312 Still Your Mother
“Grandma, she’s your daughter, it’s not like she could stay in this family. Women marry out of the family. What can you do about that” Liu Guisheng’s son said defeatedly?
Liu Guisheng immediately interjected, “That’s right. She’s no longer someone who would let us do whatever we want.”
“Still! I was the one that birthed her!” Grandma Liu’s attitude was completely unreasonable. “If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be living such a good life right now!”
Liu Guisheng’s wife tried to smooth things over, “Mother, let’s think about how we can benefit from her instead of this, yeah? Look at our family. We thought it was pretty good in the past, but now, compared to her family, we are nothing.”
“I’m her mother, and Guisheng is her brother,” Grandma Liu said. “What else do we have to do to prove to benefit from this?”
“I was told that I was different from before!” Liu Guisheng was annoyed. “Why can’t you understand? I can’t be like before, where I’ll listen to you with just one word. If we stay the same, she won’t ever be convinced that we’ve changed! Listen, it’s been so long, has she come back to see you? It’s not that we don’t want to acknowledge her, it’s her who doesn’t want to acknowledge us!”
Grandma Liu’s shoulders immediately sagged. “What else can we do?”
Liu Guisheng’s son smiled and gave an idea, “Grandma, why don’t you go and apologize to her personally? No matter what, you’re her mother. If you apologize, no matter what, she probably can’t continue to disown you and Father.”
“I’m not going to do that!” Grandma Liu was very stubborn. “What mother apologizes to her own daughter! Even if I did something wrong, she should be sensible enough to forgive me. Do I still need to apologize for such a thing?”
“If you don’t apologize, will she ever acknowledge us? If she doesn’t recognize us as family, how can we benefit from it? Her family is so rich, and the rice noodle business is so good. Mother, don’t you want to live a good life too?” Liu Guisheng said. “Mother, for the sake of the money, can you go and apologize to her?”
Grandma Liu had treated her daughter, Liu Guixia, arrogantly for her entire life. Now that she was a person who had one foot in the coffin, to be honest, Grandma Liu really couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“How about this…” Liu Guisheng’s wife knew her mother-in-law quite well, so she took a step back and asked, “Mother, why don’t you pretend to be sick? You can pretend to be seriously ill and say that you want to see your daughter. That way, she’ll have no choice but to come. When she does, you can say what she wants to hear, and things will probably be settled after that.”
Grandma Liu was a little moved by this suggestion.
Liu Guisheng’s daughter-in-law added, “That’s right, Grandma. We’re all here. You just need to say a few soft words to make her recognize us as family.”
“What’s the use of acknowledging it? It’s useless if she doesn’t let us benefit from it!” Liu Guisheng’s son bashed. “Grandma, it’s better for you to take it easy. Just like what Father said, you should just treat it as if you’re apologizing to the money. Only when you apologize to the money will you be more sincere. It’ll also be easier for her to soften her heart, and it’ll be easier for us to bask in the glory.”
“It’s just that you can’t just ask for money directly,” Liu Guisheng’s son continued.
“That’ll be too disgusting for her. Besides, it probably won’t cost her much if you ask for money directly. The head of the family isn’t her.
“Her husband would never let her give all the money to us. It’ll be a shocker if he decides to give his wife money for her family. I think it’s best to let the Gu family take us to do business together.
“But if she is soft-hearted and makes up with us, we can’t just say that we can do business with them immediately…
“Wouldn’t it be too obvious if we interact with them for no reason? It would be strange for us to suddenly seek them when they’re doing well.”