Chapter 658: Chapter 658: Apology
Master Xia Gu is, after all, Brother Cheng’s teacher, and he has been under Xia Gu’s tutelage as well; he greatly admires Master Xia Gu’s knowledge. If the Xia Family apologizes and deals with Zhan Er accordingly, in consideration of the many years Xia Gu has taught them and the fact that Sister Xiu is unharmed, he is willing not to report this to the temple master.
Otherwise...
Gu Jinxiu is least willing to cause trouble for her family. Upon hearing this, she said, "Good Brother An, Xiao Yu, Sister Xiu is fine, and as long as that madman doesn’t come to our house again, it’s okay. Don’t be too harsh on Master Xia; otherwise, you won’t be able to find such a good teacher to instruct you."
Master Xia’s knowledge is even admired by Scholar Shang; Good Brother An and Brother Cheng have progressed a lot in their studies under him. Scholars also care about their reputations, and she does not want to cause Good Brother An and Brother Cheng to be labeled as ungrateful because of her own issues.
Gu Jin’an said, "Don’t worry, Sister Xiu, I know what to do. You just need to focus on your embroidery at home; I will take care of this little matter."
Sister Xiu is unaware of the Lu Family’s incident, and that’s why she is concerned that seeking justice from the Xia Family could implicate them.
Gu Jinli also said, "Sister, don’t worry, it was the Xia Family and Zhan Family who were rude first; whatever our family does is not excessive."
Hearing this, Gu Jinxiu nodded with a smile and said, "All right, Sister will listen to you."
"Good Brother An, you all should eat some bean dregs cakes and pine mushroom pork slice soup first, the meat porridge will take a while longer to be ready," Mrs. Cui was afraid Gu Jin’an would be hungry, so she brought over a bowl of pine mushroom pork slice soup first.
"Ey, thanks, mom," Gu Jin’an, along with Zezi and Feng Lian, ate together. After finishing the pine mushroom pork slice soup and bean dregs cakes, the meat porridge and poached eggs were also ready and served, and they all ate to their satisfaction.
Seeing them eating enjoyably, Brother Cheng also started to eat, but Gu Jin’an was afraid he would overeat, so he only allowed him to have half a bowl of pine mushroom pork slice soup and one poached egg.
After the meal, Gu Jin’an and Gu Jinli went to the study in the front yard to talk about buying iron.
"It’s much stricter now than last year; this time it was only due to Zezi and Feng Lian that we weren’t discovered," Gu Jin’an recounted the difficulty they faced buying iron to Gu Jinli, concluding with, "We bought a total of five hundred catties of pig iron, all delivered to Songzi Manor."
Gu Jin’an did not enter the county city but went around it, heading straight for Songzi Manor; if not for buying iron, he wouldn’t have been delayed until now before returning.
They had started buying iron three years ago.
Great Chu strictly regulates iron utensils, even commoners wanting to buy iron tools must do so with their household registration. However, there is no shortage of what is known as the black market everywhere, as long as you have money, you can buy iron.
Gu Jinli took out a booklet and after a while said, "We have already bought several thousand catties of iron, which should suffice. The situation is tense right now, so let’s not buy more for the moment. We’ll talk again in half a year or a year. If not, we can still collect discarded agricultural tools."
"Alright, we’ll see how it goes," Gu Jin’an replied.
They buy iron also because they fear Great Chu may fall into chaos again, wanting to have iron weapons at the ready should Great Chu be plunged into turmoil, so they could have arms to protect themselves.
Looking at the sky, Gu Jin’an said, "Elder Qin is probably not asleep yet; I’ll make a trip to the Qin family to tell him about the pig iron arriving, so he can forge iron at Songzi Manor."
They have a yard in Songzi Manor, with a very large kitchen inside, which is actually used for forging iron. Elder Qin is quite skilled at forging weapons, and even at his advanced age, he handles the iron hammer with precision.
"Go ahead, big brother," Gu Jinli urged, "Come back early to rest. You’ve been up for a whole day and night without sleep last night, your dark circles are quite severe."
