Lian Manman turned her head away in distress, unable to bear watching any longer.
Doctor Li had been called over to bandage the wound on Lian Shouli’s head, leaving behind so dicine. He didn’t ask anything and just shook his head and left. With the Lian Family frequently encountering troubles over the past year, he had beco no stranger to such incidents.
This commotion brought Lian Shouren, Lian Jizu, and others over from the main room.
"Father, everyone is considering splitting up the household, and I agree," Lian Shouli said, his expression blank and his tone unusually calm.
After Lian Shouli finished speaking, the room fell suddenly silent.
"What do you an everyone is thinking of splitting up the household? I never said that. Father, I don’t want to split up the household," Lian Shouren was the first to stand up in opposition.
Lady Gu pursed her lips, lifted her head, and then lowered it again.
If they were to divvy up the family assets now, their branch could completely relocate to the county town and rely on Lian Huahua for support. Moreover, they could live quite comfortably.
However, the frustrating part was that they could not express their desire to split up the household. As the eldest son, Lian Shouren had preferential inheritance rights to the family property but also the responsibility to support Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou. If they moved to the county town without taking Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou with them after the split, they would be branded as unfilial and scolded behind their backs.
Moreover, if Lian Shouren still had aspirations of becoming an official, he couldn’t even ntion splitting up the household, let alone prevent it from happening.
"I don’t want to divide the household either," Lian Shouyi was the second to object.
He said this through gritted teeth.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to split up the household, but his share from the division would be limited at this point, and he was not satisfied with that. The marriages of Sanlang, Old Fourth, and Liulang had all been major expenses. If the family split now, he would have to bear these burdens alone.
Both Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu had studied for many years, and Lian Jizu had married, and Lian Huahua had been wed off—all funded by the family’s collective ans. The main family branch only had Lian Duo left, so most major events were done. They should wait for Liulang to be married and have his own ho before considering a division; otherwise, Shouyi would be at a disadvantage.
Both Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi were not sincere in their words, which made it seem like Lian Shouli was the only one pushing for the division.
Lady Zhou’s face was ashen, and Old Master Lian placed his dry tobacco pipe on the kang. Both hands tucked away in his sleeves, it was hard to notice they were trembling without looking closely.
"Father, I want to divide the household," Lian Shouli insisted.
With Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi opposing the division, only Lian Shouli was left. Old Master Lian finally extended his hands from his sleeves and firmly picked up the dry tobacco pipe.
"Old Three, don’t be hasty. You go back first, let Father take a breather and think about how we can divide this household. You also rest a bit," Old Master Lian began to puff away at his dry tobacco pipe. The fire in the pipe’s bowl had long ago gone out, but Old Master Lian showed no sign of noticing.
Old Master Lian gently persuaded Lian Shouli to leave.
Lian Shouli went back to the West Wing Room and lay down on the kang, unable to go to work the next day.
When Lian Manman’s family returned from the breakfast shop at noon, they just saw Old Master Lian coming out of the West Wing Room.
"Old Fourth, co here," Old Master Lian called Lian Shouxin over.
"I’ve talked to Old Three for a long ti. You brothers have a good relationship, you try to persuade him again," Old Master Lian told Shouxin, "...I’m doing this for his own good. He doesn’t have a son. If he gets old, what’s he going to do? After a hundred years, who will take care of his funeral arrangents? By that ti, you won’t be able, but you have two sons, and I’m reassured... The family is better remaining intact; what am I after, if not for your own good... Just wait another two years, then it’ll make sense to split... "
Old Master Lian was not in favor of dividing the family assets. His words from yesterday, suggesting they take a rest, were rely a delaying tactic to avoid upsetting Lian Shouli. However, Lian Manman thought that Lian Shouli’s proposal to divide the household was already a significant sign of awareness and was a big step forward. Finally, there seed to be a glimr of hope for the future of the third branch.
"Father, I’ll try and talk to Third Brother," Lian Shouxin had no choice but to agree, "But, Third Brother is a straightforward person, and quite stubborn. If he has spoken up, it’s because..."
"I know, take your ti discussing it with him, I also have to persuade him," Old Master Lian said.
Lian Shouxin sighed quietly to himself, his gaze shifting away, landing on the chicken coop. Lady Zhang had spoken to him about raising chickens and the coop again today.
"Father, my wife and I are thinking of getting so chicks to raise..."
"It would be good to raise a few," Old Master Lian nodded, "I’ll tell your mother to clear out the chicken coop for you."
"Okay," Shouxin imdiately felt relieved.
After lying on the kang for two days, Lian Shouli got up and continued working in the mountains.
Upon hearing from Shouxin that the Upper Room had agreed to clear out the chicken coop, Lady Zhang busied herself with buying chicks. Chunzhu’s family happened to have a hen ready to hatch eggs, and they could purchase fertilized eggs to incubate there. But this would take at least twenty-one days, so Zhang decided to buy chicks that were already hatched, hoping to eat eggs by June or July.
Luckily, at this ti of year, there were freshly hatched chicks for sale at Qingyang Town’s market. There were two types of sellers: one that sorted the chicks by gender and sold them at different prices, and another that mixed hens and roosters and sold them at the sa price, allowing buyers to pick for themselves.
Zhang chose the latter option and picked out thirty chicks.
Ecstatic, mother and daughter carried the chicks ho in a basket, only to see the situation inside the coop where last year’s hens and around twenty new chicks that Lady Zhou had caught were still there.
"Your grandmother didn’t clear out the coop for us! Wasn’t it all agreed upon?"
"Mother, if she won’t clear it for us, we’ll do it ourselves," Lian Manman glanced up at the Upper Room East Room, determined. The lesson learned from Lian Shouli taught her that sotis, one must be tough.
***...****
Second update, finally managed to code it out. Seeking pink encouragent, ow. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to co to Qidian (qidian) to cast recomndation votes, monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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