Chapter 802: Everyone Comes to Shengjing

Because Gu Ruinian and Wu Na had been sold to Boss Qian as servants.

Old Master Gu, Gu Youtian, and everyone in the old house lost all motivation and no longer had the mind to go make trouble for Gu Xiaoxue.

Mrs. Jia went to Gu Fengnian and Mrs. Wei hoping the two of them would pay the ransom money to redeem Gu Ruinian, but the couple refused. Always tongue-tied, Gu Fengnian actually listed out how their parents had favored Gu Ruinian, and berated them for the harm they had done to him and Xiaoxue. Mrs. Jia listened, dumbfounded, then burst into tears and curses, calling Gu Fengnian an ungrateful wretch.

Gu Fengnian remained unmoved.

With no other choice, Mrs. Jia lowered herself to go work in Yan Guan Town, all for the sake of redeeming Gu Ruinian.

With several laborers suddenly gone, all the work at the Gu Family old house had to be divided among Old Master Gu, Gu Youtian, and the old lady.

Gu Youtian was forced to follow Old Master Gu into the fields to work, and the old lady took on all the household chores.

Wu Na’s daughter had no one to look after her and was crying from hunger.

Old Master Gu and the others had already been unhappy that Wu Na had given birth to a girl; the old lady had no energy to take care of her great-granddaughter, and Mrs. Jia and Gu Youtian started thinking about selling their granddaughter as a child bride.

A girl is going to be married off sooner or later; keeping her only wastes food.

Gu Youtian was a bastard; he actually found a family and, for fifty taels of silver, tried to sell his granddaughter as a child bride to their addle-brained teenage son.

When Wu Na found out, she ran like a madwoman from Boss Qian’s fields to the Gu Family old house, knife in hand, and slashed at Gu Youtian, rescuing her daughter from the cart.

Even the villagers who hated Wu Na were moved by how she disregarded everything for her daughter.

"Wu Na really can go this far for her daughter," said Tong Huaqiong.

It’s actually not that surprising.

Putting aside the Wu Family’s character, Wu Ren and his wife treated Wu Na well.

As a daughter herself, Wu Na had been kindly treated by her parents, so she would love her own daughter.

"She really does dote on her girl. After my little niece was born, Second Brother and our parents both had faces like thunder. As soon as Second Sister-in-law caught her breath, she held the baby and said no one was allowed to despise her for being a girl. Whoever dared despise her, she’d greet them with a big knife. The full-month celebration for the baby was done very grandly at her insistence; for that she even sold the family’s grain and chickens and ducks, and Grandma was so angry she cursed for days."

To be honest, Gu Xiaoxue really envied that swaddled infant.

To have such a strong mother shielding her.

If Mrs. Jia had ever once stood up for her even a little, she wouldn’t have broken with Mrs. Jia so completely.

Feeling sorry for her little niece, Gu Xiaoxue had a longevity lock made for her.

After rescuing her daughter, Wu Na smashed up the Gu house.

For the sake of her daughter, the always high-and-mighty Wu Na actually knelt at Boss Qian’s doorstep, begging him to show mercy and let her keep her daughter by her side to care for her.

Moved by Wu Na’s motherly devotion, Boss Qian agreed to her request.

He even arranged easy work for Wu Na that wouldn’t interfere with looking after the child.

"Wouldn’t surprise me if, once she earns enough to buy her freedom, Wu Na divorces Second Brother. Second Brother really is scum—he just watched our father sell his daughter with a completely blank face. For all we know, he planned to sell her himself and just got beaten to it by Father," said Gu Xiaoxue.

These days the old house was in constant uproar.

The old lady of the Gu Family was so worn out from work she’d flare up from time to time.

She used to favor Gu Youtian; now she lashed out indiscriminately, including at him.

Before Gu Xiaoxue came to Shengjing, Old Master Gu heard the news and told her to come back to the old house for a meal. Gu Xiaoxue knew they were afraid that once she went to Shengjing to seek out Tong Huaqiong she’d never return to Qinghe Bay, and the only golden egg the Gu Family old house could still count on would fly away for good.

But Gu Xiaoxue refused.

Mrs. Jia came to her and cried a whole show, and Gu Xiaoxue still did not take a single step into the old house.

She was afraid that if she went back, she’d never get out again.

In fact, Gu Xiaoxue’s suspicion was right.

