Su’s mother’s face stiffened, but she stubbornly held her head high and argued, “That was Gu Jinchuan’s filial gift to me! Besides, how could three hundred yuan possibly be enough for Yaozu to find a wife?”
“Not enough?”
Su Qingwan looked as though she had just heard the funniest joke in the world, the corners of her lips curling into an icy smile.
In the countryside, a wedding could cost at most a few dozen yuan in betrothal gifts. Gu Jinchuan had given three hundred yuan, along with a television, a radio, a bicycle, and a sewing machine, yet this family had mistaken his compromise for weakness and shamelessly tried to bleed him dry!
If you refuse to have any shame, then don’t blame me for turning the whole table over!
Without another word, Su Qingwan rushed into the house, grabbed a rusty kitchen knife, and charged back out while crying, “Mom, don’t worry. I’ll go sell my blood right now! If the hospital won’t take it, I’ll close my eyes, put the knife to my neck, and trade my life for money. I’ll definitely scrape together enough before my younger brother gets married!”
Her words were vicious and ruthless.
“Sister Su, don’t do anything reckless!”
“Su Qingwan, have you gone crazy? She’s only asking you for some money!”
The villagers watching were frightened pale. They hurried forward to stop her, while Su’s mother panicked as well, afraid that this girl really would cut her own throat right there in front of everyone.
Auntie Zhao snatched the kitchen knife away and trembled with anger as she pointed at Su’s mother.
“Sister Su, have you no shame? Three hundred yuan isn’t enough for you?
Are you raising a daughter or a money tree? Her husband has only been gone for a single day, and you’re already driving her to the brink of death.
Are you trying to cause someone to die?”
“Exactly! You deliberately came here to cause trouble when her husband wasn’t home. What kind of mother does that? You’re practically Huang Shiren coming to collect a debt!”
“I really don’t think she’s your biological daughter. If she were your own daughter, how could you possibly be this cruel to her?”
Su’s mother’s face turned the color of pig liver from being scolded. She knew there was no way she would get the money today.
She quickly put on the expression of a victim and cried, “I was only afraid that she was too young and would waste the money. I’ve managed her money since she was little. Now that no one is keeping an eye on her, I was worried she’d spend it recklessly…”
As she spoke, she pointed at the several swollen red handprints on her face and complained tearfully, “Wanwan, since you don’t want me to manage your money anymore, then I won’t. But you can’t hit your own mother like this. No matter what, I’m still your mother!”
Everyone’s eyes fell on the fingerprints on Su’s mother’s face, and their expressions became somewhat uncertain. No matter how one looked at it, a daughter hitting her mother was considered unfilial, and Su Qingwan had indeed gone too far.
Su Qingwan noticed their hesitation. Tears immediately poured from her eyes as she cried with an expression of fear and guilt.
“It’s all my fault. When I was taking an afternoon nap, I suddenly felt someone searching my body and rummaging through my wardrobe. I thought a thief had broken in, so I was terrified and started hitting blindly with my eyes closed.”
“If I had known you were looking for money, I would have handed it over obediently. There was no need for you to search for it yourself!”
The moment those words came out, the people who had been trying to mediate immediately fell silent. The sympathy in their eyes turned into utter contempt.
She had entered the house, searched her own daughter’s body, and rummaged through her wardrobe looking for valuables. Could a mother really do such a thing? If she had been beaten for that, wasn’t she asking for it?
Su’s mother’s face turned livid. She could only awkwardly try to explain herself.
“I only wanted to help you wash your dirty clothes. If you didn’t want me to, then forget it.”
Although that was what she said aloud, she was secretly grinding her teeth with hatred. When did this useless girl become so sharp tongued?
“Wash clothes?”
Su Qingwan sneered. She suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Su’s mother’s arm, and spoke in a voice sharp enough for everyone to hear clearly.
“Mom, are you planning to wash that ragged padded jacket of mine, the one with patch after patch, or those trousers that I’m too reluctant to wear?”
“Since you care about me so much, why don’t you take those thirty yuan from your pocket and buy me some new clothes? Didn’t you just say you wanted to help me manage my money? Then tell me where you’ve hidden your private savings first, and I’ll help you manage them!”
“You!”
