CHAPTER 794: CHAPTER 794: OBSTRUCTION

Granny Gu chuckled to herself upon hearing this. The fact that Elder Gu would ask such a question indicated he had no intention of severing ties with Gu Dashan’s family. She hurriedly responded: "It’s true, when have I ever lied to you? If you don’t believe it, you could have Youwen ask Lord Lai."

Elder Gu didn’t want to continue living under the Lai Family’s roof. He wanted to take over Gu Dashan’s family business and silver, to live the life of a true patriarch.

Therefore, after a moment’s silence, he said: "Initially, it was the Qi Family who forced us to disown them. Dashan has always been my son. Now that his family is alive and well, and Youlu has met them, it’s only right to call them back to see me, their father."

Upon hearing this, Granny Gu nearly burst out laughing: "Exactly, old man, you’re right. I’ve always been worried you’d resent Dashan because of the Qi Family’s doings. It’s not Dashan’s fault, it was that meddling Scholar Qi who caused the father-son tie to be severed."

After saying this, she spat disdainfully and cursed at Qi Yi’s Family.

Gu Youlu was exhilarated and quickly said: "Cheng Xian, hurry and fetch the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Your grandfather says, you write, we must summon your uncle to the Prefecture for a family reunion."

Gu Chengxian reluctantly brought over the writing materials and said: "Grandfather, please speak."

Elder Gu wanted to compose something touching as an introduction, but he didn’t really care for Gu Dashan as a son. He couldn’t even think of any warm childhood anecdotes about him.

After wracking his brains to no avail, Elder Gu could only bluntly write: "Dashan, having heard that your family is safe and has settled down in Qingfu Town, your mother and I are now living with the Vice Magistrate, making us almost like officials, leading a better life than your family. But I don’t want to see your family living like peasants; I’d like you to come to the Prefecture and visit the Vice Magistrate, so we can discuss how to elevate your family’s status."

The words he wrote were shameless, not only did he want to seize Gu Dashan’s family’s livelihood, but he couldn’t let go of his own pride and had to belittle Gu Dashan’s family in the process.

But Elder Gu failed to consider that being "almost like officials" was hardly significant for their family.

They were nothing but beggars living off Lord Lai, and claiming to be almost like officials was laughably pretentious.

However, Elder Gu felt his words were excellent, demonstrating both his paternal love for Gu Dashan and preserving his dignity, signaling to Gu Dashan that he, as a father, was not doing worse than him.

Gu Chengxian copied down whatever Elder Gu dictated, anyway, it wasn’t him who would be embarrassed.

Gu Ya sat poised on the side, straightening her back unconsciously. As long as she got hold of Gu Dashan’s family business, she could become a true lady of wealth; then who would dare to mock her as a false heiress.

"Finished writing." Once Gu Chengxian finished the letter and dried the ink, just as he was about to hand it to Elder Gu to inspect, Gu Youlu snatched it away.

"You grandfather can’t read, it’s enough for Third Master to check." As Gu Youlu spoke, he realized he used the wrong form of address and quickly turned to Granny Gu: "Mother, should we rearrange our family order?"

Since they had started living off the Lai Family, they had excluded Gu Dashan’s family from the rankings, only considering the order among the three living brothers.

Granny Gu glanced at Elder Gu and said: "Since your elder brother’s family is not dead, our family order must indeed be reverted. From today on, you’re back to being Old Four."

To covet Gu Dashan’s silver, some sacrifice was required. If they couldn’t even align their family hierarchy, what kind of brothers were they?

"Alright." Gu Youlu complied, already sealing the envelope with his saliva. He then said: "I’ll go find Sanzi right away to send this letter to Qingfu Town."

Making Gu Dashan come on his knees to meet the people of the Old Gu Family.

Gu Youlu felt immensely smug as he took the letter to find Sanzi, only to be told by Sanzi: "Elder Lu San, the Master requests your presence for a discussion."

Gu Youlu frowned and asked, "Has the official finished court and returned?"

Sanzi nodded, "Yes, Master Wu went to fetch the official, and upon learning that Elder Lu San had come back, the official left the government office early to return to the residence."

In fact, Lord Lai was quite shocked to hear that the head of the Gu Family was Gu Dashan, hastily rushing back to inquire into the affairs of Gu Dashan’s family.

Gu Youlu still greatly feared Lord Lai, after all, the man was an official and could not be offended, so he followed Sanzi to meet with Lord Lai.

Lord Lai had already thoroughly questioned about Gu Dashan’s family, but Zhu Wu didn’t know much, only aware that Gu Dashan’s family was the head of the Gu Family, and that they had extensive business dealings with notable wealthy families in the Prefecture and Jinling.

"Old Five, you have handled this matter too carelessly. You should have investigated Gu Dashan’s family thoroughly. Now that we only know trivial details, how are we to interact with them?" Lord Lai was quite dissatisfied. If he had a clear understanding of everything concerning Gu Dashan’s family, he would be able to make a move on them. But for now, rash actions were out of the question, fearing that Gu Dashan’s family might have strong backing and that meddling with them would bring trouble upon himself.

"It’s my fault, Your Honor. Rest assured, I’ve already sent people to thoroughly investigate Gu Dashan’s family. Given some time, we will surely discover who their backers are." Zhu Wu bowed and admitted his mistake. In his heart, he felt wronged; monitoring Gu Youlu was strenuous enough, leaving him no time to investigate Gu Dashan’s family.

"Uncle Lai, you were looking for me?" Gu Youlu entered with his chest puffed up and chin raised, full of pride. Now, he was no longer a pauper but rather the young master of a household with extensive business operations.

Zhu Wu, seeing Gu Youlu’s demeanor akin to a pheasant turned phoenix, sneered at the sight.

However, Lord Lai was fond of Gu Youlu, directly ignoring his present smugness. Upon seeing the letter in his hand, Lord Lai asked, "Who are you writing this letter to?"

Gu Youlu replied, "It’s a letter to my elder brother’s house. Upon learning that my elder brother’s family is alive, my father wrote to invite them to the Prefecture for a reunion."

And he couldn’t resist revealing the matter of Gu Dashan being the head of the Gu Family.

"It is indeed because of the blessings of Old Gu Family that my elder brother’s house has managed such a great enterprise," Gu Youlu said with a face full of pride.

Lord Lai, upon hearing the phrase "my Old Gu Family," found it particularly grating. He reached out his hand, saying, "Let me take a look at the letter."

Gu Youlu, wary of Lord Lai’s status, hesitated before handing over the letter.

After Lord Lai read the letter, his expression darkened, "Who wrote this? It looks like Cheng Xian’s handwriting?"

It absolutely must not be written by Cheng Xian, or else he really might die of anger.

The content of the letter was so blunt it was sickening—seeking to seize property should be done with a bit more finesse. This overt approach to property grabbing, while pretending to bestow grace, was utterly shameful!

Gu Youlu replied, "My father dictated, and Cheng Xian wrote it with a pen."

Upon hearing this, Lord Lai was somewhat relieved. As it turned out, the letter was written by the old bastard Sixth Son Gu, truly an old brute, so cruel towards his own kin.

Yet, this was Sixth Son Gu’s own issue, not his concern, but: "This letter can’t be sent out just yet."

Gu Youlu was impatient, "Why not?"

The sooner it was sent, the sooner they could seize the property; his entire family was waiting to divide up Gu Dashan’s business operations and silver.