Traveling to ancient times with a sign-in system

Chapter 137: Divide the family, which son should I live with?
Old Master Gu's face darkened, and he immediately scolded, "What nonsense! Do you think there aren't enough people making sarcastic remarks? Family disgrace shouldn't be aired in public. We can solve this matter among ourselves. There's no need for outsiders."

Gu Lianshan was tired of hearing this, so he simply pushed it aside and said, "Since you want to solve it yourself, then you can find a way yourself. Your son has no other choice now.

Tomorrow I have to go find the clan leader and elders to quickly handle the division of our family. Please think carefully tonight about whether you want to live with your son or with my eldest brother."

Mr. Gu's face changed drastically, his hands began to tremble, and he asked in a trembling voice: "Are you determined to split up the family?!"

"Dad, please check your conscience and wipe your eyes. Look at our family. You and my mother will have to rely on medicine to survive in the future. My eldest brother's family, big and small, are all unproductive and useless!

My son has four children to support. The eldest daughter is old enough to get married, and the eldest son is old enough to get married. Once these two things are done, within two years, the second daughter and the second son will be old enough to get married.

How capable can a son be? I have to support you two elders, my eldest brother's family, and my four daughters and children. Even if I had three heads and six arms, I couldn't afford to support them all!"

There wasn't a single lie in what Gu Lianshan said; he spoke from the bottom of his heart.

If they had a pair of sensible parents, they would not let the patriarch step in to forcibly divide the family. The two brothers should have been separated long ago to avoid wasting the already limited brotherhood.

Old Man Gu was biased. After hearing what his son said, he had only one thought in his mind. He thought that his second son did not want to support the eldest father and son to study, so he took advantage of the fact that the two elders were seriously ill to trick the clan into helping him divide the family.

He really didn't understand. He had been teaching his second son day and night for all these years, but why didn't his second son understand that only if the eldest son and his son went to high school could they become officials in the future. Only if they became officials could their family rise to the top!
For farmers like them who work on the land, this is the real way out! The whole family should work together!
Why can’t the second child understand?!
Old Master Gu was very angry and expressed his thoughts aloud.

Finally, he asked, confused, "There's a clear path to heaven right in front of you, why do you insist on taking that bumpy side road? You say you can't support such a large family, do you really? Just look at your daughter's skill in picking herbs. If she cared about the family, she wouldn't hold on to the money so tightly!"

Now, no matter what Mr. Gu says, Gu Lianshan will not get angry anymore and just treats it as if the old man is talking nonsense.

He curled his lips sarcastically and said, "Yes, studying is indeed the best way out for our peasant family, but it depends on the person. If the eldest father and son are smart, I am willing to support them.

But looking at the situation right now, raising a pig is worse than supporting the father and son. You can kill the pig and eat the meat to make money, but what can they do? One has studied for decades and still hasn't even become a scholar, and the other has studied for more than ten years and can't even recognize all the characters. How can I expect them to pass the imperial examination and become officials? Dad, you and my mother are blind, but your son's eyes are not blind!

"You!" When Mr. Gu heard the second son compare his eldest son and his father to pigs, he became furious and slammed the side of the bed.

Gu Lianshan ignored his anger and continued, "You said my daughter doesn't appreciate the kindness of her family. Let me ask you, which family in this family has ever been kind to my daughter? Think about the life my daughter has lived. If you were in her shoes and were to live the same life as my daughter, would you appreciate the kindness of your family?"

Old Master Gu paused for a moment, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes.

But soon he started shouting again in a timid tone: "Don't all the girls in every family go through this? Even the daughters-in-law who are about to marry into the family go through this!

Go out and ask around, ask carefully. Whose family with many children hasn't sold off, starved to death, or frozen to death a few girls? Our family didn't starve her to death, didn't freeze her to death, and didn't sell her. We allowed her to grow up alive. That's a favor! She needs to be grateful! She needs to remember the good things at home!

But look at your good daughter, count all the things she has done, which one is not treasonous? Which one is not unkind and unfilial? If this happened to someone else, she would have been tied up and drowned in a pig cage! How can you let her continue to be so arrogant?

Gu Lianshan curled his lips and said, "Are you kidding me? Do you think I don't know how much you two hate my daughter? Don't flatter yourself. You can't beat my daughter, and you can't scold her. You have been wanting to sell her out for a long time.

