Chapter 501: Reporting to the Authorities to Arrest Your Son?

Old Fu, who was rather bold, said to Uncle Ping, "I’ll take five brothers with me, but we won’t enter the Wan Family’s gate. We’ll just stand by outside for support."

In this way, if Wan Lifang really did kidnap the two children and they were discovered, they could promptly go in to assist. If nothing was discovered, their trip would be for naught, and since the government officials did not enter the premises, the Wan Family would have no grounds to report them to the county government.

Uncle Ping nodded, "Alright, you take people and go."

Village Chief He was very pleased and thanked Old Fu with a cupped fist salute, "Elder Fu has worked hard, please follow this old man."

Without any fuss, Old Fu took the five government officials and left with Village Chief He.

Village Chief He immediately beat the gong to summon the Lu Family people and took them to confront the Wan Family.

He Dacang and the others did not go with them but stayed in the village to help Gu Dafu’s family with the funeral arrangements.

Third Grandma, Mrs. Cui, Aunt Tian, Ms. Yan, when they heard of Gu Yumei’s death, cried uncontrollably.

Mrs. Cui was extremely frightened and called Old Zhu’s wife, Zhu Chahua, Mrs. Wang Ma, and Ms. Xu Wang to her house, asking them to stay there to watch over Gu Jinxiu and the others, while she went to Gu Dafu’s family to help with the arrangements for Gu Yumei’s aftermath.

Ms. Chu also wanted to go. She left Luo Huiniang at Gu Jinli’s house to keep Gu Jinli’s sisters company.

Luo Huiniang felt terribly guilty about Gu Yumei’s death and pleaded with Ms. Chu, "Mother, let me go and help too."

But Ms. Chu scolded her, "What nonsense are you talking about? Is this a place a young girl like you can go to? Just stay put at Sister Xiu’s house, and sleep here tonight. If there’s any matter, we will discuss it tomorrow."

Gu Jinxiu also held on to Luo Huiniang, saying, "Huiniang, stay and keep us company. We’ll talk about it when it’s daylight tomorrow."

With Gu Yumei gone, chaos was sure to ensue; they couldn’t help, so they should just stay put.

Luo Huiniang had no choice but to nod in agreement, and only then did Ms. Chu leave with Third Grandma and Mrs. Cui.

Third Grandma cried all the way there. No matter how haughty Sister Mei was, she had watched her grow up from birth, had held and kissed Gu Yumei as a child, and even helped to feed her.

At that time, she felt that Gu Yumei had a good life; the things she ate were several times better than other girls in the village. Other girls couldn’t even think of eating meat, it was difficult enough to get an egg, but Gu Yumei as a child could eat eggs every day and was raised very delicately.

"Third Aunt, Sister Mei is gone..." As soon as Third Grandma arrived at Gu Dafu’s family, Mrs. Chen began to cry, "I’ve wronged the elder sister-in-law, I failed to take good care of Sister Mei, I deserve to die!"

With tears in her eyes, Third Grandma patted Mrs. Chen’s hand and said, "Stop crying, go and boil some water quickly, and tidy up the child. Her mother misses her and wants to take her away."

Although Mrs. Chen had a bad temper, she was an extremely good aunt and sincerely cherished Brother Xing and Sister Mei.

Mrs. Chen was crying uncontrollably, but she obediently went to boil water to prepare to wash and dress up Gu Yumei.

Old Mrs. Yan, supported by Ms. Yan, also came to Gu Dafu’s family, and upon seeing Gu Yumei’s body, she too burst into tears.

After Mrs. Chen boiled the water, Third Grandma, Ms. Chu, and others brought the water into Gu Yumei’s room, gave her a bath, cleaned off the blood from her hair and body, found a new autumn garment to dress her in, and combed her hair neatly.

Mrs. Chen took out a silver hairpin she had secretly bought and put it on Gu Yumei: "When you came of age, we were still on the run, and the family didn’t hold a coming-of-age ceremony for you. Wear this silver hairpin, so that when you go down there, it can make you proud."

