Grandmother Xia’s words made Zhang Cui’s face flush red with anger. Although she understood Xia Chang Zheng’s intentions, being accused of keeping a lover infuriated her!

Xia Chang Zheng’s face turned awkward. “Mother, what are you saying? How would it look if the children heard this?”

Zhang Cui kept her head down in silence as Grandmother Xia berated her for a full half hour.

Xia Chang Zheng joined in the scolding, mother, and son working in perfect harmony. After Grandmother Xia had vented most of her anger, she sneered at Zhang Cui, “Since the family hasn’t split up yet, bring out all the money you’ve earned before. From now on, you’ll manage the shop together with Third Brother’s wife.”

Wang Jin Gui was delighted.

Zhang Cui looked up with wide eyes.

Hand over “Zhang’s Shop” to become public property?

The old woman certainly had grand ideas. How did “Zhang’s Shop” get started? Even Xia Chang Zheng hadn’t taken a breath. It was all Zhang Cui’s work, from pushing a mobile stall to finally having a storefront, gradually developing her skills and accumulating capital bit by bit. Now they wanted her to hand over the shop… she’d rather follow Liu Fen’s example and get divorced!

Xia Chang Zheng’s scolding of his wife was just for show. Why should their money be split with Xia Hong Bing’s family?

The notion of keeping the family united was already outdated. Xia Chang Zheng coughed twice:

“Mother, just let her hand over the money to me. What does the shop have to do with Hong Bing and his wife? Don’t we need people to do the farm work?”

Xia Hong Bing hadn’t expected such good fortune to fall from the sky. He immediately jumped in, firmly grasping Grandmother Xia’s words: “Big Brother, that’s not how it works. When your daughter was studying, she said we were all one family and asked us to contribute to her tuition. Didn’t Second Brother and I pay? You were secretly making big money in the county town while squeezing blood money from your brothers – that’s unfair. And my niece, being such a precious college student, clearly not lacking tuition or living expenses, yet still accepting money from her uncles without guilt… I should ask my niece if she knew about this!”

Although Xia Hong Bing hadn’t contributed much money, he was genuinely angry.

Back then, he didn’t know Zhang Cui had opened a shop in the county town and had foolishly contributed money for Xia Zi Yu’s education. The family didn’t just start pooling money when Xia Zi Yu got into university; since high school, they had been sending monthly living expenses to school. Grandmother Xia was worried her eldest granddaughter’s studies would suffer if she didn’t eat well.

It wasn’t just supporting Xia Zi Yu; Zhang Cui had no income while doing laundry and cooking for Xia Zi Yu in the county town, so she was considered to be supported by the whole family too.

Support my foot! The whole family had been fooled by the eldest brother’s family of three. The second Brother was the most foolish and contributed the most, and he, Xia Hong Bing, had also paid for several years.

When the true owner of “Zhang’s Shop” was revealed, the Xia family naturally erupted into chaos.

Zhang Cui would never hand over the money, and Xia Chang Zheng wanted to split up the family.

But Xia Hong Bing wasn’t easy to deal with. He and Wang Jin Gui made a fuss, determined to tear a piece of flesh from the eldest brother’s family. He wouldn’t agree to splitting up the family; he didn’t want to farm alone. Either they would close the shop and both brothers would return home to be farmers, or they would remove Zhang Cui’s relatives and replace them with Xia Hong Bing and Wang Jin Gui.

“Big Brother, brothers must work together to achieve great things. Others are outsiders, but we share the same surname.”

Same surname, born from the same mother’s womb, yet not as close as husband and wife who share a bed and raise children together. Xia Chang Zheng would have to be brain-damaged to listen to Xia Hong Bing, but unlike Xia Da Jun, Xia Hong Bing wasn’t easy to fool. After barely interacting for several months, Xia Chang Zheng felt his brother had become a rough character who couldn’t be reasoned with.

To make matters worse, Grandmother Xia was angry and sided with Xia Hong Bing.

