The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 37 Mother only wanted an imperial decree
"Mother is right!"

As soon as Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe arrived at their doorstep, they heard Gu Yaozu crying and Tong Huaqiong shouting and cursing.

The two stood at the door and listened for a while, and roughly understood what was going on.

It must be Gu Yaozu bullying Man'er again.

This kind of thing happened almost every day in the past, and it was a trivial matter for the Gu family.

Gu Dashu once thought that Tong Huaqiong asked him and Liu Yue'e to keep their son in check because Tong Huaqiong was up to something new and was using the eldest son's family's wealth to suppress their second son's family.

He broke out in a cold sweat when he heard Tong Huaqiong say, "If you can steal a piece of cake today, you can steal someone else's cow tomorrow. In the long run, you'll end up in jail sooner or later."

Mother doesn't have any problem with Yaozu or the second wife at all; Mother is trying to save Yaozu!

After some self-reflection and brainwashing, Gu Dashu realized that Yaozu's behavior was far too unruly.

So he pushed open the door and went into the courtyard, put the bedding from Gu Jingzhe's private school on the ground, picked up a stick, and was about to beat Yaozu.

"I'm going to teach Yaozu a lesson today," Gu Dashu said.

Yaozu was so frightened that he trembled.

"You've really scared me!" Tong Huaqiong pulled the terrified Yaozu aside and launched into a tirade against Gu Dashu.

"Why is the kid so unruly at such a young age? It's all because he has such an unruly dad! You should punish yourself first."

“I told you to discipline Yaozu, not to beat him with sticks. If beating people could solve the problem, I would have beaten you all eight hundred times a day long ago.”

"They say children are the shadows of their parents. Yaozu is just like you and Liu Yue'e. If you want to raise a brat properly, you and Liu Yue'e should first get rid of your own bratty ways."

Gu Dashu grinned sheepishly, his hand holding the stick trembling slightly, and said ingratiatingly, "Mother, I've taken your advice. Just wait and see how I behave in the future."

Liu Yue'e breathed a sigh of relief; she was really afraid that Gu Dashu might have crippled Gu Yaozu by beating him without restraint.

"mother."

Gu Jingzhe emerged from behind Gu Dashu.

If Tong Huaqiong wasn't mistaken, she noticed a rare hint of shame creeping onto the face of this gifted young man.

Tong Huaqiong remained calm, wanting to see what kind of performance Gu Jingzhe would put on next.

"Mother, your son is back!"

"So what if you're back? Do you expect your whole family to kneel and welcome you?" Tong Huaqiong said irritably.

Tong Huaqiong saw the bedding on the ground, which showed that the boy had accepted the reality of not being able to go to school.

I just don't know if I'm willing to accept it or not.

"Have you managed to raise the money after running around for several days?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

Gu Jingzhe looked ashamed, shook his head, and mumbled, "I didn't raise a single penny."

Tong Huaqiong was not surprised at all by this answer.

Given Gu Jingzhe's popularity, it would be abnormal if he could borrow money.

"You think you're so capable? If you can't borrow money, you should just sell our whole family. Your sister, Peach Blossom, should be sold to a wealthy family as a maid, your second brother's whole family should be sold to people as servants, and your mother, me, should be sold to someone as a maid," Tong Huaqiong said sarcastically.

"Your whole family is paving the way for your future!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Jingzhe knelt down in front of Tong Huaqiong with a thud, his face flushed with shame.

“Mother, I was wrong. Your words are putting me in a very difficult position. I shouldn’t have had those thoughts in the first place, and I shouldn’t have sacrificed my family’s future.”

“These past two days have been very difficult for your son, especially seeing you set up a cake stall to sell cakes for your sake. If it weren’t for the fact that you made a mistake and owed money, you wouldn’t be suffering like this.”

Gu Jingzhe choked up as she spoke.

Tong Huaqiong remained silent.

She guessed that this genius had suffered a great blow these past two days, not only failing to borrow money but also losing his self-esteem.

It remains to be seen whether Gu Jingzhe, after being dealt a blow, will become even more wicked or be willing to turn over a new leaf.

She hoped it was the latter.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, there is a relatively high probability that Gu Jingzhe is willing to turn over a new leaf.

"Mother, I really know I was wrong. I will not hesitate to hit or scold you, I just beg you to forgive me."

Gu Jingzhe couldn't stand Tong Huaqiong's indifference, which made him feel insecure. He was afraid that Tong Huaqiong would give up on him. Heartbroken, tears streamed down his face.

"Wipe away your tears and look at me," Tong Huaqiong commanded.

Gu Jingzhe wiped away her tears and looked up to meet Tong Huaqiong's gaze.

