"The Lady of the Main Wife did this and told the Wife of He Laoliu, she mentioned to the Wife of He Laoliu that they helped her, and she remembers their kindness. She is not the type to hog everything for herself, even with just this little money, she still wants to share some with them, and in the future, they won’t miss out on their share of anything either."

Indeed, with the arrival of the Wife of He Laoliu’s family, the sole and biggest beneficiary turned out to be Lady Gu. First, the grinding task was shared with Lady He, and later, even the originally difficult task of escaping had reliable assistance.

"What Lady of the Main Wife, calling her that, as if she deserves it! None of you should call her that anymore." Lady Zhou remarked, "That Gu woman is so cunning, she can squeeze through the tiniest crack."

"And they believed that talk." Lian Manman laughed, "Leaving those twenty Wen Money was clearly to make them scapegoats."

Lady Gu, being such a shrewd person, could clearly see through the character of He Laoliu’s family. Would she purposely bring them close and cause herself endless trouble and embarrassment? Of course not.

Xiao Xi went out and relayed what Lian Manman had said to the Wife of He Laoliu.

"If they hadn’t been brought back today, staying in the city wouldn’t have been possible, and could they have sent someone to fetch you? If you had spent that money, you’d definitely have been caught. Could the Yamen people possibly listen to gossip and arrest anyone from the Song Family based on your words? You might as well wait to be the fall guys and end up in jail."

The Wife of He Laoliu saw that Lady Gu was brought back and that the Upper Room wanted to deal with Lady Gu. Seeing that Lady Gu was in trouble, the promised benefits naturally couldn’t be given. She adapted to the changing situation, quickly bringing out Lady Gu to save herself from punishment. After hearing what Xiao Xi said, she naturally believed it and began cursing Lady Gu in the west room.

"...With a heart as cruel as wolves and dogs, even tricking us widows and orphans... The Lian Family’s my aunt and uncle are all good people with kind hearts, but it’s just this wife they married that’s a total jinx. If not for her, everyone would still be enjoying life in Taicang. A jinx like her, even divorcing her is too lenient; in some stern households, they would hang her, and all the neighbors would clap their hands in approval..."

The Wife of He Laoliu was kicking the downed Lady Gu to curry favor with the Lian Family Main House members.

"Shut your mouth quickly, or they’ll stuff mule dung in it." Xiao Xi reprimanded the Wife of He Laoliu, "This is not a place for you to speak."

Outside, the Wife of He Laoliu fell silent.

Inside, Lady Gu and Lian Duoduo had taken off the good clothes given by the Song Family and put on their rough home clothes. Between the two of them, there were only two sets of clothes to change into for outside wear. The set they wore to the county was the better one and naturally wasn’t brought back. The set at home was even shabbier, but they couldn’t be picky at this time.

It was winter, and both needed to wear cotton-padded jackets and trousers. They only had one set each, which was left at the Song Family’s, and now, watched by Lady He, they took off the good clothes inside and out, having no cotton clothes left, they could only wear their ragged thin clothes and kneel back in the east room.

Lady He was delighted, holding two sets of clothes.

"Mom, Old Three’s wife and Yeye don’t care for these clothes, they don’t want them. Why not, both sets be given to me. It just so happens Yaya and I could have one set each." Lady He grinned as she made her request to Lady Zhou.

"How wishful of you." Lady Zhou gave Lady He a glare and snatched the clothes from Lady He’s hands, "You wait at the side first. If you want clothes, you can wait too."

Lady He pouted and moved back to the side.

"I say, Gu Dongqing, you’re quite something. In just a few days, you managed to hook up with the Old He Family, having them steal money for you. Are you kneeling and kowtowing to me now, thinking I’ll spare you, and later you’d conspire with the Old He Family, having their two brats kill us two old immortals, and you’ll be the great sky above?" Lady Zhou sneered at Lady Gu.

"Heard I’m divorcing you, and planning to beat Lian Duoduo to death, are you scared? Let me tell you, there’s no use being scared now, this matter is up to me!"

"Mom, I know I was wrong." Lady Gu kowtowed to Lady Zhou, tears streaming as she spoke, "In all honesty, even if you gave me courage, I wouldn’t dare. I just... just couldn’t get used to the life of tenant farmers, thinking of going to Huahua, where I wouldn’t have to farm or work, no other motives, truly."