Listening to how resolute his son was, Gu Qiao felt mixed emotions. He was also filled with hope and excitement when his sone was born. He had loved his smart and loving son for 7 years.
When his son was young, they were very close. He loved to run up and threw his arms around his leg and called him “Daddy” in a soft voice; he loved to run up to him as he walked in the door and have him lifted him high up into the air; he loved to be around him and massaged his back and legs…
Since when had they grown so far apart? It was after he had moved back to Qingshan Village. He fought a lot with his late wife and his temper was short. The loving way his son had looked at him was replaced with fear. They had truly grown apart after he had married the current Mrs. Gu. Mrs. Gu would beat the kids behind his back, barely fed them any food. He was aware of all that was going on but what had he done? Nothing. He pretended that he wasn’t aware of them.
Then, he didn’t stop Mrs. Gu from tossing away Gu Ye. He was one of the culprit when they tried to sell Gu Ye in town… and his son looked at him more and more like he was looking at a stranger. He had pushed his son further and further away from him…
Mrs. Gu didn’t care about all that. She wasn’t going to get her 200 taels of silver today, but five taels of silver is better than one! She took a step forward and snatched the silver out of Gu Ming’s hand before she tugged at her man to take off.
But she was stopped by the old Patriarch, “Hang on! Since you have accepted the money, you have accepted the terms that you have sold all ties and relationships with the two children. As much, let’s sign a tie-severing documentation today. The village head and I will be the witnesses.”
The Patriarch had Li Hao went and fetch Third Gu, the most cultured person in the village and have him drafted up the tie-severing documentation. It was to say that Gu Qiao and Mrs. Gu, his wife, had accepted five taels of silver from Gu Xiao and were to sever all ties with Gu Ming and Gu Ye. From this point forward, they were no longer related. Any breach to this document would mean being banished from the clan and exiled from the village.
There were three copies of the documents. Both parties signed and pressed their hand prints on them. The old patriarch and the village head also signed their names as witnesses. Each party retained one copy of the document and the last one would be retained by the old patriarch.
Gu Qiao was in a daze when he walked out of Fifth Uncle’s house, the document in hand. From this point forward, his son would have nothing else to do with him. He had sold his son along with any last shred of relationships for five taels of silver.
“Well, that was a bummer! I thought we would be able to score a big one this time, not just this much!” Griped Mrs. Gu as soon as she walked inside the door, “Tsk, that Mrs. Wu, she should have gotten her facts straight. She told me about 160 taels of silver, but they all belonged to Old Sacred Doctor and had nothing to do with that little fart! And you! Why didn’t you chime in? You are his father. If you had chimed in, we might have been able to get more…”
Before she was done talking, she was slapped across her face. She was stunned from the slapping. Baffled, she asked Gu Qiao, “Why did you slap me? Had I said something wrong?”
“Of course I’d slap you! This was all your bad ideas… Are you happy now? I’ve lost my son. He had nothing to do with me anymore. That’s what you’ve wanted, right? I am going to kill you, you bearer of bad luck. All you ever think about was money, money, money! Why don’t you sell your son for meat, huh?” Gu Qiao’s eyes were red and his look vicious. He rained punches and kicks all over Mrs. Gu, which made her bawled.