Chapter 24
There was a silence in the room. Mr. Xue’s face was as black as death. He opened his lips, but he didn’t know what to say.

Xue Qingshan blushed and swore, “Well, the third and the fourth brother. What’s wrong with you? Your think you are so independent and able to undertake the task alone, don’t you? You’re not afraid to piss your father off? And you, you son of a bitch, you don’t have all the hair. How dare you to make trouble in Xue family! Are you sure you have studied? What have you learned? You’re in everywhere in every single thing. If it wasn’t you, how could it be like this at home!”

He stretched out his hand and wanted to hit Xue Tingxiang. But at this time Zhao’er pulled him away and held Xue Qingshan’s big palm.

“Uncle, you can talk everything you want to say, but how can you start beating others.? Are you areal intellectual? Besides, what do you mean that Gou’er makes such a mess? Why does it make such a mess at home? Don’t you know it in your own mind?”

Xue Qingshan is tall. In addition, he has gained some weight in recent years, which makes him look tall and strong. The tiny body like Zhao’er standing in front of him is undoubtedly to kick against the pricks, but he is a strong man who couldn’t even move away after several attempts. He said, “Stop it! Do you think who you are? When did you become the owner of the Xue family to be in charge?”

Zhao’er sneered, “Yes, you are right, I am nothing in this family. But I am very clear that I never feel at ease to spend the money that others earn hard!”

“You…”

“All right, shut up! Shut up!” Mr. Xue shouted hysterically, and the bed table was was banged loudly by him.

There was silence again, and Mr. Xue on the bed was as stiff as a stone.

It took a long time for him to make a move. Slowly, he took out the tobacco from the tobacco bag and put it into the pipe to light it.

Zhao’er threw away his hand, and Xue Qingshan quickly retracted his hand. He inhaled the air fearfully and angrily and lifted his sleeve. There were several red fingerprints under his wrist.

How could the stupid girl have so much strength?

Mr. Xue smoked several cigarettes to calm down. He looked at the people in front of him, all of whom were his children and grandchildren, but now they are doing this for money.

Whose fault is it?

Mr. Xue was a little confused and froze. He admitted that the family was partial to the eldest son’s family, but they were posted in the family. Xue Qingshan was very smart since he was a little boy, and he was good at studying. Not to mention Juncai, and was praised since childhood.

If a humble family wants to be successful and stand out, it can only support one person to study with the strength of the whole family. That’s how his grandfather was successful. Later, he was admitted as a scholar and benefited the whole Xue family. He always thought he was right, but now he is not so sure.

For a while, Mr. Xue was in a state of confusion, and many pictures flashed through his mind.

There are the joy of the eldest brother when he was in school, the pride of the first son when he became Tong Sheng, the wisdom of the eldest grandson, and the exclamation of his successor; there are also the eyes of the second son who is fleeting envy and his face of worry and unwillingness before he dies, and many more…

And all these things, once again, have become their faces with different thoughts in the room.

Mr. Xue opened his mouth again. He said in a hoarse and dry voice, “Well, if you want to separate, I agree!”

“Dad!” Xue Qingshan couldn’t believe what he heard.

Mrs. Yang was also so panic that she didn’t know what to do. She looked at his man and Mr. Xue. Seeing Mr. Xue’s appearance didn’t seem to be joking. Suddenly, she had an action. She hurried to the inner room and shouted, “Mom, don’t you care anything?”

Mr. Xue suddenly felt impatient and said angrily, “Shut up! I’m still in charge of this family!”

At once, everyone was afraid to make a sound, and the curtain that had been lifted inside was put down again.

“Tell me, how do you want to separate?”

The third and fourth family looked at each other and looked at Xue Tingxiang again, but this time he didn’t speak.

Mrs.Sun was afraid that things would fail again, and she stepped forward and said, “Just as Gou’er said, divide the land. By the way, there are houses. Each family belongs to its own.”

