Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Laying Down the Law
Chen Suxiang was now convinced that her son had simply lost his head for a moment and been intimidated by his in-laws. Gu Jinhua, however, remained silent. Having been married for so many years, she had seen more of the world than her mother and could sense that there was more to this than met the eye. She had a feeling things weren’t that simple.
"Mom, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, then don’t say anything. Do I look like someone who’s easily fooled?" Gu Lihuang steeled himself, knowing he had no choice but to tell the truth. "That woman’s family... they’re not just anybody," he said with a sigh of resignation. "They have deep connections with the head of my work unit. So... so they dug up a little dirt on me from over the years..."
"What kind of ’little dirt’ could get you sent to prison?" Gu Jinhua’s eyes went wide. "Don’t tell me you took something you weren’t supposed to?"
"COUGH COUGH... To be honest, everyone else was doing it. I just had bad luck, got singled out, and was caught red-handed." Gu Lihuang coughed dryly, feeling utterly humiliated at being forced to admit to such a disgraceful matter. He tried to relax his stiff expression and mumbled, "In the end, my father-in-law managed to smooth things over. He had to pull a lot of strings and pay a heavy price just to get me off with being fired. He told me that if she wasn’t his only daughter, and if he couldn’t bear the thought of his grandson having a convict for a father, he would have let me rot..."
"You... you... what exactly did you take? Was it really that serious? They didn’t just gang up on you and trick you, did they?" Chen Suxiang was still confused and found it hard to believe.
"Mom, just don’t press for details. I’m not an idiot. If it wasn’t a huge deal, I never would have agreed to my father-in-law’s demand that our next child take their family name." Gu Lihuang felt he’d already said more than enough. He couldn’t believe his mother was so tactless, insisting on getting to the bottom of it. He grew so frustrated that he blurted out the one thing he had planned to keep hidden.
"What? You’re going to have another child and let it take the Ye family name?" Chen Suxiang was stunned. She plopped right down on the floor and began to wail. "You’re trying to kill me! If that child really takes the surname Ye, how can our Gu Family ever show its face again? Do you want people to call you the Ye Family’s live-in son-in-law? Have you lost your mind, agreeing to something like that? No, this isn’t your decision to make! I’m going to have your wife get her parents over here so we can all have a proper talk. What kind of twisted logic is this? Just because they can’t have a son and their family line is ending, they get to humiliate their son-in-law?"
"Humiliating? Humiliating... You think me going to prison *wouldn’t* be humiliating?" Gu Lihuang’s face turned ashen as he let out a low roar.
"..."
Chen Suxiang’s wailing stopped instantly. She stared blankly at Gu Lihuang for a moment, then suddenly had an idea. "But you’re fine now, aren’t you? What if we just have Ye Rong give birth to another child? It’s no big deal. When the time comes, we just have to be the first to register the baby’s household registration. Then there’s nothing they can do to us."
"In your dreams, Mom." Gu Lihuang snorted, his face a mask of despair. "Do you think the Ye Family is as easy to bully as the Zhang family was? Do you think they’ll just let you push their daughter around? Do you think my father-in-law got to where he is today without any power or connections? That he’d just let someone renege on a promise and do nothing about it? If you really try that, believe me, the Ye Family could take your grandson from us and change *his* surname to Ye too."
"Impossible! Can they just ignore the law?" Chen Suxiang said, skeptical.
"’Impossible?’" Gu Lihuang shot back with a self-mocking laugh, fighting the urge to just start punching something. His face turned cold. "Mom, Jinhua, I don’t care whether you believe me or not. From now on, you stay out of Ye Rong’s business. Whatever she wants to do at home, she does. Neither of you is to boss her around or criticize her. I can’t lose her right now. If you two chase her away, my family will be destroyed. I’m not like my older brother. His wife never gave him a son, and her family can’t do anything for him, so who cares if she leaves? Besides, he’s got other kids on the side. But it’s different for me. If Ye Rong leaves and takes our son, I’ll have absolutely nothing. Do you want me to spend the rest of my life all alone in this rural backwater?"
"You’re telling me not to keep Ye Rong in line, not to give her any chores... Are you saying that I, her mother-in-law, should serve *her* instead?" Chen Suxiang stared at her second son in disbelief, then started crying again. "It’s true what they say: ’once a man takes a wife, he forgets his own mother.’ You unfilial son! Don’t you feel any pity for your old mother, working herself to the bone every single day?"
"Oh, stop your crying. It’s not like you’re toiling in the fields. How can you work yourself to death over a few trivial household chores? It’s just cooking, isn’t it? Did you not eat before we came back? That’s it, Mom, it’s settled. From now on, you’ll do the cooking and other chores. And don’t you worry about the child. Now that we’re back, he’ll be cared for by his own mother, as it should be. It’ll save you the trouble, won’t it?" Gu Lihuang declared, leaving no room for argument.
"No! I’ve always been the one to look after the boy. If someone else takes over all of a sudden, I’m afraid he won’t be able to adjust. How about this: I’ll look after the child, and you can have Ye Rong do the cooking and housework." The moment Chen Suxiang heard that Ye Rong wanted to "steal" the child, she started shaking her head furiously.
"It’s only right for a mother to look after her own child. He’s about to start school soon—are you going to be able to help him with his studies?" Gu Lihuang scoffed. "You cook, Ye Rong looks after the child. Isn’t that a good arrangement? Besides, Ye Rong never cooked much back at her parents’ house. Her food is bland and tasteless anyway."
"If she doesn’t know how, she can learn, can’t she? Is she some pampered princess? I don’t care. He’s my grandson, so I should be the one looking after him. And who ever heard of a child needing someone to manage their studies? Don’t they have teachers at school for that? Why does he need someone managing him at home?" Chen Suxiang retorted illogically, deeply resentful of her son’s plan.
"She *is* a pampered princess. She was already marrying down when she chose me. If she leaves, where are you going to find me another wife whose family is better off than hers? I can’t get through to you. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, this is how it’s going to be. Just remember: stay out of Ye Rong’s way and don’t interfere with how she raises our son." Gu Lihuang shot back. Fearing his mother wouldn’t take him seriously, he added a final threat. "Do what you want. But if you insist on pushing Ye Rong until she leaves, then I’ll no longer recognize you as my mother. You’ve always favored my older brother anyway. Why don’t you just have him take care of you in your old age? Just pretend you never had me as a son."
He paused for a moment before adding, "And if you’re really not willing to cook for us, then we’ll just split the household when my brother gets back." Without waiting to see Chen Suxiang’s reaction, Gu Lihuang turned and walked away.
Comments