Traveling through the mountains and farming

Li Chongle, another little boy who was packaged for Lin Wan and whom Lin Wan was thinking about, ran all the way to his father's house to save her.

Seeing that the gate was closed, he knocked on it hard.

In the quiet mountain village early in the morning, the knocking on the door was particularly loud, but there was no response from inside.

He shouted anxiously, "Dad, open the door, my sister-in-law fell into the river and is dying."

"Open the door quickly, my sister-in-law is dying."

"Dad, can you please ask a doctor to save my sister-in-law?"

……

The shouting continued along with the banging on the door.

The second branch of the Li family was having breakfast in the main hall of the courtyard. Li Changren heard the shouting outside and was about to get up to check, but Zhang grabbed him and said:

"Don't go. Eat your breakfast. I'll go and see what's going on. Besides, we've already separated yesterday, so they can't just come here for no reason. We can't start this."

Li Changren urged, "Then go and deal with it quickly. Don't let him shout loudly at the door, so as not to alarm uncle and the surrounding neighbors."

"Don't worry, he won't disturb you." Zhang answered as she walked quickly towards the gate.

In the Li family's main house next door, which was also having breakfast in the yard, Uncle Li and his family also heard the noise here.

When Grandpa Li's youngest grandson Li Chongping heard the noise outside, he immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks, slid off the stool and ran to the gate of the courtyard. He stretched his head to look outside and he seemed to hear the voice of his brother Li Chongle.

After Li Chongping saw it clearly, he turned to the courtyard and said, "Grandpa, Brother Xiaole is knocking on the door of Uncle Changrentang's house. He seems to be saying that his sister-in-law fell into the river and needs a doctor."

After hearing this, Aunt Li hurriedly said to Uncle Li, "Old man, go out and take a look, don't let anything serious happen."

She sighed and continued, "Your nephew has been acting more and more outrageous in recent years. He listens to Zhang's instigation in everything. Chongwen was coaxed into military service before he even reached adulthood. Yesterday, he even quietly divided the family."

Isn't it getting more and more excessive? Grandpa Li also agreed in his heart. His nephew blamed his family for not being able to afford a high bride price and not being able to marry Zhang, so he was forced to marry his former nephew's wife, Yu, who fled here to escape famine.

Seven years ago, after Yu died of complications during childbirth of Li Ke, he married Zhang, a widow who returned to the village with two children, the next year.

When Yu was there, his nephew's house was managed in perfect order, but now his family is in chaos.

Thinking of this, Uncle Li angrily scolded: "He is a bastard. Even if the family is divided, the two children are still so young and their parents are still alive. How can they live with their sister-in-law?"

As soon as he walked out of the courtyard gate, he saw Zhang opening the gate from afar. Li Chongle seemed to be begging Zhang to ask a doctor to save his sister-in-law.

When he got closer, he saw Zhang said impatiently, "Go away. We can't even afford to eat at home, so how can we afford to hire a doctor? We ordinary people just have to endure our illnesses and it will go away."

Seeing that Li Chongle still didn't want to leave, Zhang continued, "It's useless for you to stay here. If I say I have no money, then I have no money."

Li Chongle knew that his stepmother Zhang was just trying to fool him by saying that they had no money. A few days ago, his younger brother Li Chongsong was showing off his new clothes in front of him, and the family also paid a tuition fee to his second brother Li Chongbai some time ago.

The stepmother has always been like this, crying poor to him and his younger sister.

Seeing Zhang's tough attitude, Li Chongle was worried that his sister-in-law would not be able to wait any longer, so he prepared to turn around and ask his great-uncle, Uncle Li, for help.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Uncle Li walking towards him and asked him, "Xiao Le, what's going on?"

Li Chongle spoke anxiously, "Grandun, my sister-in-law is dying. Can you help me get a doctor? Or lend me some money. I can go get a doctor myself, okay?"

He recalled that before he went out, he saw his sister-in-law dying and couldn't be woken up no matter what he did. He became extremely anxious and had to find someone to save her quickly.

At this moment, Uncle Li’s appearance was like a life-saving straw.

Li Chongle immediately ran over, grabbed Uncle Li and dragged him towards home.

Uncle Li was dragged forward by Li Chongle and staggered a few steps. He asked hurriedly, "Is it serious? Is there anyone to take care of it over there?"

Li Chongle nodded vigorously, continued to drag Uncle Li away, and answered anxiously:

"When Grandma Luo brought my sister-in-law back, I saw that she looked very pale, so I quietly checked her breathing and found it was very weak. I was afraid that if I didn't call a doctor, it would be too late."

After hearing this, Uncle Li quickly shouted towards his home: "Changyi, go to the next village and ask Doctor Sun to take him directly to the thatched cottage at the foot of the mountain."

He quickly ran after Li Chongle, and at this time, he heard Li Ke's voice not far away.

"Grandun, there's no need to call a doctor. My sister-in-law is awake!"

