Chapter 340 - 338: Making a Suggestion

Chapter 340: Chapter 338: Making a Suggestion

"Grandma, don’t worry. Who says we can’t do anything about Third Aunt? After this is all over, you can do whatever you want. But before that, we have to make sure we’re in the right." Gu Nuan Nuan was smiling, but her eyes were ice-cold.

’She couldn’t bring herself to feel any sympathy for her third aunt; in fact, she found her utterly repulsive.’

’They say even a vicious tiger won’t eat its own cubs, but in her past life, for her own selfish gain, that woman was directly responsible for the deaths of two of her children. In the end, just to ease her own conscience, she blamed everything on Cousin Laidi. Even after Laidi died, she refused to claim her body. Not only did she refuse to go, but she also forbade Third Uncle from going. She even had the audacity to curse her day in and day out, wishing her no peace even in death. Is that how a mother treats her own daughter? How is that any different from being mortal enemies?’

In the end, it was Grandma and Grandpa who tearfully arranged for Cousin Laidi’s final affairs. Her death dealt a devastating blow to them, leaving them overwhelmed with self-blame, feeling utterly helpless.

’Heh, people could be so ridiculous. Her third aunt, the one who should have been wracked with guilt, instead acted like she was the victim. Meanwhile, her grandparents, who had no reason to feel guilty, couldn’t stop blaming themselves for not being able to protect their granddaughter...’

She took a deep breath. "As the saying goes, being in the right will take you anywhere; being in the wrong will get you nowhere. Since Third Aunt is so determined to dig her own grave, let’s let her. First, you should speak with Grandpa and a few of the clan elders. Discuss this with them and decide how to handle her. Then, we wait. When she actually tries to send Laidi away, we’ll take a group of people to stop them and blow the whole thing wide open. At that point, she won’t be able to talk her way out of it.

And that will be the perfect time for you, Grandma, to force Third Uncle and Third Aunt to divorce. Who could criticize our family then? In the future, when Cousin Tianci is older, he’ll have no reason to resent you or First Uncle for it.

Of course, just to be safe, I’m also going to sneak over to Third Uncle’s house tonight. I need to see Cousin Laidi and reassure her. I’m worried that being locked up will terrify her, and she’ll think she’s really going to be secretly sent to Xu Banxian’s home. If she feels like she has no one to turn to, she might do something drastic—something that would devastate her family and delight her enemies."

"...You’re right. ’Being in the right will take you anywhere; being in the wrong will get you nowhere,’" Wen Xiu murmured. "I was too hasty. This is the right way to handle it. She’s the one who’s clearly in the wrong. We can’t let her gain everyone’s sympathy while we’re accused of being bullies."

She finally regained her composure and grabbed Gu Nuan Nuan’s hand. "Let’s go. We’ll go straight to your granduncle’s house and find your grandpa to talk this over."

"Alright." Gu Nuan Nuan smiled.

"Oh dear, wait! The soup I have on the stove..." Wen Xiu suddenly exclaimed.

"I already took care of it," Gu Nuan Nuan said in a low voice. "I put out the fire in the stove, too. Everything else can wait until we get back."

"Then let’s go. It’s a good thing you’re so thoughtful." Wen Xiu was a little embarrassed, thinking that for all her years, she wasn’t as level-headed as a young child like Nuannuan.

"That’s just because you were beside yourself with worry."

Gu Nuan Nuan smiled again. ’Of course, there were a couple of reasons she could stay so rational,’ she thought. ’For one, she already knew this was going to happen. For another, her affection for Cousin Laidi simply wasn’t as deep as her grandmother’s.’

"You can say that again." Wen Xiu grew indignant just thinking about it. "Even beasts know to protect their own young, but she’s worse than a beast. A person like that... A person like that... Ugh, forget it. I’ll just play the wicked mother-in-law for once. If I let her keep carrying on like this... When Tianci is old enough to marry, what family will let a good girl marry him, knowing he has a mother like that? I have to steel my heart, if only for his sake. And then there’s your third uncle... Ugh. Don’t be fooled because he looks like he obeys her every command. I know my own son, don’t I? He’s completely heartless, only caring about making his own life easier. What do his wife and children even mean to him?"

She shook her head. "I hate to admit it, but I have to. The truth is, your second and third uncles take right after their paternal grandparents—selfish and self-serving. As long as things are good for them, they couldn’t care less about anyone else. So that third uncle of yours... as long as I promise to find him another wife and offer him some perks, I guarantee he’ll divorce your third aunt without any fuss. The only reason I didn’t step in before was because I always thought that no matter how bad she was, a child’s own mother is always better than a stepmother. Now I see that’s not necessarily true at all."

"So what kind of woman are you planning to find for Third Uncle?"

’Grandma’s right,’ Gu Nuan Nuan thought. ’Third Uncle is the very definition of selfish. Then again, for someone like him, if you use the right approach and offer a few small incentives, he’d actually be easy to control.’

"Ideally, someone with a strong personality who can keep him in line. A divorcée or a widow with no children would be best," Wen Xiu mused. "Truthfully, I could find him a young, unmarried woman. If I threw enough money around, someone would be willing to marry him. But I really don’t want to let him have it that easy. So what if he’s my son? To be honest, I look down on men like him. Why should I make things so easy for him?"

Wen Xiu added fiercely, "Besides, what kind of decent woman can you get by just throwing money around? I don’t want to get rid of a wolf just to welcome a tiger."

Gu Nuan Nuan: "..."

’So this was what Grandma really thought of Third Uncle, huh?’

’Third Uncle is such a failure.’

"I can’t just make your third uncle get a divorce and then not let him remarry. If I don’t find someone to cook, clean, and wait on him, it wouldn’t be two days before Guo Xiuying came waltzing back in to run his house and boss him around. But if he remarries, I have to think about Laidi and Tianci. If the new wife is overbearing and brings children of her own... everyone has a selfish streak. My own grandchildren would truly have no place left for them," Wen Xiu said, her expression darkening.

This was the very reason she had tolerated Guo Xiuying for so long. Her third son, Zhang Weimin, was too spineless to stand on his own two feet; he needed a strong woman to keep him in check. If he divorced and married some meek woman, he might as well not have remarried at all. Guo Xiuying would just shamelessly worm her way back in and push the new wife out.

But if she had her son marry a strong woman who already had children of her own, what would become of her own grandson and granddaughter? Could she really stand by and watch her own grandchildren get pushed around and mistreated by another woman’s kids?

What a dilemma.

Wen Xiu was deeply troubled.

"Grandma, I have an idea," Gu Nuan Nuan offered. "Why don’t you and Grandpa have Cousin Laidi and Cousin Tianci come live with you? You can take care of them yourselves. Think about it—if they stay in Zhang Family Village, they’ll constantly be around their mother. I’m afraid she’ll slowly manipulate them into siding with her again. Laidi might be old enough to know better, but I’m worried about Tianci. He’s still so young, and that kind of negative influence would be terrible for his future."