Chapter 576: Chapter 576: Not Interested
Gu Jinli took the book, opened it, and with raised eyebrows said, "Madam truly has such a book; indeed, one of extraordinary origin."
Upon hearing this, Lady Xia’s eyes lit up slightly: "Xiao Yu knows what this book is?"
Gu Jinli nodded: "I’ve heard of it; if I’m not mistaken, it should be the Great Chu Family Tree."
Since ancient times, every noble family has had a chest containing such family trees, which record all the families that have been passed down.
And this book listed: Mou Gong, the clan leader of the Mou Clan, held any office during the Mou Dynasty and his lifetime achievements. His wife was a noble lady from the He Clan and gave birth to Mou Gong, Mou Nü (certain son, certain daughter), and so on. One glance at it and you would know it is a family tree.
But...
"Madam, my eldest sister is only skilled in embroidering figures and landscapes, not in embroidering text. You had better find someone else."
Lady Xia did not expect Gu Jinli to refuse and became somewhat anxious: "Xiao Yu, since your elder sister is skilled in embroidering figures and landscapes, embroidering such entirely text-based embroidery should be no problem at all."
She added: "How about this, I’ll send an invitation and ask your elder sister to come and sit at our house, to ask her in person whether she will take on this task?"
Gu Jinli smiled, directly refusing: "Our family is not in need of silver right now, Madam should find someone else to embroider."
Then with a smiling face, she asked Lady Xia: "Madam is so eager to see my elder sister, is it really just to have her embroider one piece of embroidery?"
What exactly does Lady Xia want by having her elder sister embroider such a family tree?
Lady Xia, looking at Gu Jinli’s penetrating eyes, found her usually calm and composed face changing color, but she quickly recovered, sighing: "Xiao Yu, you think too much... We’ve just moved to this area, where everything is unfamiliar, we only know your family and the Shang Family, I’m fond of children, so I wanted to get closer to you kids, there’s no other meaning."
Gu Jinli laughed: "If that’s the case, then that’s good."
She stood up and said: "Madam, I have work back at home, so I will go home first."
Lady Xia was taken aback. This child had such a temper, leaving just like that. She hurriedly stood up and smiled: "Let me see you out."
Gu Jinli nodded, following Lady Xia towards the front yard.
Just as they were leaving the second gate, she said to Lady Xia: "Madam, how my family lives is our business. To put it bluntly, I don’t like your family. If your husband and wife extend your hands too far, I won’t be able to help but break them for you."
At the end, she picked up a broom lying by the second gate, snapped it with a crack, threw it in front of Lady Xia, turned around boldly, and strode away.
Lady Xia was stunned and began to cry.
Gu Jinli had already reached the front yard and found Gu Dashan: "Dad, let’s go home."
Gu Jin’an hurried to go to the Shang Family for lessons and after seeing Lady Xia, he left after only saying two words.
Gu Dashan, sitting nervously in the study watching Master Xia teach Brother Cheng how to write, heard her and stood up to ask, "Weren’t you going to talk with Lady Xia? How come it hasn’t been long and you want to go back already?"
He lowered his voice and said, "This is very impolite. Your mother said that as you grow up, you must not do impolite things."
Gu Jinli replied, "I have nothing good to say to Lady Xia, better to go back home and do some work."
Hearing this, Gu Dashan quickly looked back at Master Xia and said awkwardly, "Please don’t blame her, the child doesn’t know how to speak properly."
Glancing back and glaring at Gu Jinli, he truly felt helpless with this second daughter, admonishing her not to be rude, only to receive an even more offensive remark from her.
Master Xia knew that something Lady Xia had done must have angered Gu Jinli and said with a smile, "Xiao Yu is naturally unrestrained and meant no disrespect. Since there is work to do at home, Brother Gu, you should head back first."
Gu Dashan, seeing that Master Xia was not blaming anyone, breathed a sigh of relief and said to Brother Cheng, "Be a good boy and follow the teacher in learning characters, don’t be afraid. Your elder brother will come to pick you up after school."
But Gu Jinli said, "Father, today is Brother Cheng’s first day of school, he must be very scared. Let’s just treat today as a familiarization visit. We’ll come back tomorrow."
Saying so, she went into the room, took Gu Jincheng’s hand, and led him away.
Gu Dashan quickly apologized to Master Xia, then hurried after Gu Jinli.
Master Xia frowned as he watched the Gu Family People leave and returned to the backyard to ask Lady Xia, "What exactly did you do? Xiao Yu has taken Brother Cheng away."
He recounted what Gu Jinli had done in the front courtyard study, which greatly frightened Lady Xia, and she hurriedly recounted the earlier incident to Master Xia.
Master Xia was shocked and said, "You’re telling me, Xiao Yu warned you that if we dared to overreach, she would not be courteous to us?"
And she actually snapped a broomstick in half, her temper was indeed imposing, but Master Xia was quite pleased about it.
He had heard that she also made tofu, seasoning spices, mosquito coils, tooth powder, and had even opened a pharmaceutical workshop with plans to make Convenient Medicine.
If she were a boy, they wouldn’t have to scheme so much in teaching Brother Cheng; they would just talk to Xiao Yu directly and take her away.
It’s a pity she’s a girl.
Daughters of noble families can only be used for matrimonial alliances.
After sighing, Master Xia spoke to Lady Xia, "You were too hasty, rushing over too soon, seeing a few children, and wanting to meet Sister Xiu. Xiao Yu is smart, how could she not suspect?"
Lady Xia tearfully said, "How could I not be anxious? Sister Xiu is already sixteen by the nominal age, it’s time for her to be married. If we don’t guide her more and seek a way out for her, do you want her to end up like her mother, marrying some rural farmer?"
"You don’t know how upset I get every time I think about Mrs. Cui marrying a farmer, so much that I’m unable to eat or sleep, almost nauseated to vomiting... A descendant of the Country Pillar Minister has been touched by a vulgar man!" Lady Xia said this, crying so hard she could hardly speak, "If Sister Xiu marries a farmer too, I just can’t live!"
What an indignity for a noble lady to lie in the same bed with a farmer, bearing his children!
Master Xia understood Lady Xia’s distress, as he felt the same.
But what could be done now that Mrs. Cui was already married?
Master Xia said, "I’ve heard that Sister Xiu is quite decent, very sensible and polite, with the demeanor of a noble lady. Don’t worry, first we need to stabilize the Gu Family People, then slowly get closer to Sister Xiu, find a way out for her. In the future, marrying into another noble family is also possible. Being too anxious can only push the Gu Family further away... You know, we can’t afford to use force against the Gu Family People."
From their childhood, Master Xia and Lady Xia were nurtured by noble family values, holding them in high regard. In their eyes, families that had been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years were the most precious lineage in the world, even more revered than the Imperial Family, which might change dynasty every two or three hundred years; thus, they were deeply unsettled by Mrs. Cui marrying a farmer.
And they couldn’t bear the thought of Gu Jinxiu following in Mrs. Cui’s footsteps.
But what they didn’t know is that the Gu family didn’t care about being a noble family, and Gu Jinxiu had no interest in marrying into a high-class family.
Although she wasn’t set on Luo Wu only, she grew up with him from childhood, and Luo Wu was in her heart. Even if she couldn’t marry Luo Wu, she wouldn’t aspire to climb into a high-class family.
The men of high-class households were all expected to take concubines and marry many women. Gu Jinxiu was frightened by this thought; she just wanted to marry a common man who could protect her, and then, together with her husband and a few children, live a life of mutual affection.