family matters, his mother and sister make the decisions, and he just keeps quiet and avoids them.
The same thing happened now; he squatted on the ground, covering his head, trying to escape the reality before him.
Seeing that things were getting worse, Madam Jiang resorted to her signature act, plopped down on the ground, and burst into tears, lamenting her own misfortune, Gu Tang's slander against her, and the bad luck of Madam Guan and her daughter.
No matter how much they cried, the main theme was always the same: their whole family was innocent!
The deaths of the Guan mother and daughter had absolutely nothing to do with them!
If the Guan family uses this as an excuse to cause trouble, the clan cannot ignore it. "What are you howling about!" Clan Chief Gu's face turned ashen as he shouted angrily, stunning Jiang Shi.
"Carry the Guan mother and daughter to the main room. Changtian, go find a few people who didn't come out to freeze today and have them go to the Guan family to report the news..."
"Report a message? We can't report a message, we can't report a message..."
"Bullshit!" an elder couldn't help but curse. "The Guan family has to be buried! If you don't inform them, aren't you afraid they'll report you for murder in court?!"
Jiang's face turned deathly pale, and she immediately collapsed to the ground.
Following the instructions of the clan chief, Gu Changtian went to find people, and the rest of the people carried Guan and her daughter into the main room as instructed by the clan chief.
“All three of you, mother and children, come in here and kneel down! Kneel right in front of the Guan mother and daughter! Tell me the whole story from beginning to end!”
"If you dare to conceal a single word, I will have you all bound and sent to the Guan family. The Life and Death Clan will not care about you!"
The mother and her two children were shivering all over, whether from the cold or from fear, it was hard to tell.
……
Gu Lianshan, who had just left Gu Baoshan's house, told his third uncle and the others to go back first, as he was going to pay his respects to the Gu family at the end of the village.
Hearing this, Gu Tang blinked: "You just came into contact with a dead person. Wouldn't it be inappropriate to offer condolences now?"
"What's wrong with that?"
Gu Lianshan started spouting nonsense: "It's good that they chose a day like this for their wedding? Father is using poison to fight poison, maybe it will even bring him good luck!"
Gu Tang: ...You know what, her dad's logic is pretty good!
The family parted ways in front of Gu Baoshan's house. Agou escorted Third Uncle, Gu Tang, and Gu Ping'an home, while Gu Lianshan went to present gifts to Gu Liansheng by himself.
By now, many villagers had come out and started gathering together to clear the snow from the roads.
Large-scale clearing was definitely impossible, especially since the snow was still falling. So, the group decided to clear only a narrow path, just wide enough for one person to walk on, leading to each household.
If that's the case, then every household will have to send someone to help with the cleanup.
When Gu Lianshan passed by, the people told him about it.
"Alright! I'll go pay my respects first, and then I'll go home to get a wooden shovel and clear the road in front of my house."
There are very few people who agree as readily as Gu Lianshan. The group breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, urging him to hurry up and present his gifts.
A short stretch of road had been cleared at the end of the village, which made things easier for Gu Lianshan. He no longer had to wade into the snowdrifts, his cotton-padded trousers and the hem of his coat were soaked.
Luckily, he was wearing leather cotton pants; if they were any other kind of pants, he would have been soaked and freezing by now!
As we arrived at the Gu family's courtyard at the end of the village, we suddenly smelled the aroma of meat.
Is there meat on the table today?
That's great! When the banquet starts later, I can bring my whole family to eat.
Since he's already given a gift, why not accept it?
Upon entering the courtyard, one could see that the kitchen door was wide open, with white steam constantly billowing out, and several women were going in and out from time to time.
All the snow in the Gu family's courtyard had been cleared away. Gu Lianshan stepped on the ground and found it quite remarkable.
This was definitely not cleaned by Gu Liansheng; he must have paid someone to clean it for him.
Arriving at the corridor of the main room, Gu Lianshan removed his straw hat, carefully patted his clothes to brush off all the snow, and tidied himself up before heading into the main room.
As he lifted the curtain at the door, a wave of heat rushed towards him, and Gu Lianshan squinted.
That's not right. He remembered that the Gu family didn't have much firewood left. Gu Liansheng doesn't go to the mountains to chop firewood. Today, he's burning firewood for a feast and keeping the stove warm in the house.
Where did you get this firewood?
Could it be that it was bought with copper coins?
Gu Lianshan raised an eyebrow. If that were the case, then the Gu family's wealth was truly extraordinary.
The life they've lived these past few years has been a joke; people might even be laughing at them behind their backs, calling them stupid.
There weren't many people inside; only the four of them were Gu Liansheng, Li Shunzi, Gu Dajiang, and the Gu Dahe brothers.
Gu Liansheng himself was still responsible for keeping track of the gifts, and it seemed that he was very unhappy about this.
Li Shunzi, on the other hand, seemed quite happy. He sat to the side with the Gu brothers, chatting and laughing. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was the groom.
Of course, Li Shunzi's smile didn't last long. When she saw Gu Lianshan enter in a fur coat, her smile vanished instantly.
Gu Liansheng was the same, his face long, as if Gu Lianshan owed him money.
Only the brothers Gu Dajiang and Gu Dahe stood up and greeted Gu Lianshan with smiles.
Gu Lianshan smiled and replied to them a couple of times. Then he went to Gu Liansheng, who was keeping the gift accounts, and reached into his pocket to touch the copper coins.
This action made Gu Liansheng look forward to it.
Ever since Gu Lianshan was adopted, regardless of whether Gu Liansheng acknowledged it or not, Gu Lianshan's life has indeed gotten better and better.
Now that life is better, shouldn't the younger brother give more money as a wedding gift for his elder brother's marriage?
We can't just give them the same amount as everyone else in the village, some giving five copper coins, some ten, and the highest we ever gave was fifteen!
What can this do?
All the copper coins in the world combined wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of his meal!
Now it all depends on how much his younger brother can give.
Gu Lianshan put his right hand in his pocket, rummaged around, and finally pulled out a small string of copper coins. He roughly counted them and found about ten copper coins.
Considering the kinship, this number is not bad, not a small amount.
If we consider only brothers, it's a little less, but for many poor families in the village, it's not a small amount; it's acceptable.
Just like the Gu brothers, Gu Dajiang and Gu Dahe, who were present.
The two brothers had a hard time making ends meet, and they were both over thirty and still hadn't gotten married. So when they saw these ten copper coins, they didn't think it was a small amount at all.
But when Gu Liansheng saw the string of copper coins, his face immediately darkened.
Gu Lianshan ignored him, knowing that he cared about his reputation and wouldn't complain about the small amount of money in front of outsiders.
After placing the copper coins on the table, Gu Lianshan, without caring whether he remembered them or not, asked Li Shunzi and the others on his own.
"What time will the banquet begin?"
"The banquet will be held at the beginning of the 11 PM. Just bring the girls and boys from your family and come to eat."
"The beginning of the Wei hour? Why did you choose this time to start the banquet?" Gu Lianshan asked, puzzled.
Gu Liansheng interrupted in a harsh tone: "This was an auspicious time chosen by a fortune teller! You're uneducated, how would you know that scholars are very particular about their marriages!"
The timing of the ceremony and the start of the banquet are all governed by rules and regulations, and must be in accordance with one's birth chart (Ba Zi). Even if I explained it to you, you might not understand!
The room fell silent immediately after he said that, and the atmosphere became heavy.