Liu Anping and Mrs. Miao were rendered speechless. They were only good at being unreasonable. Facing such logical questions, they had no idea how to respond. The two of them just looked at each other, at a loss.
Grandma Gu heaved a long sigh. She stood up, looked around, and said to everyone, "Actually, many of my old sisters came to watch the show with me today. They should know my character. They also know that our Gu family is a wealthy and noble family, not a stingy one. Since we've recognized our own granddaughter, how could we treat her former family badly?"
"Yunniang, who raised our Gu family's precious daughter, was recognized as a younger sister by the third son and his wife before. Now she's living a good life in the Gu family. Everyone calls her Lady Yi. She has done a great job in raising my granddaughter. How could we not be grateful? She doesn't like to go out because she can't speak, but I think some of you have seen her in the Gu family."
Then the maids beside several ladies came out to testify that they had seen Lady Yi of the Gu family. She was very decent, and they never treated her like a servant.
Grandma Gu continued, "It's immoral for the Liu family to bully an orphan girl. It's already a great fortune that my granddaughter managed to escape from the Liu family alive. Those who have seen what my granddaughter used to look like know how hard her life was. You two keep saying that you're her uncle and aunt, but you don't know that the entire Gu family hates you so much that we wish you could disappear right away. Do you know why we haven't taken action against you for so long?"
Liu Anping kept shrinking back as Grandma Gu spoke. He wanted to run away, but there were carriages and servants of the nobles in front, and the common people had surrounded them from behind. There was no way to escape.
Grandma Gu sneered, "It's because Liyue was right. Thanks to your bullying, she wanted to escape from Yangxin Town and finally came to the capital. That's how our family got the chance to reunite. To be honest, this is the only useful thing you've done in your lives."
Quite some time had passed. The servants of each family had already reported what had happened here. Gu Chengzhi was the first to arrive. He dismounted from his horse, grabbed Liu Anping by the collar, and said, "Such a scoundrel dares to show up in front of my sister. Take this punch from me first!"
Liu Anping was so scared that he cried out, "Hero, please spare my life! I... I didn't do anything. She's my niece. How could I treat her badly? I'm a constable. I go out at dawn and come back at dusk. I don't know much about what's going on at home. It's all my wife's doing. It's all her fault..."
Mrs. Miao exclaimed, "You... What kind of man are you? You always shift the blame onto me when something goes wrong. Yes, you didn't do anything to her, but you never treated her well either!"
Gu Chengzhi burst into laughter. He threw Liu Anping heavily to the ground and sneered, "Look at how well-fed you two are. You don't look like you've been living a hard life at all. At the beginning of last year, when I went to Cangyun County, I didn't know she was my sister. At that time, I thought she was only twelve years old! She was pale and thin, with yellow and dry hair. She didn't look like a young girl at all. Later, I found out that even the sister I saw at that time was already in better condition after being well taken care of by Yunniang. It shows how badly you two treated my sister. You still dare to come in front of us and say that my sister is heartless and doesn't recognize her relatives? Do you even deserve to be called relatives?"
He was so angry that he punched Liu Anping twice, making him cry out in pain.
Just as he was about to beat Mrs. Miao, he heard his sister's voice coming from the carriage.
"Fourth brother, stop hitting them."
Gu Liyue got out of the carriage and walked to Gu Chengzhi's side. She smiled at him and said, "Fourth brother, it's a pity to waste your energy on such people. If you get tired, I'll be sad."
Gu Chengzhi thought his sister was going to be soft-hearted again. He didn't expect that she only cared about him when she got out.
Gu Liyue looked back at Grandma Gu to comfort her. Then she said to Liu Anping and Mrs. Miao, "It's true that you're my uncle and aunt, but when I left the Liu family, I made it very clear that from now on, we're no longer related. Have you forgotten?"
Liu Anping covered his swollen face and nodded repeatedly, "Yes... Yes, you're right..."
Mrs. Miao thought about the hardships at home. Looking at Liyue, who was now so beautiful and charming, she couldn't see any trace of the skinny girl from before. The two simple hairpins on her head seemed to dazzle her eyes. If this great wealth could trickle down a bit, their family would have a better life.
She immediately started crying, "Liyue..."
Gu Chengzhi scolded, "Who do you think you are to call my sister by her name?"
Mrs. Miao choked, "Miss... Blood is thicker than water. It was my fault back then, but there's no overnight feud in a family, right? You... You grew up with your aunt. If it weren't for the hard life, how could your aunt have made you work so hard?"
Gu Liyue asked, "My cousin pushed me into the water for her own selfish desires. When I was on the sickbed, you were reluctant to let Yunniang spend money on my treatment and even wanted to bury me alive. Is that just a small mistake?"
Mrs. Miao forced a smile, "That... That... was a misunderstanding..."
Liu Anping nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it was all a misunderstanding. Liyue, your uncle never thought that way. Your uncle was forced back then..."
"Forced? Uncle, I heard every word you said that day clearly. If you didn't know that my father was not an ordinary person, I'm afraid I wouldn't be alive by now, right? When you occupied my family's house?"
Gu Liyue didn't want to argue with them anymore. She stood up and sneered, "My current family really loves me. My grandmother just made it very clear that the Gu family has already been lenient to you by not settling the score with you. If you dare to harass me again, we'll meet in the yamen."
Gu Chengzhi showed his teeth and threatened them. Liu Anping and Mrs. Miao supported each other and ran away.
When they got home, Gu Liyue had already calmed down. She nestled in Grandma Gu's arms and said softly, "Grandma, I never want to see them again."
Grandma Gu stroked Gu Liyue's head and said, "Okay."
As soon as Liu Anping and Mrs. Miao got home, they started arguing. You said one thing, and I said another. Liu Anping blamed Mrs. Miao for treating Gu Liyue badly, while Mrs. Miao blamed Liu Anping for only caring about his son and ignoring everything else.
Liu Zhenghui pushed open the door and roared, "What are you arguing about? Are you done? It's so annoying. Where's the money? Give me the money. I'm going out."
Liu Anping was furious, "Money, money, money. You only know about money. How much money do we have left in our family? All the money has been given to your sister by your mother!"
Mrs. Miao was even angrier, "What are you talking about? How much money have you given to Qinting? She's having a hard time in her husband's family. And you, you ask me to ask her for money every day."
Liu Zhenghui didn't care. He went into Liu Anping and Mrs. Miao's room and started rummaging through the cabinets.
Mrs. Miao exclaimed, "Are you crazy? There's no more money in the house. We can't even afford to rent this house for a few more days. It's all that bitch Liyue's fault. She's so rich now, but she just watches her uncle's family live such a hard life!"