Su’s mother reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She clutched her pocket tightly and screamed, “You good for nothing daughter, you want to steal my money? Not a chance!”
Su Qingwan flung her hand away, then deliberately fell into Auntie Zhao’s arms and sobbed with exaggerated emotion.
“Mom, so you only want my money but aren’t willing to give me a single cent. This is the first time you’ve ever ‘wanted’ to help wash my clothes. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. In my next life, I’ll become an ox or a horse to repay you!”
Everyone was speechless. What kind of mother was she? She had driven her own child into becoming like this. Su’s mother’s heart was truly made of stone.
Su’s mother was rendered speechless. Seeing all the villagers pointing and whispering about her, she knew she would get nothing out of this today.
She could only glare viciously at Su Qingwan and leave her with a threat.
“Fine, you’ve got guts! Just you wait!”
With that, she slipped through the crowd and hurried away in disgrace.
Leaning against Auntie Zhao’s embrace, Su Qingwan lowered her eyes, hiding the mockery within them.
You think you can just leave? Not so easily.
She suddenly clutched her stomach. Her face turned deathly pale as she slowly slid to the ground and let out a painful groan.
“Ouch! My stomach hurts so much! I only had my wedding night yesterday.
I might already be pregnant. My mother caused me to lose my child!”
Half an hour later.
The commotion finally settled down. Huang Cuilan’s reputation in Su Family Village was completely ruined. Whenever people mentioned her, they would spit in disgust and curse their bad luck.
The Gu Family Courtyard.
“Auntie, I really have to thank you for today.”
Su Qingwan wiped away her tears and stubbornly stuffed a handful of White Rabbit Creamy Candy into Auntie Zhao’s palm.
Auntie Zhao stared at the precious sweets and swallowed hard, but verbally refused them.
“Take them back quickly. Keep them for yourself.”
“I don’t even like sweet things. They’ll only melt if I leave them sitting around.”
Su Qingwan pushed the candy into her pocket without giving her a chance to refuse.
Auntie Zhao had no choice but to accept it. She lowered her voice and reminded her, “Stay away from that family of yours from now on. If you ever need anything, come down to the lower village and find me.”
After seeing Auntie Zhao off, Su Qingwan closed the wooden door.
The expression on her face instantly disappeared, leaving behind nothing but cold clarity.
She began looking around.
It was a dilapidated old three sided courtyard, which the Gu family’s ancestors had obtained through their sacrifices during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
The entire courtyard now belonged to Gu Jinchuan, the family’s only son.
Quite a few people in the village coveted this large property, including her adoptive father, Su Jianguo. One of the main reasons he had agreed to let Su Qingwan marry Gu Jinchuan was this very courtyard.
In the original story, there had even been a plot where the original owner willingly transferred the Gu family’s ancestral home to the Su family. She had practically been a saintly fool with nothing going on in her head!
After complaining about the plot, Su Qingwan pushed open the door to the eastern side room.
Inside was a red quilted wooden bed, a mother of pearl inlaid wardrobe, and even the rare luxury of an indoor toilet. Every detail showed how much thought Gu Jinchuan had put into the place.
Unfortunately, the original owner had been blind and foolish. In the end, she had caused her husband to die, married another man, and spent the rest of her life as a puppet controlled by the Su family.
Su Qingwan felt sick just thinking about the plot. She secretly swore that she would sever all ties with the Su family and make sure they could never enjoy another peaceful day, just to vent all the anger she had been holding inside.
Then she closed the bedroom door and began trying to communicate with the bracelet on her wrist.
“Spicy Hot Pot.”
The moment she spoke, a steaming box of spicy hot pot suddenly appeared on the table in the room.
Su Qingwan’s eyes lit up. She opened the space with her thoughts.
A five hundred square meter space unfolded before her eyes. Supplies were piled as high as mountains, with everything from food to coal available inside.
Her heart filled with wild joy. She had never expected the bracelet’s space to have come with her when she transmigrated. From now on, she would never have to worry about food or drink!
Remembering that the original owner still had some savings, she dragged an iron box out from beneath the bed.
When she opened it, she found more than two hundred yuan in assorted small bills, a stack of grain coupons, and Gu Jinchuan’s bankbook neatly arranged inside.
She put everything into space. There was absolutely no way she was going to let the Su family benefit from any of it.