The so-called "five yellow fish" meant five gold bars. Gold had never lost its value since ancient times. If one asked what was the most secure thing in the world, it was truly only gold.
Zhu Enfu’s expression changed too. "Aunt Qiao, did Shun Yao’s biological mother really say she gave five gold bars to the Guifu family?"
"Yes. Wait, I remember. To prevent her son from being bullied, Shun Yao’s mother specifically had Xiang Yao’s parents write a receipt and press their fingerprints on it. She gave it to me for safekeeping.
It has been so long that I forgot. Yesterday, when Xiang Yao mentioned it, I remembered. I found it yesterday. Wait a moment."
Aunt Qiao walked hurriedly into the house on her small feet. Soon, she came out holding a box. Zhu Shun Yao stepped forward to help Aunt Qiao. She handed the box to Shun Yao. "The receipt is in this box. I hid it for so many years. If no one mentioned it, I would have forgotten. I found it in the bottom chest yesterday."
Zhu Shun Yao opened the palm-sized box. It originally held jewelry. Inside was a receipt. It roughly stated that Yun Xian Niang gave five gold bars as fees for Zhu Guifu and Zhu Gan Shi to care for and raise her son, Zhu Shun Yao. There was a date, along with the signatures and fingerprints of Zhu Guifu and Gan Juhua.
Zhu Shun Yao showed the receipt to Zhu Enfu. Zhu Enfu’s eyes widened in shock. He glared at Zhu Guifu. "Guifu, you said you had no money for Shun Yao’s schooling. So where did the gold bars from his biological mother go? Huh? Hand them all over. Since you didn’t use them for Shun Yao, return them to him."
"There are no gold bars left. They are gone long ago," Gan Juhua muttered directly. Seeing Zhu Enfu’s angry face, she explained, "During those turbulent years, we ran out of grain and exchanged one. Later, we couldn’t start a fire, so we exchanged another to build a house. Jin Gui and Yin Gui got married, and each used one. The last one, Xiang Yao took to the army to buy gifts for her superiors."
"You bastards!" Zhu Enfu threw her cane directly at them. "You took the money from her biological mother, didn’t raise her son, but raised a pack of ungrateful wolves. You even abused her biological son. You are good. How did our Zhu family produce such a branch—disloyal, unjust, unkind, and shameless? Chan Yao, open the ancestral hall. I will expel this branch. From now on, they are no longer descendants of our Zhu family."
Zhu Guifu could not sit still anymore. He hurriedly stood up, rushed to Zhu Enfu, and knelt down. "Brother, Brother, we were wrong. Please have pity on us old couple. Our son has already been sent away. There is likely no hope for him in this life. You cannot leave us without roots."
If not expelled from the clan, even if one died without a son, clan members would still offer sacrifices. But once expelled, even that would be lost. How could Zhu Guifu not be anxious? He could only beg Zhu Enfu for mercy.
"You have the face to say this? If you have the face to say this, why did you abuse Shun Yao’s family back then? Huh?" Zhu Enfu was angry, but they were still his cousins. Seeing them so pitiful, he felt both amused and sorry for them.
However, it was not up to him to decide whether to expel them or not. Unless Zhu Shun Yao spoke up for them, what he said must be executed. In fact, what Zhu Guifu and his family had done was indeed known to Zhu Enfu. Keeping them around would likely only bring more trouble.