Many families in the Erhe Brigade had separated their households. In their area, there was no custom stating that children could not separate while their parents were still alive; generally, as soon as someone married, they moved out. Without separating, a massive family living under one roof would bicker constantly and drive everyone crazy, not to mention there simply weren’t enough rooms to accommodate everyone.
However, a family like theirs—who officially separated but still lived and ate together, expanding the property to such a massive scale—was entirely unheard of. Most elders either lived by themselves or stayed with either their eldest or youngest son.
The Liu family was the sole exception.
Old Man Liu and Old Mrs. Liu had five children: four sons and one daughter.
The eldest son, Liu Manxue, was mature, stable, and broad-minded. He had joined the military in the south and had done incredibly well for himself. Coming from a rural background with no connections, he had managed to rise to the rank of deputy division commander. His wife was a junior high school teacher. The couple had two sons: fifteen-year-old Liu Siqi and twelve-year-old Liu Sijia.
Liu Sitian’s father was the second child, Liu Mangcang. He was the most honest, dependable, and hardworking man you could find, and he had married Li Sufen. As soon as they wed, they were separated from the main household. At the time, they applied for a residential plot right next to the old family home. The two properties sat flush against one another, divided only by a woven willow fence, and used separate gates.
The third uncle, Liu Manjin, was highly sharp and possessed a slightly fierce temperament. He had loved to fight when he was younger, but he treated his wife wonderfully; his fists were only ever directed at outsiders. He was a perfect match for the third aunt, who had the personality of a timid white rabbit and obeyed whatever her husband said. Liu Sitian liked her third uncle very much, and he doted on her just as much in return. He had also separated his household and had two sons: eleven-year-old Liu Sinan and nine-year-old Liu Sibei.
The fourth aunt, Liu Manhong, was fair-skinned, beautiful, and had an excellent disposition. She had married her junior high school classmate from the commune. Her relationship with her mother-in-law was harmonious, and she shared a deep bond with her husband. They had a son and a daughter. The fourth aunt worked at the grain depot, while her husband was a purchasing agent for the supply and marketing cooperative. Over the years, the two families had maintained close contact and got along splendidly. In fact, the fabric for the trousers Liu Sitian was wearing today had been a gift from her uncle.
The fifth uncle, Liu Manyin, was the lone oddity of the Liu family.
No matter what kind of personality the other Liu children had or where they ended up, every single one of them was exceptionally filial to the elders and deeply dedicated to the family. Anyone who knew them praised the excellent family upbringing. Yet, structural integrity crumbled when it came to the fifth child. He was a textbook case of a bad sprout coming from a good bamboo shoot. Even the fifth aunt he married was completely different from the other Liu family daughters-in-law. They perfectly illustrated the saying, “every ragged pot finds a crooked lid.”
Naturally, the adults never criticized her elders in front of her; Liu Sitian had secretly overheard all of this before she turned one year old, back when she still shared a room with her parents.
Since the older Liu sons had either moved far away or separated after marriage, the implication was crystal clear: the old couple intended to live out their golden years with their youngest son. This was a standard practice in Erhe Village.
Who could have guessed that after a single trip to the provincial capital, Liu Manyin would marry a local girl and settle down right there? There had been absolutely no warning, and no one in the family had any inkling until they received his letter.
Old Man Liu and Old Mrs. Liu had been utterly furious. What kind of nonsense was this? Was he marrying into the bride’s family as a live-in son-in-law? They spent days cursing him at home. This was the youngest son they had favored so heavily, yet they hadn’t even known he was getting married, let alone what their new daughter-in-law even looked like! If he had just come home and said something, and if the woman truly was a decent person, would they have actually opposed it? To go and pull it off so secretly!
Old Man Liu openly proclaimed that if Liu Manyin ever dared to set foot back home, he would break his legs!
Thinking back on this, Liu Sitian curled her little lips. Based on her own analysis, this fifth uncle of hers was nothing but a social climber—a “phoenix man.” He was clever, opportunistic, and by exploiting his tall, fair, and clean-cut appearance, he managed to marry a girl from the provincial capital, trading his background for a job at the steel mill. As for the fifth aunt, she looked down on rural mud-legged peasants and poor relatives from the bottom of her heart. From the day they married until now, she had never once visited the ancestral home, nor had she ever written a single letter. Consequently, the old Liu family had never even laid eyes on the couple’s two children: their nine-year-old eldest daughter, Liu Sixia, and their seven-year-old second son, Liu Sirui.
A few years ago, the fifth uncle had actually slipped back once by himself. His legs weren’t broken, but he was indeed thoroughly thrashed by Old Man Liu. Afterward, Liu Mangcang and Liu Manjin tag-teamed him for a secondary beating. Covered in bruises and limping heavily, he fled the village and had never returned since, whether out of resentment or sheer terror. Most likely, it was a mix of both.
Following that incident, her grandparents were officially taken in by her own father to care for them in their old age. The willow fence dividing the two properties was torn down, uniting them into one massive household.
Hmph, Liu Sitian sneered inwardly. Who’s to say who the poor relatives really are? The tides turn every thirty years. We’ll just wait and see.
With just a casual wave of her hand, she could pull out a massive gold nugget or a century-old ginseng root; she was someone blessed with a cheat-code space, after all. Once her family’s lifestyle skyrocketed in the future, that fifth uncle better not show his face around here with his hand out. She certainly wouldn’t tolerate it, no matter who he was.
Amused by her own thoughts, Liu Sitian couldn’t help but let out a series of giggles.