"Mancang, don't do anything rash, you can't go to that mine."
"I've figured it out now. These two old folks aren't planning on leaving a single meal for their eldest child!"
"Hey, I see now too. They're planning to make the eldest daughter leave with nothing."
An Mancang stared at his father, who had a long, droopy face and remained silent. No matter what he said, his father's attitude was firm and there was no room for negotiation. An Mancang knew that his fate with his parents had come to an end, and tears streamed down the face of this rough man.
“Father, Mother, I understand what you mean. It is only right that my second cousin, Manduo, from my eldest uncle’s family should go to my second uncle’s place. It is not appropriate for me to go, and I do not want to break the ancestral rules.”
Qiu Niang and I want nothing. We're leaving with the children, penniless. You two can rest easy and live with your brother from now on.
After saying that, he kowtowed three times to the elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. An.
As soon as An Mancang finished his compromise and kowtowed, everyone around him felt a pang of pity.
"You two are incredibly cruel to drive your own child to this point, forcing him to leave with nothing. You are a vicious woman!"
"Ruthless! Absolutely ruthless!"
"That's the kind of thing that the An family is capable of doing!"
"An Laosan, you'll get your comeuppance sooner or later for mistreating your own children like this. I don't have brothers and sisters-in-law like you." An Dafeng's voice turned cold with anger, and he changed his address from 'Third Brother' to 'An Laosan'. His old face turned blue and purple, and he couldn't catch his breath, almost suffocating.
"Brother, don't worry. If An Laosan doesn't want this child, I will. If An Laosan doesn't acknowledge him, I will!"
"In front of the villagers, in front of my entire An family, I will change the old rules today. I will acknowledge here that Mancang is my son, An Dalin's son."
"If you won't let him support you in your old age, I'll make him. I, An Dalin, am in dire need of a son to take care of me. From now on, you're not going to call me 'Second Uncle,' call me 'Dad,' understand?"
An Dalin, with a strong voice, turned and shouted at An Mancang, who was kneeling on the ground. An Le, who was close by, felt his eardrums vibrate.
An Fusheng slapped the waist-high courtyard wall and roared with laughter.
"Haha, good! Well done! An Mancang, did you hear that? From now on, your father is An Dalin, so stay away from these two old bastards."
An Fuwang straightened his long sleeves, smiled and squinted his old eyes, glancing at Li Changsheng.
“Village head, this child has changed fathers, so there’s no need to divide this family anymore; it all belongs to the Man family!”
Let's revise this family genealogy and open an ancestral hall in Anjia.
Please take the trouble and go through the trouble to get the child's household registration sorted out in town! Following the An Dalin family, this child won't be at a disadvantage!
"Yes, I'll take care of it first thing tomorrow morning." Li Changsheng's reply was crisp and straightforward.
Having parents like that is worse than not having them at all. Perhaps it's a blessing for the eldest son's family to be without them.
Liu Xiufen watched as Qiao Qiuniang kowtowed three times, and listening to the surrounding conversations, she was overjoyed. Oh my, such a large fortune was now all hers.
She would live a respectable life in the village from then on. She wanted to dress herself up like the wives and concubines of wealthy families in the town, and then buy a house in the town to live the life of a town dweller.
Liu Xiufen happily described her vision, completely ignoring the disdainful, envious, and jealous glances from those around her.
Although the process of dividing the family property was full of twists and turns, in Anle's eyes it was a perfect ending, and he happily followed his family to move into An Dalin's house.
Although it was only a wall away from An Daliang's family, they had finally gotten rid of those two old bastards.
On the third day of staying at An Dalin's house, An Le finally couldn't resist her curiosity and pulled An Ning aside to ask her in a secret manner.
Why is Grandpa all alone in his house? Where's Grandma? Doesn't she have any daughters or sons?
An Ning paused in peeling the cabbage and sighed.
"Our second grandfather was unlucky. He only had one son, our cousin, who was killed in a mine accident two years ago. They couldn't even retrieve his body."
Although the report said he was missing, everyone knows that he's probably dead. It's been two years; if he could be found, he should have been found long ago. He must have been buried under the mine.
It is said that many bodies could not be retrieved at the time; the mine collapse killed many people.
The ones below the mine are manageable, but the ones inside the mine are all smashed inside and can't be retrieved.
As for our second grandmother, she had a late pregnancy, giving birth to our uncle when she was over thirty. She damaged her body during the birth of our uncle, and passed away only two months after giving birth to him.
For all these years, our second grandfather has been raising our uncle alone. He was afraid that marrying another woman would mistreat him, so he never remarried.
Anle nodded in understanding. "So that's how it is. No wonder the house is so quiet and he's all alone."
An Ning felt a pang of sympathy when An Dalin was mentioned.
“When my uncle was alive, my second grandfather was the only one living in the family. My uncle went to work in the mines far away and could only come back twice a year. Whenever there was any work to be done here, my father would come over to help.”
Anle rubbed his chin with his index finger and muttered, "Oh, I see. No wonder our father was bullied so badly by that family of scoundrels. Grandpa was so indignant on their behalf that he disregarded ancestral rules and brought our father over to be his son."
Anning tapped Anle on the head with a cabbage leaf, "You little brat, you're talking nonsense. Our Second Grandfather isn't the kind of person who would show favoritism or protect his own for a little bit of kindness."
Our second grandfather is very fair in his dealings. If our father does something wrong, he'll definitely speak up. He treats everyone the same in this family; he's fair and impartial, not biased towards relatives.
Anle nodded lazily and said dismissively, "Hey, Grandpa is the fairest. By the way, don't keep calling me Second Grandpa. It's so distant. He's already our Grandpa."
An Ning's face stiffened. "I'm just used to calling you that, it's just that I can't change it right now!"
Anle tilted her head and glanced at Anning questioningly, drawing out her words.
"Huh? Really? Is it because you can't change your way of addressing him, or are you still thinking about that old scoundrel, Fourth Sister? Are you still treating that old scoundrel like a grandfather?"
An Ning rolled her eyes at An Le, annoyed. "How does he usually treat our family? I'm not blind, why would I care about him?"
Seeing An Mancang return with water, Anle ran up to him with a smile, hugged his leg, and acted cute and charming.
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