Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Dividing the family estate inevitably involves the participation of maternal uncles, but no one from Tian Xiaoju’s maternal family attended. Strictly speaking, Tian Xiaoju’s maternal family had no one left.

The one or two who could be called cousins were, in fact, distant relatives whose kinship was no longer close. Plus, there was no usual contact, so naturally, no one thought to invite them.

According to old customs, division of property was a matter for men, and women did not participate. Despite many years of liberation, such views were still deeply ingrained in the minds of many people.

This time at Xie Changgen’s household, they did not adhere to such particular customs. With his insistence, aside from witnesses, the parents of both daughters-in-law participated. Everybody in the family including the elderly couple, the eldest son and his spouse, and the second son and his spouse also sat down together.

Right from the start, Second Uncle Lu declared that he and his spouse were just there to watch; they had no opinion on how the division should proceed.

The splitting of a farming family’s assets typically involves dividing land, houses, money, grain, livestock, and various household items.

There was nothing controversial about dividing the land.

Thanks to Second Uncle Lu’s good fortune, their vicinity was among the first villages to adopt the national policy of the household responsibility system.

When the land was allocated to households, the division was strictly based on the number of people registered in the family book. Since the land belonged to the state, even in the event of a family split, it could not be divided at will but had to be distributed evenly based on the number of people.

Therefore, during the land division phase, even though Tian Xiaoju and Lin Meizhu showed dissatisfaction, after Xie Jianye and Xie Dahu, the two influential figures in the village, expressly sealed the deal, the women could not argue and ended up passing the issue without objections.

The discussion then moved on to how to divide the houses.

Tian Xiaoju and her mother-in-law Lin Meizhu immediately intervened and steered the conversation, first suggesting that Xie Jiabao, as the eldest son and grandson of the main branch, should naturally be included in the division of the estate.

Having already prepared to make concessions, Xie Changgen, Xie Changgen, and Lu Aimei did not argue much about their "excessive" request and agreed readily.

Seeing their immediate agreement, Tian Xiaoju and Lin Meizhu pressed their advantage, further proposing that according to old traditions, the houses, being ancestral property, should rightfully remain with the main branch.

Xie Changgen then looked up at Lu Aimei and saw the indifferent expression on her face before turning to Xie Changgen. Xie Changgen glanced at Xie Changgen and then, with an ingratiating look towards Lu Aimei, said, "Dad, I’ll go with what Aimei says."

"What do you say, second daughter-in-law?" Xie Changgen then asked.

"Dad, I’ll follow your lead on how the house is divided today. You make the decision. I’ll just listen. Don’t worry, whatever you decide, I have no objections."

Recalling the secret words her mother had whispered to her earlier, advising her to accept any loss she faced that day, Lu Aimei straightforwardly expressed her stance to Xie Changgen.

"Alright, since the second daughter-in-law has no objections, I’ll make the decision," said Xie Changgen, looking at Tian Xiaoju and Lin Meizhu, then at his eldest son Xie Changgen, who avoided his gaze and lowered his head. A mocking expression appeared on Xie Changgen’s face.

"It was already excessive of me to agree to give Jiabao an extra share of the estate today. Now you’re making this additional request. First, I need to know if I agree to your demand that the house goes entirely to you, what other excessive demands might you have next?"

"What’s so excessive about our requests? Aren’t they all justified?" Tian Xiaoju challenged, locking eyes with Xie Changgen. With so many witnesses present, she knew he wouldn’t dare do anything to her, so she was bolder than ever.

The others were taken aback by Tian Xiaoju’s presumptuous demands.

"Nothing more, that’s all," Lin Meizhu quickly replied, surreptitiously nudging her mother-in-law with her foot and giving her a meaningful look.

Xie Changgen ignored Lin Meizhu and continued to stare at Tian Xiaoju. She felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze and nodded her head unwillingly, "Nothing else."

"Good, if that’s all, then I can agree to this too. However, the two conditions you proposed need to be clearly written in writing in the family division agreement, you have no objections to that, do you?" Xie Changgen asked without waiting for a response from the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo before continuing.

"Another thing that must be stated clearly is that in the future, no matter who among our old couple stays with which family, whether it is due to aging, sickness, death, or any other reason, there can be no further demands for money, material goods, or even labor from another son, daughter-in-law, grandson or granddaughter. How does that sound?"

"Dad, we’re dividing the family, of course, that should be the case. Changzu, you agree, right?" Lin Meizhu knew her father-in-law was not too fond of her at the moment, so she pulled at Xie Changzu on the side as she spoke. Xie Changzu guiltily glanced at Xie Changgen for a moment and then hurriedly nodded.

"Why should it be so? Is my son not my son anymore after we split up? Is it against the law for my son to show filial piety to me? No, that won’t do, I don’t agree," Tian Xiaoju said, unwilling to accept this at her end.

"What, even after splitting up, you still plan to stay with Dahu while you keep taking things from your younger son’s house and expecting him to support you? If that’s the case, what would be the point of today’s division? If the main house can enjoy all the advantages, the other families in the village might follow suit, then what else would we people need to do? Spend all our days dealing with your issues?" Xie Dahu couldn’t hold back any longer and turned to Xie Changzu, "Xie Changzu, are you even a man? You’re the eldest, why don’t you say something about this behavior of your mother’s? Or is it that deep down you’re planning to take advantage of your brother?"

"I am not," Xie Changzu instantly blushed, quietly calling out to Tian Xiaoju, "Mom, stop it. I agree with what dad says." Seeing that Tian Xiaoju still seemed reluctant, he added, "If you really don’t want to, why don’t you just live with my younger brother?"

"No, I have to live with you. Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you, I agree," Tian Xiaoju conceded reluctantly.

"Xie Changzu, I’m making myself clear here, keep your mother in check. Don’t nod now and go back on your word later. If your two families end up quarreling over this in the future, we’ll only be talking to you," Xie Dahu glanced at Tian Xiaoju and bluntly said to Xie Changzu.

"It won’t be like that," Xie Changzu said, uncomfortably as he lowered his head.

"Since that’s the case, to avoid future troubles, we might as well clarify it in the division agreement now: if you indeed go back to the second brother asking for money or things, then the house allocated to the main household today will have to be taken out and redistributed."

Xie Changgen spelled it out clearly to Tian Xiaoju, one word at a time.