Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Division of the Family (1)_1 Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Division of the Family (1)_1 Xiao Linshuang first returned home to inform her family that the village chief would be coming over to discuss the division of the household.
Of course, she didn’t forget to ask her second sister to move the goji berries drying in the courtyard into the west room.
It wasn’t that she was worried about people seeing them, as they didn’t know such things could be sold for money and it wouldn’t matter even if they did see them.
However, Lin Yuan was concerned that, with many people around later, someone clumsy might knock into them, potentially ruining the berries.
After leaving home, Xiao Linshuang then made a detour to the village chief’s home, where she relayed her family’s situation to the village chief’s grandfather.
Despite her young age, she spoke very fluently, getting the message across in just a few sentences.
The village chief seemed to have anticipated this and simply shook his head with a sigh.
Then, he got ready and slowly headed towards Lin Yuan’s house, assisted by his son.
There weren’t many forms of entertainment in ancient villages.
The villagers were usually busy with farming work, and their only pleasure was either watching a couple argue or gossiping together.
Such a significant event as a family division was naturally of great interest to everyone.
Nobody knew who shouted first, but even before the village chief arrived, a large crowd had gathered outside Lin Yuan’s house, drawn by the commotion.
With Lin Wei and Lan Hua tidying up at home, Lin Yuan wasn’t worried.
Soon, Lin Jianling arrived with the rest of the Lin family members, each harboring their own thoughts.
From afar, the nosy old men and women greeted Lin Jianling and his spouse.
“Old Lin, I heard your family is going to split, oh my, how could you bear to part with such a good son like your second one?”
“How can I not bear to?
Now, with the second boy’s leg…” An old woman leading a little boy glanced over and didn’t finish her sentence.
Clearly, she disapproved of Lin Jianling’s neglecting his son’s welfare and casting him off.
Upon hearing this, Lin Jiaxiao quickly shouted, “What splitting off?
It was my second brother who wanted to divide the family!
They moved out years ago already.
You folks who don’t know the details better not talk nonsense.”
Lin Yuan had some recollection of the old woman.
Her second son, Lin Ershuan, used to work as a carpenter alongside Lin Jiaxin.
However, her eldest son, Lin Dashuan, was quite clueless.
He not only neglected his biological mother but also shirked work, instead spending his days drinking.
When drunk, he’d go home and beat his wife—and yes, his wife was none other than Lady Chen who had just received a slap from Lin Yuan under the locust tree.
Lin Yuan looked around her own courtyard and nodded.
Her younger sisters were efficient in their work.
The goji berries had been picked up, and the litter of rabbits had been moved into the west room.
The village chief would undoubtedly go to the east room to ask for their parents’ opinion later on, and the west room, where the girls slept, was not a place others would casually enter.
With this tidy-up, Lin Yuan’s house looked even more dilapidated.
There was nothing left in the broken chicken coop except a few feathers.
A couple of old buckets lay lopsided by the well, which had not been used in a long time.
That well had been dug by Lin Jiaxin before his leg was injured.
However, before it was finished, Lin Jianling had called him to repair the house, and afterward, there was never an opportunity to continue well-digging.
When the village chief arrived at Lin Yuan’s house, this was the scene he encountered, which made him sigh yet again.
Lin Yuan sweetly called out to the village chief, “Grandfather,” then hurried over to help together with Lin Dahan, guiding the village chief to sit on the only solid bench in the courtyard.
This long bench was actually brought from Lan Hua’s own home.
Lin Yuan’s house didn’t have such benches; they only had a few small stools made from leftovers that Lin Jiaxin had once used.
“Grandfather, I’m really sorry to trouble you to make this trip,” she said.
Lin Yuan had a favorable impression of the elderly village chief, who was over seventy years old.
When her father had broken his leg, it was this village chief who had decisively ordered his eldest son to drive an ox cart to town for medical treatment.
Otherwise, given Lady Yang’s stinginess, she would have definitely been reluctant to find a doctor in town and would opt for a rural doctor in the village for a casual treatment.
To be frank, while preserving Lin Jiaxin’s leg could be attributed to Lady Yang’s silver, the old village chief’s role was indispensable.