With a cold face, Xia Xianxian ignored the short-circuited system.
Without saying a word, she followed behind Meng Wenzhou and walked toward the old Meng family house.
Along the way, they encountered several grandmothers and aunties from the village, and Meng Wenzhou warmly greeted everyone all the way.
Once they reached a place with fewer people, Meng Wenzhou apologized to Xia Xianxian in a low voice.
“My ancestor, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have doubted you. Don’t be angry anymore. We are going to the Meng family house in a bit. You’ve just arrived, so don’t let others gossip about you.”
Looking at Meng Wenzhou who had his head lowered in front of her, Xia Xianxian felt a complex mixture of emotions in her heart.
She nodded at Meng Wenzhou, and a smile hung on her face once again.
The Meng family’s old house and new house were at opposite ends of the village—one at the village head and the other at the village tail.
The two had left the house rather late. Before they even reached the entrance of the old house, they heard Wang Cuihua’s voice coming from the courtyard: “Tieniu, go to your youngest uncle’s house and take a look. Tell them to come to the old house for dinner.”
Meng Wenzhou called out to Wang Cuihua across the courtyard gate: “Mother, we’re here.”
“Youngest Uncle and Youngest Aunt are here! We can finally start the meal.”
The children in the courtyard began to cheer. Today was the first day after the wedding. According to the rules, everyone was supposed to eat a meal together to get to know the new bride. Who would have thought that despite waiting and waiting, the two simply wouldn’t arrive. Later, Wang Cuihua had taken charge, taking out half a jar of malted milk extract from the cupboard to brew for the children to drink.
Seeing that the children had received something good, the adults stopped voicing their complaints.
Children get hungry the easiest. Although the malted milk extract was sweet and delicious, it was, after all, not porridge or rice that could fill their bellies. Every one of them was waiting for their uncle and aunt to arrive so they could start the meal.
Looking at her youngest son and daughter-in-law who only arrived when the sun was high in the sky, Wang Cuihua held back her anger repeatedly to avoid scolding them aloud. She kept silently reciting in her heart: Can’t scold, can’t scold. Losing one’s temper right after getting married brings bad luck!
Perhaps because everyone was hungry, there was not much small talk at the dining table. Everyone kept their heads down and ate their food.
After the meal, Wang Cuihua didn’t ask her daughters-in-law to clean up. Instead, she called upon Ye’zi and Pan’er, two granddaughters, to wash the dishes and pots.
She then asked everyone to follow her and Meng Guoqiang into the inner room.
Upon reaching the inner room, Meng Guoqiang didn’t speak. He took out his pipe, took a puff of tobacco, and then leisurely dropped a bombshell.
The moment his voice fell, Yang Zhaodi, the third daughter-in-law of the Meng family, directly cried out.
“What? Splitting up the family?”
With a reluctant face, Yang Zhaodi nudged Meng Wenshan beside her.
Glancing at the room full of people with various expressions, Meng Guoqiang increasingly felt that splitting up the family was an excellent idea.
Yang Zhaodi was entirely unwilling to split up the family. The families of the eldest and second brothers both had several children, while she only had one, Xiaohuzi. She had helped raise so many children for all these years; splitting up the family now would mean she would lose out tremendously.
Meng Guoqiang took a puff of tobacco from his pipe and said, “Yes, splitting up the family. The youngest, Old Fifth, is also married now. Everyone has their own small family, so there’s no need to force ourselves to live under one roof.”
Wang Cuihua took out the money that had already been divided into four portions, pointed to them, and said, “I have prepared 100 yuan for each family. The money for building the house for Old Fifth’s marriage has already been deducted from his share. You four brothers come over and take it yourselves.”
The food in the house was distributed per capita. From now on, each family would eat their own grain, and no one would have to feel that they were losing out or working for nothing.
Before Meng Wenzhou got married, several daughters-in-law in the house had looked upon him with irritation, feeling that Old Fifth had taken a massive advantage of the family by attending high school without working in the fields. Moreover, a new house had been built for his marriage, making every one of them look like a jealous black-eyed chicken.
Now that the family was split up, distance would lend enchantment, and there would naturally be fewer conflicts in daily life.
