61: Chapter 61 Reunion
“Ask that old fart what he has said?
Oh, I’m being bullied by your entire family!”
Wang Pozi began to squat on the ground and wailed, and soon after, her family members arrived.
Her son pulled her up and asked, “Mom, weren’t you just taking a walk?
It was then that the bystanders carefully explained to both families what had happened, and afterwards, everyone fell silent.
Some thought it would have been better for them to have a fight, as neither of the old coots was reasonable.
With the New Year upon them, who talks like that?
Of course, Wang Pozi started the trouble, so she was somewhat more in the wrong.
But wasn’t it Gu the elder who struck the first blow?
Plus, he hit Wang Pozi on the shoulder, so maybe that made them even.
Fighting during the New Year is unlucky, and no one wanted to stir up trouble, so each family consoled their own and then went home.
On a normal day, things might not have been resolved so easily.
Grandma and the Huang family kept giving Gu Youyou dirty looks, as if their lips could curl up to the sky.
“Look at you, bringing such big trouble to your grandpa as soon as you arrive.
He’s getting on in years; what if something were to happen to him?”
Grandpa was still huffing and puffing with anger, but he also got tired of Granny Huang’s constant nagging, saying, “Youyou is unwell and hasn’t said a word.
If I hadn’t gone out and heard it myself, she would have been scolded for nothing.
You old woman, instead of siding with your own family, why are you blaming Youyou?”
Granny Huang rolled her eyes and snorted, “Is she even part of our family?
Hey, old man, you need to get it straight.
She’s with the Jin family now; don’t keep treating her like she’s one of us and giving her all the good stuff.”
“You…” Grandpa was getting angry again, his face turning slightly green as he pointed at Grandma.
Being old, one can’t take too much agitation, so Gu Youyou hurriedly said, “Grandpa, don’t get angry.
Grandma is right; I’m already married.
Returning to the Gu family doesn’t count as coming home,” she paused, “at most…
it’s like visiting relatives!”
Gu Youyou smiled faintly at Granny Huang, whose shifty eyes darted uncomfortably.
Why did she feel like Youyou’s words had an underlying meaning, as if there was something waiting for her?
The Gu family was considered well-off in the village.
Gu the elder declared that the family should gather at least once a year, so according to his tradition, on the second day of the New Year, daughters who had married off would bring their husbands and children back to their maiden home.
This is why Gu Youyou’s older sister who had married off, along with two aunts, would also return.
Daya, the older sister, had married off last year and had now returned with her husband, sporting a big pregnant belly that made her look about four or five months along.
She was two years younger than Gu Youyou.
The Gu family was worried that Youyou would pass her illness on to the very young children, so over the years, even her younger sisters were not allowed to enter her small, dark room.
Counting the years, Gu Xiaolian hadn’t seen Gu Youyou in ten years.
Gu Xiaolian began to remember things from the year Gu Youyou was locked in the small dark room, only vaguely recalling her sister’s appearance.
Now seeing Gu Youyou, she was so changed that Xiaolian almost didn’t dare to recognize her.
“Daya, it’s been so many years since we’ve seen each other!” Gu Youyou said with a smile.
Although this was actually her first time meeting Gu Xiaolian, she had to continue being Gu Youyou and act as if they were childhood friends reuniting.
The children of the Gu family had their nicknames in order.
The girls were called Daya, Erya, and so on, while the boys were called Dabao, Erbao, and the like.
But Gu Youyou was the exception; back then, people thought Youyou wouldn’t live for long, so she was excluded from this naming convention.