Rebirth Counterattack with Space

She had a clear understanding in her heart.

In this family, her father-in-law was somewhat sensible, although ultimately a bit selfish, favoring those who shared the Xie surname. But on major matters, he managed to be quite thoughtful.

Don’t think she was unaware; during her confinement after giving birth, what Xie Changgen claimed his mother insisted on keeping for her was actually demanded by her father-in-law. It was only because of the fear of her father-in-law that her mother-in-law would bring her food without any discount.

Yet on several occasions, after her mother-in-law brought the food, Jiabao and Jiabao’s wealth would follow in, pitifully staring at the bowl salivating. Her mother-in-law would then grumble about how the children were gluttonous and it was time for them to grow, implying that it wouldn’t be a big deal for an adult to eat less.

Beneath her words was the desire for her to voluntarily offer to share some of her portion with the two of them.

Considering she had to nurse two children, she stubbornly refused to engage and pretended not to understand. Seeing her like this, her mother-in-law did not give up. On one occasion, she even brought in an empty bowl and directly told her that she couldn’t finish so much food and might as well give half to the two children.

At that moment, she bluntly told her mother-in-law that she might as well not eat at all and give everything to Jiabao and Jiabao’s wealth. But since the food wouldn’t reach her anyway, she simply notified her family early on not to send more food in the future.

After that, although her mother-in-law never again mentioned sharing her portion of food with Jiabao and Jiabao’s wealth, her face looked displeased every time she brought in food. Even more so, she noticed that the looks Jiabao and Jiabao’s wealth gave her were filled with hatred.

She admitted she really couldn’t bring herself to like or get close to such selfish, domineering, lawless nephews spoilt by the family.

In her confinement, to say that her mood was entirely unaffected by these things would be impossible. She had wholeheartedly believed that Xie Changgen would see this and would feel sorry for her.

Therefore, whenever she was so angered that she wanted to explode, she would endure it to avoid putting him in a difficult position. She even refrained from complaining to her mother’s family and had not mentioned it to her older sister.

Haha, if it weren’t for the conversation last night, if she hadn’t heard Xie Changgen’s true feelings, she would have continued deceiving herself.

"So what if we separate? With Xie Changgen’s heart not with us, the three of us won’t be able to live on in the end. Since it’s like this, it’s better to split up earlier rather than later. While the children are still young, to prevent them from seeing their father treat their cousins like treasures and them like grass on the ground, which would be even more heartbreaking."

Lu Aimei said calmly to Xie Lao Si, as if she was commenting on the pleasant weather of the day.

If Xie Changgen’s thoughts don’t change, what will she do when his mother decides to stir up trouble again one day, and he becomes "confused"? And how could one’s thoughts change so easily overnight?

"No, it’s not like that, Aimei. I truly never thought of my nephews as treasures and my own children as grass. Dabao and Xiaobao are far more important to me than Jiabao and Jiabao’s wealth. This is absolutely true. I know I was misled by my mother’s words before, but in the future..."

Xie Changgen eagerly looked at Lu Aimei, his face full of regret, and he blurted out without thinking, "Just trust me this once. Let’s live a good life, okay? From now on, I will listen to everything you say, I’ll only listen to you."

Lu Aimei pursed her lips, not responding.

"Let’s go inside and talk. Let’s go see Dabao and Xiaobao first." Lu Er Bo’s wife glanced around and noticed a few children from the mother’s side of the family playing nearby, and a few adults standing at the entrance of the main room looking in their direction. This clearly wasn’t the place for such discussions.

Xie Laosi also saw that the elder daughter-in-law’s several brothers, sisters-in-law, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews were looking in this direction to enjoy the spectacle. He gave an awkward, strained smile and led the way.

Upon entering the room of Xie Changgen and Lu Aimei as a couple, I saw Dabao and Xiaobao were still sleeping sweetly on the bed.

Xie Laosi sent his son to fetch two long benches, and Xie Jiang took the initiative to follow.

Then, Xie Laosi followed Lu Erbo and Erbo’s wife in apologizing. "My elder daughter-in-law’s maternal family members came at noon. Because our house is small, fifteen or sixteen people can only rest in the hall and eldest son’s room. There is no space to even stand in the hall now. So we had to ask the in-laws, mother-in-law, and her sister and brother-in-law to sit in the second son’s room for the time being."

"Sitting anywhere is the same, it’s a new age now—there’s not so much fuss over these things. However, since you’ve mentioned dividing the family, what exactly are the arrangements? It wouldn’t hurt to lay them out and have a listen."

Lu Erbo laughed nonchalantly. As Lu Erbo was not the least bit concerned, Erbo’s wife, following suit, also just smiled and remained silent.

From the hints in Xie Laosi’s conversation, they immediately formed a preliminary judgment about the maternal family of their second daughter’s sister-in-law. This family didn’t seem like easy pickings and was, at the very least, far from decent.

He clearly remembered that the second son-in-law had come in the morning to relay the message that they would come around four in the afternoon. The messages could not have been different. It was clear that the son-in-law’s family had not planned to prepare lunch.

Yet, they deliberately came at noon, bringing more than a dozen family members, obviously intending to freeload a meal here.

Nowadays, who doesn’t have tight rations? Even though they live near the mountains and grow their own grain, their food situation is a bit more relaxed than that of city dwellers. But it’s still limited. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

In most families, even if they were splitting up the household, out of respect, they would invite the in-laws over without specifying how many should come. But, by the unwritten social rules, it is already considered too many if three or four people from each family come; most families would only send one or two as a token.

Who would bring a dozen family members all at once? Forget about having a meal, even serving sugar water as a treat would use up so much sugar!

The in-laws’ feast today will surely cost a lot of provisions, and judging by this situation, they might well be hosting another meal in the evening.

Lu Erbo smirked internally; with today’s drama, the reputation of Xie’s eldest daughter-in-law’s maternal family for being cheap and indecent would likely spread fast.

If his family had another daughter, guessing from what happened today, it’s doubtful that in-laws from their side would dare bring up the topic of inviting maternal family members to witness a split again.

"I won’t keep anything from you; during the division, the second son may end up at a disadvantage," said Xie Laosi, without shying away from the subject, very frankly, which made Lu Erbo take another look at him.

"For so many years at home, it has always been my wife running the household. Whatever there is in terms of assets is there for everyone to see. But to tell you the truth, I have never inquired into exactly how much money, grain, oil, cloth coupons, and the like we actually have."

"Moreover, I mentioned to my wife last night that in the future I would like to live with the second son, and she should live with the eldest. Her inclination was to live with the second son. That woman has always favored the eldest son’s household. Do you think I can’t see what she’s up to? If things really were to go her way, the split would be meaningless, only bringing more conflicts and disputes. So I categorically refused."

Lu Erbo nodded. He had to admit, parental favoritism was indeed a root cause of familial chaos. Xie Laosi seemed to see this very clearly.