106, split up again
106, split up again
As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles.
The news of what happened in the Lu family's old house spread throughout the village that evening. Little Wang, who usually didn't go out much, came out early the next morning and told everyone in the village everything that happened when they asked her about her family.
However, Mrs. Lu's daughter, Sun, who usually loved to go out, hid at home and dared not go out after her eldest son did such a thing.
As a result, the three brothers Lu Erlang, Lu Sanlang and Lu Silang no longer went to the village to play with others, because the brothers who played with them would ask them about their eldest brother when they saw them.
On the second day after the eldest niece's wife gave birth to the child, Lu Laoer and his younger brother Lu Laosi brought their sons to kneel in front of Ye Niang and asked to divide the family property.
"You, you, are you trying to piss us off to death? As long as I, Lu Gen, am alive, don't even think about dividing the family property!" Old man Lu cursed angrily, pointing at his two sons and two grandsons.
Old Mrs. Lu had never expected that her two sons would suddenly propose dividing the family property. Even though she was an old country lady who knew nothing, she knew that once the family property was divided, the two of them would be despised by their sons and would live a miserable life in the future.
So when she saw her two sons and grandson kneeling in front of them and asking for a division of the family property, she urged them to get up quickly, "Second and fourth sons, what's wrong with you? Hurry up and get up, or your father will get sick from being mad."
"Look at whose family, the mother is still talking about her son wanting to split the family property. Wouldn't it be a laughing stock if this were told to others?"
"Mother, go out and listen to what people outside are saying about our family. Are we still afraid of being laughed at now?" Lu Laoer looked up at Mother and said.
Thinking about how people outside were talking about their family and her eldest grandson, Mrs. Lu felt a little annoyed, and her face darkened. "Why do you care about other people? They have their mouths on them, so they can say whatever they want."
"Since you said so, mother, are you still afraid of being laughed at if our family splits up?" Lu Laoer seized the loophole in their mother's words and asked.
"Father, mother, if you are worried that we will not care about your retirement after we separate, you can rest assured. Even if we separate, we will not live separately. We will still live together. As long as the son has something to eat, you, mother, will also have something to eat." Lu Laosi knew in his heart why his mother was unwilling to separate. It was simply because she was afraid that if the family separated, they would no longer be willing to continue to support their eldest nephew's studies.
In fact, they also had this idea. They didn't want to support their eldest nephew's education anymore, nor did they want to sell several daughters to exchange for dowry money to marry off their nephews from the first wife.
In the past, their two families had many daughters, which was despised by their mother. But now that their daughters have grown up, they have become the betrothal money for several nephews to marry. Not only is the mother unwilling to accept this, but even the two fathers, Lu Lao Er and Lu Lao Si, do not want to see their mother marry their daughters to old widowers as second wives, just to get more betrothal money so that they can use it to marry their nephews!
"Father, why don't we clarify the division of the family while you and Mother are still here, so as to avoid..." At this point, Lu Lao Si paused, not saying anything about waiting until you die. He skipped the middle part of the sentence and jumped directly to the end: "So as to avoid these things being unclear in the future, causing us to fight with the eldest brother and others over this little bit of family property, and even causing us to lose our brothers."
Old Man Lu knew very well that if the family was divided, the second and fourth branches would certainly not be willing to support his eldest grandson to continue studying and taking the imperial examinations, nor would they care about his other nephews getting married.
But the fourth son was right in one point. If he didn't make the division of the family business clear while his father was still alive, once he passed away, his sons would start fighting over the family property, and they would really not even be able to remain brothers.
Boss Lu looked at his two younger brothers and nephews, who were about to split up, with a sullen face, and asked, "Second brother, fourth brother, are you really going to split up at this critical juncture?"
At this time, Lu Zhiyuan, who was still at home and not attending the academy, stood beside his father, looking gloomily at the two uncles who proposed to split the family. He naturally knew why the two uncles proposed to split the family, but from his own perspective, he definitely did not want to split the family.
Lu Zhiyuan knew clearly in his heart that once the family was divided, the second and fourth branches would definitely not be willing to continue supporting his nephew's studies.
"Big brother, please be understanding of us. The second brother and I will be exhausted in a few more years." Lu Laoer is only two years younger than his eldest brother. He brushed his half-white hair to show his eldest brother, "Big brother, look, your brother's hair is white too."
"Your Dalang is still a pusheng, while our Wulang is just a peasant who has been digging in the fields all his life. We are all descendants of the same family, so why are we dividing them into good and bad? Father, mother, you are too partial to Dalang! Wulang and Liulang, they are also your grandsons!"
"Dalang has been studying since he was young. He is still studying in the academy in the city. He has a bright future. But our Liulang can't even read a single word. What else can he do in the future besides farming?"
