Chapter 376: Shameless

"You’re so stupid, so impulsive, you’ve ruined both our dad’s reputation and your own. There was nothing between our dad and Ms. Xu Wang, but with the fuss you made today, everyone will think they’re involved!"

Gu Yumei’s sobs quieted a bit as she choked up, "I was just too angry at the time, I didn’t think about these things... wuu wuu wuu, big brother, I was wrong."

Mrs. Chen had already prepared the meal and brought it into the main room. Hearing voices from Gu Yumei’s room, she shouted, "What are you talking about? Hurry up and come out to eat. Do you expect someone to bring the food in for you?!"

Gu Yumei’s face was swollen from being beaten, and she didn’t want to go out to eat, so she said to Gu Dexing, "Bro, could you bring the food in for me?"

Although Gu Dexing was angry with her for wrongly accusing Gu Dafu, he still felt sorry for his sister and went out to bring the food in for her.

Gu Yumei became furious upon seeing a burnt bean dregs cake and a bowl of wild vegetable and soybean soup, "Is this even edible? I don’t want it, take it away."

Mrs. Chen was already displeased when Gu Dexing took food to Gu Yumei, and upon hearing these words, she kicked the door and cursed, "If you don’t eat then starve. Why is it that our food is getting worse? It’s all because of you! For your sake, we haven’t had any money coming in for several months and now we’re in debt. And you still complain about the food. If you want better food, bring in some silver."

Mrs. Chen was itching to slap Gu Yumei a few more times.

Gu Yumei became scared and did not dare to complain any further. She took the bean dregs cake and the wild vegetable and soybean soup, and began to eat. However, her face was beaten so severely, and the soybeans weren’t cooked until tender and were a bit hard, causing her cheeks to ache as she chewed, and she ate while her tears fell.

Seeing her cry again, Mrs. Chen sneered and walked out to eat.

But she herself was also having a hard time eating. She said to Gu Dewang and Gu Defa, "You two, go visit Aunt Daya’s place."

Gu Dewang immediately understood, but Sister Xiao Yu said that people should have some dignity. It’s okay to scrounge a meal occasionally, but to specifically wait for mealtime to scrounge for meat is too shameless and unacceptable.

Gu Dewang, Mrs. Chen’s son, naturally had thick skin and wasn’t afraid of losing face. He just felt that he should listen to Sister Xiao Yu, so he pretended not to hear.

Mrs. Chen kicked him, "Are you deaf? Your mother told you to visit Gu Daya’s house. Don’t you want to eat meat?"

Gu Dewang hurriedly gulped down the wild vegetable and soybean soup in his bowl in a few quick swallows, grabbed two bean dregs cakes, and ran, "Mom, I’m done eating. I’m going back to my room to study."

"Spit, you usually act like studying is like asking for your life, and now you suddenly know to work hard? If you don’t want to go for the meat, just say it," Mrs. Chen said, frustrated. Then she spoke to Gu Defa, "Brother Fa, you go. Get some duck innards for our family, and I’ll fry them for you. They’re really delicious."

Gu Daya’s house makes braised foods and roast duck every day, and they have a lot of duck innards. Lately, they had been sending a large plate of them to a few households every day, but it seems today they didn’t send any to her family after receiving instructions from Xiao Yu.

Gu Defa glanced at Mrs. Chen and silently continued eating his bean dregs cake.

Mrs. Chen kicked him, but Gu Defa still didn’t move. Mrs. Chen was so angry she nearly vomited blood, "How did a smart person like me give birth to two dead logs like you, who won’t budge even when kicked!"

Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui didn’t come back until after Mrs. Chen’s family had finished their meal; the two of them had to apologize to Old Guo and his group with such forced smiles that their faces almost stiffened.

After hastily eating two bean dregs cakes, the brothers went to borrow money from Gu Damu’s family.

