The next morning, each household was notified to send a representative to the brigade headquarters for a meeting.

The village chief mentioned a house-building project, offering work-for-food opportunities. Volunteers were welcome, and those with building experience were given priority. With the exception of a few lazy folks, everyone agreed and signed up on the spot. They were all idle anyway, so who knew who was hungry?

We picked out about thirty people who were willing to work hard and efficiently, divided them into four groups, and selected four team leaders to be responsible for each group.

The village chief led a team to help several families move. They had already agreed with them last night that they would be relocated to nearby areas.

Grandpa Wu was discussing how to build a strong and durable roof with Guan Dapao, a village master with experience in house construction. Guan Dapao was a bricklayer who had spent his life building houses and was known for his loud voice, hence the nickname "Dapao." The recent disasters had made life difficult, so who would have the energy to build houses? The old man lost his job and had been working in the production team for the past few years, barely surviving.

The old master was so happy to be appointed as the honorary consultant of the Xiangyang Brigade construction team. His face was radiant. The village chief said that the honorary consultant position was not for nothing. It had great power and was even provided with food.

Mr. Guan led groups 2, 3, and 4 to the mountain to cut wood. A large group of people were busy working in an orderly manner.

This small mountain village hasn’t been so full of vitality for a long time, it’s great.

Back to Guan Ping'an's family, the Guan family has never had peace since the family split up.

Why?

The neighbors living nearby all knew that the daughters-in-law were always fighting and quarreling from dawn to dusk, and none of them was willing to give in.

In the morning, they quarreled because one person’s cooking was bad and that person’s cooking was shabby.

We quarreled in the morning because the clothes washed yesterday were not clean.

I was working while you were sleeping in the room. It was noisy.

At noon, there was a quarrel because only one person was cooking in the kitchen and the others did not help.

After finally finishing lunch, we started arguing again because of washing dishes.

In the afternoon, due to the uneven division of labor, there was a quarrel.

Dinner, as usual, noisy.

It seems that all the family harmony and harmonious relationships between sisters-in-law in the past years were an illusion. They showed their pettiness and unwillingness to give in to the fullest, as if this was their true face.

In a word, without the second brother's family taking care of them day and night, they would not be so generous when it was their turn to do the work. There were many conflicts and complaints. They really deserved it!

Guan Ping'an and his wife lay on the kang, talking about what had happened at home in the past few days.

"It's been three days since the separation, and the house has been in chaos all day. The daughters-in-law have been arguing for the last few years. It doesn't feel like home anymore. If I knew that damned brat would be so chaotic if we separated them, I would never agree to the separation no matter what I said!"

"If you don't agree, I'll go to the commune and file a complaint and have you arrested. How can I not agree? Damn wolf cub, I raised you for thirty years in vain. A wolf is a wolf, without a conscience at all."

"This family can't continue to quarrel like this"

"Who said it wasn't? Tomorrow, call your wives over and give them a good beating. Send any disobedient ones back to their parents' homes. Cut off their pocket money and tell them that if they don't behave, they won't be responsible for their children's tuition. Let's see if they dare to make trouble again!"

At that time, primary school tuition was 80 cents a year, and all the boys in the Guan family went to school, regardless of their potential, and Guan Ping'an paid all the tuition. Mrs. Guan also secretly gave pocket money to the other wives. In short, with the exception of the second wife, everyone else lived a very comfortable life.

"Alright, time to give it a good beating. Do you know where that damn ungrateful bastard died?"

"He said he went to Lao Wu's place and stayed at his house. The eldest brother went to the team meeting this morning and came back to say that he and the village chief were busy renovating the roofs of the lonely elderly people in the village!"

Old Lady Guan gnashed her teeth and said, "Tsk, what a fool! He doesn't even have a house of his own, yet he's busy building houses for others."

“Who says it’s not?”