Yao Jinzhu looked at her mother-in-law crying pitifully, her heart also ached. Ever since Huang Maochun entered the Lu Family, their household had never had a peaceful day.
Lu Xing’an clenched his teeth in anger. His old mother had never suffered such a grievance in all these years. Previously, for Xingchang’s marriage, they had tolerated the excessive demands of the Huang family, even giving away their younger sister’s quilt as part of the dowry.
There was no solution, as his younger brother was hell-bent on marrying her!
The whole family united their efforts to set up the marriage, but who would have expected that the girl, who was always kind and gentle, changed her demeanor as soon as she married into the family. The house was as dirty as a dog’s kennel; the clothes and socks were all washed by Xingchang, a big man who after a full day’s work, still had to wash his lazy wife’s clothes and clean the house.
These were all matters between the couple, how they wished to live was their own business, but why constantly torment his mother, who had never been spoken ill of in Lu Family Village.
Everyone in the eight neighboring villages knew that Zhu Juying of the Lu Family Village was the most sensible, kind, and filial. Now in her old age, instead of enjoying blessings, she was suffering.
"Mom, stop crying. I’ll ask Mao Chun for some cotton tickets later. Right now, we need to quickly prepare lunch; otherwise, if Mao Chun comes back and can’t have a hot meal, she might make a fuss about going back to her mother’s home."
Lu Xingchang rubbed his hands nervously, looking at Zhu Juying, hoping his old mother would stop crying soon. Even if she couldn’t cook herself, she could have the younger sister or elder sister-in-law do it. His wife was just temperamental. He might speak to her nicely in the evening; the cotton tickets could still be retrieved.
"Screw your grandmother’s leg, I will beat you dead, you good-for-nothing!"
Lu Xing’an couldn’t take it anymore and punched out. Although Zhu Juying and others felt a bit sad about the brothers fighting, the situation at home was too infuriating, and the frustration unbearable. If not vented, who knows, they might go mad!
A few days later, Lu Jiasheng brought up the idea of splitting the family. Xie Jinghao had recovered somewhat, being able to walk normally now, except she couldn’t squat. Shen Meng often visited her, sometimes making her some delicacies.
Just by looking at the food Shen Meng made compared to what the Lu Family made for Xie Jinghao, it was clear who valued Jinghao. Lu Jiasheng had no more hesitations; he had already secretly approached the village chief and Secretary, applying for his own land. He didn’t ask for much space, not far from the old Lu Family, just across five households, which Lu Jiasheng thought was quite good.
He had prepared everything before he mentioned it, and as soon as he raised the issue, Lu Changzhu smashed a bowl against his forehead, blood immediately beginning to dot his forehead. Initially, when Shen Meng made a fuss about dividing the property, he wasn’t around. If he had been, he certainly wouldn’t have agreed. Jiaxuan’s job, Zhenping as the eldest brother should help; how could they use splitting the family as a bargaining chip.
Liu Sanjin was too naive, foolishly agreeing and utterly embarrassing him.
"If you want to split the family, only over my dead body. Also, Jiaxuan, if splitting the family is mentioned again, I’ll break his legs."
"Dad, you’ve seen for yourself, when I’m not at home, how elder sister-in-law and mom treat Jinghao. Given this, how could I dare to go out to work in the future? I might have just stepped out, and they might be dead by the time I return."
Liu Sanjin, guilt-ridden, stomped her foot, pointing at Lu Jiasheng and said, "What nonsense are you spouting? Wasn’t it your elder sister-in-law who caused trouble last time? Every time there’s an issue at home, it’s always your sister-in-law stirring up trouble. This time you want to split the family, is it also that wretched Shen Meng instigating it? Jiasheng, didn’t I tell you, your elder sister-in-law is no good, just wanting to mess up our family!"
If it were before, Lu Jiasheng would have believed it, since the elder sister-in-law used to indeed have a bad temper, but now it’s different, his wife and children are well taken care of, his daughter was safely born, who should he thank for that, his heart is as clear as a mirror.
"Mom, stop talking, I know very well what kind of person the elder sister-in-law is."
"You know nothing, I heard that that dead woman, the elder sister-in-law, knows people from the brick factory, she got a brick factory voucher, did you tell your elder sister-in-law about the separation of the house, no right, I’ve inquired clearly about that voucher, it was for her own family, such shameless people, using her husband’s family’s things for her own family, utterly shameless, and those two old farts from the Shen Family, no shame at all, just took them, see which family would dare to have a daughter help arrange house building matters."
As soon as Lu Changzhu heard this, he stood up swiftly, "Old lady, are you really telling the truth?"
"Could there be falsehoods? It was Director Guo who told me, oh my old man, I was so furious when I heard it, you better hold on, otherwise all our Lu family’s things will be squandered by that wasteful woman."
Zhou Jiaojiao was very anxious inside; she initially still wanted to separate from Lu Jiaxuan and live independently, now that Lu Jiaxuan had a salary, after splitting up she could hold the money and live however she wanted, why bother about the whole Lu family.
Shen Meng rides her bicycle around here and there every day, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t envious; now knowing that Shen Meng has the brick voucher, her eyes gleam frighteningly with greed.
"How...how could the elder sister-in-law do this, there are only two brick houses in our family, the rest are all mud houses, even if there’s a voucher, shouldn’t it prioritize our own family, how could she take it back to her own family."
"Exactly, Jiaojiao is right, mom and dad, I think the elder sister-in-law’s heart is not with our Lu family, we mustn’t let her take that voucher to the Shen family, it belongs to our Lu family." Wu Xianglan quickly agreed with Zhou Jiaojiao’s words, she too wanted to live in a red brick big tile house, the mud house has been there for years, sometimes chunks of soil fall from the ceiling, hitting her face several times, scaring her half to death.
Lu Changzhu looked around his home, the old man hardened his heart, picked up the broom by the wall and was about to head to Shen Meng’s house.
"Dad what are you doing, you can’t go, even if the elder sister-in-law has the voucher, it’s hers, we’re already divided, whatever she has is none of our family’s business."
"Third uncle, you can’t say that, the elder sister-in-law married into our Lu family so she is a part of the Lu family, divided or not, we’re still one family, she can’t just move things to her family like that."
Lu Jiasheng looked at Wu Xianglan’s somewhat smug expression and couldn’t help but snort coldly.
"You think of moving, but you also need the ability to do so, why do you think Jinghao had a threatened miscarriage? You don’t think I knew it was you, do you?"
Frightened by his fierce glare, Wu Xianglan couldn’t raise her head, muttering: "I, I didn’t mean it."
"Get out of the way, I dare you to stop me." Lu Changzhu swung his arm and elbow Lu Jiasheng aside.
Liu Sanjin and a few others followed suit, and Lu Jiahe, watching by the door, also decisively followed; he wanted to see if he could take advantage of the chaos to snatch something valuable from the elder sister-in-law’s house.