Chapter 270 The whole family got into a fight.
Qin Xiaoxiao yawned and asked Su Lu groggily, "Who died?"
Su Lu said softly, "The stone, the stone is gone."
Qin Xiaoxiao, who was originally fast asleep, suddenly opened her eyes wide upon hearing Su Lu's words, staring at him in disbelief, "How is that possible? He was perfectly fine when he came home yesterday!"
How could such a young child get any acute illness?
Su Lu's smile vanished, and he shook his head. "I don't know. Erzhu just told me."
Although Qin Xiaoxiao and Su Lu were always unreliable and loved to join in the fun, they were both upset that Yu Shitou had died at such a young age, especially since they had seen him yesterday during the day and were now hearing that he was gone.
Qin Xiaoxiao was wide awake and quickly helped Su Lu get dressed. When she put on the green cotton-padded jacket, Qin Xiaoxiao twitched her eyes, then quickly took it off, took out a thermal undershirt from her space and put it on, then took out a black wool sweater and put it on over it, and finally put on the gray coat.
Su Lu curiously touched Qin Xiaoxiao's thermal underwear, saying nothing, but his eyes held a longing.
Qin Xiaoxiao kissed Su Lu on the corner of his mouth, "I'll find you two outfits to change into when I get back."
Su Lu grinned, his eyes practically overflowing with laughter. "Well, actually, it's fine if I don't wear them; you can wear them all."
Qin Xiaoxiao narrowed her eyes. "Alright then, that'll save you some trouble."
Su Lu choked, staring at Qin Xiaoxiao in disbelief, then tugged at her clothes with a pitiful expression, "Wife!"
Qin Xiaoxiao pulled her clothes back, unmoved, and grabbed Su Lu, running outside.
Upon exiting the gate and seeing Qin Erzhu still standing guard outside, Su Lu felt no longer aggrieved and waved to Qin Erzhu in a serious manner, "Hurry up and go over there, see if you can be of any help."
The key is to understand how Yu Shitou died; he always felt something was amiss.
Sure enough, as the three walked, Qin Erzhu told Su Lu and Qin Xiaoxiao what had happened the night before.
It turns out that after Yu Shitou pushed Feng Shunshun into the river yesterday, the Yu family paid the Feng family thirty yuan in compensation and more than ten yuan for medical expenses. The key thing is that the Feng family received a lot of fever medicine and some money for subsequent medical treatment, totaling forty-three yuan.
Forty-odd yuan is no small sum in the countryside these days; it's almost equivalent to two months' wages for an average worker in the city.
The Yu family had a large population, and although many adults could earn work points, they couldn't keep up with the large number of children, especially the boys, who all ate a lot. Therefore, the Yu family was considered a relatively poor family in Qinjiagou, much poorer than the Feng family.
A family that was not well-off to begin with would have to spend an extra forty-odd yuan. Who would be happy about that? Moreover, the Yu family had not yet divided their property, and all the households lived together. This money must have come from the common funds.
Old Yu and his wife had six sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up successfully. Apart from the three daughters who married out, the Yu family had six other branches. Yu Shitou's parents were the second sons of the fourth branch of the Yu family. They had seven older brothers, six older sisters, four younger brothers, and three younger sisters. The older sisters had all married out, but the two younger sisters remained at home. In addition, there were the wives they brought in and the fourth generation, which was Yu Shitou's generation. The Yu family had a total of more than fifty people.
With so many people living together, it's inevitable that there will be some friction and some people will feel that there's favoritism. It's one thing if there are few expenses in normal times, but now that something has happened, more than forty yuan has to be spent all at once. Yu Shitou's parents think it's normal, but who knows what others are thinking.
So when they came back yesterday, they heard that it would cost more than forty yuan, and everyone in the house immediately started making a fuss.
The eldest son felt that the family would eventually split up, and since he was the eldest, he would take the lion's share, which meant he would receive the most money, and he was unhappy about it.
