"Since you want to split the family, once it's separated, Nianji is getting married and needs to prepare the wedding gifts—what does that have to do with us?" Xu Zhong cut him off, looking impatient. He said, "Qinghe, splitting the family was your decision. Now the house is given, the grain is given, the land is given. What, you still want me, this old man, to hand over my retirement savings too?"
"Zhiyuan is going to college, there are plenty of places that need money." Xu Zhong's attitude was clear: either you take what he's given, and that's it.
Grandma Liu Sanmei looked troubled and said, "Qinghe, Qinghe's wife, it's not that us parents don't want to give money, it's that there really isn't any left at home."
"Only a fool would believe there's not a cent."
Xu Nian'an muttered that all these years, every cent mom and dad earned didn't stay with them, it all went to grandpa and grandma.
And the eldest brother, he's been working for more than a year. Did all that money just disappear?
"Grandpa, you're not giving us a single cent—what, do you want us to starve?" Xu Nianhua's face was flushed from fever, her voice weak. Her clear, bright eyes looked at Xu Zhong, eyes shimmering like they'd just been soaked with tears.
"Grandpa, aren't you afraid people in the village will talk behind your back? My parents have worked like oxen and horses for the Xu Family for half their lives. Everyone's seen it with their own eyes." Xu Nianhua struggled to stand, her voice fragile and pitiful, and after saying this, she fainted.
When she passed out, it startled Xu Qinghe and the others.
Xu Qinghe looked at Xu Nianhua, whose fever had made her as red as a cooked shrimp. Worried, he touched her forehead and said, "Nianhua, wake up."
"Nianhua, please don't scare Mom." Ji Ying was completely worried, helplessly looking at Xu Qinghe.
"Little sister." Xu Nian'an looked at Xu Nianhua with concern, afraid something might happen to her. He said, "Mom, Dad, maybe we should take Little Sister to the county hospital."
Xu Zhong and Liu Sanmei exchanged glances. Seeing how sickly Xu Nianhua looked and recalling what she just said, they thought if they really didn't give even a cent, it wouldn't look good.
Just as Xu Qinghe and them were getting ready to take Xu Nianhua to the county, Xu Nianhua slowly woke up.
"I'm fine, just feeling weak. I'll be better after a nap." Xu Nianhua leaned against Ji Ying, dizzy and dazed.
"Cough."
Xu Zhong cleared his throat, thought about the thirty yuan Xu Nianji handed over every month. He'd just count this month as not given, so people wouldn't say he didn't share a single cent.
He said, "There's not much money at home, at most I can give thirty yuan. But I'll say this first: if I get sick or something in the future, even if the family's split, the eldest son still can't ignore me."
"Dad, I'm still your son." Xu Qinghe spoke up, "When you're old and can't work anymore, I definitely won't turn my back on you."
Thirty yuan was better than nothing.
Xu Nian'an chimed in, "Grandpa, you're not going to ask us for money for minor aches and pains, are you?"
"Your grandpa isn't so destitute."
Xu Zhong's face turned even darker.
"That's good." Xu Nian'an seemed to relax a bit.
Xu Nianhua quietly asked Ji Ying, "Mom, how can we prove that the old house is ours?"
Actually, Xu Nianhua was thinking of a property deed, but then realized that in these times, there's no such thing yet.
Reminded by her daughter, Ji Ying brought it up right away. Xu Zhong, face dark, said, "Tomorrow we'll go to the village committee."
After that, Xu Zhong started ushering them out.
"Dad, it's so late, the old house hasn't even been tidied up." Xu Qinghe was stunned; he hadn't expected Xu Zhong would be so eager to make them move out.