Chapter 899: Thoughts
Gu Yuanjin snorted coldly. “Several hours have passed since we got here. Even if she needed to rest, she should have rested enough by now.
“Besides, I don’t believe she can still sit still with all the noise in the front courtyard.
“I told you to keep an eye on her to prevent her from causing trouble, not to let her avoid seeing us.”
He wondered how she could wash her hands of her own mother’s funeral and still expect to continue living in Stone Village.
Gu Yuanhuo was truly unreliable. If Chuncao ended up with a bad reputation, it would severely impact her future.
Gu Yuanhuo also felt he had done something stupid. “Then I’ll go call her out right now.”
After saying that, he prepared to head toward the backyard.
“Don’t go to the backyard,” Gu Yuanshui said, grabbing him. “I’ll ask one of the older women to go back and check.”
Just as they sat there discussing how to handle the rest of the funeral, a sudden scream echoed from the backyard.
Everyone jumped to their feet and sprinted toward the back.
Gu Yuanhuo never expected that his eldest niece, who had just been talking to him earlier, would hang herself from a beam.
He opened his mouth, but couldn’t utter a single word for a long time. His eyes reddened.
“Why did the girl have to do this?” a Shi Family Member sighed. Everyone knew that this family never had a day of peace, and that Li Chuncao had lived a truly arduous life, but no one expected her to take this path.
Gu Yuanhuo squatted on the ground, hugging his head and smacking it forcefully. He wondered if she wouldn’t have taken her own life had he just stayed by the child’s side.
Recalling his earlier conversation with his niece, he hated himself even more. He thought, “If I had just been a little more attentive, would I have noticed the girl’s intentions?”
The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt, and he continued to hammer his fists against his head.
Unable to stand the sight of it, Gu Yuanjin grabbed his hand and roared, “Don’t cause any more trouble for me right now!”
Everyone’s minds were already in enough turmoil. Seeing Yuanhuo acting like this, Gu Yuanjin really wanted to kick him.
Gu Yuanhuo looked up at Yuanjin with bloodshot eyes. “I should have listened to you earlier and kept an eye on her.
“No wonder she said such inexplicable things to me before, asking me to take good care of Chunya in the future. She had lost the will to live a long time ago.”
Gu Yuanshui hauled him up by his collar. “What’s the use of saying all this now? She was already determined to die. You might have been able to watch her for a day, but you couldn’t have watched her forever.”
Regardless of everyone’s mood, another life had been lost, and they had no choice but to brace themselves and continue handling the affairs.
The Gu Family Brothers stayed there for two whole days before finally settling the funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, in the county government prison, Shi Dayong and his two sons felt as though every day dragged on like a year.
They knew clearly that they hadn’t taken Gu Yuanfeng’s life, but their greatest fear was that the Gu family would use their power to pressure the Lord County Magistrate into convicting them directly.
“Dad, what do we do now?” Shi Laicai asked in a low voice, leaning against the corner of the wall.
“This is a great opportunity for the three of us,” Shi Dayong said. “Both of you, listen carefully. It was your mother who refused to call a doctor. She felt ashamed to face your grandfather and wanted to atone for her sins through physical pain.
“This was your mother’s filial piety. We tried desperately to persuade her these past few days to no avail. We originally planned to call a doctor in secret, but we never expected that her body wouldn’t be able to hold out.”
Shi Laiyun poured cold water on the idea. “The Gu family won’t believe that.”
Shi Dayong glared at him. “If you want to get out of here in one piece, listen to me.
“Besides, once court is in session, it won’t be about whether the Gu family believes it or not, but whether the local commoners believe it.
“Your mother unintentionally harmed your grandfather’s life. She felt extremely guilty and wanted to apologize with her own death. We must make this story the absolute truth no matter what. Both of you, remember this firmly.”
The Shi brothers had only spent one night here, but they were already desperate to get out. Rats and mosquitoes crawled all over the place at night. If they were really locked up for a few years, they would have a mental breakdown.
“Don’t you find it strange? Why are the three of us locked in the same cell?” Shi Dayong sneered. “I’ve had a few drinks with their arrest officer in the past, so I have a deep understanding of the inner workings of this prison.
“The fact that they didn’t separate us is them giving us a chance to get our stories straight. As long as we stick to our narrative, the Gu family won’t be able to find any evidence even if they want to cause trouble.”
Moreover, as long as this became the established truth, the Shi family’s reputation would be restored. Although Gu Yuanfeng had made a mistake, she was at least a person of profound sentiment and filial piety, and had even lost her life because of it.
Shi Laiyun fell silent. Even if he felt an injustice on behalf of Gu Yuanfeng in his heart, he still had to live his life. He couldn’t afford to offend his father and older brother. If they could use this to repair their relationship with the Gu family, he would definitely listen to his uncles from now on and stop messing around like he used to.
Shi Dayong nagged and instructed them for a long time, making the two brothers repeat his words until he was satisfied. Only then did he close his eyes to rest.
Jin Qianqian received news of the situation at the county government that very same day.
She shook her head. It seemed some people really wanted to dig their own graves. They didn’t even hesitate to offend her and Gu Wenheng in order to curry favor with those above. She truly hoped they wouldn’t regret their choices in the future.
She immediately picked up her brush to send a family letter to Shangjing, and ordered her people to keep an eye on the county government.
Hua Shunming and Hua Zhang sat in the Imperial Study Room, staring at the account books. It took them a long while to recover from their shock.
In just a few days’ time, millions of taels of silver had entered the National Treasury just like that?
The viewing fees alone accounted for two to three hundred thousand, while the rest came from the revenue of sold treasures.
“I never expected the commoners of our Rong Dynasty to be so wealthy,” Hua Shunming said, feeling for the first time that his reign as an emperor had been highly successful. Seeing the people living and working in peace and contentment, with surplus silver in their hands—this was the perfect image of a prosperous age.
“I never expected ordinary families to purchase so many more treasures than the officials and nobles at court,” Hua Zhang said, also finding it unbelievable.
Standing to the side, Gu Wenheng shattered the father and son’s illusions. “Supreme Emperor, Holy Emperor, although the records say these are the commoners of Shangjing, there are many wealthy merchants and traveling traders among them.
“True ordinary families would at most grit their teeth and pay to view the treasures. Buying these items is completely out of reach for them.”
Hua Shunming was speechless. The saying ‘honest advice grates on the ear’ was truly irritating.
His originally wonderful mood plummeted into the dirt in an instant.
Hua Zhang cleared his throat and said, “Even so, this is already quite good. Not only did we not have to reduce the prices of the sold treasures, but we also made a small profit.
“At this rate, it probably won’t be long before we can sell out all the treasures in the storehouses.”
At the thought of this, Hua Zhang felt a bit uneasy. “Gu Aiqing, don’t restock the treasures too promptly. If this continues, the treasure exhibition won’t last for many more days.”
Gu Wenheng was left speechless.
Hua Shunming also felt that the Emperor made a lot of sense this time. “I also feel you restock too promptly. Restocking after the daily exhibition concludes would be fine, too.”
“The people of the world are coming for the treasures,” Gu Wenheng said. “If the display becomes sparse, who knows how disappointed everyone will be.”
The Huajia father and son fell silent. They thought, “How can we disappoint our subjects? That absolutely will not do.”
At this moment, Hua Shunming no longer felt that the treasures in his private storehouse were piling up like mountains; instead, he felt that he hadn’t hoarded enough in his early years.