Volume 1: Little Yuanba Chapter 11 The Third Grandmother
"It has nothing to do with whether it's heavy or not!"
Shu took it away angrily and wrapped it in a handkerchief: "This thing can be made into a family heirloom. So do you think that little Qian is cheap?"
"Doesn't she feel bad about giving such a good thing away? According to you, this is only fifty taels of silver! She doesn't have to be so fawning when the boss is elected, right?" Li Yan looked at Mr. Shu suspiciously.
"That's just a superficial excuse." Shu covered her mouth and smiled: "If you think about it again, what does she mean?"
Then he took out the two golden bell bracelets and said, "Here, there is also this one. It is said to be given to Dalang's house. This one is pure gold!"
"Good workmanship!" Li Yan took it and looked at it under the moonlight and praised it. Then he understood: "You mean, Xiao Qian wants us to mediate between her and the second grandma?"
"I think that's what it means." Shu nodded.
Li Yan frowned, wiped the short beard on his chin and thought for a while.
"Second Grandma has mentioned the separation of the family several times, and my eldest brother also urged me to quickly decide whether I agree or disagree." He crossed his legs and sighed: "I haven't given him an answer yet."
"Why?"
"Why?" Li Yanfu asked and sneered: "Our Li family is also a prestigious poetry and calligraphy family in Yugan City. What will others say if Sanlang is separated?
Bullying orphans and widowed mothers, bullying the weak, these are considered minor! There are worse things to come later if the protection is not guaranteed.
I have never been an official, but I have also been promoted, and I know the virtues of that 'literati and poet'!"
He said bitterly: "I was still young when my grandfather was in trouble. The officials and gentry in this city called our family rebellious and violent. There were posters all over the door and the outer walls. They wanted to drown us with their spit!"
When Taizu issued the imperial edict in the third year of his banquet, it was still the same group of people who wrote poems and rhymes, sang praises of virtues, and were all charming.
Humph! There were even people holding the completed pillars and crying loudly, can you imagine?"
"Hey, my husband said this, and I feel like I have experienced it myself." Shu sighed with her fingers to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Other people say that I don't like being an official by nature, but who knows that I actually see through the literati and don't want to associate with them. I would rather be a farmer."
Li Yan smiled bitterly and returned to the topic: "But I shudder when I think about what happened today. What if Sanlang misses...?
Will the future of our three sons be affected by him? I am worried!
Fortunately, Zhou Du covered his head, beat officials, and insulted Wen Wen. This crime will be like a basin of sewage, and it will destroy our whole family without any reason!"
"So, are you planning to agree to Second Grandma's wishes now?"
"I'm also confused. I haven't made up my mind yet." Li Yan shook his head.
"You said..., why did the second wife want to split up?"
Shu suddenly broke the silence and asked: "I don't know what means she used. I heard that she has not given any money or food to the courtyard in the past five or six years. It was all Xiao Qian who used her own body and dowry to subsidize it.
If this is true, Xiao Qian's dowry is really generous!"
"You just know?" Li Yan chuckled and said, "The Qian family is said to be one of the largest families in Lujiang. The old man of the Qian family was very fond of his second brother back then, so the dowry for his two daughters must be quite large!"
He pointed to Shu's pillow as he said, "You can tell by looking at what she gave you."
"Then...Master, are you helping her or the Gao family?"
"Well, this is..."
Li Yan looked at the curtain and thought for a while, then said slowly: "My second brother and I were still young when my father passed away. The eldest brother is in charge of the family, and he has not mentioned the separation of the family for so many years.
We both went to school later, and it was our elder brother who supported and made the final decision in our marriages. How much my father left behind was really a confusing matter.
But...according to my opinion, my sister-in-law is not a good manager. When my brother wanted to marry Wen, my sister-in-law made a mess at first, but then she suddenly changed her mind and tried her best to promote it.
Sure enough, life became easier for the eldest brother's family after Wen's marriage. You saw your sister-in-law reprimanding Su, but when did you ever treat Wen like this?"
"Oh, you mean Wen is good at business?"
"The Wen family is a wealthy businessman in Shangrao. Although Wen is a commoner, she should have some skills. Besides, she brought a lot of dowry, so the eldest son was able to turn the crisis around.
One thing you may not know is that before Mr. Wen came in, my sister-in-law also mentioned the separation."
"What?" Shu was surprised: "Then, does that mean you dislike your two brothers?"
"No." Li Yan snorted coldly: "Second brother became the magistrate of Lujiang County after watching the government, and you came in at that time, so my sister-in-law stopped mentioning this."
