Chapter 145: Complete Separation
In that case, Wang Chunmei shouldn’t blame her for being ruthless.
“Heh… when you first married into this house, did I demand that you surrender your past savings to the communal vault?” Mother Gu asked, her voice dropping to a dangerously quiet register as she shot a glance at Gu Tinghao, who was slumping in his chair in too much pain to speak.
“The very second your third sister-in-law crossed our threshold, she spent her own independent funds to buy gifts for the grandparents, three or four outfits for your father, and a high-grade watch for me that cost one hundred and fifty yuan.
“Let me make this perfectly clear to you,” Mother Gu continued, her eyes narrowing. “Wanyan utilized her own private capital for all of those. As for the formal return-visit gifts we hoarded yesterday, the household ledger only contributed exactly eighty yuan. Every single copper coin beyond that premium split was paid out of your third sister-in-law’s own pocket!”
Wang Chunmei froze, genuinely stunned. She truly hadn’t anticipated that Sheng Wanyan would be this astonishingly wealthy or loose with her cash. She must be completely brainless to throw away such an astronomical sum just to buy favor with her mother-in-law, she thought bitterly. But then again, a common city girl scrambling to anchor her footing in a powerful military lineage was bound to deploy excessive flattery to save face.
“Since you are so determined to audit the family accounting, let me turn the question back on you,” Mother Gu challenged, stepping closer. “You have been married into the Gu family for several years now. Let me ask you: have you ever once purchased a single luxury token to honor me?”
Faced with the direct interrogation, Wang Chunmei’s face turned an unsightly shade of mottled black and white. She swallowed hard, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. “I… I…”
She was completely stripped of ammunition. Aside from putting on a calculated display of sweet attentiveness during her first few months as a bride, had she ever spent a single yuan to care for the Gu elders? More to the point, her initial bridal courtesy hadn’t been a fraction as grand or generous as the wealth Wanyan had displayed on her very first day.
“Have you ever bought me so much as a single thread of clothing?” Mother Gu pressed, her voice echoing in the silent parlor. “Have you ever bought your father a single pair of socks? Have you ever spent your own savings to provide nutritional supplements for the grandparents?”
Mother Gu systematically dismantled her on the spot. Since the fourth branch had initiated this ugly audit, she was more than happy to settle the accounts with them thoroughly.
“Let’s look at the ledger. How many years has Old Fourth been working? Exactly what is his monthly salary tier? If you genuinely want to calculate every single cent mathematically, I am more than happy to re-examine the historical split right now!”
Hearing this, Wang Chunmei instinctively clutched the savings passbook tightly against her chest. She was well aware of the mathematical reality: if Mother Gu legally audited the assets based strictly on individual salary contributions, the fourth branch’s true equity wouldn’t even reach five thousand yuan. Both she and Gu Tinghao were young; her husband had only navigated the government sectors for a few years, and his political rank remained quite low. If Mother Gu executed a precise, retrospective calculation of what they had consumed versus what they had contributed, the fourth branch would likely end up heavily in debt to the main house.
“Never mind… let’s just leave it at that,” Wang Chunmei muttered frantically, shaking her head in a desperate retreat.
Aside from the cash secured in the bankbooks, the bulk of the Gu family’s historical properties and ancestral wealth had long since been voluntarily donated to the state by Old Master Gu. As for the small courtyard residence where the Sheng family was currently staying, that property belonged exclusively to Mother Gu’s private dowry, and she had zero intention of letting it enter the communal division. After her own passing, she fully intended to bypass her children and donate the estate directly to the nation, ensuring no opportunistic relative could ever exploit it.
Mother Gu explicitly outlined the destiny of her private real estate before the entire room, and the three Gu brothers offered immediate, respectful nods of agreement. Only Wang Chunmei tightly pursed her lips, remaining silent as she privately seethed over her mother-in-law’s wasteful patriotism. However, terrified that the matriarch might revoke the equal cash distribution and slash their share, she swallowed her resentment and nodded along. Even if she mounted a protest, she knew Mother Gu would simply run right over her.
“Sign these formal separation deeds, and then you may leave,” Mother Gu commanded, sliding the documents across the table.
The paperwork meticulously outlined the exact financial distribution for each household, alongside the legally binding monthly alimony requirements.
Eldest Brother Gu Tingye and Gu Tingxiao both frowned as they scanned the documents. They truly hadn’t anticipated that the family line would fracture in such a clinical, abrupt manner. They had always assumed the inevitable division would occur during a peaceful, private family council; after all, Mother Gu had previously hinted that she would transition each branch into financial independence once Tingxiao finalized his wedding.
But because of Wang Chunmei’s aggressive ambush, the beautiful milestone had been stained, turning thoroughly ugly.
Tingye’s brow was furrowed so deeply it looked capable of pinching a fly to death. His third brother had barely been married for forty-eight hours when the fourth sister-in-law engineered this hostile circus. It was painfully obvious that the domestic relationship between Wanyan and Wang Chunmei was permanently fractured; they would never lead a life of harmonious peace.
Furthermore… Old Fourth was undoubtedly going to catch a severe beating from Tingxiao the second they stepped out of the elders’ sight.
“Now that the distribution is finalized, clear out,” Mother Gu announced flatly. She distributed one identical copy of the signed separation deed to each of her sons, kept the master ledger for herself, and marched straight upstairs without looking back.
Father Gu leveled a fierce, predatory glare at Gu Tinghao. The young politician instinctively shrank back under his father’s terrifying focus, the sudden movement causing a sharp spike of agony to ripple across his bruised ribs.
