Chapter 6: Building Houses

The old lady had always been especially concerned about the few things she planted. If no one listened to her, she could nag about it several times a day. It was only because she felt sorry for the third son that she said that.

She wanted to harvest all the corn because she was thinking of selling some for money. While she was still alive, she also wanted to save up a little private money. That way, when she died, she could leave some money for her grandchildren.

After Father Ye knocked the burnt tobacco out of the water pipe, he looked at the room full of sons and grandchildren. He had originally wanted to mention the matter he and Mother Ye had discussed last night, but someone beat him to it.

“Grandma, not long after you went out this morning, Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle came over demanding money!”

A complaint definitely had to be made!

Complaint expert—Ye Huimei!

The family had finally earned a sum of money, yet Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle had shamelessly come demanding a share. It wasn’t suitable to talk about it outside, but Grandma definitely had to hear about it!

The children in the room also began chattering at once.

“That’s right, Great-Grandma! Great-Uncle and Second Great-Uncle were so fierce.”

“They even slapped the table and glared!”

“They scolded my dad too and wouldn’t let him interrupt!”

Their chirping made everyone’s head ache. Ye Yaodong waved at the children.

“Go, go, go. What does this have to do with you? All of you, go outside and play. Don’t stay here getting in the way!”

“Bleh, bleh, bleh~”

The children stuck out their tongues, made faces, and ran out to play. They had just finished eating the melons anyway, and they didn’t want to stay home listening to the adults talk.

Before going out, none of them forgot to shout toward Mother Ye, “Grandma, call us when the corn is ready!”

The old lady didn’t even lift her eyelids the entire time. With such a large sudden income, anyone would be jealous.

The palm was flesh, and the back of the hand was flesh too. She only said lightly, “Don’t bother with them. Each family lives its own life. No one should envy anyone else.”

Father Ye responded with a sound and didn’t say much more. He hadn’t wanted to tell the old lady in the first place, lest it upset her. In any case, the money was in his hands, and no one could take it away.

He swept his gaze over the sons and daughters-in-law in the room, then said seriously, “Last night, your mother and I discussed it. Since we have money now, we plan to build houses for you brothers, then divide the family so each household can live its own life.”

The house they were living in now had been left behind by the old man. Because Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye had married first, the old man had built each of them a house after their weddings and divided the family, letting them move out and live on their own.

Father Ye was the youngest and married the latest. The old man had thought that after he died, the house would be empty anyway, so he didn’t build another one. He only built a small room of less than ten square meters beside the vegetable plot in the backyard, added a clay stove, and planned for him and the old lady to spend their old age there. The main house was left to Father Ye.

Although this house was a bit larger and had more rooms, four in total, it had been repaired and patched for many years and was already very old. Because of that, Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye had no objections.

Now, with so many descendants in the family, this house was no longer enough.

There were four rooms. The three brothers’ families each squeezed into one room, while Ye Huimei slept in the same room as Father Ye and Mother Ye, with an extra small bed added.

Among the three brothers, only Ye Yaodong’s household had four people. The eldest and second brothers each had five people in their families. Five people lived in one room and even slept on the same old-fashioned canopy bed. It was obvious how cramped they were.

Even meals required setting out a large round table, and the women still had to stand while eating. It wasn’t discrimination. There simply wasn’t enough room to sit. Usually, only after the children were fed and finished eating would the women of the family sit down to eat.

Father Ye and Mother Ye had always seen this and had long wanted to split the family so their sons could each live their own lives. Unfortunately, they didn’t have money on hand to build houses. Even if they divided the family, everyone would still have to live together, use the same stove, and share food and drink. In that case, dividing or not dividing would make no difference.

This time, catching the large yellow croakers and earning a sum of money was just the opportunity to divide the family.

Otherwise, with such a large sum of money suddenly in the family’s hands, everyone’s thoughts would inevitably start to stir.

