Chapter 37: Dividing the Family

“Sister-in-law, is there anything wrong with my wife responding to Xiaolian?”

Before Shen Chuning could speak, Zhou Yubai asked Sun Fengjiao indifferently.

Sun Fengjiao was speechless. Shen Chuning’s response to Xiaolian seemed to be fine.

Seeing that Sun Fengjiao couldn’t speak, Zhou Yubai glanced at her and said, “Sister-in-law, you also know that Xiaolian is still young. No one will take what she said seriously. Why are you, as her mother, so eager to exaggerate and accuse her?”

Sun Fengjiao just didn’t like Shen Chuning winning over her children with candy, so she used the excuse of teaching her daughter a lesson to make trouble for Shen Chuning.

She didn’t expect the usually indifferent Zhou Yubai to protect his wife so tightly.

“I…” Sun Fengjiao opened her mouth unconvinced, but couldn’t say anything.

Zhou Xiaolian and Zhou Li, on the side, clutched their fruit candies tightly, pursing their lips, their big round eyes filled with tears.

Shen Chuning wanted to hug the little girl to comfort her, but worried that Sun Fengjiao wouldn’t be happy, after all, it was someone else’s daughter.

Lin Shulan came out of the house after hearing the commotion and scolded, “Oldest son’s family, what are you picking on again?”

“Third son’s wife, if you don’t want to give things to her children, don’t think about her family in the future, just eat it yourself!”

“Mother, I didn’t mean to…” Sun Fengjiao was exposed by her mother-in-law, but she was still a little aggrieved.

Lin Shulan raised her eyebrows and glared at her, “Alright, you’re all women, who can’t see through your little tricks.”

“Third son, third son’s wife, since you’re here, come in and talk.”

Shen Chuning followed Zhou Yubai into the room and sat down.

Father Zhou, seeing everyone gathered, put down his tobacco pipe, cleared his throat, and said, “When children grow up, they leave home; this is an old saying.

Now that the third son is married, our mission as parents is complete. Today, while we’re all home, your mother and I have decided to divide the family. From now on, you’ll each take care of your own families and live your lives well.”

As soon as Father Zhou finished speaking, Sun Fengjiao’s gaze swept over the second son’s family and Zhou Yubai and Shen Chuning.

Seeing that no one stood up to object, she became restless, “Father, Mother…”

But as soon as she opened her mouth, Lin Shulan glared at her, “Shut up, wait until your father finishes speaking and divides the family before you say anything.”

Sun Fengjiao couldn’t care less now. If she waited until the family was divided, it would be too late.

“Mother, our family will be the biggest loser in this division, I don’t want to divide the family!”

Father Zhou frowned and said to Zhou Jiakang, “Control your wife.”

Zhou Jiakang quickly pulled Sun Fengjiao, “Fengjiao, sit down first, wait until your parents finish speaking.”

Sun Fengjiao glared at her husband, her heart full of grievances. If it weren’t for her husband’s incompetence and giving up his job, would she not want to divide the family and live her own life?

Seeing that no one spoke, Father Zhou continued, “Your mother and I counted last night, besides the seven hundred and eighty-three kuai and seven mao we spent building the house, we now have nine hundred and thirty-six kuai and two mao in savings.

Remaining grain: one hundred and four jin of rice, one hundred and thirty-two jin of wheat, three hundred and fifty-nine jin of corn, eight hundred and thirty-seven jin of sweet potato chips, thirty-six jin of peanuts, and other miscellaneous grains, totaling twenty-two jin and eight liang.”

“The money and grain, your mother and I have divided equally into four parts, one for each of your three families and one for us two old people. Do you have any objections?”

Sun Fengjiao was eager to speak, but first looked at the second family.

She didn’t expect Shen Chuning, who was delicate and had just entered the family, to refute her parents-in-law, but as long as the second family spoke up, she could hide behind and stir things up, instead of charging forward herself.

On the second family’s side, Zhou Jun gave Xia Yue’e a look.

Xia Yue’e pretended not to see it and said to her parents-in-law, “Father, Mother, I have no objections.”

Zhou Jun heard his wife’s words and felt a little disheartened, but he couldn’t say anything more.

Zhou Jiakang, seeing the second family’s statement, quickly stated his position before his wife could speak, “Father, Mother, we have no objections either.”

While speaking, he also pulled Sun Fengjiao to prevent her from speaking.

Sun Fengjiao was furious but helpless.

Father Zhou then cleared his throat and continued, “Although these things in the family are divided equally, the second and third sons have jobs, and the second son’s job was given up by the eldest son.”

“Eldest son, your mother and I know that this division seems fair, but it’s not fair to your family. So after discussing with your mother, we decided to give your family our share of the money. We two old people only need the grain.

Second and third sons, do you have any objections?”

Zhou Yubai and Shen Chuning naturally had no objections.

Zhou Jun had a lot of opinions. He had three sons, the eldest was eight, the second was six, and the youngest was four. His sons were about to reach the age where they ate the most.

It’s said that half-grown boys eat their fathers to death. He had originally wanted to take advantage of having three sons to fight for more in front of his parents.

Who knew that his parents not only didn’t give them more because of his three sons, but also wanted to give all their money to the eldest son’s family.

He immediately cried out his family’s difficulties.

When he said this, Father Zhou looked at the second son with a disheartened look, “Okay, second son, since you think it’s unfair, then give the lumber mill job back to the eldest son, and your mother and I will give you our share of the money.”

Not only Father Zhou was disheartened, but Lin Shulan also felt disheartened.

She had three sons. The eldest was honest and kind, and she didn’t have to worry about him since he was young. The third son was very decisive, and she didn’t have to worry about him either.

Only the second son, who was a little clever but not decisive, had received the most of her attention since he was young.

Unexpectedly, in the end, the second son used his little cleverness to calculate them, not only didn’t mention taking care of them in their old age, but also kept thinking about how to get more.

At this time, Sun Fengjiao was silent.

Whether her parents-in-law gave them their share of the money or the lumber mill job, she was quite satisfied.

Fortunately, Mrs. Zhou had stopped her earlier, preventing her from speaking, otherwise, she would have offended her parents-in-law and might not have gotten anything.

Zhou Jun, hearing his father’s words, sat down again with a guilty look, “Dad, Mom, I was wrong just now, I have no objections.”

Father Zhou closed the ledger, “Okay, since there are no objections, let’s divide the money and grain like this! The remaining thing is this house…”

Speaking of the house, Father Zhou looked at Zhou Yubai, “When this house was built, it was basically built with the money Yubai brought back. Yubai, you decide how this house will be divided.”