Zhou Bingxing hurriedly covered Ding Xiaocui's mouth and said, "Don't talk nonsense. If you make Dad angry and he doesn't give us any of the family property, you won't even have a place to cry then."

“Your family has been poor farmers for three generations, dirt poor. What property could your father possibly have? This house is the most valuable thing, but unfortunately you don’t like your parents, so you only got one room.” Ding Xiaocui’s face fell. She said, “No, I’m going back to my parents’ home. This division of the family property is unfair. I don’t accept it.”

Zhou Bingxing was having a bit of a headache.

In rural areas, if a daughter-in-law disagrees with the division of the family property, she may cause a scene with her own family.

If the in-laws are timid, they will re-divide the property.

But Zhou Fugui is not like that!

Zhou Fugui is very concerned about his image.

If Ding Xiaocui really goes to her family to cause trouble, Zhou Fugui will definitely be furious.

What if they become even less welcoming to the second wife's family?

It seems we can't keep the gold bar thing from Xiao Cui anymore.

Thinking of this, Zhou Bingxing gritted his teeth, leaned close to Ding Xiaocui's ear, and said, "Dad has a jar of gold bars. We can't offend him now. Otherwise, if Dad gives us one less bar, we'll be at a huge loss."

"What? Your dad has gold bars?" Ding Xiaocui's eyes lit up, and she lowered her voice to a very low whisper.

Zhou Bingxing nodded, leaned close to Ding Xiaocui's ear, and recounted how he had accidentally discovered Zhou Fugui burying jars in the backyard when he got up in the middle of the night last night.

After saying that, Zhou Bingxing boasted smugly, "Xiaocui, that's me too. If I were in that situation, I'd dig it up to see what Dad buried. If it were my older brother, he definitely wouldn't care. When I told him today, his eyes widened... tsk tsk tsk... they were practically round. Hahaha..."

What Zhou Bingxing was most proud of was that Zhou Bingqiang was unaware of this matter.

This shows that this is what the parents consider to be their "most valued eldest son".

As Ding Xiaocui listened, she felt an urge to scream. But fearing being overheard, she could only cover her mouth, her face turning red with suppressed rage.

Gold bars!

This is a whole jar of gold bars!

No wonder a few years ago a blind fortune teller said that Ding Xiaocui was destined for wealth and honor!

Is this immense wealth finally going to be hers?

Looking at Ding Xiaocui's adoring gaze, Zhou Bingxing felt a surge of pride.

Who in the village will dare to look down on him and say he's good-for-nothing now? He's the future rich man of Zhoujia Village!

After the couple chuckled to each other for a while, Ding Xiaocui came to her senses first and asked, "Bingxing, why did you tell Zhou Bingqiang about the gold bars? Are you stupid?"

“Even if I don’t tell my older brother, Dad will eventually tell him. After all, he’s the eldest son!” Zhou Bingxing said dejectedly.

Over the years, whenever there was something going on in the family, Zhou Fugui would consult Zhou Bingqiang instead of him.

Even today, when the family is dividing the assets, Zhou Fugui is giving Zhou Bingqiang a larger share.

“What’s so great about being the eldest son? Our Jiaxiang is the eldest grandson!” Ding Xiaocui retorted indignantly.

Ding Xiaocui's proudest achievement over the years was that her first child after marriage was a son.

Whether Chen Jinfeng admits it or not, Ding Xiaocui has always believed that Zhou Jiaxiang is the eldest grandson of the Zhou family.

Zhou Bingqiang got married young, but Chen Jinfeng's womb wasn't cooperating!

She had two daughters before giving birth to her son, Zhou Jiasheng.

Zhou Jiasheng is one year younger than Zhou Jiaxiang.

“That’s true! Xiao Cui, maybe Dad will give us a third of that gold bar because of Jia Xiang?” Zhou Bingxing laughed.

"What do you mean one-third? Our family should take half." Ding Xiaocui's face fell, and she was unhappy.

“And Meimei too! Mom and Dad spoil Meimei so much, they definitely won’t leave any for her,” Zhou Bingxing explained.

"Pah! What a good-for-nothing! She wants to go back to her parents' home and claim a share of the family property. How dare she!" Ding Xiaocui's eyebrows furrowed, and she couldn't help but hurl insults at Zhou Meimei.

Ding Xiaocui was already very unhappy that Zhou Fugui's job had been taken away by Zhou Meimei.

Hearing that Zhou Meimei would come back to claim a share of the family property, Ding Xiaocui's eyes turned red with anger.

“Anyway, I’m just an unwanted child in this family, Xiao Cui. You don’t know how biased Dad is…” Zhou Bingxing couldn’t help but tell Ding Xiao Cui about his grievances.

"Bingxing, we can't just sit here and wait. We need to make plans for our own future." Ding Xiaocui patted Zhou Bingxing's hand, her eyes turning cold.

"Plans? Plan what?" Zhou Bingxing didn't understand.

“We should do this…” Ding Xiaocui whispered in Zhou Bingxing’s ear.

"No, Dad will kill me if he finds out," Zhou Bingxing disagreed.

"You coward, you're afraid of this and afraid of that. Just wait to be kicked out by your father! At worst, I'll divorce you. I can't live with you anymore." Ding Xiaocui was furious and stood up to walk out of the house.

"No, no, Xiao Cui, let me think about it." Zhou Bingxing grabbed Ding Xiao Cui and pleaded.

Zhou Bingxing's heart is now completely devoted to Ding Xiaocui.

Zhou Bingxing felt that he was an unwanted child in the family, and only Ding Xiaocui was truly good to him.

"I'll give you two days to think it over. If you don't agree, I'll divorce you," Ding Xiaocui said threateningly, glancing sideways at Zhou Bingxing.

"Okay, okay, I'll do whatever you say, alright?" Zhou Bingxing gave in.

Ding Xiaocui finally smiled.

In the next room.

Zhao Zhenzhu was multitasking. While cutting scraps of cloth with one hand, she listened to Zhou Bingchen's "report" with one ear, and with the other ear she was keeping an eye on the "conspiracy" of Zhou Bingxing and his wife next door.

“Pearl, do you think I went too far? After all, my parents raised me, and we can actually afford to give them 120 yuan a year for their retirement.” Zhou Bingchen noticed that Zhao Zhenzhu was occasionally distracted and assumed that she was dissatisfied with his handling of the situation, looking somewhat uneasy.

Zhao Zhenzhu had previously said that she would take ten yuan from Zhou Bingchen's salary each month as retirement money for Zhou Fugui and Ding Ermei.

When the family divided their assets, Zhou Fugui and the others were all scheming against Zhou Bingchen, which displeased Zhou Bingchen. That's why he deliberately lowered the standard for retirement money again and again.

Before returning to his room, Zhou Bingchen was still thinking about how he had saved money for their little family today, and how Zhao Zhenzhu might praise him later.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhenzhu not only didn't praise him, but there wasn't even a hint of a smile on her face.

(Zhao Zhenzhu: I was eavesdropping on Zhou Bingxing and his wife's conversation, I didn't pay attention to you.)

“No, I think this is a good thing. If you give too much, your two brothers can’t afford it. Wouldn’t that put them in a very difficult position?” Zhao Zhenzhu said.

"Hehehe... As long as you think it's good, that's fine." Zhou Bingchen smiled, finally feeling at ease.

For some reason, Zhou Bingchen is now somewhat afraid of Zhao Zhenzhu. He's afraid that if he does something wrong, Zhao Zhenzhu will want a divorce again.

"However..." As soon as Zhao Zhenzhu uttered these two words, Zhou Bingchen's heart jumped again.