Chapter 79

He said to He Chunmei and the others, "He Chunlian, my daughter is getting married. You should come and join in the fun! This banquet is a massive affair, with eight tables in total. You couldn't find a better banquet in all of Beijing!"

"Alright, we'll talk about it later. I'll go when I have time."

He Chunlian gave a perfunctory reply.

Huang Xirong, hands on his hips, laughed and said, "Don't be too busy! Our movie's all finished filming, so your whole family can come over. No need to bring any gifts."

After saying that, she hurried away.

Gu Yinxing stared in disbelief. "Is this really Huang Xirong? She actually said it's fine without a gift?"

She vaguely remembered that when Song Jianshe got married, Huang Xirong would roll her eyes at anyone who went to the Compound Courtyard banquet without bringing a monetary gift.

"What do you know? This gift money won't even reach her; she's just being generous with other people's money."

He Chunlian clearly understood Huang Xirong better than Gu Yinxing. "Don't pay any attention to her. You all go to work. I'll go over there later."

In fact, He Chunlian wouldn't bother going if it weren't for her neighbors.

Even if the dishes at this banquet are delicious, it's not like my family can't afford it. If I go there, I'll just have to listen to Huang Xirong's family brag.

Gu Jinshui and the others did not go; only He Chunlian went.

In the afternoon, Gu Jinshui went to Chen Dengxing's place to get the money. Those three items were all top-quality and sold for 18,000 yuan. With the money Gu Jinshui had on hand, he could easily afford two Courtyard House and still have some money left over.

The homeowner was a straightforward person. After having the lady from the Housing Reform Bureau help him complete the formalities, she promptly handed the keys to Gu Jinshui. "The house is yours now. Do whatever you want with it. If you really can't manage that three-courtyard house, rent out the front as soon as possible. At least you can recoup some of your investment."

Clearly, the homeowner didn't believe Gu Jinshui could handle the unreasonable people in the third courtyard.

Gu Jinshui smiled and said, "Thank you for reminding me, but I had already planned to do this."

The landlord looked at him, and seeing his confidence, couldn't help but become curious. "What are you planning to do? Kicking them out won't be that easy. If things go wrong, and they start crying, making a scene, or threatening suicide, you'll be in big trouble."

"Well, I'm not going to talk about that."

Gu Jinshui had no interest in revealing his secrets to others, especially since it was a family matter.

The homeowner looked at Gu Jinshui with great interest, nodded, and said nothing more.

The woman at the Housing Reform Bureau seemed quite concerned for Gu Jinshui. On the way back, she said, "Xiao Gu, I think you should stay away for now. I'll send someone to inform them and see if they can cooperate with moving out. Of course, you'll have to give them some benefits, but we can't fight tooth and nail. If we can get rid of them peacefully with a little money, we don't need to make things too tense. What do you think?"

Gu Jinshui, "Elder sister, I understand your good intentions, so let's do as you say for now."

"Alright, then wait for my news. I'll let you know as soon as I have any news." The eldest sister also liked Gu Jinshui's straightforward temperament. Of course, perhaps more importantly, Gu Jinshui gave her a large red envelope.

When he got home, He Chunlian hadn't returned yet, so Gu Jinshui went to buy groceries and cook. Seeing his daughter playing happily with Old Mr. Lan's grandson outside, he went to light the stove.

Just as dinner was almost ready, He Chunlian and the others returned.

Everyone's face was flushed, and they kept talking as they entered the courtyard.

"Mom, why are you back so soon?" Liang Ying asked curiously. "The banquet ended way too quickly, didn't it?"

"Why are you scattering? We left early," Auntie Sun interjected. "If we didn't leave, we'd still be stuck there, having to put up with their attitudes."

"What's wrong? Why are you getting so angry at a wedding banquet?"

Gu Jinshui poked his head out of the house and asked.

Grandpa Sun coughed and came into the house. "There's nothing to say. Hurry up and go home to cook."

