Chapter 534 - 535: Zhuang Datou
Chapter 534: Chapter 535: Zhuang Datou
A fierce glint flashed through Gu Kaiyuan’s eyes. He took a bold step forward, drew the longsword from Lin Wei’s waist, and pointed it directly at the two young men blocking Bai Suihe. "Get lost, all of you."
Huang Pingan and his older brother, Huang Pingshun, stumbled back in unison. The sheer, overwhelming aura radiating from the tall man before them left their legs trembling.
"We’re here for an explanation! Hand over my daughter-in-law!" Lu Cuihua spouted such wild claims. "Getting outsiders to gang up on her own mother-in-law—such an unfilial wretch! I’m going to have her divorced today!"
Behind her, the members of the Zhuang Family nodded in agreement, giving Zhuang Datou a massive headache.
He had already explained everything clearly to them, and they had agreed. Why had they gone back on their word? He shifted his gaze to Lu Cuihua. She was probably the one stirring the pot again. His family was truly brainless—instead of believing him, they chose to trust a shrew.
"Father, if you still acknowledge me as your son, take our people and leave immediately," Zhuang Datou said.
Zhuang Tian suddenly seemed to have grown a brain. "We haven’t done anything wrong. We just came over to watch the spectacle.
"Aunt Huang told us to come along to find her daughter-in-law. We heard your boss hid her away?
"They say it’s always better to save a marriage than tear it apart. You guys might work for him, but he can’t interfere in our family matters.
"Just tell your wife to come back, and we can talk things out properly. If we were in the wrong before, we can apologize to her. There’s no need for her to kick us to the curb! At worst, we’ll wait on her hand and foot from now on like she’s an ancestor."
Seeing the crowd growing around them, Zhuang Datou instantly realized their true motive: they were trying to ruin his wife’s reputation.
His disappointment in his family deepened. They had clearly reached an agreement before, yet here they were, stirring up trouble again. Since they were determined to collude with the Huang family, they couldn’t blame him for being an unfilial son.
He immediately roared, "Enough! You just want to steal my wife’s dowry. Let me tell you, it’s not going to happen!
"You can take anything and everything that belongs to me, but my wife’s dowry is her personal property. Even I don’t have the right to touch it.
"If you’re not satisfied, you can go ahead and report it to the authorities. Let’s see how the County Magistrate rules on this!
"Stop using the excuse that you’re ignorant country folks. There is still justice and reason in this world.
"The house is part of my wife’s dowry. Since you despise it so much, move out immediately!
"And don’t bother lecturing me about filial piety. I’ll write up a letter of divorce for her right now. At worst, I’ll just be tied to you lot for the rest of my life!"
Zhuang Datou’s reckless, all-or-nothing outburst instantly stunned the crowd.
At the very least, the Zhuang Family didn’t dare to cause any more trouble. If Zhuang Datou actually went through with it, they knew they would be left with absolutely nothing. They might not even get the tens of taels of Silver he had promised them earlier.
This was entirely different from what they had envisioned. The young couple they thought would be so easy to manipulate had suddenly become incredibly difficult to handle.
Zhuang Tian couldn’t help but look at Huang Qianlao for help. To his surprise, Huang Qianlao and his wife were also intimidated, their eyes darting away evasively.
In truth, Li Cuihua and Huang Qianlao were panicking inwardly as well. Zhuang Datou and their second son had been as thick as thieves since childhood. If Zhuang Datou actually went to such extremes, they feared their own son might do the exact same thing.
Licking his lips, Huang Qianlao spoke to Zhuang Datou in a dry voice. "Datou, how can you speak to your parents like that?
"Who do you think we’re doing this for? It’s all for your own good.
"You’re young and ignorant. If you let a woman walk all over you like this, you’ll never be able to hold your head up for the rest of your life!
"A man should be the master of his own house—that’s only natural. If we hadn’t come over this time, who knows whose last name your two little families would take in the future?
"They say a woman marries a man to be clothed and fed. Naturally, she has to listen to our family in all matters!
"So what if those things are their dowries? Once they bring it over, it belongs to our family name!"
Bai Suihe widened her eyes, completely speechless at these old fogeys. Was that how they interpreted "being clothed and fed"? They practically wanted to eat these women alive!
She was curious to see how Zhuang Datou would handle this.
Zhuang Datou simply replied in a cold voice, "Uncle Huang, you’re right. A woman marries a man to be clothed and fed. If I can’t even afford to support my own wife and have to rely on a woman to support me, what’s the point of being a man?
"If I truly couldn’t provide for this family and had to rely on my wife’s dowry to subsidize us, then having the children take her last name would be entirely justified."
"You... You’re completely unreasonable! How can you face your ancestors?"
"Ancestors? I haven’t seen them bless me with anything all these years!
"Our two families don’t even know where our ancestors came from. Ever since my grandfather fled as a refugee to Lingnan, have you ever gone back to pay your respects to them?"
Bai Suihe almost burst out laughing. Sure enough, the ones who could hit you where it hurt the most were always the family members who knew you best.
The trembling old man standing at the back of the crowd stumbled. Fortunately, his son quickly caught him. However, this sudden movement made him even more conspicuous. Now, without Zhuang Datou even having to name him, everyone knew exactly who he was talking about.
They loved using their ancestors to pressure others, yet they couldn’t even be bothered to burn a little incense for them during the holidays.
Gu Xingyang’s voice roared with laughter in Bai Suihe and Gu Kaiyuan’s minds. "Father, Mother, this is too funny! Is that old man thinking to himself right now, ’Ancestors, please bless me and strike down this unfilial son’?
"It’s pretty unlucky to be his ancestor. They raised him his whole life, and even in death, their descendant constantly invokes their name—but only to use them, without ever thinking about offering them any incense..."
"Just watch the show," Bai Suihe said, unable to stand it anymore. Where did a little kid get so much amusement from?
Although only the setting sun remained, it was still quite hot standing out there. Not to mention, with so many people crowding around them, the stifling body heat and the stench were absolutely disgusting to Bai Suihe.
"You unfilial son..."
"As if you’re so filial yourself, Father," Zhuang Datou said, tearing away all pretenses. "My grandfather is getting on in years and finally managed to settle down. Yet, you and my uncles sold the very homestead he painstakingly built, forcing him to leave his home and follow you into exile at his age!
"Look at him! Who knows if he’ll ever be able to return to his homeland now?
"Oh, right, Grandfather. After you pass away, where will you return to?
"Since you’re always going on and on about the ancestors, I imagine you’d want to return to where your parents are so you can fulfill your filial duties. But do you even know where your childhood home is?
"Make sure you tell my father and uncles ahead of time. Otherwise, our branch of the family is going to have to split up into several different ancestral tombs!"
The onlookers were left completely dumbfounded. What on earth was Zhuang Datou saying? This was completely rebelling against the natural order!