"But I’m afraid of angering your father," he finally said. "Before I was knocked out, I managed to hold back the human trafficker and let Youyou escape. Maybe she has already run back to the town."
When he woke up, he went straight home without checking if Youyou had returned to town.
After he finished speaking, he rolled up his trouser leg to show everyone. Indeed, he had been beaten, and his body was covered in bruises – not something easily faked, so everyone believed what he said.
Upon seeing his injuries, Meng Qiuju burst into tears and said, "How could you dare to mess with such vicious people? How many lives do you have? It’s fortunate that you only fainted; otherwise, if they had killed you, no one would have known."
"I simply couldn’t stand by and watch Youyou fall into their hands," said Gu Lao San.
Gu Erya cried, "Dad, you did your best. Big sister won’t blame you." After that, she turned to Gu Feng and said, "Grandpa, you can’t let Uncle and Auntie off this. They went too far selling Sister Youyou. Who knows, the next one might be me or Sanya. Grandpa, you might not know this, but they not only tricked big sister, they also drugged Sanya. Who knows how much knockout drug they made Sanya drink; she’s still not awake yet."
A sigh rose from the crowd.
"What kind of people are they? That’s just too cruel, to harm their own flesh and blood."
"Children are not like adults; how can they be subjected to such potent drugs?"
"Of course they had to use potent drugs; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to take down Gu Youyou, would they?"
"Exactly, exactly. Gu Lao Er, how could you and your wife do such a thing? We all know what kind of man Old Gu is, and I never thought his son could be ."
"To think Youyou still doesn’t know where she is now... Go find Wang Family’s Shunzi. He knows where the hunter’s house in town is. Send him to check if Youyou has returned. If she’s back, at least Old Gu can rest easy. If not, let him leave a message for the hunter. It’s quite possible the hunter doesn’t even know his wife has been sold."
"It’s truly pitiable. Gu Youyou has been sickly since childhood, and it hasn’t been long since she got better. Now she’s been sold by her unscrupulous uncle and aunt to a human trafficker. There’s not a single good person among those traffickers. Youyou, with her looks, is likely to be sold to ’that kind of place.’"
Everyone knew what ’that kind of place’ meant, and a chorus of sighs followed.
Regardless of whether Gu Youyou had returned or not, Gu Lao San would still say the same thing. The fact that he’d been beaten was true; he even had shoeprints on his body—such injuries he could not inflict on himself. And since Gu Lao Er and his wife had sold Gu Youyou, with Old Gu in failing health, all of the Gu Family’s extensive land and property would become his.
Even without the silver that those people gave, he’d live quite well.
Thinking about this, a smile unwittingly crept onto Gu Lao San’s face.
Just at this moment, Huang Xiangwen, who had been silent, caught sight of that smile. She suddenly widened her eyes and angrily pointed at Gu Lao San, scolding, "I don’t believe for a second that he would kindheartedly save Gu Youyou. He must have taken Gu Youyou away himself and sold her for a higher price, then came back to claim that she had been stolen by another human trafficker, shifting the blame entirely onto us."
Gu Lao San was furious and felt a twinge of guilt, but before he could rebut, someone else was already banging on the table and said, "Gu Huangshi, a woman like you has no place to throw tantrums here. Whether Youyou was sold by Lao San is not for you to gossip about. The fact that you and your husband deceived Youyou into drinking spiked soy milk and then handed her over to a human trafficker is what’s true. As for what happened to Youyou and where she is now, we’ll know when Shunzi returns. Let’s wait for now."