Chapter 515: Chapter 515: Debunking Rumors, Running All Over

Mrs. Wei thought for a moment and couldn’t hold back, saying, "Why don’t we go and ask Taohua and her family for help?"

Mr. and Mrs. Gu’s eyes lit up.

They had actually forgotten about their eldest daughter-in-law.

In Pingchuan County, the eldest daughter-in-law was quite a figure; who wouldn’t give her some respect?

When it comes to matters of life and death, the eldest daughter-in-law surely wouldn’t stay out of it.

Mr. Gu planned to swallow his pride and visit Tong Huaqiong, but Mrs. Jia was unwilling.

"I would rather die than ask her... Now she’s feeling triumphant, isn’t she? Why wasn’t it her son... why wasn’t it her son..." Mrs. Jia ranted madly.

Mrs. Wei was dumbfounded; her mother-in-law hated the main branch so much that she didn’t even care about her own son.

"If you don’t ask Taohua’s family, how will you save Ruinian? Don’t you want Ruinian to come back?" Mrs. Wei said.

Mrs. Jia grabbed Mrs. Wei’s hand and mumbled, "Right, right, saving Ruinian is the priority."

Gu Honglian coldly smiled and said, "It’s too late; our sister-in-law took Taohua to the provincial city early this morning."

Mr. Gu stood up and said, "I’ll go discuss it with Dashi and Baishuang."

Gu Fengnian accompanied Mr. Gu, and Gu Honglian followed along.

It wasn’t until nightfall that Mr. Gu returned with a defeated look.

"Dashi and Yueer’s couple went out somewhere, and Baishuang was invited to a meal by some lady, now there’s no one left at sister-in-law’s place to manage things," Gu Honglian proactively explained to Mrs. Gu.

Mr. Gu said, "I asked the clerk to send a message, asking Dashi and Baishuang to find me when they return."

They waited until midnight, but Gu Dashi and Gu Baishuang didn’t show up. Mr. Gu then sent Gu Fengnian to Tong Huaqiong’s house only to find the entire courtyard already dark.

After Gu Fengnian came back, Mr. Gu let out a deep sigh.

Everyone except Mrs. Wei and Gu Honglian didn’t sleep a wink all night, and at dawn, Mr. and Mrs. Gu, draping their clothes, took Gu Fengnian to Tong Huaqiong’s house.

Gu Honglian, eager to be the first to hear gossip, jumped out of bed and followed them, slipping on her shoes.

At this hour, if she got to the sister-in-law’s house, she might catch breakfast. She dared not grab a meal there while sister-in-law was present, but with only Gu Dashi and Gu Baishuang there, she, as their aunt, might just succeed.

Gu Dashi got up early, bought the meat buns, sugar-oil cakes, and chicken soup that Liu Yueer specifically wanted, and hurried home with a pot.

Just as he pushed the door open and squeezed himself inside, Mr. Gu caught the door.

Gu Dashi sighed inwardly. He couldn’t let his grandfather in either.

Last night, he and Liu Yueer bumped into their big sister while coming back from shopping; she was returning from a banquet. A clerk told them their grandfather had brought Gu Fengnian looking for them to discuss something important. After waiting for a long time without seeing the two siblings return, he went back first, instructing them to go to the Wuji Backyard when they got back.

He and Gu Baishuang did not respond.

They knew why their mother fled to the provincial city.

These days there was so much uproar outside. They got wind of Gu Ruinian’s affair earlier than the old house.

Now that Gu Ruinian’s situation had blown up, as the Gu family’s most beloved grandson, Mr. Gu would stop at nothing to save him; they had no one else to turn to in Pingchuan but the main branch.

Gu Dashi figured that by not going to the Wuji last night, he and his big sister were telling Mr. Gu that they wouldn’t involve themselves in this matter, nor could they do anything about it.

Especially when it comes to the Zheng family; when they were mentioned, Gu Dashi’s eyelid twitched. Getting involved with them never led to anything good. Now, he was walking the straight and narrow, determined to sever ties with those who had led him astray in the past.

The Zheng family, he couldn’t approach.

Moreover, Gu Dashi was infuriated by Gu Ruinian’s shameless actions. Outside, when people heard about something concerning someone surnamed Gu from Qinghe Bay, they assumed it was him.

