Gu Yuxin felt a chill run down her spine, but she didn't dare to bang on the door anymore. She pleaded, "Old man, I'm almost a great-grandmother. Please have some decency and let me out first. We can talk things out properly then, okay?"
"Face?" Xun Xingshun glanced at Hua Baoguo, whose face had long been lost in the county town. "Does our whole family still have any face to speak of?"
"Am I starving you or dressing you? Why would I let you exploit your daughter like this?"
Gu Yu shrieked, “What do you mean by exploitation? This is clearly Liang Fen giving me something out of filial piety. I’m her mother, so why can’t I take something from her? If you don’t believe me, ask her. She gave it to me willingly. I didn’t go to her door to steal it.”
Xun Liangfen lowered her head and remained silent. Every time her mother came back, she would cry and complain about how difficult life was at home, how good her two older brothers and father had been to her when she was little, and how much she had asked her to help them.
What else could she do? Once she started giving money, it was unstoppable. There were always different reasons in front of her, and she got used to it. Sometimes, she would even hand over the money automatically without her mother having to ask.
Xun Xingshun guessed what she wanted to do by rushing out, and directly shattered her hopes, "Why didn't you reveal any of the money your daughter has given you over the years?"
I found your memorial; I never expected you to be so bold as to do something so serious behind my back.
Gu Yu felt everything go black before her eyes, and she slid to the ground against the wall. Only a few words echoed in her mind: It's over... it's over...
In one of the rooms, Xun Liangfen immediately sensed something was wrong. Gu Yu's breathing was too rapid. Forgetting her fear, she rushed over to support her, "Mother, what's wrong? Don't scare me."
"Dad, come quick! Mom seems to be acting strangely."
Xun Xingshun, however, thought this was a new trick the mother and daughter were playing and didn't intend to pay any attention to it.
Hua Baoguo, however, fearing something might really have happened, quickly said, "Dad, why don't we go and check on him? Just in case something really happens."
Xun Xingshun then stood up, took out his key from his pocket, and opened the door.
As the light entered, they discovered that Gu Yu was lying in the corner by the door, her face deathly pale.
Xun Liangfen was pinching her philtrum hard, completely at a loss. "Father, what should we do? Mother seems to still be convulsing."
Xun Xingshun didn't care about being angry. He squatted down and took the handkerchief from his daughter's hand, then pinched Gu Yu's philtrum hard. "You really are a handful. Did you not think about today when you did that?"
"Father, please stop talking!" Xun Liangfen was afraid that Xun Xingshun would add fuel to the fire and make Gu Yu's situation worse.
Hua Baoguo gave Xun Liangfen a push, "We have a doctor in our village, right? Go and call him quickly."
Xun Liangfen then stood up abruptly, but stopped after taking a few steps, her voice trembling with tears, and said, "But I don't know where the doctor is?"
They spend only this much time in the village throughout the year, and she can hardly recognize many of them anymore. Where can she call them?
Hua Baoguo never expected that the usually shrewd Xun Liangfen would have this side to her, and he shouted, "Don't you know? Why don't you just ask?"
“Yes, I’ll go ask…” Xun Liangfen stumbled out, not noticing Gu Yu frowning on the ground.
Upon noticing her small action, Xun Xingshun pinched her philtrum even harder, and pressed down slightly on her shoulder acupoints with his other hand. Gu Yu immediately cried out in pain.
"Alright," Hua Baoguo was overjoyed to hear the voice. It was good that he was awake, which meant that he was alright.
He was only happy that nothing was wrong, but he didn't notice that his father-in-law's face had darkened even more.
Xun Xingshun let go and stood up, but Gu Yu's head slammed directly into the ground.
Hua Baoguo, "..."
Gu Yu clutched her head and cried out in pain, while her other hand gripped Xun Xingshun's trouser leg, "Old man, you really took it..."
Xun Xingshun said, "I did take it, and I even gave all the money and notes inside to my son-in-law so he could take it back."
"Let me tell you, if you ever dare to ask our daughter for anything again, believe me, I'll divorce you and send you home!"
Before Hua Baoguo could leave the room, Gu Yu called out to him, "Baoguo, you can't take my things. Give them back right now."
"Your things?" Xun Xingshun was angry that he had been deceived when, in a struggle, his trouser leg was ripped open with a ripping sound.
Thinking about all the fabrics hidden in the closet, and the fact that she had been wearing the same pair of pants for over a decade, she felt even more furious. As her husband, how ruthless and selfish must this woman be to dare to secretly hoard such a treasure trove?
“Since you married into my family, what have you done all these years? How many times have you worked in the fields? How can you have so much wealth?”
He used to send all his allowances back home when he was in the army. His elderly parents were afraid that his wife would run away, so they let her stay home and not work in the fields.
When he returned from military service, she didn't suffer at all while having and raising the children.
But she was still not satisfied. She was almost a great-grandmother and still harbored selfish desires.
“At least it wasn’t stolen. I raised her all these years, what’s wrong with giving her to me?” Gu Yu stared at Hua Baoguo again. “Your father once said that the two families were merging into one, and now you’re already showing your true colors and being reluctant to part with her.”
Hua Baoguo was about to take the money out of his pocket when Xun Xingshun grabbed his hand. "Ignore her. She's fine now. I'll handle the rest. Go to the village and see if your older brother and the others have finished their work in the fields."
Hua Baoguo knew that this was an attempt to get rid of him, and that he was indeed no longer suitable to stay here.
After Hua Baoguo left, Xun Xingshun closed the courtyard gate and went into the main room, where he locked the door again.
Seeing his actions, Gu Yu was so frightened that she shrank back into the corner, "You can't hit me..."
"Now you're scared?" Xun Xingshun pulled up a stool and sat down in front of him. "Now tell me why you did this? You took so much money from Liangfen, and I haven't seen you use it. What was the point?"
In the past, she would have taken the money back to her parents' home, but after the famine, the two families completely cut off all contact.
In addition, her parents and brothers passed away one after another in previous years, and her nephews and nieces ignored her, so there was no basis for her to think that she should take the money back to her parents' home.
“This is all owed to us by the Hua family,” Gu Yu said bitterly. “You and Hua Guangzong retired from the army together, so why are only the two of them assigned to a unit?”
I think it's just that his wife took your place, and you're still so naive, treating her like a brother.
What's wrong with me taking my daughter's salary? I even think I'm not getting enough.
Xun Xingshun didn't expect her to bring up the same old topic again. "Hasn't this been explained clearly already? Back then, it was because I was uneducated and there were no suitable positions in the county, so they transferred me to the village. Besides, what's wrong with being in the village? I'm both the village head and the brigade leader. Have I mistreated you all these years?"
This was also his weakness back then, so he attended several literacy classes in the village later on; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to hold the position of village chief.
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