Zhao’er suddenly said, “What about our house? Should we live here or move back the to the previous one?”

If mentioned, it is necessary to explain it: in fact, the room that Zhao’er ang Xue Tingxiang live now is not theirs.

The Xue family’s house are almost the same as the house in the countryside, which is generally in the form of a courtyard. In the principle room, there are three rooms for Mr. Xue, Mrs. Zhao and little daughter Xue Cuie. In the other room, there is a granary, which is used to store food and some more valuable things.

On the left and right are the East-West wing rooms, the kitchen, the cowshed, the warehouse, and the pigsty, the chicken house and the vegetable field, etc. are behind.

Before, the house of Xue family was enough, but since Xue Qingshan’s brothers married, they had their own children, so the house of Xue family became tense.

At that time, Xue’s family was kind of rich. When the eldest brother Xue Qingshan married, he built a house, and when the second brother Xue Qinghuai married, he also built a house. When the third brother got married, Xue’s money began to get nervous, and it was said to build it slowly.

This delay has been delayed for so many years.

When the second couple died, Xue Qinghuai had not married and lived in a room of his own.

When he got married and gave birth to Maodan, one room was not enough for living, so Mr. Xue had been agreed to replace the second room with the fourth room, and the two children moved into that smaller room.

In this way, they can live in the house, but since it is about separating family, they have to make it clear.

Hearing this, Mrs. Sun’s face immediately turned down.

Mrs. Yang smiled ironically, and she thought that’s what they deserved. But before she put away her smile, Mrs. Sun said angrily, “Zhao’er, if you want this room, I will return you.”

Since then, Zhao’er had a completely new appraisal of Mrs. Sun.

Although Mrs. Sun family usually fawns on the eldest sister-in-law and likes to bully the other two, it’s a little unexpected today for her.

Zhao’er shook her head and said, “The fourth aunt, I am not asking for the house. Since you’re talking about dividing houses and land, you have to make it clear. Your family has a large population, and we don’t want your house, but the land behind it should give us a portion.”

The land behind the house was bought by the Xue family long time ago. This kind of homestead in the village is not expensive. It is more than two acres, and it costs more than two silvers. The Xue family has said for a long time that it is necessary to build a house, but every year there is no money left, so the land is empty and it becomes the vegetable field.

“This–” Mrs. Sun said hesitantly, “How can the house and the land be the same?”

“The fourth aunt, I need land, but I don’t need a house. Anyway, Gou’er and I don’t need it now. We will build house when we have money in the future.”

“That is fine, you can think that the fourth aunt and fourth uncle are taking advantage of you, the land belongs to every small family logically. In that case, we will give the land to you. When you built the house, we will also help you… ”

“We will give another two silvers,” Xue Qinghuai suddenly said.

After hearing this, Mrs. Sun froze for a moment, then immediately gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, two more silvers, until your uncle and I have the money in hand to make up for you.”

Zhao’er refused to say, “No, we can’t take your money.”

“That’s what we should give. You should do as I say,” XueQinghuai insisted.

In this way, it’s not easy to refuse any more. She had to agree.

They were talking lively. But Mr. Xue’s face was frightening.

You can’t control children all the time. It’s better to divide them early!

“Is there anything else?”

“The cattle, pigs and chickens in the family…”

Xue Qinghuai took Mrs. Sun’s hand and said, “No more questions.”

“No cattle, what can we do when farming?”

“The whole family only has one cattle… ”

The bed table was clapped with a thud by Mr. Xue. He said, “Are you finished? That’s it. Now It’s my turn.”

He held up the bed table and sat up straightly, “Your mother and I are not dead yet. Cuie will be married at the end of the year, and the dowry has not yet been arranged. According to the tradition, your mother and I are going to live with the eldest family, but we two still need to eat and drink, so the land at home is not divided into four parts, but five parts.”

