Chapter 25: Wouldn’t Lose Out
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
An incident caused quite a stir in the Great Eastern Village that day, and that was that the Shao Family was going to split up their family assets.
With Shao Qihai gone, Shao Dong, a child, represented the second branch to discuss the splitting process of the family assets.
Although Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao and her family had explained a lot, everyone knew what was going on. All the villagers berated them for being heartless and evil.
After living a good life with Shao Qihai’s money, the moment Shao Qihai had passed away, they had immediately kicked aside the few children he had left behind. How heartless of them.
The five of them probably wouldn’t have it easy in the future.
People with prestige in the village came to persuade them and even sent someone to inform Shao Qiyang. The general consensus was that he shouldn’t act rashly.
When Shao Qiyang returned, everyone hoped that he would be able to stop them. They hadn’t expected him to actually nod in agreement.
“So be it. I’ll take care of them from now on.”
Shao Qiyang looked at Eldest Brother Shao coldly. “I only hope that you won’t have nightmares over this in the future.”
Zhao Lan scolded him sternly. “What are you saying? Have you forgotten that your older brother raised you? His legs are still in this state, so how can you be heartless enough to say that about your brother?”
“Enough!” Shao Qiyang couldn’t take it any longer. “I’ve heard this for many years and I’m sick of it. You people keep saying that Second Brother and I should thank Big Brother. We know that it was hard on him in the past, and we’ve always been grateful. We can bear it even if you’re biased. Second Brother even sent back all his allowance for several years in a row.
“But there’s a bottom line for everything. He only worked hard for three years. After his leg was injured, Second Brother took over for him. All these years, Second Brother was the one supporting the family. Regardless of how great a debt of gratitude he owed, he has already finished repaying it all.”
The hardships and grievances that he had endured all these years erupted at that moment.
Shao Qiyang wasn’t stupid. He had seen them for what they were in the past two years.
Zhao Lan was biased. Even though their eldest brother looked simple and honest and had treated them well initially, things had changed after that, especially after he’d gotten married and formed his own family.
Other people hated being called a cripple, but he didn’t mind that at all. He hated that he couldn’t be as crippled as possible so that his two younger brothers would repay their debt for the rest of their lives.
Shao Qiyang had endured it in the past, but he no longer intended to do so.
The existing conflicts in the Shao Family were all being laid out today. Splitting up the family assets had been inevitable.
According to the eldest branch’s plan, they would be taking the majority of the housing land, farmland, and mountain land. But how could Mu Jingzhe allow them to do as they wished?
She would settle every score one by one.
The eldest branch even wanted to claim that the new house had been built by them, which was so ludicrous that it almost made everyone laugh their heads off.
Did the two of them even have the means to build a house?
Everyone knew that their children lived off of Shao Qihai’s money.
The only thing Mu Jingzhe could do was fight for more benefits for the children, so she naturally wouldn’t give up.
In the end, with her sharp words and fierce attitude, she helped the children obtain what they deserved.
It was completely different from what they had imagined. Zhao Lan and the eldest branch were furious.
In the past, Zhao Lan used to have the final say, and Shao Qiyang hadn’t been able to out-talk her. The children were smart, but they were still children after all. The villagers saw what happened to them, but they always felt that they couldn’t say much about other people’s family affairs.
The main reason was that the mother of those children wasn’t from this village. Without the help of their maternal aunts and uncles, and with their father gone, it was inevitable that they would be at a disadvantage.
Now that they had Mu Jingzhe, things were different. She could yield when necessary or cry and shout, but she wouldn’t lose out.
In addition, even Li Zhaodi had come to help. In the end, the situation changed.
Even though Zhao Lan and the eldest branch insisted that they had no money left, which resulted in Shao Dong and his siblings not getting any money, and they also refused to give up the big house, they had to relent as far as the farmland, mountain land, and housing land were concerned.
The children were still too young to farm, but they could rent the land to villagers later on. The food they collected would ensure they wouldn’t starve to death. In addition, with Shao Qiyang taking care of them, they were now much better off than they had been previously.
Shao Qiyang hadn’t suffered too big of a loss.
The eldest branch couldn’t bear to fork out money or bring themselves to part with the big house. In the end, they didn’t even get a single plot of good farmland, only some mountain land.
However, they deserved it.
This drama, which was indispensable in the literature of that era, ended just like that.
After this family separation drama, the villagers had a new understanding of Shao Dong. Even though the child was still young, he knew what he was doing.
These children would amount to something in the future. When they became successful, the eldest branch would regret it.
Even their view of Mu Jingzhe changed quite a bit.
Regardless of whether Mu Jingzhe had fought for the benefits of the children because she felt guilty about getting married and leaving, she had still done a good job.
This was the first time they’d learned that Mu Jingzhe had such a sharp tongue. She wouldn’t cry or throw a tantrum, but she was extremely gracious and not afraid of taking risks.
She was much better than Li Zhaodi.
*****
After the family assets were split up, Mu Jingzhe quickly cooked for the children, who stayed up late.
“From now on, the house we live in will be ours and we won’t be kicked out, right?”
While eating, Little Bei happily wanted to confirm this.
“Yes, how many times have we said it?” Shao Nan mocked Little Bei, but there was also joy on his face.
The children were in a good mood. In the future, Shao Fu and his family would no longer threaten to kick them out, nor would they have to be bullied or beaten up by them anymore. Also, they would no longer have to worry about starving.
The food would be given to them directly.
It was rare for the atmosphere at the dining table to be harmonious and joyful. Although Shao Qiyang was sad about the separation and the fact that his family had reached this point, he quickly relaxed.
Wasn’t this what he had dreamed of?
At this point, he subconsciously thought of Mu Xue.
Yesterday, he had seen Mu Xue and Tang Moling together.
In the past, he would definitely have been in great pain. However, although he felt terrible now, it was just a dull pain, as he knew that it was impossible for things to work out between them.
Because of his older brother, Mu Xue had already rejected him.
Now that she had found that Tang guy, they no longer belonged in the same world.
His world was now… Shao Qiyang glanced at Mu Jingzhe out of the corner of his eye before quickly looking away.
His heart slowly sank. Second Sister-In-Law… was getting married.
As Shao Qiyang was in this unclear and uncomfortable mood and the villagers assumed that Mu Jingzhe was soon going to remarry, Mu Jingzhe and Li Zhaodi set off before dawn. Pushing a cart, they said that they were going into town to sell buns.
Sell steamed buns?
After confirming that Mu Jingzhe was really about to start selling buns, the villagers finally believed that she wasn’t going to remarry.
Many people in the village went into town to sell things. They sold firewood, potatoes planted by their own families, and charcoal burned in the mountains. However, no one sold steamed buns.
When they heard that Mu Jingzhe was going to sell buns, everyone shook their heads. They didn’t think much of this.
“They won’t sell, right? They’re not easy to sell, are they?”
Regardless of what they said, Mu Jingzhe’s stall opened.
The first time she went there, she didn’t have a good location. There was also a shop that had been selling buns for a long time. At first, there was indeed no interest in them. Li Zhaodi had a worried look on her face. However, upon seeing that there were more and more people around, Mu Jingzhe started to advertise verbally.
“I’m selling steamed buns. Delicious and cheap steamed buns. You can choose between mushroom buns, pickled vegetable buns, and white sugar buns.”
Mu Jingzhe had tried the buns from the existing stall, which sold meat buns, white sugar buns, and steamed plain buns. They didn’t taste so good. Considering the fact that meat wasn’t cheap, she had decided to forgo selling meat buns and had instead chosen to sell vegetable buns.
The results weren’t bad.