Auntie Sun ignored him, snorted, and went into the Gu Family's house. She asked Gu Jinshui to pour her a glass of water and said, "You have no idea how much we neighbors were treated when we went there. It's not like we didn't give a gift. Your Grandpa Sun and I only gave three yuan, which isn't a small amount, is it? But they looked at us like we were there to freeload. The groom's relatives stood right next to us, their eyes glued to us. They watched us even as we ate a piece of meat or a few bites of vegetables. How could anyone stand that?"

Gu Jinshui was stunned. "Is that all? There aren't any seats?"

"Of course there are no seats!" Auntie Sun said angrily, her face turning red. "If they didn't have seats, they should have said so earlier. If they had set up a banquet, we could have finished eating quickly and made room for them. But they were the ones who said they wouldn't have a banquet, that they wanted to set up dozens of tables, and asked us to come and make a good impression so it wouldn't look bad if there weren't enough people. But today so many people came, and there weren't enough seats. If they didn't have enough seats, they should have said so. They could have borrowed some from others. But they made us wait for them. Isn't that just deliberately trying to annoy us?"

"How was the food at the banquet?" Liang Ying asked curiously.

He Chunlian: "The food is all good, the wine is good, and the cigarettes are good, but with people watching, who can eat it? I noticed that Zhao Donglai's parents didn't look too happy either. They seem to be doing this out of pure good intentions."

"Alright, let's not talk about them anymore. If we're not welcome, we'll just go home and eat our own food." He Chunlian wasn't angry at all; it was someone else's business. After scolding a few times, Auntie Sun went home to cook. Right now, everyone in the Compound was busy buying groceries and cooking. Today, everyone was preparing for a wedding banquet and hadn't bought any groceries. Who would have thought that something like this would happen?

Chapter 84 The Eighty-Fourth Day of Being Eavesdropped On

Song Mei's marriage became the talk of the Compound.

They've attended many weddings, but never one like this where they couldn't get enough to eat. Besides, the Song Family insisted on inviting them; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone. Putting everything else aside, the wedding gift money was completely wasted.

Everyone was talking about it, but the Gu Family Members didn't care much and went to bed early.

The next morning, He Chunlian had just gotten up and was about to pick up a piece of coal to light the stove and boil water when she saw a person running in with their face covered. Judging from their attire and figure, they seemed to resemble Song Mei, who had gotten married the day before.

He Chunlian muttered to herself as she put the stove on, wondering if things had been exposed.

"Oh my, honey, what brings you back so early in the morning?"

Huang Xirong was woken up by the noise. When she opened her eyes, she wondered if she was dreaming, otherwise why would Song Mei be at home?

Song Mei threw herself into her arms, tears streaming down her face, "Mom, Mom!"

She called out several times, waking up Gu Jinshui in the next room. Her sister-in-law and brother, needless to say, got up and came over. They were stunned to see Song Mei at home.

Lin Lianhua, wearing a coat, saw the door wide open, hurried over to close it, turned around and went inside to ask Song Mei, "Sister-in-law, what happened? Did the Zhao Family give you a hard time?"

Song Mei didn't speak, she just covered her face and cried.

Huang Xirong was annoyed by her crying, but remembering that she was her daughter, she suppressed her anger and said, "What happened? Say something!"

Song Mei was sobbing uncontrollably, her hair disheveled, her makeup from yesterday still on, and dark circles under her eyes. She choked out, "I'm too ashamed to say it, they... their family lied to me!"

"What do you mean by lying? Is it because their family is bringing up the dowry again?"

Song Jianshe frowned, clenching his fists. "Our family told you to take the bride price back with you. Isn't that enough of a show of sincerity?"

"No, no." Song Mei shook her head, covered her face with her hands, and tears streamed down her face through her fingers.

Huang Xirong and Song Jianshe were extremely anxious.

Huang Xirong retorted irritably, "You'd better tell us what happened! We're all family, would we laugh at you?"

"He... he..." Song Mei sobbed, her shoulders shaking, her fingers fidgeting with the seams of the blanket. "He's impotent."

At first, Song Jianshe and the others didn't understand, but when they saw Song Mei's embarrassed and annoyed expression, they realized that something was wrong.

Lin Lianhua found it difficult to speak up on this matter.

Although she is already married and has children, Zhao Donglai is still her son-in-law, so she should avoid any appearance of impropriety.