“There are thirty-two acres of land in the family, divided into five parts. Each family has six acres of land, and the extra two acres is for Zhao’er and Tingxiang. The second brother and the eldest brother are close to each other on age. The second brother went to work for his family early. Later, he learned the craftsmanship of a carpenter. He has a good craftsmanship. He was famous in nearby areas, and he also made a lot of money for our family. The second brother made great efforts in the several acres of land that we bought later.

“As for the six acres that your mother and I own, as long as we don’t die, it’s ours. If we die, we will share them equally among the four families. The cattle in the family is considered public. The two pigs are still young, and we can kill them and share the meat at the end of the year. Chickens are also divided in this way. If you want to raise them together, you can raise them together. If you don’t want to put them together, you can raise them separately. As for the rations, you will have enough to eat until this year’s harvest.”

Although they all want to separate family, when Mr. Xue talked about it like an accountant, everyone felt uncomfortable.

“But there is an important point, since you are quarreling to separate family, your mother and I don’t care about the marriage between each house.”

Mrs. Sun smiled and said, “It is sure that we can’t let father and mother again manage.”

“As for Cuie, when she is married, as the brothers and sisters-in-law, you can give some gifts if you wanted to, but not if you don’t want to. Your mother and I don’t need your support for the six acres of land we have. We’ll talk about it when we’re too old to do anything.”

At this time, the curtain of the inner room was suddenly lifted and a person rushed out of it.

It is Zhao family who has been bearing for a long time.

“Why don’t we need them to support us? Is it in vain to raise such big sons? All of you are bloodsucking leeches. You are all ungrateful people! Now how dare you to make a account with me? How do you repay for your mother gave birth to you? Do you think it’s OK for me to bring up all of you? Now you are grown up and want to separate family. And you don’t want to support your father and me. Even if I can forgive you, but the ancestors can’t.

Mrs. Zhao’s words are so sharp that Xue Qingbai and his brother look down in shame and dare not talk. And their feelings are complex.

Xue Qingbai has always been the most filial and obedient in the Xue family. Hearing these words, his heart was quite upset, and he regretted to say those words.

Mrs. Zhou said, “Mom, how about we… ”

Zhou’s voice interrupted him, “Mom, we won’t do that. Even if dad says no, we will still foster you and dad! we will do by the village’s conventions. Although we have separated family, we still live together and will be filial to you and dad in the future. The reason why we want to separate our family is not that we don’t want to be filial to father and you, but that our family is not rich. It’s a difficulty of who is more important in the family, isn’t it?”

These words made Xue Qingbai be silent. Yes, it ’s reasonable to support father and mother, but there is no younger brother to support the elder brother and his family.

“To put it bluntly, all of you care that eldest brother spend too much money!” Mrs. Zhao sneered.

These people didn’t speak again. And it’s clear.

Mrs. Zhao’s smile was even colder, “Yes, you have the ability, you want to live by yourself. You think the eldest people have spent their family money, then if they have the ability in the future, you must not regret for your behaviors and want to get some benefits from them!”

Mrs. Zhao’s words embarrassed everyone.

Mrs. Yang said in a pretentious way, “Juncai has no talent or ability, neither the uncles nor the aunts look down on us, how can they get benefits from us in the future …”

Everything is said like this. If they still don’t say anything, and they will be regarded as beggars who have no dignity.

Zhao’er sneered, “Don’t worry, auntie, even if Gou’er and I are too poor to beg for food, we won’t go to your house to beg.”

Mrs. Zhou also said, “The eldest sister-in-law, you can rest assured that we know what our life is. We can’t change the the identity of farmer for the whole lifetime! We don’t want to be successful and rich, ad we don’t have that fate.”

Seeing this, Mrs. Suns couldn’t be silent. To put it bluntly, now the third sister-in-law had problem, no matter how snobbish she is, she has no face to be silent at this time.

What she was about to say, there was a loud noise.

It was Mr. Xue who lifted the bed table.