Chapter 26: Dividing the Family Assets

Old Man Liu could see that the second branch had come prepared. Not wanting to lose any more face, he prepared to settle the matter quickly: "Second wife, I'll be blunt with you—don't even dream about the money. As for the house, how do you think it should be divided?"

Hearing her husband's words, Old Lady Liu snapped, "Old man, have you lost your mind?"

Old Man Liu gave his wife a warning glare. "Don't speak."

He then turned to his second daughter-in-law, waiting for her answer.

Mother Liu was not about to fall for his trap. She turned to the village officials instead: "I am just a woman and don't understand much of these matters. I must trouble you, village officials, to decide for me."

The Party Secretary was a member of the Liu clan, while the Village Chief and the Women's Director both instinctively looked toward Liu Dagui.

It was nothing but trouble day after day. The Secretary had already formed a plan in his mind while they were arguing: "Fifth, Fifth Sister-in-law, since you insist on splitting the family today, I will say a few words. Although the second son has no sons, he does have three daughters. Over the years, he and his wife have earned many work points for the family. It is indeed inappropriate to give him only one room."

As he spoke, he approached Old Man Liu and his wife. After a back-and-forth exchange, he finally managed to persuade them and reach a conclusion.

With things having escalated this far, Old Man Liu only wanted to end it quickly; it was simply too embarrassing: "Third son, you swap rooms with your second brother."

As soon as he said this, the third daughter-in-law objected: "Why swap rooms? What a hassle!"

Old Man Liu said displeasedly, "I say, and you do. Am I going to mistreat you?"

He swept a glance over the gathered children and grandchildren, took a deep breath, and continued: "Since the second branch wants to split off, we might as well settle the house arrangements once and for all while your mother and I aren't senile yet, to avoid future conflicts.

Our house has a total of five main rooms, two rooms each in the east and west wings, and four rooms in the south wing.

The eldest and third sons will each take two main rooms, and the second son will take one.

Of course, for now, each family will occupy one room. After we pass away, the main hall will go to the third son, and the room we occupy will go to the eldest.

As for the wings, the two rooms in the east wing will go to the eldest son, the two rooms in the west wing will go to the second son, and the four rooms in the south wing will be split equally between the eldest and third sons—two each. Do you have any objections?"

The third daughter-in-law fell silent. After all, they were getting two main rooms and two south rooms; while not as much as the eldest branch, it was far better than the second branch.

Though they felt some envy toward the eldest branch, they only had one son. After exchanging a glance with her husband, she nodded slightly and spoke in unison: "We have no objections."

Since the third son had no objection, the eldest naturally had none either, as his branch received the most: "We have no objections; we will follow Father's arrangements."

Seeing that the matter was nearly settled, Chuxue whispered a few words into her mother's ear.

Mother Liu then said, "We have no objections either, but I would like to ask one thing: how will the main gate and the kitchen be handled?"

Hearing this, everyone in the Liu family was stunned. After all, the main rooms assigned to the second branch faced the south side, where half was the kitchen and half was the main entrance.

Once Liu the Eldest realized what she meant, he said with some displeasure, "Second Sister-in-law, what do you mean by that?"

Mother Liu was not to be outdone: "Since we are splitting the family, it is inevitable that we will each have our own courtyards in the future. Naturally, I must ask clearly."

The Secretary glanced outside and felt that the wife of Shan Liang was right. Since their main rooms faced the kitchen and the main gate, splitting the family would inevitably lead to splitting the courtyards; it wouldn't be right for both families to continue using the same main gate.

Although the eldest and third branches understood this logic, they didn't want to tear up a perfectly good house just to build new gates. However, now that the second branch had laid everything out in the open, the issue could not be ignored.

(End of Chapter)