CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER 20: EXPOSED

Li Xuemei looked up and saw the triangular eyes of her mother-in-law, the knife-like light shot out from those murky old eyes, as if wishing death upon her entire family.

If she were to bear the blame today to uphold the Gu Family’s reputation, everyone in the village would say she was rebellious and unfilial, and her children would also suffer. No matter what, Li Xuemei couldn’t possibly listen to Mrs. Gu today.

Deep down, she knew Mrs. Gu was biased anyway, so might as well tear off the facade today, and let everyone see what kind of people the two elders of the Gu Family truly were, letting everyone know what kind of life they were living.

Li Xuemei suddenly stood up, wiped away her tears, and loudly said, "Mother, I’ve been your daughter-in-law for almost twenty years, how could you say such things about me? For the sake of Second Uncle’s face, you turn black into white, unable to distinguish right from wrong?"

Mrs. Gu almost fainted from anger, things had turned upside down, and today, the elder branch’s wife was being unusually defiant, clearly unwilling to cover things up.

The old lady slapped her thigh and immediately sat on the ground, wailing loudly: "Oh my, this is unjust, I should just die. This daughter-in-law is bullying me to death here. I’ve always wanted the best for them, yet this is how they treat the elders.

This blame has even fallen upon my second child. Heaven, why don’t you open your eyes and strike these ungrateful, unfilial bastards with lightning?"

Immediately, the villagers’ gazes changed. The women in the village were well aware of such tactics of wailing and making a scene, especially since Mrs. Gu was an expert at it.

If Mrs. Gu claimed to be second, who could be first?

Initially, no one knew what was going on, but with Mrs. Gu’s crying, the whole village now knew what was happening.

It must have been that the elder branch didn’t go along with something Mrs. Gu wanted, hence the scene.

Everyone’s from the same village, who doesn’t know each other’s business?

Li Xuemei was indeed caught by this tactic of hers, with her mother-in-law crying and wailing on the ground, there was no reasoning to be done.

Her face flushed red, and the handprint on her face became even more apparent.

Gu Rushan was quite attuned to the situation, immediately rushing to support Mrs. Gu, while chiding Li Xuemei: "Big sister-in-law, you can’t wrong me, look at how angry you’ve made our mother, shouldn’t you quickly apologize and let this blow over?"

Gu Ruhai also came over, seeing his mother sitting on the ground like that, he couldn’t help but feel a headache, and advised Li Xuemei to make peace: "Dear, just admit your mistake, after all, she is our mother, our elder. Ah!"

Gu Xiaoqing was furious.

What kind of people are these?

Seeing Li Xuemei hesitating, estimating it wouldn’t be long before her mother couldn’t hold out because Mrs. Gu’s aggressive fighting strength was not something Li Xuemei could contend with.

Gu Xiaoqing noticed it was not right, and quickly spotted the captain and his wife, Wang Meixiang, entering the crowd, trying to get through.

Someone was here to take charge.

So she immediately shouted loudly: "Captain Uncle, you must save my mother, my grandma and second uncle are forcing my mom to death!"

This shout was almost a scream, thus indeed silencing everyone.

Even Mrs. Gu, sitting on the ground, suddenly stopped her crying.

The word "captain" was just too powerful.

Gu Rushan realized the urgency; it was all over now, the captain wasn’t someone easy to fool.

If he got involved, don’t even think of covering this up.

Captain Gu Changhai was a man of about forty, a skillful and capable rural man, also the head of the village, known for his honesty and praised as the leader by everyone in the village.

Gu Changhai parted the crowd and came in, and Gu Xiaoqing immediately rushed over, hugging Gu Changhai’s leg.

"Captain Uncle, you have to stand up for my family."

Gu Changhai had to stop in his tracks, looking around at the situation in the yard, then at Gu Xiaoqing.

He made eye contact with Wang Meixiang, after all, a grown man shouldn’t be held like that by a child.

Wang Meixiang, known for her eloquence across many villages, quickly understood, smiled, and helped Gu Xiaoqing up, "Xiaoqing, it’s okay, your village head uncle is here to stand up for you, no one will be wronged. Come, good child, tell your aunt what happened?"

This was to understand the situation.

How could Gu Rushan let Gu Xiaoqing speak?

This brat just had him tongue-tied, she couldn’t possibly say anything good now.

He hurriedly left Mrs. Gu and went over to Captain Gu Changhai with a smile, offering a cigarette: "Brother Changhai, these kids don’t understand and are making a fuss, why bother you? It’s just some family stuff. Really, it’s nothing."

This was an effort to downplay the issue.

Gu Changhai knew how messy this family’s affairs were and originally didn’t want to get involved in this matter.

But there were so many people watching now, as the village head, he couldn’t not ask.

Rejecting the cigarette from Gu Rushan, he sternly asked Gu Xiaoqing: "Xiaoqing, speak out, uncle is here for you."

Gu Xiaoqing, with tears in her eyes, said: "Captain Uncle, this morning, before we even finished breakfast, my grandparents and second uncle came over to talk to my dad, telling him to stop me from going to school, saying he’s borrowing everywhere. I just asked if my grandpa and grandma’s yearly pension of five dollars shouldn’t be something my parents should honor. I didn’t say anything, but my grandma also said that every year they must give twenty dollars to my second uncle for Gu Xiaocheng’s schooling."

These words were explosive.

The situation seemed to present itself clearly in everyone’s eyes.

People began to murmur and quietly debate.

"No wonder, Mrs. Gu is causing such a scene to cover the shame."

"Indeed, Gu Rushan always tells us that their family’s Gu Xiaocheng is so capable, attending university without needing any family support, government scholarships yearly suffice, and he would come back to be a cadre, getting a state salary."

"Turns out privately, they borrow money from the elder family every year."

"Indeed, twenty dollars is not a small amount. With the elder family being so large, it’s enough for a year’s expenses."

"No wonder, the kids from Gu Ruhai’s family are all skinny, just look at their clothes, even the poorest family in our village wouldn’t be like this."

"Truly sinful, as elders, they are too excessive, this favoritism isn’t any way to go about it."

These discussions erupted all around.