154 split
Aunt Ding's funeral arrangements were completed in just a few days, with Ding Laoda running the most errands.
They were busy going to the hospital to get a death certificate and then to the funeral home. They also had to discuss the arrangements for the family's several rooms before the factory's housing management department even came knocking.
The house they were assigned originally had three rooms, but after some alterations, it now has five rooms of varying sizes.
Back then, before the family split up, they were only able to get these three rooms because they had a large family and several workers. But over the years, Ding Lao Er's family of five moved out after getting their own rooms, while Ding Lao San's family of four moved to the gatehouse in courtyard number two.
Now, Ding Xianguang is on the police's wanted list, and no one knows where he's hiding. Even if he comes back, he'll be arrested. Ding Xianzong is still a sent-down youth in Northeast China; he's married and can't get a quota to return to the city. Ding Xiang usually lives at the school and only comes back for two days during the Spring Festival.
In other words, only Mr. Ding and his wife live here.
The couple, who are both workers, live in five rooms. Sooner or later, they will be reported by jealous people. Before the housing management department comes, they might as well divide it among their own family members first. Then, when the housing management department comes, they won't have anything to say.
In addition, the Ding family members all wanted to know what was going on with Ding Xuewen.
They wanted to ask Guan Yuehe, but every time they tried to enter Courtyard No. 1, they were stopped by Aunt Hu.
Aunt Hu even sternly criticized them, saying, "How can you go to someone else's house as a guest right after a funeral?"
In reality, it was no use for them to enter Courtyard No. 1. Guan Yuehe and Lin Yiku were always out early and back late. If they came looking for someone at night, the person was still busy with studying and working.
When they asked about Ding Xuewen, Guan Yuehe waved her hand and said, "Didn't he say he would go back to the hutong on Sunday? There's no rush. Ask him directly if you have any questions."
Guan Yuehe was busy with the upcoming foreign investment conference. Not to mention them, even if Ding Xuewen came, he would have to stand aside and not be allowed to disturb her.
Sure enough, since they had agreed to go home on Sunday to discuss things, Ding Lao Er and Ding Lao San came over early with their families.
The once cramped room now felt spacious, but the large items that Ding Laowu had brought back, such as the color TV and washing machine, had already been confiscated and taken away.
Aunt Ding had no savings left, something they already knew while she was in the hospital.
Aunt Ding took out all her savings accumulated over the years to pay the fine for Ding Laowu, which reduced Ding Laowu's sentence from thirty-five years to thirty years.
Ding Lao Er and Ding Lao San were glad that they had separated from the family and moved out; otherwise, the money they had would have been used to fill the hole left by Lao Wu.
Without Aunt Ding and Old Man Ding, the brothers and their wives were unusually harmonious. They no longer argued heatedly and could sit down and talk calmly.
The house was relatively quiet; everyone was waiting for Ding Xuewen.
The area outside the Ding family's house became lively.
Sunday is the busiest day of the week. If you have nothing to do, walk from the entrance of the alley to the innermost part of the alley, find a courtyard to sit in, and you're sure to join in the fun.
However, everyone specifically went to Courtyard No. 3 today.
The No. 3 courtyard has been making headlines lately. First, Ding Laowu was arrested, then Aunt Ding died of anger, and now Ding Xuewen has emerged.
Thanks to Zhang Ersao's shrewdness, within half a day of the neighbors returning from the hospital, everyone in Ginkgo Hutong knew that Ding Xuewen had returned to Beijing.
That evening, Zhang Ersao was still at home analyzing with Zhang Desheng, saying that Ding Xuewen must have already passed the college entrance examination and returned to the city. Judging from his appearance, he might have already started working.
Knowing the truth beforehand, Zhang Desheng gave a perfunctory reply, thinking to himself: Luckily, I didn't let it slip beforehand, otherwise, I would have ruined Ding Xuewen's plans and made enemies instead of friends.
"Oh my, Ding Laosi?! The way you're dressed now, I almost thought some kind of cadre had come to visit us."
"Ding Lao Si, did you get into a university in Beijing, or did you get lucky and get a job in the city?"
As soon as Ding Xuewen arrived at the entrance of the alley, he was surrounded by a group of old neighbors.
To be honest, many people think he looks familiar, but they can't really remember his name.
