Everyone now showed an expression of “so that’s how it is.”
They thought so—how could a young woman really have that much strength? It was purely anger.
Now everyone despised Gu Jiandang’s family even more.
“Wailing louder than a pig being slaughtered—I thought someone was dying. Turns out it’s just this?”
“They acted it out. That whole family has always been good at acting.”
“They’re rotten to the core. I even felt sorry for them just now when they were being beaten. Turns out it was all an act. Bah!”
Hearing the murmurs around him, Gu Jiandang’s face instantly darkened. He wished he could find a hole in the ground and crawl into it.
Seeing this, the team leader asked with thinly veiled schadenfreude,
“So, what do you say now?”
Gu Jiandang clenched his fists tightly. He had said everything he could, and none of it worked. What else could he say now?
At this point, forget about asking Gu Rou for money—if she insisted on reporting the case, their whole family would be finished.
Seeing his family injured and battered, Gu Jiandang felt suffocated with frustration. He was so angry his heart was throbbing faintly. His family had fallen again. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say,
“We’ll pay compensation.”
“We’ll also pay 200 yuan.”
“We’re relatives after all. Gu Rou isn’t actually hurt, so there’s no need to report it. This was just Gu Li’s good intentions gone wrong—we truly never meant to harm you.”
“Just treat these 200 yuan as a lesson for Gu Li.”
When the team leader saw that Gu Jiandang was also willing to pay 200 yuan, that meant Gu Rou could get 400 yuan in total. That was no small amount—400 yuan was several years’ savings for most people.
It wasn’t that the team leader wasn’t on Gu Rou’s side. As the village team leader, he also had to think about the village as a whole. Someone going to jail was not a good thing for the production team. Besides, Gu Rou really hadn’t been harmed, she had beaten them up instead and received money—ending it like this wasn’t a loss for her.
“Xiao Rou, look—he’s willing to give you 200 yuan. What do you think? Can we not report the case?”
“Of course, if you still want to report it, Uncle won’t stop you. It’s just that 200 yuan isn’t easy to come by, and your parents work hard too…”
That was what the team leader thought, though on the surface he still appeared to stand with Gu Rou. After all, she was the only technical secondary school student in the village and deserved some consideration.
Gu Rou listened, thought for two seconds, then nodded.
“Fine. Not reporting it is okay. But let me make this clear first—I’m not reporting it purely out of respect for the team leader and the village, not because of their family.”
“But I have conditions. Our family must sever all ties with Gu Jiandang’s family.”
“The villagers should bear witness. Also, they must write a confession and pay 200 yuan.”
“Don’t think this confession is me being underhanded. Without something like this holding them down, I really don’t know if I’d have any way to survive in this village in the future.”
She had never actually planned to report it. Since she wasn’t injured, even if she did report it, Gu Li wouldn’t receive a severe punishment—she might even get food and shelter in jail, while Gu Rou couldn’t go in. That wasn’t satisfying at all.
Better to keep them right in front of her and torment them slowly. After being hurt so badly in her previous life, this rotten family thought a few hundred yuan could wipe the slate clean? Dream on. Her real moves were still to come.
“I don’t agree! Our family never meant to harm you. We won’t write this confession!” Gu Jiandang shouted.
The team leader lost patience.
“Then get someone. We’re reporting it right now.”
Gu Jiandang hurriedly stopped him.
“Don’t.”
“Gu Jiandang, don’t push your luck. If you keep dragging this out, I won’t say another word. If your family ends up in jail, then go to jail. Don’t waste my time.”
Hearing this, Gu Jiandang shut his eyes in humiliation and stood there without saying a word.
After two seconds of silence, the team leader made the final decision.
“Do it according to what Gu Rou said. Where’s the accountant? Hurry up and write three copies of the confession—sign and fingerprint them.”
“All this back-and-forth is really annoying.”
The team accountant, who also handled written work for the team, quickly prepared three identical confessions. Gu Rou signed them first, then the documents were placed in front of Gu Jiandang’s family.
Seeing that the outcome was beyond saving, the family glanced at the dejected Gu Jiandang and obediently signed and pressed their fingerprints on the confessions.
Once everything was settled, one copy was kept by the production team, one by Gu Rou, and the last was given to Gu Jiandang.
The secretary’s 200 yuan was brought over quickly and handed directly to Gu Rou.
On Gu Jiandang’s side, he urged Zhang Cuihua to get the money. With a face more bitter than bitter melon, Zhang Cuihua scraped together 200 yuan.
With the money and the confession in hand, Gu Rou pulled Li Xiufang and Gu Jianguo and left.
Before leaving, she glanced at Gu Jiandang and Gu Li. Seeing their cold expressions, she deliberately waved the confession in her hand at them, full of provocation.
At that moment, Gu Li truly realized that Gu Rou had changed—changed into someone terrifying, someone she could no longer afford to provoke.
“What, none of you plan to earn work points anymore? Hurry up and get back to work!”
The team leader’s voice rang out among the crowd.
He glanced in Gu Rou’s direction and said nothing more, but thought to himself that this girl had become smarter after that fall.
Recently, his own disobedient daughter had been making trouble at home every day, having her eye on a poor educated youth. He had used both soft and hard words until his mouth was dry, yet it was all useless—her mind was like it had swallowed a lead weight.
Maybe one day he should kick her too, make her fall, and see if it could knock some sense into her head.
Seeing the team leader standing there with a stern face, and the excitement over, the crowd dispersed in small groups. On the way to work, everyone discussed the affair between the two Gu families.
There had originally been a few oddballs in the village who sided with Gu Jiandang’s family, thinking Gu Rou had framed them. But after today, many things became clear.
Gu Li really had pushed Gu Rou.
People were saying that Gu Li was vicious—she even tried to harm her own cousin. She was worse than an animal.
“Tsk tsk, who would’ve thought our Xiangyang Village produced such a poisonous snake, actually trying to take Gu Rou’s life. I said long ago there was something wrong with that girl’s eyes. She looked honest, but there’s cruelty deep inside. It’s terrifying.”
“Stay far away from that family in the future. If the daughter is that vicious, how could the parents be any good? If you want to live peacefully, keep your distance.”
“Why should I keep my distance? I live openly and honestly. I say we should drive that whole family out of Xiangyang Village, so no one else here gets harmed.”
“I say Gu Li should’ve been beaten to death with clubs. If she dares to do something so harmful, what else wouldn’t she dare to do in the future?”