"Huh, that's it!" Shu curled her lips.
"Hey, you haven't seen that sister-in-law? She doesn't have a son in the house, but she doesn't allow her eldest brother to ask for another house. She is jealous and greedy, but she likes to care about petty advantages.
She was the one who persuaded the second grandma to separate the family. Xiao Qian's family must not be that shabby, she was thinking of taking the opportunity to find some sweetness."
"It's a pity that she didn't know that someone came to find us." Shu smiled proudly.
"Little Qian of her character would never go to the East Courtyard to ask for help even if she wanted to." Li Yan was also happy: "But it is understandable that each of her three daughters has to prepare a betrothal gift.
In addition to the need for old age, how can she generate so much money if she is not greedy? No matter how talented Wen is, her abilities are limited!"
"I don't think it's too late for eldest brother to be born now! Although we have three houses, the Li family will probably have to rely on our three brothers to establish a household in the future.
Now that Dalang has won the imperial examination, I think Erlang is also smart, but he just refuses to work hard, otherwise it would be no problem to win the imperial examination!
On the other hand, Shiro, what do you think when you teach him to recognize two masters who dance with swords and sticks all day long?"
"I have to guard against big brother!"
"How do you say this?"
"In the beginning, he would always mention it half-jokingly, saying that he would let Dalang be adopted by him."
"Ah? Is there such a thing?" Shu Shi trembled all over.
"Don't worry, the eldest brother is his legitimate son, so how can he adopt another wife? Besides, he has already won the imperial examination, so eldest brother can't even think of such an idea!"
Li Yan smiled and said: "I love Si Lang, and calling him martial arts also means to avoid my elder brother. He will no longer stare at Si Lang.
I'm more worried about Erlang only, and I have to arrange for him to pass the county or township examination as soon as possible..."
"Oh, I understand. Wulang wants to be the leader of the second family, and Sanlang is such a reckless person. Big brother doesn't like him, so the only one he can like is Erlang?"
Shu thought for a moment: "Wait a minute, wouldn't it be nice if Erlang could be adopted as a result of the situation?"
"This... I've thought about it too." Li Yan smacked his lips and said, "Firstly, eldest brother has been hesitating whether to adopt an adopted child, and secondly, I feel that Erlang has become a lot better recently.
Wouldn't it be more glorious if our third room had two successful candidates? If one of his brothers had a high school Jinshi, it would be even more extraordinary!
Thinking about it this way, I'm not too keen on Erlang's adoption. If eldest brother doesn't mention it, I won't take the initiative and just let it go."
"Okay!" Mrs. Shu nodded, suddenly feeling that something was wrong with her words, she covered her mouth and said with a smile, "This is talking about the third bedroom, why did it end up talking about our son?"
"When Xiao Qian sent someone to deliver something, didn't he send you a message?"
"No." Shu shook his head.
Li Yan blinked: "In this way, in two days you can say thank her for the gift, and use this excuse to talk to her face to face to see what she really means.
Do you want to separate, or don't want to separate? We have to know what she means before we can decide how to help later.
However, my preference is to separate. To be honest, I am really afraid of that hozen.
This kid might poke a hole in it one day, and our whole family won’t have to accompany him to eat and live with him!”
Seeing her husband say this, Ms. Shu nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll try my best to lead the conversation to the branch family.
Anyway, no matter what the outcome is, as long as she feels that we have helped her, in the end we will give her a thank you gift, which is a benefit!"
"Hahaha!" Li Yan felt happy when he heard what she said, and praised: "My wife is a virtuous person!" Shu happily fell into her husband's arms.
Although she knew that her husband would go to Cui's room tomorrow, it didn't matter as long as he always put her first.
Cui's status in the third house was like that of Wen, the eldest. Although she was only a concubine, her father, Cui Jincheng, was the clerk (master) of the Taizhou magistrate in charge of punishment. He had been used to seeing all kinds of officialdom since he was a child, so he was quite resourceful.
Whenever Li Yan had any undecided matters, he would come to her for discussion, and Shu couldn't control her, so he was like half the head of the family.
After hearing Li Yan ask her whether it would be good or bad for her second wife to separate, Ms. Cui sneered and said, "My third master, you are confused!"
"Ah?" Li Yan was confused: "Where am I confused?"
"If you help the second house split up, the most you can do is get some thank-you gifts from both sides. What real benefit will it bring to you?"
"Uh..., what do you mean?"
"Sir, as far as I know, the family property left by my father-in-law after his death is in the hands of the eldest brother. According to the rules, since your brothers were minors at the time, it is reasonable for the eldest brother to take charge of it.
