Chapter 12

Chapter 12

There were few old women in the village who could read and write, and Wang Guizhi was one of them.

Many speculated that her family of origin must have been fairly well-off, but Wang Guizhi never spoke of her past. Whenever asked, she would brush it off with, "I hit my head during the chaos of fleeing and forgot everything." Over time, people stopped bringing it up.

She didn’t read books or newspapers normally, just like the other old women in the village.

But when Shen Zhenxing took the account book and flipped through it, he realized his impression of this sister-in-law—merely as someone perceptive and decisive—was far too shallow.

Inside this account book were not only the income and expenses for building the house but also the annual work points from the production team, gifts and favors exchanged, and even a rough piece of paper tucked into the cover’s inner layer recording some major household income and expenses from earlier years. For example, the bride price for Shen Guoxing’s marriage, the medical expenses for Hu Huaihua’s difficult childbirth with their second child… Not mentioning these was still giving face to the eldest son and his wife.

The accounts were clear, with notes on who handled each income and expense. Even if there were questions, you could just ask the person involved.

Ignoring everyone’s astonishment, Wang Guizhi continued speaking.

"The house was built with the second son’s money. It was agreed back then that it would be left for our retirement. The eldest son’s family said at the time that Aimin and Aihua were growing up fast and needed to consider marriage and careers, so they split off and registered separately back then. The homestead land used the shares allocated to us old couple and the third son. This was registered with the production team at the time."

In other words, these three rooms, from the homestead land to every brick and tile, had nothing to do with the eldest son’s family.

Shen Guoxing and his wife looked grim, while Shen Aimin and his wife, who were there as observers, looked even worse.

Especially Liu Tingting.

She was pretty, a junior high school graduate, and her family wasn’t heavily burdened. Many had proposed marriage to her. After picking and choosing, she selected Shen Aimin, largely because of his family’s impressive three-room blue-brick tiled house.

Originally, she had been calculating that since Shen Aimin was the eldest grandson of the main branch, not only the house but even his second uncle’s job could be something to aspire to.

Who would have thought that on her wedding day, the family would be thrown into an uproar? Not only did the relationship between the main and second branches break down, but now their main branch was about to be driven out.

Really, how foolish must one be to split off and register separately right when the family was building a new house?

Did they really think they could get three rooms for free without contributing anything?

Wang Guizhi glanced at the members of the eldest son’s family and continued, "Since we’re dividing the family, these three rooms must be returned to the second son. Regarding our homestead share, the second son told me to use one room as compensation. I decide: this room goes to the third son."

Hu Huaihua blurted out, "Why should it?!"

Wang Guizhi glared at her. "Because he has a share in the homestead! Because the work points he earned these past few years were all contributed to the family! Because you are married, even your son is already married, while he is still single!"

Shen Guoxing finally grunted, "But you can’t leave our whole family with nowhere to live, can you?"

Wang Guizhi laughed. "How could you have nowhere to live? Those two rooms in the east of the village were built when your birth mother was still alive. Of course, logically, Guoqiang and Guoqing should also have a share in the Shen family’s property. I’ll decide for them: they won’t split those rooms with you; they all go to the main branch. After all, it’s a place your birth mother lived in, so consider it something to remember her by."

Hu Huaihua angrily said, "How can anyone live in those two broken-down rooms?! Our Aimin just got married yesterday! As his step-grandmother, you want to drive them to a dilapidated house? How can you be so heartless?!"

Wang Guizhi scoffed. "You said it yourself—I’m the step-grandmother. The old saying goes, ‘A stepmother beating a child is unavoidable sooner or later,’ let alone a step-grandmother?"

If Shen Dechang could favor the children from his first marriage, couldn’t she favor her own biological children?

After a slight pause, Wang Guizhi retorted, "Besides, didn’t you say earlier that the third son could settle down in those two rooms? What, the third son can settle there, but you can’t?"

"I… I…"

Hu Huaihua stammered "I" for a long time, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.

She was good at being unreasonable, but she truly wasn’t good at arguing logically.

Especially when there was little logic on her side to begin with.

Shen Zhenxing spoke up, "So, shall we divide the house like this? Sixth Uncle, Yongjun, what do you think?"

Sixth Uncle nodded. "I think this division is quite appropriate."

As Wang Guizhi said, the newly built rooms had nothing to do with the eldest son’s family. The two old rooms in the east of the village should have been shared by the second and third sons. Now that both rooms were given to the eldest son, the eldest son’s family was actually getting the better deal.

