NOVEL NEXT 1: Village Gossip
“The Yang family is truly ruthless!”
“Who wouldn’t agree? Their own son died by crashing right at their doorstep, yet they remained unmoved. Sigh! How heartless!”
“That’s not quite right. It’s because the Yang family’s third son didn’t observe filial piety and actually married off his own son to another family. I really don’t know what he was thinking.”
“Hey, I know something about this. I heard that the Gu family he was married into—originally because the eldest Gu had saved the third son’s life. To repay this debt of gratitude, he arranged for his child to marry into their family. But the Yang family wouldn’t let him go, so the third son went straight to the village headman and caused a huge scene at home, which finally led to the division of the family property and his departure.”
“Wow! Was it that serious? I knew there was a commotion when the family divided, but… how did the third son end up dying by crashing into the old Yang family home?”
“Actually, the third son was truly a filial child, but he had no choice but to marry his son into another family to repay the debt of gratitude. If nothing else, all the money the third son earned over these past ten-plus years was handed over to the family. He didn’t keep a penny for himself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been starving for several days before his death. Even if he hadn’t crashed to death, he probably would have starved to death.”
“Sigh, it’s all fate! That old woman in the Yang family is vicious as can be. Her own son crashed to death, and she didn’t even blink. The very next day, she went right back to tormenting her daughters-in-law.”
“Although the third son died, his wife had already left long ago. With only one son who was married into another family, even in death, he had no attachments to worry about.”
It was during the agricultural off-season; the crops in the fields had all been harvested. Thanks to favorable weather conditions this year, the harvest was good, so even after paying agricultural taxes, families had plenty left over.
When food and drink weren’t a concern, the village girls and young wives gathered together, exchanging words about recent events. With their mouths never stopping, they seemed determined to discuss every trivial matter in detail.
What happened in the Yang family was no small matter, and now in these women’s mouths, it had been embellished beyond recognition. Each spoke with such conviction that it seemed as if they had personally witnessed the events, relating the stories with great relish.
One couldn’t blame these women for their gossip. Though in rural areas, a young wife hanging herself or a widow being drowned in a pond for having an affair weren’t unheard of, a grown man crashing to death at his own doorstep was unprecedented.
Especially since this man had already been disinherited and separated from the family. Not to mention his son had been married into another family and even changed his surname. All these elements combined made for perfect evening conversation material in every household.
Though everyone expressed sympathy, they held nothing back in their discussions. Hearing this, Gu Yu’s expression barely changed as he hid behind a tree, learning about the experiences of the body he now inhabited through these women’s conversations.
Although he had suddenly transmigrated from the modern world to ancient times after sleeping yesterday, Gu Yu wasn’t at all flustered.
The phrase “take things as they come” couldn’t be more fitting for Gu Yu.
This was because Gu Yu had been emotionally detached since childhood, resulting in shallow relationships with his parents and relatives. This led to him being neglected by his family, which didn’t cause Gu Yu any emotional imbalance.
As long as he could survive, Gu Yu didn’t want those troublesome emotions… especially after seeing his parents fighting behind closed doors while pretending to be harmonious in public, which made him feel it was unbearably hypocritical.
However, after transmigrating to ancient times, although the family division and marrying into another family weren’t honorable matters, it was coincidental that Yang Yu’s name had been changed to Gu Yu, exactly the same as his previous name, saving him the trouble of changing names again.
The reason Gu Yu was here now was because although he had transmigrated into this twelve-year-old boy’s body, he had none of the original’s memories. He could only rely on what others said to make guesses, to prevent causing trouble by knowing nothing.