Chapter 1567 - 1556: Honest Fool

Chapter 1567: Chapter 1556: Honest Fool

"What exactly happened today? Why did you agree to divide the family without saying a word to me?" Ye Chun fired up at his wife after returning to the room, "Father and mother are still so young, if we split the family, what will others think of me?"

"Why can’t we split the family just because father and mother are young? Besides, the eldest usually takes care of the parents after a split, and we handle their care, how does it damage your reputation?" Wang Hong rattled an abacus, "If we don’t split, do you mean to empty the family assets to treat your dying third brother?"

"That’s my third brother, how can you say that about him?" Ye Chun responded dissatisfied.

"Fine, I know you are deeply affectionate toward your brother, but even mother seems reluctant to treat him. What, you plan to use the money for your son’s future education to save that brother of yours, who might not even survive?"

"But we can’t just split the family like this." Ye Chun sat on the bedside holding his head, "If we split, what about our two sons? Can you afford their tuition?"

"Why can’t we afford it? When I went to the county last time, I discussed with Ye Xia. We could sell goods from her family in the countryside, and you could learn from our second brother-in-law to be a peddler. In a couple of years, won’t we be able to open a shop in the county?" Wang Hong said expectantly.

Ye Chun murmured, "But I’m not cut out for business."

"If you’re not cut out for it, can’t you learn? Do you want to spend every day working in the fields? Haven’t you done enough these days?"

Hearing his wife say this, Ye Chun felt his shoulders start to ache again. The fieldwork had always been handled by his third brother and his wife, and he hadn’t thought much of it until he tried it for two days and realized how tough it was.

Harvesting was truly not work for humans, and he really didn’t want to do it anymore. Though he had never been a peddler, it shouldn’t be more tiring than farming, right? Wasn’t it just that he didn’t know how? He didn’t believe he couldn’t learn.

Ye Chun suddenly felt motivated, starting to imagine the days of his family living in the county.

"Fourth is really calculating. He not only wants money for marriage but also wants tuition for his son’s future education. We can’t agree to that." After thinking about what to do next, Ye Chun started to fret over the family division matters, "But mother has always indulged him, maybe she will insist on giving it."

"So what if she insists? He doesn’t even have a son yet and wants so much. Does that mean the third brother can ask too?" Wang Hong sneered, "No family does this. If mother is biased, let her live with the Fourth, doesn’t she want to see two grandsons succeed? Tomorrow, you need to stand your ground and talk to the clan elders about this logic. For the sake of our sons, you have to think this through."

"Yes, for the sons, I won’t give in this time." Ye Chun nodded heavily.

That night, except for a few kids, no one else slept well. Niu Xue Mei also worriedly told Ye Qiu, "I’m afraid father and mother will use the excuse of us not having sons to give us much less in tomorrow’s division, what will we do then?"

Ye Qiu chuckled, "Looks like my words these past few days weren’t in vain, you thought of this too."

"You’re still laughing, I’m talking seriously!"

Ye Qiu replied seriously, "Actually, from the start, I didn’t expect to get much from the family division."

"Then how will we live? I feel like this house won’t be ours soon, have you thought about where our family of four will live?"

"Look at this." Ye Qiu took out a gold piece.

Niu Xue Mei’s eyes widened instantly, and her voice trembled, "Where did you get this?"

"Found it on the mountain. Do you remember a few years ago when there were mountain bandits in the neighboring county? The government sent troops to arrest many and confiscated a lot. I suspect this gold was brought out by those bandits while escaping and I luckily found it." Ye Qiu began to spin tales, not aiming for precise logic, only to convince Niu Xue Mei.

"How did you hide this until now, and can this gold be used?" Niu Xue Mei bit on the gold, looking at the indentation and grinning foolishly.

"When I found it, I was afraid people would find out and arrest me, so I told no one. Wasn’t there no other choice? I also checked, there’s no marking on this gold block, so it should be usable. If you’re afraid, we can think of ways to break it into many pieces."

"Alright, let’s do that. We shouldn’t take risks; safety is most important." With this gold block, Niu Xue Mei felt content. Even if they didn’t get much in the division, it wouldn’t matter.

However, Ye Qiu said, "I showed you this gold just to ease your worries. Tomorrow for the division, you still need to fight for what’s rightfully ours. At least not less than Fourth, remember?"

Since he was "gravely ill," Ye Qiu naturally could not attend the next day’s division, so he could only instruct Niu Xue Mei like this.

"Yes, I know this is called a diversion."

"Right." Ye Qiu said, pleased, "I see you’re quite talented. I think once we make progress, we can hire a female tutor for Cong Ying and Cong Zi, and we can also learn some more characters. It will be useful in the future."

Niu Xue Mei was stunned by Ye Qiu’s decision: "Girls can have tutors too?"

"Why not? I’ve seen young ladies from big families in town have tutors. This shows the importance of education. We were wrong in the past, but such patriarchal thinking shouldn’t continue. What’s wrong with girls? When we have money, we can find an in-house husband for Cong Ying." Ye Qiu said very boldly.

Niu Xue Mei swallowed, "Can that really work?"

"Why wouldn’t it?"

"But I heard that adopting sons-in-law isn’t good, and those adopted usually aren’t impressive or have questionable character."

"That’s why I said let Cong Ying and Cong Zi read more books, understand more, and learn skills to command respect. The more we earn in the future, the more confidence we can give them."

Niu Xue Mei nodded, "You’re right, but we only have this block of gold, and we know nothing but farming, how much can we earn?"

"I’m thinking we can try doing business."

"Business? But we’ve never done it before. What would we do? What if we lose everything?"

"We won’t." Ye Qiu assured, "Your cooking always tastes good, so let’s try starting a small business first, selling meals or pastries and such. We definitely won’t lose money."

Niu Xue Mei doubted, "Will that work?"

"It will. Mom, your cooking is really good." Suddenly said Ye Congying.

Niu Xue Mei jumped in shock, "You’re not asleep yet?"

"I’m just too excited thinking about our own family life to sleep." The five-year-old Ye Congying answered honestly.

Ye Qiu and Niu Xue Mei couldn’t help feeling heartache at such a precocious child; they had neglected him in the past.

"See, even the child says so, you should have more confidence." Ye Qiu continued.

"Alright...then let’s try after the division!" Niu Xue Mei finally agreed, mainly because Ye Qiu was the head of the family.