Li the accountant looked approvingly at his younger son. Men should be like that, not be stepped on by women.
Zhang Fangcao stared in shock. "Aiguo? Is that really what you think?"
"Yes." Li Aiguo nodded, his earlier hesitation gone, and his voice gained confidence.
"From the moment I knew you were deceiving me just to go to the end of the village, I wanted to say this. Before we got married, you told me you never liked cousin Zhengguo, so why did you still go for three years, rain or shine?"
"Would laziness make you brave the snow to leave home? Besides, the Li family's house at the end of the village is so dilapidated, and it's so cold inside."
Zhang Fangcao took a step back as if she had suffered a major blow. "Aiguo, you don't believe me? Don't you know how I feel about you?"
"No." Li Aiguo gave a sarcastic smile. "You've been telling lies for three years. If you hadn't been exposed, you would have continued for a lifetime. I don't know which of your words are true and which are false."
"Or perhaps, I should have to carefully distinguish which sentence is true among your endless lies. This is very difficult, very tiring."
Hu Hongju looked at the smile on her younger son's face and felt immense sorrow. It was her fault for her younger son's suffering; she had been deceived by Zhang Fangcao's glib tongue.
Li the accountant waved his hand. "Your marital issues can be discussed slowly in your room. Let's talk about the division of the family now. Jianguo, Aiguo, you two will both move out. We'll discuss the matter of supporting us later, as your mother and I can still work. Now, let's talk about how to divide..."
Huang Sulan stared at her father-in-law's lips moving, feeling as though his voice was fading in and out. She couldn't believe that even their eldest branch would have to move out.
No house built for them? No money? Only six months? This was going to kill them.
"Sulan!" Jianguo, seeing his wife's body go limp, quickly stepped forward and held her. "Sulan!"
Leaning in her husband's arms, Huang Sulan looked at her slightly aged husband. Her husband was honest and hardworking, unlike her younger brother-in-law who was good with words and flattery.
She was also not like Zhang Fangcao, who knew how to perform for her in-laws. She often lost her temper over housework. Her father-in-law's decision to divide the family was a punishment for her, for causing trouble with the Li family at the end of the village and costing them one hundred and twenty yuan.
Tears of regret trickled from the corners of her eyes. "Jianguo, I'm sorry. Let's divide. Listen to Mom and Dad, let's divide. We'll choose the foundation next to the Li family's plot at the end of the village."
She wanted to be close to Tian Jing and build a good relationship with her. She refused to believe that with her and her husband's hard work, they couldn't build a life for themselves.
"Alright, alright. We'll choose that plot. Your complexion is as pale as paper; you really don't feel well." Li Jianguo said, "Dad, I'll take Sulan to see Doctor Yang."
"Go ahead." The sight of his eldest daughter-in-law collapsing as if her spirit had died had also frightened Li the accountant. He didn't want the division of the family to result in a death. "We'll continue our discussion tonight. Mother, give him two yuan."
Hu Hongju reluctantly went to get the money. She truly owed these two daughters-in-law; they drained her money every day.
Zhang Fangcao, however, regretted that she wasn't as capable as her elder sister-in-law. Her elder sister-in-law was truly willing to sacrifice herself by falling down. Did she not worry about getting hurt?
But when her elder brother-in-law happily carried his wife back, announcing that she was already over two months pregnant, Zhang Fangcao was angered by her elder brother-in-law's quick actions, thinking that if his wife had fallen directly to the ground, she might have miscarried.
Li the accountant and his wife also showed smiles. This was a great joy for the family recently. Their eldest grandson, Youcai, was already four years old, and their eldest daughter-in-law had shown no signs of pregnancy.
Their younger daughter-in-law had only given birth to a girl, and Hu Hongju was anxious, but there was nothing she could do. Finally, Zhang Fangcao had shown signs of pregnancy, but she lost it as soon as she conceived. Fortunately, fortunately, it was good that their eldest son had reacted quickly and supported Sulan.
"Quick, quickly carry her inside to lie down. She must be tired from all the recent hard work? What did Doctor Yang say?"
"It's just as Mother said," Li Jianguo said, carrying his wife towards the west room. "Doctor Yang said she should stay in bed for half a month and only get up after three months."
"Good, good." Hu Hongju agreed repeatedly. "It's all my fault. I've been busy with everything these past few days, and I've tired Sulan out. Oh dear, thankfully I didn't get into a fight with that girl Li Min the day before yesterday, or else..."
Or else what...
Two little figures were fighting in Hu Hongju's mind. One said that if they had fought and something had happened, it wouldn't be her family paying the Li family at the end of the village one hundred and twenty yuan, but the Li family paying her family one hundred and twenty yuan. That would be a loss of two hundred and forty yuan in total.
The other said, thankfully they didn't fight, otherwise her second grandson would be gone; miscarriage is harmful to the body.
The two figures fought to a draw. Hu Hongju sighed deeply. Even if they hadn't fought the day before yesterday, but she had just fainted, they could have saved that one hundred and twenty yuan.
Watching her mother-in-law's expression shift from joy to dejection with a cold eye, Huang Sulan, who had lived with her mother-in-law for five or six years, understood.
After her mother-in-law left, she took her husband's hand. "Agree to divide the family. Let's quickly claim the land next to Li Min's. We'll build a good relationship with Tian Jing. She's generous and decisive. With her little bit of help, our lives will have hope."
"But your health," Li Aiguo worried about his wife's health. One son was too frail; he still wanted more sons.
"It's alright," Huang Sulan whispered. "Father said we won't move until spring next year, right? Before the weather gets completely cold, you can start preparing stones, adobe, and lumber. We'll build slowly after the New Year. We'll build two main rooms and a kitchen first. The rest can come later."
"Okay." As soon as Li Aiguo heard his wife's suggestion, he immediately nodded. "I'll listen to you. Once we divide the household, I'll choose the foundation. But preparing stones and lumber will cost some money."
"After you choose the foundation, go tell my mother the good news. When my mother comes, I'll talk to her and ask her to lend us some money for emergencies. My mother has private savings."
Tian Jing, of course, had no idea that Huang Sulan was planning to become her neighbor.
At this moment, she was making dinner. Over fifty eggs had been peeled and sent out by Li Zhengguo. The remaining forty-odd eggs, would she really let her sister-in-law eat them all? How greedy!
She peeled ten eggs, fried them in oil, stir-fried some scallions, added half a pot of water, and brought it to a boil. Then she added the dough she had mixed in a half-enameled basin.
After two boils, she added some chopped spinach, which she had secretly accelerated with her ability when Li Zhengguo wasn't paying attention. The dough soup was ready.
She served two bowls of plain white dough soup and two eggs. Only then did she add soy sauce to the remaining soup. If it weren't for her sister-in-law's expression, she would have added the soy sauce during the stir-frying.
Thinking that the spinach in the field outside was almost gone, and considering that she still had two of her four wooden boxes left, she should ask Sister-in-law Niu for some vegetable seeds.
Dinner, of course, was eaten on the heated brick bed in the east room. Looking at the two bowls of white dough soup in front of her, and then at the brown dough soup of the other three people, Li Min looked enviously at her sister-in-law.
"Why do I feel like the food in your bowls will taste better?"
Tian Jing pointed to her face. "Dietary restrictions."