Rebirth Counterattack with Space

"I also know that our family has done some unkind things in the past, hurting the second son’s wife’s feelings. I don’t want to make excuses for my family anymore. It seems, however, that she still has to suffer an injustice this time during the division of the property."

Xie Lao Si’s old face turned red with embarrassment, paused, and then continued, "The old lady suggested yesterday that as the eldest son, Aiguo should receive a larger share of the family possessions. In order not to cause further complications, I agreed to her at the time. But I can assure you, this will be the last time. From now on, with me watching, there will be absolutely no more grievances for the second son’s wife."

While he was speaking, Xie Changgen and Xie Jiang had already brought in the long bench. A long bench could seat four people, and everyone, separated by gender, took their seats. Xie Lao Si continued.

"Today, I also specially invited the party secretary and the brigade leader from our village, and invited both of your families’ in-laws over as well, to establish a property division agreement."

He glanced specifically at his youngest son and daughter-in-law, the message was meant for them too.

"In it, it will clearly state that from now on, the old lady and I will be supported by one son each, and whichever family we are living with should take care of us through sickness and in health until death. Neither of us, whichever it is, can use any excuse to ask for money or possessions from the other son, daughter-in-law, or grandchildren."

This was actually a good arrangement, a permanent solution, even if it meant suffering a loss for a time. After considering it, Uncle Lu felt this was completely acceptable.

Moreover, it was foreseeable that with the second daughter’s shrewish mother-in-law and the inability to suffer losses, without Xie Lao Si’s suppression, there would likely be endless disputes in the future.

Right now, the second daughter appears to be at a disadvantage, but in the long run, it’s actually to her benefit. Even if her mother-in-law later falls out with the eldest son’s family and wants to turn back and ask the second son for support, she can refuse with dignity and without inviting criticism.

Besides, what does it matter if she loses out? In the end, the loss is finite.

The Xie family’s current courtyard, in fact, has houses that are like most others, simply earthen structures. The place isn’t large, and also old. It would be better not to live together after the separation. At most, they might as well leave this house to Aiguo’s family. Let the young couple build their own house, and at that time, they can ask the village to allocate them a plot of land further away.

But, the money needed to build a house is not a small amount. The foundation alone costs at least a couple of hundred yuan, a brick costs more than two jiao, and then there are tiles, sand, lumber, labor, and food costs... all together, it amounts to no less than a couple thousand yuan.

Upon the division of the property, Aimei and her husband won’t likely receive much money.

Building a house is a major affair. Publicly, the family can afford to give Aimei and her husband a couple hundred yuan to help out, and at most, give Aimei another two hundred yuan in private on the side. Any more than that would be inappropriate.

He also thought about how the family’s entire savings had already been used for Aiguo’s side. They simply couldn’t come up with the funds in the short term. Fortunately, even if Aimei needs to build a house, it wouldn’t happen immediately. With the busy farming season approaching, even if the construction is urgent, it would still wait until next year. Once the crops are harvested, there will be income. At the end of the year, they can... sell the pigs.

After quickly running the numbers in his head, Uncle Lu still looked toward Xie Lao Si and asked him, "What about the living arrangements? What do you think?"

"I’ve thought about it too. In the east end of the village, close to her sister and brother-in-law’s place, there’s an unused house that belongs to the village; it was previously occupied by educated youths, and there’s residential land nearby. We’ll first borrow that place to live from the village, and then talk to them about getting the land allocated there."

Xie Laosi saw that Lu Erbo had brought up the matter of where to live and immediately perked up, "The money for splitting the family should be almost enough. I’m planning to lay the foundation after next year’s Qingming Festival. There’s no need to rush; building two or three rooms to live in temporarily will suffice, and the rest can be done gradually. This is what I’ve been thinking regarding the house, but if Er’s wife has any other ideas, we’ll all listen to her."

When it came to building a house, Xie Laosi had quite a bit of confidence. What he didn’t voice was that over the years, he wasn’t truly without any assets. He had his ways of making money on the side, and once his wife’s assets were divided, he’d have at least half of the money needed for the house construction— and that was him being conservative.

Moreover, he had kept a hand in reserve from the old days... When the time came, whether it was Gold or "Yuan Bigheads," he would take out a little more to exchange for money, which should be sufficient for building the house. But such things shouldn’t be taken out too frequently, one reason being it wasn’t wise to sell them now; according to his judgment, those items would only increase in value in the future. Second, even though the situation had much improved compared to earlier years, it wasn’t completely stable yet, so selling those items still carried certain risks.

"From now on, let Changgen and me handle all the money-making outside and farm work. Although I’m old, I can still handle labor-intensive tasks. Let Er’s wife manage all the household affairs. We’ll bring the money home, and how it’s spent will be up to her."

Xie Laosi decided that once the family division was complete, he would hand over half of his hidden assets to Lu Aimei to manage. He would still keep the rest for himself, so that if his wife truly couldn’t make ends meet in the future, he would have some liquid funds available.

As for the eldest son and his wife, as well as those two grandsons, he wasn’t convinced they were reliable enough, and the two older grandsons had become increasingly spoiled and unpredictable. He hadn’t paid much attention to the family matters in the past, and by the time he realized he wanted to get involved, it was a little too late.

After all, a couple owed each other constant affection even after a day of marriage. Although he claimed he would no longer care for his wife both verbally and in his heart, he was, after all, her husband through years of hardship. He couldn’t truly be heartless. It would be better to wait until she had learned her lesson and was too worn out to cause trouble.

If the main house wasn’t actually as bad as he thought, then, in the end, he would still leave the remaining half of his hidden assets to the main house.

Lu Erbo nodded upon hearing this and didn’t ask any further.

He had a sense of the situation; a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. He knew something about Xie Laosi’s experiences in his early years and the reasons behind his limping leg; how could such a clever man not have left himself a way out? Hadn’t he himself also secretly kept some Gold? But now probably wasn’t the time to take it out.

It seemed that he didn’t need to worry about the money for his second daughter’s house construction.

Lu Erbo turned to look at his second daughter and saw Lu Aimei sitting silently on another long bench, head bowed. He then made a gesture to Lu Erbo Niang.

Lu Erbo Niang sighed, patted their daughter’s hand, and spoke softly to comfort her, "Even though we would support whatever decision you make, in the end, a woman’s path after divorce is just that much harder, especially with two children. It’s always best to stay with your original partner. Everybody has their flaws."

"We’re also aware of what happened yesterday. Even if they hadn’t called us over today, we would’ve come tomorrow to support you. Now that your father-in-law has spoken to this extent and your son-in-law knows he was wrong, as long as the family truly splits, your life from here on will be more comfortable."

"Think it over carefully, for the sake of the children as well, your son-in-law deserves a chance to reform, doesn’t he? Ultimately, your father and I just hope that all of you siblings can lead good and happy lives."

"Aimei, for the children’s sake, please forgive me this time. Once we split from the family and are on our own, even if my mother comes to me with anything, I definitely won’t make the same mistakes again."

Xie Changgen was subtly kicked by Xie Laosi and hastily squatted in front of Lu Aimei, fervently swearing his promise.