Chapter 7: No apology, but you can call the police

Gu Jingyao’s gaze fell on Lin Moran again.

Lin Moran looked up, meeting his gaze directly.

Initially feeling a little apprehensive, seeing the Gu family united against her, Lin Moran’s fear vanished.

There was no affection, no sentimentality left; who cared about hurting feelings?

Who cared about being troubled by him?

“Yes, I said all that.”

Lin Moran straightened her back, admitting frankly.

“Comrade Gu, if you’re unhappy with me, you can deal with me!”

“No apology. You can call the police and have them arrest me.”

Gu Jingyao’s brows furrowed slightly. Looking at Lin Moran’s defiant attitude, he felt conflicted.

“Jingyao, she’s trying to evade responsibility! We can call the police, but only after she accepts this porcelain jar.”

Zhao Sumei said shrewdly.

If they arrested Lin Moran now, they wouldn’t gain anything.

Selling the jar and resolving her daughter’s family conflict were the most important things.

“That broken porcelain jar, you can find dozens of them in the market for five or eight yuan each. You want me to buy it for a hundred? And you’re trying to force a sale. If you don’t call the police, and you continue to bother me, I’ll call the police.”

Lin Moran said bluntly.

“Jingyao, listen to her! She wants to call the police after doing all this! It’s ridiculous, the culprit is so brazen.”

Zhao Sumei’s fingers trembled.

Gu Jingyao’s brows furrowed slightly. He asked, “Mom, sister, what exactly is going on?”

Through Gu Jingyao’s questioning, Lin Moran quickly learned what stupid thing they had done.

After she made a hundred yuan from the small blue-and-white porcelain teapot, everyone in the Gu family became restless.

The Gu family searched everywhere but couldn’t find any more porcelain.

Gu Aihua suddenly remembered a blue-and-white porcelain jar used as a corn container in her mother-in-law’s warehouse.

The jar looked old, with beautiful patterns.

She immediately became envious and tried to buy the jar from her mother-in-law.

Her mother-in-law was shrewd. Hearing someone wanted to buy the jar, she refused to sell it.

The more her mother-in-law refused, the more Gu Aihua thought the jar was valuable. Lin Moran had made a hundred yuan from a small broken teapot.

Such a large porcelain jar must be worth five hundred or even a thousand.

Dreams of sudden wealth filled her head, making her even more determined to get the jar.

She kept raising the price, finally paying eighty yuan for the jar.

She didn’t want Lin Moran to make money from reselling it, so she went to other antique shops to sell it.  She was disheartened after visiting several shops.

“This jar is five yuan in the market. You want to sell it for two hundred? Are you trying to make me laugh?”

With each shop, Gu Aihua’s hopes sank further.

When her husband found out, he scolded her for being stupid and wasteful.

When her mother-in-law found out, she slapped her hard.  She and her sister-in-law had always been at odds. Her sister-in-law had always tried to suppress her, bullying her family openly and secretly.  In the end, her stupid daughter-in-law gave her sister-in-law eighty yuan.

Eighty yuan was her husband’s two and a half months’ salary.

Gu Aihua felt wronged and sad; she just wanted to make money.

She never knew this thing was so worthless.

Her mother-in-law, furious, beat her and then her husband.  Her husband, unable to vent his anger, beat her up and angrily said, “If you don’t get that eighty yuan back, we’re done.”

She went back to her mother-in-law to ask for a refund, returning the jar.

Her mother-in-law refused.  She had finally made some money, and there was no reason to return it.

She was secretly happy seeing their family in chaos.

Gu Aihua didn’t want a divorce.  She thought the only way was to have Lin Moran buy the jar.

Firstly, she felt she hadn’t gained anything from Lin Moran and was resentful.

Secondly, Gu Jingyao was back, and he was her brother; he wouldn’t let her get divorced.

Without paying, Gu Jingyao would find a way to help her sell the jar.

“Jingyao, she looks down on us. She bought that tiny little teapot. She’d rather buy from strangers than help her own family.”

Gu Aihua cried as she spoke, “You weren’t here all these years. She took so many valuable things from home.  Instead of helping, she mocked us.”

Gu Jingyao’s brows furrowed deeper, turning to Lin Moran, “How much is this vase worth at most?”

“I don’t know.  You can ask other shops if you want.”

Lin Moran refused to answer.

She wasn’t going to be a patsy.

She didn’t want to explain to them.

The antique business was very complex.

She bought the small blue-and-white porcelain teapot not because it was valuable, but because the seller was pitiful.

The woman sat by Liuli Street, holding a pale, listless child. Seeing the pitiful child, she thought of Gu Quanzhe, who had congenital heart disease and had to go to the hospital regularly.

Every time he had an attack, she was terrified.

She understood a mother’s resentment, despair, helplessness, and stubbornness in clinging to even the slightest hope.

The small blue-and-white porcelain teapot was from the Yuan Dynasty, a Qing Dynasty imitation, with later added colors. The color and glaze were good, but it was an imitation with later added colors, which lowered its value.

Originally worth only five yuan, she bought it for twenty yuan.

Ten yuan more than the market price, a third of a person’s monthly salary.

It was purely an act of charity, and unexpectedly, she resold it for 120 yuan.

Gu Aihua’s actions were completely reckless.

She had been exposed to antiques since childhood and occasionally misjudged items.

Gu Aihua had no professional knowledge.  Driven by her ridiculous dream of getting rich, she spent eighty yuan on a worthless item, and now that she can’t sell it, she’s making a fuss.

What good does making a fuss do?

If making a fuss worked, everyone would be rich.

“Jingyao, listen to what she said! You must help me, you’re my brother. When you were little, I played with you. When you craved wild fruits, I picked them for you.”

Gu Aihua played the emotional card, then confidently said, “Lin Moran has money! Really.”

Implying that Lin Moran could pay for her stupid mistake.

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have done this!”

Gu Jingyao’s gaze fell on Lin Moran again, his brows furrowed, his eyes dark, full of oppressive pressure.

“I’ll handle it.”

Gu Jingyao said.

Lin Moran’s heart sank.

A chill went down her spine.

She felt a surge of irony. She had actually expected Gu Jingyao to handle this fairly. They were family! If he didn’t take their side, whose would he take?