When they got home, Yuniang took off the bundle. Besides two books, there were also some daily necessities she had bought on a whim.
But when she opened it, she stood there stunned. There was actually a set of the Four Treasures of the Study inside.
Yuniang gestured with her hands: Did that kid put it in?
Gu Liyue paused for a moment. It didn't seem to be A Jie. A Jie was young and innocent. He couldn't think so much. This set of writing tools was probably put in by Lord Lu.
Running her fingers over the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, Gu Liyue's heart rippled.
But it was just for a moment. Then she gave a self - mocking smile. She was just a peasant girl while he was a lord. According to A Jie, they should come from some big city on some continent and would leave soon. Even if they didn't leave, how could she be worthy of such a person?
Moreover, it was just that the lord took pity on her and gave her a helping hand.
Yuniang didn't know what was going on in Gu Liyue's mind. She babbled and gestured again: That lord looks so powerful. Can he help you find your family?
Gu Liyue shook her head indifferently: "No need. Even if I find them, I won't be happy. Yuniang, divide the silk threads given by Shopkeeper Feng. We must embroider the works he gave us well and try to sell them at a good price."
Yuniang didn't think much about it. She went to the stove to steam the rice first. It was rare to earn some silver, so they could eat a bit better today.
Early the next morning, the door was pounded loudly.
Yuniang wiped her hands and peeked through the crack of the door. It was actually Miao. She quickly turned back and waved to Gu Liyue: It's your aunt. Don't come out. I'll drive her away.
Gu Liyue stopped her and asked her to put away the cloth and silk threads given by Shopkeeper Feng. Then she opened the door and looked at Miao coldly.
"What are you doing here?"
Miao pointed at Gu Liyue's nose: "You ungrateful thing! I've raised you up so big, and you turn your back on me so quickly?"
She had a very loud voice. After pounding on the door for so long, the villagers had already been attracted. They were peeping at them curiously.
Gu Liyue's tone remained cold: "When I left the Liu family that day, I made it very clear that everything in the past was written off. From now on, your Liu family can live your own life. I, Gu Liyue, will have nothing to do with you."
She sized up Miao. It seemed that Miao had not been doing well in the days when she and Yuniang were away. Her face was a bit puffy, but her figure was thinner. She looked haggard, probably because she had been very busy recently.
Of course she was busy. In the past, the housework in the family was either done by Yuniang or her. And the money - earning jobs were also done by Yuniang and her. Although Miao also did embroidery work, she couldn't do as much as Yuniang and her.
Now she had to do both housework and embroidery. Without Yuniang's monthly salary and the embroidery works she made every day, and with Liu Qinting who had never done anything since childhood and couldn't do anything, Miao had to rely on herself for everything. Naturally, she was very tired.
Miao glared at Gu Liyue hatefully and shouted shrilly: "Humph, who's as ungrateful as you? If I had fed a dog, it would have gotten used to me by now. I've raised you up so big, and you don't have the slightest bit of gratitude. Well, now that you have someone to rely on, you don't care about your uncle and aunt who raised you from childhood?"
Gu Liyue gave a soft laugh: "It seems that Feng Lanqing said something to you yesterday, which made you come here to make a ruckus early in the morning. But I'm sorry, you've got the wrong person. Yesterday, Feng Lanqing insisted on sneering at me, saying that I was blind not to recognize a great person when I broke off the engagement. And she even wanted to hit me. I was just saved by a kind - hearted person passing by. It's nothing to rely on."
Miao's eyes bulged: "It's all over the street that someone sent you back in a carriage."
Gu Liyue looked at her indifferently without saying a word.
It was Aunt Wang from next door who squeezed in. She had offended Gu Liyue before. After being scared so much by those lords that she wet herself, she had hidden at home for several days and didn't dare to go out. She was both afraid of being laughed at and afraid that the lords would come to trouble her later.
Yesterday, she saw Gu Liyue being sent back. She peeked out of the window secretly and found that it was the lord who had wanted to kill her that day. She was even more scared. She thought that from now on, she must treat Gu Liyue extremely well and not let Gu Liyue find any fault with her. In this way, even if she saw that lord again, with Gu Liyue around, he wouldn't want to kill her.
So when she heard someone come to trouble Gu Liyue today, she ran faster than anyone else. She immediately came over and shouted at Miao: "Oh, you're so arrogant! Since you know that Liyue girl was sent back by a lord, how can you be so overbearing?"
Gu Liyue's face darkened: "Aunt Wang, it was just a chance encounter yesterday. He didn't send me back on purpose."
Aunt Wang quickly nodded: "Yes, yes, yes. Liyue is right. It was a chance encounter... You really don't know how to behave. Liyue is a good girl. She is always kind - hearted and saved the lord's child, so she was treated well. But you, coming to our village and making up lies. What do you mean? Do you think there's no one in our village to protect Liyue?"
Miao couldn't believe that in just two months after Gu Liyue left, even the villagers would support her.
She was so angry that she pointed at Gu Liyue and said: "Just because I'm her aunt and I've raised her so big..."
Aunt Wang was at a loss for words and just looked at Gu Liyue blankly.
Gu Liyue gave a soft laugh and said: "Well, I'd like someone to judge. Aunt Wang, you're a fair - minded person. Please listen to my explanation. My parents died when I was less than six years old. There were no relatives in my father's family. As my uncle and aunt, isn't it their duty to raise me?"
Aunt Wang nodded repeatedly: "A child of five or six years old naturally needs someone to raise."
Although she said so, she never mentioned that the kindness of raising should be repaid.
Gu Liyue continued: "My parents were not from a poor family. In my memory, my parents could support the whole family without having to work hard. Moreover, my parents left me some silver and a house. I'd like to ask my aunt, where are the silver and the house now?"
Miao took a step back and then quickly stuck out her neck and shouted: "How much money could your parents have? It was just a shabby house. How much we spent on raising you with your uncle!"
Aunt Wang understood. She squinted at Miao. This woman was so shameless. She had occupied her niece's house and now was still making a big fuss here.
"Oh, should an uncle ignore his niece and let her be bullied outside? And when Liyue first came here, she looked so pitiful. You, as an aunt, occupied her house and probably treated her very harshly. Moreover, how much can a girl eat and wear?"
Miao couldn't win the argument. She glared at Aunt Wang: "It's my family's business. What does it matter to you?"
Aunt Wang was not good at other things, but she was excellent at quarreling. She immediately shouted: "Oh my god! Everyone come and have a look! I've never seen such a despicable aunt. She bullies an orphan girl without parents, occupies her house, and forces the poor girl to rent a house here. And now she still comes here to make a ruckus..."
"You... you you you..." Miao was so angry that she couldn't say a word.
Aunt Wang said contemptuously: "You've already driven your niece out. What do you want to do now? Do you still want to step on her a few more times?"