Chapter 25: What on earth did my man do wrong for you to torment him like this?

The Party Secretary had always looked down on this fifth brother of the clan; he knew the man's character all too well. Since Liangshan Liu was a junior he had watched grow up—a loyal and honest child—he naturally wanted to look out for him a bit more. "Fifth, tell us, how do you plan to divide the family estate?"

Old Man Liu thought for a moment before speaking. "Raising this large family all these years hasn't left us with much savings. Aside from the house and the grain, there isn't much worth dividing."

He actually wanted the second son to leave with nothing, but if he truly dared to do so, the village likely wouldn't tolerate him. "The house the second son and his wife lived in belongs to them. The grain will be divided per capita. We can't give him the iron pots, so we'll give them two clay pots, and the bowls and chopsticks will be divided by head count."

Before Mother Liu could lash out, the Village Chief spoke up from the side. "Old Man Liu, is your second son even your biological child? It's one thing not to divide the money, but only giving them one room? That's hard to justify anywhere. Where are you expecting the second branch's two granddaughters to live?"

Old Lady Liu jumped in at this moment. "Girls are going to marry off sooner or later anyway. The second branch doesn't have a son; what use do they have in occupying so much house space?"

Mother Liu's eyes turned red with rage. "What did my husband do wrong that you all must humiliate him like this?"

The old Party Secretary spoke up with a dark expression. "Fifth, over the years, besides working in the village, the second son has also gone out to find work during the off-season. Dividing it this way seems inappropriate, doesn't it?"

Having been shamed by his third elder brother from the clan, Old Man Liu felt deeply embarrassed and hurriedly tried to make amends. "Dongzi from the first branch is also approaching marriageable age; he'll need to prepare a wedding house eventually, right? And when the second son and his wife grow old, won't they have to rely on Dongzi to carry the funerary basin? Whether we give it now or later, it's still going to be given."

Mother Liu exploded. "What kind of father curses his own son to have no descendants? Is my husband even your biological child?"

Her voice was so loud it nearly scared the people peeking over the wall to watch the commotion into falling off.

Without giving Old Man Liu a chance to rebut, she continued, "If we divide it this way, does that mean our branch doesn't need to support you in your old age? After all, it was you, the parents, who abandoned my husband first!"

Hearing this, Old Lady Liu refused to back down. "You really dare to say anything, don't you? Tomorrow, I'll tell the second son to divorce you. My family can't afford a shameless, unfilial, family-ruining thing like you."

These words directly incensed Liu Chuxue. "Grandmother, it was your lack of compassion that came first. My father is still lying in the commune health clinic, yet you have the audacity to shift the blame in front of everyone? How can you be so shameless?"

Mother Liu's eyes were practically spitting fire, but her daughter had taught her that a small lack of patience could ruin a great plan.

In these times, reputation was everything. For no other reason than to consider the future of her daughters, she could not let the second branch bear this bad reputation.

Hearing Chuxue's words, Old Man Liu was even more infuriated. "You little brat, still wet behind the ears, when do you get a say in this?"

Old Lady Liu glared at Chuxue with a predatory look. "You have a say in everything, don't you? Get lost!"

Liu Chuxue saw that the timing was right. "It is a fact that our branch has no boys. My sister is married, my younger sister is still small, and our only strong laborer is lying in the hospital due to injury. If I don't stand up now, I'll be bullied to death."

Old Man Liu laughed out of pure rage. "I didn't expect that the second son, a blockhead as he is, would produce such a silver-tongued daughter. Her wings aren't even fully grown yet, and she already dares to defy her elders. Truly impressive."

Fearing for her daughter's reputation, Mother Liu quickly took over the conversation. "If the needle isn't pricking your own skin, of course you won't feel the pain. If it were your own fathers lying in the hospital, you would likely be driven mad with anxiety."

(End of Chapter)