Chapter 382 - 333: Have You Argued Enough?
Chapter 382: Chapter 333: Have You Argued Enough?
No one spoke. After a moment of silence, the sounds of Gu Shaoling and Tian Sisi’s coughing and crying started up again. Tian Xueqin, worried the floor was too cold, bent down to first gather Gu Shaoling into her arms, then pulled up Tian Sisi. At a signal from her mother, Zeng Rong hurried over to lend a hand. Jun Ran followed to help, saying, "Are you okay? Girls shouldn’t sit on the floor for so long, you might catch a cold... Sigh, to think a couple of jokes could lead to this. Really, some people are just too small-minded. They’re not worth befriending!"
"Who wants to befriend her? She’s just a trashy country bumpkin, who cares about her? If she hadn’t promised to make me my own special Snowflake Cream, why would I have even bothered with her? You say I’m shameless for going to your house, so does that mean you have any face coming to mine? Cutting ties? How ridiculous! You’re still in my house right now. If you’ve got the guts, then leave! And don’t ever come back!"
Gu Shaoling had caught her breath. Leaning against Tian Xueqin, she yelled at Xiao Man through her tears. Tian Xueqin comforted her daughter, her gaze sweeping coldly over Xiao Man. The look of disdain and arrogance on her face made it perfectly clear that she completely agreed with her daughter’s words.
Jun Ran secretly sighed in relief. Her long, thick eyelashes lowered, hiding the amusement in her eyes.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Huh? I raised you for nothing! You’re all grown up and you still don’t know any better. Watch and see if I don’t beat you, you thoughtless girl!"
Granny Gu walked over and swatted Gu Shaoling’s back and bottom a few times. It looked like a punishment, but it was more like she was dusting her off—even though the hall floor was as clean as a mirror, with no dust in sight.
Grandma Tang was trembling with anger. She strode over to Xiao Man, pulling her granddaughter into an embrace with one arm. With her other hand, she pointed at Granny Gu, Tian Xueqin, and Gu Shaoling, and snapped, "You Gus! If you don’t clear this up and restore my granddaughter’s reputation today, I, Mrs. Tang Fang, will not be finished with you!"
Granny Gu glared at Grandma Tang and waved a hand in reproach. "Honestly, can’t you do something about that temper of yours? It’s just children squabbling. Scold them if you must, punish them if you have to, just put a stop to it. We adults shouldn’t be getting mixed up in this nonsense!"
Grandma Tang sneered. "Am I the one getting mixed up in nonsense, or have you gone deaf? You can play favorites all you want, that’s none of my business. All that matters is that I cherish my own granddaughter! But you, Old Mrs. Gu, you tell me: what is this about your granddaughter calling mine a disastrous jinx? You’re the same age as I am. Don’t tell me you don’t understand. When we were young girls, wasn’t every one of us terrified of being labeled a jinx? Once a girl gets a reputation like that, if she still wants to marry, she’ll have to be sent to the ends of the earth and never see her family again! I, Fang Qinglan, have lived for sixty years, and I’ve heard that term maybe two or three times in my entire life. Your Gu Shaoling must be quite the prodigy, so well-versed in all matters ancient and modern, to know such a thing! I refuse to believe a young child would just say something like that. It was clearly you all—you adults are the ones stirring up trouble!"
"You make yourself clear! What trouble am I stirring up? What trouble could I possibly stir up?" Granny Gu was furious now. She didn’t have a good temper to begin with. Other than Fang Qinglan, who else had ever been able to make her feel so frustrated and wronged? Her patience had reached its limit; it was time for an eruption. "Old Lady Tang, don’t you get too arrogant! Do you really think you’re the Empress Dowager, that everyone has to bow down and humor you? Let me tell you, even a clay doll has some fight in it, and no one here is made of clay!"
"If you’re not made of clay, you’d better not be carved from wood, either! I’m just worried you people are all without mouths or ears, incapable of explaining things clearly or understanding reason!"
"You... Fang Qinglan, you’ll be the death of me! You’ve really got some nerve! Can’t you speak reasonably for once? Shaoling and Manman just had a little tiff. They’re going to be sisters-in-law one day. Are you actually trying to call off the engagement?"
"Wang Ruiyun, you’ve finally hit the nail on the head! If you look down on the Tang family or dislike my granddaughter, you should have just said so. What’s the meaning of using these dirty tricks right under my nose? You, Wang Ruiyun, may be a sly old fox, but that doesn’t mean I, Fang Qinglan, can’t see through your schemes! You’re using Shaoling’s mouth to slander my Manman and destroy her reputation so our two families can go our separate ways, and our children’s marriages will no longer have anything to do with one another. Wang Ruiyun, am I right?"
Now it was Granny Gu’s turn to tremble with rage. "Right, my foot! Fang Qinglan, are you an idiot? Is the marriage between the Gu and Tang Families something I alone can decide? If our Gu family really disliked Manman, would we have needed to beg and plead like we did? We were one step short of getting on our knees and kowtowing to you, Fang Qinglan!"
"That’s because you still have a sliver of conscience and couldn’t bring yourselves to completely sever ties, so you resorted to these dirty tricks instead! Hmph! After marrying a so-called ’disastrous jinx,’ do you think your Gu family would treat my Manman well? Every other day it would be her sister-in-law or some other woman in the family coming forward to slander and curse her. Would my Manman ever get a day of peace? Enough! Stop wasting words. Your Gu family will give us an explanation and an answer for Shaoling cursing Manman as a ’disastrous jinx.’ Then, we will leave. Manman wants to cut ties with Shaoling, so be it. From now on, I will be too ashamed to ever set foot in the Gu home again!"