"We said before that Dalang would teach Wulang and Liulang to read, but you refused to teach Wulang and Liulang on the grounds that Dalang wanted to study. If Wulang and Liulang knew a few words, even if they went to the city to find a job as waiters, it would be better than following us to farm in the village and accomplishing nothing, right?" Lu Laoer brought up the story of letting his eldest nephew teach several children in the family to read. At that time, the family was afraid that the children from other branches would study and snatch the opportunity from their eldest nephew.
Even if this eldest nephew had gone to school in the past and was willing to teach his younger brothers to read and recognize a few words, they would not feel as resentful as they do now.
But what about now? My nephew had studied for over a decade, spent all the family's savings, and only just passed the exam to become a Tongshenglang. Looking ahead... they weren't optimistic about their nephew's future.
Compared to their eldest nephew, they were more optimistic about their younger nephew in the city. Now, between the eldest and younger nephews, their second and fourth wives both chose to side with the younger nephew. The younger nephew also said that as long as they split the family property, the younger nephew would be willing to come up with a money-making formula to help them make money.
I didn't know how much money every household in their clan had earned from growing bean sprouts over the years, and they even bought land outside the village. But their family didn't join in the bean sprout farming back then, so while others' lives improved over the years, they could only rely on selling their daughters to build a house and marry off their eldest nephew.
Neither the second nor the fourth wife wants to continue living like this!
Xu Chunniang, who was standing by the door, looked at the Lu family yard and saw Xiao Wang standing behind. She then began to understand why Xiao Wang was willing to help her stay in the Lu family. It turned out that it was for today's separation.
But no matter what Xiao Wang's purpose was in helping her, since she could stay in the Lu family, her own goal had been achieved. As for the rest, she didn't care too much.
After hearing his son's accusations against his mother and him, Old Man Lu closed his eyes and finally agreed to the division of the family: "Divide, since you want to divide the family, I will divide this family today!"
"Dalang and Erlang, go and call the clan leader and the village chief to come to our house."
"Yes, Grandpa." Lu Zhiyuan looked at his second uncle and fourth uncle who were kneeling on the ground with resentment, then took his brother out to ask for help.
***
Not long after, the village chief, the village head, the Lu clan leader, the Lu clan elders, and the clan members all arrived at the Lu family's old house. Along with them came many villagers who loved to watch the fun, and so many people immediately filled the courtyard inside and outside the Lu family's old house.
Finally, under the auspices of the old patriarch of the Lu family and with the witness of the village chief, the head of the village and the villagers, the property was divided among Old Man Lu and his three sons.
The third branch of the Lu family, which had been separated in the early years, was not responsible for providing for the two elders in their old age, so the only ones who provided for Old Man Lu and Old Lady Lu were their three sons who were with them now.
Their family didn't have any land, so they didn't get any share of the land.
Old Mrs. Lu said that there was no extra money at home, so the silver could not be divided among the second and fourth wives.
There was still some food left at home, so Old Man Lu decided to divide it into four portions: one for each of his three sons, and one for him and his wife. He said he wanted to share it with his eldest son, so the two of them got their share, which went to the eldest wife.
In the end, the second and fourth wives only received a little food and the house they currently lived in. They also promised that when Ye Niang could no longer work, they would provide her with rice and food every month and cover the cost of her medical treatment.
This time, the second and fourth branches followed the third branch's example and asked the clan leader to help them write down the details of the division in black and white to avoid disputes among the three brothers in the future.
On the second day after the division of the Lu family's old house, Lu Youtian and Liu Sanniang in the city learned about their eldest nephew's romantic affairs and the division of the Lu family's old house from Lu Chunping, who came to the city to deliver bean sprouts.
Lu Mingfei knew about this from his mother.
"I really can't imagine that Dalang would do such a thing." Speaking of the eldest nephew in the family, Liu Sanniang really had an indescribable feeling in her heart towards the Lu family's eldest branch and the eldest nephew.
Maybe he just hates it and doesn't want to talk about it, Liu Sanniang thought.
However, Lu Mingfei was not surprised by what Lu Zhiyuan would do. After all, based on his understanding of Lu Zhiyuan, it was normal for that person to do anything.
Seeing his mother's strange look, he deliberately teased her, "Mother, why do you care what they do? As long as Mingrui and I don't do anything like this, that's all that matters, isn't it?"
"Hey, you kid!" Liu Sanniang glared at her eldest son and warned him, "Don't learn from that Lu Dalang!"
"Mom, what are you thinking about? Am I that kind of person?" Lu Mingfei stared at his mother with his big eyes, looking innocent.
"It'd better not." Liu Sanniang knew what kind of people her two children were. She smiled and slapped her eldest son, then went to busy herself with other things.
Lu Mingfei wanted to follow his father and mother to move things, but his mother drove him away on the grounds of "be careful not to hurt your hands or you won't be able to write."
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