Gu Qiao was not in a good mood when he was dragged home by his stepson. He snapped at Mrs. Gu as soon as he stepped inside the door, “What do you want? Do you know what everybody was saying about you? Said you can’t be away from your man for even a minute! Hurry up and say what it was that you wanted to tell me so badly. And give me some change so I can go try my luck!”
It was rare that Mrs. Gu didn’t snap at him after the mention of money. Quite contrarily, she walked up to him and grabbed his arm with a smile on her. Gu Qiao shook off her arm forcefully and said in the most solemn way, “What’s wrong with you? You really desire men now? It’s still broad daylight and the kids are around. Keep your hands to yourself!”
Mrs. Gu rolled her eyes and said, “What are you talking about? I have great news to tell you!”
Then she proceeded to tell him everything that she had heard from Mrs. Wu word for word. Gu Qiao had a lot of thoughts going through him. One hundred and sixty taels of silver. It’d be a lie to say that he didn’t want them. He was barely making one tael of silver a month when he was a second shopkeeper in the shop. One hundred and sixty taels of silver would be his salary for tens of years!
But then again, Gu Ye had already been adopted and was now someone else’s granddaughter. He has a reputation to keep. He couldn’t bring himself to go over to her place and ask her for money!
Naturally, Mrs. Gu could tell what was going through his mind. She quickly added, “Husband, think about it. We are talkinga bout 160 taels of silver. What’s your important? Money or your reputation?”
Seeing that her man was still quiet, she added again, “Okay, never mind us, but think about Xiao Zhuang! Do you want to see him staying in this remote village and half starved all the time? Thinking about it, once we have the hundred something taels of silver, we can buy a house in town. We can buy a few more acres of land, then Xiao Zhuang will be a town boy; it will be so much easier for him to find a wife then.”
Her words had moved the man. That’s right! His biggest wish his entire life was to get out of this remove village and become a true town-dweller. He was so close to fulfilling that dream back in the days but it was all ruined by his late wife! So, right now, it’s only fair that her damned daughter would pay him back for all that was owe to him!
When Gu Qiao and Mrs. Gu appeared at the entrance of Gu Xiao’s house, Gu Ming was chopping firewood in the courtyard. Mrs. Gu quickly nudged her man.
Gu Qiao walked up to him and, with the most doting look, said, “How could they let a child like you do this kind of work? Quick, give me the axe, dad will help…”
If this was still two months ago, Gu Ming would probably still be touched by these pretentious words from Gu Qiao. But now, after experiencing them trying to sell of his sister, following by giving his own son up for adoption because he didn’t want to follow through with it, Gu Ming was completely disappointed at this father.
He took a side to the side and avoided his dad’s hands that were reaching for the axe. He remained silent for a little before he said, “That’s alright. I am used to these types of work. I wouldn’t want to trouble Seventh Uncle for help.”
Gu Qiao face darkened and he almost couldn’t maintain the smile on his face. He chuckled dryly a couple of times and said, “Oh, you child. What do you mean by ‘Seventh Uncle’, I am your dad…”
Before he could finish with what he was saying, Gu Xiao came out of the house and said, “What’s the matter, Little Seventh. Do you regret now and want your kids back? Too little, too late! The adoption had already been formalized and we have already edited the genealogy. Ming-er has nothing to do with you anymore. Adoption is a serious matter. You can’t just take it back whenever you want. Where’s your respect for the Patriarch? Where’s your respect for our clan?”
“Fifth Uncle, who said anything about regret? You are putting words in my mouth; I said nothing like that!” What else could Gu Qiao have said after the “clan” was mentioned?