Chapter Twenty-Three: I Want to Take Them Away (Part Two)

Chu Chengjin noticed that Mrs. Li kept stealing glances at him, as if afraid he might be upset. He responded with a faint, sickly smile to reassure her.

“Why shouldn’t I take you both back to Lotus Village? I’ll discuss it with him,” he said.

Gu Xiaoyao understood her mother’s concerns, but Lotus Village was not a prosperous place either. Moving from here to there was simply going from one poor place to another.

Besides, she would provide for her mother and younger brother. As far as Gu Xiaoyao was concerned, as long as she could feed them, there would be no problem.

“Xiaoyao, that’s not how it works,” her mother replied. “You’re already married, you’re someone else’s wife now. Such things shouldn’t come from your lips. Besides, I have my own home. I’m fine here, really.”

Mrs. Li spoke with great caution, clearly unwilling for her daughter to press the matter further.

“You say you’re fine here, but do you really think I’m that foolish? I’ve made up my mind. We’re going to the clinic now.”

Gu Xiaoyao thought of the urgent longing that lingered from her predecessor’s life—a desperate desire to take her mother and brother away from here. If she didn’t, perhaps one day, without her knowing, her mother would be beaten to death by her father, and her brother sold off.

Yang Shi listened to her granddaughter, opening her mouth several times, but in the end didn’t know how to persuade her.

“Xiaoyao, there’s something your grandmother wants you to consider,” she said. “No married daughter has ever brought her mother and younger brother to live in her husband’s home. Whether here or in Lotus Village, it’s hard enough to fill our bellies. If you bring two more people, you might end up hungry every day.”

Yang Shi was absolutely unwilling to let her daughter-in-law and grandson move to Lotus Village. Still, she could see that Xiaoyao’s temperament had changed considerably; perhaps from the moment she decided to marry into Lotus Village, she’d resolved to stand on her own.

“And besides, your mother-in-law and the others won’t be happy about it. Two more mouths to feed is no small matter.”

Old Mr. Gu, who had been silent, nodded vigorously in agreement. He thought his wife made perfect sense. Bringing their daughter-in-law and grandson to their granddaughter’s marital village—what would people think? Nothing like that had ever happened in the village; if they really did it, their family would become the talk of the town.

“Your grandmother’s right,” Old Mr. Gu declared, nodding.

Gu Xiaoyao saw that none of them were willing; not a single person in the courtyard agreed. She frowned. Though she understood their reasoning, she had no intention of complying.

If Li Shi and Gu Xiaoshu stayed with the Gu family, Yang Shi and Old Mr. Gu would be powerless to protect them—at best, they could only scold Gu Dacai.

“Grandfather, Grandmother is wrong. If my mother and brother stay here, can you really protect them?” she pressed. “You can’t. If I take them to Lotus Village, at least we’ll be far from Gu Dacai’s harm. As for whether the Chu family will accept them, I’ll discuss it with Chu Chengjin right now.”

Gu Xiaoyao was a woman of action. She glanced at Chu Chengjin, and the two of them quickly slipped off to a quiet corner.

Seeing them consult in private, Mrs. Li anxiously twisted the corner of her clothes, her fingers wringing the fabric tight.

“Dacai’s wife, don’t overthink this—you absolutely mustn’t go to Lotus Village,” Yang Shi urged, seeing her daughter-in-law’s distress. “There’s never been such a precedent in our village.”

If this really happened, it wouldn’t just ruin Xiaoyao’s reputation; the Gu family itself would become a laughingstock.