Chapter 27
Gu Ran was happily enjoying his meat with the others when he suddenly heard a voice scolding him. Turning around, he saw a woman who looked both familiar and unfamiliar. He recalled, "Grandma Qin San, what's the matter?"
"Of course there is something. How can you be someone's daughter-in-law? Our grandmother is sick and bedridden, and our uncle is seriously injured and has to take medicine every day. In order to nourish their health, there is no place to find meat or food to nourish them. You, you actually caught a rabbit, and instead of sending it to our ancestor uncle, you secretly ate it all by yourself? This is simply treasonous." Grandma Qin San said righteously, "Second Mother Gu, this is not the way to behave."
"What are you talking about?" Mai Dong and his son's eyes widened. "Second Mother Gu gave us a couple of bites of meat, and that's considered treasonous?"
"Don't listen to her nonsense." Aunt Mai waved her hand, pointed at Grandma Qin San and said to Uncle Mai and Mai Dong, "This is the Qin family. Didn't we meet Gu Er Niang when we were in Qingyi?
She was just a little woman stuck in jail, and it was the Qin family who thought Second Lady Gu was seriously ill and couldn't survive, so they left her to die."
"That's right. It's a pity that Sister Gu was lucky enough to survive." Mai Xiang also explained, "Sister Gu had nothing on her at the time. Even her bedding and clothes were said to have been taken away by the Qin family. They are so cruel!"
"Who are these Qin family members? How could they be so harsh on their own daughter-in-law?" Mai Dong was dumbfounded. "Even if they were just strangers passing by, they wouldn't steal all the patient's belongings, right?"
"They still have the nerve to ask Sister Gu to go back and serve her old lady." Mai Dong defended the injustice, "We all heard it today. Sister Gu's husband yelled like that."
"Bah!" Uncle Mai spat and stood up. "What are you doing here, Qin family?"
Pei Liuniang stood up silently without saying a word and glared at Grandma Qin San.
After all, they were serious criminals with blood on their hands, and they exuded an aura that should not be underestimated. The two men, one tall and one short, looked at Grandma Qin San sinisterly, making her shiver uncontrollably. She took two steps back in panic, not daring to say anything, and turned around and left in a panic.
During the whole process, except for the first glance, Gu Ran only looked at Grandma Qin San again and did not say a word. Then Grandma Qin San was driven away by everyone.
She couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth slightly and swallowed the last bite of rabbit meat.
Want her to send rabbit meat to the Qin family?
Grandma Qin San is simply dreaming.
She gave the rabbit meat to the Mai family, Pei Liuniang and other people to eat. They could have sold one for themselves, but why not give the rabbit meat to the Qin family?
I'm afraid that not only will I not get any benefit from eating it, but I will also have others take the opportunity to deduct my share. Only the original owner would do such a stupid thing. As for her Gu Ran, bah, let them suffer!
Grandma Qin San, who had failed in her mission, returned to the tent of the Qin family's women, trembling.
Mrs. Qin frowned when she saw her third daughter-in-law coming back in a panic. "Why are you so rash? Didn't I tell you to go and find Gu? Where is she?"
"Mother-in-law, mother-in-law!" Grandma Qin San calmed herself down and then said, "This is terrible. That Second Lady Gu is bullying others by taking advantage of her power."
"What did she do to you?"
"That Second Lady Gu picked up a rabbit outside, but instead of giving it to the old ancestor and mother-in-law, she secretly kept it with someone else."
"Rabbit?" Mrs. Qin sat up straighter subconsciously. "She even stole the rabbit meat?"
"That's right. Do you know who she's following now?" Grandma Qin San said, "They're serious criminals who've killed people. She gave her rabbits to those criminals. When she saw me, she threatened me. She has no manners at all."