Besides, it wasn’t that they weren’t allowed to live in the new house—they had lived there for seven or eight years. If they hadn’t stirred up trouble themselves, why would there be talk of dividing the family today?

The old man sighed inwardly. Wang Guizhi called herself a stepmother, but in reality, she had treated Shen Guoxing quite well. It was just that this couple was equally foolish, caring only about benefits and not about affection.

Zhao Yongjun wasn’t a member of the Shen family; he was just there as a witness, so naturally, he had no objections either.

The house was the major asset. Next came savings, grain, furniture, pots and pans, and the private plot.

As a stepmother, Wang Guizhi naturally wouldn’t hold onto the eldest son’s family’s money. The little savings the old couple had accumulated had actually been used to subsidize Shen Aimin’s marriage and Shen Aihua and Shen Aizhen’s schooling. So, there wasn’t much savings to divide. With the accounts present, the eldest son’s family had nothing to say.

Other items should, in principle, be divided into three shares. Considering the eldest son’s family indeed had more people, Wang Guizhi couldn’t be bothered to argue with them. Apart from the items in their respective rooms, everything else was split in half, and two-thirds of the private plot was given to them.

As for support for the elderly, Wang Guizhi didn’t want to live with the eldest son, and the second son was often away in Jiangcheng, so for convenience, it was decided that the third son would be responsible.

After all, it wasn’t unheard of in the village for the youngest son to take care of the parents.

Each household would provide ten yuan per year and fifty jin of grain. When the old couple grew older and could no longer earn work points, each household would appropriately increase their contribution.

After each item was clarified, Zhao Yongjun drafted the family division agreement in duplicate. After everyone signed, one copy was given to Wang Guizhi, and the other was handed over to Shen Zhenxing for safekeeping by the production team.

—

For such a significant matter as dividing the family, children, of course, had no right to participate, especially since Shen Banyue and the others weren’t even members of the Shen family. Not only were they not allowed to participate, but they were also driven outside the courtyard gate and told to play outside for a while.

Also driven out of the courtyard were the underage Shen Aihua, Shen Aizhen, and Shen Ailin.

It was unclear whether it was because they were afraid the children would cause trouble or eavesdrop, or perhaps both. And there was good reason to believe that the main targets of this precaution were actually just two: Shen Aizhen and Shen Ailin. The others were definitely implicated because of them.

After all, one of them could impulsively throw boiling water, and the other was clearly spoiled.

There wasn’t much fun to be had outside. To the west of the Shen family courtyard was a small patch of wasteland. After discussing, the children decided to go there to dig for earthworms, which they could later use to feed the chickens.

Shen Banyue had absolutely no interest in this activity. Even when she was starving in the apocalypse, she had never considered eating insects. But she had seen others eat them, and since then, she had avoided any round, slippery, elongated creatures.

As soon as Shen Ailin heard Xiao Jie and the others were going to dig for earthworms, he immediately spread his arms to block them, arrogantly declaring, "This is outside my family’s courtyard! You’re not allowed to dig here! The chickens are also my family’s! You’re not allowed to feed them!"

Shen Banyue frowned at him. This child was really unpleasant!

Xiao Jie and the others timidly looked at each other and didn’t dare move.

They knew this wasn’t their home, but they also didn’t know where their own home was.

Xiao Zhuzi was the first to start crying, "I want to go home. My home has land, chickens, and lots of bamboo."

The others immediately teared up as well.

Seeing that this was about to trigger a chain reaction, Shen Banyue, feeling a headache coming on, had Lin Mian lead the confused Xiao Dizi farther away. Then she walked over, grabbed Shen Ailin, swung him around like a hammer for half a circle, and shoved him in front of Shen Aihua. "Hold him."

Shen Aihua was stunned for a moment, then actually reached out and grabbed Shen Ailin.

Shen Banyue patted Xiao Jie’s shoulder and urged, "Go on, dig for earthworms, feed the chickens, and tomorrow we’ll have eggs to eat."

The children's sobs hitched in their throats.

Xiao Zhuzi also looked at her with teary eyes, and she repeated, "Go dig for earthworms." The children glanced at each other and actually headed in that direction.

Shen Ailin struggled, still trying to rush over: "Don't go! It's mine, everything is mine!"

Shen Banyue turned to look at him, smiling cheerfully as she said, "They're dividing the family property inside. Soon, it won't have a thing to do with you."

"You're lying, lying!" Shen Ailin bellowed with false bravado before bursting into tears.