Chapter 35 Proposal for Separation

The prisoners stood up lazily and walked very slowly. On the contrary, the Lin family was still as energetic as yesterday.

That day, we walked a total of forty miles.

At lunch, the eldest wife of the Lin family had another quarrel with Old Lady Wang because the eldest wife had no food and could not finish the black-faced steamed buns distributed by the officials, while Old Lady Wang and the second and third wives all had silver and money.

Lin Xiuran and Lin Xiuyan were reluctant to give up their reputation as scholars, but Lin Zhiyi led them to snatch the food from the second and third wives.

Mrs. Zou and Mrs. Zhou from the second house both had some secrets. When their relatives saw them off, they stuffed food and money into their pockets. At noon, when they saw the officials selling dried meat, they took out the money and bought some dried meat.

Before the four-year-old Rui'er could even put the food in her mouth, Lin Zhiyi grabbed it and said, "Don't eat it, give it to me."

Lin Zhiyi actually started eating.

Not only was Lin Xiu Ze so angry that he wanted to hit someone, but Zou even wanted to slap Lin Zhiyi to death.

"Lin Zhiyi, do you still have any shame? As an aunt, how can you take away your nephew's food?"

"Yesterday my cousin brought our pot, and today the Second House has food. What's wrong with us eating it? Didn't my cousin say that we haven't split up yet, and these things should belong to the public, so why can't I eat it?"

Lin Xiu Ze was speechless.

Madam Zou was furious. "Your eldest wife stewed meat yesterday and didn't give us any, so why are you here to take our second wife's meat today?"

Lin Zhiyi said in a dishonest tone, "I don't care anyway. If our eldest family has nothing to eat in the future, we'll come and take your food. We haven't split up the family anyway. Since Sister Jingshu and I were both divorced daughters of the Lin family, we should be treated equally."

Seeing that Lin Zhiyi had finished eating and still wanted to snatch food from the third room, Uncle Lin Er and Uncle Lin San were completely furious.

"presumptuous!"

They raised their hands to attack Lin Zhiyi.

Lin Xiuran and Lin Xiuyan shook their hands, "Second Uncle, Third Uncle, why don't we split up?"

Second Uncle Lin and Third Uncle Lin looked at each other and said, split up?

"Is this what you meant or what your father meant?"

"This is what our eldest wife wants. If you're willing to separate now, we'll sign the separation document and we won't take anything from you. If you're not willing, we'll have a share of your second and third wife's belongings."

This is what Lin Zhiyi mentioned to his two brothers on the way.

Only by dividing the family property can their eldest wife live in peace.

Uncle Lin Er and Uncle Lin San were moved.

"What about your grandmother? Who will take care of her?"

The family was easy to divide. Now the Lin family’s property had been confiscated by the imperial court, and only the old mother was left.

Second Uncle Lin and Third Uncle Lin wanted to assign Madam Wang to the eldest wife's house to take care of her.

"She is the biological mother of my second and third uncles, and they should be the ones to show filial respect to her." Lin Zhiyi responded.

Uncle Lin Er and Uncle Lin San expressed their disagreement.

"Then let the old lady choose for herself. If she follows our eldest wife, the money she has will belong to us."

Uncle Lin Er and Uncle Lin San only then realized that their mother had hidden a lot of silver and gold leaves on her body.

But we can’t let the big house get away with it.

It would be best if we could coax the money out of my mother and assign her to the eldest wife to be taken care of.

"Let us discuss this."

In order to separate the second and third wives, the first wife could only eat black-faced steamed buns at noon.

Lin Zhiyi rummaged through his bag and took out a bag of pickles. He gave each of them two pieces of pickled cucumbers, which they ate with steamed buns and were not difficult to swallow.

As for Lu'er and Zheng'er, Lin Zhiyi would take out some snacks for them from time to time. They walked and ate all the way, so they were not very hungry.

It was not until the evening that the exile team arrived at a dilapidated temple, so Eunuch Wang decided to stay there for the night.

Yesterday, Lin Zhiyi stewed some chicken for the officers to smell, which had kept them awake for the whole day. The officers decided to walk to the next town and buy some meat to eat.

Unfortunately, we only walked forty miles today and didn’t even reach the next town.

They could only eat white flour buns and white flour cakes with pickles, while the prisoners were still given black flour buns.

They were all rough old men who didn't know how to cook. They had been escorts for years and were used to eating like this.

Fortunately, they were given dried meat for lunch.

But the Jinwu Guards were different. They were serving in the capital and were assigned this mission only because the fugitives this time were special.

Once the exile team settled down, they left a few people on guard duty, and the rest wanted to take a walk around. If they were lucky enough to catch some prey, that would be the best.

They thought that when the time comes, they would ask Miss Lin to help them make a stew. They would not let her help in vain, so they would rather give half of it to the Lin family.

Zhao Zhan had been craving them for the whole day, and he kept praising the dishes cooked by Miss Lin, saying that they were fragrant and delicious, and much better than those dry jerky.

The dried meat at noon was also prepared by a bailiff who wanted to make some money, so he stocked up some in advance to sell. He just gave it to the people to taste, but they didn’t eat enough.

The second and third wives of the Lin family wanted to take out food, but they saw the eldest wife staring at them hungrily.

Lu'er thought of what her aunt had said to her on the way and said, "Mom, Lu'er wants to eat dried meat too."

Upon hearing this, Rui'er immediately hid the only piece of dried meat left in her hand and said, "Don't give it to me. I only have one piece left."

It was still noon. Old Madam Wang asked Lin Xiu Ze to buy some. Rui'er gave him two pieces, but he only ate one and couldn't bear to eat the remaining one.

"Your father said that if the family remains intact, your things are mine. Give them to me now."

As Lu'er said this, she snatched the dried meat from Rui'er's hand.

Although they are both four years old, Lu'er looks much older than Rui'er and is much taller than Rui'er.

Rui'er couldn't snatch Lu'er away, so he sat down and started crying.

"Lu'er, what are you doing? How could you push your cousin? That's outrageous."

Jiang felt sorry for her son and wanted to vent her anger on Rui'er. She reached out to push Lu'er, but Lin Zhiyi pulled her behind her.

"Cousin, what are you doing?"

Jiang was furious, "Didn't you see her snatching Rui'er's dried meat?"

"Lu'er is not wrong. This is what my cousin said. We haven't split up the family. What belongs to the first wife belongs to the second wife, and what belongs to the second wife also belongs to the first wife. What's wrong with Lu'er eating it?"

Lin Zhiyi explained calmly.

"You are really making excuses!"

"Just doing what my cousin said."

Jiang felt wronged and looked at Lin Xiu Ze with tears on her face.

But Lin Xiu Ze was heartbroken.

"Husband, can you please tell Grandmother that we should separate our family?"

Lin Xiu Ze raised his eyes and saw that the eldest wife was staring at the food in their hands like a wolf pouncing on its prey. He actually felt that dividing the family was a good thing.

"Don't worry, my lady. I'll go find my grandmother right away."

On this day, Mrs. Wang had only walked less than half a mile when she started complaining about being tired. Her two sons then took turns carrying her on their backs.

But Uncle Lin Er and Uncle Lin San were exhausted.

They were now lying on the side gasping for breath.

"Grandma, I want to divide the family property."

After hearing what Lin Xiu Ze said, Second Uncle Lin and Third Uncle Lin were no longer tired. "What? Splitting up the family? I don't agree."