"If I don't let you study, will you hate me?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

“At first I resented it,” Gu Jingzhe said softly, “but when I saw my mother selling cakes on the street, I stopped resenting her. Not only did I stop resenting her, I even felt very guilty.”

Tong Huaqiong believed that Gu Jingzhe was not lying.

After all, in the original owner Tong Dajiao's memories of her previous life, Gu Jingzhe was extremely filial to his mother. When Tong Dajiao fell ill in her later years, Gu Jingzhe, who was already a second-rank official in the imperial court, somehow obtained a prescription and did not hesitate to cut off his own flesh as a medicinal ingredient.

Such a filial son as Gu Jingzhe would surely feel guilty seeing his widowed mother hawking cakes on the street.

It's good to feel guilty. It means that a person still has a heart and can still be redeemed.

Tong Huaqiong sighed and said, "I only thought about your education before, without considering the family's situation. I kept forcing your older brother to go out and do hard labor to earn money, forcing the whole family to eat bran and wild vegetables for a time. In the past, I always thought about sacrificing the whole family to make you successful. But later, seeing your behavior becoming more and more outrageous, I thought about it carefully and realized that you became like this because I indulged you. Everything in the world has a cause and effect. I forced the whole family to support you, which made you feel that you are the center of the family, and everyone should sacrifice for you. Yesterday you could sell Man'er, today you can sell me, and the day after tomorrow you can sell your ancestors. As a result, you have become an unfaithful and unfilial person."

"Not only that, it's unfair to the rest of the family if I make the whole family support you. Don't be upset, but for example, if your studies cost a lot of money, Taohua will have less dowry, your eldest brother will have to work and separate from his wife, and your second brother and sister-in-law won't have money to support Yaozu. I know you want the family to enjoy the good life after you succeed, but what if you fail the exams like your uncle did, even after a long time? Wouldn't all our hard work over the years be for nothing?"

"Furthermore, even if your family doesn't say it, everyone has complained in their hearts about having to endure hardship so you could go to school. The consequences of this resentment will backfire on you. I originally supported your education hoping you would improve, but instead of improving, you've incurred the resentment of the whole family. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Don't underestimate resentment; sometimes resentment can generate enormous energy that destroys the person being resented. In that sense, it would have been better not to let you go to school in the first place, at least then your family wouldn't resent you for it."

After Tong Huaqiong finished speaking, she carefully observed Gu Jingzhe.

Gu Jingzhe pursed her lips tightly.

He had considered the various problems that would arise from supporting his education, but he always believed that it was only right for the whole family to tighten their belts to support his studies.

Even a few days ago, he didn't think sacrificing Man'er was wrong.

But after these days of torment, he realized how insignificant he was.

Without the support of his family, he is nothing.

He clearly took Tong Huaqiong's words to heart.

"Mom, I understand."

"But my son still needs to study."

Tong Huaqiong's eyes turned icy; after all that she had said, the genius boy still hadn't come to his senses.

“Mother, it’s not wrong for your son to want to study. What’s wrong is that you shouldn’t take advantage of your studies to disregard the life and death of your whole family, and you shouldn’t sacrifice your uncertain future for your family.”

Tong Huaqiong's eyes softened. She knew it; Gu Jingzhe wasn't someone who couldn't understand human language.

"Seeing how hard Mother has worked these days, I feel very guilty. Mother's ability to earn fifty taels of silver with her own hands is a great encouragement to me. I want to study, but there's no need to drag the whole family down with me. I plan to stay home and tend the wheat first, and then go to the prefectural city to work as an accountant during the off-season, earning money while studying."

"My son must rely on his own abilities to graduate. He will definitely not disappoint his mother in the future, nor will he make his mother suffer so much."

As Gu Jingzhe spoke, he became so moved that he cried again.

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself that Gu Jingzhe was truly a promising student; even in this state, he still cared about studying.

But this is for the best, since she never intended for Gu Jingzhe to drop out of school completely.

Once his temperament has been tempered enough, then let him go back to school.

Anyway, he's a child prodigy, so dropping out of school for a while at home doesn't affect his academic progress at all.

"My son has ambition, and I'm glad he understands."

"Mom will also change her old laziness. It's better for us to make a good living together than anything else."

Thinking of this, Tong Huaqiong gave Gu Jingzhe timely encouragement.

"Furthermore, I learned that Mother promised not to be buried in the ancestral grave to repay my elder sister's favor. I am an unfilial son. I will study hard and earn an official title for Mother." Gu Jingzhe felt as if needles were piercing his heart when he mentioned this.

Mother only wanted an imperial title, not to be buried in the ancestral graveyard.

"Just get me an imperial title, I don't care about ancestral graves, anyway your father isn't so charming that I'd die with him."

Tong Huaqiong complained inwardly as she spoke.

Gu Jingzhe: "."

(End of this chapter)