Chapter 11: The Gu Family of Qing River  

This was a villa that an ancestor of the Gu family had chosen. After the war erupted and the situation became precarious, the entire Gu family moved here in search of stability.

The ancestor of the Gu family had been a major landowner and all the land that belonged to the Qing River Brigade once belonged to the Gu family.

Later, all the family’s property was seized and their land was distributed to the farmers.

The Gu family lived by itself on the margins of the Qing River Brigade, halfway up the hill.

Because their family was a bad element, all the other families avoided them and refused to stay with them.

Grandfather Gu, Gu Chonghua, was a major landowner. Grandma Wen Ruyu was the daughter of a great financier in Old Shanghai. The two of them were considered to be utterly despicable because of their background.

Fortunately, Grandfather Gu had made large donations to support the war effort and had continued to treat patients in the village with his youngest son. This had allowed the entire family to continue to survive in peace.

In those days, doctors were rarely found in villagers. Many who fell ill could only wait for death. The presence of the Gu family’s father and son in the Qing River Brigade gave the common folk there much peace of mind.

Mo Beihan drove the car and sent Gu Qingyao back to the Gu House.

When she saw the familiar cowshed, Gu Qingyao’s eyes turned red.

That’s right, that was the cowshed!

Their entire family lived in the cowshed.

The Gu family was a bad element and after the founding of the nation, their property was seized. Grandfather and Grandma had been sent to this cowshed to undergo reeducation through labor. They did the dirtiest work and received the smallest share of work points.

Grandfather and Grandma were old, and Father had been worried about them, so he had moved into the cowshed with the two old people. Their family had been in the eye of the storm then. Even if he had the ability to build a separate house, he also did not dare to make a careless move.

This was a time in which food was very scarce. Cows were the main labor force during the busy season, so the cows led a better life than humans.

Although it was a cowshed, it was sturdily constructed of stone and brick and much better built than many of the houses belonging to the Qing River Brigade.

The Gu family lived next to the cowshed, separated from the shed by only one wall. The hay was kept on the other side of the wall, and the animals lived next to the hay.

The animals were some distance away from the Gu family and the hay was placed in the intervening space. This was not because the Gu family would be cleaner or suffer from fewer smells by staying a little further, but because the room containing the hay was better than the Gu family’s room.

The best place was given to the cows. The hay was for the cows, because they had to be well fed.

As for the Gu family, at that time, everyone wished they could move the whole family into the cowshed to live with the cows.

Gu Qingyao’s heart bled as she recalled the past.

Mo Beihan’s heart ached when he saw her red eyes. He thought that his Yao Yao had suffered so much from last night’s incident that she burst into tears upon reaching home!

“Yao Yao...”

Gu Qingyao only snapped out of her trance when he called her name. She quickly reined in her emotions, but did not have time to say anything before she hurried into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, her grandma, Wen Ruyu, was washing the clothes. She was startled to see Gu Qingyao return. “Yao Yao? Why are you back? And so quickly? Where are your grandfather and your father?”

Grandma was old and her hair was almost completely white. Her face bore the mark of the passing years.

Gu Qingyao almost burst into tears when she saw her grandma.

Her grandma had already spent her life worrying over the events she had encountered in her previous life. She had worried about Gu Qingyao’s future, even up to her death, and said that Gu Qingyao caused her the most concern.

She and Mo Beihan had both been good children and they had clearly liked each other. But they had been manipulated by others, and suffered terribly.