Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Signing the Severance Letter
After crossing the long ridge, Lin Chuntao and the others found Lin Cunzheng and Sun and explained the situation to them.
Sun looked at her worriedly and asked, "Where are you staying tonight?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I don't know yet. Anyway, it's not freezing in the summer, so I can live anywhere in the cave or on the grass."
The more lightly she spoke, the more unbearable it became for the listeners.
Lin Cunzheng looked at Lin Chuntao, then at the two children behind him, frowning, and said in a deep voice, "How can you do this? Go back and I'll tell your grandfather."
Lin Chuntao bit her lip and lowered her head, gently rubbing the dirt with her toes. After a long silence, she said, "Grandpa, I don't want to take my sister back."
"Before she died, my mother held my hand and told me to take good care of my sisters. It was okay before, just a little harder and more tiring, with less food and less clothes. I could endure it, and so can my sisters."
"But it's different now. I don't want my sisters to be sold off."
As she spoke, tears fell down her face like beans that had broken off the string.
Muramasa felt a little uncomfortable seeing her like this.
After all, they are the children they have raised since childhood, and they know exactly what a miserable life they have lived.
Sun patted Lin Chuntao's arm and said, "Don't cry, don't cry. We can stand up on our own in the future. It's okay, it's okay. We will go back with you to sign the agreement.
At this time, in the old Lin family courtyard, although Zhang had spoken, everyone was thinking about how to get the 28 taels of betrothal gift.
Tian was so upset that she almost went crazy.
Lin Xian'er was so angry that she stamped her feet. "Mother, I won't marry! That old widower doesn't even take a piss and look at himself. He's like a toad wanting to eat swan meat."
Tian looked at her daughter. She had never let her be exposed to the sun since she was a child. How could such a filthy thing covet such a good daughter!
"I didn't want to marry anyway. Don't be angry. How could I let you marry someone like that?"
Lin Xian'er breathed a sigh of relief and took Tian's arm, saying coquettishly, "I knew that mother is the best to me."
Tian looked at the people in the yard, especially Qian, and said sternly, "If anyone dares to send Xian'er's birthday to that matchmaker behind my back, I will make her get out of this house!"
Qian's sisters-in-law hurriedly replied perfunctorily, "Don't worry, mother. We sisters all treat Xian'er as our own sister. How could we let her marry someone like that?"
Tian sneered and was about to continue lecturing.
Lin Cunzheng and Sun and others arrived, holding pens, ink, paper and inkstone in their hands, followed by Lin Chuntao and her sisters and some people from the village.
Lin Cunzheng looked at the old man sitting under the eaves smoking his pipe and shouted, "Old Five, Chuntao and the other girls came to me and said they were kicked out by you. Do you want to sever ties with them?"
The old man's face turned red when he heard what Muramasa said.
Tian thought about what Zhang had just said, and then looked at Lin Chuntao and saw that she had actually called Muramasa over. Was she here to support them and mediate?
This bitch is just like her mother, doing evil things silently.
She was furious and replied directly: "Yes, I drove them out. Brother, are you here to seek justice for them?"
Lin Cunzheng frowned slightly. "It's not really justice. The child just came to my house and asked me to be a witness and help you write a document to sever ties."
Lin Changhe originally thought that Lin Chuntao was just talking, but he didn't expect that this black-hearted girl actually wanted to sever ties!
"Lin Chuntao, are you crazy? You really want to sever ties with me!"
Lin Chuntao looked at Lin Changhe. She was really disappointed for her original self for having such a father.
Lin Chuntao was very familiar with their tactics. They threatened the child with harsh words, but the child was young and had no ability to stand on his own. When he turned around and apologized, he was severely taken advantage of by them.
Lin Chuntao hates being manipulated the most.
"You were the ones who wanted to kick us out, so why are you acting like we're the ones making a fuss about leaving? You're so hypocritical."
Lin Changhe was so angry that he pointed at her and called her an unfilial daughter, but Lin Chuntao didn't care at all.
Tian felt irritated by Lin Chuntao's stubborn look. She wanted to see how long these black-hearted girls could remain stubborn.
"Establish! Establish now? I, an old woman, raised them up so much and tried to find them a husband out of kindness, but they pretended to obey but acted crazy and stupid. I advise these wicked people to stay away. You have children too, don't lead them astray!"
“Some people are born bad!”
The villagers standing at the door couldn't help but chime in: "Fifth Aunt, marriage is a matter of fate. It's all because your daughter Xian'er is so beautiful that the betrothal present immediately fell in love with her. It's such a good family, why don't you just marry Xian'er off? Why get so angry?"
Lin Chuntao almost applauded at this string of sarcastic remarks. She glanced calmly at the woman who spoke for her.
Tian glared at her fiercely. If eyes could kill, she would have cut the woman into pieces.
"It's my family's business, why are you talking nonsense here?"
"Close the door! Let in any cat or dog!"
Lin Xian'er listened to Tian's words and rushed over. When she passed by Lin Chuntao, she glared at her fiercely, "You ungrateful bastard!"
There was a bang and the gate was closed.
The woman outside laughed and said, "Some people are so angry because they couldn't sell their granddaughter for food! What's the point of talking about finding a good husband? What's the point of finding a widower who's more than ten years older than their child?"
