Chapter Ninety-Five: Aren't You Afraid of Being Beaten?

With a loud clang, the wicker basket struck the ground, and Gu Xiaoshu immediately raced after her. The siblings ran swiftly, one after the other.

Left behind, Chu Chengjin bent down and picked up the two baskets.

"Chengjin, why was no one home today? If someone had been there, your wife’s mother would never have been dragged away."

The woman who had brought the news shook her head in regret. If they had been there at the time, none of this would have happened.

Most of all, Mrs. Li would have suffered far less. It was precisely because no one was in the house that Gu Dacai had dared to act so brazenly.

"My mother isn’t at home?" Chu Chengjin asked.

He remembered that when he had left, they had all said they would not go out and would stay inside.

"How could they be? We shouted for ages from outside, and not a single person came out of the house."

The woman shook her head. With such a commotion in the courtyard, no one had emerged from the house. Mrs. Liu was usually the first to come running when there was something to see, yet with such a din outside, she still had not appeared. She must not be at home.

"I understand. Thank you, Auntie."

After politely thanking her, Chu Chengjin’s expression grew dark. He took the things and went back into the small courtyard.

He knew that if he followed, he would only be a burden and would not be able to help at all.

So it would be better to wait at home for news. As for the fact that the house had been empty, he would ask about that when Mrs. Liu and the others returned.

Hearing the shouts behind her, Gu Xiaoyao stopped and waited a moment, and Gu Xiaoshu soon caught up.

"Big sister, wait for me. Father must have taken Mother down the mountain. He must be planning something bad."

"If he weren’t planning something, he would never have come all the way here."

Gu Xiaoshu knew his father’s temperament all too well. He knew Gu Dacai would never have run all this way for no reason.

Gu Dacai was lazy and fond of comfort, and the thing he hated most was hardship. Why would he climb such a steep mountain and travel such a long way to Lotus Flower Village?

"I know. Let’s hurry and catch up to them."

Gu Xiaoyao also had a bad feeling. In her mind, Gu Dacai was the kind of man who never moved without profit.

Gu Dacai and Old Fourth were thinking only of making money from Mrs. Li, so they walked quite fast. Chattering as they went, they did not feel tired at all.

The one being dragged behind them, however, was covered in leaves from head to toe. Mrs. Li swayed unsteadily and could barely walk.

"You filthy woman, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and move. Are you still waiting for someone to come save you?"

Seeing that it was already getting late, Gu Dacai yanked the rope hard. When he saw Mrs. Li staggering and unable to keep her footing, he cursed her a few times.

At the thought that Gu Xiaoyao might catch up from behind, Gu Dacai could not hold himself back and urged and scolded her again.

"Gu Dacai, can’t you do even a single good deed? Ever since I married you, I haven’t had one good day."

"Can’t you just let me die in peace? Stop doing these wicked, heaven-defying things. After all the wrongs you’ve done, aren’t you afraid of a ghost knocking at your door in the middle of the night?"

Since Mrs. Li had made up her mind to separate from him, she wanted to leave Gu Dacai and never marry again.

She would stay by her daughter’s and son’s side and care for them. Once her health improved, she could still help them with many things.

And if Xiaoyao ever had children, she could help her daughter care for them, so her daughter would not have to worry about the household.

"Haha. Even if I’ve done things against my conscience, I’m not afraid of a ghost knocking at my door at midnight. If one really did come, I’d rather it were a beautiful ghost."

"In that case, I could catch it. Maybe I could even sell it for a few coins. Brother Fourth, don’t you think so?"

Gu Dacai paid no attention to such words. Thunderbolts, divine punishment, ghosts knocking at the door because of wrongdoing—he did not believe any of it.

He believed only in himself. Right now, all he wanted was for his fortune to arrive quickly, so he could live a good life.

"Brother Dacai, that’s not wrong. We men have no reason to fear such things. Sister-in-law, I think you’d better stop wasting your strength and save it for the way down the mountain."

Old Fourth was a bachelor himself, and he had even sold a wife before. What in the world was there left that he would not dare to do?

If Gu Xiaoyao had not already been married, Old Fourth would have even tried to convince Gu Dacai to sell his daughter.

A maiden fetched far more than a married woman. So long as she was reasonably pretty, there would always be someone willing to buy her.

While Gu Dacai and Old Fourth were each lost in their own fantasies, Gu Xiaoyao had already caught up with her younger brother. Seeing the two men at the front, she flung the sickle in her hand toward them.