Chapter 648: Chapter 650: The Shi Family

But Gu Yuanjin frowned. "Is there some mistake? Those two girls are usually so quiet."

Xie Ruyi tugged his sleeve, shooting him a look.

Li Cuicui glanced at the couple. "I imagine you sisters-in-law have known about this for a while."

Xie Ruyi’s expression froze. She had noticed it long ago but just hadn’t wanted to be the one to stir up trouble.

’As for the others, they knew just as much as I did. Since they weren’t speaking up, I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to stick my neck out.’

Seeing the looks on the faces of their wives, the Gu Family Brothers knew that what Li Cuicui said was true.

"In that case, we’ll do as Mother says." Gu Yuanshui shot a glare at his wife before turning back to Li Cuicui. "When the time comes for Sixth Sister to find her a good match, I’ll contribute to her dowry as her uncle."

The other brothers agreed as well. After telling Li Cuicui to get some rest, they took their leave.

"What was all that about?" The moment they stepped out of the courtyard, Gu Yuanshui’s expression soured.

Liu Liu said, "It’s just what you’d expect. She got ambitious, started dreaming of a better life."

"Explain yourself."

Liu Liu said, "Ever since we arranged Le Hua’s engagement, I’ve noticed Chuncao staring at her on several occasions.

I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I noticed that whenever our future son-in-law visited, Chuncao would always find an excuse to come over.

And she’d always have this pitiful, wronged look on her face. Anyone who didn’t know better would think we’d done something awful to her.

Once, I just said a few words to her, telling her that a girl who smiles more has better luck, and tears just started streaming down her face.

There were several other women around at the time. If they hadn’t been there to back me up, who knows how people would have thought I was bullying my own niece."

"Get to the point." Gu Yuanshui had no interest in hearing about such petty squabbles.

He knew his mother well. She wouldn’t take such a drastic step over a few minor flaws.

Liu Liu pursed her lips before continuing, "A while back, she went and pleaded with Mother. I don’t know how she managed to persuade her, but Mother actually went to advocate on her behalf, asking Seventh Wife to take the girl in.

I mean, our Le Hua is Seventh’s actual niece, and even we wouldn’t dare entertain such an idea. But she has the gall to ask for something that puts everyone in a difficult position."

"That’s it?" Gu Yuanshui didn’t think it was a big deal. ’Anyone with half a brain knows that getting close to Gu Wenheng’s family is the path to a good future.’

"Well, I’ve also heard some gossip... apparently, the girl acts all meek and fragile in front of our family, but she’s completely disdainful toward the students who come from other villages to study.

They say she won’t even acknowledge people when they greet her." Liu Liu tried to phrase it delicately. In truth, many people were secretly saying that Li Chuncao was a social climber who looked down on everyone, that she was arrogant and snobbish.

They just hadn’t made a fuss about it out of respect for the Gu family’s reputation.

"If you knew all this, why didn’t you say anything?"

Liu Liu sounded a little guilty. "Well, Mother is the one raising them. If I said something and it upset her so much that it affected her health, I wouldn’t dare take responsibility for that."

Her words were only half-true. People are inherently selfish; who would put their heart and soul into raising children that aren’t their own?

Gu Yuanshui snapped in anger, "You’re a fool! If our family’s reputation is damaged, do you think you can just wash your hands of it?

To outsiders, those two girls are part of our family, raised personally by Mother. We can’t just sever ties with them.

If they do something else wrong and bad rumors start spreading, our Le Hua’s prospects will be affected too."

Liu Liu stammered, "...I just thought we could ignore them. It’s not like she can cause that much trouble here in our own village, can she?"

From her perspective, Chuncao was just a young girl who rarely left the village. She really hadn’t given the matter much thought.

"..." Gu Yuanshui took a deep breath. "It’s a good thing we found out this early. It looks like we’ll have to marry her off quickly. Once she’s part of another family, we won’t be implicated."

He looked at Liu Liu. "You should ask around and keep an eye out for a suitable match. It would be best to find a stern family. A girl like her needs to be kept in check, or she’ll cause trouble even after she’s married."

Meanwhile, Gu Dashishi sent someone to summon Li Cuicui again.

Li Cuicui, reclining on the heated brick bed, said to the serving girl who brought the message, "I’m in no mood to listen to him ramble today. If he wants to cause a scene, let him."

The thought only made her more irritated. Lately, it was as if Gu Dashishi had taken the wrong medicine; he insisted on keeping her by his side every day, forcing her to listen to him talk for hours on end.

’He probably heard the commotion outside today and just wants to see me make a fool of myself.’

「Stone Village」

When Shi Dayong saw Gu Yuanfeng enter with the two girls, his expression stiffened for a fraction of a second. Before anyone could notice, however, his face had already broken into a kindly smile. "Yuan Feng, our girls are here."

Gu Yuanfeng felt a little sheepish. "Husband, my mother hasn’t been well lately, so she asked me to look after these two sisters for a while.

Is it all right if we put them in the guest room?"

Shi Dayong said, "Don’t be silly. The two girls are my children too. I’ve been hoping they would come and stay with us.

They won’t be staying in a guest room. We have an empty side room. We’ll just clean that up for them. It’ll be perfect."

Naturally, Shi Dayong wasn’t going to embarrass Gu Yuanfeng over such a trivial matter.

Besides, his seventh brother-in-law was now a third-rank official with even greater prospects ahead of him. With in-laws like that, he wasn’t a fool; there was no way he would offend them.

After all, these two girls were much closer to the Gu family than his own eldest daughter and son, who were merely relatives in name only.

Li Chuncao held her younger sister’s hand, sizing up the new brick-and-tile house.

Although the layout was similar to the courtyard in her seventh uncle’s village, she couldn’t help but look down on it. It just felt worlds apart.

A flicker of doubt crossed Shi Dayong’s eyes. He had seen this step-niece of his a few times before, and she had always kept her head lowered.

He hadn’t expected her to seem so different today. But he clearly recognized the disdain in her eyes.

His smile didn’t falter. "If you’re too busy, I’ll have Niu Niu help you."

Gu Yuanfeng was only too happy to hand off the task. "Perfect. I’m tired from the walk, so please have Niu Niu get the room ready.

Don’t go out later, either. I need to talk to you about something."

Shi Dayong turned and called Shi Niuniu from the back courtyard to go clean the room, then followed Gu Yuanfeng inside. "Is something the matter? What did Mother say?"

His mother-in-law had sent them over, and now Gu Yuanfeng wanted to talk, so Shi Dayong naturally didn’t dare to delay.

Gu Yuanfeng hesitated for a moment, then carefully picked and chose her words as she explained why she had brought the two girls with her. "Now that Mother has entrusted this to me, I can’t just ignore it.

Anyway, it’s just for a short time until we can marry her off. Then it will be settled."

Shi Dayong was stunned by the news. "Your mother really entrusted you with this?"

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