Dividing the family was a good thing—it was exactly what they wanted!
However, this double standard was far too obvious!
Did they mean to drive the second branch out of the house without giving them anything?
With faint anger on his face, Jin Yao slowly set down his chopsticks, looked at the old man, and asked in a deep voice, “Father, what do you mean by this?”
“Jin Yao, what do you mean?”
The old lady exploded on the spot. “Do my words no longer carry weight in front of you?”
Hearing this, Liu Dujuan’s eyes immediately turned red again. Choking back tears, she said, “Mother, how can a family be divided like this? You aren’t giving us a single room or any land. What are we supposed to eat? Where are we supposed to live?”
The old man glanced at Jin Yao, gritted his teeth as if making up his mind, and said solemnly, “Second Son, you are more capable than your elder brother. Even without these things, you can feed your wife and daughter with your own skills. But your elder brother is different. He is an honest man who only knows how to farm, and he has a son to raise. To put it bluntly, these lands and houses are meant for our grandson.”
“That house halfway up the mountain on the west side of the village belongs to our family. It was once the origin of this village. You can move there to live; at least it will shelter you from the wind and rain. Whether your life goes well or bad in the future is all your own business.”
“I have done my best to raise you this far. Second Son, your mother and I are old now, and we can no longer afford to feed your family!” The old man finally sighed and spoke.
Jin Yao felt his nose tingle with sorrow. If they didn’t want his family, they should just say so. Why talk about being unable to feed them? Hadn’t all the money in this house previously been earned by his hunting?
They saw that his leg was injured and feared he would become a burden to the family. They were worried he could no longer hunt and bring in money, so they were abandoning them!
Heh, if they wanted to split, then split!
“Fine, then let’s divide the family. We will move all the things in our room out. Also, give us the bowls and chopsticks the three of us use for eating, plus a cooking pot and two basins,” Jin Yao said.
“No way! Our family only has one cooking pot left. The other pot is needed to make New Year goods during the Spring Festival, so you can’t take it away. As for these bowls and basins, I brought them from my parents’ house. Why should you get to take them?” Mrs. Xu slapped her chopsticks down with a loud snap and immediately shouted in a shrill voice.
Jin Yao was so angry that his hands trembled. Liu Dujuan quickly reached out to press down on Jin Yao’s hand and shook her head at him. Tears welled in her eyes as she turned to look at the old lady.
“Mother, if you won’t give us those things, so be it. But most of the family’s saved silver and grain were earned by Jin Yao from hunting. You must divide some of the money with us!” Liu Dujuan said to the old lady with red eyes.
With money, they could buy everything they needed.
“No way! He did earn some silver, but did your family live without eating or drinking? Did you survive on the northwest wind all these years? The little savings in my hands are reserved for Haohao’s schooling and his future wedding. As for the grain, we only have enough left for two days. Don’t even think about it,” the old lady said coldly right away, glaring fiercely at Liu Dujuan after she finished speaking.
Jin Shi and the old man remained silent, only bowing their heads to eat without a word.
Jin Yao clenched his fists in rage. Not wanting to argue with them any longer, he stood up abruptly, pulling Liu Dujuan and Jinjin toward their room.
“Let’s go, we’ll pack our things and leave.” Staying here for even one more moment felt like bad luck.
“By the way, since we are dividing the family, Eldest Brother should go find the village chief now to separate our household registrations. Mother should also return our travel permits to us. I will move out within an hour!”
After speaking, Jin Yao took his wife and daughter back to their room to pack up.
Looking at her father’s dark expression, Jinjin sighed in her heart. *Silly Father, we have nothing. What are we going to eat tonight?*
Back in the room, Liu Dujuan stealthily glanced toward the direction of the door and asked Jin Yao to block the doorway.
She turned around, pulled two boiled eggs out from her sleeves, handed them to Jinjin, and whispered, “Hide them in your sleeve pockets. Eat them after we leave this place. Endure the hunger for now!”
Jinjin’s eyes lit up. She smiled cheerfully as she took them, hid them away, and said brightly, “Thank you, Mother!”
Liu Dujuan sighed softly and patted her head. “Jinjin, sit on the little stool for a while. Your father and I will pack our things to take away.”
Jinjin nodded and sat obediently on the small stool placed against the wall, watching the two of them pack.
