Chapter 876: Situation
Chapter 876 -879: Situation
Gu Ben Can and his father currently lived in the front courtyard, leaving the backyard for his mother to organize and allocate later. When his cousins came over, they naturally stayed in the front courtyard with them.
These courtyards were regularly maintained. Though the furniture was a bit old, it was all still usable. He had the servants clean the place thoroughly and sent the butler to buy some new bedding. Since they were all just a bunch of grown men, a simple setup would suffice for now. They could always add more later if needed.
The brothers were not in high spirits during their journey to the capital. It wasn’t that they were reluctant to leave home, but rather that a situation had arisen right before their departure. Most of them were married, and to their surprise, some of their wives actually wanted to tag along on this trip.
Song Xiuyang, in particular, had followed closely on Gu Lejia’s heels. “Who knows when you’ll be back from this trip? We haven’t had a single child in all these years. How am I supposed to stay here all by myself?”
“The other sisters-in-law can stay just fine,” Gu Lejia said. “Why can’t you?
“Mother and Father don’t even live with you. You just need to live your own life.”
“Hmph, that’s easy for you to say,” Song Xiuyang sneered. “They’ve given me plenty of attitude on a normal day. Now that you’ve become a Lord, are you in that much of a hurry to ditch me?”
Gu Lejia’s tone was filled with impatience. After years of arguing, whatever affection he initially had for Song Xiuyang had been worn down to almost nothing. “You can rest assured about that. The clan rules are clear, and I have no desire to be kicked out of the village.
“I know you don’t actually want to come along to keep an eye on me. You just want to live in the city.
“But I’m truly sorry, I don’t have the means for that right now. You’ll just have to accept your fate!”
“Don’t think I don’t know,” Song Xiuyang retorted. “This time, you’re all staying in the Prince Mansion.
“You don’t even have to rent a separate house. What’s the harm in bringing one more person?
“Besides, if I go with you, you’ll have someone to help out with chores.”
Song Xiuyang had long grown sick of Gaoling Village. From the nice Hai City to this little mountain village, she hadn’t enjoyed a single day of good fortune, but instead suffered over a decade of grievances. What worried her most was that Gu Lejia was fast approaching the age where taking a concubine was acceptable. Who knew if he would bring one back from this trip? Even if Gu Lejia were to take a concubine in the future, it had to be someone she picked out—someone simple and honest. Recalling that boy from her sister-in-law’s family, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of secret resentment. If they had just been willing to let them adopt the child, she wouldn’t have to live in such constant anxiety.
“Are you complaining that my life is too easy?” Gu Lejia snapped. “Did you forget that Seventh Uncle just had me paddled in front of everyone not long ago?
“Let me tell you, this is the most important moment of my life. If you dare cause trouble for me, the moment my birthday passes next year, I will divorce you.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Song Xiuyang gritted her teeth.
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Gu Lejia said with a cold face. “You haven’t borne any children all these years, and I’ve already done my utmost for you.
“On top of that, you don’t respect the elders, nor do you care for the younger generation. Any of these reasons would be more than enough for me to divorce you.”
“You have no conscience!” Song Xiuyang suddenly shrieked. “I left my hometown and came all this way with you, and this is how you treat me?
“Besides, is it solely my fault that I haven’t gotten pregnant after all these years?”
The two of them had consulted doctors over the years, but after being examined, it turned out they only had some minor issues that didn’t affect their fertility at all. They had tried every possible method, yet a child never came. Why should she take all the blame? The more Song Xiuyang thought about it, the more furious she became, and the more certain she felt that Gu Lejia would harbor other intentions on this trip. He was now an official, and with Gu Wenheng and Gu Ben Can as his backers, any new woman he found would certainly come from a much higher background than hers. If that really happened, even if he didn’t divorce her, he might bring in a co-wife. Where would she stand then?
Gu Lejia had no idea what she was thinking, but her pestering was starting to grate on his nerves. “Don’t even think about coming along. Putting everything else aside, we are still in mourning. We are leaving on imperial orders to handle official business, so we have no choice. But what about you? Can’t you see that Seventh Aunt is still observing mourning at home?
“If you don’t know the taboos of officialdom, you should go listen in at the clan school more often.
“Right now, Seventh Aunt’s two nannies take turns teaching there. It’s such a rare opportunity; stop trying to hide at home all day just to be lazy.
“Look at the other sisters-in-law. Besides busying themselves with household chores, they go to audit the classes at the clan school every single day.”
“How do you know I haven’t gone?” Song Xiuyang argued. “Such a tiny place is always packed with people. Every time I go, I’m stuck way in the back, and I can barely hear a thing.
“If your Seventh Aunt actually cared, she would have opened a separate small class just for the family. Instead, it’s gotten to the point where even people from other villages are finding ways to audit, while our own Gu Family members are squeezed out.”
Gu Lejia was so angry he nearly kicked her. “Couldn’t you be a bit quicker on your feet? You live in this village and still get there later than outsiders, and you have the nerve to complain?
“I see the eldest sister-in-law and the others heading out early every time. They don’t run into the problems you’re talking about at all.
“To be honest, you’ve just grown lazy over the years. Besides cooking three meals a day, what else do you even do?”
Sometimes, when he wasn’t home, this woman wouldn’t even bother to cook, preferring to mooch meals off his brothers’ families instead. Although no one said anything to her face, there was no telling how much gossip they spread behind her back. Over the years, she had grown increasingly lazy. If it weren’t for the strict clan rules holding him back, he wouldn’t want to spend another day living like this.
This made Song Xiuyang even more certain that Gu Lejia had other ideas. Her eyes darted around; rather than arguing with him here, she turned and sought out the other granddaughters-in-law of the Gu family. No one knew what she said to persuade them, but soon, every household was thrown into chaos. Everyone began to suspect the same thing: when Gu Letian and the others returned from this trip, would they bring back new “sisters” for them? Most of the women were just throwing minor temper tantrums behind closed doors, but for Gu Letian and his brothers, who were on the verge of departing, it was still an unbearable headache.
Before their luggage was even fully packed, the brothers gathered together at the edge of the village. Gu Benluo felt completely baffled. If these older cousins were having arguments with their wives, they should just go resolve them. Why were they coming to an unmarried lad like him about it?
“Brothers,” Gu Benluo smiled bitterly, “I really can’t help with this. Why don’t you go ask someone else?”
Gu Le Di scratched his head. “You’re the smartest among all of us brothers. We don’t dare tell the elders about this, so what should we do?”
At the end of the day, their hearts still ached for their wives, and they were afraid of drawing reprimands from the elders.
“How about… I go ask my mother?” Gu Benluo suggested.
Gu Letian immediately stood up and took the lead in walking back. “We wouldn’t dare trouble Seventh Aunt. We’ll just head back and try to reason with them properly…”
The others hurriedly followed suit. If this matter alarmed Seventh Aunt, things would truly spiral out of control. At worst, they would just drag it out slowly. Once they left for their trip, the whole ordeal would blow over anyway. Little did they expect, however, that the women in their families were too capable of stirring up trouble. In the end, the elders were still alerted. Once one household started a fuss, it didn’t take long before the entire village was in an uproar.