Chapter 305: Marry Her Off

While the children were chattering away, Third Grandpa already said, "Da Fu, Da Gui, your family still owes the workshop two hundred taels of silver. There’s no share of the dividends for you tonight."

Those one hundred twenty-five taels of silver would be evenly divided among the other six families.

"What reason is there!" Mrs. Chen’s eyes bulged, her face twisted with rage, almost going mad. One hundred twenty-five taels, just like that, flying away?

Third Grandpa looked toward Gu Yumei, who was hiding in a corner, and said to Mrs. Chen, "Have you forgotten what happened with Sister Mei? If you have forgotten, that’s fine, then your family can leave the workshop and compensate the workshop with ten thousand taels of silver."

"This..." Finally remembering Gu Yumei’s incident, Mrs. Chen’s anger mixed with hatred, she immediately rushed in front of Gu Yumei, grabbed her by the collar, and raised her hand to slap her, "You troublesome girl, it’s all your fault! Now every family can receive silver, but our family cannot. Seems like my excitement was all for nothing!"

"Wuwuwu..." Gu Yumei covered her face and cried. Lately, she had been scared by the beatings and did not dare to talk back, only trying to dodge Mrs. Chen’s hands, fearing she would hit her again.

Mrs. Chen was seething with anger. Concerned that Gu Dafu was still around, she could only vehemently say, "If you were my daughter, I would beat you to death."

She turned toward Third Grandpa and cried out, "Uncle, I want to separate from the family. I can’t live this life anymore."

Losing several hundred taels of silver because of a girl who’s a liability, if she didn’t split from the family, Mrs. Chen feared she wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to chop Gu Yumei up.

Third Grandpa said, "Your family has already signed a pledge. Separating won’t do any good. After the separation, whether it’s your family or Da Fu’s family that wrongs the workshop, both will have to get out. It’s better not to separate; this way, you can keep an eye on Sister Mei, and prevent her from causing more trouble."

This was the actual reason why Third Grandpa didn’t allow Mrs. Chen to separate.

Sister Mei and Brother Xing had too careless a nature, and Da Fu, as well as Da Gui, were too fond of them to reprimand them harshly. Only Mrs. Chen could keep them in line. Therefore, Mrs. Chen couldn’t separate from the family. If she really wanted to, she’d have to wait until Sister Mei was married off; otherwise, there might be more trouble.

After listening, Mrs. Chen became even more furious, taking out her anger on Gu Dewang and his brother by yelling at them, "What are you squatting here for? Waiting to take root or to sprout? Hurry up and get back home!"

If she stayed here any longer, she might not be able to control herself from robbing the silver from the other families.

Gu Dewang and Gu Defa held each other’s hands and calmly allowed their mother to push them forward.

Mrs. Chen, dissatisfied with their pace, scolded, "Were your legs chopped off? Will it kill you to walk faster?"

Mrs. Chen pushed her two sons aside and stormed off, huffing angrily.

Gu Dagui felt both angry and helpless. He was too happy today and had forgotten about the two hundred taels of silver his family was penalized. If he had remembered earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.

He lowered his head, feeling guilty, and said to Gu Dafu, "Elder brother, don’t feel bad. That woman looks fierce, but she actually has a soft spot for Brother Xing and Sister Mei. She has long promised me that she will wait until Brother Xing is married and Sister Mai is wed before splitting the family, not letting the children become subjects of gossip."

Gu Dafu nodded, "I don’t blame your wife; the fault lies with elder brother’s house."

He looked at Gu Yumei who was quietly sobbing, then at Gu Dexing who was keeping his head down and clenching his fists, feeling sorry for them. He said to Third Grandpa, "Uncle, I wish to look into marriage arrangements for Brother Xing and Sister Mei. They are of age now, we peasants have always only observed filial piety in hot weather, and since the year has passed, it’s not inappropriate to seek marriage alliances."

He also reassured the other families, "Don’t worry, I will choose honest and kind-hearted families with no ill intentions. I will not allow their marriages to bring trouble to the workshop."

Although seeking marriage partners for the two children was his family’s affair, his family was one of the workshop’s Dong Families. Xiao Yu had earlier reminded them, many people, seeing the profit of the workshop, harboured intentions of becoming related through marriage in order to get connected with the workshop; thus, he needed to inform the other families.

Third Grandma nodded in approval upon seeing Mrs. Chen’s stance today, "If there’s a good family, then go ahead and consider them first."

If Gu Yumei and Gu Dexing marry early, Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui can split the family. If not, Mrs. Chen would definitely cause more trouble.

Third Grandpa thought about Gu Yumei’s temperament and felt it would be good to marry her off, but "We must pick carefully; we cannot settle for those targeting our workshop."

Gu Dafu said, "Third Uncle, rest assured, I won’t look for families with lofty statuses, just those that are honest and kind."

As for the family circumstances, Gu Dafu didn’t mind. With the dividend from the workshop, his share was for his two children. With the silver he provided, his children’s lives would be quite comfortable. They wouldn’t need to cling to those wealthy families without conscience.

After Third Grandpa and Third Grandma spoke, the various families had no objections.

Gu Jinli didn’t care about this either. With the promise in hand, if anyone dared to play tricks, she would kick them out of the workshop.

Seeing that the families all agreed, Gu Dafu was very grateful and kept thanking everyone.

Gu Dexing saw his father thanking each family one by one and felt embarrassed and couldn’t help but turn and leave.

Gu Yumei, who was slapped in public by Mrs. Chen, had wanted to leave earlier, and upon seeing Gu Dexing leave, she immediately followed.

Gu Dafu quickly chased after them: "Brother Xing, Sister Mei, be careful, it’s dark."

After Gu Dafu’s family left, Third Grandpa said to the families, "Line up to collect the silver."

"Eh," the families were worried about Gu Dafu’s family, but upon hearing about the distribution of silver, they immediately became cheerful.

Thanks to the dividend shared by Gu Dafu’s family with the six households, each family received an additional twenty taels of silver. Now each family had one hundred and forty-five taels of silver in their bags.

Aunt Tian, who was timid, trembled non-stop holding so much silver all at once, causing Tian Xiaohua and Tian Erqiang to be so anxious they almost wanted to help her hold it.

Old Mrs. Yan was no better off; seeing a bag full of silver, she felt dizzy and nearly fainted.

"One hundred and forty-five taels, this old lady has lived her whole life and only today has seen so much silver."

Her family back in their hometown was not wealthy. During the famine, they sold half their land and added to their years of savings, only amassing a few dozen taels of silver. Now, in just over a month, they had earned so much.

Old Mrs. Yan looked at Gu Jinli and said, "Little Xiao Yu, you are blessed. Our families have prospered thanks to your good fortune."

She looked at Gu Jinli more and more as if the girl was a treasure basin, a precious object that could generate silver for the families.

Gu Jinli was looked at with such a fervent gaze by Old Mrs. Yan that she almost mistook herself for a gold ingot.

Aunt Tian then smiled and said, "Elder Sister-in-law is right, Xiao Yu is blessed after surviving a great catastrophe; with her around, our families’ days are sure to become more and more prosperous."

"Naturally, with tofu and spices, it’s hard for our families not to thrive," said Old Mrs. Yan, who, feeling joyful today, talked more than usual despite her usually poor voice.

In the end, she looked at Third Grandpa and said, "Old buddy, my Dalin can’t stay single forever. Brother Xi and Gui Niu are still young and need a mother. I’m thinking of finding another wife for Dalin; it’s not a real life without a wife."