Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

"Dad, why did she fake being sick to trick you into coming back?"

Gu Niannian's voice was not loud, but clear and crisp, yet it was like a small hammer, striking hard into the hearts of everyone in the room.

The atmosphere in the room instantly became heavy.

Sun Xiufen's face turned pale and then red. She wanted to curse, but those clear, bright eyes made her speechless.

Gu Yanchun dropped the tobacco pipe from his hand to the ground.

Wang Guifang, lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), was like a witch whose magic trick had been exposed. She suddenly coughed, her old face turning bright red.

Gu Yanqiu's heart sank.

He crouched down, pulled his daughter aside, and whispered, "Niannian, don't talk nonsense, Grandma is sick."

"She didn't."

Gu Niannian shook her head, her little face full of seriousness.

"Her breathing was heavy but steady. She was very strong when she scolded your aunt. When you came in, her eyes were constantly glancing at you. She's not dying; she just wants you to come back."

Gu Yanqiu was shocked.

He looked into his daughter's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, and for a moment, he was speechless.

He knew his daughter was right.

This is just a selfish, meticulously planned scam.

That night, back in his small, dilapidated room, Gu Yanqiu didn't sleep a wink.

Under the oil lamp, Gu Niannian sat quietly opposite him, holding the Xinhua Dictionary.

"Dad, Grandma is sick. You should go see her. I won't stop you."

After a long while, Gu Niannian spoke first.

"Because she's your mother."

Gu Yanqiu looked up at her daughter in surprise.

Gu Niannian's face looked particularly serious under the light.

"But I don't call her. I don't go to see her either."

"She once tried to sell me to arrange a ghost marriage. I will never forget this."

Gu Yanqiu's heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by a large hand, the pain making it hard to breathe.

Yes.

He could use the concept of "filial piety" to be ambiguous, to endure, and to fulfill what a son considers his "duty."

But what about reciting it?

Why should a child who was almost sold off and thrown into a pit of fire by his own grandmother be greeted with a smile?

Why should she forget the deep-seated fear and betrayal?

He remained silent for a very long time.

Finally, he stretched out his calloused hand, gently placed it on his daughter's head, and nodded emphatically.

"Okay, Dad understands."

"Dad won't force you. If you don't want to call him, then you don't have to."

His voice was a little hoarse, but unusually firm.

"But... Father still has to fulfill his filial duties."

He looked at his daughter and explained, word by word, "It's not for her, nor is it for others to praise me. It's for my own heart."

"It's for your mother. If she were still alive, she would have done the same."

"It's for myself, so that when I'm old, I can sleep peacefully in the middle of the night."

Looking at the pain and struggle in her father's eyes, Gu Niannian understood.

Fathers have their own shackles, a mark of this era etched into the bones of every son.

She thought for a moment and nodded.

"it is good."

One word represented her acceptance.

Her bottom line is: she can let her father fulfill his filial duties, but she will not accept any form of moral blackmail; she can maintain a dignified distance, but she will never pretend to be close.

A five-and-a-half-year-old child has clearer principles than most adults in the world.

With the medicine and money sent by Gu Yanqiu, Wang Guifang's illness gradually improved.

She can get out of bed now and walk around the yard with crutches.

Gu Yandong brought her some snacks when he returned from the commune. While eating, Wang Guifang casually probed:

"Yan Dong, do you think... Niannian, that child, still holds a grudge against me?"

Gu Yandong was an honest man who couldn't keep secrets, so he told Wang Guifang everything that Gu Niannian had said that day.

The smile on Wang Guifang's face gradually froze.

When she heard, "She tried to sell me, and I'll never forget that," the pastry in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud."

An indescribable sense of humiliation and anger surged to the top of her head in an instant!

She doesn't think it's her fault!

She did it for this family! To pay off her grandson's gambling debts! (This should be to pay off her eldest son Song Jianguo's gambling debts, which, according to the previous text, should be a matter for the maternal grandmother's family, but here it refers to the paternal grandmother. Perhaps the paternal grandmother had a similar situation, or it might be a typo by the author. I interpret it according to the context as the paternal grandmother's justification for selling her granddaughter.)

She did it all for the sake of continuing the family line!

That brat, that good-for-nothing, what right does she have to hold a grudge against me?

I am her grandmother!

The person who gave her father his life!

She's already being kind by not kneeling down and begging for forgiveness; how dare she hold a grudge?

Wang Guifang grew angrier and more aggrieved the more she thought about it, and in front of her youngest son, she burst into tears.

But there was not a trace of remorse in those tears; they were only filled with anger and embarrassment at having one's thoughts exposed!

"This is outrageous! This is absolutely outrageous!"

She rubbed her eyes hard with her sleeve, her voice sharp and sarcastic.

"I'm her grandmother! Why doesn't she acknowledge me?!"

"I gave birth to her! Every bite she eats is thanks to me! Now that she's all grown up, she doesn't recognize her ancestors?"

"Fine! Fine, Gu Niannian! Fine, Gu Yanqiu! I'll see just how tough you really are!"

Gu Yandong looked at his mother's face, which was contorted with anger, and was too frightened to speak.

He knew that his mother's "reflection" was not genuine at all.

An even bigger storm is brewing.

He had a vague feeling that this family might never be able to go back to the way it was.

Future family conflicts will take on even more complex and embarrassing forms.

What will ignite all of this?

Could it be money? Or that pitiful kinship being used as a weapon?