"Hmph, I told you before she walked in. She's just a fake from a poor family. Even though she's been raised in the Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion for so many years, she's still a rude and impolite country girl." Mrs. Qin saw that Third Qin's grandmother had a look of dissatisfaction on her face. "Come on, it's just a rabbit, isn't it? Haven't we had enough delicacies from the mountains and the sea in the past? It's just rabbit meat, it's not like we haven't eaten it before. Don't be so ignorant as to be so ignorant."
Grandma Qin San bit her lip, but thought in her heart: You said it was in the past, but now it is different from before. The Qin family members have been exiled. It is very difficult to eat something good, let alone meat.
Nowadays, any delicious food is always offered to the ancestors and you first. Of course, you don't care about this little bit of meat, but she is greedy. After being exiled, she had to eat the hard dry food given by the officials every day. It was so unpalatable, and she rarely ate meat.
Grandma Qin San was unhappy, but she didn't dare to say it out loud.
"Then, what if Gu Erniang doesn't want to return to the Qin family?"
"She won't come back? If she doesn't come back, does that mean we have to beg her to come back?"
Madam Qin snorted coldly, as if she had heard something ridiculous. "Now the Ningyuan Marquisate is like water spilled on a daughter after she's married off. We don't care about her anymore. As for her biological parents, we've cut off all contact with them. Who can the Gu family rely on? Now she has resentment in her heart and is cold and distant from us. When she figures it out, she will only have a place in our Qin family, no matter how big the world is. She will regret it then."
"She'll be begging to come back to our Qin family when the time comes. Mother-in-law, you must not let her have it so easy."
"Of course." Mrs. Qin smiled disdainfully. "If she wants to be our Qin family's daughter-in-law, we can't let her temper break our family rules."
While Mrs. Qin and Mrs. Qin San were discussing how to punish Gu Ran in the future, Gu Ran, after eating and drinking his fill, lay down in the tent and began to think about breaking up with the Qin family.
In order to separate the original owner from the Qin family and avoid subsequent troubles for himself, he naturally had to divorce Qin Zhikai.
However, the problem is that first Qin Zhikai or the Qin family must agree to let him divorce, and secondly, the divorce procedures must first be handled by the government office in Fujian, where he is assigned to be registered.
The officer who escorted them, Chen Jie, was only responsible for escorting these prisoners to the place of exile, but he would not take care of the prisoners' divorce.
Therefore, if you want to truly sever ties with the Qin family, you have to wait two months.
During these two months, because of the relationship between the original owner and Qin Zhikai, even though there were officials watching, the people of the Qin family probably didn't dare to do anything bad openly. But Gu Ran couldn't help but feel disgusted if others continued to misunderstand him as the original owner or the fourth grandmother of the Qin family.
Thinking of this, Gu Ran, who wanted to cut the Gordian knot, couldn't help but sigh.
Gu Ran was tossing and turning over in his mind as he thought about this. Pei Liuniang, who was also asleep, suddenly asked, "Can't sleep?"
Gu Ran turned and looked at Pei Liuniang.
As usual, the four female prisoners in their group slept in one tent. Pei Liuniang slept on the outermost side, followed by Gu Ran.
"Worried about the Qin family?"
Gu Ran forced a smile and said nothing.
Pei Liuniang was silent for a moment before she said, "Don't be afraid. If they come again, I'll kill them for you."
Gu Ran couldn't help but be speechless, feeling both comforted and a little suffocated.
As expected of his accomplice, he even dared to stand up for him. Then he thought that Pei Liuniang was probably joking. She had endured humiliation for more than ten years in order to avenge her parents, and she even dared to kill her enemy with her own hands.
A young lady like this should live a carefree life considering her age!
But she was right at the beginning. Pei Liu was indeed a person who clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment. At least she would remember anyone who treated her well.
Gu Ran couldn't help but rubbed Pei Liuniang's head with his hand: "You don't have to kill them. It's not worth committing another crime for that kind of person."
Pei Liuniang's body stiffened. She raised her head slightly and looked up to see the hand that was causing trouble on her head.