Fortunately, Xu Cheng was waiting for him on the street to come back together. At this moment, Xu Cheng was busy helping him deal with the neighbors, giving irrelevant answers, "Aunt Hu, Aunt Cai, let's talk later!"
As they passed the gate of Courtyard No. 1, Xu Cheng called out into the courtyard, "Yuehe, we'll come over for dinner later."
Guan Yuehe didn't go out. Standing at the door with her hands on her hips, she replied, "I've already made a reservation with Uncle Ming. Tell Lao Ding to hurry up and get things done so I don't miss out on going to the restaurant!"
His voice was as loud as a megaphone, full of energy.
"Okay!" Xu Cheng urged the elderly couple to make way, and reminded Ding Xuewen not to dawdle when he got home, with a perfectly good reason: "Yuehe is waiting for dinner."
The elderly couple who had been trying to get information from Ding Xuewen finally calmed down. Even though Yuehe, that fierce girl, is pregnant now, the other day some fearless brat threw sandbags at her wall and smashed the window of her small room. They thought she'd wait for Lin Yiku to come back before dealing with the brat, but instead, she grabbed a clothesline pole and went out. Before the brat could even run home, he got a beating at the alley entrance. The little brat cried all the way home, clutching his bottom.
Becoming a mother doesn't stop Tiger Girl from beating people up.
Guan Yuehe would beat the young, and she would beat the old too. The neighbors never doubted this.
Ding Xuewen chuckled. No wonder Sitian and the others often said that Yuehe had taken over Yiku's mantle and was now the tyrant of the alley.
"Fourth brother is back, come inside quickly and tell us." Sister-in-law Ding came out to call him when she heard the voice.
Now that she has met Ding Xuewen, Sister-in-law Ding's feelings are very mixed.
I heard that when Yuehe held her wedding banquet, some neighbors saw the fourth son, but none of his family members noticed him, and he didn't come home.
Eight years had passed since she last saw Ding Xuewen. When he came back last time, he was wearing a patched cotton-padded coat. He looked stronger than when he first came to the countryside, but his face was thin and his hands were covered in chilblains. His temper seemed not much different from when he was at home.
Now he's completely changed. Just like Aunt Hu said, he looks like a high-ranking official. Or rather, like a well-off intellectual.
Ding Xuewen called out "Sister-in-law" and then went back to the back room.
Xu Cheng was stopped outside by Sister-in-law Ding, but he didn't insist on going in. He just said, "I'll just sit here. Yuehe is waiting for us to have dinner."
The others were curious when they saw that the Ding family's door was closed, but they didn't want to rush in and eavesdrop. They all wanted to ask Xu Chengcai for information.
Xu Chengcai reverted to the taciturn person his neighbors remembered, always replying, "I don't know," no matter what they asked.
Inside the Ding family's house.
The four brothers, like four opposing camps, sat around a square table, one family on each side.
Ding Xuewen was all alone.
However, the voices of Lin Sitian, Chen Lizhong, and Xu Chengcai could be heard outside. Guan Yuehe's voice was not heard, but that did not stop them from mentioning her name several times.
He wasn't entirely alone.
Faced with a barrage of questions from his older brothers and sisters-in-law, asking when he returned to the city, which school he attended, and which work unit he was assigned to, he was met with a barrage of questions.
"I was admitted to the Normal University in 1978 and returned to the city. Now I work at a TV station."
His quick and decisive reply surprised his brothers and sisters-in-law, who answered immediately when asked.
Afterwards, everyone felt a little uncomfortable.
They assumed that the fourth brother hadn't gotten into university and was still working as an educated youth in Northeast China. They even thought that perhaps the fourth brother had already gotten married and had children in Northeast China.
Unexpectedly, he passed the exam and even went to a teachers' college. Now he works at a TV station!
No wonder he looks like an intellectual now.
They wanted to question him about why he hadn't informed his family, but then they remembered the unpleasant incident when he went to the countryside, and how his family hadn't sent him any money or supplies during the ten years he was there. Before the questions could even reach their lips, they swallowed them back down.
"cough."
For the first time in his life, the usually "honest and tongue-tied" eldest son, Ding, displayed the authority of a head of the family, saying, "It's a good thing that the fourth son got into university and was assigned to a good job, from now on..."
