The morning sun had just penetrated the thick morning mist when a spotted rooster stood on the mud wall and sang at the top of its voice.
Secretary Chen brought the enamel bowl and sipped it while checking whether the newly planted wheat seedlings in the fields had been affected by the heavy rains in the previous two months.
Before he finished his bowl of noodle soup, the old lady of the Qiao family pulled him away.
The Qiao family wants to split up, and they need Secretary Chen and the oldest person in the village to be witnesses.
After hearing the news, many villagers came to the gate of Qiao's house with their bowls in hand to watch the excitement.
The old man of the Qiao family is famous for his dominance, while Qiao Xinguo and his wife are gentle and have not yet had a son.
The villagers were talking about what these two old guys would give them.
After all, when it comes to dividing the family property, it's up to the parents to decide how much to get, and there's no such thing as absolute fairness and justice.
The Qiao family has two sons and one daughter. The second daughter is already married.
The family had been poor farmers for three generations. Apart from a set of five piggery rooms surrounded by a yard, two pig pens and a chicken coop left by their ancestors, they had nothing.
After Qiao Zhixia's grandfather died, three thatched houses were left at the east end of the village.
Because the eldest grandfather had no children and Qiao Xinguo was the only one who treated him best when he was alive, the house was left to the Qiao family.
While smoking a leaf cigarette, Old Man Qiao asked the village secretary to start allocating the three thatched houses to Qiao Xinguo's family.
The old couple lived with their first son, and from then on, Qiao Xinguo would not be needed to take care of them except when they got seriously ill or had to pay for the funeral expenses after their death.
Similarly, they would not pay for Qiao Xinguo and his wife's medical treatment when they were sick.
From now on, the two families will be separated.
At the same time, Old Lady Qiao placed a large iron pot containing a clay pot and four broken kiln bowls in front of Qiao Zhixia.
Qiao Laosan and his wife followed closely and brought out two rolls of blankets, which were placed before the three of them to sleep.
As for food, they were given ten catties of corn bran, ten catties of sprouted beans, and one catty of lard.
Money...not a dime.
Qiao Zhixia calculated that the 500 yuan in the hands of the old couple should be enough, but they refused to admit it.
"Since you don't agree to split the money, please write something in the separation agreement that we don't want their money today, and they don't want to count on us for money in the future."
Aunt Qiao curled her lips in disdain, "Tsk~ Do you still have money? Not enough for medical treatment, right? Money, fire tongs!"
Qiao Zhixia stared coldly at the ugly faces of this family. She was waiting for the moment when she burst into tears.
Regarding the land, the current policy is to distribute land to each household, and each villager in Jingyang Village has an average of 1.5 mu of land.
Every household needs to pay enough public grain according to the population requirements every year, and the rest is up to them.
The more people there are in a family, the more public grain they have to hand in.
In terms of land distribution, Old Man Qiao gave all of his four acres of low- to medium-yield land with poor soil to Qiao Xinguo. Anyway, nothing good could grow from the land after digging it up, so it might as well be distributed.
Due to the low yield and after deducting the public rations, it was basically impossible for their family of three to have enough food to eat by relying on those 4 acres of land.
Qiao Xinguo knew this very well. In the past, he could do carpentry work to make money to supplement his income, but now he can't work and has to take medicine.
So...for the first time, he protested against his father's partiality and injustice.
"Dad, if you divide it like this, how are we going to survive?"
Old man Qiao felt no shame at all, and said righteously: "You have given birth to two money-losers in these years. It's good that you can have a living. Naturally, I have to consider the roots of the Qiao family more, and I must not let my two older grandsons suffer."
In other words, without a son, you have committed the original sin and you don't deserve fair treatment!
Qiao Zhixia knew that for so many years, her parents had been treated unfairly by her grandparents.
As human beings, they naturally have tempers, but as soon as the other party says that they have no son, they will instantly become silent.
Like now.
Qiao Laosan and his wife sat on the side, hugging their knees and shaking their legs, with a look of triumph on their faces.
Qiao Zhixia didn't care, she just wanted to get rid of this family of locusts as soon as possible.