Though Xia Chang Zheng wanted to split up the family regardless of consequences, Grandmother Xia and Xia Hong Bing wouldn’t let him escape. After arguing, they didn’t split up the family but took a step back, agreeing to let Xia Hong Bing and Wang Jin Gui help at the shop.

As for Zhang Fu Man and Jiang Lian Xiang, they certainly couldn’t afford to keep them anymore.

How could “Zhang’s Shop” afford to employ four people now that the business was poor?

When they demanded Zhang Cui hand over half of her previous earnings, she gritted her teeth and refused:

“I haven’t saved any money. Opening this shop required giving gifts everywhere. If I had money, I would have already brought Jun Bao to study in the county town!”

Nobody believed her.

Xia Hong Xia wanted to say she had seen Zhang Cui give lots of money to Xia Zi Yu, but her father Xia Hong Bing felt they shouldn’t push his elder brother’s couple too hard, so he didn’t let Xia Hong Xia speak up.

Xia Hong Bing smiled and flattered his mother:

“You should oversee the shop. I think we should all move to the county town. There’s little money in farming at home, but money is easier to make in the city.”

Grandmother Xia was pleased with her youngest son’s flattery.

Living in the city would certainly be good – the county town was lively, and everything was available for purchase. The streets were clean, unlike the countryside with dog and chicken droppings everywhere. City people used tap water and honeycomb briquettes for cooking, unlike the countryside where they had to fetch water and split firewood. City people didn’t have to work in the fields; their work units paid monthly wages for buying rice and oil. Though city people had to be frugal in recent years, needing cloth coupons to make new clothes, farmers had even less access to various coupons!

Even buying a bicycle required “industrial coupons,” which farmers couldn’t get.

Farmers dreamed of becoming city people. Why else was the Xia family so happy when Xia Zi Yu got into university?

University graduate Xia Zi Yu would become a city resident first, and if she did well, she could help the whole family become city people.

Grandmother Xia thought about city life with envy and longing. She forgot that her family all had rural household registrations. If the whole family moved to the city, who would farm their land? Without farming, they still had to pay annual grain tax and various fees… unless they disappeared without a trace like Xia Da Jun, whose whole family ran off to Anqing County, where village officials couldn’t collect these taxes and fees!

Xia Chang Zheng had a massive headache.

If no one stayed to farm, did they expect him to buy grain to pay the taxes?

“Mother, it’s right to invite you to live in the county town. I’ll beat anyone who objects, but we can’t leave the house unattended, can we? If we all squeeze into the shop’s back courtyard – you’ve seen how many rooms there are – can more than ten family members fit?”

The shop’s back courtyard had four rooms, and after driving away Zhang Fu Man and Jiang Lian Xiang, they could technically fit.

Xia Chang Zheng and Zhang Cui could live with their son Xia Jun Bao in one room. Xia Hong Bing’s family was larger – Xia Hong Bing and Wang Jin Gui could have one room, their two young sons another, and Grandmother Xia could squeeze in with Xia Hong Xia.

Weren’t four rooms perfect?

Those city people with small homes lived in even tighter quarters!

Seeing Grandmother Xia and Xia Hong Bing’s couple discussing excitedly, Zhang Cui dropped her virtuous facade:

“I won’t even mention who will take care of the fields at home. If we all move to the county town, are all the boys going to drop out of school? We’re just individual merchants with no status – we can’t solve the schooling problem for three children!”

She could beg and plead everywhere to get her son Xia Jun Bao into city school, but Xia Hong Bing and Wang Jin Gui were prolific – besides Xia Hong Xia, they had two sons. Zhang Cui wouldn’t agree to support them even if it meant divorce.

Divorce!

The thought suddenly emerged and wouldn’t go away.

Zhang Cui wondered what else she needed the Xia family for.

The second brother’s couple could be exploited like oxen, but they had already run away. The third brother Xia Hong Bing’s family was all cunning and lazy. If they pushed her too far, she might as well follow Liu Fen’s example and get divorced-

“Xia Chang Zheng, if you dare bring these people to the county town for me to support, we might as well end this marriage! Divorce, let’s get divorced!”