When Tian An and his party arrived, Zhao Ningyan and his wife from the third house had already arrived.
Wang's mother and daughter and Zhao Ningsong's old concubine, who had gotten the news from somewhere, also came, followed by Zhao Ningsong's concubines.
Tian An and Zhao Yiming sat directly in the main seat, glanced casually at the people from the second house, and suddenly felt regretful that they had not separated the family earlier.
Half of the people in this hall are from their second wife. No matter how frugal they are in their daily spending, the money spent on their second wife is still a considerable expense.
This entire Duke's Mansion is simply supporting people for their second branch!
After the two of them sat down, Zhao Yiming, the patriarch, stood up and said a few words, "I regret that after coming back for so long, this is the first time I'm meeting you all so formally in such an occasion.
I believe everyone knows why we are gathered here today. Since ancient times, when a tree grows big, it will branch out, and when people grow big, they will separate into families. Now my grandfather and father have passed away for many years, and this Duke's Mansion has fallen on the shoulders of me, the grandson.
Although I cherish the time we spend together as a family, it turns out that not everyone feels the same way.
Today, at my second uncle's strong request, I have no choice but to gather everyone together to discuss the division of the family."
After saying that, he looked at Zhao Ningyan, "Third Uncle, Second Uncle is very much in favor of splitting up the family. What do you think?"
However, before Zhao Ningyan could speak, the old concubine Cao who was sitting beside him said, "I don't agree."
She had finally managed to outlast the old Duke and his wife, Zhao Ningbai, and Princess Chaoyang. No one above her was older or more experienced than her, yet she still dreamed of torturing Tian An, her grandson's wife! How could she give up so easily?
"I don't agree either." Wang was the second to vote against it. In her opinion, it is easy to avoid an open attack but difficult to guard against an arrow from the dark. As long as she is still in this mansion, she is confident that she will always find a chance to kill Tian An and Zhao Yiming.
By then, this mansion will still belong to their second branch, but as soon as the family splits up, it will no longer be possible.
"And I don't agree either." Zhao Qianhua said unwillingly.
If the family does not split up, she will be the eldest daughter of the Duke's Mansion when she goes out. But once the family splits up, given her father's current status as a Bai Sheng, she can only be the daughter of the Zhao Mansion.
Seeing the three people speaking, Tian An was no longer polite, "May I ask if Aunt Cao, Second Aunt, and Sister Qianhua know the Three Obediences and Four Virtues?
Second Uncle is still standing here! You are vying to make decisions for him, is that appropriate? Or is it that your Second Uncle is not the one who makes decisions for you, the Second House?"
"Hmph! What a clever girl! I've heard that Princess Anping is eloquent and good at speaking. Today I see that her reputation is well-deserved." Cao had been an old lady in the Duke of Zhao's mansion for so many years, so naturally she was not a pushover. Even at this moment, she remained calm and composed.
I thought Tian An, a girl from the boudoir, would be ashamed and angry after hearing this, but I didn't expect Tian An to feel ashamed. Instead, she felt proud and said, "Auntie Cao, you are so kind. I also follow the principle of being righteous and traveling the world. I can't take a single step without being rude."
After all, nothing goes beyond the word "reason."
"You..." These words were just a subtle criticism of her being unreasonable and unreasonable as an old woman.
The old woman's face turned green with anger. No one had dared to talk to her like that for many years.
Tian An sneered. She was just an old concubine. Did she think that after a few years of comfortable life she could really regard herself as an old lady? In her opinion, she was just a jumping clown.
Zhao Yiming and Tian An worked in perfect harmony. Seeing that his wife had the upper hand over the two older women, he interrupted them and looked at Zhao Ningsong, "Can Second Uncle make the final decision on Second House affairs? My Duke is not in a hurry, but Second Uncle is. The longer you delay, the worse it will be for you!"
"What do you mean?" Upon hearing this, Old Lady Cao and Mrs. Wang immediately turned to look at Zhao Ningsong.
Seeing Zhao Ningsong keeping his head down and not saying anything, Tian An kindly answered for him, "It's nothing. My second uncle just went to steal from the warehouse and was caught red-handed by my husband and me. That's all."
In order to prevent us from reporting to the Dali Temple, my second uncle took the initiative to propose a division.
It's just that he took a long time to think about it, and the people going to the Dali Temple are probably already at the door."
"Is what she said true?" Old Mrs. Cao pointed at Tian An and asked Zhao Ningsong.
Hearing this, the people from the third room also looked at Zhao Ningsong.
But at this time, Zhao Ningsong just lowered his head and said nothing.
Seeing this, everyone was confused. No wonder they were asking why the family had to split up all of a sudden. It was Zhao Ningsong who took the initiative to bring it up. It turned out that someone had caught him.
At this point, the women from the second house looked embarrassed. It seemed that they were destined to be kicked out today.
"Okay, now that everything has been clarified, there will be no problem with the second house. Third uncle, what do you think? If there is no problem, let's talk about how to divide this family as soon as possible! Don't delay second uncle." Zhao Yiming struck while the iron was hot.
Zhao Ningyan naturally followed Zhao Yiming's lead and did whatever he said.
Even if a wealthy family like theirs divides up, there is a general standard, and no matter how it is divided, the foundation of the direct line will not be shaken.
Zhao Yiming is the legitimate son and the head of the family, so naturally he gets the lion's share. Needless to say, the Duke's Mansion must be his.
As for the rest of the properties, fields, shops, gold, silver, jewelry, etc., no matter how little they got, what they got was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
But just as Mrs. Cao, Mrs. Wang, Zhao Ningsong, Zhao Qianhua and other people from the second house were thinking about how to get more things later, they heard Zhao Yiming directly announce, "The second house got nothing."
???
"What do you mean? What do you mean by 'no'?" Zhao Ningsong was the first to jump up and shout.
Tian An smiled and explained to them again, "'No' means exactly what it says. It means that you, the second branch, will not get anything. You will be kicked out of the house. You can leave now."
"Why? We, the second branch, are also grandfather's bloodline, so why didn't they give us a share when the family property was divided?
It's you, isn't it? It's all your fault, you bitch, isn't it?"
When Zhao Qianhua heard that the second house would not get anything, she immediately exploded. She did not dare to blame Zhao Yiming, so she took out all her anger on Tian Anshen.
He ran to the center of the hall, pointed at Tian An and cursed him, as if he wanted to poke Tian An's forehead with his finger.
Hearing his wife being scolded, Zhao Yiming was the first to lose his composure and angrily shouted, "How dare you! She's your sister-in-law. Who allowed you to call her a bitch? Have you read so much that you've lost your mind?"
Then he ordered without further explanation: "Deng Xue, slap her in the face until she realizes her mistake."
When Deng Xue heard about this good job, she took two steps at a time without saying a word and caught Zhao Qianhua before she could react.
Then the sound of slapping people in the face began to ring out regularly in the hall.
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