…People who do hard labor all have loud voices. Even after walking dozens of meters away, their voices could still be heard clearly at Gu Jiandang’s house.
Gu Jiandang’s family looked worse than if they’d eaten shit. Not only was their wallet completely empty, their reputation was utterly ruined too. A total loss—an absolute bloodbath.
“Cuihua, Gu Li can’t stay at home anymore. Hurry up and send her to your eldest sister’s place in the city. Even if she has to work like an ox or a horse, she has to stay there.”
“Once her injuries heal, have her throw herself at Pei Jing immediately.”
Gu Jiandang stared fixedly at a spot ahead, suddenly coming up with a plan.
With Gu Li’s reputation like this, staying in the village would only mean being pointed at behind her back. It would be better to send her away and get her married off as quickly as possible.
This wasn’t the time to care about face. The priority now was to tie Pei Jing firmly to their family—only then would there be a future. Otherwise, their family would definitely be finished.
“You know my sister is even harder to deal with than I am. Our family only has a little over ten yuan left to live on. If we spend more to smooth things over, we’ll really be drinking northwest wind,” Zhang Cuihua said, heart aching over the money.
“You’re stupid—if you don’t give up the child, you won’t catch the wolf. Don’t you understand that?!”
Gu Jiandang’s expression turned serious. Seeing this, Zhang Cuihua became frightened and lowered her voice.
“Giving out so much money at once—even if we sold this girl, we might not earn it back.”
Although Zhang Cuihua hated Gu Rou, she had to admit that Gu Rou was much prettier than her own Gu Li, and she could study too. There was no girl around who looked better than Gu Rou. With those conditions, people were willing to introduce Pei Jing’s kind of good family to her.
By contrast, Gu Li fell short in looks and had no advantage academically either. With Pei Jing’s family background, what kind of girl couldn’t they find? Why would they look at their daughter?
Especially now, with this kind of reputation—even if she went begging, they might not want her.
“I don’t believe it. Once the meat’s in his mouth, he’ll still want to back out!”
“If he dares to back out, I’ll accuse him of hooliganism!”
Gu Jiandang shot Zhang Cuihua a fierce glare. This family was full of idiots—their heads were just for decoration, not for thinking.
What did looks and reputation have to do with it? As long as Gu Li was willing to go all out and knew how to get a grip on a man, it didn’t matter how bad her reputation was. Men think with their lower bodies—once they’re hooked, they’ll follow orders like dogs.
Zhang Cuihua secretly rolled her eyes. The girl wasn’t even married yet and she was already bleeding the family dry. People were right—daughters really were money-losing goods. Spending this money would be better used letting Yaozu eat a couple more eggs.
After receiving Gu Jiandang’s instructions, Gu Li went to her room to pack. At first she thought just clothes would do, but after some thought, she stuffed two books into the bag as well. Soon the bundle was packed, and she went to find Gu Jiandang.
“Mom, I want to eat eggs.”
Gu Yaozu had been helping Gu Jiandang earlier and accidentally got caught up in things. Gu Rou knocked him down with a stone, bruising his knee. With old injuries added to new ones, he’d suffered badly.
Just now, hearing his parents talk and realizing the family money had been spent on that money-losing girl, resentment immediately rose in his heart.
“Eggs, eggs—do I look like an egg to you? None of you are worry-free. I’ve really had rotten luck,” Zhang Cuihua snapped back.
She’d just seen Gu Jiandang stuff money into Gu Li’s hands—at least five yuan. Her heart ached so badly it felt like the sky was collapsing.
Seeing Zhang Cuihua unhappy and worried she might ruin things, Gu Jiandang decided to personally take Gu Li to the city. Before leaving, he told Zhang Cuihua,
“If there’s nothing else, hurry up and go to work. If you earn less, the whole family will go hungry.”
“Got it,” Zhang Cuihua answered resentfully.
She had originally wanted to rest a bit. Her arms and legs still hurt, and after fighting with Li Xiufang, she’d been completely beaten down. Her whole body ached terribly.
But she didn’t dare stay home. In this family, she might look fierce, but the most ruthless one was Gu Jiandang. She didn’t dare disobey him.
After resting for a while, just as Zhang Cuihua reached the courtyard gate, she ran into someone outside.
“Don’t go to the field you worked this morning. The team leader said you’re to go to the cowshed and clean manure.”
The speaker was the village’s infamous Widow Niu. Her husband’s family surname was Niu. She had married into the village over thirty years ago, but her husband died just a few years later, leaving behind a daughter. Her in-laws and neighbors privately said she was unlucky. Worse still, she’d been caught stealing a man, and from then on she lived a miserable life in Xiangyang Village, constantly ostracized and pitied.
“Did you hear me? I told you to go clean manure at the cowshed,” Widow Niu shouted again.
She thought about how she cleaned manure every day at the cowshed, always stinking. Whenever someone was unhappy, they’d throw dung at her. If she fought back, she’d be bullied even worse.
She did the dirtiest, most exhausting work and still got bullied—life was unbearably hard.
Finally, someone appeared in the village with an even worse reputation than hers. As she was about to go to work, an idea suddenly came to her. If she didn’t switch jobs now, when would she? As soon as the thought appeared, she came to find Zhang Cuihua.
“A shameless family like yours deserves to be beaten to death with clubs. And you still want to do easy work? What a beautiful dream. Let me tell you straight—everyone in the village despises your family now. I advise you to obediently switch jobs with me.”
“If people see you taking the initiative to do dirty, exhausting work, they’ll feel better. If you go straight to work in the fields, you’ll be drowned in spit, and you might even get beaten. Hurry up and go to the cowshed.”
Widow Niu had been oppressed for so long that her heart was gloomy and her personality had grown extreme. She hadn’t expected to meet someone even more detestable in the village, so she poured everything out, venting her pent-up anger.
Being lectured by the most despised woman in the village, Zhang Cuihua finally snapped. She cut Widow Niu off and cursed loudly,
“Bitch, who are you talking to? I think you’re looking for death.”
“A thing that’s been ridden by thousands and ten thousands—no matter how bad I am, it’s not your turn to bully me. Get lost!”
“Waaah, I’m so scared! What, couldn’t kill someone else, so now you want to come after me?”
“And you have the nerve to scold me? No matter what, I, Niu Pandi, have a cleaner heart than your family. A whole family of murderers—everyone’s being kind by giving you a way to live. But I advise you to know your place and suffer what you deserve. Otherwise, you’ll really have it coming in the future.”