NOVEL NEXT 36: Performance Level
Though he hadn’t had much contact with the Yang family, just hearing their vulgar shouting made it clear they weren’t easy people to get along with.
Gu Yu quickened his pace, soon reaching the entrance to the Gu family courtyard. He discovered not only several fierce-looking women repeatedly knocking on the door, but also many villagers who had gathered around to watch the commotion.
Seeing that Gu Mengyao hadn’t come out, Gu Yu felt relieved. Although he knew these troublemaking women were no match for Gu Mengyao, if they relied on their age and seniority to make a scene, it would be quite sickening.
“Everyone, may I ask why you’re blocking my family’s door? What do you want?”
Knowing that Gu Mengyao was fine, Gu Yu felt at ease but didn’t delay his steps. Walking toward his home surrounded by the crowd, he spoke without any politeness.
After hearing Gu Yu’s words, the villagers didn’t mind his rudeness. As if they hadn’t had enough of the show, they simply moved aside, leaving a small path for Gu Yu to see more clearly the people standing in front of the thatched cottage.
Gu Yu’s previous visit to the old Yang residence with wild prey was no longer a secret. Even if the Yang family had never mentioned it to outsiders, others weren’t blind.
After seeing Gu Yu deliver things to the Yang family, people secretly complained… the Yangs were acting like whores putting up a chastity arch. If they truly didn’t forgive Yang Third’s family, they shouldn’t have accepted the wild prey Gu Yu brought!
Yet they took the offerings while their attitude remained unchanged.
In fact, when Madam Li chatted with other women outside, she always referred to Gu Yu as “little beast,” showing no regard for him as her grandson.
But in others’ eyes, Gu Yu was considered good.
Even if his father couldn’t fulfill his filial duties, he himself stepped up voluntarily, obeying the old Yang family and being so obedient and filial that the village elders called him a filial child.
There was a sense that their own children and grandchildren should learn from him, but which family could deliver meat daily like Gu Yu unless they also had a wife who was good at hunting?
Now, with Madam Li leading a group of women to block the Gu family’s door, the villagers didn’t leave, wanting to watch the drama. However, the show had just begun—the old Yang family hadn’t even confronted the Gu siblings yet when Gu Yu returned.
Though slightly disappointed, the villagers weren’t too let down.
After all, Gu Yu was famous in the village for his filial piety. They wondered what would happen when he met Madam Li… who was more important, wife or grandmother?
Despite such thoughts, everyone had already guessed that the “filial” Gu Yu would surely hand over the silver from selling the wild boar to Madam Li… However, people were more curious about how much silver Gu Yu had earned from selling the wild boar.
If it was really as Wu Changlin said, with one wild boar selling for more than twenty taels of silver, some of the young, strong men in the watching crowd were eager to try, thinking about taking a trip to the mountains themselves.
The wild boars in the mountains were valuable and didn’t need to be raised at home. Anyone would be envious of the chance to catch one and sell it for money.
Now that the crops in the fields had been harvested, there was nothing to do at home, and most families in the village had sent their laborers to work in town.
Not only was it exhausting, but they earned very little.
But if Gu Mengyao could earn big money just by going to the mountains to catch a pig, who would still want to work hard in town?
They couldn’t believe that several grown men couldn’t compare to the skinny little girl from the Gu family…
“Oh my, my dear grandson has finally arrived. If you hadn’t come, this old woman would have been bullied to death.”
When Gu Yu reached the door, Madam Li began her performance.
Before Gu Yu could speak, Madam Li directly howled with an “Aow,” wearing a hateful expression as she glared at the tightly closed door. Then, when she turned to look at Gu Yu, her expression changed to one of someone who had been bullied, like a pitiful old lady seeking help from her grandson.
If one ignored the surrounding environment and the onlookers’ shrewd gazes, Madam Li’s performance level was quite high, with a realistic quality that made people instinctively want to believe what she said.
However, Gu Yu, who knew the whole story, couldn’t be fooled.
Of course, if it had been Gu Yu’s predecessor, upon seeing Madam Li’s pitiful appearance, he would probably have wailed about his own lack of filial piety, opened the door, and taken out the silver meant for building the house to show respect to the elder.
After gaining the title of a great filial son, even freezing to death this winter would have been worth it!
But the transmigrated Gu Yu had no intention of continuing to play the filial son. Now, seeing the old woman howling without shedding a single tear, he wanted nothing more than to kick her flying with one foot.