Chapter 87: A Tug-of-War with Oneself

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: A Tug-of-War with Oneself

Every child in the Gu Family knew that while Gu Wu had a terrible temper, he usually took it out on Chen Suxiang. As long as the children didn’t get too close when he was hitting someone, they were rarely caught in the crossfire. But there was one exception: Gu Wu cherished anything edible to an extreme degree. He absolutely would not allow his family to waste a single scrap.

Gu Lihui had an experience in his childhood that he—and all the other Gu children—would never forget.

That time, Chen Suxiang had accidentally used sugar instead of salt in a stir-fry. When Gu Lihui took a bite and realized something was wrong, he spat it onto the ground. But Gu Wu saw it. Without a word, he stormed over and began kicking, punching, and slapping him, and no one could stop him. When the beating was finally over, Gu Wu didn’t just force him to kneel and eat the mouthful of food from the ground, now mixed with dirt and sand. He also placed the entire dish in front of him, permitting him to eat nothing else. Finally, he even demanded Gu Lihui lick the plate clean, not leaving so much as a drop of the sauce...

"You can’t blame me for being so angry. I just discovered that all the money I worked so hard to save is gone, and Mom was probably the one who took it!" Gu Lihui was genuinely afraid Gu Jinhua would make good on her threat and tell on him, so his tone softened. As he spoke, however, he became indignant and sounded even more wronged.

"What money? How much?"

Gu Jinhua was completely baffled. She distinctly remembered her younger brother insisting he was broke. So where did this money suddenly come from? And what was this about Chen Suxiang possibly taking it?

"Well, it’s... it’s not that much, I guess." Gu Lihui was reluctant to elaborate. Unexpectedly, Gu Jinhua dropped her usual "understanding" act and pressed him aggressively, "How much is ’not much’?"

"Just a few... hundred. Hey, why are you asking for so many details? It’s not like you can pull the money out of thin air and give it back to me, can you?" Gu Lihui, who had almost blurted out the truth, took an involuntary step back in annoyance.

"’A few hundred,’ huh..." Gu Jinhua scoffed. "You told me you were broke. You were lying to me then, weren’t you? And to think I was stupid enough to believe you and go borrowing money for your hospital bills. It turns out every single one of you has more money than me, yet you all line up to cry poor and scheme against me."

Gu Jinhua plopped down onto a chair. The sight of the food on the floor, seen from the corner of her eye, brought on a sudden, unstoppable wave of sadness. Tears started to stream down her face. "Mom knew you had money, too. Hundreds of yuan! But she still forced me to pay for you, saying your burdens were heavy and that you must really be broke. So, she knew all along. To squeeze money out of me, not a single one of you cared that I was skipping lunch to save money. Did you ever think how pitiful that is? What if I ruined my stomach from the hunger?"

"Don’t be so dramatic, acting like you’ve made some huge sacrifice for us." Gu Lihui curled his lip at his older sister’s theatrics. "Who said you couldn’t eat lunch? You live so close, and you even have your mother-in-law at home to cook. Couldn’t you have just timed it to run home, eat, and then go back to work?"

"Then you tell me! If I actually ran home for lunch every day, how would I save up that lunch money each month? And without that money, how am I supposed to pay off my debts?" Gu Jinhua shot to her feet, yelling at Gu Lihui.

"Don’t take your anger out on me. I won’t indulge you." Gu Lihui’s face hardened, and he roared back, "It’s always ’I can’t do this,’ ’I can’t do that.’ When did I ever give Nuannuan’s mother money to eat in a cafeteria? She always managed just fine. She’d get up early, cook extra food, and pack a lunchbox. I never saw her go hungry. She could do it, so why can’t you? You’re both women—are you just more spoiled than everyone else? And you say it’s hard to pay back debt? Even without the lunch money, you could just do some piecework at home after your shift. Or use your days off to cover shifts for others. Stop spending all your time thinking about going into the city to have fun. You could earn that money back in less than two months. What’s so difficult that you have to scream and shout about it?"

"So I... I’m just supposed to work myself to the bone day in and day out, earning money for all of you to spend, is that it?" Gu Jinhua couldn’t believe her younger brother actually thought that way.

"You’re a woman; you were born to contribute to your natal family. But look at you, lazy to the bone. All these years, you’ve given your salary to your in-laws. How much have you contributed to us? It’s a good thing we’re not ones to look down on you. Tell me, in all these years, has any of us ever said a single harsh word to you?" Gu Lihui sneered, his entitled expression making him seem even more dissatisfied and self-righteous than Gu Jinhua.

Gu Jinhua’s eyes widened. Not to be outdone, Gu Lihui glared right back and pressed her, "Am I wrong?"

"’A married daughter is like spilt water...’ What kind of daughter keeps sending money back to her birth family after getting married?" Gu Lihui’s accusation made Gu Jinhua feel insecure. Her shoulders slumped, feeling that maybe she was partly in the wrong. She lowered her head and mumbled, trying to change the subject, "You’re always like this. You do something wrong and then try to find fault with others. Look at all this food on the floor. What are we supposed to do with it? We can’t just throw it all away, can we?"

Ever since she was young, Chen Suxiang had brainwashed her into believing that a woman’s purpose in life was to contribute to her natal family. But

over the years, she had also been significantly influenced by her in-laws. Consequently, she was in a constant internal tug-of-war. One day, she would feel that subsidizing her birth family was her duty. The next, she would feel she was already "spilt water" and only needed to look after her own home and her two children, with no obligation to send money back. Then, the day after that, she would think that perhaps she could manage to support both her family and her in-laws...

"Then what do you suggest?" Gu Lihui had regretted his outburst for a while now. His heart ached looking at the wasted food, so he knew it wasn’t the right moment to pressure Gu Jinhua about going home to confront their mom about the money.

"We can pick up the pieces you didn’t step on, boil them in some water to clean them, and then fish them out," Gu Jinhua said, looking at the mess. "The taste might be a little worse, but it’ll still be edible." Only a small part of the meal had been crushed by Gu Lihui’s foot; the rest was just dirty. If they picked it up and cleaned it, they could still eat it. The flavor wouldn’t be the same, of course, but the pig’s feet and ribs were still meat. Eating meat, no matter what, was far better than throwing it all out and buying steamed buns.

"I guess that’s our only option." Gu Lihui glanced at the food on the floor, feeling as if he must have been possessed a moment ago. The habit of not wasting food, deeply ingrained in him since childhood, meant that even though a part of him was repulsed by the thought of eating it, he couldn’t bring himself to object.

"I’ll take care of this," Gu Jinhua said. "You should go pack a few changes of clothes for the next few days. See if there are any valuables and pack those up to bring with you too. That way, when I show up with people to haul your stuff away, and we can’t possibly keep an eye on everything, you won’t have to worry about anything getting ’accidentally’ pocketed."