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

Chapter 399 An Ancient Version of a Deadbeat
Gu Youtian had been doing business in the prosperous commercial port area of ​​the south since he was young.

Business is small; there's a small shop.

When Gu Ruinian was ten years old, Gu Youtian earned some money and brought his family from Qinghewan.

After arriving in the south, Gu Ruinian suffered from a high fever due to the change in environment. He was on the verge of dying from the fever when he suddenly recovered.

After recovering, Gu Ruinian changed his personality, becoming calm and intelligent. Moreover, he became a self-taught scholar and passed the imperial examination on his first try. He instantly became the most promising junior in the eyes of his grandparents and the second branch of the family, and the most influential person in the entire family.

Gu Ruinian looked down on the people of this era, believing them to be ignorant, foolish, and narrow-minded.

He felt that Gu Youtian's shop was too small and didn't make enough money, so he persuaded Gu Youtian to invest in the escort agency business.

Ancient escort agencies are essentially modern finance. Gu Ruihou studied this at a top 5 university. With his modern knowledge of financial hedging, he can definitely outmaneuver these ancient people, and making money will be a piece of cake for him.

In his plan, he would accumulate his first pot of gold by relying on the escort agency, and then become a figure like Fan Li, with one hand on business and the other on the court, possessing millions in wealth and controlling the power in the court, and opening a harem to take beautiful wives and concubines.

From then on, they lived the life of the elite, which was incredibly enjoyable.

He was lucky to have traveled to this world this time; he didn't have to send out resumes everywhere to find a job like he did in his later years.

Given that Gu Ruinian passed the imperial examination and his suggestion made his shop different from others and earned him some money, Gu Youtian listened to him and mortgaged the shop to borrow a large sum of money. He also took the coffin boards that Gu's grandparents had saved up and threw them all into the escort agency.

However, the plot did not follow Gu Ruinian's plan. In less than half a year, Gu Youtian lost all his underwear.

The maids and servants in the house were dismissed, the house they had acquired was sold, and all of Jia Shi and Old Madam Gu's jewelry was pawned, leaving them with a debt. Not only that, Gu Youtian also lost his promise in the south.

In other words, it's the ancient version of a deadbeat.

Gu Youtian had no chance to turn the tables, which angered him so much that he beat Gu Ruinian severely and hadn't given him a kind look in the past six months.

At Jia's tearful pleas, Gu Ruinian suggested keeping the matter a secret from the Gu family elders.

However, she couldn't hide it from her eldest son and daughter-in-law, who now harbor considerable resentment towards her second son.

Gu Ruinian gritted his teeth and said, "Mother, I know, I don't blame Father. Father will understand later that this was just bad luck, not that my initial thoughts were wrong."

When he first arrived in this world, he didn't fully understand its rules. His investment failure wasn't due to his incompetence, but rather bad luck.

Gu Youtian, this cheap father, is far too profit-driven. He was so happy when Gu Youtian passed the imperial examination and brought him honor that he took him everywhere. But when Gu Youtian's investment failed, Gu Youtian ignored him.

Isn't doing business all about making and losing money?
Gu Youtian doesn't even understand this principle.

Gu Ruinian harbored resentment and secretly resolved to find an opportunity to make a lot of money, enter the imperial court through the imperial examination, and one day, when he stood in a high position, he would never acknowledge this cheap father.

Madam Jia nodded, touched Gu Ruinian's quilt, and said, "Mother knows you're right. You're smarter than Jingzhe, how could you be wrong? You've suffered these past few days since you came home. It's been cold these past few days, and your quilt is a bit thin. Mother feels sorry for you. Tomorrow I'll go to the clan chief to borrow a few pounds of cotton to sew you a new quilt."

Gu Ruinian originally didn't want to borrow cotton from the clan chief; he wanted the clan chief to bring it to him on his own initiative.

But the recent cold snap was too severe, and there were no electric blankets or anything like that in this day and age, so he couldn't care less.

If Mother is willing to borrow, then so be it.