"Okay, no more talking, go to bed early!"
Gu Ran withdrew his hand and huddled under the quilt.
Pei Liuniang turned around, lay down for a while with her eyes wide open, then slowly stretched out a hand from under the quilt, reached out to the place above her head where Gu Ran had just touched, and pressed it hard.
It was the first time that someone rubbed his head!
Pei Liuniang raised the corner of her mouth slightly, secretly glanced back at Gu Ran, saw that she had her eyes closed, and turned her head away again.
It turns out that this is what it feels like to be touched on the head.
Gu Ran didn't know that Pei Liuniang, who was lying next to him, had been restless all night because of the massage he had given her. When he woke up the next day, he heard a commotion in the camp and the officers were shouting.
"Get up, get up!"
“Get to work!”
"It's time to get to work!"
Because the passage to the south was blocked by an avalanche, this was the only route to the next city. Other trails were covered with snow. Also, because there were too many uncertainties and the road conditions were unclear, the officials did not dare to take the risk and had to ask all the prisoners to dig the snow to clear the way.
Chen Jieguan had been digging for a whole day with a group of officers and prisoners. Now that the officers and prisoners escorted by Li Jieguan had also arrived here, it was this team's turn to go into battle today.
Gu Ran belonged to the team led by Chen Jieguan, but she asked to stay in the team led by Li Jieguan with the female prisoners for the time being. Even if she wanted to slack off at this time, Jieguan on both sides would not allow her, so Gu Ran had no choice but to go into battle obediently.
There are no villages anywhere in this wild mountain area, and it is very desolate. After the accident, Officer Liu Jie left people to look after the wounded and deal with the prisoners, and at the same time sent officials to nearby villages and towns for help. Unfortunately, they were not familiar with the terrain, so today is the third day, and the officials who asked for help have not returned yet.
So Chen Jie Guan could only wait while digging a path through the snow.
Although they said they were digging, the only tools the officers had were the knives they were equipped with.
It was impossible for the prisoners to handle sharp weapons, so the officers used knives to chop and smash. The exiles who were called to dig snow had no tools and could only dig with their bare hands. They were steaming and shivering while working: the heavy work and the large amount of exercise warmed their bodies, but the snow and ice were cold, and digging snow with their hands was painful and cold.
The same is true for Gu Ran.
The strong male prisoners were naturally the main force in digging snow, while the weaker female prisoners were responsible for carrying the dug snow and ice blocks aside with their hands.
The female prisoners who had come to dig a snow path before were fine, as they had experience and knew to go back and get some baskets to collect the snow before moving it. However, the four of Gu Ran and the others who came to dig a snow path for the first time could only endure the pain and cold and start moving the snow directly.
Although they were worried that the prisoners' hands would be frozen while digging the snow paths with their hands, hot water and a fire were provided nearby. Only when they really couldn't bear it anymore were they allowed to drink some hot water and warm themselves by the fire to relieve the cold.
Of course, they were not allowed to drink too much hot water to avoid the trouble of urinating. There were also officials watching over the fire, so it was absolutely impossible for the prisoners to be allowed to roast for a longer time.
Hard labor is hard work. After half a day, Gu Ran looked at her ten red fingers and felt that this was not going well. If she continued digging like this, her hands would probably be broken.
Aunt Mai and Mai Xiang, who work as hard as she does, also have their own difficulties.
Pei Liuniang, on the other hand, continued to slowly gather handfuls of snow and put them aside until the officials who brought food came over. Only then did all the prisoners stop to rest.
It was still dry and cold steamed bread and multi-grain pancakes, but each person also had a bowl of ginger soup.
Gu Ran broke up a multi-grain cake with ginger soup and took two bites. Although he was not picky about food, he suddenly couldn't swallow it. He turned around to look at the heavy snow that was still blocking the mountains and sighed: Forcing them to dig a road with their bare hands in such a rough way, when will it stop?
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