As soon as these words were spoken, Old Man Zhang slammed his tobacco pipe down hard.

“You… you dare to say such a thing? How dare you even think about it?”

“Father, listen to yourself! Look at my Zifu—he’s already in this state! If we don’t sell the land, how will you manage?”

“Why wouldn’t we manage? Do we not have enough people?” Fang Miaojun quickly interjected.

Even she hadn’t expected her third sister-in-law to bring up the idea of selling the land.

In this village, every family treated their land like a treasure.

That land was passed down by their ancestors.

Selling it so casually—how could that be allowed?

In Fang Miaojun’s eyes, all that land belonged to the eldest branch of the family.

Besides, even with all that land, their large household still struggled to fill their bellies.

If they sold off even a portion, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Split the family! Split the family! We, the third household, can’t stay here any longer!” Wang Xiuying pointed at Fang Miaojun and shouted loudly.

Since her eldest and second brothers were still here, there was nothing she was afraid to say.

Besides, Jian Xiu had already told her—if she wanted to separate from the family, she had to say the most ruthless words possible.

There was no need to hold back at all.

At first, she wasn’t sure what harsh words to say.

But now, she realized it wasn’t that she didn’t know—it was just that they hadn’t been pushed to this point yet.

Thinking about it, she felt fortunate that Zifu wasn’t truly injured.

If he really had been hurt, their third household might have ended up even more miserable than the fourth branch back in the day.

Wang Xiuying had thought that, given how much work their third branch contributed, her demand would surely be met with opposition.

But to everyone’s surprise, after she finished speaking, the entire courtyard fell silent.

Of course, this silence wasn’t because they were shocked.

It was clear—they were all calculating in their minds, weighing whether splitting the family was more beneficial or not.

Seeing this, Wang Xiuying couldn’t help but smirk with irony.

Just then, Zhang Zifu was carried back by her eldest brother, Wang Dashi, and her second brother, Wang Ershi.

Seeing Zhang Zifu’s severely swollen legs, Wang Xiuying was completely stunned.

Wasn’t this supposed to be fake?

Why did it look so real?

“This is… this… what happened?” Wang Xiuying widened her eyes in shock.

After speaking, she seemed to realize something and quickly added,

“Didn’t I tell you to take him to Renhetang first? Why bring him back here? Aren’t you just wasting time?”

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

Because she saw it—Zhang Zifu was really injured.

And the injuries were severe.

She couldn’t understand—when she had left earlier, he was completely fine.

How did he suddenly end up like this?

Zhang Zifu seemed to know what was going through Wang Xiuying’s mind. He grabbed her rough hand and shook his head slightly.

“You…”

“Xiuying, don’t worry. No matter what, as long as our family stays together, that’s all that matters.”

Hearing this, Wang Xiuying immediately caught on and quickly nodded. “Yes, yes, as long as we’re together, that’s enough… that’s enough…”

“Xiuying, what about the money? You told us to take him to Renhetang, but without the silver, how can we go?”

Wang Dashi looked at Wang Xiuying as he spoke.

Hearing this, Wang Xiuying immediately turned to Old Man Zhang and asked,

“Father, Mother said earlier that there’s still some silver at home. If there’s really no other way, we could take some from Tianyi’s academy fund first, right?

“Tianyi going to the academy is important, but surely not as important as someone’s life?”

As she spoke, she even deliberately glanced at Zhang Zirong and Fang Miaojun.

At this moment, Zhang Zifu also understood exactly what was happening.

So he turned to Old Man Zhang and said, “Father, my leg… my leg… what do you mean by this? Are you saying you won’t give me the silver? Is Tianyi’s tuition really more important than me?”

“Come on, Third’s wife, listen to yourself! It’s not like you’re dying. It’s just a leg injury. Won’t it heal after some time?”

“Heal? Didn’t you say the same thing when it happened to Fourth Brother back then? And what was the result?”

Hearing this, Fang Miaojun was momentarily speechless.

Clearly, she hadn’t expected Zhang Zifu to be so sharp-tongued today.

Seeing Fang Miaojun at a loss for words, Zhang Zifu turned back to Old Man Zhang and asked,

“Father, where’s the silver? Why are you still refusing to give it?”

“Third’s wife, it’s not that I don’t want to give it. But just now, your ‘good wife’ was loudly insisting on splitting the family!”

Old Man Zhang pointed at Wang Xiuying as he spoke.

“Xiuying, do you even know what you’re saying? As long as the elders are alive, the family doesn’t split—this…”

“Third’s wife, since your wife has already spoken, what else can we say?” Chen Sixi quickly added from the side.

Zhang Zirong, upon hearing this, nodded repeatedly as well, as if afraid that delaying even a second might lead to an unexpected change.

Seeing this, Zhang Zifu understood everything.

But he still looked up in disbelief at Old Man Zhang and asked,

“So, Father, you’ve agreed? You’re really planning to split the family?”

“That’s not my decision—it’s what she said!”

As he spoke, Old Man Zhang even used his tobacco pipe to point at Wang Xiuying.

Zhang Zifu let out a cold laugh.

It was a laugh of self-mockery, yet also one of bitter irony.

Even he hadn’t expected that just because of his injured legs—legs that might never recover—his own father would abandon him so easily.

Earlier, when he was at the village entrance, Jian Xiu had told him,

She said that as long as he told everyone that his legs were completely crippled and then casually mentioned splitting the family, the entire household would immediately agree.

He hadn’t believed her at the time.

He thought that maybe the eldest and second branches would agree.

But his father?

His father wouldn’t agree.

Yet reality had given him a ruthless slap in the face.

The man he had called “Father” all his life was willing to discard him over a pair of useless legs.

Had their third household not contributed enough over the years?

But thinking about it, with Fourth Brother as a precedent, what was there left for him to not understand?

He had truly refused to give up until he hit a dead end.

Collecting his thoughts, Zhang Zifu finally raised his head, his voice trembling as he asked,

“Father, are you really going to cast our third household out?”

“Wasn’t it you who suggested it? It wasn’t me!”

Chen Sixi muttered.

“I wasn’t asking you! I was asking my father!” Zhang Zifu roared at Chen Sixi.