This girl cared most about saving face.

After they had washed and dressed Gu Yumei, Gu Dafu woke up as well.

Third Grandpa was by his bedside, comforting him for a long time before he didn’t faint again.

Although Gu Dafu did not faint, his body radiated a heavy twilight air, as if he had suddenly stepped from middle age into old age. His gaze swept around the room, and not seeing Gu Dagui, he urgently called out: "Da Gui, where is Da Gui?"

Gu Dagui was in the yard discussing with several men how to handle Gu Yumei’s funeral arrangements. Hearing Gu Dafu’s voice, he hurriedly ran into the house. Seeing that Gu Dafu had woken up, he said joyfully: "Brother, you’re awake. I’m here, do you have anything you want to tell me?"

Gu Dafu, with tears in his eyes, said: "Sister Mei was someone who cared about her appearance. She loved those silver and golden hairpins. I want to borrow some silver coins from you to rush to the county and buy her a set of gold three-piece jewelry to be buried with her... I didn’t let her wear them while she was alive... Now I must make it up to her, to send her off happily."

Gu Dagui said: "Okay, after I have arranged Sister Mei’s funeral, I will go to the county town to buy them for her."

The gold three-piece set was an expensive item, but if he didn’t buy it, big brother would certainly feel uneasy and increasingly think he had let Sister Mei down.

Gu Dafu continued: "There are brocade clothes in the county town, buy a set for her. She always pestered me for one before, but I, as her father, was incapable and didn’t have the money for it."

He also brought up the matter of the coffin: "We should buy a good one and also purchase some insect-repellent spices. She had the temperament of a young lady, so we need to make things proper for her, otherwise, she might complain."

Gu Dagui was noting down each item one by one, although each was an expensive item, he did not make any complaints. The family was willing to spend the money for Sister Mei.

Beside him, Gu Dexing was listening and crying along.

Gu Dewang and Gu Defa were terrified; the two younger boys hid in their own room but could not help running out to look. Seeing everyone crying, they knew that Sister Yu Mei had passed away and were scared into tears themselves.

Gu Dagui had no time to attend to them; after writing down everything Gu Dafu had said, he went to take out all the silver coins in the house... Fortunately, they had received the workshop’s dividend at the end of August, otherwise, they truly would have had no money to conduct the funeral.

...

While the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Luotian families were taking care of Gu Yumei’s funeral arrangements, Village Chief He, together with people from the Lu Family, stormed the gate of the Wan Family.

After the Wan’s Private School was converted into a Carriage Inn, it had been open every day recently. Village Chief He and his party didn’t need to knock on the door but instead directly entered the open school door of the Wan Family.

Old Ni was minding the store; seeing Village Chief He and his men arrive, he frowned and asked: "This is a carriage inn, we also serve meals, are you here to eat or stay?"

Lu Haozi, who had learned that his two children were missing and had already rushed back from where he was working, grabbed Old Ni’s clothes upon hearing this and said: "Do we look like we’re here to eat? Hand over Wan Lifang immediately, or we’ll smash this broken shop to pieces!"

Mrs. Ni had already gone to find Ms. Ni; informed that a group of people had arrived at the carriage inn, and those people were from Da Feng Village, Ms. Ni was furious, slamming on the table: "Those pestilent Da Feng villagers, when will they ever end? Can we never shake them off? Coming and coming again, I must make them regret it this time!"

Ms. Ni went straight to the kitchen, took a kitchen knife, rushed to the front of the shop, and angrily confronted Village Chief He: "What are you people from Da Feng Village trying to do? This is the Scholar’s house, and you just burst in and dared to hit our servant. Just wait, I’m going to report to the government right now!"

Ms. Ni then shouted towards Shuzi: "What are you standing around for? Go to Si Li Square and find Master Kong, the government official, and tell him that robbers are raiding the Scholar’s house!"

Village Chief He sneered and said: "Report to the officials, are you going to get your son arrested?"