The Gu Family old house had never given up their hunt to bring her down.

If Gu Xiaoxue had really gone back to the old house before leaving, Gu Youtian would have knocked her out, tied her up, and sent her off to an old widower as his new wife.

Then how could she be sitting in a warm room in Shengjing, gossiping with Tong Huaqiong.

"How are Gu Honglian and Fan Tong doing?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

At the mention of Gu Honglian and Fan Tong, Gu Xiaoxue was quite speechless.

Gu Xiaoxue said, "Half a year after my little aunt married in without getting pregnant, her mother-in-law wanted to get my little uncle a concubine. Little Uncle didn’t openly agree, but said he couldn’t go against his mother, which made Little Aunt so angry she went back to her parents’ house and cried. But with the Fan Family’s finances, no one is willing to be a concubine for Fan Tong. If you’re going to be a concubine anyway, aren’t you aiming to live a life of good food and fine clothes? Who’d bother becoming concubine to a pauper like Fan Tong."

Taking a concubine after just half a year really was the kind of thing that old crone would do.

Ever since the Gu Family had given her a good scolding, the old crone didn’t dare torment Gu Honglian openly, so she used the pretext of taking a concubine for her son to disgust Gu Honglian.

What a perfectly reasonable excuse—to ensure descendants. Even outsiders couldn’t say she was wrong.

Fortunately, Fan Tong was poor enough that Old Mrs. Fan only had the idea of getting him a concubine, but no capital to actually do it.

In the previous life, after Fan Tong and Gu Taohua got rich from their marriage, he took one little wife after another. Not only were there concubines at home, he kept a mistress outside as well.

"When Little Aunt came back to her parents’ place and found out that Brother Da Han and I were going to Shengjing, she went home and told Little Uncle. The couple ran over to Brother Da Han and demanded he bring them along to Shengjing. Little Uncle said that once in Shengjing he could earn money by copying texts and teaching. Brother Da Han ignored him. Little Aunt ran to Grandfather and cried, and Grandfather personally stepped in to pressure Brother Da Han to agree. Luckily Brother Da Han held firm under the pressure and did not agree."

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself that a Scholar like Fan Tong going to Shengjing—what exactly could he do.

He clearly wanted to arrive early and scout out opportunities in Shengjing, hoping Gu Jingzhe would pass the Spring Examinations next year.

Good thing Gu Dahuan hadn’t brought them; with the abilities of Fan Tong and Gu Honglian, without someone leading the way they couldn’t even scrape together the travel expenses to Shengjing.

But Tong Huaqiong guessed wrong.

While she and Gu Xiaoxue were discussing Gu Honglian and Fan Tong, Fan Tong had borrowed money from every relative and friend he could, swindled his classmates, and brought Gu Honglian along to closely tail Gu Dahuan’s party to the Capital.

Old Mrs. Fan wanted to keep Gu Honglian at home.

Fan Tong tried his best to persuade her. He actually wanted Gu Honglian to stay home too, so she wouldn’t get in the way of him meeting a kindred spirit outside, but if he didn’t bring her to the Capital, Tong Huaqiong wouldn’t acknowledge him. For the sake of his future, he had no choice but to bring Gu Honglian along.

To avoid being discovered and driven back by Gu Dahuan and the others, the two of them sneaked along in secret the whole way.

Fan Tong planned to go straight to Gu Jingzhe once they reached Shengjing.

He thought Gu Dahuan was just a crude, short-sighted fellow who, after making a bit of money, looked down on a man of letters like him; only Gu Jingzhe truly appreciated his worth.

Fan Tong took Gu Jingzhe’s words—that if he treated his aunt well, the Gu Family would not treat him badly—as a veiled hint to remind him after he became successful.

At that moment, outside Shengjing City.

Fan Tong and Gu Honglian stood in the dark wind and snow, staring at the tightly shut city gates of Shengjing, stamping their frozen feet and swearing inwardly.

They had not expected the winter closure of Shengjing to come so early.

Frozen and starving, the two of them turned back to the carriage and ordered the driver to take them back.

In the wind and snow the carriage moved very slowly. Just as Fan Tong and Gu Honglian were about to lose all feeling from the cold, they finally came upon a village.

The two of them knocked on the door of a household, planning to beg a night’s lodging and enter the city at first light the next day to look for Gu Jingzhe.