Lin Jianqun, who had been pretending to be a quail, looked at the old man Lin and said, "Dad, are we really going to separate the family?"
"It's all your wife's fault. If I tell you to go, just go now and stop talking nonsense."
Grandma Shen hurriedly grabbed Grandpa Lin: "Old man, you really agree to divide the family property? What will happen to the third son after that?"
She was extremely unwilling to separate the family. The eldest son and his wife would hide away when there was work to be done, and run away faster than anyone else when there was food. With their cunning and sly ways, she had to subsidize them, so how could she expect them to support her? Besides, there was the third son, who was studying at his aunt's house, and his monthly expenses were quite high. If the second son was separated, how would the whole family manage to pay for themselves?
Old Man Lin got angry when he heard this: "I'm not dead yet. The third son doesn't need them to support him. Can't the two of us support him? If he wants to divide the property, let him. The children are grown up and will eventually have to separate."
Seeing that there was no room for maneuver, Lin Jianqun had no choice but to run off to find the village chief.
During this off-season for farming, village chief Lin Fugui was smoking his pipe in the yard when Lin Jianqun ran over. Puzzled, he asked what was going on, only to find out that their family was having a dispute over dividing the property. He quickly knocked down his pipe and followed them to their house.
When they arrived at Old Man Lin's house, Jiang's mother had already gone to rest, leaving only Old Lady Shen still relentlessly cursing Lin Jianguo for being heartless, hurling insults that were utterly offensive.
Although Old Mrs. Shen usually runs the household, the decision to divide the family property was made by Old Mr. Lin. Although she was dissatisfied, she couldn't say anything and could only vent her anger by cursing a few times.
"Brother Lin, are you really going to split the family property? It's no small matter. You need to think it through!" Lin Fugui advised the old man.
Old Man Lin said helplessly, "The children are all grown up. If they continue to live together, there will be more conflicts. It's better to separate now. If we don't separate now, the conflicts will turn into deadly feuds later."
He instructed everyone to come over, and after everyone had gathered, he said:
"Today, in front of your uncle, let's settle everything. Our family bought a total of eight mu of land. The three of you will each have two mu, and your mother and I will have two mu. Your mother and I will help cultivate the third son's land first. Also, the third son will live with us, so you don't need to worry about him. Your mother and I will rely on the eldest son to support us from now on, so these houses will belong to him."
“Fugui, look around the village, where is there any vacant land left? We’ll allocate a piece for you to build a house. You can take a set of all the farming tools from home, and three sets of bowls and chopsticks. We don’t have much grain left at home, so we’ll give you 100 jin of corn and 30 jin of wheat flour.”
After saying that, he went to check the family's vegetable cellar. After a whole winter, there weren't many vegetables left. He said to Lin Jianguo, "I'll give you another twenty catties of cabbage. Honey, go check how much money we have left."
When Grandma Shen heard about money, she panicked. "Where do we have any money at home? Where am I supposed to get any money?"
Old Man Lin glared at her: "Hurry up and take it out." During the off-season for farming, the second son and his brothers would go out to do some work, and they would hand over all the money they earned to Old Lady Shen. How could he not know whether they had money or not?
Old Mrs. Shen could only reluctantly take the money, secretly putting some away and taking out one hundred yuan.
Old Man Lin took the hundred yuan and said, "Your second son gets thirty, your eldest son gets twenty, and your mother and I will keep the rest, since the third son still needs to go to school."
Looking at the disgruntled Niu Shi, Old Man Lin said, "I gave the third son more because he doesn't have a house. If you're not satisfied, I'll give you thirty, and you can go out and build a house."
Upon hearing this, Niu Shi quickly waved her hand and said, "No, Father, we are willing to divide it this way."
After handing all the money to Lin Jianguo, the old man said earnestly, "This is all the skill I have. Every family is struggling now. If we don't have enough food, we'll just pick some wild vegetables to get by until the food comes in."
Lin Jianguo was extremely upset. He knelt on the ground and said, "Father, it's all because your son is unfilial. When I have money in the future, I will take good care of you and Mother." After saying that, he kowtowed heavily to the old man.
At this moment, Old Mrs. Shen suddenly jumped out and said, "The family has been divided up, so what about our New Year's gifts? I don't want much, just one hundred yuan a year."
Lin Jianguo was stunned. One hundred yuan? He couldn't earn that much money in a year.
Old Man Lin glared at her and said, "You want so much? Are you trying to drive your second son to his death?"
"If you don't have a hundred yuan, fifty yuan will do. Otherwise, we won't split this business. If you keep causing trouble, I'll die right here."
Upon hearing this, Er Ya quickly nudged Jiang's mother, who smiled and stepped forward, saying, "It's only right to be filial to our parents. Fifty it is then. We can manage to scrape together the money by saving every penny."
"The family is divided like this, so it's settled. Today, let your Uncle Fugui stamp the family division document, and from now on we will be two separate families."
After the stamp was completed, I wanted to invite the village chief to stay for a meal, but he politely declined and waved goodbye before leaving.
After saying so much, Old Man Lin was tired. He waved his hand to dismiss everyone and went back to his room, exhausted.
After a long day, Er Ya lay in bed thinking about how she had finally separated from the family and how great things were just around the corner. She even laughed out loud in her sleep.
The next morning, after a simple breakfast, Lin Jianguo let Jiang's mother rest in bed for a while, and then took Er Ya to look at houses.
When they arrived at the village chief's house, Er Ya sweetly called out, "Grandpa Village Chief, have you eaten yet? When are we going to look at houses?"
Looking at the cheerful Er Ya in front of him, Lin Fugui thought to himself, "This old man Lin is so lucky to have such a clever and adorable granddaughter."
He stepped forward and pinched Er Ya's little cheek, his face crinkling with laughter. "Let's go now, Grandpa will find you a good house."
As he spoke, he handed Er Ya a White Rabbit milk candy and then took the father and daughter to look at houses.
Soon they arrived at an empty house. Pointing to the house in front of him, he said to Lin Jianguo, "This is Lin Shitou's house in the village. His son is successful and took him away, so the village took back the house. If you like it, I'll give it to you for one hundred yuan."
Er Ya looked at the house in front of her with excitement. It was about the same size as the house where Grandma Shen and the others lived, with three rooms, a kitchen, and a large courtyard. This house was only 100 yuan, which was a great deal, especially since it was very close to the mountain, which was very convenient.
"Dad, I like it here. Shall we stay here?"
Lin Jianguo also took a liking to the house at first sight, and seeing that his daughter also liked it, he said to the village chief, "Uncle, let's take this house then, I'll give you the money later."
Seeing that Er Ya, that little devil, liked this place, Lin Fugui was also happy and hurriedly said, "There's no rush to pay. Just give me whatever you have. If you don't have enough, you can pay later. If you've decided on this place, I'll transfer the ownership to you in a bit."
To be continued!
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