Chapter 523 - 524: Encounter
Once he understood the whole story, Gu Kaiyuan immediately ordered a carriage to be prepared. It seemed they needed to make a trip back to the village.
Bai Suihe directed a few young maids to help pack. Since they were heading back, she decided to go along to see exactly what kind of toxic relatives they were dealing with.
While the Gu family had their own share of difficult characters, they at least had some sense of shame.
However, these illiterate villagers passed down stubborn, ingrained mentalities from generation to generation. They would even add their own bigoted, subjective beliefs into the mix. Such people were often the most difficult to reason with.
"Why don’t you two stay behind?" Bai Suihe couldn’t help but advise when she saw the two girls following with their bundles. "You’ve been through so much unfair treatment these past few days. Just stay here and rest peacefully. Don’t exhaust yourselves traveling back and forth."
If those people were truly acting outrageously, she and Gu Kaiyuan would inevitably have to put them in their place. It would only be awkward for Dongmei and Chunxiang to go back.
"Mrs. Gu, we will go back with you," Dongmei said. They had originally come seeking Bai Suihe’s protection, but now that Mr. Gu was willing to return and seek justice for them, they couldn’t just hide here.
"Don’t be foolish," Nanny Pang said, shooting them a stern look. "You said it yourselves—most of the people there are your elders. As daughters-in-law, whenever they lack reason, they will simply weaponize morality against you.
"Not only will returning do absolutely no good, but it might even cause trouble for Mr. and Mrs. Gu.
"Don’t forget, your indentured servitude contracts have already been returned to you. If they seize upon that fact and insist it’s a family matter to be handled internally, you won’t even have a way out."
By staying in the county town, even if those people had the audacity, they wouldn’t dare storm the residence here.
If things truly reached a breaking point, staying behind at least left some room to maneuver. Therefore, Nanny Pang absolutely forbade them from following.
Experience truly spoke volumes. Bai Suihe thoroughly agreed. "You two stay here and rest up. If you truly can’t go back to that household, the worst-case scenario is simply signing another indentured contract with me."
In these ancient times, such a contract was far more powerful than any moral high ground.
Dongmei and Chunxiang weren’t foolish; they just hadn’t wanted things to reach that point.
If anyone else had made the offer, they might have hesitated. But since it was Bai Suihe and Nanny Pang, they immediately felt reassured and agreed.
Bai Suihe specifically called for Mrs. Song Liu, instructing her to take good care of them. Only then did she step onto the carriage as the family set off toward Tian Village.
Having just woken up, Gu Xingyang spoke, sounding far older than her years. "Mother, when we get back, we should beat up Zhuang Datou and the other one first. Two grown men, and they can’t even protect their own wives!"
Gu Kaiyuan patted her small head. "For such a tiny child, you certainly talk tough.
"Right now, we only have Dongmei and Chunxiang’s side of the story. Let’s not jump to conclusions too early."
"Do you think Dongmei and Chunxiang would lie to me?" Bai Suihe immediately protested. Having spent so much time with them, she knew exactly what kind of people they were.
"I’m not saying they would lie to you. I just think Zhuang Datou and Huang Pingguo must be caught in a very difficult position. We should hear what they have to say first." Gu Kaiyuan remained relatively calm. They had all weathered hardships together, so he had a decent understanding of Zhuang Datou and the others.
Though they each had their minor flaws, the people trained by Nanny Wu wouldn’t be so foolish as to be completely shackled by so-called familial ties.
Perhaps there were some unspoken troubles involved?
"But no matter what," Gu Xingyang couldn’t help but interrupt, "Ms. Dongmei and the others have babies in their bellies! How could anyone let them suffer such grievances?"
"That’s exactly what infuriates me the most," Bai Suihe agreed. "No matter how caught in the middle they are, they should have protected the pregnant women first.
"Making two pregnant women travel all the way to town in such sweltering heat—even if they weren’t entirely at fault, that fact alone makes it their fault."
At that moment, the carriage suddenly rolled to a halt. Outside, the voices of Zhuang Datou and Huang Pingguo rang out. "Lin Wei, is Mr. Gu heading back to the village?"
"Yes. Why are you two coming into town at this hour?" Lin Wei asked. Because he hadn’t been present earlier and was suddenly called to drive the carriage, he was still unaware of the situation.
Zhuang Datou felt somewhat embarrassed, momentarily unsure of how to answer.
Just then, Gu Kaiyuan lifted the carriage curtain. Seeing the two men covered in sweat and looking deeply anxious, his expression softened slightly. "We are just heading back to the village. Hurry up and follow."
Huang Pingguo could no longer stay silent. "Mr. Gu, have you happened to see my wife and Ms. Chunxiang?"
"No, we haven’t," Bai Suihe interjected coldly. "Dongmei and Chunxiang are heavily pregnant. Could they have really run away?"
Hearing the hostility in Mrs. Gu’s tone, Zhuang Datou and Huang Pingguo immediately knew that Dongmei and the others had indeed reached the county town. A wave of bitterness washed over them. What a mess this had become.
"Enough, stop looking so miserable. We will talk once we get back to the village," Gu Kaiyuan said. They had only just left the town, and there was still a lot of traffic passing by. There was no need to make a public spectacle here. "Dongmei and Chunxiang have suffered enough these past few days. Let them rest properly in town."
Without another word, Gu Kaiyuan dropped the curtain, and the carriage slowly began to move again.
With bitter expressions, Zhuang Datou and Huang Pingguo hurriedly kept pace. Although Mr. Gu hadn’t scolded them outright, they knew this matter wouldn’t be resolved easily.
"Datou, what do you think we should do about this?" Huang Pingguo asked, wiping his face and flicking away the sweat.
"How should I know? I told you back then we shouldn’t have given them our address here! But you didn’t listen. You just thought that since you found your family, you had to show off how well we were doing.
"Now look what happened! Everyone came rushing over to leech off us. They even sold off the family land just to come, and now they’ve completely torn our home apart. I guess this is just how we’ll live from now on."
Zhuang Datou’s tone was aggressive. Back then, Huang Pingguo had absolutely refused to listen to his advice; otherwise, they wouldn’t be facing such disastrous consequences today.
Huang Pingguo felt immense regret. He simply didn’t understand how his family had turned out this way.
Their current quality of life was entirely due to good luck and the kindness of their masters. Otherwise, who knows where they would be doing backbreaking manual labor right now.
They had only just begun to see a glimmer of hope for their future, yet this massive extended family had all crowded over. With the meager wages he earned each month, how could he possibly support all of them?
Now that his relatives found out Dongmei and the others had dowry land and silver given to them by Mrs. Gu, they actually dared to scheme for it.
They had the nerve to claim that since the large family hadn’t officially divided their assets, all property belonged to the collective whole and should be handed over to the family patriarch to manage.
Once that was brought up, never mind Chunxiang and the others being unwilling—even he felt extremely uncomfortable with it.
Those assets were the result of their own hard work, gifted to them by their masters. In the future, they would only belong to their children. What did it have to do with those relatives?
But the single word "filial piety" pressed down on them so heavily that they had no way to argue back.
Now the situation had blown up. Their wives had run away, and Mr. and Mrs. Gu were coming to hold them accountable. What kind of mess was this?
As the carriage entered Tian Village, the locals noticed the dejected Zhuang Datou and Huang Pingguo, pointing and whispering among themselves. After all, the arrival of such a large group of relatives had provided the villagers with plenty of entertainment, but it had also brought some disruption to the village.