Lin Juhua had returned to the outer room of the west wing. Seeing the second son, Zhang Guoqiang, come in, she smiled and helped pat his clothes. She pulled him down onto the kang and looked at him with shining eyes. The curiosity in her eyes was unconcealable. He knew that his wife couldn't hide her feelings. Seeing her smile like a flower, he just liked her smile every time he saw her. No matter how lazy she was, as long as she was pretty and obedient, he would be happy. He didn't ask for much. If she didn't know what he was doing, he could adjust it. He would let her know what it meant to be a husband who is the sky.
Lin Juhua nudged her confused daughter, asking her to move closer. "I vaguely heard Mom talking about splitting up the family. Is that true? What did Dad say? Why do you three brothers look unhappy? I heard someone outside saying we're splitting up the family. What happened?"
The second son lay on the kang and pulled the quilt back to lean on it. "Do you want to split up the family? After the split, there will be a lot of things to do at home. No one will help, so you have to rely on yourself. When the time comes, you will have to raise pigs and chickens and do the housework, and there will be no one to take care of the children. How will you get off work? If we split up, I will be the only one left. I am worried."
Lin Juhua also started to worry when she heard him say that. Her parents' family was unreliable and she would be resentful if they didn't hold her back. She also wanted her mother to come over but was afraid that the house would be empty.
"I'll listen to you. Whatever you say is fine. But I want to split up. You know your mother doesn't like me. We're still close even though we're far apart. I'm no less filial than others. Even though your mother always scolds me, I know she's much better than my own mother and the other mothers-in-law in the village. She never scolds me in front of outsiders and she protects me. I know that."
"My mother has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. You are indeed much lazier than my sister-in-law. I don't want to criticize you, but think about how much you did at your mother's house and how much you do now? At home, you only feed the pigs and even wash clothes for yourself. Look at my sister-in-law, she is always busy and running around."
The second son also knew his wife was selfish, saying everyone has their own selfish desires. He wouldn't force her, but she couldn't be lazy and gluttonous. After the separation, the man would be the breadwinner and the woman the homemaker. If she continued like this, she would be beaten to death.
Lin Juhua knew she would enjoy her life after marriage. She thought of her older sisters, who lived like beggars. Her eldest sister looked about the same age as her mother, and the children at home were crying from hunger. Her second sister was married off to a second husband by her mother for the bride price, and the older children, when they grew up, always bullied her two nephews. They were already short of food, and the two younger ones would cry and beg her for food. Her third sister was better off. Although she was sold for a high price to marry her third brother-in-law, she could still eat half a full meal.
She stole grain several times, not for her mother. Her mother, with the 500 yuan betrothal gift, forced her to marry naked into the Zhang family, where she would forever be ashamed of her sisters-in-law. Once she married, she lost all hope. Except for holidays, she never went back. Everyone knew the Zhang family was well-off, and her sisters all said she had found a good home. From then on, she never resented her mother-in-law and was grateful to her father-in-law. If her son Shitou married a daughter-in-law like her, he would definitely kick her out along with his son.
Every time she saw her nephews crying with hunger while she herself ate steamed corn bread, she wanted to secretly send some to them. Her three sisters had raised her when she was little; without them, she would have been dead long ago. The Zhang family was capable, while others could only get by with two meals a day, but they had three. The sweet potatoes in the warehouse were piled high, and she wanted to secretly send some to her sisters.
Before the family division, the household was run by her mother-in-law, and she dared not do anything under her nose. Her mother-in-law accused her of stealing grain to bring back to her parents' home. She had explained to her husband that if she had given it to her mother, she would probably have alienated him. Her husband was right; a man couldn't support his wife and children, and relying on an outsider wasn't a long-term solution. His three brothers worked their butts off to barely make ends meet, yet they couldn't afford fine food. As a result, even if she gave subsidies to her sister, she couldn't argue.
Lin Juhua stared out the window, sighing deeply. Every day, she secretly saved food for herself and her daughter, who was so thin she'd be blown away by a gust of wind. Her mother-in-law had already spoken. This life was exhausting.
"Don't worry, when the family splits up, I'll work all night to plant crops in the backyard. Then I'll raise pigs and chickens. The chickens will lay a lot of eggs a year. Shitou is five years old now, so he can help me take care of the little girl. In two years, when Shitou is old enough to go to school, the little girl will be grown up."
The second son actually had a plan in mind, which was to make his wife worry. He still had money, but she never knew it, because she knew she was worried about her sister and nephew. In his opinion, only those who are capable can help. He worked himself to death, and his own children were poorly raised and as thin as chickens, but he had to support his elder and younger sisters-in-law for a long time. He was sick. If his mother knew, she would be skinned alive. As for the grain theft incident, he did not speak to his mother on his wife's behalf. He knew his mother too well. She was very soft-hearted. No matter how much she disliked the men from those two families, she would still support them. After she knew about it, the sweet potatoes in the warehouse would be reduced by half. But she would not think about those families with men who also had food to eat. He looked down on men who could not support their families. So why did they marry and have children?
Lin Juhua only then remembered that she had just come in and wanted to ask about the division of the family property, but was distracted. She looked at him anxiously, "What were you and Xiaowu talking about just now? I heard you guys talking about a backyard and a wall. Are you talking about our two families building houses?"
The second brother looked at his wife with amusement. This woman finally got to the point and chatted to this extent.
"Dad said we'll buy materials for building a house these days. Each family will pay 150 yuan, based on the size of my eldest brother's current yard. Let's go back to the room and discuss how big we want to build. If it's more or less than 150 yuan, you can handle it yourself. Later, when we left the main hall, I called Xiaowu and discussed with him about finding the strongest laborers in the village to cut bluestone. We'll pay them more than the work points we earn when the time comes. We'll also buy some tiles and a few beams, and go up the mountain to chop some wood and add the small wood we have at home. I think we can save a lot. Xiaowu wants the three families to build the same yard, so we're just discussing how to save money. What size do you want to build? Don't worry about anything else."
"Okay, you have the final say on our family. But if we build a house as big as this one, it will cost a lot of money, right? There are only four of us. It's a pity to leave it empty. You said it costs 150 yuan per family to build a house now, so what will we get when we divide the family? How about we build a smaller one so that we have more money and we won't be short of money when we divide the family. Qiangzi, look at your parents, they have quite a lot of money. What will they give us when we divide the family?" Lin Juhua was very excited. She didn't expect such a good thing to happen. The 150 yuan given by her father-in-law was beyond her imagination. It seemed that the Zhang family was really wealthy.
Zhang Guoqiang knew the old woman was dreaming the moment he heard her. He had to give her a good slap on the wrist. "You're overthinking it. The two families only gave 300 yuan. How much do you think your parents have? The work points accumulated over the past few years are just a few dollars, which is what we saved from the previous few years. That's how much we spent on the betrothal gifts for Xiaowu and I, and a little more on my younger sister's wedding. I guess the coffins are already paid for, so it's time to divide the family property. We can split a few chickens in the backyard and buy some bowls and a pot. What else do we have in this house?"
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