When Yan Xi’s father came back he ran into Yan Xi’s mother at the gate. From the beaming look on her he knew her chat with Zhou’s third wife had gone well. Lately there had been one good thing after another at home, and everyone’s spirits were much better.
When the two of them came in they saw the two daughters-in-law busy in the kitchen, and seeing the mung bean soup and the buns on the table they knew the food was nearly ready, and told the little ones to go to the kitchen and fetch bowls and chopsticks to get ready to eat.
After Feng Yue came in carrying a plate of cold-dressed cucumber, Yan Xi’s mother first took a bun for Yan Xi’s father and one for Yan Xi, then said “eat,” and only then did everyone pick up their chopsticks.
“Little Sister boiled this mung bean soup well. Sweet and icy cold, and one mouthful and you’re cool right down to your stomach.”
“It is good. When I boil it, it comes out red, Little Sister’s comes out green, and it tastes fresh too. Little Sister, next time you boil it teach me, I’ll try it too,” Zhou Fen went on.
“All right.”
After the meal the family went out to the yard to cool off. Talking on, they came to the Yan family’s eldest branch.
Only now did Yan Xi learn there was an uncle’s household, which was also supporting her grandmother. She had been here several days and hadn’t met them, and nobody at home had mentioned it, and it hadn’t occurred to her to ask about the other relatives.
From her mother’s telling she learned that not long after Yan Xi was born they found Yan Xi wasn’t normal. At first they thought she’d be all right when the child grew a little, but by the time Yan Xi was two she still couldn’t call for her mom and dad, she picked up rubbish and ate it, she laughed stupidly now and then, and she couldn’t be left alone. However unwilling the family was to believe it, they could only admit that Yan Xi really was an idiot.
When Yan Xi was three a wandering Daoist came to the door to ask for water, and seeing little Yan Xi squatting at the gate playing with mud he said that Yan Xi was not a born idiot, she was only short one soul and one spirit, and her simple-mindedness was caused by her souls being incomplete. This was Yan Xi’s calamity, and outsiders had no way to interfere, they could only take good care of her, and once she got past her death calamity her soul would return and she would be well, and afterwards her life would be full and smooth all her days.
At first everyone believed it completely. Even Yan Xi’s grandfather and grandmother took silver out of the common purse to treat Yan Xi. They were not a family that favored sons over daughters, grandsons and granddaughters were all their own, and as long as the person could get better, spending some silver was nothing.
As time passed, Yan Xi was nearly ten and there wasn’t the slightest improvement, and the family had spent several dozen taels. In the middle of it Yan Xi’s grandfather fell ill, and because there was no money, so as not to be a burden on his children and grandchildren, he simply held out until he died.
The eldest branch fell out with the Yan family over this too. Yan Manfu had always been a filial son, and to have his own father fall ill and die on account of a junior was too great a blow to him.
Yan Xi’s father was in pain too, but he had no choice, one was his daughter and one was his father. And when his father was ill he had called the two brothers to his bedside and said that he was already old, and even cured he wouldn’t live many more years, so better to keep the money for Yan Xi.
Yan Manfu had agreed at the time, but two months later, after their father was buried, it still erupted. He had a great quarrel with Yan Xi’s father and mother, accusing the two of them of being unfilial and thinking only of themselves.
Yan Xi’s father said nothing, but Yan Xi’s mother wouldn’t have it. Yan Xi was her life, nobody was allowed to say anything about her. And besides, they had been told Yan Xi would get better, it was only a matter of time.
Yan Manfu was so angry he spoke without care: “An idiot, what use is spending any more money on her? She’s been treated five or six years now, is there the slightest sign of improvement? Wasting all this silver of the family’s for nothing, and to this day not one of the boys has been sent to a private school. Are you satisfied?”
Yan Xi’s mother was so angry she almost struck him, and it was the aunt and the grandmother, the two of them, who held her back. They took Yan Xi’s mother back to her room and comforted her a while, then came out and gave the two brothers a talking-to as well. They were all one family, you don’t write the character Yan two different ways, and break the bone and the sinew still holds it together [1]break the bone and the sinew still holds it together (da duan gu tou lian zhe jin, 打斷骨頭連着筋) Idiom, family ties remain even after a bitter falling-out jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3254417_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3254417_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Carrying on like this only made them a laughingstock for nothing.
When Grandmother Yan had finished her say she was tired too, and had the aunt help her back to her room. She didn’t come out for dinner, it was the aunt who carried it in, and she did at least drink half a bowl of porridge.
In the days that followed, though the two families still shared their living, something was different. The juniors didn’t like the atmosphere at home and were out all day. Grandmother Yan and the aunt, caught in the middle, had a hard time of it too, and in the end it was the grandmother who made the decision and said outright to split the household.
Yan Xi’s father and Yan Manfu hadn’t agreed at first. They both said that while the parents were alive you didn’t split the household, and if they really did split, wouldn’t people break their backbones talking about it?
Grandmother Yan paid no attention to anyone. She sent Yan Yang to invite the village head, and the head of the Yan clan too, along with several of the village’s respected old men.
When the people had arrived, Grandmother Yan said, “The family has eight mu of good land, of which three mu are paddy and five mu are dry field. Besides that there are twelve mu of wasteland we opened up before, after a few years of working it the grain yield isn’t too bad now either.”
“From now on I’ll go with the eldest son’s family, so I won’t take a share of the land. You two brothers take half each, and from now on the second son gives two hundred catties of grain and three hundred wen a year as a filial contribution. The grain can be whatever you like, just get it ready and bring it over.”
The two brothers had no objection. Because their mother was going with the eldest son’s family, in the end it was decided that the eldest son’s family would take two mu of paddy and two mu of dry field, and the second son’s family one mu of paddy and three mu of dry field.
Seeing the two brothers had settled it, Grandmother Yan went on: “The house won’t be divided. The grandsons in the family are grown now and will soon be spoken for, and they can’t be left without a room to live in, or what girl’s family would be willing to marry in.”
Then Grandmother Yan opened the money box. Inside were a few small silver ingots and some loose silver, and some copper coins as well.
“All the money in the family’s common purse is here, eleven taels four mace and twenty-four wen altogether. Two taels three mace were spent before when your father died. The old house is left to the eldest. Second son, when the weather turns warm, find the village head and get a house plot approved, and then move out. As for this money, I’ll decide: I’ll give you eight taels, as compensation for your giving up the house. The eldest son’s family gets two taels, and the rest I’ll keep as my own private money.”
“The vegetables in the household plot won’t be divided, come and pick them yourselves, and once yours have grown, then you’ll eat separately.”
“As for the pots and bowls and ladles, when you leave take the utensils you eat with. Of the family’s pots, the small one goes to you, if you need more later, go to the blacksmith yourselves.”
“As for grain, the family has six hundred catties of coarse grain and a hundred and twenty catties of fine grain. The second son’s family has more children, so I’ll decide to give them three hundred and fifty catties of coarse grain, more of the potatoes and corn, and the sweet potatoes stay at the old house. For fine grain, twenty catties each of rice and wheat, and the rest stays at the old house to build people up in the busy season. You have no objection?”
“As for my own funeral, I won’t concern myself with it. When the time comes, you two brothers can talk it over.”
Neither of the Yan brothers had any objection, so the village head, with everyone as witness, wrote out a document. On it was written how much each family had received, and how the money for supporting the old was to be given, and then the witnesses were written down, and everyone present was asked to sign, and those who couldn’t write pressed their thumbprint. Three copies were made, one for each of the two Yan brothers and one kept with the clan head, so there would be no wrangling later.
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