She was not interested in the rubbish they gave her, and she was even less bothered by the few acres of low- and medium-yield fields. Her farming system provided her with spiritual springs, and she could even grow vegetables in the cracks of the rocks.
Secretary Chen couldn't help but frown when he saw the things that the old couple of the Qiao family gave to Qiao Xinguo's family.
"Brother Qiao! You are too biased. New China loves your son. How can he and his family settle down with this little money?"
"The three of them saved some money and went there. How can the six of us eat the same?" Old man Qiao said disapprovingly, puffing on his cigarette.
"Let's divide it this way! Mr. Chen, Mr. Niu and all the villagers are here today to bear witness. From now on, my parents and I will officially separate from my grandparents and pursue our own futures without any regrets!"
Qiao Zhixia couldn't hide her excitement in her tone, while Qiao Xinguo and Li Aizhen hung their heads in dismay, thinking about how their future would be in vain.
Qiao Laosan's family didn't expect that they could be divided up so easily.
Qiao Zhixia was like a happy sparrow, happily holding her parents' arms and running towards freedom with the things they had given them.
The family arrived in front of the house three miles away from that family. The fenced yard by the roadside had decayed over time.
The yard in front of the house was full of weeds. Fortunately, Qiao Xinguo had repaired the roof earlier to store wood to prevent it from getting wet in the rain.
The overall structure of the house is relatively safe, but the doors and windows are seriously corroded and need to be replaced.
Pushing open the seemingly non-existent door, I found that the 60-square-meter house was divided into three rooms. The room had good lighting so it was not damp.
Qiao Xinguo sighed: "You two are going to suffer with me."
"Dad, as long as our family is together and we don't have to be exploited anymore, things will get better and better." Qiao Zhixia smiled brightly.
Qiao Xinguoben was an optimistic person. Seeing his daughter smile, he knew that he could only take things one step at a time.
"Okay, let's clean up the house first..." Qiao Xinguo was about to roll up his sleeves and start cleaning when he heard someone outside the house shouting:
"Brother Xin, we heard that you are celebrating the separation of your family today, so we came over to join in the fun..."
When Qiao Zhixia went out, she saw a middle-aged couple coming into the yard. The man usually worked with Qiao Xinguo on carpentry jobs, and the couple had always had a good relationship with Qiao Xinguo and his wife.
"Uncle Gao and Aunt Gao." Qiao Zhixia greeted them warmly.
"Hey, Zhizhi has become prettier again." Aunt Gao came over with the bacon in her hand.
Qiao Xinguo and his wife came out to greet them. After a few greetings, the two men prepared to use the wooden boards in the room to make two beds and repair the windows and doors.
The two women were going to repair the half-collapsed stove in the middle room so that they could cook more conveniently in the future.
Qiao Zhixia took the opportunity to borrow the village secretary's bicycle and went to the town supply and marketing cooperative.
I bought half a pound of pork head, a bowl of fried peanuts, half a roast chicken and other cooked food.
I also bought two enamel basins, a thermos, a kettle, two enamel cups, four towels, an oil lamp, a candle and a large box of matches.
After pulling out some cloth to cover the windows, I bought two shovels and a sickle and hoe...
After the family split up, I had nothing and needed to buy a lot of necessities.
Fortunately, the market has been liberalized. Although some commodities still need to be purchased with tickets, most things can be bought with money.
Before leaving, I spent another RMB 3.2 to buy a flashlight and another RMB 1 to buy four batteries.
After buying all the things, I counted the money and found that I had spent 66.80 yuan. I have to say, money nowadays really lasts a long time.
After returning, she had just put down her things when she saw that some pots, bowls, pans, rice, flour, grain, oil, etc. that had not been there before were piled up in the corner.
When I asked my mother, she was smearing the stove with yellow mud and she knew that those things were sent to her by the enthusiastic neighbors.
It is true that country people like to join in the fun, but most of them are warm-hearted.
Qiao Zhixia wrote down the names of the people who sent gifts in a notebook. She would definitely find a chance to repay them...