Chapter 1: Not trying to save face
The weather at the end of October was already very cold, but Gu Lianshan didn't feel cold at all. With a happy look on his face, he drove the ox cart and slowly left Bei'an City.
He was wearing a thick shorts and humming a little tune leisurely. His tall and strong body was leaning against the front of the car, holding a bull whip in one hand and gently swinging a bamboo tube in the other.
Gu Tang was sitting in the car. She covered her ears, not wanting to endure her father's off-tune ditty. She looked at the system panel floating in front of her eyes and completed today's sign-in task with a wooden face.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing today's sign-in and obtaining five sheepskins. ]
Gu Tang: ...
Well, she had just sold three sheepskins in Bei'an City, and now she got five more. If she calculated it, she was still making a profit.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully signing in for thirty days and winning a prize draw. ]
This time, Gu Tang finally smiled.
Very good, with the two accumulated draws before, I finally have a complete three-draw series.
I forgot who told me in my previous life that the winning rate of consecutive draws is a little higher than that of a single draw.
In his previous life, Gu Tang would definitely look down on this “little bit”.
Unfortunately, this life is even more unfortunate than the previous one, and I can only pin my hopes on this “little bit”.
Suppressing the urge to draw a lottery, Gu Tang planned to wash his hands thoroughly, burn incense and worship the gods and Buddhas after returning home.
Gu Lianshan was completely unaware of all this. After all, he couldn't see the system panel and didn't know anything about the system.
At this moment, he was happily playing with the bamboo tube in his hand, and he looked like he couldn't let it go, which was really unbearable to watch.
The bamboo tube contains green wine from Bei'an City, which is brewed from green plums. It is spicy, slightly sweet, and has a strong green plum aroma.
A pound of green wine can be sold for more than one hundred to five hundred coins.
The better ones could even be sold for two or three taels of silver per pound, which was a luxury for farmers.
Driving the ox cart along the way, Gu Lianshan was very greedy and would pull out the cork from the bamboo tube and take a sip from time to time.
The spicy liquid passed through the throat, and the rich fruity aroma filled the mouth. After a few sips, the person felt like he was floating.
That taste is so delicious!
Gu Tang happened to see this, and his face drooped: "Dad! You dare to drink while driving? Be careful, drive into the ditch!"
"Dad just wanted to taste it, he didn't eat much."
Gu Lianshan responded casually and continued to pour wine into his mouth.
He was in a very good mood, and his expression was full of joy. He stopped humming the tune, but not long after, he suddenly sang out again at the top of his voice -
"Mountain against mountain—"
Gu Tang was frightened by the sudden shout and his face immediately turned dark!
It looks like the duck has its neck strangled!
"Dad, please stop singing! The car didn't go into the ditch, but your tune did."
Having lived two lives, the father in this life and her father in the previous life have roughly the same temperament.
He has a hoarse voice and prefers to sing soft tunes that give people goose bumps.
"What do you know? Dad is happy. When Dad is happy, he likes to roar a few times."
Gu Lianshan laughed, the more he thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed to him. He said in a rather proud tone:
"Look at how proud your uncle was a few days ago. He was so proud! Isn't it just green wine? My daughter bought me a pound today! If you have the ability, ask his daughter to buy me a pound too!"
Gu Tang didn't say anything, knowing that her father was angry.
Three days ago, her uncle Gu Liansheng went to a classmate's house for a banquet and came back drunk at dusk.
As soon as he came back, he showed off in front of the whole family, saying that he had enjoyed a fine banquet and drank the green wine which cost 100 wen per pound to his heart's content. He also said that the host family respected scholars and valued him very much.
In the end, the conversation somehow turned to her own father, and her uncle gave her father a lecture in front of a room full of young and old.
They said he was always fooling around and hanging out with some hooligans who were not worthy of being in the limelight. They also said that those brothers who ordered him around would never treat him to a meal.
Gu Tang knew that her father didn't care at all about what her uncle said and just thought it was nonsense.
What her father cared about was the attitudes of her grandparents, but the two old people thought what her uncle said made sense.
Finally, her grandmother Feng added: The green wine is expensive, and only scholars can drink it.
This sentence was like adding fuel to the fire, making her father furious.
Her father has always been a gangster. When he gets angry, he scolds everyone. He started arguing with the two elders and even said harsh words to her uncle and her grandmother.
He said that he had to have a good meal with green wine, and he wanted to see how he could not have it if he was not a scholar.
She said she felt very happy after talking to him, and as soon as she returned to the house, her father hung his head.
Gu Tang's parents were a couple who got married later in life. Her father's first wife left behind a son and a daughter, and her mother Zhang also left behind a son and a daughter.
After the couple got married, they had another son and a daughter.
The daughter is Gu Tang, and the son is Gu Tang’s younger brother, named Gu Ping’an, who is two years younger than Gu Tang and is eleven years old this year.
By this calculation, Gu Tang has two older brothers and two older sisters, and a younger brother.
In total, there are six brothers and sisters.
Because her father was not liked by the two elders of the Gu family, the six brothers and sisters were also not valued by the Gu family.
With such a large family, and to support a scholar, the food they provide on a normal day is really not enough to fill their stomach.
Especially their second branch, which was not well-received. Not to mention eating enough, even eating one more bite would be a sin.
All the children in this house depend on their father to secretly earn money to support the family.
Even though her father looked carefree all day long, he never dared to spend the family's money carelessly. He wouldn't even dare to dream of spending a hundred coins per pound of green wine.
It was precisely because she was reluctant to do so that her father became even angrier. Seeing her uncle's eyes and nose were all messed up, he had been arguing with her uncle for three days in a row.
The uncle knew that her father was reluctant to do so, and he treated him as if he had something against him. He asked her every day when the wine would be bought, which made her father so angry that his face turned blue and black.
A month was enough time for Gu Tang to integrate into this family. She was angry after seeing her own father being scolded by her uncle for three consecutive days.
Early this morning, she used the excuse that she was not feeling well and needed to get medicine, and asked her father to borrow a ox cart to take her into Bei'an City.
After entering the city, she first sold the Bupleurum roots that she had accumulated for many days, and then secretly sold three sheepskins that she had obtained by signing in, and she got a total of three taels of silver.
As soon as she got the silver, Gu Tang spent a hundred coins to buy a pound of the lowest quality green wine for her father.
Even though she knew she would be scolded by her grandparents when she got home, she didn't care. She just let her father come home and show off so that she could vent her anger.
But before they even got home, her father had already started drinking, and judging from his tone, his anger had probably subsided.
Gu Lianshan's anger subsided, but the more he spoke, the more ridiculous his words became.
"Your grandfather and grandmother are so biased that you can't even find their shadow! Your uncle clapped his hands and said his farts were fragrant. He praised his farts to bits just because he had a glass of wine."
"What kind of scholar is that? His whole family tightened their belts to support his studies. He has been studying for more than 30 years, and he only passed the examination at the age of 29!"
"This is just his luck. If it hadn't been for the continuous heavy rain that caused most of the students to miss the exam, would he have been able to pass the exam?"
"He always asks for money at home, but he earns it himself. He can't even earn a penny. Your grandparents still say that they rely on him to bring honor to the family. That's pure nonsense..."
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(End of this chapter)
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