Chapter 60 – Long-Standing Resentments

The two brothers looked quite alike, especially the expressions on their faces—both wearing the exact same look of “I’m hungry, I really want to eat.”

Gu Yuzhu: “…”

What should she do now that she’d discovered this new trait of her cousins?

But when she thought about her mother Yan Fengru’s excellent cooking skills, Gu Yuzhu began to look forward to it as well.

…

“Dad hasn’t been eating at home lately?”

Gu Qingshan had been coming and going early and late these days, either out looking for work or busy with matters concerning his son. Because of the Jiang family’s troublemaking, Gu Changwen couldn’t attend the academy anymore and had to be sent to a private school instead. Coincidentally, it happened to be run by a relative of Kang-shi’s.

Kang-shi’s cousin’s husband ran a half-sized private school. He had studied for many years and just barely managed to pass the county-level scholar exam (xiucai). Knowing he wouldn’t be able to climb any higher academically, he returned to his hometown to open a school.

But in Kang-shi’s cousin’s eyes, her husband was nothing short of a brilliant man!

Gu Qingshan learned of this opportunity by chance. As for the actual ability of this Mr. Yao, he wasn’t quite sure, but ordinary folk always viewed scholars through rose-colored glasses, assuming they were all extraordinary.

Mr. Yao did seem like a rather proud man. In these times, the more aloof a teacher appeared, the more it was seen as a sign of capability. After sending his son there, and watching as Mr. Yao received everyone’s respect, Gu Qingshan’s heart blazed with hope.

From now on, the Gu family’s fate would ride on his son!

That had always been Gu Qingshan’s wish.

In fact, that was also one of the reasons why Gu Qingshan harbored resentment toward Gu Dapeng. Back when Jiang-shi was still alive, she had once held young Gu Qingshan in her arms and said she wanted to send him to study. But Jiang-shi was just another village woman, envious of other families raising scholars—nothing more.

She didn’t have much vision. Still, the fact that she even had such awareness set her apart from the average peasant woman. In Gu Qingshan’s eyes, even though his mother had passed away, she was special. That was the power of nostalgia.

But Jiang-shi had only spoken of it—sending her son to school would still have required her husband’s approval. After all, supporting a scholar in the family was no small feat.

Before long, Jiang-shi fell ill.

Her illness required medicine and doctors, and all the expenses fell on Gu Dapeng. He worked from dawn till dusk to pay for her treatment. Jiang-shi, already weak, could barely speak, let alone push for her son’s education. The matter naturally faded away.

After her death, Yan Fengru entered the household, and of course Gu Dapeng never brought up the matter again.

On one hand, his late wife hadn’t lived long enough to mention it. Gu Dapeng, being a straightforward man, understood that supporting a scholar wasn’t easy—it wasn’t something a woman could just mention casually.

Besides, Gu Qingshan wasn’t Yan Fengru’s biological son. From Gu Dapeng’s perspective, it was already good enough that she didn’t mistreat him and his sibling.

How could he expect her to spend money to educate Gu Qingshan?

So naturally, Gu Dapeng never entertained the idea.

But from Gu Qingshan’s perspective, it just meant his father didn’t care about him, never considered nurturing him, and deprived him of even the opportunity to study. Later, when Gu Qingbai was born and Yan Fengru sent him to school, Gu Qingshan’s resentment only deepened.

Of course, now that he was an adult, Gu Qingshan understood how hard it was to support a scholar. Still, the fact remained: he never even got the chance. He couldn’t help but wonder—if his mother were still alive, would he have had the opportunity to study and read? Could he have become a pupil under some scholar?

Even if he lacked academic talent and failed every exam, at least he’d be literate…

Thoughts like these made it impossible for Gu Qingshan to feel no resentment toward his father.

And now, he had to turn to Yan Fengru… Gu Qingshan felt deeply conflicted.

When Li-shi heard this, she assumed her husband had finally grown a conscience. But on second thought, she knew that was unlikely. Li-shi understood Gu Qingshan well—except for the lack of principles when it came to his sister, he was actually a very clear-headed person.

He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it.

That in itself was rare.

“No, he’s been eating over at Mother’s place before coming back,” Li-shi answered honestly, even as her mind wandered.

Gu Qingshan frowned but said nothing. He found that he simply couldn’t bring himself to bow his head to Gu Dapeng or Yan Fengru.

Forget it—if Changwen really had potential, Mr. Yao wouldn’t refuse to teach him properly.

Given the presence of Qingsong Academy and Songyun Academy, and considering how few poor families could afford to send their children to school, the private school actually didn’t have many students. Getting another tuition fee was something any teacher would welcome.

So it wasn’t a matter of whether Mr. Yao was willing to teach—so long as the child was willing to learn, the teacher would certainly teach.

Thinking that way, Gu Qingshan let it go. But still, the thought that his son had to attend a lower-tier private school because of his in-laws, when the academy was clearly better, filled him with anger. To this day, Gu Qingshan still couldn’t understand—what exactly did the Jiang family want?

And what was with his grandmother Yuan-shi?

But as her grandson, Gu Qingshan couldn’t do anything that would disgrace his mother’s family—at least, not for the sake of his late mother Jiang-shi.

“Big Brother!” Just then, Gu Caihe came running over.

“Big Brother, this is outrageous! Yan Fengru is too much!”

Gu Qingshan turned to face her. Li-shi curled her lip and said, “I’ll go prepare lunch.”

Though Li-shi didn’t care for Gu Caihe, she was still curious about what kind of ruckus she was raising now—and who had provoked her this time? Still, Li-shi wasn’t worried about missing anything. With Gu Caihe’s noisy nature, even if she went into the house, she’d hear it all.

Sure enough, Gu Caihe’s sharp voice rang out from outside.

“Brother, if you don’t step in, your niece is going to be bullied to death!”

“You tell your uncle yourself—who bullied you?” she said, shoving her daughter Han Hui toward Gu Qingshan.

After what had happened before, Gu Qingshan no longer fully believed Gu Caihe’s claims about Han Hui being bullied. Han Hui was a clever child—it didn’t make sense for her to be bullied every single time.

But when he looked up and saw Han Hui’s face bruised and swollen, he was still startled.

“Huihui?”

“Uncle… Uncle…” Han Hui sobbed, though in truth she hadn’t felt all that wronged. She’d just been out playing with some friends and got into a scuffle with the two Yan brothers over some duck eggs. She tripped and fell, hitting her forehead.

Because Gu Caihe usually doted on this daughter of hers, and Han Hui’s complexion was fair, even a small bruise looked particularly pitiful.

Wanting her brother to stand up for her daughter, Gu Caihe hadn’t even washed Han Hui’s face before dragging her over.

Now, looking at her biological uncle, and remembering that she didn’t even get a duck egg, Han Hui suddenly did feel wronged, and her tears began to fall.

Han Hui was a precocious child and clearly knew how to behave to avoid being blamed. She did her best to shift all the responsibility onto others.