Madam Jia continued to complain, "Your aunt is really something. I heard from Honglian that her room is new and spacious, and she's still burning charcoal even though it's spring. She enjoys herself without caring about the well-being of our whole family. She has no human touch at all. And your grandmother is biased too. You are her most successful grandson, but she favors Honglian, this good-for-nothing, and she even spread the quilt that your aunt gave her on Honglian's bed."

Gu Ruinian smiled faintly and said, "Mother, these are all trivial matters, we don't need to worry about them. In the end, it's because our family has fallen on hard times that Auntie looks down on us. Once we rise again, she won't stop trying to curry favor with us."

Madam Jia's brows relaxed, and she said, "That's exactly the point, so you must make your mother proud." "Mother, I understand. You should rest early; I'm going to read now."

Gu Ruinian was a little annoyed.

Make your mother proud, make your mother proud.

What have you, as my mother, ever provided for me?
They have no money, no platform, and now they've been reduced to living in a dilapidated farmhouse in Qinghewan.

If Jia had a powerful maternal family, or if Gu Youtian were a prince or minister, he would have stood on a high platform and with a high starting point, and would he have needed to struggle to find ways to make money or take the imperial examination route?

Upon hearing that her son wanted to read, Madam Jia dared not disturb him any longer and left with a look of satisfaction.

Gu Ruinian was left alone in the room. He didn't read the book; instead, he turned over and lay down on the bed in the flickering light of the oil lamp.

so boring.

In the bustling south, he could still go out for a stroll and flirt with the women in brothels.

Now he can only lie on his cramped bed in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, lost in thought.

If he could hook up with a daughter of an official or a wealthy family, he wouldn't mind becoming her son-in-law.

Faint breathing sounds came from next door.

Gu Ruinian grimaced as he listened.

Could his older brother and sister-in-law be a little more mindful of the impact they have?

Don't you know the house isn't well soundproofed?

It's all because the house is too small, and the whole family is crammed together. Because he needs a quiet environment to study, a cabinet was used to partition off a separate space for him in Gu Fengnian and Wei's room.

Even so, my sister-in-law was still unhappy.

“You see, Grandma only favors your youngest aunt, and your mother favors the second son. There’s no place for us to even set foot in this house. You’re the eldest son, with a family to support, yet you live worse than your eldest son, Gu Dahan, and his wife.” Wei said, lying in Gu Fengnian’s arms. “You should have listened to me and not come back.”

Gu Fengnian said, "What can I do? I'm the eldest son."

Wei got angry and said, "You, as the eldest son, didn't get any advantage. Which family doesn't value the eldest son? Only your family values ​​the youngest son. Gu Ruinian is just a student who has passed the imperial examination, but your parents have pampered him to the skies. He does nothing all day but spends money, squandering the entire family's wealth without showing any remorse."

The thought of how her dowry had been completely wiped out by Gu Ruinian's escort agency business made Wei's chest ache with anger.

Gu Ruinian wanted to jump up and argue with his sister-in-law after hearing this, but what did a woman know?

Gu Fengnian was equally dissatisfied with Gu Ruinian, but thinking that brothers were more important than wives, he defended Gu Ruinian in front of Wei Shi, saying, "Second brother is good at studying and is the hope of our family. He will lead our family to change its status in the future. You saw my aunt and her whole family today. If it weren't for second brother's support, my aunt would have been able to trample us into the mud by relying on Gu Jingzhe. When second brother graduates, our Yao family will also have a strong backer."

Gu Ruinian's expression softened slightly. This older brother was indeed sensible. Once he succeeded, he would definitely make his older brother divorce his sister-in-law and find him a beautiful new wife and concubine.

“I really don’t want to live like this in the countryside anymore. Why don’t you come back to the south with me? My parents are there. We can borrow money to find a shop and start a business. Wouldn’t that be better than staying here?” Wei was determined to go back.

Gu Fengnian got angry upon hearing this and retorted, "Don't bring this up again. Do you want people to laugh at me for marrying into the family?"

Wei began to sob.

Gu Ruinian was annoyed by what he heard and wished he could slap Wei Shi on behalf of his elder brother.