The second wife felt resentful because she was not valued by her family. Now, she had to spend so much money. She hadn't spent a penny of the money she earned, but it was all spent by others. She was not happy about it.
The third wife and the second wife had similar ideas, and the other two brothers in the fourth wife also felt that the family should not bear the cost because they would receive a much smaller share.
The fifth branch had the least objection because they were not valued and earned few work points; their main job was to watch the show.
The sixth wife was the youngest and most favored. She felt that the family's money should be spent on them, and she was also the most troublesome besides the eldest wife.
The old couple in the Yu family are still alive and in good health. This commotion at home has caused them some worry, and they've even considered dividing the family property.
However, the fourth branch of the family would definitely not be happy about the division of property at this time, because there is a high chance that the 43 yuan would be attributed to the fourth branch. If it is not, the other branches of the family would also be unhappy.
Thus, the core of the conflict arose: the division of the family property was like a piece of fat meat, everyone wanted a bite, but this piece of fat meat had become rotten because of forty-three yuan, even dogs would avoid it, and no one wanted to get involved.
When Old Man Yu announced that the forty-three yuan would be paid into the public account that evening, each room revealed its ugly side.
After a commotion, Old Man Yu fainted from anger amidst the arguments between the various households. This was like stirring up a hornet's nest, and all the households became dissatisfied with the fourth household.
The fourth wife, not wanting to bear the reputation of having angered her father to the point of fainting, rose up in rebellion, and the argument escalated into a physical fight. As for the unconscious old man, apart from his wife crying and begging her sons to take him to the hospital, no one paid any attention to him.
A brawl broke out in all the houses of the Yu family, with even the wives and children getting involved. In the end, the children all felt that Yu Shitou was the one who caused the trouble, so they rushed into Yu Shitou's room and beat him up.
Yu Shitou had been beaten by his father during the day, and he was also frightened for pushing someone into the water. He already had a fever, but the fever didn't go down, and he was beaten again, which made him even worse. In his dazed state, he didn't know which child suggested dragging him into the yard.
The adults in the courtyard were having a heated fight and didn't pay attention to the children. As a result, the ninth son of the sixth branch lost his grip on the pickaxe while fighting with the third son of the first branch. The pickaxe hit Yu Shitou, who was lying on the ground, on the head, and it immediately split open, with blood flowing all over the ground.
Seeing that someone was about to die, everyone finally calmed down. By the time Yu Shitou's parents rushed over to hug their son, Yu Shitou was already dead.
Hearing this, Su Lu and Qin Xiaoxiao couldn't help but sigh.
Such a young child died in an accidental conflict, all because of a little over forty dollars. How cheap is that life!
What are the adults in the Yu family thinking now? Are they happy now that the culprit, Yu Shitou, is dead?
The two exchanged a glance and sighed silently, but their pace quickened instead of slowing down. Soon, they reached the Yu family's gate, found the best spot to watch the drama unfold, and stood still.
Seeing that the two were standing outside without moving, Qin Erzhu looked left and right. Seeing that there were villagers all around and two policemen at the gate of the Yu family, he also stood still next to Su Lu.
In the crowd, the uniforms of the two police officers were quite conspicuous, and Qin Xiaoxiao spotted Shi Lei at a glance.
Why is there a male protagonist everywhere? In such a big county, are there no other serious incidents besides Qinjiagou? Why do they keep running to Qinjiagou instead of going elsewhere to make a name for themselves?
My maternal grandmother gave birth to a total of ten children. Two of them did not survive, and eight survived. I have four uncles and three aunts. My mother is the youngest. In this generation, there are a total of seven older brothers and sixteen older sisters. I am the youngest. I have not counted how many the next generation will have. My eldest nephew is the same age as me, and my eldest brother is the same age as my mother. So it is not surprising that there are so many children in the family.
If there are many boys in the family, the family will be even larger. Even excluding married-out daughters, more than fifty people is a normal phenomenon.
(End of this chapter)
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