"Speak, what on earth is going on here?" Hu Jianjun suppressed his anger, his gaze as cold as a knife, piercing straight at Feng Yun.
No matter what, Guangjin was Feng Yun's son, and also the most promising child in the Hu Family.
Now that such a fuss had been made, what would the villagers think of Guangjin?
For Guangjin to lose face meant the Hu Family had failed to raise him properly, and the whole family would lose face right along with him.
Feng Yun pointed at Hu Guangjin. "This unfilial son said that getting into the elite class would guarantee him a spot in university, and insisted on selling his eldest sister to Li Tiezhu, a widower who has already beaten two wives to death! All for a bride price of two hundred yuan. You tell me, since he did such a conscience-forsaken thing, shouldn't I beat him?"
"Mom, I did nothing of the sort!" Hu Guangjin stubbornly denied it, refusing to admit to it no matter what.
He was confident in his heart because his eldest uncle cared most about the family's reputation. As long as it was for the good of the Hu Family, his eldest uncle would definitely take his side.
He was, after all, the most promising child in the Hu Family, and his eldest uncle was still counting on him to bring honor to the family's ancestors.
"Eldest Uncle, I really didn't! The Li family's circumstances are genuinely good, and they are willing to offer a two-hundred-yuan bride price!
We work ourselves to the bone year in and year out and can't even save fifty yuan, yet they are willing to fork over two hundred yuan—isn't that showing true sincerity?
Just think about it, spending that much money to marry a wife, who would have the heart to mistreat her? Those rumors in town are sheer nonsense; anyone with a brain wouldn't believe them."
Hu Jianjun, who supposedly lacked a brain: "..."
His face darkened. "Shut up!"
Feng Yun let out a cold laugh. "Fourth, how do you even know about this Li Tiezhu?"
The Fourth had been studying in the city, yet suddenly rushed back to stir up this mess. It was painfully obvious that Xu Lijuan was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
In her past life, Chunhua had later talked about this matter.
Chunhua said that Li Tiezhu had spent five hundred yuan to marry her, essentially buying her life as well, and that once she married over, she would have nothing more to do with her maiden family, living or dead.
She had demanded to know if this was true and whether she had known about it.
Back then, however, Guangjin and his wife were doing quite well, and she doted on them dearly. When she asked them and they denied it, followed by a fierce scolding from them, she simply assumed that Chunhua had purposely come back to disrupt the household, and she had cursed her out into the bargain.
Thinking about it now, that child Chunhua had protected the Fourth even then; if there hadn't been an ounce of truth to it, how could she have possibly come to tell her?
That child had suffered such a massive grievance and just wanted to come back and talk to her. If she had offered even the slightest bit of comfort back then, Chunhua perhaps wouldn't have been so heartbroken.
Hu Guangjin didn't dare implicate Xu Lijuan. His eyes darted around frantically, but he refused to say a word.
Feng Yun sneered. "Not talking? If you won't talk, I'll say it for you! Xu Lijuan went to find Li Tiezhu and took five hundred yuan from him under the pretext of having Chunhua marry him. Xu Lijuan pocketed three hundred and took out two hundred to egg you on into making this happen. If it succeeded, with a brainless fool like you, the remaining two hundred would have ended up in her pocket too!"
"Impossible! She is not that kind of person!" Hu Guangjin immediately retorted. "She truly loves me and has my best interests at heart."
"Loves you?" Feng Yun sneered. "After loving you for so long, has she ever given you a definitive answer? Has she ever spent a single cent on you? Take a look in the mirror—what on earth about you is worth her loving? Does she love that you hate taking baths? Does she love your poor grades? Or does she love that you're penniless, powerless, scrawny, and look prematurely aged?"
Hu Guangjin glared at Feng Yun. "If we're talking about the matter at hand, then talk about it! Why are you chewing me out again?"
Hu Jianguo had only caught the part about the five hundred yuan, and slammed the table in rage. "You unfilial wretch! That was five hundred yuan—how could you be so gullible as to believe it was only two hundred? What about the other three hundred? We have to get it back!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, Feng Yun leaped up, grabbed him by the ear, and cursed.
"You bastard! Is this about three hundred yuan? This is about Chunhua's life! A family like that—even if they offered mountains of money, she could never set foot in their door!
I know you favor boys over girls, but take a look at Chunhua! Open your dog eyes and look at Chunhua!
She works herself to the bone like an ox or a horse at home, and has been worn down to a shadow of herself, yet you, her own father, actually thought about selling her off? I'll beat you to death, you heartless piece of trash!"
Hu Jianguo howled in pain, begging for mercy without a stop, and accidentally yanked on Feng Yun's hair. Startled by the pain, Feng Yun loosened her grip.
Taking advantage of this opening, he bolted away in a flash.
Watching this farcical scene, Hu Jianjun felt the veins on his forehead throb violently.
It was always like this.
Twenty-some years ago when Feng Yun first married into the family, it was exactly like this—crude and overbearing. The household had been turned completely upside down until they had no choice but to hurriedly split up the family.
After all these years, she had actually grown even more domineering and unreasonable than before.
A dog really cannot change its habit of eating shit!
"Quiet down, all of you!"
At Hu Jianjun's roar, everyone in the Hu Family except Feng Yun trembled violently.
"Since you are each telling a different story and neither of you can convince the other, let's head to town this afternoon and ask Li Tiezhu about it clearly. Guangjin, do you agree?"
"I agree, I agree." Hu Guangjin trusted Xu Lijuan one hundred percent and was dead set on clearing her name, so naturally he wouldn't refuse.
Hu Jianjun looked at Feng Yun, who immediately declared, "I'd more than welcome it!"
Hu Jianjun took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, and looked at Hu Guangjin. "Guangjin, I can't control who you like, but you need to keep your eyes open. To put it mildly, Xu Lijuan is definitely lying to you. Under current policies, students in elite classes are admitted purely on the basis of merit. If anyone is found to have bought their way in with money, the students will be expelled, the teachers fired, and even the school will share joint responsibility. The very thought of buying your way in is something you mustn't even entertain."