Chapter 13: Separation
Liu Lan looked at Xia Juanjuan viciously, she was almost angry to death!
From what she had inquired in advance, it was clear that Xia Juanjuan was supposed to be timid and submissive, and not fight back or retaliate when being beaten or scolded in the Xia family, but just work hard without complaint.
How come after getting married, Xia Juanjuan seems to have become a completely different person, now sharp-tongued, eloquent, and a seductress, bewitching her fourth son and making him listen to her in everything!
She now regrets marrying this woman!
Liu Lan took a deep breath, suppressed the anger that was about to explode, and said, "Zhan'er, your wife is determined to divide the family, and I can't stop her. But I have a request!"
As she spoke, she looked at Xia Juanjuan: "Juanjuan, you are young and have no experience in managing a household. As for Zhan'er's allowance in the army, it should be kept with me. I will keep it for you. If you need anything, come and ask me. Don't worry, I will never withhold it from you. Do you have any objection?"
Xia Juanjuan curled the corners of her lips. This calculating mother-in-law finally showed her true colors.
If she agrees to this question, that would be great. But if she doesn't agree, it would mean she is disrespectful to the elderly and unfilial to her parents-in-law.
The commune secretary was listening nearby, and she was afraid that he would turn around and report her!
With such a accusation put upon her, in such a special environment in the 1970s, wouldn't she have to bear the consequences?
"Mother-in-law, I have no opinion on how to distribute Lizhan's allowance. Mother-in-law, you should ask Lizhan. If he agrees to give it all to mother-in-law for safekeeping, I will have no objection!"
After having just fought a fierce battle and lied to agree to the separation, she had a hunch that the man she married would not agree to Liu Lan's unreasonable request.
Liu Lan glared at Xia Juanjuan fiercely, this vixen was so vicious!
This is clearly an attempt to sow discord between her and her son!
Li Zhan looked at his wife, then at Liu Lan, and said, "Mom, I've already thought about the allowance. After the separation, Juan Juan is taking care of three children. If all the money is kept with you, it will be inconvenient if something happens. From now on, I will give you an allowance of 40 yuan, 30 yuan for my wife, and 10 yuan for you. It's my pension for you."
When Liu Lan heard this, her face turned pale with anger!
She married her son off, but the allowance she received was reduced from 25 yuan to 10 yuan!
This means not only losing your son, but also losing your troops!
"Zhan'er, I'm getting older, and your sister Qiaoqiao is getting married soon... these ten yuan are really too little..."
Secretary Zhao at the side couldn't bear to listen any more.
"I say Liu Lan, you should be content! The wife has three kids to feed and only gets 30 yuan. You and Li Qiaoqiao can only get 10 yuan. I think Li Zhan has already been very biased towards you! Li Qiaoqiao is already 17 years old, right? Your three-year-old Li Beibei knows to go out early in the morning to cut grass for pigs to earn a share of the labor. But I have never seen Li Qiaoqiao go out to work! What's the matter? She has no hands or feet? Do you still want to squeeze your fourth son to support you for the rest of your life?"
Secretary Zhao became more and more angry as he spoke.
"Besides, Lizhan served in the army for nine years, and I handed over all the allowances to you! The amount in the first two years was small, so it was not counted. For the last seven years, I'll take the lower amount, which is about 20 yuan per month. That's 240 yuan a year, and 1,680 yuan for seven years!
Even if you spent a lot of money on marrying your three sons, building houses and daily expenses, you should have at least a few hundred left! Li Zhan and his wife didn't ask you for anything and continued to give you ten yuan every month. That's already very kind! Don't you think it's not enough?
Let's take a step back. Don't you have two other sons? You can't just fleece one sheep, right? Why don't you try asking your second and third sons for 10 yuan a month? See if they pay attention to you or not!"
These words made Liu Lan's face turn red and black, which looked very beautiful!
Xia Juanjuan looked at the old secretary in shock. If she wasn't afraid of scaring this kind and sharp old man, she would have wanted to run up and give him a big hug!
It’s so satisfying to criticize Liu Lan!
If it weren't for her own position, she couldn't say these words. She would have spoken out long ago and left Liu Lan speechless!
Wang Guixiang finally understood why her mother-in-law was not happy about her fourth brother's family moving out. It turned out that she wanted to monopolize her fourth brother's allowance!
Moreover, I didn't expect that she had so much money in her hands!
"Mom! Do you really have a few hundred dollars in your hand? Last time I asked you for two pieces of cloth to make two pairs of shoes for Xiaosheng and Jiaojiao, and you said you didn't have any!"
Wang Guixiang became angrier and angrier as she spoke!
This old hag is so rich, but she always tries to persuade her husband to pick the best white rice and white flour from the rations he earns through hard work for her and her sister-in-law!
"Yes, mom, do you really have that much money?" Li Qiang also stared at Liu Lan suspiciously and questioned.
A few hundred yuan! The current market price of a pound of white flour is 1.8 yuan, and the market price of a pound of meat is only 90 yuan! A few hundred yuan is 2,000 pounds of white flour and a few hundred pounds of pork! It is enough for the ten people in their Li family to eat for several years!
Liu Lan panicked and shouted, "Bullshit! How can I have that much money? Over the years, you have been fed, clothed and used by me with your work points. Do you think that? I paid for all that. The allowance that Zhan Er sent back has been used up long ago!"
Xia Juanjuan didn't want to listen to Liu Lan and Wang Guixiang's quarrels, so she said, "Since mother-in-law agrees to divide the family, then please ask the secretary to come to our house and be a witness."
Liu Lan had no choice but to follow everyone back to Li's house reluctantly.
As soon as they got home, Liu Lan instructed Li Qiang and Wang Guixiang to move out some of the food, rice, flour, meat, eggs, etc.
Wang Guixiang and his wife dithered for a long time before they finally moved out ten kilograms of sweet potatoes, ten kilograms of sweet potato flour, ten kilograms of corn flour, five kilograms of white flour, five kilograms of rice, eight eggs, and about half a kilogram of bacon!
"Mom, these are all the food left in the house."
Liu Lan took a look and naturally saw that the couple had moved out at least half of their space, and she was very satisfied.
She said to Secretary Zhao, "Secretary, you've seen it too. Although our family has just harvested the autumnal equinox grain, winter is coming soon. It's not certain whether this little food can last through the winter! But since the sons are grown up and no longer under the control of their mothers, we will divide it according to the number of people. The two children count as one person, and there are five of us. The fourth daughter-in-law counts as two and a half people, so she can get 30%. Secretary, you testify that I am not bullying her, right?"
Xia Juanjuan made a rough calculation in her mind.
30% is 3 kg of sweet potatoes, 3 kg of sweet potato flour, 3 kg of corn flour, 1.6 catties of white flour, 1.6 catties of rice and 3 eggs. The bacon can be divided into 80g, which can be ignored.
Secretary Zhao knew at first glance that the second son of the Li family had kept a lot of secrets. Just as he was about to point it out, Xia Juanjuan spoke directly.
"I have no objection to giving us 30% of these rations, and I don't mind. But there is another matter that needs to be clarified in front of the secretary."
Liu Lan didn't expect Xia Juanjuan to agree to the distribution plan so readily, and didn't even doubt their secretiveness. She couldn't help feeling proud. It seemed that she wasn't that smart.
She sneered and asked, "What do you want to clarify?"
Xia Juanjuan glanced at the crowd with cold eyes and said with a smile: "It's the two brick and tile houses left by my eldest brother!"