Shen Yongtian awkwardly said to the old village chief, “Second Uncle, look, our family only has a few acres of land. If we divide it with my eldest brother, neither of our families will have enough to eat. And those few broken thatched houses—we’ve been crowded together all this time, there’s no way to split them. Second Uncle, please, let’s just forget about this matter today.”
The old village chief was about to speak when Shen Yu stepped forward and said, “Second Uncle, since you say the land and houses cannot be divided, we can just convert it into silver. We don’t need much—twenty taels will do.”
Lin Shuyuan, standing beside her, was shocked, staring at her daughter. Her daughter was no longer the same as before; she would never have dared to speak like this in the past.
Shen Liushi fell silent but glared at Shen Yu with her sharp, triangular eyes: “You worthless child, who gave you the right to speak here? Twenty taels? In your dreams! You might as well take my old life as well!”
Shen Yong’an angrily said, “What my daughter says goes. We don’t want the land or the houses. Give us twenty taels of silver, and we’ll leave immediately.”
“You’re dreaming!” Shen Liushi stomped her foot. “Where would I even get twenty taels? I don’t have a single tael. You’d better leave right now.”
The old village chief looked at Shen Liushi’s shamelessness with helplessness: “Shen Liushi! Twenty taels is already very little for the eldest family. The eldest family has worked for you for so many years, like beasts of burden. Don’t say twenty taels—even fifty wouldn’t be too much. I’ve already said: if you keep up this nonsense, you can leave Shenjia Village!”
Shen Liushi ignored the old village chief and continued rolling and screaming on the ground, whining about not having any silver.
At this moment, Shen Yu’s clear voice rang out again: “Grandma, if you’re unwilling to give twenty taels, that’s fine.” She paused slightly—and Shen Liushi immediately went silent.
“Just give us ten taels instead,” Shen Yu continued, “but there’s one condition.”
Shen Yong’an and Lin Shuyuan were about to stop her, but Shen Yu gently shook her head. The couple exchanged a glance and stayed silent.
From the moment Shen Yong’an saw Shen Yu return from the fields, he noticed something had changed in his daughter. Her previously dull eyes were now sharp and bright, as if she could see through everything. He unconsciously trusted her.
Shen Yu continued: “The condition is simple: write a formal break-off agreement. From now on, our Shen Yong’an family will have no relations whatsoever with you, Shen Liushi, Shen Yongtian, or Shen Yongcai.”
Shen Liushi shouted without thinking, “I won’t agree to any conditions! There isn’t even a tael of silver in the house!”
Earlier, she had agreed to the division of the family, calculating that Shen Yong’an, with nothing to gain, would kneel and beg her not to pursue it.
But Shen Liushi hadn’t gotten the kneeling she expected—instead, the village chief forced her not only to divide the family but also to give silver to those “wolves,” which felt like having her flesh torn.
She never imagined that her usually quiet eldest granddaughter, Shen Yu, would take the initiative and act decisively.
The old village chief said sternly, “Then choose: ten taels of silver or leave the village.”
Shen Yongtian and Xie Jinhua kept signaling their mother to agree. By now, being cornered by the village chief, refusing was impossible. Moreover, ten taels would allow the eldest family to leave, leaving the fields and houses to Shen Yongtian’s family.
Ten taels was a painful sum for Shen Liushi. Although she had secretly hoarded over fifty taels of silver, she had already exhausted her tantrums. Seeing her second son’s look and the old village chief’s grim face, she reluctantly agreed.
The village chief brought paper, ink, and brush. Following Shen Yu’s instructions, they drafted the family division and break-off documents—three copies each, six in total. Shen Yu quietly verified the contents. Then Shen Yong’an’s family and Shen Liushi’s family affixed their handprints, and the village chief and several elders witnessed the agreement.
At last, the family was free from the leeches of Shen Liushi.
Under the village chief’s insistence, Shen Liushi handed over ten taels of silver and Shen Yong’an family’s household registration. Shen Yu kept both the family division and break-off documents. The family, wearing only their current clothes, resolutely left the courtyard as the sun neared the horizon.
..
The old village chief lent Shen Yong’an a rundown thatched house about a mile from the village, at the foot of the eastern hills, so they had a temporary place to stay. He also brought a little over a pound of millet and a clay jar, enough for a few days’ meals.
Everyone’s food was insufficient, but they couldn’t let the family go hungry. Fortunately, it was still warm, so they wouldn’t freeze.
The village chief explained that the next day, Shen Yongtian would help file the family division documents at the county office. Shen Yong’an’s family thanked him repeatedly and saw him off.
The thatched house had long been abandoned. Two large holes pierced the roof, the mud walls seemed ready to collapse, and the door and windows were just frames. Inside, bits of mud and straw were scattered everywhere.
Shen Yong’an went to the hillside to find materials to patch the roof holes and gather some firewood.
Lin Shuyuan and little Shen Hao cleaned the house. Thinking they would no longer endure Shen Liushi’s endless oppression, Lin Shuyuan couldn’t help but shed tears of relief and joy.
Seeing his mother secretly wiping away tears, little Shen Hao ran to Shen Yu, crying, “Sister, Mama is crying. Go see her, please!”
Shen Yu understood her mother’s feelings and smiled at Shen Hao: “Mama is crying because she’s happy. From now on, we won’t have to work for Grandma anymore. She can’t bully us either.”
Hearing this, little Shen Hao cheered: “That’s great! From now on, we work for ourselves!” He rubbed his stomach, a little shyly looking at his sister: “Sister, I’m hungry.”
He had stayed by her side all day while she was unconscious, watching her without blinking, neither eating nor drinking. He feared that if he looked away, his sister might die.
Seeing the millet the village chief had brought, little Shen Hao had been thinking about it all day.
The food Shen Liushi had given them was always diluted with rice husks, a watery porridge barely enough to reflect their shadows. Their parents, after working all day, could only eat a small piece of black bread with a few pickled vegetables. And still, Shen Liushi often found reasons to withhold food from them.
Thinking of the plain millet porridge, little Shen Hao licked his chapped lips.
Shen Yu looked at his small, frail body wrapped in tattered clothes, her heart aching. This little one had risked his life to protect her, giving his whole love to his sister at such a tender age.
She hugged little Shen Hao and ruffled his hair: “Okay, sister will go fetch some water first. When I come back, we’ll cook a proper meal.”