Chapter 427: Disdain

Originally thought Gu Dafu’s family was quite wealthy, but listening to this, something seems off, the more I hear it sounds like they are poor?

Mrs. Ni’s family was her accompanying house, initially servants of the Ni Family, naturally inclined towards the Ni Family. Today, besides delivering festival gifts, they were also ordered to investigate whether Gu Dafu’s family really had wealth, or was it just superficial?

If it was just superficial, then the Wan Family would be at a great loss.

Mrs. Ni’s husband quietly stepped off the mule cart, and walked towards the courtyard of Gu Dafu’s family, wanting to hear more clearly, but Mrs. Chen and Gu Yumei had already stopped arguing, and he didn’t hear anything further.

Wan Lifang, accompanied by Mrs. Ni and Shuzi, followed Gu Defa to the new workshop. Seeing that the new workshop was a grand mansion with five sections, their eyes turned green with envy. However, they weren’t allowed inside the new workshop; only Old Zhu and He Sanlai allowed Gu Defa to enter.

Mrs. Ni was furious, pointing at Wan Lifang and said, "This gentleman is the young master from Scholar Wan’s family in town, and also your workshop’s future son-in-law, here today to deliver festival gifts. Knowing his future father-in-law is busy in the workshop, he specially came to pick him up. If you don’t let our young master enter, when your superiors find out, you will have more than you can handle."

"What are you talking about? Our master’s daughter isn’t betrothed to anyone. If you are looking for Uncle Dafu, just wait outside; he will be out soon." He Sanlai couldn’t stand Mrs. Ni’s aggressive demeanor, after saying this, with a bang, he slammed the door shut.

Mrs. Ni’s face turned pale and purple with rage, her hands trembling, she said to Wan Lifang, "Young master, the Gu Family’s servants are too audacious. You are supposed to be the son-in-law of the owner of this workshop, and they dare treat you like this."

Wan Lifang’s face looked quite ugly, scolding Mrs. Ni, "What nonsense are you talking about? My father-in-law is only one of the owners of this workshop. Your random shouting, if overheard, would turn into a laughing matter."

In fact, he was very displeased, feeling disgraced, and began to harbor resentment towards Gu Dafu’s family.

What does it mean being only one of the workshop’s owners?

Can’t Gu Dafu just buy this entire workshop?

Now, it has led to him being blocked outside by the servants, completely losing face.

Mrs. Ni had watched Wan Lifang grow up; seeing his face, she knew he was angry, and what Mrs. Ni wanted was to provoke Wan Lifang.

Gu Dafu’s family was only one of the owners of Gu’s Workshop and Gu’s Restaurant, and the Wan Family knew this. Mrs. Ni deliberately had Mrs. Ni say these things, to provoke Wan Lifang, causing him to be dissatisfied with Gu Dafu’s family.

Only in this way would Wan Lifang lose interest in Gu Yumei and favor Ni Ruiniang instead.

Gu Yumei was considerably prettier than Ni Ruiniang, and moreover, Gu Yumei was still a virgin, something Wan Lifang hadn’t touched, which always seemed fresher than something that had been touched. Mrs. Ni needed to stir up trouble between Wan Lifang and Gu Dafu’s family, helping Ni Ruiniang win favor.

An hour later, Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui came out, seeing Wan Lifang they were very pleased: "Brother Fang, have you been waiting long? Come, let’s go to our place, have lunch at our house."

Gu Dafu spoke cheerfully, taking Wan Lifang and his servants back to his home.

Gu Dagui took Gu Defa to Gu Daya’s house, purchasing some marinated meats and roast duck to entertain guests.

Wan Lifang, fearful that Gu Dafu was just superficial, saw that the lunch was marinated meats and roast duck, finally somewhat relieved, as he didn’t want to be deceived into marrying a poor girl from Gu Dafu’s family.

But looking at Gu Dafu’s family’s old mud house, he worriedly asked, "Father-in-law, Jianghuai has a lot of rain, and it’s the rainy season now. This house looks quite old; will it leak when it rains heavily? If it leaks, tell me, and I will find someone to repair the house for you."

Gu Dafu waved his hand with a smile: "No need, no need, the roof at home has already been repaired, and it can handle several heavy rains. Besides, we will not live in this house for long, and by next year, we can build a new house."

Next year?

Wan Lifang was displeased upon hearing this and responded with a smile: "Why wait until next year? Fall is the best time for house construction. Why not build it this fall?"

Gu Dafu felt a bit embarrassed because Sister Mei had made a mistake, resulting in their family being fined several months’ dividends by the workshop, and they had debts to repay this year, making it impossible to build a house. However, he couldn’t disclose this to Wan Lifang and merely said: "There aren’t many tilers and bricklayers in the town, and Master Yuan and others still need to build a shop. After the shop is built, they have to build houses for Third Grandpa’s Family and Uncle Luo’s family. By the time it’s our turn, it will be after the New Year."

Upon hearing this, Wan Lifang finally felt relieved, "I see."

He had thought that Gu Dafu’s family wasn’t building a house because they lacked money.

After putting down this heavy burden, Wan Lifang enjoyed a cheerful meal at Gu Dafu’s house. He sat there for about half an hour before bidding farewell.

Before leaving, Wan Lifang also met Gu Yumei, whose face was flushed and appearance charming, making him feel irresistibly itchy. Although Gu Yumei had fled from famine, she was prettier and had a better figure than Ni Ruiniang, and her family had money; marrying her would be a worthwhile gain.

Wan Lifang was very tactful. Taking the opportunity when Gu Yumei came to see him off, he discreetly slipped her a slip of paper with a cheesy love poem he had written.

The love poem was quite clichéd, but Gu Yumei, being illiterate, couldn’t understand it and just felt delighted with the poem, joyously holding onto the scrap of paper in the house for a long time.

While Gu Yumei was pleased, Wan Lifang returned home and had a fit of rage because Mrs. Ni’s husband had blurted out what he had overheard in front of the Wan Family People.

Wan Lifang felt humiliated and confronted Mrs. Ni’s husband: "Is what you heard really true? Gu Dafu runs both Gu’s Workshop and Gu’s Restaurant. How could he possibly need to borrow money to get by?"

Mrs. Ni’s husband knelt on the ground and said: "Young master, I truly heard it. Mrs. Chen even scolded Miss Gu severely because the family was fined their dividends."

"What was the reason for the fine on dividends? Did you hear why?" Scholar Wan asked.

Mrs. Ni’s husband shook his head: "I didn’t hear. They didn’t say, just that Miss Gu made a mistake that led to the fines on the family by the workshop."

"Hah, look at that, didn’t I say Gu Yumei was bad news? What could a young lady have possibly done to cause her family to be fined? This kind of troublemaking lady, if we marry her into our family, could we even live peacefully?" Ms. Ni commented sarcastically while sitting on a chair.

"Will you hold your tongue? Is this the time to be making sarcastic remarks?" Scholar Wan was in pain from anger, fearing that if Gu Yumei really was a spendthrift, this marriage proposal would indeed be disastrous.

Scholar Wan regretted it deeply and was thinking about calling off the engagement.

But since he was the one who had decided on this engagement, calling it off would mean losing face.

"Old Dong, did you really hear it clearly?" Scholar Wan asked, still not giving up hope.

Old Ni responded: "My lord, Mrs. Chen indeed said so. And she disdains Miss Gu very much, wanting to marry her off quickly to avoid cursing the family."

Scholar Wan was shocked. Even his own maternal aunt disdained her - was Gu Yumei truly so unbearable?