“How could you blame that on me? It was your son and daughter pair! Now that they can make money on their own, they didn’t to be dragged down by their poor, old dad. That was why they had the tie-severing documentation done. How was that my fault? You are right, I did want to get more money from that old crippled. But who was I doing that for? I did that all for Xiao Zhuang! You didn’t object to that either! How is it all my fault now?” Mrs. Gu, sitting down on the ground, covering her head and face with her arms, cried and defended herself.
“Gu Qiao! Is Gu Ming your only son? Is Xiao Zhuang not your son also? Your great son handed over the money himself and said that he has nothing to do with you anymore. He probably didn’t want you as his father long time ago. And you were the only one who still think about your father-son relationship!”
Seeing that the slapping had decreased in intensity, Mrs. Gu lifted up her head, wiped away her tears and snorts and continued to push away all responsibilities from herself.
All Gu Qiao wanted was a scape goat to blame it all on. Hearing his wife’s words, the last shred of warmth and longing in his heart dissipated and he mumbled to himself, “That’s right. It was Ming-er who said we are severing all ties with each other! Haha, what a wonderful son that he was. He wasn’t even rich yet and he couldn’t wait to think his dad was dragging him down. All good! I don’t need a son like him. He would just grow into a white-eyed wolf anyway.”
“Exactly! Exactly! You still have Xiao Zhaung! He would be familial to you after he grows up!” Mrs. Gu quickly climbed up from the ground and patted the dirt off of herself. She retreated to the front of the door and said, “I am going to go bring Xiao Zhuang back. I don’t want him to go crazy playing with the other kids and hurt himself now.”
Having said that, she dashed out of the door as if she was being chased by vicious dogs. Her chubby body was moving faster than a rabbit!
The courtyard was quiet with only Gu Qiao standing where he was. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh, turned and walked back inside the house. That’s right! From now on, Xiao Zhuang would be his only son left!
Contrasting to the desolation of Gu Qiao’s house, Gu Xiao’s courtyard was bustling with liveliness.
“Village Head, Second Brother, All Other Brothers, nobody leaves today. I have a great bottle of wine here that’s from my precious granddaughter. You must all have a taste of it!” Gu Xiao passionately invited everyone to stay for dinner after he carefully put away the documents.
The Patriarch, village head, and the several elders couldn’t decline his passion and stayed. The village head said to his grandson, “Go get some radishes, cabbages, and potatoes for side dishes. Fifth Brother, don’t try to stop him. We don’t have anything fancy at home; these were all grown in our own farms.”
The old Patriarch started to say as well, “Fifth Brother, you came back here late in time and missed the time to pickle vegetables. You can’t not have vegetables at all over the winter. I will have a couple of your nephews bring some over for you in a little bit. We have too much anyway….”
The other elders also expressed that they, too, have more than enough pickled vegetables at home that they could share with Gu Xiao. Last time the Gu’s went into the mountain and couldn’t finish up the wild boar that they have hunted so they sent some to each of these families. Each family got about 2.5 kg. Nobody could even remember the last time the kids in the families have had meat. The several kilogram of wild boar meat was only too satisfying for them.
And then there was today, Gu Xiao had received 25-30 kilogram of pork from the Ding’s and kept only 5 or so for themselves. The rest was also divvied up to his several brothers. In their mind, Gu Xiao was a very generous man and everyone thought highly of him. Having their approval, Gu Xiao and the children would only be more well liked in the village.