Uncle Li stopped and took a closer look. He saw Li Ke running towards him and shouting at him happily.

Behind her was Aunt Luo, who was supporting a young girl and walking slowly towards this side.

I saw that the girl was quite petite, with bright and lively eyes, a small mouth under her high nose bridge, and a very pale face and looked very weak. However, her mental state was not depressed. Instead, she gave people a feeling of calmness and ease.

Yesterday, after Lin Wan came in, she was driven to the thatched cottage at the foot of the mountain, so Uncle Li had never seen Lin Wan.

He had only heard Zhang complain about how difficult it was for her to find a boy's daughter for Li Chongwen, a girl who was literate and well-educated, and whose appearance was one in a million...

"Lin Wan meets my great-uncle and says hello!" While Uncle Li was looking at Lin Wan, Lin Wan had already walked up to him and greeted him.

Lin Wan was also secretly observing the old man. He must be Li Chengming, the current patriarch of the Li family that Aunt Luo mentioned.

I just heard from Aunt Luo that 20 years ago, he led the two branches of the Li family and several other branches to escape famine and settle in Quanshui Village.

Perhaps feeling sorry for her, Aunt Luo secretly told her that although Uncle Li was the clan leader, he was only in name only. Because of fleeing famine, only a few families were left in the Li clan, and their prosperity was gone, and their lives were no different from those of other villagers.

Although he looks older, he is in very good spirits.

"I'm glad you're okay. Xiaole was so worried. He was dragging me to see you." Uncle Li saw that the little girl greeted him politely and had a good impression of Lin Wan.

Then he said with concern: "You just woke up, why did you go out? Go back and lie down."

"I would like to ask you to preside over the redivision of our family for us. Would it be convenient for you?" Lin Wan pleaded.

Zhang, who was not far away, heard Lin Wan talking about splitting up the family again and immediately interrupted her:

"Lin, what do you mean by re-dividing the family? The family was already divided yesterday, and you were allowed to take away the things that were allocated to you."

"Mother, are you talking about the dilapidated and empty thatched hut, half a bag of stale rice, and a tattered quilt that was allocated to us?" Lin Wan turned to face Zhang and said lightly.

The porridge she drank in the morning was brought by Aunt Luo from home, and the earthenware jar was lent to them by Aunt Luo.

The neighbors nearby heard the noise and came over one after another to watch the fun.

At this time, different discussions were heard around:

"This is the first time I've seen someone split up the family and live with the stepson. It's strange to split up the family with the biological son, right?"

"It's rare to give the youngest son or daughter to the eldest sister-in-law when a family is divided, right?"

"It was instigated by Zhang. This way, only the Zhang family is left." Another person continued.

"The thatched cottage at the foot of the mountain was built temporarily by the two branches of the Li family when they settled down there. It doesn't belong to Li Changren. Does he have the right to make the decision?"

"Li Changren is the only one left in the second branch of the Li family. I guess his uncle won't bother with him too much..."

Li Changren, who was still eating in the house, heard the noise outside and hurried out, shouting angrily at Lin Wan:

"Ms. Lin, you are a newly married bride. The elders are considerate of you and let you live alone after the family division. They didn't ask you to serve your parents-in-law. What else are you not satisfied with?"

He saw people pointing and talking around, so he continued to accuse, "Besides, you went to the clan leader so early in the morning to cause trouble. This is called disrespecting the elders."

"This is disrespectful to the elders, I don't deserve it. I was notified to separate the family and live separately when I moved in yesterday, and I haven't had the chance to show filial piety in front of you. As for dividing the family, I have no objection, but it depends on how it is divided. Should it be divided according to the national laws or the Li family rules?" Lin Wan refuted in a resounding manner.

The laws of this dynasty stipulated that if children and grandchildren set up separate households and divided property while their parents were still alive, they would be caned 100 times. However, if parents took the initiative to separate the family property, the parents could make the decision to divide the property.

The division of the property yesterday was not written down. If she was accused of dividing the property without the approval of her parents, she would be beaten with a hundred sticks and her life would be over.

Moreover, according to her experience of watching costume dramas and ancient novels in her previous life, the ancient clans practiced the primogeniture system, and the eldest son of a family would usually have the most inheritance rights.

As the eldest son, Li Chongwen should be able to inherit most of the property and should also be able to get most of the family assets, so they have room to fight for it.

As an outsider who traveled through time, Lin Wan did not want to take other people's property for free. She mainly wanted to fight for Li Chongle and his sister so that they could have more money to rely on. At least, she wanted them to have basic necessities of life before she made money.

"I'm the head of the second branch of the Li family. I have the final say on the division of the family. It's not your turn to make decisions. As a junior, you just need to accept it." Li Changren became even more angry when he heard Lin Wan's answer.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Uncle Li interrupted the argument between Lin Wan and the other person.

"Alright, stop arguing outside. Changren was the one who made the decision to divide the family this time, and it was unfair. Let's all go into the yard and sit down to discuss the division of the family."