The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

"Who's your father?"

Gu Dahan's face darkened as he looked at Xiaolong.

Although he was forced to acknowledge this son, Gu Dahan still strongly resisted Xiaolong calling him "Dad".

If it weren't for this child, Su Fen wouldn't have become the laughingstock of the whole village.

Villagers passing by Tong Huaqiong's house stopped to peek and watch the drama unfold when they heard Xiaolong call out "Dad".

Although most of the villagers in Qinghewan are illiterate, it doesn't mean they are stupid.

Some clever people saw that although Xiaolong was dressed in plain clothes, he could not hide his dignified bearing and did not believe at all that he was Gu Dahan's illegitimate son.

But they couldn't explain where the child from appeared out of the Gu family.

It wasn't that no one suspected that Xiaolong was the remnant the government soldiers were looking for. Some gossipy young men talked about it behind his back, and when the village chief Liu Tielian found out, he called him over and scolded him.

In addition, the county issued a notice to all villages that the remnants of the rebels had been killed by government troops.

From then on, no one dared to doubt Xiaolong's true identity.

“Dahan, now that Xiaolong has gone home, don’t be so harsh on him,” Tong Huaqiong said.

Gu Dahan listened and his expression softened a bit towards Xiaolong.

Gu Dahan wasn't heartless towards the orphaned child; he just felt that being kind to Xiaolong would be seen as being unkind to Sufen and Man'er by the villagers, and he didn't want his wife and daughter to be criticized in the village.

Xiao Long realized that Gu Dahan's attitude had softened, so he rushed to help Gu Dahan serve the wild jujubes.

Chen Sufeng just came out of the house, and Xiaolong handed her the dates.

Chen Sufeng patted Xiaolong's head and picked up a big, red date, stuffing it into Xiaolong's mouth.

This scene, witnessed by the villagers, evoked sighs of admiration from everyone.

"Su-Fen is really good at enduring."

"It caused quite a stir. Now that the Gu family is doing so well, if it were me, I would also adopt this child like Su Fen. Anyway, the child's mother is gone, so I can raise him as my own."

"Since Su-fen is so magnanimous, Da-han feels even more sorry for her and will treat her even better in the future. Su-fen is not stupid."

The villagers didn't hold back their conversations and started talking about it right in front of Tong Huaqiong's house.

Gu Dahan, unusually stern with the villagers, asked, "Aren't you going home to cook?"

The villagers laughed and dispersed.

"Aunt Tong, the clan chief wants you to come to his house."

The clan chief's grandson, Gu Dahu, came to the Gu family and saw Tong Huaqiong with a pimple face and a forced smile.

In the past, Gu Dahu, relying on being the clan chief's grandson, never gave Tong Huaqiong's family a second glance.

But things are different now. Tong Huaqiong is now the richest woman in Qinghewan, with shops and land, so Gu Dahu naturally doesn't dare to underestimate her.

Tong Huaqiong didn't ask why the clan chief wanted to see her; she washed her hands and went to the clan chief's house.

Most of the Gu family members lived in the north of the village, except for Tong Huaqiong's family, who lived in the former wasteland in the east of the village.

In Tong Huaqiong's memory, Tong Dajiao had a conflict with the old patriarch of the Gu family, who was also the current patriarch's father, as soon as she married into the Gu family.

The reason was that the parents-in-law were biased and allocated two more acres of land to the younger brother-in-law.

Moreover, her brother-in-law was doing business outside the village, so the extra land was allocated to Tong Dajiao and Old Man Gu to cultivate, with the harvest going to her brother-in-law's family. Tong Dajiao was unhappy about this, and Old Man Gu remained silent, so Tong Dajiao had a fight with her parents-in-law that escalated all the way to the clan level.

The clan chief accepted the festival gifts from his younger brother-in-law and favored his younger brother-in-law's family.

Tong Dajiao was so angry that she scolded the clan chief, thus beginning a feud between them.

Later, the position of clan chief passed to his son, who is now the new clan chief. The new clan chief and Tong Dajiao are still at odds.

After Old Man Gu died, Tong Dajiao's family was ostracized by the clan.

If the clan hadn't been so lenient and indifferent, Tong Dajiao wouldn't have been bullied so badly by Granny Yan and the Xu family.