"God is watching what you do. Even a fig leaf can't cover up that shameless behavior!"
Lin Cunzheng was watching the people in the yard, all of them blushing. Fearing a fight would break out if they continued talking, he raised his voice and said, "Is there no work in the fields? Why don't you go get some work?"
As soon as Muramasa spoke, there was silence outside.
After Muramasa finished writing the document, Chuntao and her sisters pressed their fingerprints first, and then Muramasa gave it to Lin Changhe to press. Lin Changhe hesitated for a long time, so Tian grabbed it and pressed it first, then she personally took it to the old man to press his fingerprints before giving it to him.
She looked at Lin Changhe coldly: "Do you want to get out too?"
Lin Changhe frowned and pressed his handprint, muttering, "My son, even if I break the bones, the tendons are still connected. Can I break it just by signing a document?"
Lin Cunzheng's expression was serious. He looked at Lin Changhe and said, "Small quarrels can break bones and tendons, and even if we split the family, we can't split the heart. But you are different. You directly kicked him out of the house. I will take this document to the government to get a new household registration. After the household registration is issued, you will be two completely separate families!"
Tian replied angrily, "I have to do it thoroughly! I'm afraid you'll be unable to survive and beg to come back like a beggar!"
"Of course not. Even if I were to starve to death, I would never come to you to beg for food."
After signing the agreement and signing the fingerprints, Lin Chuntao said to Villager Zheng and Mrs. Sun, "Grandpa and Grandma, we're leaving first."
Sun said, "Let's go together. We also need to go to the fields."
Lin Changhe watched Lin Chuntao follow someone out of the yard without looking back, and he suddenly felt confused.
Since when did Lin Chuntao change? How did she become so strange?
It seemed like that day she came to him timidly and said, Dad, I don’t want to marry that man.
He felt annoyed looking at her and replied to her unhappily, "You have to marry me whether you want to or not. That's a good family your mother found for you."
She blushed and questioned him, "He's more than ten years older than me? He's even older than you! From now on, will you call him brother or will he call you dad?"
He got so angry that he slapped her, and she ran and jumped into the lake.
After being rescued, Lin Chuntao seemed to no longer regard him as her father. She never told him again that she didn't want to get married, and she brought a man back without informing him in advance.
Lin Changhe was feeling annoyed, so he ran over under the pretext of closing the gate, only to see that they had already gone far away.
The agreement to sever ties had already been signed, and Lin Chuntao's mood improved a little. Sun looked at them worriedly, "Chuntao, where are you guys going to sleep tonight?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I'll go look for a cave that's more sheltered from the wind."
Sun finally couldn't bear it any longer. "There's an old house at the foot of the mountain near my home. If you don't mind, I can go and clean it up and you can live there temporarily. It's a bit damp because no one has lived there for a long time. One of the walls is cracked, so we can only live in two rooms."
Lin Chuntao quickly thanked her: "I don't mind, how could I mind, thank you, grandma! We are very grateful for having a place to shelter from the wind and rain."
Sun hurriedly grabbed her and said, "Hey, kid, don't be so polite. I'll take you to see it."
With that, the old couple took them to the old house.
The old house is at the foot of the mountain. It is indeed an abandoned old house. The door and windows are broken, and the roof is blocked by the branches behind it to block the sunlight. The house is cold and damp, and there are a lot of weeds growing inside.
Sun felt that the house might not be habitable, but Lin Chuntao said it was.
She thanked them with a smile and said that they could move in after a bit of cleaning. Pei Ying also agreed, "I know how to make bamboo doors and windows. They'll be done in two or three days. Later, I can trim the branches above so that the sunlight can filter in."
After deciding to live here, Lin Chuntao asked Muramasa, "Grandpa, do we still have that twelve mu of land?"
"Yes, I was planning to measure it tomorrow, but given your situation, I'll take you guys to measure it this afternoon. After the measurement, I'll go to the city tomorrow to get your household registration sticker ready, and fill in the land on the sticker."
Lin Chuntao nodded: "Thank you, Grandpa, for your trouble."
"I also want to ask my great-grandfather if he can mark out a plot of land for us. We want to save money and build a house in the future."
Lin Cunzheng was stunned for a moment. It was extremely difficult for the villagers to save money. After paying taxes on the grain for the whole year, they were lucky to have enough to eat. There was nothing to sell. The only things they could exchange for money were a few eggs, or some firewood to carry into the city to sell. But now eggs cost two for one cent, and firewood was sold at a high price. It was not easy to save money, let alone save money to build a house.
If there is no craftsman at home, you have to pay wages to hire a craftsman, and the food must be oily, which is also a considerable expense.
Adding doors, windows, tables, and chairs, it would cost a lot to build these houses, and it would require the whole family to work together.
Lin Chuntao has just gotten married, and Pei Ying's character is still unknown. Chunxing and Chunhe can help with the housework, but it may be difficult for them to grow crops.
Also, the Lin family did not give the sisters any land. The spring planting season had already passed, and it was too late for them to grow crops on the twelve acres of land.
When the autumn harvest came, they didn't have a single grain of food, yet they still had to pay taxes.
Masamitsu Hayashimura was sweating for them.
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