"He's impotent?" Huang Xirong was taken aback, then grabbed Song Mei and stood up. "Are you really sure about this? Or maybe he's drunk?"

Song Mei sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), raising her sleeve to wipe away her tears. "I can lie about this, there was no movement all night, and he still wanted to fool me into thinking it was normal, but I... I..."

Song Mei stopped there.

Huang Xirong and the others understood perfectly well that Song Mei had already been in several relationships, and she had even been very close to Zhang Dabiao before. How could she not know things that ordinary young girls might not know?

Song Jianshe was immediately enraged. He slammed his fist on the table in anger, "The Zhao Family dares to look down on us? They've kept such a big thing from us! This Zhao Donglai..."

Before he could finish speaking, there was a knock on the door.

Lin Lianhua quickly lifted the curtain and came out, asking, "Who is it? So early?"

"Sister-in-law, it's me, Donglai." Zhao Donglai straightened his clothes. He had run all the way here and was sweating profusely. He was afraid of being seen, so he kept glancing around. Only when he saw that all the doors of the houses were closed did he feel a little relieved.

He Chunlian was tidying up the cups and dishes in the main room when she heard a noise inside. She went in to check and found her daughter, who was up early, peering out the window.

"You got up so early just to watch the excitement?" He Chunlian patted the quilt. "Hurry up and fold the quilt, then read a book for a while."

"Mom, you can read this book anytime, but this matter is different." Gu Yinxing was woken up by Zhao Donglai's knocking on the door. She said to He Chunlian, "Do you think they ran back on their first day of marriage? Has their affair been exposed?"

"Is that even a question?" He Chunlian said. "You might be able to fool others about the Zhao Family's matter, but to fool Song Mei would be to underestimate Song Mei. She's very shrewd."

As soon as Zhao Donglai the room, he saw Song Mei turning her head away and crying. He felt awkward and embarrassed, his face flushed, unsure of what to do with his hands and feet.

Huang Xirong looked at him, slammed his hand on the table, and said, "Donglai, your family is being dishonest! Aren't you pushing my daughter into a fire pit?!"

These words were truly offensive, Zhao Donglai both ashamed and angry, but knowing he was in the wrong, he could only bite the bullet and say, "Mom, I... I can be cured. The doctor said the medicine will do the trick."

"The doctor said it's possible. If it's possible, why didn't it work last night?" Huang Xirong wasn't one to be trifled with. She put her hands on her hips and pointed at Zhao Donglai, saying, "My daughter married you so happily, and you kept such a big secret from our family. You did this on purpose, didn't you!"

The truth is, of course, sincere.

If Zhao Donglai reveal this flaw of his, who would dare to marry him?

But he couldn't admit it, so he said, "Really, no, this is a recent problem of mine, it'll be fine in a while, Xiao Mei, you have to believe me."

Could Song Mei have been fooled by him?

She wiped away her tears. "Stop lying to me! You're trying to kill me! I'm a virgin marrying you, and now I'm living the life of a widow. If I can't have children, how am I supposed to face anyone?"

"That's right, my daughter has been ruined by you, your family must compensate her!" Upon hearing this, Huang Xirong's heart stirred. Originally, she wanted to confront him, but now she changed her mind.

Song Mei stared blankly at her, tears welling in her eyes, as if she couldn't believe her mother would say such a thing.

Zhao Donglai breathed a sigh of relief, "That's for sure. Our family will definitely support Song Mei, and I... I'm sure I can have children!"

"You're talking nonsense!"

Song Mei saw his thing yesterday; it wasn't much bigger than a daylily.

Huang Xirong quickly covered her mouth and pulled her aside, saying, "Girl, don't be foolish. Why are you turning down money? Didn't you hear him say he was willing to give compensation?"

"No matter how much you offer, I won't do it!" Song Mei gritted her teeth and stomped her foot.

Given her circumstances, she can't possibly marry a Compound man, let alone a eunuch.

Huang Xirong glared at her, "Don't be silly. If you get divorced now, what kind of partner do you think you can find? Rural men might not even want you."

Upon hearing this, Song Mei's expression changed. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

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