The village chief stared intently at his eldest son, Han Shunde.

Ignoring the village chief's murderous glare, Han Shunde firmly told him, "Dad, Sanya and I agree."

The village chief was furious. He stomped his feet and said, "Fine, fine, fine, you think you're all grown up now? You want to fly away? You want to leave your old man? You're dreaming! No way! I said you absolutely cannot leave. You stay home and take care of your sister and her two children."

Aunt Huaihua stood to the side, wiping away tears. Deep down, she didn't want to take care of her daughter and two granddaughters, all three of whom were troublemakers.

If you're fleeing famine and have them with you the whole way, it's a real problem. You never know when they might deliver a fatal blow.

But what can be done? The children are the apple of their parents' eyes; if they are left alone, the mother and her two children will die.

Should we just let them handle it? It's truly unfair to the eldest son. She's clearly his granddaughter, yet she pushed his daughter and granddaughter into the river, and now we expect them to take care of her and support her? How is that possible? Anyone would feel resentful.

If this drags on, all the father-son and brother-sister relationships will be gone.

She wiped away her tears and shouted, "Since we're dividing the family property, let's separate. Eldest son and eldest daughter-in-law, we'll keep this thatched hut; you can go out and build your own."

Liu Daidi knelt down gratefully and kowtowed three times to Aunt Huaihua, tears streaming down his face. "Thank you, Mother, thank you so much. I will take good care of you."

After saying that, he ignored the village chief, took care of his son and daughter-in-law, picked up Ruyi, slung the basket over his shoulder, and prepared to leave.

Han Yanyan stopped her, saying, "Sister-in-law, how can you take all the betrothal gifts with you? You should be giving that grain to your parents."

Liu Daidi slapped her with a big nose pouch!

"Stop worrying about my daughter's dowry! Don't you have two daughters? Find them a good family to marry into, and you'll have a dowry. I'm just afraid that no one will dare to marry that murderer, Gu Yuli!"

Li Lanzhen watched the family drama unfold with a smile, then stepped inside and said, "Village Chief, what's going on? I've come to talk to Shunde about proposing marriage."

Han Shunde and Liu Daidi were stunned for a moment, standing there, thinking that it was so fast. Just now, they had said that she should ask her youngest son, Han Mingxiang, to take good care of their daughter and treat her as his daughter-in-law, and now they had come to propose marriage.

Liu Daidi wiped away his tears, took Li Lanzhen's hand, and said, "My dear in-law, thank you so much, thank you so much."

The village chief was even more stunned. He was filled with remorse, wishing he had never brought up the idea of ​​dividing the family property.

Look, look! Li Lanzhen actually came to propose marriage, and her betrothal gifts were even in her basket.

He greeted Li Lianzhen with a smile, “Lanzhen, you’re here. Come in and sit down. This shack of ours was just put up hastily, and we don’t have enough stuff. We were in a hurry, and some parts of it even leak. It’s not like your shack, which is well-maintained and spacious.”

Li Lanzhen glanced at him but didn't respond. "You old fool, your thoughts are written all over your face. You want to bring Han Yanyan and her two children to live in my thatched hut? Just you wait."

She turned to Han Shunde and said, "Father-in-law, look, this is the matchmaker I hired."

Zheng Shanhua stepped forward with a hearty laugh, “Congratulations! It’s a joyous occasion with a downpour. The heavier the rain, the better the harvest next year. Today we’re celebrating a wonderful marriage.”

Both families' children grew up in the village. Mingxiang was already a student of the Imperial Academy. If it weren't for the famine, he might have passed the county-level imperial examination that year.

Shulan is also a clever and skillful girl, kind and hardworking, so it is the perfect match for these two families to get married.

"The Lan family came to offer betrothal gifts, and the two families became one family."

Standing in the corner of the thatched shed, Gu Yuli was furious. She had originally planned to push Han Shulan into the water and let the floodwaters carry her away, so no one would be competing with her for Han Mingxiang. But her plan backfired, giving the two of them a legitimate reason to marry. Humph! Just you wait. This isn't over.

