When the servants discovered that the eldest Gong was dead, they let out a scream and ran to the front hall to report the news.
Chaos broke out in the front hall.
The old master, who had been given an overdose of blood pressure medication and was already feeling unwell in the noisy environment, heard the news of his son’s death. In a fit of agitation, he died on the spot.
“And yet, whether it was the entire Gong household or the villagers of Fenshan Village, not a single person suspected Gong Er.”
“Why is that?”
Gong Ze let out a low, pleased laugh. “Because that day was exactly the day the Taoist priest had said would be the eldest Gong’s date of death.”
The system: …
Gong Ze’s voice lilted with a light, cheerful tone at the end. “Even though he died, people would just say the Taoist priest’s calculation was correct. They’d say the wedding ritual to ward off evil didn’t work. They’d say the King of Hell calls you at the third watch, and you won’t last until the fifth. Mm~ What a wonderful plan.”
“He must have hated the eldest Gong very, very deeply. The eldest Gong was stupid and had bullied him since childhood. He was the second person Gong Ze hated the most, so he let him rot in bed, suffering, and then took the risk of killing him himself. That was revenge for his childhood.”
“Old Master Gong—he didn’t hate him that much. He was actually the person in the household that the original host hated the least, ranking dead last.”
“When the original host was young, he and his mother were tormented by the old lady and the eldest Gong. Countless times, he hoped his father would step in to protect him and his mother—but the old master never did.”
“He disappointed him…”
“But later, the old master sent him away to get an education to protect him, giving him access to a better world.”
“So he chose a ‘peaceful’ and dignified way to gently send the old master to his death.”
Gong Ze gave an objective assessment.
The system got goosebumps all over from this so-called gentleness.
[Damn, that’s so twisted!]
Without Gong Ze’s explanation, the system never would have imagined that the seemingly unrelated Gong Er had done so many things, quietly taking out one person after another.
And everyone thought it was just an accident.
Still, Gong Ze kind of liked this original host. At least he was smart, and his mind was ruthless and meticulous enough.
“If I’m guessing correctly, the old lady is the person the original host hates the most. He made her lose her husband and her son, but he didn’t kill her immediately—because he wants to torment her slowly.”
“That hatred runs deep. All the misfortunes of his childhood and his mother’s death were because of her.”
“If he doesn’t kill her, it will be hard for the original host to feel satisfied. But if he does kill her, he won’t be able to achieve the goal of ‘refusing to kill again, but completing the original host’s revenge.’”
Gong Ze said.
The system also saw the difficulty.
[What do we do?]
“Easy. If it’s hard to be a dutiful son, it’s not hard to be an unfilial one.”
The system was eager to learn—or rather, its gossip-hungry heart was burning with curiosity: [Please elaborate!]
But Gong Ze closed his eyes, placed his hands on his lower abdomen, and said peacefully, “I’m going to sleep. Good night. Bye-bye.”
The system: …
The system went crazy: Arghhh! You beast, you got me all worked up and then stopped talking! You mother—Riddler, get out of Gotham!!!
…
The next morning, Shui Sheng brought hot water. Gong Ze washed his face, changed his clothes, and went to the back hall for breakfast.
Realizing that even if he had Shui Sheng deliver food to Lu Youling, the old lady would still cause trouble, and also recognizing that his mission involved the old lady, he changed his strategy.
A table was set in the back hall. The old lady, Gong Ze, and Lu Youling sat at the same table.
On the table were soft mixed-flour buns made from fine flour and cornmeal, a small plate of peanuts, a tiny dish of scrambled eggs with leeks (the eggs barely visible), and some plain white tofu. There were also two boiled eggs.
One egg was for the old lady, one for Gong Ze.
If it weren’t for the fact that Gong Ze was now the only male left in the household, the old lady—no matter how much she resented and hated him—would have had to painfully part with an egg. On ordinary days when Gong Ze came back, he probably wouldn’t even get that one egg.
By the standards of this era, this meal was already a hundred times better than what many poor farmers ate. Many peasants were still eating potatoes three times a day, coarse grains three times a day—and even the coarse grains were mixed with chaff or wild vegetables, rationed carefully just to survive the winter.
But for a wealthy household like the Gong family, this was practically a joke.
Gong Ze understood perfectly well that the old lady was doing it on purpose.
An old woman who had never left her village her entire life, petty and narrow-minded—this was how she liked to express her displeasure.
If anyone so much as reached for food, she would stare at them with harsh, contemptuous eyes.
Until they withdrew their hand and lowered their head, feeling as though eating were a grave sin—every bite filled with shame and guilt. Only then would her heart feel a little better.
Gong Ze glanced at the large bowl in front of the old lady.
She was eating a bowl of Yangchun noodles made with lard. The golden-brown, clear soup shimmered with an oily sheen, and beneath it were noodles rolled from pure white flour, topped with pickled vegetables and a soft-boiled egg.
Add the boiled egg on the table—she was having two.
It was a display of her status. She was the most important and honored person in the household. That was why her meal was different from theirs.
Lu Youling sat nervously on the round stool, not daring to reach for the buns.
He kept his head down, afraid to meet the old lady’s gaze. Having to live on someone else’s charity was unbearable for anyone.
Self-reproach. The feeling that he was a burden. Guilt…
Rather than face such looks, Lu Youling would rather go hungry and skip a meal than suffer under that immense pressure, unable to swallow a single bite.
In Gong Ze’s view, Lu Youling had already done a lot of work in the Gong household. By the labor he’d performed, he owed no one for the food he ate.
What’s more, he had been tricked by the steward into coming here and almost marrying a dead man. If anything, the Gong family owed him.
Lu Youling, coming from the future, had a thin skin. But Gong Ze’s face could withstand a nuclear strike.
Once Gong Ze sat down, under the old lady’s watchful gaze, he unhesitatingly picked up the only two eggs on the table.
Under her suddenly sharpening stare, he pretended not to notice and said, “Why is the food so terrible today? Has the household fallen on such hard times?”
The old lady sneered, “Heh. This household has always been frugal. Not like you—spending so much money every year on your studies outside.”
She had been furious back when she learned that her most hated stepson was going to spend so much money on an education. She’d kept that grudge in her heart all these years, and it still made her angry just thinking about it.
She said sarcastically, “This household isn’t like you, living it up in some foreign place, eating at restaurants every day in such luxury.”
“There are only two eggs on the table, and you’ve taken them both! You have no filial piety at all!”
“Do you even have any respect for your stepmother?!”
Gong Ze glanced at the table in feigned surprise. “Stepmother, don’t you already have one in your bowl? Aren’t the remaining two supposed to be for me and Miss Lu? Stepmother, you’re eating two eggs yourself?”
His puzzled look seemed as if he truly didn’t understand the underlying politics. It made the old lady’s wrinkled face flush red and tremble with anger.
Gong Ze ignored her. “Stepmother, it’s not that I’m unfilial, but you’re getting on in years. Eating so much won’t digest well. You should eat less from now on. A whole big bowl of Yangchun noodles with an egg on top—can you even walk after finishing all that?”
As he spoke, he gently tapped an egg on the table, cracking the shell. He quickly peeled it, then placed the smooth white egg into Lu Youling’s bowl.
Leave a Reply