After returning to the room, the angry expression on Jin Yao’s face vanished instantly. He exchanged a glance with Liu Dujuan, and they began packing while chatting softly, discussing how to arrange their lives after moving over.
Aside from the bedding and a few clothes in their room, there was only a broken cabinet and the small stool Jinjin was sitting on. Jin Yao didn’t intend to take these two items, leaving only with the bedding.
In the future, he would remake the cabinet, stool, and table for their own room. These were items the eldest branch didn’t want and had passed off to them anyway; over the years, he had let Dujuan and Jinjin suffer far too much grievance.
Seeing that the sadness on Liu Dujuan’s face had disappeared and was replaced by a look full of anticipation, Jinjin gained a new perspective on her.
She had previously thought her mother was just a soft dumpling who loved to cry and kneel before others. She hadn’t expected her to know how to secretly hide boiled eggs for her daughter.
It turned out she was only pretending to be weak in front of the old lady. That was actually quite good.
Once packed, Jin Yao went outside for a bit.
An hour later, two young men from the village arrived—Yang Hu and Zhao Yun!
They were Jin Yao’s friends who had gone hunting with him in the past. Jin Yao had gone to ask them over to help with the move.
When they saw Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan coming out carrying only two cloth bundles and three rolls of bedding, the two men were stunned.
“Jin Yao, Sister-in-law, is this all you got from the family division? Where are you going to live then?” Yang Hu asked.
Jin Yao glanced toward the west and said calmly, “There is a house belonging to our family on the hill of the old village to the west. They are letting us live there.”
Yang Hu was thoroughly speechless. “That place isn’t far from the mountain entrance, and Jinjin is still so small. What if wolves show up? Jin Yao, why don’t you take Sister-in-law and your niece to stay in my south room for a while first?”
Jin Yao shook his head. “No need.”
They reached the courtyard where the rest of the family was standing. Holding two travel permit tokens, the old lady threw them at Jin Yao’s feet, then turned around to lean against the wall, staring at them closely for fear that they would take anything from the courtyard.
Jinjin was puzzled. *Why was this old lady so cold to her own younger son?*
【Jinjin, there is a broken bowl lying on the ground in the firewood shed by the main gate. Take that bowl with you.】
Just as Jinjin squatted down to help Jin Yao pick up the two travel permit tokens and handed them to him, Liu Liu’s voice rang in her mind.
“Okay!” Although she didn’t understand why Liu Liu wanted her to take that broken bowl, Jinjin was an obedient, good child.
When they passed by the main entrance, Jinjin turned into the firewood shed and instantly spotted the broken bowl, her eyes lighting up right away.
She quickly picked it up and held it tightly against her chest, terrified that it might break again.
This bowl looked very similar to the one she had broken in her father’s study before she transmigrated.
However, this bowl didn’t have a dragon pattern on the outside, whereas the one in her father’s study did.
“Father, Jinjin wants this broken bowl!” Jinjin looked up at Jin Yao and said pitifully.
Jin Yao glanced at the broken bowl and turned to look at the old man.
The old man came over, took a look, and glanced at Jinjin in surprise. “Where did you find this broken bowl?”
“I picked it up outside a few days ago,” Jinjin said defensively while looking at the old man. This was what Liu Liu had taught her to say.
The old man looked at it and felt that this broken bowl looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before. He nodded. “Take it then!”
The old lady over there didn’t say anything. Since the old man agreed, if they wanted to take it, let them. Wasn’t it just a broken bowl picked up from outside anyway?
Haohao, who was being led by the hand by Mrs. Xu, moved his mouth. He wanted to say that he had dug that broken bowl out from a pile of trash in the west room and thrown it away. But seeing that Jinjin’s whole family was being driven out, he thought he might as well let them keep it since it was just trash anyway, so he kept quiet.
In truth, he still really liked taking his little sister Jinjin out to play; that way, other people would only bully Jinjin and wouldn’t laugh at him for being fat.
The group arrived at the small hill in the west of the village. Looking at the thatched cottage with half of its roof collapsed, everyone’s expressions turned extremely grim.
Zhao Yun said with righteous indignation, “Jin Yao, your parents are far too heartless! You usually contributed so much to the family. How could they drive you all out here just because you got injured?”