CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER 375: GU DEXING GETS ANGRY

Mrs. Chen finally exhaled in relief upon hearing these words, "Thank God, we can finally get this ancestor out the door."

Just returning from working in the fields, Gu Dagui encountered Mrs. Chen carrying Gu Yumei into the house and hurriedly asked, "What happened? Is Sister Mei sick again? Ever since her last illness, she hasn’t been in good health."

He then turned to Gu Dafu with a puzzled look, "Big brother, why not call for a doctor?"

"What doctor should I call for? All the silver coins in the house have been paid out for her damages. What do we use to pay for a doctor?" Mrs. Chen glared at Gu Dagui and carried Gu Yumei into the room, tossing her onto the bed: "The dead girl is quite heavy."

Seeing how Mrs. Chen acted, Gu Dagui quickly asked Gu Dafu, "Big brother, what on earth happened to Sister Mei?"

She couldn’t have caused trouble again, could she? Oh, please no.

Gu Dafu did not keep the truth from Gu Dagui, explaining the incident that happened at the workshop.

Gu Dagui was shocked: "How could this child be so impulsive?"

Having caused such trouble, how would their family ever go back to the workshop? What would the people at the workshop think of their family? And of big brother?

"Second brother, our family will have to endure another month of hardship. We’ll only get the payout by the end of August." Gu Dafu felt extremely guilty, feeling that he had let his younger brother down: "Don’t worry, once we get the profit share next month, big brother won’t take a cent. It will all go to your household, so you won’t feel awkward in front of your sister-in-law."

Fortunately, Third Grandma knew they had no money and had helped them pay the thirty taels of silver to Ms. Xu Wang. Later, they would deduct those thirty taels from their profit shares to reimburse Third Grandma; otherwise, life at home would be even harder.

Gu Dagui said, "Big brother, what are you talking about? We are blood brothers, and we haven’t divided our family. It is only right that we face troubles together. I’ve gotten used to Mrs. Chen’s daily scolding; let her continue."

Though Gu Dagui was exhausted by Gu Yumei constantly getting into trouble, Gu Dafu was still his dear older brother who had cared for him since they were young, always giving him, the younger brother, the best things in the house.

And his marriage to Mrs. Chen had been largely thanks to his brother and sister-in-law’s strenuous efforts—he remembered this well and would not let a child’s troubles come between him and his brother.

"Big brother, let’s not talk about this right now. While it’s still light, let’s go to the village and buy some eggs, then divide up the remaining flour and glutinous rice at home to make an apology gift. We should go and apologize to Uncle Guo and the rest."

As big brother said, Sister Mei not only hit Ms. Xu Wang but also cursed the people at the workshop. Those workers weren’t just servants; they were from the He family, and his brothers would have to call He Laoguo "Uncle." Yet Sister Mei had cursed them out; they needed to make amends with an apology, or else they’d really have no place there in the future.

"As for Wang Yongfu’s family, our family must present a generous gift of apology... after all, this incident affects someone’s reputation."

Now that evening was approaching and they had limited money at home, they needed to borrow from others. After borrowing money, the plan was to buy some quality goods in town tomorrow and then go to Wang Family to apologize.

Naturally, Gu Dafu agreed, and without hesitation, the brothers took all of the little silver they had left at home to buy four baskets of eggs in the village. They then divided up the home’s flour and glutinous rice, combining it with the eggs to form modest apology gifts. The two brothers went door to door, making their apologies to Uncle Guo and others.

After returning from school and finding out about the incident, Gu Dexing sat in silence in his room for quite some time.

Mrs. Chen was infuriated to see him back and not working. While busying herself in the kitchen, she loudly cursed: "Those bumpkins who scrape for food from the soil think they’re young masters and misses. They can’t do anything right, only bringing disaster upon our family!"

In her angry outburst, she slowed down, burning the bean dregs cake in the pot, which infuriated her even more. She smacked Gu Dewang, who was tending the fire: "You vile child, you can’t even tend a fire properly. You’ve burned the bean dregs cakes to charcoal!"

Gu Dewang felt truly wronged, but he knew his mother would take out her frustrations on them, her sons, so he could only resign himself to his bad luck.

Mrs. Chen saw that Gu Dewang remained silent and honestly let her hit him, and she angrily scolded, "You blockhead, you don’t even make a peep when hit."

Gu Dewang: "..." Talking back would only result in a more severe beating, I’m not that foolish.

After sitting in his room for half an hour, Gu Defa came to inform him, "Brother Dexing, Sister Yu Mei has woken up."

"Mhm," Gu Dexing replied, passing two slightly damp caramels to Gu Defa, "Here, eat these."

Gu Defa: "..."

Sister Yu Mei was the one beaten, so why has Brother Dexing gone crazy?

Before, Brother Dexing wouldn’t even give them caramels he didn’t want to eat, not to mention throwing them away.

What my brother said was absolutely right, I should keep my distance from Sister Yu Mei and Brother Dexing; they’re both sick, and getting too close to them will get me infected.

After receiving the caramels, Gu Defa turned around and strolled to the kitchen. He gave one caramel to Gu Dewang while the two brothers frowned at the wild vegetable and soybean soup in the pot, eating the candy... Life at home was getting harder and harder, it was still better to follow Sister Xiao Yu, at least there was meat to eat when following her.

...

After waking up, Gu Yu Mei sobbed in her room. Hearing her cry, Gu Dexing slightly furrowed his brow and knocked on her door.

"Stop knocking, just treat me as if I’m dead, wu wu wu..." Gu Yu Mei thought her family had come to comfort her and cried even louder.

Gu Dexing’s brow furrowed even more, and he pushed the door open to enter.

Standing two meters away from Gu Yu Mei, he saw her face covered in slap marks, both her cheeks swollen, feeling very heartbroken, but he still questioned her, "Why did you frame our dad?"

Although Gu Dexing despised the fact that the family’s status had greatly declined and resented Gu Dafu for not being capable of earning more money, he greatly respected Gu Dafu in his heart; therefore, he couldn’t stand Gu Yu Mei framing Gu Dafu.

Gu Yu Mei was shocked and looked at Gu Dexing, "Brother, when have I ever framed our dad?"

Gu Dexing said,"You slandered Ms. Xu Wang for having an affair with our dad, that’s framing him."

Gu Yu Mei angrily said, "Should I pretend not to have seen Ms. Xu Wang collapse into our dad’s arms? Talking about heatstroke and fainting, would she faint right when dad went to carry tofu if she didn’t harbor those thoughts? With such a coincidence, do you believe it?"

And she asked, "Do you actually want dad to marry us a stepmother, so we can live being bullied by a stepmother and her baggage later? Wu wu wu... We are already being beaten and scolded by the second aunt every day, if another stepmother comes, how are we supposed to live?"

Of course, Gu Dexing did not want Gu Dafu to remarry; if he did, the family’s profit shares would have to be distributed to the stepmother’s children, and he was unwilling to lose that.

Everything in this family, except for the share given to the second uncle, was all his, Gu Dexing’s!

"But you can’t wrongfully accuse dad. The one with intentions is Ms. Xu Wang, not our dad. You acted so hastily, going up to hit her, especially in front of so many people, saying those words, aren’t you just causing trouble for our dad?"

"You should be smarter, first help Ms. Xu Wang away, get our dad to leave, and when you get home, explain Ms. Xu Wang’s malicious plot well to our dad so that he becomes disgusted with her and wary of her in the future."