"Mother, no...please don't!" Ling Dapeng said with a pained expression, tugging at Zhou Xiaoyun's sleeve. "Xiaoyun, apologize to your mother, please don't separate from the family!"

Zhou Xiaoyun stubbornly refused to speak, gritting her teeth. She was waiting for Tao Wan's mother to state the conditions for dividing the family property!

“Ling Dapeng, you are my son, and I will not let you leave the family empty-handed.” Tao Wanniang looked at Zhou Xiaoyun’s appearance and then said, “I will not cut off your future livelihood. If you want to work as a waiter, you can continue to work at the restaurant. I will pay you the wages you are owed.”

"Mom, I don't want to. Eldest brother, sister-in-law, please say something. Why are you dividing the family? We're a family, all together, isn't that great!" Ling Dapeng said hurriedly, tugging at Zhou Xiaoyun again.

“I know Mother has always been unhappy with me. When you wanted to throw away Zhi’er, I accidentally pushed you, and that's when you started to hate me,” Zhou Xiaoyun said. “Fine, let’s separate the family. If I’ve offended Mother, I won’t hang around in front of her anymore. But where can Dapeng, the child, and I go?”

Tao Wanniang found these words laughable. She had never held a grudge against Zhou Xiaoyun, and it wasn't her who had been pushed away by Zhou Xiaoyun.

"Mother, how can we divide the family property like this all of a sudden? Please don't!" Ling Dahu was startled, not expecting his mother to suddenly decide to divide the family property, especially since his sister-in-law was pregnant!

“Yes, Mother, why is our family dividing up the property? My second brother didn’t want to either,” Wang Hongyu added, trying to smooth things over.

Ling Dapeng nodded vigorously; he didn't want to.

“I suppose you don’t want to see me either, and I’m not too happy to be around you. How about this, I’ll buy you a house in the capital. Of course, it won’t be as nice as this place, but it’ll be enough for you to live in,” Tao Wanniang continued. “Until then, you’d better stay put. This isn’t a place for you to be a young mistress.”

Tao Wanniang had made up her mind and didn't want to change it; Zhou Xiaoyun had been being sarcastic and uncooperative too many times.

"Mother..." Ling Dapeng still wanted to plead for her.

"Stop calling me, I'm hungry, let's go eat!" Tao Wanniang said and walked out of the living room.

"Brother, sister-in-law, please talk to me again. I don't want to separate the family." Ling Dapeng still wanted to try.

"Dapeng, how can you bear to let me be pregnant and still not have a moment's peace?" Zhou Xiaoyun cried. "My mother doesn't like me, she's never liked me. Life was hard before, everyone was suffering. Now, she'd rather raise an adopted daughter like a pampered princess than let me rest while I'm pregnant. It's so hard for me!"

"Don't cry, honey!" Ling Dapeng panicked when he saw Zhou Xiaoyun crying and hurriedly tried to comfort her.

Wang Hongyu glanced at Zhou Xiaoyun and sighed. Zhou Xiaoyun just couldn't get over this knot in her heart. She had to talk to her husband and agree not to separate the family unless they could earn enough money to buy a house on their own.

Zhou Xiaoyun was not at the dinner table. Ling Dapeng asked Gao Cuiniang to take care of the child while he went to deliver dinner to Zhou Xiaoyun.

"Mother, is it because of me!" Little Qiao'er said sadly.

Tao Wanniang looked at everyone and said, "In our family, there is no distinction between high and low status. Cui Niang and Zhang Liang, I didn't make you sign any indentures. We have an employer-employee relationship. And Master Shen, he is a tutor and Xiao Qiao'er's teacher. Everyone has their own place."

"As for Qiao'er, you are still a child. In this family, children are always taken care of by everyone. I'm having you learn cooking, music, chess, calligraphy, painting, reading, and writing, not so that you'll serve others in the future."

Tao Wan's mother comforted Xiao Qiao'er, saying, "I'm having you learn this and that so that in the future, they can be your skills to make a living, and also your ability to choose your own path in life. I hope that in the future, you can choose what kind of life you want to live, Qiao'er, do you understand?"

"Master Tao has a broad vision, I admire him." Before Xiao Qiao'er could answer, Chen Lian spoke first, "Women learn skills not to please anyone, but to become better people themselves."

“Indeed, Master Shen is absolutely right,” Tao Wanniang nodded.

"Mother, I just want to do more for everyone." Xiao Qiao'er didn't want to make things worse for the family because of her.

"If you can take care of yourself, that's the best you can do for everyone!" Tao Wanniang said. "I'm busy, and your brother and sister-in-law are busy too. It's my fault for not being able to take good care of you."

"No, no, Mother is right," Little Qiao'er immediately said. "Then... I'll take good care of myself!"

"Let's eat. You need to be full to have the energy to do your work well," Tao Wanniang said, picking up her chopsticks first.

"Wife, just bear with it. Go back and apologize to Mother. Don't separate the family anymore, okay?" Ling Dapeng advised Zhou Xiaoyun from inside the house.

“Dapeng, have you ever thought about it? We’re not poor anymore,” Zhou Xiaoyun said sternly. “You work at Mother’s restaurant and get paid every month. Father gave the children a hundred taels of silver as New Year’s money before, and there were also the small change Mother gave you last year when you worked at the restaurant. I’ve saved all of that. When Mother gives us a house, and after we separate from the family, she’ll definitely give us another sum of money. Can’t we live a good life on our own?”

“When I married you, Mother looked down on me because I was born to a widow. Have you forgotten all the suffering I endured?” Zhou Xiaoyun said, her voice trembling with tears. “The only time I defied Mother was when she wanted to throw Zhi’er away. I didn’t want to be so harsh. Mother has held a grudge ever since. How can I live comfortably in this family?”

“But you’re pregnant. When we separate from the family and I go back to work, who will take care of you?” Ling Dapeng hesitated for a moment. Yes, they weren’t poor now.

“We’ll buy another maid then, no, two. One is a maid who does all the cooking and laundry; the other is a little maid who will take care of Zhi’er.” Zhou Xiaoyun had already thought of this. “I saw it when we were at the General’s Mansion. Dapeng, I’m not asking you to go to the General’s Mansion. Just grant my wish.”

"Well... well... alright." Ling Dapeng frowned and thought for a moment. Anyway, he still had to work at his mother's restaurant. He would see his mother and brother and sister-in-law every day. Going home to live his own little life was not bad.

Tao Wanniang's decisions were not just empty words. She knew many people now and quickly found a square house with a small courtyard.

For a house and two hundred taels of silver, Tao Wanniang had Ling Dapeng sign a family division agreement.

“Mother, although we have separated our households, I will still follow your instructions.” With two hundred taels of silver, Ling Dapeng felt more at ease. “I will still go to the restaurant with you, my elder brother and sister-in-law every day.”

Tao Wanniang glanced at Ling Dapeng, speechless. What an idiot son.

Ling Dahu and Wang Hongyu, who witnessed the event, were speechless. Why did this silly younger brother seem so happy?

"Alright, I'm giving you three days to move out." Tao Wan's mother put away the division agreement and said decisively, "My son is grown up now, it's time for him to move out on his own!"