But you haven't gotten the money from my daughter yet. You're afraid that if you sell my daughter, you won't get the money. Furthermore, you're afraid that selling my daughter will anger me. This family depends on me for everything. If you sell my daughter, I will definitely not give up. You know it very well. When it comes to calculating gains and losses, who can compare to you?

Having his fig leaf torn off by his son, Mr. Gu felt embarrassed and annoyed. It turned out that his second son had figured him out clearly.

Seeing that things had come to this, Old Man Gu simply laid it bare and said, "Dad knows that you feel unfair and that you have suffered a loss. As long as you promise not to divide the family, Dad will make the decision. If your mother's illness is incurable, you can borrow an ox cart to take me to find your mother tomorrow, and I will coax her back.

As for the money for my future medicine, my family still has some savings, not much, but enough for me to buy medicine for a few years. You just need to take good care of your eldest brother and his family. In a few years, even if your eldest brother doesn't pass the imperial examination, your nephew will definitely pass!"

Gu Lianshan sighed, "Why are you so certain that my eldest brother and his son will pass the imperial examination? If my son really wanted to support a scholar, wouldn't I send him to study and take the imperial examination?"

"Your son?" Old Master Gu looked surprised, as if he had heard some fairy tale, and found it absurd.

"Not only does your son steal and cheat, he also went to school for two years, but in the end he couldn't even recognize twenty characters! Even with that, you let him go to school. What's the difference between that and throwing money into the water?"

Gu Lianshan listened with a cold face and said nothing.

Old Master Gu continued, "The second kid in your room looks quite well-behaved, but he is stubborn and doesn't know how to adapt. He only moves when you tell him to. He looks dejected and doesn't look like a scholar.

Second son, Daddy wouldn't be wrong, nor would he lie to you. You two boys are the same, destined to dig for food in the fields, not study! I know your daughter still has the money from selling the deer, so don't mess with it. I advise your daughter, and yourself, to use it to support your eldest brother and his son in their studies.

"Are you done?" Gu Lianshan still didn't get angry, as if the old man was not talking about his son.

Old Master Gu felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He knew his second son well and knew that this did not convince him.

Sure enough, Gu Lianshan said in a cold tone: "Today is the last time my son will speak these heartfelt words to you. From now on, we will have nothing to say to each other.

I'll say the same thing again. Think carefully tonight. When the family splits up tomorrow, do you want to live with our second wife or with my eldest brother? No matter who you live with, I will never give you less than the filial piety I owe you. After all, you and mother gave birth to me, and I still have to take care of you in your old age and see you to the end."

After saying this, Gu Lianshan didn't care about Mr. Gu's reaction, he stood up and walked out without looking back.

Old Master Gu's heart sank to the bottom, his eyes fell on the stool where his son had sat. His old face, like tree bark, was bright and dark, and slightly distorted under the swaying light.

After leaving the main hall, Gu Lianshan smelled the fragrance of rice when he arrived at the west wing.

Following the smell, I walked into the kitchen and saw my son and daughter busy cooking: a pot of rice porridge and two plates of fried meat with pickles.

Seeing the meat, Gu Lianshan was very surprised: "There is still meat at home? Didn't Dad eat it all on his birthday?" Gu Tang whispered: "This meat was bought last time when I bought things for the courtyard. I brought some back and have been hiding it secretly."

Hearing this, Gu Lianshan also remembered that when his daughter bought things for the yard, she did buy a lot of meat, saying that it was cold and they could put it in the yard and freeze it without worrying about it going bad.

"Anything else?" Gu Lianshan suddenly asked.

Gu Tang was puzzled, but nodded: "I guess there are still about ten pounds."

About ten pounds?
Gu Lianshan secretly calculated and felt that this should be enough, so he said, "Dad will go to the clan leader and elders tomorrow. If everything goes well, we should be able to complete the division of the family business by tomorrow afternoon. In the evening, we must treat the clan leader and elders to a meal. Tomorrow, you can go to the villagers and ask if they have any good dishes. We can buy them and prepare a good meal."

So that's what happened.

Gu Tang was very happy and agreed to the matter. "Don't worry, leave it to me. Tomorrow I will not only prepare a good meal, but I will also hire a chef for you! I guarantee it will be a great meal for you!"

Chef?

Gu Lianshan was confused: "The village is not like Bei'an City, where are you going to hire a chef?"

"Don't underestimate the villagers. There are so many aunts, sisters-in-law, and wives in this village, there must be a few who are good at cooking. I'll pay someone to come to my house to help prepare meals. It's such an honorable thing, and I can earn some money. I'm sure someone will be willing to come!"