Ding Xuewen, impatient with these polite words, raised his hand to stop them, "Let's talk about the arrangements for the house first. We need to get someone from the neighborhood committee to come and provide proof later. Our parents are gone, and we brothers don't have much of a bond to begin with. Once we've settled the house issue, we can all go our separate ways."
The others exchanged glances but remained silent.
The fourth brother has made something of himself, and it looks like he'll be living a good life from now on. Saying this now clearly means he doesn't want to associate with them anymore; this brotherhood is over.
Ding the eldest wanted to say something nice, but Ding the second said, "I have no objection. I didn't help you before, and now that you've made something of yourself, I won't take advantage of you. The house was allocated by the factory when Dad was still alive, so it should be divided equally among us brothers. However, since the eldest brother and sister-in-law took care of Mom and Dad the most, the third brother and I also got a house... So, let's do this: the eldest brother will take the two largest rooms, and the remaining three smaller rooms will be divided among the third brother, the fourth brother, and me."
The younger members of my family are all of marriageable age, but none of them have a house. If we allocate the property sooner, the housing authority won't be able to force them to leave when they come.
After speaking, Ding Lao Er stopped and waited for them to think it over. Seeing that no one had any objections for the time being, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the small room was only about five square meters, it was still a proper room. He planned to have his eldest son move in here so that having a place would make it easier for him to find a partner and get married. This way, the family's living space would be more spacious.
The Ding couple didn't have any grand plans. They couldn't rely on their two sons, so they were counting on Dingxiang, who was in college. The two largest rooms they were allocated were enough for them, and Dingxiang could come home often in the future.
The Ding couple were even more satisfied. The four of them lived in a cramped 13-square-meter gatehouse, so being allocated a room was perfect for their son to move in.
Only Ding Xuewen remained silent.
Ding Xuewen twitched the corner of his mouth. He really hadn't expected that he would actually have a share in the family house!
But the house was useless to him; it was far from the TV station, and he couldn't live there regularly.
The brothers can sit down and talk things out now, but in a few years, it's hard to say. It's no wonder his empty house is coveted.
"Whoever wants my room, can take it for two hundred dollars."
Both Ding Lao Er and Ding Lao San wanted the house, but in the end, Ding Lao Er, who had more savings, got it.
The house was settled just like that, taking only a dozen minutes from start to finish.
Ding Laosan asked his son to go to the neighborhood office to call people over to testify, while Ding Dasao went to invite Uncle Lin and Xie Zhenhua, who were at home, to also testify.
The neighbors waiting outside to see what was going on were surprised, "They've already divided the property so quickly?"
Without any fanfare, the house that had been fought over for more than ten years was peacefully and calmly allocated.
Once the neighborhood committee and the neighbors who were there to witness the event were all present, everyone learned how the house was divided.
"Old Ding doesn't want a house? Two hundred yuan seems like a lot, but getting a house these days isn't easy. What's he thinking?"
“Didn’t you hear what his sister-in-law said? He graduated from the Normal University and now works at the TV station. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a house. There’s no need to waste his housing allocation quota.”
"Ding Laosi got into university and was even assigned to a TV station? Oh my! I told you, his brain is designed for studying, there's no way he couldn't have gotten into university! You guys insist that he's settled down and started a family in the countryside!"
"You're just being wise after the event..."
"That's not right. Zhang Desheng also studies at the Normal University, right? He never saw Ding Xuewen at the school?"
Zhang Desheng, who was suddenly mentioned, quickly waved his hand, "The school is so big, we are not in the same college, and we usually don't run into each other."
In fact, he and Ding Xuewen lived in adjacent dormitory buildings, and they often bumped into each other when they went out to class in the morning.
After the family division agreement was signed, Ding Ersao, who had just run out to borrow money, returned and gave Ding Xuewen two hundred yuan.
At this point, Ding Xuewen completely broke away from the Ding family in Courtyard No. 3, Ginkgo Hutong.
Chen Lizhong came over, put his hand on his shoulder, snatched the money from his hand and shook it, "Master Ding is rich, let him treat us to a meal at a restaurant today."
"Let's go, let's go. Yuehe has been urging us for a while now. Let's go out to eat."
Ding Xuewen let them use his money generously for him, and with Xu Chengcai turning around and urging him, he smiled and followed them.
Author's Note: Chapters 147, 148, and 150 have been revised.
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