Gu Honglian was yanked into a daze, squatting on the ground, crying with her hands covering her head.

Tong Hua Qiong felt heartbroken for her daughter, pitied her so much that she couldn’t bring herself to hit her grandson Gu Ruinian but didn’t hesitate to hit her daughter-in-law.

A slap landed.

Mrs. Jia, who had always maintained her reputation in the village, couldn’t endure being slapped by her mother-in-law and wanted to hang herself with a rope, but was stopped by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wei.

The villagers switched from being onlookers to peacemakers.

Mr. Gu shouted a few times to no avail, and Mrs. Gu blamed him for it.

In front of everyone, she said it was all Mr. Gu’s fault for agreeing to let Mrs. Jia take Gu Honglian’s satin; otherwise, nothing would have happened.

Triggered by Mrs. Gu’s words, Mr. Gu fainted straight away.

Everyone panicked.

Gu Taohua, who was there to join in the fun, tossed aside her sunflower seeds and pinched Mr. Gu’s philtrum.

She encouraged the youngest aunt to cause trouble for the second branch but didn’t intend to cause Mr. Gu’s death.

If he died, there would be a funeral and mourning period, which would be very troublesome.

Then Gu Jingzhe arrived, helping Mr. Gu up and told the bewildered Gu Fengnian to fetch the doctor.

Amidst the chaos, Mr. Gu was laid on the bed.

"Old man, my poor old man, you can’t leave, what will I do if you go? And Honglian, wouldn’t she be bullied to death?"

Mrs. Gu was so terrified she was out of her mind, crying at the bedside.

"It’s all that wicked woman’s doing. I’ll make the second son divorce her. She still has the nerve to hang herself; don’t stop her, let her hang."

She hated Mrs. Jia even more, blaming it all on her because of the satin.

Aside from hating Mrs. Jia, she also hated Tong Huaqiong, hated her for only allowing Lu Zhaozhao to give Gu Honglian a piece of satin, and hated the first house for not sharing their good days with the old house.

"I’m so miserable, my two daughters-in-law are unfilial. Oldest son, just take me away."

When Tong Huaqiong arrived at the old house, Mrs. Gu began crying about her deceased eldest son.

Seeing Tong Huaqiong enter, Mrs. Gu swallowed her words of reprimand.

If Mr. Gu really died, she might still have to rely on her eldest daughter-in-law to live.

She dared not offend her too much.

Tong Huaqiong stood by the bed and looked. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Mr. Gu lay on the bed with his eyes closed, fearing it might be a sudden stroke or heart attack.

Given the current level of medical care, it’s uncertain if Mr. Gu could be saved.

The doctor hadn’t arrived yet, so they couldn’t just watch him die. Tong Huaqiong went up and put a quick-acting heart-saving pill into Mr. Gu’s mouth, instructing Gu Taohua, who stood by, to get some water.

"What did you give him? You poisonous woman."

Mrs. Gu was afraid Tong Huaqiong would take the opportunity to poison Mr. Gu and went up to pry open his mouth.

Tong Huaqiong pushed Mrs. Gu away, sternly saying, "I’m saving him. If you’re so eager for him to die, go ahead and scoop the medicine out."

Mrs. Gu was intimidated by Tong Huaqiong’s demeanor, turned her head, and her hands dropped weakly.

Gu Taohua handed a bowl of water to Gu Jingzhe, who cradled Mr. Gu and fed the water into his mouth.

By the time the doctor arrived, Mr. Gu had already opened his eyes.

"Agitated by anger... Nothing serious..."

The doctor examined him and gave his conclusion.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Especially those at the old house, as Mr. Gu was the pillar for everyone in the second branch; if he were gone, neither the first house nor the clan would spare the old house a glance.

The only reason the first house still sends vegetables and meat to the old house is out of respect for Mr. and Mrs. Gu.

Gu Jingzhe paid the doctor two hundred wen for his consultation, and after prescribing several remedies, the doctor left the old house with his medicine chest.

"Where’s second brother?"