"I’ll come back right after I talk to Elder Qin," Gu Jin’an laughed.
With pig iron loaded in the mule cart, he dared not sleep.
Gu Jin’an went to the Qin family in the dark, reported the situation to Elder Qin, and only after a quarter of an hour did he return home.
Brother Cheng was already waiting for him at the door with Xiao Tuan: "Big Brother, where did you run off to again? Hurry up and go bathe and sleep."
Gu Jin’an patted the cotton cap on Brother Cheng’s head, smiling, "I went to pay respects to Elder Qin. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him, so I went to check on him after coming back."
Brother Cheng looked at his own big brother suspiciously, feeling that he was lying, but he did not ask any more questions. Big Brother had said that he would tell him the family’s little secrets when he grew up a bit more, so he shouldn’t be anxious.
After Gu Jin’an bathed, he returned to the courtyard where he and Brother Cheng lived and slept soundly. The next day before dawn, he got up to practice his martial arts and even dragged Brother Cheng out of bed.
Brother Cheng complained, "Doesn’t Big Brother get tired? Why torture yourself as soon as you’re back? And why torture me too?"
Gu Jin’an glanced at him, swung his fist, and attacked, startling Brother Cheng into quickly fighting back, following his big brother through a round of martial arts practice, ending up hot and sweaty, completely exhausted.
However, Big Brother said, "No need to go to school today."
Brother Cheng raised an eyebrow: "Understood."
They were to wait for Master Xia’s family to come and apologize.
They didn’t have to wait long; Lady Xia arrived just at the Chen Hour and came to their door, bringing many generous gifts, including a quilted jacket meant for women, which was really quite a lavish gesture.
The Gu Family People treated her with "face," receiving Lady Xia all together. The formation appeared as if they were surrounding Lady Xia, ready for a group beating.
Lady Xia felt a bit intimidated. She looked at Gu Jinli and then at the increasingly composed Gu Jin’an, forcing a smile and said, "I came here today specifically to apologize. The matter with Zhan Er from the Zhan Family was a misunderstanding. That boy is naturally unruly, has a love for the countryside. Yesterday, he mistakenly wandered into the village, was chased by the villagers, panicked, and jumped over the wall into your home, offending Sister Xiu."
Then she turned to Gu Jinxiu and said, "Sister Xiu, don’t be angry. After Zhan Er returned, his uncle punished him to kneel all night, only being carried back to his room after he fainted."
Brother Cheng: "Lady, wasn’t Zhan Er carried back? I went to see him, and he seemed quite dead to the world at the time. How did he wake up so quickly to be punished by kneeling?"
Lady Xia’s face stiffened a bit, and she smiled, "He was unconscious for a couple of hours, woke up and kneeled all night, and then fainted again just before dawn."
In fact, as soon as Zhan Er learned that Old Master Zhan San and Master Xia were arranging a match for him, he couldn’t have been happier, promptly took his medicine, had his meal, and slept comfortably throughout the night.
But she was here to apologize, so how could she tell the truth? She could only describe Zhan Er’s situation as pitiable as possible.
Gu Jin’an interrupted Brother Cheng: "Don’t be rude, let the Lady finish speaking."
Brother Cheng obediently shut his mouth.
Gu Jin’an looked toward Lady Xia and asked, "So, Lady Xia, you’re here specifically to apologize?"
Lady Xia said, "Indeed, Zhan Er knows he has offended Sister Xiu and has asked me to apologize to Sister Xiu, to the Gu Family."
She turned to the nanny beside her: "Nanny, bring the quilted jacket here."
"Yes." The nanny presented the quilted jacket to Lady Xia.
Lady Xia took the quilted jacket, looked at Gu Jinxiu, and said very kindly, "Sister Xiu, take a look. This is Zhan Er’s gift to show his apology, a rare fox fur, very warm, worth a thousand gold."
Gu Jinli chuckled, "The madman is really generous with their gifts."