Chapter 974: Chapter 974: Living a Bit Miserably
At first, when Mrs. Li cooked, she almost burned the kitchen, and Er Gui beat her. After that, it never happened again.
Gradually, under Er Gui’s palm and fist training, Mrs. Li’s cooking skills improved a lot, at least reaching a level where it was edible.
Initially, Mrs. Li only cooked and was unwilling to wash clothes. After the daughter got married, the two children’s clothes were so greasy and shiny, and they hadn’t changed them.
There was no one to wash the clothes Zhou Ergui took off, but he didn’t care much. After a while, he would find the dirty clothes and wear them again.
Mrs. Li would just rub her own clothes in water a couple of times, hang them up, and consider them washed.
Life went on like this for a while, until one day, Zhou Ergui overheard villagers gossiping about his family, saying they were all so filthy, not much better than beggars on the street.
When you got close, there would be a strong odor from their bodies.
Zhou Ergui was taken aback, looking at himself, at the dirty clothes, and tattered shoes. He didn’t know how he had ended up like this, when he used to be a clean and handsome young man, quite popular among the village girls.
Returning home, Zhou Ergui beat Mrs. Li again, stripped the clothes off his two sons, and forced Mrs. Li to wash them.
Mrs. Li washed as she cried, now doing so much housework already, yet still having to do the laundry. She was exhausted.
But Zhou Ergui didn’t care. From that day on, he frequently forced her to do the laundry, and if she didn’t, he would beat her.
Mrs. Li, afraid of the beatings, gradually got used to the work.
Gu Chuan hid outside the yard, watching as Mrs. Li got scolded by the just-returned Zhou Ergui. Mrs. Li, proficiently, put down the clothes she was holding and went to the kitchen to cook.
At that moment, he really hated Mrs. Li.
From childhood to adulthood, he had never eaten a meal cooked by Mrs. Li, nor worn a piece of clothing washed by her.
Their elder sister supported her with fine clothes and good food, yet she chose to be troublesome, only to end up in such a situation.
Gu Chuan gritted his teeth, just about to leave, when crying sounds from inside the house could be heard again, accompanied by Zhou Ergui’s angry curses, "Salt doesn’t come for free! You put so much in, trying to choke someone?"
"How did I end up marrying such a stupid woman, you can’t do anything right, just know how to freeload!"
Gu Chuan, through the kitchen window, saw Zhou Ergui’s fist fall on Mrs. Li, while Mrs. Li just lowered her head and cried.
Gu Chuan clenched his fists, watched for a while, and left.
The next day, he stopped Zhou Ergui and beat him up fiercely, beating him until he couldn’t get up from the ground.
Having finished the beating, Gu Chuan said, "No matter how bad she is, she’s still my own mother."
"Our siblings don’t care about her, because she’s failed us."
"She washes your clothes, cooks your food, and takes care of your children. She owes you nothing. If you dare lay a finger on her again, I’ll take your life!"
Zhou Ergui was terrified, he didn’t even dare to fight back just now. He knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Gu Chuan, "Mercy, my lord, I’ll never dare hit her again."
He heard yesterday that this time, Doctor Gu took his son back for ancestor worship because Gu Chuan had come out as the third-place scholar in the imperial examinations and was about to take up an official post in a different province.
How could he dare defy the words of an official!
Gu Chuan relayed everything to Yun Jiao, shaking his head, "I was planning to leave her some silver so life would be easier in the future, but in the end, I decided against it."
He had seen through Mrs. Li, selfish, unfeeling, lazy, and vain.
If he showed Mrs. Li any trace of kindness, she might cling to him like a leech.
Utterly revolting.