Even after Tong Huaqiong transmigrated, the situation did not improve. Since she opened her shop, the clan leader wanted to reconcile with her, but Tong Huaqiong had no time to pay attention.

This wasn't the first time the clan chief had invited Tong Huaqiong to his home. He had asked people to invite her to the clan meeting several times, but Tong Huaqiong refused each time.

This time, she made it clear to the clan chief that she owed the clan nothing and that he should not involve her in any future clan affairs, and that he should not even think about asking her to contribute money to the clan.

"Great Heat Goddess, you've arrived. Please sit down." The clan chief noticed that Tong Huaqiong's enthusiasm was a bit excessive.

Tong Huaqiong sat down without ceremony, and Gu Dahu's mother even made her a cup of tea.

"What brings you here, clan leader?" Tong Huaqiong asked directly.

The clan chief smiled and said, "Da Han's child who was away has returned. Since you have acknowledged him, our clan will not object. I came to you to discuss choosing an auspicious day to open the ancestral hall for that child to be guided through his life."

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself, "Forget it, they're just pretending to ask me to go through the proper channels. Their real intention is to get me to repair the ancestral hall."

Gu Jingzhe mentioned that after Peach Blossom Dessert opened, the clan chief once stopped Gu Jingzhe on the road and implied that he hoped he would persuade Tong Huaqiong to spend money to repair the Gu family ancestral hall as a scholar, on the grounds that a thriving ancestral hall would be beneficial for Gu Jingzhe's career in officialdom.

No way you can swindle Tong Huaqiong out of her money. What does the Gu family ancestral hall have to do with her?

Let alone the Gu family ancestral hall, she wouldn't even want to spend money to repair Old Man Gu's grave if it weren't for the unsightly appearance caused by a few bad bamboo stalks.

Without even thinking, Tong Huaqiong refused outright: "What do you mean by 'open path' or 'unopen path'? Who can say he's not a child of the Gu family?"

The clan chief thought to himself that Widow Tong was not easy to fool.

It seems impossible to get Tong Dajiao to spend money under the pretext of letting Xiaolong acknowledge his ancestors.

However, the ancestral hall doesn't need to be repaired. Tong Dajiao can cover the schooling for the children in the clan. The important thing is to care for our own descendants.

The clan chief smiled and said, "Although that's true, it's still good to open the ancestral hall and acknowledge our ancestors. This matter can be put on hold for now; it's not too late to formally acknowledge it when Xiaolong is a bit older. Dashu's mother, there's something else I want to discuss with you. I heard you're going to open a private school in the village, which is a good thing. Our ancestral graves are thriving, and now Jingzhe has emerged in our clan. Even the county magistrate praised Jingzhe's scholarship when he came to the village, saying he's destined for officialdom. As the saying goes, 'Father and son fight side by side, brothers fight tigers together.' One Jingzhe isn't enough for our clan; one tree can't support an official, and even then, he won't be able to hold his position securely. Our clan needs more scholars to unite us. I heard you're going to fund a private school in the village, and I invited you here to discuss this with you so that all the children in our clan can go to school. If one or two more Jingzhes emerge from among the scholars, they'll have a helper. As the clan chief, I can't ignore Jingzhe's concerns."

The clan chief's words were eloquent and impeccable.

Tong Huaqiong thought disdainfully, "The clan chief is now spouting such grand principles, but when Tong Dajiao tightened her belt to support Gu Jingzhe's studies, the clan chief pretended not to see it and never showed any concern."

Now you want her to pay for the tuition of the children in the clan? Does she think her money grows on trees?

After he finished speaking, he waited for Tong Huaqiong to reply that she would take care of the children's schooling in the clan.

The clan chief was certain that Tong Huaqiong would agree.

After all, as a daughter-in-law of the Gu family, she would definitely want to be buried in the Gu family ancestral grave with Old Man Gu after her death.

Now that Old Man Gu has been buried with his first wife, although Gu Dahan and Gu Baishuang did not tell him the conditions that forced Tong Dajiao to agree, the clan chief is certain that this is a thorn in Tong Dajiao's heart. Without him as the clan chief to make decisions in the future, she can only be a concubine to accompany Old Man Gu and his first wife.

Could Tong Dajiao accept this? (End of Chapter)