He had to estimate the amount of food, firewood, household items and money in the house before talking to the Secretary Head to make the appropriate calculations. He would also rather have some form of mental preparation before the actual discussion tomorrow.
The old man led the eldest son away, but the old lady refused to back down and said to the second son, “No, how can the four of you brothers just split the family when you declare it to happen! Go, get Jinbao back home; if you’re going to split, then he should get his share as well. Also, find a way to get your eldest sister to return and have her seek justice on my behalf!”
Old Two looked outside and he said in distraught, “Mother, even if you want me to get them, I can only do that tomorrow. At this moment, the sky is already pitch black.”
Old Lady Han snorted, “Every single one of you is useless. In the end, I still have to rely on my Jinbao and Jinyu.”
Her youngest son was nicknamed Jinbao, but his real name was Han Qinghua. Her youngest daughter was called Jinyu(1)— these two were her most beloved children.
(T/N: Jinbao refers to ‘Precious Golden’ and Jinyu is known as ‘Golden Jade’. Hence, both of her children are literally the Golden Children of the family)
Hearing her start to nag again, Old Two and his wife hurried to hide themselves, so as not to be caught and scolded by the old lady.
When there was no one in the room, the old lady jumped up and hurriedly closed the door. She then took a copper key from her waist and opened the wardrobe in front of the kang before she took out a wooden box from it.
The small money and notes she saved were wrapped in a handkerchief and locked within a box on the shelf. The box with the money was then placed on the head of the kang.
But after thinking about it, she took out most of the money and hid it inside a pair of small shoes. Tying it with a leg strap and hiding it under the quilt, she locked the boxes and the cabinets separately.
Early the next morning, the old lady asked the second brother to borrow a bicycle. First, he went to Linhe Village that was six miles away to deliver a letter to her eldest daughter, Han Daman’er, before delivering more letters to Han Jinbao and Han Jinyu.
Han Daman’er was the eldest daughter of the old lady and was two years younger than her eldest brother. She was not favored in the family and had been through her share of working tirelessly for her parents. However, she didn’t think that she had it rough as she liked being nosy.
In particular, she liked to trail behind Old Lady Han and bark out her own orders.
When she didn’t have any children, she kept quite a low profile. Later, after having two sons, she straightened her back and even dared to contradict men. Soon, she wasn’t that filial and obedient towards her mother anymore.
Afterwards, she perceived herself as having a high standing and liked to be the ‘main character’ in every incident. Also, she especially enjoyed coming back home to meddle with her brother’s affairs.
The contradiction between Lin Lan and her mother-in-law was also something that she frequently participated in.
Every time Han Qingsong came back, she would always show her standing as an eldest sister. Han Daman’er would lecture her younger brother and use those ‘filial piety’ words that she had learned to scold Han Qingsong and suppress Lin Lan.
When Han Qingsong was not at home, she would return and bicker with Lin Lan every once in a while. Countless times she had used her authority to tell Lin Lan the basic rules such as to abide by women’s ethics, obey the rules, be filial to her mother-in-law, respect her eldest sister and so on.