Gu Xiaohua shivered upon hearing this, thinking to herself, "If Qingcheng falls into the hands of my uncle and his ilk, wouldn't that be terrible?"
Yet, the thought that if such a thing truly happened, Gu Qingcheng would cease to exist in this world, brought a surge of wicked pleasure.
"Wouldn't that be good?"
She wouldn't have to be angry with Qingcheng anymore for having a better life, for being prettier, for getting new clothes, and for having their parents' love!
"Eldest, Second, come over here!"
At this moment, Old Man Gu called out to several men, and they huddled together, whispering.
Gu Xiaohua strained her ears, catching snippets about meeting with Old Master Gu, using carts to transport people...
Though the words were fragmented and unclear, Gu Xiaohua knew with certainty that they were plotting how to deal with Qingcheng, how to smuggle her out of the city.
A deep chill welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Looking at her family, whispering with occasional excited smiles, they seemed like man-eating wolves, their mouths dripping with blood from their kills.
As she reveled in Qingcheng's impending misfortune, she felt a despairing sense of powerlessness. She felt that one day, she too would be devoured by these people.
But she was not Gu Qingcheng; she had no parental protection and could not escape this terrifying vortex.
Gu Xiaohua could only desperately curry favor with Grandma Gu, tending the fire and cooking, hoping that if something happened to her one day, Grandma would remember her obedience and good nature and speak up for her.
But Gu Xiaohua forgot that Gu Qingcheng used to be even more obedient and worked even harder.
Finally, Gu Xiaohua faintly overheard them discussing the need to plan the time and place meticulously, to make it seamless, and to surely capture Qingcheng so that their family would have the travel expenses to flee south.
Gu Xiaohua kept perking her ears to eavesdrop, and a strange feeling arose within her that what her family said actually made sense.
Gu Qingcheng had been raised in this household for thirteen years, eating their food, drinking their water. Could she have grown this tall without this family?
It was time she contributed to the family.
Gu Xiaohua even secretly felt fortunate. Having someone as detestable as Gu Qingcheng to take the blame and stand in front of her meant that perhaps the child bride they wanted to sell wouldn't be her.
Thinking of this, Gu Xiaohua shuddered involuntarily, a chill running down her spine.
After ditching Old Master Gu, Gu Qingcheng's family returned to the inn.
The inn was much warmer than outside, and the room had a hot spring that helped regulate the temperature.
Since the three of them were back, a soak in the hot spring was a must.
Submerged in the lukewarm water, about thirty degrees Celsius, they felt as if they were basking in a gentle spring breeze, utterly comfortable, the day's fatigue soothed away.
While soaking, Gu Qingcheng retrieved a bottle of champagne from the Cat Supermarket, poured three glasses, took one for herself, and handed the other two to her father and mother.
"My, Qingcheng, you've started drinking?"
Whenever Hu Lanfang saw her daughter touch alcohol, she felt a sense of danger and couldn't help but lecture her.
"Mother, champagne doesn't have much alcohol, it's fine. I absolutely won't drink outside, don't worry."
Gu Qingcheng had simply entered the Cat Supermarket, was soaking in the hot spring, felt a bit thirsty, and wanted to buy a drink. Her eyes fell upon the champagne, and she took it out.
Actually, at her high school graduation party, she and her classmates had secretly drunk wine at a KTV.
The first time she drank wine, it tasted sweet and astringent. Although not as good as she imagined, it was palatable. She ended up drinking three glasses and got drunk.
Her classmates said she cried and laughed, that it was utterly embarrassing.
Gu Qingcheng was sent back by a few girls. The next day, she woke up with a splitting headache, completely lost her appetite after the hangover, and felt unwell the entire day.
With that lesson learned, Gu Qingcheng truly dared not drink again.
It was just high school. After studying for over a decade, getting into university, and reaching adulthood, she suddenly felt she should live like an adult, have a drink, sing karaoke, and so on.
This was their first step into what they thought was adult life. Little did they know, reality had poured several large glasses of alcohol on her and made her embarrass herself in front of everyone.
From then on, Gu Qingcheng remembered the incident vividly and never again tried to deliberately imitate adult life.
Imitating wrongly only brought self-inflicted humiliation!
Today, taking out the champagne was purely a spontaneous act. Then she felt that drinking champagne while soaking in the hot spring had a certain ambiance.
Gu Chaobei finished his champagne in one gulp and chuckled,
"It really doesn't have much alcohol. It's fine for our daughter to have one glass."
Seeing her daughter was amenable, Hu Lanfang chuckled and said,
"Qingcheng, are you thinking of getting us drunk too?"
Last night, after eating hot pot and drinking, she had already been drunk once, which Hu Lanfang found quite undignified. She hadn't expected their daughter to help them to bed after they got drunk.
But she also found it heartwarming. No wonder they say daughters are like close little cotton-padded jackets. If she had a son, he might have just left them at the table to fend for themselves and gone to sleep.
"Father, Mother, I won't drink much, just this one glass," Gu Qingcheng said. "Why do I feel like encountering Old Master Gu never brings anything good? The way he looked at us was like a hungry wolf about to devour prey."
"Indeed, Old Master Gu clung to us as soon as he saw us. He's so annoying."
Hu Lanfang also disliked this, the original owner's paternal uncle.
Of course, she disliked everyone in the Gu family except for Old Six Gu.
"It's alright, it doesn't matter. Once the house is sorted, we'll move up to the mountain to live. They can't come into the city every day, and we likely won't encounter them again," Gu Chaobei consoled.
Gu Qingcheng thought about it. Entering the city required drawing lots. Could Old Master Gu be so lucky as to draw it every day?
After their hot spring bath, Gu Qingcheng asked,
"Are we eating hot pot again tonight?"
"No, we ate too much oily food today. How about some simple seafood noodles?"
Gu Chaobei suggested.
"That's fine too. Let's add squid balls, nine-section shrimp, razor clams, and abalone to the seafood noodles, then sprinkle some chopped scallions, and cook it in a charcoal pot."
Gu Qingcheng arranged.
"It's a good thing you're not running a noodle shop, otherwise with such rich additions, you'd definitely lose money,"
Hu Lanfang said with a smile. She was happy to see her daughter taking charge.
This meant that if, one day, they were no longer there, she could still live independently.
Of course, she prayed that day would never come. She and her husband could protect their daughter forever, guarding her until the very end.
Gu Qingcheng took out the charcoal pot, added charcoal to the central stove. Once the charcoal was lit, she began to boil the broth, adding the squid balls and other seafood ingredients, and finally, buckwheat noodles.
"This charcoal pot is very convenient. We don't need to ask anyone for hot pot. This Great Zhou Dynasty probably doesn't have hot pot yet, right?
It's a shame the natural disasters are coming soon. Otherwise, if we opened a hot pot restaurant here, we'd surely make a fortune."
Hu Lanfang said with regret.
Mentioning the difficulties ahead, the three of them felt a bit somber.
But as the rich aroma of seafood wafted, and after eating a bowl of "unremarkable" seafood noodles, their unease subsided.
There was no unhappiness that a delicious meal couldn't soothe. If one bowl wasn't enough, have another.