To prevent the Chen family from finding out, Yu Hanshan and Li Xiu'e agreed to meet in the town the next day. He would find a matchmaker to write a document to establish a concubine, and the two would then go to the government to keep it.

"In theory, the money and land should be divided equally, but the third branch has moved out and now has no place to live, so we need to buy them a yard." Yu Ruhai cleared his throat and continued, "Big brother, second brother, both of you still live in this yard. We are dividing the family but not living separately. Your mother and I will be taken care of by your two branches in the future. Do you have any objection to this?"

Being filial to one's elders is what a son should do. Yu Qiaoshan and Yu Mengshan both shook their heads.

Yu Ruhai knew that neither of his two sons were the type to be competitive or petty, which was why he felt at ease dividing the family business.

Yu Ruhai took a sip of tea and looked at Yu Hanshan. "If time wasn't tight, we should have built a yard for the third house. This would have cost less, but the Chen family won't wait. I thought about it. After your eldest grandfather Yu passed away, his son's family moved to the town, and the yard at home has been abandoned. Tomorrow, I'll ask your third grandfather Yu to come forward and see if we can convince him to buy his house for the third son's family to live in. The money will be paid by the public treasury, so it won't be counted in the family property to be divided."

"Okay." Yu Qiaoshan and Yu Mengshan both nodded, without any objections.

Zhang was somewhat dissatisfied. Since they had agreed to divide the family, their first and second wives had no yards, but the third wife was given housing by using the public funds. This meant that both their first and second wives were at a disadvantage.

Thinking that the third wife was kicked out of the house, which was a bit miserable, she held back and kept silent.

Yu Ruhai opened the box containing the money and took out the family's land deeds. "The year when Fifth Brother won the Third Prize, our family bought five acres of land. In total, we have about thirty acres of land. The two plots in the north belong to the eldest brother."

He put the land on the table, looked at Yu Mengshan and said, "There are only eight acres of land in the south. The second branch has the smallest population in the family. Fuling will get married after the New Year. Unlike the first and third branches, they both have two brothers and naturally have more food. You will suffer a loss, the second brother. This land belongs to you."

Yu Mengshan nodded. The second branch had a small population and if they took good care of the eight acres of land, they would have enough food to eat. Besides, although he could walk, he was not as hard at work as before, and there was too much land to take good care of.

"The ten acres of land to the west of the back mountain belong to the third brother." Yu Ruhai still felt sorry for the third brother, so he gave Yu Hanshan the most fertile land.

Yu Hanshan knew he had taken advantage, so he didn't say anything. Li Xiu'e still had a few acres of land, and together their three families had more than ten acres of land, so it was no problem to support the whole family.

"The two acres of vegetable land behind the house will not be divided. Your mother and I will need the eldest and second sons to take care of us in the future, so these two acres of vegetable land will be reserved for the first and second sons to grow vegetables for their daily consumption."

Yu Ruhai placed the three land deeds on the table clearly so that they could be seen at a glance.

"The land is now divided up." He poured out all the silver in the box. "I have counted it and it is a total of 167 taels of silver. The remaining eight cents is not included."

Although Yu Ruhai usually kept the family's money, he did not hide anything when it came to dividing the family property among his three sons.

"Here are one hundred and fifty taels of silver given to my fifth brother by the county magistrate and the gentry after he passed the imperial examination. He will go to Beijing to take the imperial examination next year, and he will have to spend money then. These sixty-seven taels of silver will be divided among the second wife. Don't complain, eldest and third wife." This was the decision Yu Ruhai made after careful consideration. The first and second wives didn't have any need for the money at the moment, and the most important thing for my fifth brother was the imperial examination, so he would inevitably give more money to the second wife.

The couple in the first wife had no objections. They knew clearly that the money was earned by the fifth brother through success in the imperial examination. It would be good if they could get some of it, but they shouldn't be unhappy if they didn't.

What's more, they still owe the second wife a lot of favors and money.

Yu Hanshan coveted the money, but since his father had given the second branch two acres less land, he couldn't just say anything to complain.

"The remaining one hundred taels will be used to buy a yard for Hanshan tomorrow, and the rest will be divided equally among the first and second houses." Yu Ruhai drank some tea to moisten his throat before continuing, "This yard will be shared by both of you, the eldest and second sons. When your mother and I die, whoever of you wants to move out and start his own business will have to pay half of the money to buy this yard. Do you have any objections, eldest and second sons?"

Yu Qiaoshan and Yu Mengshan looked at each other, smiled and shook their heads.

After dividing these things, Yu Ruhai looked lonely and seemed to have aged a lot. He felt indescribable in his heart and felt very uncomfortable. After the division of the family, the Yu family was no longer complete.

"Since you all have no objections, let's invite Master Yu San over tomorrow and divide it up like this then." Yu Ruhai put the silver and the land deeds back into the box and stood up, his body more hunched than before, "Let's all go to bed early."

That night, the Yu family members did not sleep well.

The next morning, a drizzle began to fall. The tiny yellow petals on the osmanthus tree outside the yard had withered and turned white. They were blown to the ground by the wind and then washed away by the rain and buried in the soil.

Yu Ruhai seemed not to have slept well either, his wrinkled face looked very tired. He leaned on a branch and went to invite Master Yu San in the drizzle.

Master Yu San and Yu Ruhai’s father were brothers, but they were not very close in their generation. They did not have much contact in daily life, and their family tree had been separated for a long time.

But after all, he is related by blood to his ancestors, which makes him much better than others. That is why Yu Ruhai asked him to be a witness.

When the elderly Third Master Yu heard that Yu Ruhai wanted to divide the family, he tried to persuade him for a long time. Yu Ruhai did not hide anything and told him everything, including Yu Hanshan's affair with the young widow and the Chen family's blackmail against him.

After hearing this, Master Yu San sighed. Every family has troublesome descendants. Yu Ruhai was decisive and able to let go of his decision to sever the father-son relationship with the third branch.

"I have the final say over your uncle's yard. His family has wanted to sell the yard for a long time and has always asked me to take care of it. Few people in the village buy the yard, so it has been left there idle." Master Yu San said directly when he heard Yu Ruhai say he wanted to buy the yard.

Yu Ruhai was delighted. "That's great. Uncle San, how much money do you think is appropriate? The third brother is in a hurry to move in."

"Don't rush to give the money yet. Let your third son move in first." Yu San Taiye said, "I'll ask Dachun to send a message to Hai Ge'er from your uncle's family, asking him to go back to the village to sign the land deed. It's not from outside, so he shouldn't need much money."

"You have to do this secretly with the Chen family. Since it is urgent, let's go quickly and go to your home first." The old man stood up tremblingly, and Yu Ruhai hurried to support him.

With Master Yu San as a witness, Yu Ruhai divided the land among the three wives according to yesterday's plan, and temporarily gave the money only to the second wife. He also personally wrote a letter of severance with the third wife, and Master Yu San signed his name as a witness.

After sending Yu San Taiye away, Yu Ruhai gave the severance letter to Yu Hanshan, took the household deed himself, asked Yu Qiaoshan to drive the carriage, and took Yu Hanshan to the city to exchange the household deed.

Since the relationship has been severed, the household registration must be separated, so that the Chen family will not catch us.