Chapter 223 - 222: Died of Rage (Third Update)
That night, Mr. Gu and his party returned.
But it was not good.
Mr. Gu was already out of breath, only breathing out. The hospital said to arrange affairs at home.
Gu Ruhai didn’t say a word.
Gu Ruhe’s face was ashen, sitting motionless beside Mr. Gu, almost like a dead person.
The family was already starting to get busy.
Li Xuemei couldn’t just sit still.
These were things scheduled already; even pretending that nothing was wrong, it couldn’t get through the night.
Mrs. Gu had already cried herself half to death several times. Every time she woke up, she’d point fingers and curse at Gu Ruhe, and her already gaunt face became more wrinkled in an instant, with her hair turning completely white overnight.
When morning came, Mr. Gu opened his eyes to look at Gu Ruhe, then at Gu Ruhai, then tried to reach out his hand to grasp Gu Ruhai’s hand, but collapsed in despondency.
Mr. Gu had passed away.
After a fit of weeping in the room.
Gu Ruhai and Li Xuemei began notifying every household in the village.
There was too much to do and people needed to be called to help.
Gu Ruhai was not in good spirits; after staying up all night, there were dark circles under his eyes, his beard unkempt like wildfire and white hair at his temples appearing suddenly like startling silver frost.
The village quickly received the news, and many people came to help.
The funeral arrangements began in an orderly fashion.
According to village customs, Mr. Gu was to be kept at home for three days.
But it was summer now, and it couldn’t last three days.
Most people thought at most he would be buried within a day.
If not kept long enough, some elders would feel it was disrespectful to the deceased.
However, Gu Ruhai insisted and brought back a large freezer from the county using a truck, covered with bedding and placed Mr. Gu inside.
Mr. Gu’s burial clothes hadn’t been prepared, so Li Xuemei had Gu Xiaoying drive to town to buy them back.
Gu Ruhai would not let anyone else handle anything, even personally changing the clothes for his father.
The funeral canopy was already set up.
Gu Ruhe wore white mourning clothes and had a white band tied on his head, kneeling stiffly by his father’s right hand, expressionless, merely staring at Mr. Gu inside the freezer.
Gu Xiaoqing and Gu Xiaoying had changed their clothes too.
All of them had a white band around their waist and wore mourning clothes.
They took turns keeping vigil in front of the old man.
The villagers helping notified each family and relatives from the Gu Family Village in every direction.
By noon, someone from Gu Rushan’s side had arrived, but it wasn’t Gu Rushan; it was Gu Xiaocheng.
People only then realized that Gu Rushan and his wife had never returned to the village, weren’t at home, and Gu Xiaocheng himself didn’t know where his parents were, so he represented the second branch of the Gu family alone here.
The funeral continued in an orderly manner.
Upon concluding the three-day vigil, Mr. Gu was put into a high-quality redwood coffin and buried in the ancestral graveyard of the Gu family.
Right at the mountainside location of the Gu Family Village, where many families from the village had their ancestral graves.
It seemed the matters were wrapped up.
But it was obvious something was off. The eldest son, Gu Ruhai, hadn’t spoken even a word to Gu Ruhe. It was only after Gu Ruhe fainted from crying on Mr. Gu’s grave.
The funeral canopy in the yard was taken down, and everything seemed to calm down.
But only the Gu family knew that this affair was far from over.
With an uneasy heart, Xiao Xue brought her two children and followed behind Gu Ruhe to sit in Gu Ruhai’s yard, where he sat in silence, just smoking.
Mrs. Gu, in front of the villagers, finally gave Gu Ruhe some face, not cursing harshly but still pointed at him, saying she never wanted to see him again.
People didn’t know what had happened, but some smart ones guessed it surely had something to do with Gu Ruhe.
Gu Ruhai stamped out the cigarette butt with his shoe, then looked at Gu Ruhe and said, "Before he left, Dad wanted me to save you this once. It was his dying wish, and I won’t fail to do it."
He pulled out a stack of money from his leather bag and placed it on the table.
"Here’s 10,000 yuan. Take it. From now on, you are no longer my brother, and don’t come to me for anything. I have no brother who angered our father to death."
Having said that, Gu Ruhai stood up and walked inside.
Li Xuemei looked at Gu Ruhe.
Xiao Xue pulled at Gu Ruhe, but he didn’t move.
In these times, Gu Ruhe was like a dead man.
No one knew what was on Gu Ruhe’s mind.
After a long while, Gu Ruhe moved, reaching out to take the stack of money and stood up, pulling Xiao Xue away.
Li Xuemei couldn’t help but curl her lip.
This person, really.
Now there was only Mrs. Gu left alone.
If Mrs. Gu were to be left in the village, Gu Ruhai wouldn’t be at ease.
Yet, with Mrs. Gu’s temper and nature, she wouldn’t have a good time in the city either.
Finally, only with Aunt Zhang’s repeated assurances and the village head’s persuasion did Mrs. Gu temporarily stay in the village.
Every month, Gu Ruhai gave the old lady 100 yuan for living expenses, plus 80 yuan every month for hiring Aunt Zhang.
The old lady’s life was quite manageable too.
Moreover, the old lady was still healthy, free of ailments; living in the village for another decade seemed likely to pose no problem.
Not to mention there were familiar old sisters here.
A few days later, Gu Ruhai took his family back to the city.
The Gu Family Spicy Hot Pot restaurant in the city couldn’t be neglected for too long.
But Gu Ruhai had changed a lot, he seemed to talk less.
This was a problem of the heart, which Gu Xiaoqing couldn’t help with; it was up to the father to come out of it himself—probably triggered by Mr. Gu’s anger-induced death.
Gu Xiaoqing had only ten days left before school started.
No mood to consider much else.
Li Xuemei’s family began arranging things for Gu Xiaoqing’s schooling, preparing to send her to Shanghai.
Gu Xiaoqing didn’t want her parents to accompany her.
Now a mature eighteen-year-old girl, with money in hand, not timid, very confident, she didn’t want her parents worrying.
After all, it’s her first time traveling far.
Moreover, before all this, Gu Xiaoqing still needed to find Fang Shaohan to ask what should be done about her affairs?
As long as the mastermind remained uncaught, could she not attend school?
That was impossible.
However, Fang Shaohan soon replied saying, the mastermind issue was for them the police to solve, reassuring Gu Xiaoqing she could attend school in Shanghai, as there’d be protection for her.
They had already established detailed communications with the Shanghai police, this case had been requested for joint investigation.
Gu Xiaoqing boarded a flight to Shanghai. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)