Sure enough, when Eldest Sister-in-law Ye and Second Sister-in-law Ye heard about dividing the family, their eyes lit up.

Ye Yaodong froze for a moment and then remembered. In his previous life, his father had also built houses after catching the large yellow croakers. It was just that he had spent every day leaving early and returning late to fool around with his friends, so he hadn’t cared and hadn’t helped.

Earlier, he had been regretting that he transmigrated too late and missed the large yellow croakers. He hadn’t remembered the matter of building houses and dividing the family. Now that his father mentioned it, he finally recalled it.

Eldest Ye was surprised for a moment but didn’t say anything. When a tree grows large, its branches spread. It was normal.

Second Ye, on the other hand, looked somewhat at a loss.

“Dad, this… everything’s fine, so why divide the family… ah!?”

Before Second Ye could finish speaking, his wife jabbed him in the arm with her elbow. He paused, looked at his wife, and stopped talking.

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. Among the family, his second brother was the most honest, while his second sister-in-law was the most calculating. The two of them complemented each other perfectly!

The person who disliked him the most was also his second sister-in-law!

It was only because his parents let each household keep whatever money they earned themselves, while daily food and drink came from the fields and gathering seafood, so they didn’t have to spend much money, that the family had barely stayed harmonious for so long. Otherwise, the household would have turned upside down long ago.

As for the reason?

Of course, it was because he was dragging them down~

Father Ye glanced at the second son, opened the small round iron box containing tobacco, and calmly began pinching out shredded tobacco again. As he did, he said, “Now that there’s money, if we still don’t divide the family, do you want the whole big family to keep squeezing together? You think that’s affectionate?”

Now no one dared to speak, afraid the matter might fall through.

Ye Yaodong sat on the stool, crossed one leg over the other, and bounced his foot. Looking at everyone clearly longing for it but saying nothing, he spoke fearlessly.

“Good. Dad, we’re all married now. It’s about time to divide the family. Building new houses will let everyone live more spaciously too.”

“I’m afraid you’ll starve to death!” Father Ye glared at him irritably.

“Ah? Huh? It won’t come to that, it won’t. After the family is divided, I’ll definitely work hard!”

“How exactly will you work hard?”

“Uh… however Eldest Brother and Second Brother work hard, I’ll learn from them.”

“As if I’d believe you!”

Ye Yaodong was speechless.

He was being serious, yet no one believed him…

The old lady patted Ye Yaodong comfortingly and also said, “Dividing the family and each living their own life is good. From far away, people smell sweet; too close, they stink. Actually, it should have been divided long ago.”

Sitting beside the stove chamber, Mother Ye also joined in.

“The money from selling the large yellow croakers can be used to build houses, which will save others from coveting it. If it’s not enough, we’ll add in the money earned from going out to sea next. In any case, the houses are being built for you. We originally wanted to bring this up after breakfast while you were all here, but it got delayed until now.”

After saying that, she said to Father Ye, “Later, go to the commune and ask about it. Settle the matter of buying the housing plots. Let’s hire people to build the houses as soon as possible.”

“Mm.”

Father Ye raised his eyes and looked at his sons and daughters-in-law.

“This money will be used to build houses. The money earned from going out to sea next will also be added in. Once the houses are finished, we’ll divide the family. None of you have any objections, right?”

Eldest Ye shook his head.

“Dad, you and Mother can decide. We have no objections.”

Second Ye also followed up, “Dad, you handle it as you see fit. We don’t have any objections either.”

Their wives had nagged plenty in their ears at night. If they could divide the family and live their own little lives, of course they had no objections.

Ye Huimei wasn’t married yet, so she would naturally continue living with her parents. She was also a daughter, so whether the family was divided or not had nothing to do with her. She only needed to watch.

For the time being, the matter of using the money to build houses and divide the family was settled just like that.

Father Ye took a few more pulls from the water pipe before heading out.

(End of Chapter)