Miao was completely bewildered. Hearing this, she waved her hands repeatedly. "No, sir. I didn't. I didn't mistreat her..."
Gu Liyue's eyes were teary. She kowtowed to Miao again. "Aunt, it's not that I was being lazy. I've been sick for so many days. Only relying on Yunniang to earn some extra money after her work to buy medicine for me. My body couldn't recover, so I couldn't continue doing embroidery..."
Liu Anping stepped forward quickly and slapped Miao across the face. "So this is how you bullied my niece when I was away?"
Gu Liyue was helped up by Uncle Third. He asked her to sit, but she just shook her head and stood aside, silently shedding tears.
Miao, having been slapped in public by Liu Anping, couldn't bear it. She rolled to the ground at once and wailed loudly. "Good for you, Liu Anping. Who have I been working so hard for? Isn't it for this family? You only bring back that little bit of money every month. It's not even enough to support Zhenghui's studies. If we don't do more work at home, how can we feed the whole family? Do you think it's easy to be the head of the family? You just spoil your niece blindly. Give her all the good food and drinks. Don't give any to us!"
Naturally, Gu Liyue stood on Liu Anping's side. Choking with sobs, she said, "Aunt's words are so unreasonable. Uncle is not being partial. He just feels sorry for me. I can understand that Aunt is partial. Cousin has never done any housework. Yunniang and I have always done all the work at home. That's fine. But why do I still have to do embroidery when I'm seriously ill? Couldn't you just divide the embroidery work and let Cousin do it for a few days?"
Liu Qinting didn't want to get involved in this at all. She had kept silent all the time. But when she heard that Gu Liyue was going to leave, she was extremely happy. After all, if Gu Liyue left, the engagement with the Feng family would naturally come to an end, and then Brother Feng could marry her openly.
But how come it suddenly turned to her?
Liu Qinting was not someone who would take a beating lying down. She immediately said, "It's because you can do embroidery, but I can't."
Her words were not wrong, but in men's eyes, embroidery was something that all women should be able to do. If a woman really couldn't do it, it meant she was just too lazy. If she was too lazy to do it, of course she wouldn't know how.
Liu Anping's fingers were trembling. "How could I have married such a heartless woman like you? I'll..."
But Gu Liyue stepped forward and knelt on the ground to stop Liu Anping. "Uncle, please don't do this. No matter what, Aunt is good to you and my cousins. As for me... I've already made up my mind. Please let me go."
Miao jumped up. "Liu Anping, since you've said so, I'll put it right here! Today, either she goes or I go. Do you think there's no one in the Miao family? If you dare to say the words 'divorce' today, my brothers will come to your door tomorrow to seek justice!"
In this way, the whole family was in a complete mess. They came to discuss things, but it turned into a fight instead.
Gu Liyue didn't think the matter was big enough. She added fuel to the fire. "I don't want to stay here either. Anyway, I've lost hope in the Feng family. It's better for me to leave early."
Liu Qinting heard this. Her eyes lit up. She immediately stood beside Miao and shouted, "Yes, I also support Mother. Father, you've been putting a big label on Mother. Do you know how much grievance Mother has suffered? Gu Liyue has been sick since she was a child. How many times has she been treated? How much money has been spent? She's so thin, and others even say that Mother has mistreated her. It's so unfair. Father has never said a single word for Mother! If Father doesn't want Mother, then don't want me either."
Liu Zhenghui shouted in a hurry. "Are you all crazy? Father, I'm going to take the imperial examination and become a high - ranking official. What will I do if you make a scandal of divorcing your wife?"
Liu Anping was still angry at first, but when he heard Liu Zhenghui's words, he hesitated. Yes, if he really divorced his wife, what would Zhenghui do?
Gu Liyue pressed on her advantage and continued, "If you let me go, I'll go to the Feng family to cancel the engagement. I'll also make it clear to them and ask them to come to our house properly to marry Cousin."
Liu Qinting was overjoyed. She looked at Miao expectantly.
Miao stopped making a scene. She had suffered a lot of humiliation these days. There had also been several quarrels because of Yunniang's hiding of money. She had long been extremely dissatisfied with Gu Liyue. They all ate for free and even wanted to hide money. If things went on like this, where would she, the head of the family, have any status?
It's good for her to leave.
But if she left, wouldn't it be even more difficult to earn money in the future?
No, there would be no more troubles after she left. Gu Liyue's embroidery skills were taught by her. What Gu Liyue could do, she could do too. She would definitely do better than Gu Liyue. And there was also Qinting. If she taught Qinting, her own daughter would surely be more considerate.
"It's you who want to leave. In the future, don't say it's me..."
Uncle Third frowned. Gu Liyue was an orphan. Where could she go if she left the Liu family? Anping was really being unfair!
But before he could say anything, Gu Liyue immediately nodded. "Of course I won't. Aunt, please rest assured. But Aunt, could you return the dowry money my parents saved for me?"
Miao stared at her with wide eyes. "What did you say? Dowry money? Your parents died early. How could they have saved dowry money for you so early?"
"Eh, didn't they start saving it since I was born..." Gu Liyue looked at Yunniang behind her. The two of them glanced at each other, then she lowered her head. After a moment, she said carefully, "Alright, Yunniang, pack my two sets of clothes. Let's go."
Uncle Third couldn't bear it any longer. He slapped the table hard. "Liu Anping, is this how you let your wife bully Liyue? Don't you forget that if it weren't for Liyue's father, how could you have come to the town? How could you have established yourself in the town and become a constable? Also, when Liyue's father came here, he brought a lot of good things. Even this house belonged to her father!"
Miao was afraid that Uncle Third would ask them to return the house. She immediately said, "Uncle Third, your words are not right. If her father was really capable, how could he only let our sir be a constable? And he's still just a constable after so many years! As for the good things you mentioned, didn't he use them all by himself? Our Liu family married our daughter to him without asking for much betrothal gift. Besides, when this house was built, let's not mention how much effort our family put in. Just think about how we've raised Liyue for so many years. We've even been raising two mouths. Everything costs money!"
Uncle Third was so angry that he flicked his sleeves. "Fine, I can't manage your family's affairs!"
Gu Liyue was afraid that things would change when she saw Uncle Third was about to leave. She immediately said with a straight face, "So, Aunt wants me and Yunniang to be homeless? Since that's the case, I can't cancel the engagement with the Feng family. I'll have to bother them."
Hearing this, Liu Qinting's eyes widened a bit. She immediately said, "No... Liyue, all my dowry is for you."