Bai Jiu despised this man a bit. What was the point of a man who couldn’t even protect his own wife and children?
Lin Guihua had someone to keep her in check, but Bai Jiu did not. If they wanted to eat meat, fat chance.
"Mother, out of all the kids in this house, only the youngest sister is your biological child, right? Were the rest of us born to a previous wife?" Bai Jiu said this without fear of angering the old lady to death. "Since you’re so biased, Mother, there’s no way we can keep living like this. Let’s split the family. Whoever wants to live with you can stay, but I’m certainly not doing it anymore."
Bai Jiu had long decided that this family needed to be divided. She had so many good things, and she wasn’t going to let others take advantage of them. It would be one thing if they treated her well, but not a single person in this family was decent. If they wanted to eat her food, they could go eat shit. Living together as one big family not only meant she and her children were constantly wronged, but it also hindered her from giving her kids a good life.
Hearing Bai Jiu talk about splitting the family, Old Mrs. Song blew a fuse.
"Split the family?
"You cheap wench! Your father and I aren’t dead yet, and you’re actually thinking about splitting the family? Do you have any respect for us at all? Are you even human?!"
Bai Jiu sneered. "The other branches have all married and can establish their own households. Why do we have to wait until you and Father are dead to split up? Besides, what if you’re a thousand-year-old monster? If you live that long, we probably wouldn’t be able to split the family even after we’re all dead.
"If you’re not willing to let Big Brother and the others go, then just separate the three of us—me and the kids. Zhijun is gone anyway, so as your daughter-in-law, I no longer have any ties to you."
In this era, widows could remarry. A conscientious in-law family would keep the widow and her children, while a heartless one would kick them out after the man died. Bai Jiu’s words were correct; with her husband dead, she had no real connection to this family anymore. Regardless, she could support herself. There would be no need for her to remarry.
When it came to kicking all her sons out, Old Mrs. Song definitely wouldn’t agree. But if it was just separating the third branch, she actually didn’t have much of an objection. The third branch had three mouths to feed, the children were still so young, and they couldn’t earn many work points. To her, kicking them out was a good thing. It would save them from making a ruckus at home.
"Fine, we can split, but don’t even think about taking anything from the house. At most, I’ll give your third branch some food." Old Mrs. Song had already planned this out in her head. Kicking out the third branch was perfect; she could give their room to the eldest son’s family. When it came to winning over her sons, Old Mrs. Song was quite adept.
Bai Jiu stared coldly at Old Mrs. Song.
Being stared at like that sent chills down the old woman’s spine. "What? If you want to split the family, this is how it’s going to be. If you don’t like it, then forget it."
Of course Bai Jiu didn’t like it. She wasn’t the original owner of this body, and she wasn’t someone who would willingly take a loss. No matter what, she was going to take back what rightfully belonged to her. Even if they split the family, she wasn’t going to let this old tigress take advantage of her belongings.
"Mother, Zhijun went missing while protecting the people," Bai Jiu faked a sob. "Boo-hoo, are you planning to abuse his wife and children? Are you going to starve his flesh and blood to death?"
Bai Jiu could see right through it—this old hag wanted her to leave with nothing. Hmph, dream on! "Mother, if that’s how you want to divide things, then I’ll make a scene. Let’s see what the production team captain has to say. Let’s see what the leaders have to say."
Hearing that she was going to make a scene, Old Mrs. Song immediately spat at her. "Ptooh! You cheap wench, split if you want, if not, then forget it. Don’t use this to threaten me. I’m Zhijun’s biological mother! Do you think the leaders are that free? That they have the time to deal with your petty nonsense?"
Being uneducated was truly terrifying.
"Mother, you’re being biased. The leaders are cadres of the people, and it’s their duty to serve the people. If they ignore me and refuse to help, then I’ll take this to the county level, or even to the capital! Someone will eventually care."
Old Mrs. Song gritted her teeth in anger. She didn’t want to give Bai Jiu too much, but she was also afraid that she would actually make a scene. If that happened, certain things would no longer be kept hidden.
"You spendthrift woman! Then tell me, how do you want to split things?"
Bai Jiu looked at Old Mrs. Song, then curled her lips into an unapologetic smile. "We need at least one room. I won’t ask for more. The work points my children and I earned must be given to me. Additionally, you have to return Zhijun’s pension to me, and you must give me his future subsidies as well."
The rest was trivial; whether Old Mrs. Song gave it to her or not didn’t matter. She just wanted to hold onto Gao Zhijun’s money. With money, they would have everything. Without it, even if they gave her the entire Song family, she wouldn’t care for it.
Back when Gao Zhijun was still around, his entire monthly salary was handed over to Old Mrs. Song. It was forty yuan a month! Even if he was dead now, his subsidy would be at least twenty yuan a month. Therefore, if she got this money, her and her children’s lives wouldn’t be bad. Coupled with the items in her spatial dimension, she could lead her children to a prosperous life even in these trying times.
She actually didn’t care much for this money; she could easily make more than this just by selling a few supplies from her dimension. However, she was indignant and didn’t want the Gao family to profit off it.
The moment Bai Jiu brought up the pension, Old Mrs. Song was furious and refused outright. "Bullshit! You cheap thing, don’t even think about it. Zhijun is my son. Why should that be given to you?"
She was counting on her third son’s subsidies to get by. If Bai Jiu took it away, how would her daughter eat and live well in the future?
"Why shouldn’t I think about it? I am Gao Zhijun’s wife, protected by national laws. On what grounds are you denying me?" Bai Jiu was truly amused by Old Mrs. Song’s anger.
Gao Zhijun had met with an accident, but he had left behind two children. Was his entire family supposed to die with him?
"What, now that we’re splitting the family, you still want to hog the pension and subsidies Zhijun left for the three of us? Let me tell you, fat chance." Even in modern times, it was impossible for a wife and children not to receive a single cent of this money, let alone in this era. If Old Mrs. Song dared to swallow it all herself, Bai Jiu would raise hell until the Gao family knew no peace.
Perhaps intimidated by Bai Jiu’s imposing aura, Old Mrs. Song’s tone softened slightly. "It’s fine if your third branch wants to split, but don’t even think about Zhijun’s things. Who knows if you’ll use it to subsidize other people? You can split the family, but Zhijun’s pension and subsidies are out of the question."
Bai Jiu didn’t care what she said. Regardless, she was determined to get this money.
"Mother, if you don’t give me Zhijun’s pension and subsidies today, I will go straight to the production team captain. Additionally, I will report the youngest sister for eating our grain without doing any work, acting completely like a capitalist young miss.
"I will also report you for human trafficking! You might not be educated, but you can go ask around and see if the state will throw you in prison for what you’ve done."
Although Bai Jiu didn’t know the exact penalty for human trafficking nowadays, she knew that from ancient times to the present, the punishment for such a crime had always been severe.
"Bullshit! When did I ever traffic humans?!" Old Mrs. Song might not have been educated, but she had seen plenty of the commotions over the past few years.