Chapter 150 Shifting the misfortune to someone else
As Old madam saw Gu Xuan collapse on the ground, she showed a bit of dismay on her face.
Who on earth could be devoid of feelings and emotions like grass and wood?
She had watched Gu Xuan grow up as a child. Even if she didn’t favor her much, there was still some affection. She just restrained those emotions and had never revealed it. Moreover, compared to the cold and indifferent Gu Xiren, who wasn’t close to people, the always lovable and gentle Gu Xuan was more pleasant. Therefore, her feelings were very complicated. There was hatred, disappointment and sadness.
After all, there was half a possibility that Gu Xuan was her biological granddaughter. She wouldn’t deny it as completely as Gu Da. She might even wonder if she wasn’t so indifferent about the girl's struggle and survival at home in the earlier years; if she (OM) was more amiable to her (GX) and more caring, would she (GX) still do these bad things or not?
But if could only remain if.
Old madam sighed deeply, turned her face away, stopped looking at Gu Xuan, and only ordered, "Invite doctor Ji over to treat her wounds. When she wakes up, take her to the woodshed and give her food and water, but don’t allow her to come out."
Gu Da wasn’t very satisfied with this punishment. He still wanted to say something, but he was glared at by old madam. "Follow my words. Let the maids watch more closely. Don’t let her commit suicide. If something happens to her again, I'll hold you solely responsible."
In a sentence, Gu Da choked back all that he was going to say.
Gu Xihe was also somewhat puzzled, "Old madam, this punishment is much lighter than third big brother's punishment."
Old madam looked at him, didn’t say anything and only sighed.
The experience of these two children was completely incomparable. Gu Xiren was a male member of the family. Moreover, the reasons he stated for the killing was concealed with selfishness and the suspicion of seizing the right to become heir. She was just sparing the rod and spoiling the child. On the other hand, Gu Xuan was only avenging her mother. Even if this hatred was mostly misunderstood by herself, it was forgivable. Besides, Gu Xuan couldn’t die at the moment. If she died, the situation would get worst and hard to handle.
After a moment of silence, old madam said, "I think little Xuan is already at the right age to get married. Afterwards, look for a suitable family and marry her off."
As long as she (GX) didn’t stay at home and become a burden to the family, she (OM) didn’t want to be too ruthless to her.
After hearing this, Shu Huan couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth. Although she didn’t say anything, Gu Xiran took it all into his eyes.
Gu Da was very dissatisfied. "She did such an inhuman thing but we still have to find her a marriage, and even give a dowry to marry her off?"
Old madam knew that her son, even at this old age, he sometimes couldn’t handle his business properly, so she didn’t expect him to figure it out. After dropping a few words, she was carried back to Pine Crane Hall.
These few words were: "Shifting the burden/misfortune to someone else."
Marrying the misfortune off, wasn’t this the same as shifting the misfortune on someone else?
Shu Huan suddenly felt a cold chill along her spine. This old madam was frighteningly shrewd.
On the way back to Plum Flower Pavilion, Gu Xiran asked her why she had such a strange expression.
Shu Huan couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth again but this time she wanted to laugh. "I remember once on the Internet, I saw a story. When you have a son and you don’t discipline him well, he will harm your whole family. When you have a daughter and you don’t teach her well, she will harm other people's family. So if you have a grudge on someone, you will then spoil your daughter and marry her to that person's son. His whole family is then finished and your revenge will be avenged. Look at old madam, doesn’t she know that well?"
After she mentioned it, Gu Xiran also remembered seeing this story, so, he shook his head and smiled too. After thinking about it, it was exactly as what old madam did. When she punished Gu Xiren, she punished him so severely that she didn’t even hesitate to beat him to death. She did it because she was afraid that he would cause harm to the whole family in the future. And when she punished Gu Xuan, who was going to be married off, she was obviously being lenient. In the end, the last few words of "shifting the misfortune on someone else" had directly revealed the intention.
He turned and looked at Gu Da, who was already far away. He (GXR) became vigilant in his heart. In this family, Gu Da was the head of the family in name only. In fact, the one who was in charge, had always been old madam. It had never changed.
After returning to Plum Flower Pavilion, Shu Huan's tense expression loosened up and she put everything behind her. She first sat down to rest her almost broken legs that had stood for a long time. She was somewhat dejected and glared at Gu Xiran. "It's really not fair. We both are paying our respect, but why can you sit down at old madam's place while I have to stand?"
Gu Xiran smiled. "Who told you to be so unlucky and time-travel to this patriarchal place?"
His words left Shu Huan speechless. She could only blame herself for her bad luck. She picked up the tea and drank it in one go.
Before the teacup was put down, they could hear Meijing report, "Ranmo is here."
Naturally, Ranmo came to talk about the matters of the shop. After only half a day, he had already found four to five suitable shops. He rushed over to report to them.
Gu Xiran and Shu Huan had estimated that there was indeed not much money on hand. After calculating, they merely had twenty liang plus Zhang Hanfang's two hundred silver liang. This was only enough to buy a shop in a slightly more remote place. It wouldn't be easy to earn money from it for the living expenses in the future.
Shu Huan muttered, "Or let's pawn those jewelries. It's no use keeping them anyway."
What she meant was naturally the jewelries that Zhang Hanfang had compensated them.
After Ranmo heard this, he hurriedly said, "Second young mistress wants to pawn jewelry? It isn't a good deal. Even if you really pawn, you may not even get half the price of the jewelry’s value."
"Then what do you propose?"
"If you want this small one to say, it's better to sell them. Even if you can't sell them at the original price, it's better than pawning them," Ranmo smiled. "There's a jewelry shop on the east side of the street. The owner has done business with our family for more than a decade. Moreover, this small one has some friendly relation with him. If second young mistress is really in need of money, then take the jewelries to him and ask him to estimate the price. After all, he won't be so shameful as to take advantage of us.
Shu Huan nodded, got up and took the jewelry box out. She picked up several pieces of jade jewelries to keep and let Ranmo sell the rest. After all, gold had a price but jade was priceless. She wasn’t going to sell it cheaply.
When Ranmo saw Shu Huan gave the jewelry box directly to him, he was somewhat surprised and lowered his head. He anxiously said, "Second young mistress…this…You'd better give it to Meijing and ask her to come with me."
"What? You've done several things for me already, can I still not trust you?" As Shu Huan said that, she put the box into his arms. "The jewelry here is estimated to be worth five to six hundred silver liang. Overall calculation with the other money, there are thousand silver liang. I want to buy two shops. Just buy the best and the worst from the shops you have found. The money should be enough, right?"
"It's enough…." Ranmo was still hesitating while holding the jewelry box.
If you use a man, don’t suspect him; if you suspect him, don’t use him. Gu Xiran and Shu Huan thought the same on this. Furthermore, he had secretly observed Ranmo for a long time. He knew that he (R) was a trustworthy person, so he smiled and said, "Go. Sign the contract and come back. Just hand it to second young mistress is fine."
Only then did Ranmo agree and left.
Before Shu Huan took a sigh of relief, Liangchen rushed in and reported, "Second young master and mistress, Fang family is making a scene at old madam's place."
Fang family?
Shu Huan went blank for a moment. Then, she remembered that it should be the family of Fang shi. They seemed to have some money and power too. If they knew that their daughter had a miscarriage and also went crazy, they naturally wouldn’t let the matter slide so easily.
She and Gu Xiran exchanged a glance and revealed a bitter laugh.
When would these kinds of annoying matters come to an end?