Li Lanzhen wasn't one to mince words, and she said directly, "Well then, my youngest son, Han Mingxiang, is 17 years old this year and wants to marry your daughter, Zhang Shulan. This is the betrothal gift we brought."

She laid out the items one by one and gave them to Liu Daidi. Holding the items, she gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face. If only her daughter were here, she could see her with her own eyes. She didn't know whether her two children were alive or dead.

Thinking of the children swept away by the flood, Liu Daidi was so angry that his teeth itched. He turned and glared fiercely at Gu Yuli and Han Yanyan. He quickly stepped in front of his daughter, smiling as if to provoke her. "Hmph, so what if you don't agree? I still left my mother and the other two at home."

Every time Li Lanzhen took out something, Sister Zheng would call out from the side, "A bag of brown sugar, three catties of rye bran..."

Actually, Li Lanzhen, along with her eldest son and Aunt Zheng, came to Han Deshun's house to propose marriage.

The villagers of Shantou Village all knew about it, so they gradually gathered outside the village chief's thatched shed to listen.

You won't believe it until you hear it, and once you do, you'll be shocked.

The betrothal gifts were real grain! Everyone was thinking to themselves, "If only we had known, we would have married our daughters off to that family."

Look at how much stuff Li Lanzhen could still produce on her journey of fleeing famine. I wonder how many good things the young master of Jin Fulai gave her.

Liu Daidi shed tears every time she took the gifts, and finally said in a trembling voice, "Thank you, thank you, in-laws. Once the two children return safely, we will hold a wedding for them. The dowry will not be small, don't worry, in-laws."

Upon hearing this, the village chief rolled his eyes. "You have no dowry at all! You don't even have a grain of rice in your pocket, just wild vegetables. And you're still talking big!"

When Ruyi saw Li Lanzhen, he got down from his grandmother's arms and reluctantly lay down on Li Lanzhen's lap. He looked at the things one by one, and when she mentioned Han Mingxiang and Han Shulan's names, he said to Li Lanzhen with tears in his eyes, "Grandma, I miss my aunt, I miss Uncle Mingxiang."

At this moment, Li Lanzhen also thought of her youngest son, who was adrift in the flood, his fate unknown, and her eyes welled up with tears.

He picked up Ruyi and kissed her little face. "Ruyi, don't be afraid. Grandma Lanzhen is here, and so are your parents. Your aunt and Uncle Mingxiang will definitely survive this ordeal. We'll meet again someday. When we do, you'll have to call them Aunt and Uncle, okay?"

Little Ruyi nodded, "Yes, bride and groom, I know they're going to give me candy."

And so, after the betrothal gifts were exchanged, Han Shunde and Liu Daidi, carrying their meager belongings and leaving most of them to their parents, emerged from the triangular shack with their son and daughter-in-law.

Li Lanzhen had already reached her own thatched hut when she turned around and saw Han Shunde leading his entire family standing in the rain, looking bewildered and helpless.

After thinking for a moment, he said to his eldest son, "Eldest son, go and call your Uncle Shunde to come and stay in our shed. We're all in-laws. I have three in-laws here now, so let's live together."

Han Minghai turned around and walked over to Han Shunde, saying, "Uncle, my mother wants your family to come over. She said all three in-laws should live together."

Han Shunde was stunned for a moment, and Liu Daidi started wiping away tears again. Han Minghai took Xiao Ruyi, used his own tarpaulin to shield her from the rain, and carried her towards his home.

Han Shunde and Liu Daidi followed behind, a move that aroused envy, jealousy, and resentment among the villagers. "Look at that, look at that! If only we had married that amazing old woman!"

"That's right, he doesn't have to worry about anything on the run. His eldest daughter-in-law's family, although weak, at least has a donkey cart and treats their daughter so well."

"His second daughter-in-law's in-laws are even more remarkable. The whole family is strong and healthy and knows how to hunt. They must be eating meat often along the way."

"That's right, now that Han Deshun and his family have joined their team, they're getting stronger and stronger."

At night, everyone in Hanjiacun was fast asleep, except for Han Shulan, who arranged for Xue Bao and Han Mingjiang to keep watch.

In the middle of the night, I heard something howling.