Third Grandma had already fronted them thirty taels of silver; they were too embarrassed to ask for more from Third Grandpa and Third Grandma and had no choice but to turn to Old Mrs. Yan at the Damu household.

Old Mrs. Yan’s man was the eldest among the grandfathers of several branches and was a serial brother with Third Grandpa and Village Chief Gu. Out of a sense of kinship, she lent them five taels of silver so they could buy some generous gifts and properly apologize to the Wang Family.

With the borrowed money in hand, the brothers headed to town the next day and bought a bunch of nice things.

As soon as they headed to town, they were spotted by Shuzi, who immediately ran back to inform Wan Lifang and Scholar Wan.

Ms. Ni, Scholar Wan’s wife, was also there. Upon hearing Shuzi reporting on Gu Dafu’s family affairs again, she snorted, "Our family is that of a scholar, a scholarly family. It’s so shameful for you to grovel to the family of these peasants."

"Ms. Ni, shut your mouth! Do you want to be divorced and sent back to your parents?" Scholar Wan, who valued his reputation above all, was furious to be told by his wife that he was fawning over peasants, trembling with anger.

Hearing this, Ms. Ni cried out grievously, "If my lord wishes to divorce his wife, then just do it. It would be better to die; after all, living now is to be trampled by my lord, it’s better to be dead."

"You, you shrewish woman, who is trampling on you? Isn’t Gu Dafu’s family richer than your parental home?" Scholar Wan pointed at Ms. Ni and said, "If we had married a girl from your family, who would have provided the silver for Brother Fang to go take the exams for an official position?"

Each trip to the exams would require thirty taels of silver just to cover travel, accommodation, and leisure expenses with fellow scholars—not to mention that one doesn’t only take the exam once. With Scholar, advanced scholar, and top scholar exams requiring multiple attempts, the costs are astronomical. Neither the Wan Family nor the Ni Family could afford it, so they had to marry into a wealthy family and rely on the bride’s family to finance the imperial examination.

Ms. Ni was very clear about it, yet she still disliked Gu Dafu’s family, "Gu Dafu’s family is just one of the owners of Gu’s Workshop and Gu’s Restaurant, how much money can they have? Besides, aren’t there many wealthy people in Tianfu County? Why should our family go marry their daughter? Can’t we look for a bride in the county town instead?"

Wan Lifang said, "Mother, with our family’s situation, it’s not easy to marry a daughter from a rich family in the county. My son is going to take the imperial exam next year; we can’t wait any longer."

Do you think he didn’t want to marry a daughter from a rich family in the county?

But how could those families take a fancy to his? He too longed for a private tutoring session with the county’s young ladies, but he had no opportunity to make a move, and had to settle for Gu Dafu’s family.

Wan Lifang continued, "Mother, you don’t need to be angry. Our family is just temporarily allying with Gu Dafu’s family through marriage. Once we bring Gu Yumei into our home, after three months, my son will take his cousin as his noble concubine and have her bear his children. Later, everything in our home will be inherited by the cousin’s son."

Hearing this, Ms. Ni finally felt somewhat relieved.

The reason she agreed to send a matchmaker to propose to Gu Dafu’s family was that Scholar Wan and Wan Lifang had promised to bring Ni Ruiniang into their household. And they would let Ni Ruiniang bear children first. If Ni Ruiniang’s womb was strong enough to produce three sons, the family wouldn’t allow Gu Yumei to bear children, and everything in the home would belong to Ni Ruiniang’s children, ensuring the Ni Family wouldn’t suffer a loss.

Still, Ms. Ni worriedly said, "Remember what you promised. If you dare let that wretched girl from Gu’s family bear a child, Mother will never let you off the hook!"

"Alright, alright, Mother, rest assured. Our family is just using Gu Yumei, using her family’s silver to support us. We won’t really take her seriously," Wan Lifang hurried to accidentally encounter Gu Dafu, and in a rush to pacify Ms. Ni, he uttered these despicable words.