Tong Huaqiong scanned the room; Gu Ruinian was shrinking in a corner, Gu Fengnian and Mrs. Wei were standing at Mr. Gu’s bedside, Gu Honglian was wiping her tears in fright, Mrs. Jia was crying at the door frame, but Gu Youtian was nowhere to be seen.

"Father went out to look for work," said Gu Fengnian.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Logically, I shouldn’t interfere, but look at you all, fighting over a piece of satin and making the old man so angry. Who will the outsiders laugh at? Isn’t it our entire family?"

"This piece of satin was a gift from Zhao Zhao to Honglian, it was her goodwill, completely ruined by you all. It’s shameful enough to spread around that a sister-in-law teamed up with her nephew to hock her sister-in-law’s satin. If you ask me, second brother, as the backbone of the old house, should take the men of the old house to work and earn money. How can you stoop to exploiting a piece of satin from your family’s girl? You guys use Ruinian’s studies as an excuse to exploit this and that all day long; today it’s a piece of satin, what’s next?"

"Ruinian is not young anymore; he should start considering the family’s wellbeing. No one’s stopping you from studying, but a family can’t be expected to make way for your studies alone, can they? Just because you’re studying, does it mean everyone else has to give up what’s theirs? There are plenty of people in this world who worked their way up through labor or farming due to poverty—I’m not saying you should go do labor or farm work, but you can’t just sit at home waiting for everyone to make sacrifices for you."

As the daughter-in-law of the eldest son, Tong Huaqiong didn’t mince words.

Mrs. Jia felt her face turn pale with these words, wondering if she was being targeted or if her son was.

Gu Honglian called out softly to her big sister-in-law, realizing now that it’s still the eldest sister-in-law who understood her and knew to stand by her side.

Unlike the second sister-in-law, who dragged the whole family to exploit her. How could she have been so blind to follow her second brother and parents in bullying the eldest sister-in-law before?

Mrs. Gu initially heard Tong Huaqiong speak out for Gu Honglian in a way that seemed to criticize Mrs. Jia, but then as she continued, she extended her criticism to her treasured grandson Gu Ruinian, causing dissatisfaction in her heart.

Now that Mr. Gu had woken up and the doctor said there was no serious problem, Mrs. Gu returned to her fearless state, saying to Tong Huaqiong, "Our whole family just likes to support Ruinian’s studies."

Tong Huaqiong said, "Whether you like it or not is none of my business. Right now it’s a piece of satin, tomorrow it’ll be Honglian’s dowry, and the day after, you’ll be cutting into your own and the old man’s flesh; if you have these resources, by all means, support them."

Gu Ruinian stood in the corner, clenching his fists.

Ancient village women were just long-haired but short-sighted.

What does she know? Isn’t she relying on her son and daughter to feel so smug?

Gu Ruinian checked his pocket for the silver and took a deep breath, relieved it hadn’t been taken by Gu Honglian.

Mr. Gu weakly coughed twice.

Upon opening his eyes and seeing Tong Huaqiong was there, he thought of making demands on his eldest daughter-in-law now that he had fainted.

"Eldest daughter-in-law, you’ve come too,"

Mr. Gu coughed a bit.

"I’m old, no good anymore." Mr. Gu sighed.

Tong Huaqiong looked at this so-called father-in-law, who although was of an age to know the fate of life in this era, still seemed capable of life.

Not knowing what demands he would make on her now.

Tong Huaqiong remained silent.

Mr. Gu said, "A slap on one’s own skin, both are flesh. Jingzhe is now studying at Wanliu Academy and engaged. Even if I die now and meet the eldest in the underworld, I’d be happy. But I can’t die; I have a nest of dependents. You’ve seen it, fighting like this over a piece of satin is all because of poverty. If we had money, how could Ruinian have angered Honglian over a piece of satin?"

Tong Huaqiong couldn’t agree with this statement.

If you say the family is in dire poverty, pawning the satin Lu Zhaozhao gave to Gu Honglian to save lives or for essential subsistence could be understandable.

But what was Mrs. Jia’s reason for doing so?

It was for Gu Ruinian’s selfish desires.

Tong Huaqiong just asked, "So?"