MTLNOVEL 37: Sending You to the Officials
Although Gu Yu very much wanted to teach the people who had come to his door a lesson, there were too many onlookers now, and he couldn’t make any excessive moves.
But continuing to listen to the old woman wailing at his doorstep wasn’t a solution either.
So it was better to speak frankly. Didn’t the people around want to watch some drama?
Today he would let them see their fill!
However, if they were shocked because this behavior completely overturned his previous image, Gu Yu wouldn’t take responsibility.
“Yang Li, why aren’t you staying in your own home? What are you crying at my door for!”
“What! Goudan, what did you just call me?”
“Li? Or what should I call you?”
As soon as Gu Yu’s words came out, the entire scene was shocked.
Not only did Li, who had been wailing, immediately stop and the onlookers widen their eyes, but even Gu Mengyao and Gu Qingheng, who were listening to the sounds outside from within the house, were stunned. After exchanging glances, the siblings could see the disbelief in each other’s eyes.
Regarding Gu Yu’s filial piety toward the old Yang family, others only watched for entertainment, but Gu Mengyao and her brother were directly involved.
Gu Mengyao still remembered that when Gu Yu had insisted on taking away the prey they had prepared to sell, whenever she disagreed, Gu Yu would stare at her with a look reserved for heinous criminals.
Even when Gu Mengyao withstood Gu Yu’s gaze and refused to give him the things, he would later stop eating and drinking. After nearly dying of thirst once, Gu Mengyao had no choice but to compromise.
So, although she had heard Gu Yu say yesterday that he didn’t want to associate with the old Yang family, Gu Mengyao hadn’t taken it to heart.
But the words Gu Yu spoke in front of everyone today were extremely serious, leaving Gu Mengyao confused.
Had Gu Yu truly awakened?
“Oh my! You little beast! I am your grandmother! How dare you call me that? Aren’t you afraid that heaven will strike you down with lightning, killing an unfilial beast like you on the spot? My poor third son! How unfortunate I am! After your death, your son brings me no peace. Now he’s been bewitched by a little vixen and doesn’t recognize his own family anymore!”
“Having money really changes people! He doesn’t even recognize his own grandmother now. Goudan’s previous filial behavior was probably just pretense! If my third brother hadn’t died early, how could his child have turned out like this?”
Besides Li with her foul mouth, one of the two daughters-in-law who came with her remained silent, while the younger-looking woman immediately followed with her own sharp, cutting remarks.
This was probably Yang Zhiwu’s wife, Li Mengzhu… Yang Zhiwu, the second son of the Yang family, was a petty thief in the village and not a good person. When he was almost an old bachelor, Li had finally found him a wife through connections.
As a result, because Li Mengzhu was pretty, even though she had many requirements, Yang Zhiwu had fallen for her at first sight. After causing a ruckus at home, Li reluctantly paid five taels of silver to propose to her.
As the saying goes, like attracts like. Li Mengzhu’s temperament was very similar to Li’s, and her sweet talk won over her mother-in-law, so she naturally became the most favored daughter-in-law among the Yang family women.
Speaking up now was not only to please Li but also because the silver Gu Yu earned from selling the wild boar was surely on her mind.
“Hey! My mother was just saying a few days ago how filial Gu Yu was, but I never expected him to be someone who doesn’t recognize his own family.”
“When children grow up, they no longer listen to their parents. Perhaps that Gu family girl said something behind our backs! Otherwise, how could Goudan suddenly change like this?”
“Haha, I’d say the old Yang family aren’t good people either. Why should they take the silver from the wild boar that the young wife caught?”
“This is getting interesting. I wonder if they’ll start fighting.”
At this point, the watching villagers were also discussing animatedly, most of them criticizing Gu Yu for being unfilial. Hearing this, Gu Yu’s mouth curled downward in disdain.
Previously, sending meat while starving himself was being a filial son.
Now, not handing over the silver made him a beast who didn’t recognize his own family. Li was truly Gu Yu’s ‘good grandmother.’
Rolling his eyes to the sky, Gu Yu had no intention of continuing to indulge these people.
“Li, I’ve already changed my surname. I’m now surnamed Gu, not Yang. Even if you cry to death at my door, it has nothing to do with me.”
“You little beast, my mother is your grandmother! You dare to not recognize your own family because of another woman? Aren’t you afraid that the officials from the government office will come and throw you in prison for the serious crime of being unfilial?”
While Gu Yu was talking to Li, the woman standing beside her who had been glaring at him immediately spoke up after hearing his words.
Seeing her young age and that all her clothes and jewelry were new, plus the fact that she called Li “mother,” she was clearly the youngest daughter of the Yang family—Yang Jiaojiao.
However, Yang Jiaojiao, whom Gu Yu was supposed to call “little aunt,” not only directly called Gu Yu a little beast, but her words also threatened to have officials arrest him. Her arrogant demeanor was just short of sticking her nostrils up in the air.