But now, more than ten years later, if it is still so dark and innocent, why should we leave this public case to future generations?"
"This..." When it came to his eldest brother, Li Yan was a little frightened. He frowned and complained: "I'm here to discuss the second house with you, how can you disturb the eldest brother and sister-in-law?
Don’t complicate things!”
"That's not what you said, sir."
Mrs. Cui put a cup of tea into his hand: "If you want to talk about the second room, you should first solve the problem between us and the eldest brother. Otherwise, if you mention it in the future, people will say that the second room was separated before you mentioned it.
, it can be seen that it is a fait accompli by default.
At that time, even if you want to overturn the situation, you can't! Moreover, the second wife's affair is over, and it is impossible to overturn the previous separation result. How can they help you speak?
Therefore, the order should be to resolve the division of property between you brothers first, and then resolve the division of property in the second house. This is the right thing to do!"
"Hiss...!" Li Yan was stunned and said for a long time: "So, just talking about the second house means that our family has given up on inheriting our father's inheritance?"
"Although you haven't given up explicitly, how can you act accordingly? If you haven't given up, why did you skip talking about it? Isn't it difficult to justify it?"
"Oh, it seems that I thought it was easy!" Li Yan raised his forehead with his hand: "I originally thought that it doesn't matter between brothers, so there is no need to worry about it like this, but it seems that it still doesn't work?"
"Brothers don't need to care too much about each other, but if we don't claim what legally belongs to us, it's the same as giving up.
People say: brothers settle accounts clearly, this is not unreasonable."
Ms. Cui gave her warm advice: "You can't argue about small things, but inheritance is a big deal, so it's better to figure it out early!"
When Cui said this, Li Yan's heart was pounding. How much money could he make by mediating the separation of the second house's family? But it would be another matter if he united with the second house and asked his eldest brother for the division of the house first.
Although he was still young back then, he clearly remembered that his family still had several shops and hundreds of acres of farmland. No matter how much it was, it was money!
Li Yan was heartbroken. When he went back to talk to Mrs. Shu, her eyes also shone with enthusiasm.
That night, Mr. Shu joked that the eldest daughter-in-law had three girls to marry. In fact, Li Yan's third wife also had two daughters. Who wants to marry a daughter without a bride price? Both husband and wife were tempted.
It's just that... Li Yan felt a little guilty when it came to the possibility of going to court with Li Su. His eldest brother had been an official, and although he had won the election, he had not become an official. In this regard, Li Yan was a little unsure.
"What are you afraid of? We are not making any excessive demands!"
After all, wealth is so attractive, Shu gritted his teeth and twisted his neck and said: "What's more, there is a second grandma, I don't believe she wouldn't have such an idea!
Maybe they had already thought of it and were just waiting for us to bring it up. We hit it off immediately, so what other reason could there be for the elder to occupy and ignore it? He will score even if he doesn't divide!"
This statement is well-founded. Mrs. Cui also said that according to the laws of this dynasty, all sons have the right to inherit, but the legitimate sons have priority, and the common sons only get half the inheritance.
And if any one of the sons seizes the inheritance and refuses to return it, the other brothers can sue and demand a fine based on annual interest. Half of the fine will go to the official and half will be given to his brother as an apology.
For more than ten years, if Li Suruo refuses to admit his debt, the fine alone will make him bankrupt!
This is not to mention other things like hiding the population and avoiding taxes (taxes are linked to the head of the population). Li Su put all the land and shops in his own name, causing the second- and third-bedroom residents to not pay taxes for a long time. The resulting tax evasion charges will be levied by Li Su.
Li Su takes full responsibility.
Of course, this can be a big or small thing, it all depends on how you say it) This kind of crime.
"I think so," Li Yan took a moment to make arrangements: "You should first tell the Second Mistress about this matter and see what she thinks.
If she is willing to come together, then our two families will join forces. After the matter of the eldest house is resolved, we can help her tell how to divide it with the Xiao Qian family."
"Then why don't I ask Qian's side?"
"You can ask," Li Yan nodded: "But don't reveal what happened between us and the elder."
"Oh! I understand!" Mrs. Shu smiled softly. Her husband said this because he did not want the news to be exposed prematurely, and at the same time, he also prevented Xiao Qian from using this to cause trouble and ruin the good thing.
But she felt that her men thought too much. Maybe men were good at this, but how could women be so cunning?
Anyway, Shu felt that this little Qian was more considerate to her than those in the eldest and second bedrooms!