“You are comparing raw, unprepared herbs with prepared medicinal herbs. They are very different.” Mrs. Wu gave her a what-do-you-know look, “One basket of medicinal herbs from my husband can fetch 2 taels of silver! The better one’s technique in preparing the medicinal herbs, the higher they can sell for. Besides, what good would lying to you do me?”
“You mean to tell me that that damned child has 60 taels of silver in her hand?” That’s 60 taels of silver! And all from just one time! And hat damned child had only been learning it for a few days. If that’s how much she could earn already, by the same method of calculations, she could make several hundreds of taels a year! Mrs. Gu felt as though someone had gouge her heart out with a knife and blood was pouring out of her chest. How could she be so blind and swept the god of wealth out of her own house!
“More than that!” The look of jealousy intensified in Mrs. Wu’s eyes. She gulp greedily and said, “That girl had also saved Landlord Ding in town. Young Master Ding had given her 100 taels to thank her on top of rolls of fabrics, a entire rack of pork, and boxes and boxes of snacks. All of them the best you could find in town!!”
Mrs. Gu’s pupil enlarged and her nostrils flared. Panting heavily, she couldn’t make a sound for the longest time. One hundred sixty taels of silver plus all the goodies. She had never seen anything like that in her entire life. All of those were hers. HERS!!
Mrs. Wu was enjoying the look on her face and she chewed on the melon seeds even happier than before, “You know, that was so silly of you. So you let that old man adopt Gu Ming to take care of him but how many more years do you think you need to feed that Gu Ye girl? She’s probably going to grow into a pretty girl in a few years; then you will able to sell her to some prominent family as a concubine. She was be worth some money!”
“What’s the point of talking about that now? We have already edited the genealogy and she had already moved away. Even if I want her back now, you think that old thing would let her go?” Mrs. Gu wanted to slap herself a few times right about now. If only she had been better to that girl, she just might be able to get a little something from her now.
“Oh, look at you. You have raised them for so many years. They owe it to you. You might be the stepmom, but your husband is their real father. It is very important for them to be familial. If they don’t give you money, you go and sue them and give them bad reputation. By then, they would be drowned in others’ spit!” Mrs. Wu was a true villain, offering up sinister ideas one after another.
“Yes! Ask for money! Their father had supported them for over 10 years, we can’t just let them go like that!” Mrs. Gu put down what she was doing with her hands, put on her shoes, and shouted at Da Zhuang, who was playing outside, “Da Zhuang, Da Zhuang! Go get your dad! Quickly!”
Da Zhuang was having a good time with his buddies outside and reluctantly went into the courtyard and asked, “What’s the matter? Why do you need dad home now?”
“Just go and get him! Why do you have so many questions?” Mrs. Gu smacked her son upside his head, smiled and tempted him, “If you do well, I will get you new clothes and meat!”
Da Zhuang was not interested in new clothes, but he started drooling as soon as he heard the mentioning of meat. He dashed out immediately, faster than a rabbit. All one could hear was his excited voice, “Mom, don’t worry! I will have him back before you know it!”
Gu Qiao was huddling up in some shady courtyard in the village and watching others gambling. He wanted to join in too, but every penny on him was taken away by Mrs. Gu. Hrm! That woman needed a beating. She loved money more than she loved her real dad. His first wife was much better. Every time he left the house, she always gave him a handful of change, so that he wouldn’t have no money in front of his friends.
But… Gu Qiao frowned. If she didn’t make that decision all on her own, he wouldn’t need to come and hide out in such a remote village deep in the mountains in the first place. All these was her fault to begin with!