Chapter 33: Lan Family

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Lan Family

Gu Dashishi didn’t want to argue with his daughter-in-law, so he turned his anger directly on Gu Yuanmu. "Yuanmu, your wife is talking back to her father-in-law. You’d better teach her a lesson."

Li Cuicui turned her head and spat. "You old coot, was Mrs. Wang wrong? Is only the youngest your real son, and the ones standing right in front of you aren’t your children and grandchildren?

And can you deny that the youngest is shameless? How else could he dare to plot against his own brothers like this?

Don’t you forget, all the sons have already split from the main family. Before the youngest got married, we couldn’t ask them for anything.

Now, he’s making decisions before he’s even the head of the family, giving away our water. For the rest of this journey, the three of us will just have to go thirsty together. If we don’t find more water, we’ll just walk as far as we can and that’s that."

...

Gu Wenheng shifted the weight on his shoulders, feeling it was uneven. He quickly stopped to adjust his load.

Seeing Gu Wenheng’s maneuver, his other brothers silently rolled their eyes. ’This Seventh is getting more and more cunning. So now he knows to keep quiet?’

Jin Qianqian reached out to help share the burden, but Gu Wenheng grabbed her hand and gave a slight wink. "I didn’t notice before, the two ends are unbalanced. Help me look and see what’s out of place."

Jin Qianqian immediately started rummaging through the things and cried out in perfect cooperation, "Look at my memory! I must have packed the bedding wrong earlier. Everyone, go on ahead. We’ll sort this out and catch up right away."

Gu Yuanjin saw the sincere look in Jin Qianqian’s eyes and couldn’t tell if the two were being genuine or not. "Alright, you two hurry up and sort it out. We’ll wait here."

They were all family, after all. They couldn’t just leave Seventh and his wife behind.

Gu Wenheng and Jin Qianqian methodically rummaged and rearranged their things. Just as the other families were losing their patience, they spotted five or six people carrying belongings and walking toward them.

It was normal to see travelers on the main road, so no one paid them much mind.

"Why are they following us?" Li Cuicui said, grinding her teeth.

"Who are they?" The others already had their suspicions, but only the straightforward Gu Yuantu asked the question out loud.

"You’ll have to ask the youngest. They’re here for him." Li Cuicui’s eyes glinted menacingly as she stared at the waterskins on their waists.

Gu Yuanlei shrugged the things off his shoulders and trotted over to them. "Uncle, Auntie, do you need any help?"

Gu Wenheng hoisted the load back onto his shoulders and shouted, "Let’s go!"

Jin Qianqian pulled back her curious gaze and hurried to catch up. "Husband, let me help you carry some of that!"

"No need. It’s just a few things, why would I need your help?

I’m your husband, a grown man. You think I can’t even carry this little bit?"

As Jin Qianqian passed Li Cuicui, she didn’t forget to go and support the family matriarch. "Mother, my husband doesn’t need my help, so I’ll help you instead."

As for the things the old woman was carrying, Jin Qianqian had no interest. ’If I actually dared to take them, the other sisters-in-law would probably suspect I have ulterior motives.’

Besides, while the matriarch was old enough to be a great-grandmother, she was actually only in her forties.

"Everyone, hurry up and keep moving," Li Cuicui said. She had clearly understood Seventh’s intentions. Holding a grudge, she was naturally willing to go along with Gu Wenheng’s plan.

"That Seventh is just full of schemes," Gu Yuanmu said, suddenly feeling he could no longer figure out his own brother. "How did he know that family would follow?"

"It’d be strange if they didn’t follow," Wang Caiyue said, eyeing the bamboo tube on her husband’s waist. "I’m telling you right now, our family has no extra water. You are not to lend any of it out."

"What kind of person do you take me for?" Gu Yuanmu rolled his eyes. "You think I can’t tell who’s family and who isn’t?"

"You’d better not," Wang Caiyue was still worried. "But what if Father and Mother ask? We don’t give them any either?"

...

Similar conversations were taking place in each family. The sentiment was more or less the same: guard your own water.

"Brother Yuan Lei, do your older brothers have a problem with me?" Lan Ying asked, feeling embarrassed. She saw that up ahead, only Gu Yuanlei’s dropped luggage and Gu Dashishi, who was sitting and waiting, remained.

"They’re just in a hurry to get back on the road." Gu Yuanlei reached for the bundle on her back, but Lan Ying turned to dodge him.

"No, it’s fine. This is just some of the lighter stuff from home. Brother Yuan Lei, you have plenty to carry yourself."

Gu Yuanlei then turned to Lan Yongnan. "Uncle, how about I help you carry some of your things?"

Lan Yongnan shook his head. "I can still manage. You should hurry and catch up to the others. It’s not safe to fall behind."

"Then you all hurry and follow. Don’t fall too far behind us." Seeing that his family had already disappeared around a bend, Gu Yuanlei didn’t dare to linger. He gave them a hasty instruction and quickly ran to catch up.

"Father, is this kid reliable?" Lan Yun sneered. ’A poor brat like him dares to have ideas about my sister.’

"Reliable or not, he’s our last hope right now." Lan Yongnan’s expression was calm. "You’d better stop looking so sour. Our entire family is counting on this kid to get us some water."

Lan Ying bit her lip and lowered her head, not saying a word.

Lan Yun noticed her reaction and felt a pang of pity. "If that kid really gives us that much water, are we really going to marry Yingying to him?"

Lan Yongnan replied, "What other choice do we have? Once we’ve used up this water, you can’t possibly think he’ll keep helping us.

Right now, our whole family’s hope rests on Yingying. That fool might be a bit stupid, but at least he’s infatuated with your sister, so he has some use."

"If I’d known, we should have just left with the rest of the clan when they migrated. It wouldn’t be like this, begging a country bumpkin for help. Is my daughter, whom I raised so well, only worth a little water?" Mrs. Lantian secretly wiped her tears. ’What a mess this is.’

"’If I’d known, if I’d known’—what’s the use of saying that now? Weren’t you the one who couldn’t bear to part with this and that, saying things weren’t that bad yet? Now you’re telling me ’if you’d known’? If *I’d* known, I would have divorced you first!" Lan Yongnan exploded with rage, frightening the rest of the Lan Family into keeping their distance.

The villagers soon noticed the family following the group from a distance.

At first, everyone assumed they were just traveling the same way and wanted the safety of moving with a large group.

But when they saw Gu Yuanlei running back and forth, fawning over the girl from that family, everyone started giving them strange looks.

Gu Datian, a cousin from a separate branch of the family, made a point to go over and advise Gu Dashishi. "It’s hard enough for us to fend for ourselves right now. It’s better to put off Gu Yuanlei’s marriage arrangements for a while."

Gu Dashishi said, "Fourth Brother, do you have any extra water? Spare me some first."

Gu Datian was stunned. ’How did the topic change to this?’