Gu Lianshan was very surprised: "Dad thought you would do it yourself, your craftsmanship is not bad."

Gu Tang curled the corners of his mouth and gave an awkward smile.

With her novice cooking skills, she can only appease her father. If she really has to prepare the meal herself, she will feel really scalp-numbing.

What's more, she hates kitchen work the most. Cooking a meal occasionally is the fun of life, but if you really ask her to prepare a meal seriously, she will definitely refuse!
"It's better to invite someone over, at least two. There will be a lot of people tomorrow, at least a dozen. With so many people, we can't be short of food. And there's a lot of work to do. You're small, so such tiring work is not something you can handle."

Gu Lianshan was reluctant to let his daughter do such tiring work. After all, it wouldn't cost much to hire someone from the village, so he listened to his daughter and invited someone to be the chef at home.

While the father and daughter were talking, the rice porridge in the pot was ready and the rice flowers bloomed beautifully.

Gu Tang first scooped out a bowl, then picked up the pickled vegetables and fried meat and put some vegetables into the porridge bowl, then took a boiled egg, and then asked her father to bring it to Grandpa Gu.

"Your grandfather doesn't like eggs! When you were little, you were craving eggs and wanted to eat them. Your grandfather said, 'What's so good about eggs?' He just didn't like them. Since he didn't like them, just give him a bowl of porridge. Don't give him eggs."

Gu Lianshan took the egg away and let Gu Tang peel it and eat it by himself.

Looking at the rice porridge and meat, he remembered what the old man had just said, and he immediately became furious: "It's a waste to feed your grandfather such good food! Look at your uncle, he didn't even bring a bowl of water to your grandfather, while my family brought both water and porridge, but he couldn't even get a 'good' in return! In my opinion, just make your grandfather a bowl of porridge as a reward!"

Gu Tang rolled her eyes at her father. "Do you think she's willing? This is just for him, the father, to see!"
No matter what her father thinks, as a daughter, she can argue with the two elders of the Gu family, but she must never treat them harshly in terms of food and drink.

If she really needs to be treated harshly, it must be her father himself, not her.

"Please calm down. We have to do our best to impress others these past two days. Apart from other things, my grandfather has to eat and drink the same as us. My uncle is always watching us, and who knows if he will do anything bad. We have to act well on the surface so that no one can find any flaws in us."

Gu Tang persuaded him for a few words, peeled the egg and put it into the bowl of porridge.

Gu Lianshan calmed down and thought about it. It was indeed true. At this critical juncture, he really couldn't let anyone take advantage of his weaknesses.

Seeing the egg fall into the bowl of porridge, he didn't say anything about not allowing the egg to be delivered, but went to the main room with a reluctant look on his face.

Old Master Gu was already starving. Feng was not at home, the eldest daughter-in-law had disappeared, the second daughter-in-law had been divorced, and the two girls in the main house could only cook porridge and cut pickles. The same was true for Gu Mei in the second house, who also only knew these two things.

But Gu Liansheng, Gu Tianbao and Gu Laian can't even cook porridge!

In the morning, the three girls tried to cook porridge, but it turned out to be as thick as mud, without any water at all. They had no choice but to add water halfway through.

The porridge that was finally cooked was really not very tasty.

But even so, the girls and boys still found it extremely delicious.

The portion was just a small amount, and everyone, big or small, was only thinking about themselves. After they were all full, they remembered that the old man in the main room had not eaten yet.

There was still a little rice porridge left in the pot. I scraped it around with a spoon and managed to get out half a bowl of rice porridge.

He didn't even add any pickles and just served it to the old man.

Half a bowl of rice porridge was not enough to fill him up, so Mr. Gu asked someone to cook another bowl.

Gu Liansheng was reluctant to do so. He wanted to secretly sell the grain in the east ear room for silver, so he lied to the old man and said that Doctor Gu had told him not to eat too much because it was not good for his condition. Besides, he would have to take medicine later, so half a bowl of porridge would be enough.

Old Man Gu did not doubt his son's words. Firstly, he thought that he did not ask for delicious food. Secondly, there was plenty of rice and flour stored at home, so he would not need a bite to eat. So he believed his son's words.

The consequence of believing this was that I had to endure hunger all day.

Seeing his second son bringing in the meal, Mr. Gu's cold heart really softened a bit.