“Are you still loitering here?” Father Gu ground out, his voice dangerously low. “Are you waiting for me to personally treat you to another lesson?”
The second the warning shot was fired, the eldest and fourth branches swiftly gathered their paperwork and retreated to their respective quarters, eager to escape the epicenter of the storm.
This left only Sheng Wanyan and Gu Tingxiao remaining in the parlor, facing the simmering rage of the patriarch. Father Gu was thoroughly incensed, but as his eyes landed on the newlyweds—realizing they had only just returned from a joyful family visit only to be instantly dragged into this toxic domestic crossfire—his anger evaporated into a heavy sigh.
“Have you eaten your dinner yet, Wanyan?” he asked, his tone softening completely.
“Yes, Dad, we’ve eaten,” Wanyan answered layout with absolute, quiet obedience.
“Good. That’s good.”
Leaving them with a brief nod, Father Gu turned and headed upstairs to comfort his grieving wife. Grandpa and Grandma Gu let out a synchronized, weary sigh and slowly retreated to their downstairs bedroom as well.
Wanyan and Gu Tingxiao exchanged a quiet look, her fingers lightly tapping the thick savings bankbook clutched in her hand.
“Let’s go up to our room,” he murmured.
Wanyan nodded, following him up the stairs. The moment they stepped into the privacy of the bridal suite, she carefully locked the passbook away inside her wooden trousseau chest. Gu Tingxiao moved silently into the adjacent washroom to draw her bathwater. After they had both washed away the grime and tension of the day, they settled onto the mattress. Wanyan nestled comfortably against his chest, resting her head against the solid muscle of his arm.
“Tingxiao…” she whispered into the dark. “Are you still troubled over the family splitting up?”
Gu Tingxiao looked down at his little wife, catching the faint trace of a frown marring her delicate features. He reached up, his thumb gently smoothing the skin between her brows. “Don’t waste your energy worrying about it, sweetheart. We will simply govern our own household flawlessly. You were merely a convenient excuse for Wang Chunmei to detonate the bomb she’s been building for years.”
Wang Chunmei had been obsessively calculating how to force an early asset division for a long time; Wanyan’s lavish return gifts simply happened to provide the perfect narrative catalyst she needed to launch her coup. Even if the trigger hadn’t been the shopping trip today, she would have manufactured a completely different grievance next week to achieve the exact same result. Ultimately, separating their finances early was a blessing; it allowed him to lead an independent, luxurious life alongside his wife without external auditors monitoring their quality of living. He refused to let Wanyan be subjected to toxic compound scrutiny or domestic bean-counting.
“Mhm… I understand that,” Wanyan murmured, shifting slightly. “But Mom is heartbroken.”
She knew Mother Gu’s spirit had been deeply wounded tonight—not by Wang Chunmei’s predictable greed, but by Gu Tinghao’s silent, complicit cowardice. To allow his wife to stage a hostile ambush during a sacred wedding milestone, completely disregarding the family’s immaculate public reputation and showing zero respect for his biological brother’s honor, was a massive betrayal. The literal second Wanyan married into the compound, the prominent Gu family fractured; if word leaked past the gates, the neighbors would paint the new city bride as an auspicious curse. Yet Tinghao hadn’t spared a single calculation for Wanyan’s social standing. How could Mother Gu not feel thoroughly disheartened by her youngest son’s selfishness?
“Wife, Dad will handle Mom’s spirits,” Gu Tingxiao assured her, his grip tightening around her waist. “My only regret is that you were subjected to such ugliness.”
His precious bride had barely been a member of the household for a few days when she was weaponized as a tool to fracture the family lineage. If Wang Chunmei deliberately began spreading toxic rumors across the compound lanes, Wanyan’s reputation among the elite military wives would be severely compromised before she even had a chance to establish her footing.
He resolved right then and there that he would ensure Gu Tinghao’s life became exceptionally uncomfortable in the coming days. Wang Chunmei was merely a civilian woman who lacked any real institutional power; she couldn’t move a millimeter without her husband’s protection. Did Old Fourth honestly believe his own biological brother wouldn’t find a way to execute discipline against him? It had been far too long since he had properly “guided” his younger brother, and the boy had clearly forgotten his exact place in the hierarchy.
“Wanyan,” Gu Tingxiao murmured, looking down at her with absolute devotion, his eyes burning with the unshakeable determination to spend his entire life shielding her. “I will have to trouble you to govern our small household from this hour forward.”
Wanyan offered a brilliant, blooming smile, thoroughly charmed by his absolute partiality and protective care. “Alright.”
Knowing he was entirely prepared to tip the world in her favor filled her with immense warmth. Mother Gu had treated her with nothing but immaculate kindness, and even with Tingxiao caught in the structural crossfire of the sibling rivalry, the matriarch hadn’t allowed a single drop of neglect to touch her new daughter-in-law. Instead, Mother Gu was actively attempting to compensate for the emotional distance of Tingxiao’s childhood by pouring absolute care into Wanyan. She was a spectacular mother-in-law, and Wanyan had zero desire to see her remain sad. Since the legal division was already locked, Wanyan resolved to double her filial devotion toward the matriarch moving forward, ensuring Mother Gu never felt a single drop of disappointment regarding the third branch.
By the following morning, Mother Gu had completely restored her usual serene, gentle composure, showing zero external traces of the previous night’s domestic warfare.
Aware that today marked the final twenty-four hours the Sheng family would spend in the Capital before their steam transport departed, Mother Gu had proactively secured another formal leave of absence. Alongside Wanyan, she was fully prepared to spend the entire day pampering her in-laws to send them off with maximum honor.