As for providing for the elderly, each family would contribute 10 yuan annually, plus thirty catties of coarse grain and five catties of fine grain. If it wasn’t enough in the future, more would be added each year.
As for the house, the families would live together temporarily. The second and third brothers would move out once they built new houses. The two elders of the Meng family would live with the eldest son for their old age. Dividing it this way was quite fair.
The second sister-in-law, Liu Chunfen, was actually very pleased. Being able to be the master of her own household, who would still want a managing mother-in-law pressing down on them? Over these years, the mother-in-law had kept a tight rein, and she had barely been able to save any private money.
Seeing that her parents-in-law had already drawn up the regulations, Yang Zhaodi didn’t dare to say anything more either. However, she made up her mind not to move out; by living in the same courtyard as her parents-in-law, she could always gain some small advantages.
The eldest brother and the eldest sister-in-law were also willing. In any case, their children were already grown, and continuing to live together would only cause them to lose out. Though their faces bore no expressions, the occasional sharp glint in their eyes betrayed their true thoughts.
For Meng Wenzhou and Xia Xianxian, this could be considered an unexpected joy. They had already moved out upon getting married, and now the family was directly split up. Coming over for a meal and being able to divide some assets was exceptionally good!
Everyone watched as Meng Wenzhou and Xia Xianxian arrived empty-handed but returned with large and small bags.
One after another, they grew curious about what the Meng family’s arrangements were. Once they inquired clearly, Shuize Village also erupted into a frenzy.
The elders shook their heads upon hearing it, noting that there was no precedent for splitting up a family while the parents were still alive.
The young daughters-in-law, however, all envied the Meng family, thinking how wonderful it was to live their own separate lives without being controlled.
Regardless of what the village thought, this large family of the Mengs was now completely sorted out.
……
After the course of the morning, Xia Xianxian had actually calmed down and re-evaluated the matter of the system.
This system didn’t seem very bright. Why not try to bluff it? Whether it yields results or not, it was worth a shot anyway.
Having figured it out, Xia Xianxian sought out the system once again.
“System?”
[I am here, Host. Is there any question you would like to understand?]
With a calm face, Xia Xianxian said, “Oh, nothing. Where is the report button? I want to file a report.”
A hint of nervousness crept into the flat electronic voice, and the spoken words became much more human-like.
[Host, let us resolve any issues privately. The main computer is very busy every day, so increasing its workload like this wouldn’t be good.]
“I am an innocent bystander who was forced to bind with a system. How is that not a major blunder? For such a massive problem, I believe the main computer would be very willing to resolve it for me.”
[Dear, what kind of compensation do you want here? The system is at your service at any time.]
Hearing the system adopt a Taobao customer service tone, a smile hooked at the corner of Xia Xianxian’s lips, but she quickly concealed it.
With a look of indignation, she complained to the system: “I am not even a proper host, yet you have bound me now, and I still have to work and do missions. Risking the danger of being discovered to do missions for you, and facing punishment if discovered—you tell me yourself, is this reasonable?”
[Dear, the system has received your request. A solution and compensation will be delivered to you shortly, alright?]
“Meng Wenzhou is so shrewd; he already noticed something was wrong this morning. I reckon he’ll be able to guess it before nightfall. By the time your results come out, we would have already been fully punished.”
[Then what do you mean?]
“If we can’t unbind, can we add another person to the binding?”
[The system has never done this before, so it should not be allowed.]
Should? That meant there was a possibility. Xia Xianxian pressed further and said, “Then is there a regulation stating that only one person can be bound?”
[There is no such regulation; it is just a default setting to bind one host.]
“Then you can just add a binding for Meng Wenzhou. Look, even if I don’t go to complain about you now for binding the wrong host, it will be discovered sooner or later, and you will definitely be punished then. Furthermore, with Meng Wenzhou’s understanding of me and his attentiveness, he will definitely discover your existence very soon, and it will be a double punishment then.”
“For me, it would be an electric shock punishment at most. But for you, committing two major mistakes in a row, will the main computer directly recall and reset you? I am saying all this for your own good.”
Facing the system’s silence, Xia Xianxian kindly said, “You don’t need to rush to answer me either. Think about it carefully yourself, and come find me again tonight.”
[×&%￥#@……]