Chapter 81: Separation 1/2

Despite their anger, Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu still waited until they finished their meal before going to the Jin family’s house.

On the way there, Jin Xiaoye said to Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang, “You two go to the new house, boil some water, and have some tea. You don’t need to come with us.”

The so-called new house was the two rooms newly built by Jin Xiaoshu.

Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu had decided to cause a scene, and Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang were better off not getting involved.

In a way, they were all surnamed Jin, and blood ties ran deep. Even if they argued fiercely, things would still return to normal eventually.

But if Fang Jinniang and Li Qingzhi went along, they might incur the grandmother’s resentment.

And then there were their parents; these two were accustomed to being placid. They might not want to split the family, and seeing their daughters-in-law interfering might cause some trouble.

“Alright, we’ll wait for you in the new house,” Li Qingzhi said, leading Li Damao and Li Ermao.

These days without smartphones, computers, or televisions, the two children were bored at home. When they learned their parents were going out, they insisted on coming along.

Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang entered the new house built by Jin Xiaoshu with their two children.

It was quite cold that day, so boiling water would provide some warmth. The charcoal left from the previous fire could be put into the stove later for heating.

While Fang Jinniang was heating water, the sound of an argument came from next door.

By the time Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu returned, the atmosphere in the Jin family was already tense. The village head, along with Jin Dajiang, had arrived at the Jin family’s house and informed them about the need for another person to be sent away.

“We’ve already sent someone away from our family, why do we have to send another?” Aunt Jin was not pleased upon hearing this.

“Dajiang is past the eligible age, so he doesn’t count,” the village head explained.

“How come he doesn’t count? Aren’t there enough people being sent away like this? Didn’t Jin Biantou at the village entrance send his underage nephew to serve as a substitute for his own son?” Aunt Jin retorted.

Jin Biantou’s sister’s husband had fallen ill ten years ago. Not wanting to die, he sold their land to afford treatment for himself, but in the end, he passed away and they lost their land.

Jin Biantou’s sister had to return to her parents’ home with her son. Later, she remarried, but her son stayed with Jin Biantou.

Jin Biantou didn’t drive away his nephew; he provided him with food, but he wasn’t particularly kind to him. This time, when the government conscripted laborers, he sent his sixteen-year-old nephew as a substitute for his own son.

The village head was aware of this matter and said, “Regardless, you have to send someone else! The county magistrate has instructed Dajiang to help in the kitchen. Now our village is short of one laborer.”

The village head briefly explained the situation during the day, intending to use Li Qingzhi and County Magistrate Gou to pressure the Jin family.

This made Aunt Jin even angrier. “Alright then, so it’s Li Qingzhi’s doing! What have we done to offend him? Why does he want to harm us like this?”

Li Qingzhi was definitely targeting them intentionally!

As the argument continued, Jin Xiaoye arrived with Jin Xiaoshu. As soon as Jin Xiaoye arrived, she said, “I want to ask, where did my father offend you? He’s already so old, and you still let him go and build the dock!”

Building the dock! Although they were only digging mud these days, soon they would be moving stones!

“He volunteered himself; nobody forced him with a knife!” 

“If you don’t want to go, just pay up. Why bully my father?”

“We’ve paid up! We contribute to the communal fund every month!”

…

The argument escalated with neither side backing down.

Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu were both upset, as was Aunt Jin’s family.

Every month, they had to pay a bill to the public office, and that was no small amount!

If they could spend that money themselves, they could afford to eat meat every day.

When Jin Dajiang saw his family quarreling, he was frantic and wanted to intervene with Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu. However, he had no authority in front of his children and couldn’t control them at all.

The village head stood calmly beside me, watching. He had seen plenty of such quarrels before. In some families, with many siblings, they would even come to blows.

There were four brothers surnamed Wang in their village, all quite poor and often unable to get enough to eat. Coupled with the favoritism their parents showed to the youngest son…

After their mother became unable to work, none of them wanted to support her, so they fought.

Later, the old lady went to live with the youngest son, but not long after, she died. She died of skin and bones from hunger. Then the three older brothers went and beat up the youngest son again.

To the village head, the situation in the Jin family wasn’t much.

But the Jin family should have split up long ago. It was just that Grandma Jin was so formidable, she could keep both sons in check.

The village head smiled as he watched the commotion. When Grandma Jin saw her family making a scene in front of outsiders, she was furious: “Jin Xiaoye! You’re already married, why do you come back home to cause trouble?”

“Even if I’m married, Jin Dajiang is still my father. Can’t I speak up if he’s being treated unfairly?” Jin Xiaoye asked.

“How is he being treated unfairly?”

“He’s so old, yet you make him go work at the dock. Isn’t that unfair? Aside from this, when the government used to conscript labor, it was basically always my father who went. Their family never got any compensation, why is that?” Jin Xiaoye was very angry.

She remembered when she was young, one summer her father was accidentally hit by a passing boat while dredging mud from the river. He nearly lost his life… her grandmother was especially stingy, she didn’t even want to spend money on her father’s medical treatment…

She was strong-willed, but it was forced out of her.

“We have to pay bills to the public office every month, and now we have to work at the dock. Isn’t that unfair?” Jin Liushu also chimed in. This time, he didn’t want to go. Just paying one or two silver coins, barely over a thousand wen, would suffice! 

“You paid the money, and we didn’t spend a penny of it. If you’re not satisfied, go ask Grandma for the money!” Jin Xiaoye retorted.

In fact, Uncle Jin’s family also had plenty of grievances.

When Jin Liushu and his two brothers were younger, Jin Dajiang could work, so they endured.

But this year, during the busy farming season, Jin Xiaoshu didn’t want to work in the fields, and Jin Dajiang, being older, couldn’t do as much work… they felt very unfair.

“You’ve gone too far!” Grandma Jin angrily exclaimed.

“What do you mean we’ve gone too far, Grandma? Clearly, you’ve been too biased, tipping the scales in one direction!” Jin Xiaoye exclaimed.

Jin Liushu looked at Grandma Jin. “Grandma, I want to split up the family!”

Jin Xiaoshu added, “Yeah! I want to split up too!”

In fact, Jin Liushu and the others had wanted to split up for a long time. After the split, they could live however they wanted. It would be great!

They hadn’t split up before because Uncle Jin was afraid of what people in the village would say about him favoring his brothers.

Anyway, now that there was a chance, everyone wanted to split.

Aunt Jin said angrily, “Jin Xiaoye is here complaining that we don’t give her father any money, so why should we give any money? I, for one, won’t pay the public office anymore!”

Aunt Jin’s three sons all stood by her side and said, “Yeah! We won’t pay either!”

Jin Xiaoshu retorted, “It’s not like anyone’s desperate for your money!”

Grandma Jin stared blankly at her four grandsons in front of her. She suddenly seemed much older. Finally, she said, “Then let’s split up.”

“Great! Let’s split up the family quickly!” Jin Xiaoye said.

Grandma Jin glared fiercely at Jin Xiaoye.

The village head chimed in, “Yes, let’s split up soon. Big sister, you’ve been refusing to split the family for so long; be careful not to turn the younger generation against each other.”

“I’ve already figured out how to split it up a long time ago. We’ll wait for Dahai to come back before we split,” Grandma Jin said.