Chapter 25 - Chapter 25: 25 Experts

Chapter 25: 25 Experts Editor: Atlas Studios At this moment, Gu Jiao came over from the direction of the backyard with a small carry-on on her back. “Off to the outhouse and gone so long!” Fen Lin murmured. Xiao Liulang’s gaze fell on Gu Jiao. As she approached, he asked, “Are you feeling unwell? Let the doctor take a look.” “No, let’s go,” Gu Jiao said. She didn’t look sick at all. Xiao Liulang collected the medicinal herbs and found that half a month’s supply came to less than a tael of silver when settling the bill. “Is there a mistake?” “No, that’s the price,” said the shop assistant. “I told you before, their business isn’t going well. They dropped the prices,” Fen Lin whispered in his ear. But the reduction was… a bit too radical. Other than this, Xiao Liulang couldn’t think of any other reason. He didn’t believe someone generous was secretly providing assistance to him. The group left Huichun Hall. The second boss personally saw them to the door. As Gu Jiao passed by him, the second boss grinned and extended five fingers towards her. The medicine cost five taels of silver, added to her account in advance. Gu Jiao gave him a powerful glance, deducted from her consultation fee! Speaking of which, the second boss hadn’t asked her to examine others yet. She wondered what kind of business he would give her in the future. “Xiao brother, I’ll walk you home,” Fen Lin said. Xiao Liulang refused politely, “No need, Uncle Luo’s ox cart is over there. You go back to the academy and study hard. You’ll be taking the exams next year.” Mentioning this, Fen Lin felt a headache coming on. His knowledge was actually not that good. His teacher always said that his essays were too rigid, lacking originality. If he encountered a conservative examiner, he would be fine. If it was a progressive examiner, he would definitely fail. Fen Lin sighed: “Alright, I’ll go to the academy first. You be careful on your way.” With that, he glared at Gu Jiao again, as if he was worried that she would cause trouble for Xiao Liulang. However, ever since Xiao Liulang declared that she had a name, he never called her a wicked woman again. After Fen Lin left, Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang did not immediately return to the village, but went to the shop to buy some stuff first. Gu Jiao bought some candied fruit and peanuts. She found that the old lady was easy to please. As long as she was given food, she could stay in the house all day. Xiao Liulang bought some brown sugar. He had previously borrowed some from Auntie Zhang and hadn’t returned it yet. When the two of them loaded the goods onto the ox cart, Uncle Luo chuckled, “Doing some new year shopping? It’s about time, New Year is almost here.” The two of them were stunned for a moment. They suddenly realized that the New Year was approaching. Actually, it wasn’t that the two of them were living in a fog and had lost track of the days. It’s just that they both lacked the habit and intention to celebrate the New Year. The brightly lit houses with families reunited on the eve of the lunar new year always seemed to them the loneliest of days. Gu Jiao left home at the age of eight in her previous life, she moved into the research base of the organization. Upon every New Year’s Eve, the organization had a collective holiday, and the empty base was left only with her. Gu Jiao wasn’t very informed about Xiao Liulang’s situation. Maybe he had experiences of jubilance before, but they were all gone later. She is an alienated soul from a different world, and he is a lone traveler in an unfamiliar land. Uncle Luo’s words left the two of them somewhat at a loss. However, the two of them didn’t mention it, and just silently got onto the ox cart with their goods. The ox cart moved slowly. By the time they reached the village, it was already dark. After Uncle Luo drove the cart back to his house, Gu Jiao put all their goods into her carry-on, and walked towards their home with Xiao Liulang. Halfway there, they noticed from afar a crowd gathered at their front door. The crowd was three layers strong, blocking the entrance. There was faint cursing coming from within. Auntie Zhang, who was feeding her two grandsons and couldn’t move from the door, shouted at them, “Oh dear, Liulang, what took you guys so long? Something’s happened at your home!” “What happened, Auntie Zhang?” Xiao Liulang asked. “Someone from the Gu Family came knocking, and they got into a fight with your… aunt-in-law…” Aunt-in-law? When did such a character show up in their house? Could it possibly be… the old lady? The old lady is senile and could be easily bullied! Gu Jiao turned her head to Xiao Liulang and said, “I’ll go and take a look first.” Auntie Zhang hurriedly said: “Go right away! Your Grandma is not to be trificked with!” Gu Jiao has been here for a while, but she hasn’t seen the original owner’s grandmother before. She only knows that her surname is Wu and she was a fierce woman when she was young, who later married the Gu patriarch. The Gu patriarch is a scholar, and later became a Lizheng. Allegedly, Wu should have been more restrained after being with him, but rather, she appeared to become more dominated. In the village, if there is a person you wouldn’t dare offend, it would be Wu, thus Auntie Zhang was worried about Xiao Liulang’s “aunt-in-law” being bullied. When Gu Jiao arrived at her door, she found that all the women from the Gu family had come, including Wu and her two daughters-in-law, Zhou and Liao. Of course, Gu Xiaoshun and Gu Ershun were also there. Gu ErShun stood by his mother’s side, while Gu Xiaoshun stood by the old lady’s side. However, unlike what Auntie Zhang described… the ones who seemed to be yelled at with red faces and thick necks were the three Wus! “You, you, you… dare to repeat what you just said!” Wu pointed her finger at the old lady, hands on her hips. It seemed that someone had moved a stool for the old lady. She sat on the stool with her legs crossed, grabbed a handful of melon seeds, and while snacking on them, said casually, “Why would I say it again? Are you hard of hearing, or are you deaf?” Wu had been domineering in the village for so many years and had never been treated like this. No wonder the two daughters-in-law asked her to come and argue. They could not withstand this old lady’s unyielding manners at all! “I don’t care! He must send me this tael of silver tonight!” Wu, unable to win, began to play dirty. The old lady spat out a face full of melon seed shells at her: “Pah! Has he eaten your rice or drank your congee? Even the women in the brothel have more shame than you. Forget about a tael of silver, he won’t even give you a copper plate!” Comparing Wu to those morally compromised women in the brothel, Wu was about to explode with rage! Wu: “You, you, you… ” The old lady completely denied Wu any chance to speak: “Also, don’t say it’s because my Jiaojiao has eaten at your house. How much can she eat and how much did you charge Liulang? Originally, my Jiaojiao was supposed to find a husband in the Gu family. But you simply went from bad to worse, driving them both out. Since they were driven out, it has nothing to do with your Gu family!” Wu shook with anger: “That… that was only dividing the family!” What about driving them out? If such words got out, would the Gu family still have their reputation? The old lady cracked another melon seed: “Oh, you admit it was dividing the family, huh! So, after separating, why do you still ask Liulang to give you guys silver? Where’s your shame? Did you use it to plaster the wall?” Wu was choked to the point of rolling her eyes. This crazy woman, sim… sim… simply wants to infuriate her to death! But the villagers were almost dying of laughter. Wu had never lost a verbal battle in the village, but today she was firmly silenced. The matter of separating the family was originally unkind as done by the Gu family. But at that time, the Gu family claimed it was Liulang’s idea not wanting to live with the Gu family, so the villagers didn’t say much. Later, they found out that Gu Jiao was still eating at the Gu family’s house and the villagers also knew, but they didn’t expect the Gu family to be collecting silver! Gu Jiao is just a fourteen-year-old girl, how much rice can she eat? Yet, the Gu family makes Liulang give them one tael each month! Isn’t this extortion? A tael of silver is enough to feed a large family for two months! Zhou and Liao only came knocking because Liulang hadn’t given money for family expenses this month, but who would have expected such an uncontrollable situation would have ensued? Now, what should they do?