Chapter 5: Unity

He bit his lower lip, thinking of the disdainful look his second uncle had given his father, remembering the lonely figure of his father being locked out of the family banquet, and recalling the scene of the servants pointing at him and calling him a useless brat. At that time, he was still a naive and ignorant child, not understanding the meaning of "useless brat," and had eagerly run to ask his father...

"Absolutely not!" Gu Hai said again, biting his lower lip until it bled.

"Brother, the three of us can wear clothes we make ourselves and eat the food we earn. Even if life is tough, we can still hold our heads high in front of others. Why do we have to rely on others and live according to their whims?" Gu Shiba Niang took a deep breath.

She remembered a phrase that an old servant from the Shen family had once said, and for some reason, this seemingly ordinary phrase was particularly clear in her mind at this moment.

"It's better to have something of your own than to rely on others..." she murmured.

"Yes!" Gu Hai exclaimed loudly. "Yes, we rely on ourselves! We won't rely on them! We won't beg for their charity!"

"Brother, study hard and achieve something," Gu Shiba Niang said, holding his arm.

"Yes," Gu Hai nodded vigorously, raising his fist. "I will achieve something and earn a title for Mother. Let's see who dares to look down on us and bully us at will!"

With that, he remembered that over the past half year, he had been distracted by family matters and had fallen behind in his studies. There wasn't much time left until next year's imperial examination.

"Sister, I'm going to school," Gu Hai dropped the firewood cutting knife and ran out.

"Brother, I'll wait for you on the mountain behind the school. When you finish school, we'll cut firewood together!" Gu Shiba Niang called out with teary eyes.

Gu Hai waved from a distance and disappeared around the corner. Gu Shiba Niang stood at the door, staring blankly for a while, until the neighbor called out to her, snapping her out of her daze, and she closed the door with a response.

Looking at the simple yet lively courtyard, Gu Shiba Niang clenched her fists. Taking the first step to change their fate and not relying on others to live was far from enough.

She knew that there were no savings left in the family, and her mother had probably borrowed money for her medical treatment. In the future, there would still be the living expenses for the three of them, and her mother alone, as a woman, could not support them by sewing and washing clothes. Moreover, her brother still needed to study...

Money... they needed money to survive.

At this moment, she hated being a daughter, unable to carry heavy loads or provide for the family. She didn't know how to do needlework, and the only experience she had gained over the past ten years was like a rootless floating duckweed, following the orders of her relatives before marriage and her mother-in-law after marriage. Even as the mistress of the medicine shop after the family division, she still followed the orders of those shopkeepers... Besides listening to others, she knew nothing.

Feeling a mix of sadness, resentment, and anxiety, she couldn't help but wonder if she could only watch the same things happen again.

Then, what was the point of being reborn?

Gu Shiba Niang knelt in the courtyard, burying her head in her knees and crying bitterly. Every night, she was tormented by memories of her past life, but she couldn't cry out loud because her mother was sleeping beside her.

She was afraid that her mother and brother would die in front of her again, afraid to hear the name "Jiankang." But thinking that the person was now living in Jiankang, she couldn't help but want to rush over and kill him, kill him...

After crying for a while, she gradually calmed down, and with a deep breath, she looked up at the clear blue sky.

In her past life, she was just an ordinary woman, although she had read many books, she had never seriously thought about the principles in them. But now, thinking about those life experiences and the books she had read, especially the ones her father had earnestly taught her, her mind gradually calmed down.

She couldn't be impatient or anxious. She had to believe that if heaven wanted her to be reborn, it wouldn't be to play a trick on her. Moreover, recalling the past, she, Gu Shiba Niang, also believed that she was not a wicked person who committed crimes. Heaven wouldn't make her endure suffering again for no reason.

She straightened her clothes and knelt under the pomegranate tree in the courtyard, devoutly kowtowing and praying, hoping for the blessings of the gods and Buddha.

Cao Shi hurried back after selling the needlework, intending to cook for Gu Shiba Niang, but she found the meal already prepared on the stove, and the courtyard had been cleaned.

"Mother, please eat. I'll go and take lunch to my brother," Gu Shiba Niang said, picking up a small basket.

Cao Shi couldn't help but shed tears.

When her husband was alive, although their situation at home was not good, they still had enough money to support their son's education and provide him with the cheapest meals at school. So they didn't need to take lunch to him. But since her husband's death, their situation had plummeted, and Gu Hai had been secretly saving money by skipping meals at school. When she found out, she cried, and then she started taking lunch to him.

She had only done it twice. Gu Hai would come back home before noon every day and help her with the chores. She was unable to do everything herself, and she didn't want to let her daughter go, knowing that it would ruin her son's studies. But...

As a mother, she felt deeply guilty.

Now, things were better. Her son asking for lunch meant that he was back to studying normally and had refocused. Her daughter had also taken the initiative to take care of her brother. It was a relief for her.

"Mother, don't worry. I'm fine, and I can do everything at home," Gu Shiba Niang looked up at her mother's increasingly aged face, feeling the same heartache.

"Okay," Cao Shi nodded, giving her daughter an affectionate smile. "Be careful on the way."

She did not express any worry about her daughter's health. Her daughter was so considerate of her, and she also wanted to be considerate of her daughter and share her worries as a mother.

Gu Shiba Niang nodded, slung her basket over her shoulder, and casually picked up the firewood cutting knife. "Mother, I will wait for my brother to finish school and then cut firewood with him. Don't worry."

Cao Shi also thought about her daughter's injury, looking hesitant, but seeing her daughter's determined eyes, she still nodded. "Alright, be careful. You have less strength, just pick up the firewood."

Gu Shiba Niang smiled and responded, then stepped out of the door.

"Hey, Lady Gu..." Mrs. Liu swayed over and saw Cao Shi standing at the door, busy smiling and greeting her. "What do you think about that matter?"

Cao Shi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Mrs. Liu, I'm sorry to trouble you... I won't buy the house for now."

"What?" Mrs. Liu's smile froze on her face.

Hearing this, Gu Shiba Niang turned her head slightly and a faint smile appeared on her lips, but it quickly disappeared. It was not the time to smile yet.