He had already explained several times.

Gu Baishuang went to the banquet yesterday, not without reason—she was also trying to clarify that the rumored scandalous Qinghe Bay man surnamed Gu was unrelated to them.

Spreading rumors takes but a word; dispelling them runs one ragged.

For what Gu Ruinian did, they had been cleaning up the mess for days, and now, barely disentangled their branch from it, they had no intention of getting involved again.

And here they were early in the morning again.

Seeing people from the old house gave Gu Dashi a headache.

"Dashi, why did you take so long to buy breakfast?" Liu Yueer appeared in the courtyard, all made up with red lips and white teeth, having spruced herself up while Gu Dashi went to buy breakfast.

On usual days, Mrs. Gu would not have tolerated such and would have jabbed in a remark or two, but now, worried for her favorite grandson, nothing else mattered.

"There were lots of people in line; I almost didn’t get any. I waited four rounds for those sugar-oil cakes you asked for," Gu Dashi said, carrying the pot into the house.

Upon hearing about the sugar-oil cakes, Gu Honglian closely tailed Gu Dashi, saying, "Dashi, I want some too."

Mrs. Gu was livid, thinking that Gu Dashi and Liu Yueer were treating them like they were dead, not even greeting them.

Mr. Gu was equally displeased.

The main branch had somewhat poor manners.

Once inside, after saying a few more words, Liu Yueer and Gu Dashi suddenly acted as if they had just noticed Mr. and Mrs. Gu, feigning surprise and asking, "Grandpa, Grandma, why are you here so early?"

Mr. Gu swallowed his frustration silently; Liu Yueer knew full well, and he suspected the main branch was already aware of Gu Ruinian’s situation.

"You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Have some with us," Liu Yueer and Gu Dashi invited Mr. and Mrs. Gu to sit at the table.

Both were too upset to eat.

Gu Honglian cared nothing for the others, biting into a big meat bun and making a greasy mess.

At this moment, Gu Baishuang came in after freshening up, greeted Mr. and Mrs. Gu naturally, then sat down beside Liu Yueer as Gu Dashi placed her regular bowl of milk pudding in front of her.

Nobody spoke.

The only sound was Gu Honglian munching away.

Mr. Gu gritted his teeth and asked, "Dashi, Baishuang, do you know why we’re here?"

Mr. Gu refrained from questioning why they didn’t meet last night; yesterday was in the past now.

Gu Dashi shook his head and said, "Is it because Second Uncle’s business isn’t doing well, and you can’t even afford food, so you came for breakfast at our place? Grandpa, Grandma, you don’t have to trouble yourselves in the future; just tell me, and I’ll take care of your breakfast. Your grandson may be troublesome, but he can at least manage breakfast for you."

Mr. Gu’s face showed embarrassment.

Mrs. Gu couldn’t hold back any longer, tossed her chopsticks, and said, "Keep pretending, keep pretending. You don’t know Ruinian got detained by the Zheng family because of that wench Xu Zaohua? After all, he’s your cousin, a grandson of the Old Gu Family; are you just going to watch him go down?"

Gu Dashi remained calm, saying, "What does that have to do with me? It wasn’t me who got involved with Xu Zaohua. Grandma, when you accuse me without cause from the start, I haven’t even complained yet about how Gu Ruinian implicated our entire lot of the Gu family descendants."

One asking for help should show humility; relying on seniority to press him, who indulges that?

The one she nurtured was his father, not him.

Mrs. Gu, fuming, felt a pang in her chest and wanted to curse, but Mr. Gu held her back.

Gu Honglian, stirring up trouble without caring about matters, chimed in, "Exactly, yesterday when we heard Xu Zaohua and the Qinghe Bay man surnamed Gu were taken down, Second Aunt thought it was Jingzhe. Isn’t this what Dashi mentioned about implicating an entire lot of Gu family descendants? If even Second Aunt thinks so, what about others?"

Mrs. Gu, vexed by Gu Honglian’s lack of tact, thought such a comment should not be made at the main branch’s table.

Gu Fengnian looked awkwardly embarrassed.

He generally wasn’t talkative, and at this moment, even more so, he swallowed back the words he had prepared to ask Dashi for help.