Traveling through the mountains and farming

Inside the main hall of the second branch of the Li family, everyone fell silent at this moment, and no one took the initiative to continue the previous topic.

After Li Changren saw Zhang secretly winking at him, he coughed lightly and started talking: "Uncle, can I make the decision on the division of our second branch?"

Uncle Li couldn't force a decision on the second wife, after all, the two wives had already separated.

Moreover, although he is the patriarch now, the Li family only has these two direct branches and a few branches of the side branches left. The position of patriarch has long felt unworthy of his title.

But yesterday's division was really too much. It was equivalent to exiling the two children to fend for themselves, which was absolutely unacceptable.

He then said, "I won't stop you from dividing the family, but Xiaole and Xiaoke are not yet adults so it's not appropriate to divide the family too early. As the eldest wife, Lin can be divided out, and you can give her the property that was given to Chongwen. Do you think this is okay?"

When Zhang heard that she had to keep the two little ones and that Lin was going to divide them up in the name of Li Chongwen as the eldest wife, she knew that didn't it mean that the bulk of the family property would be divided up, and she would have to continue to support the two little ones.

Then why should she divide the family?

Why did she spend money to marry Lin?

The purpose of marrying Lin Wan was to spend a small amount of bride price to buy out the support for the two children.

That definitely won't work, Zhang anxiously winked at Li Changren.

Li Changren received the signal and sighed:

"I don't want to divide it this way. I heard that Li Chongwen's team was wiped out and he can't come back. Now Li Chongbai has become the eldest son. If we split up and live with Chongbai, naturally most of the family property must be kept."

He sighed and continued, "In recent years, the government has increased taxes every year. After paying the summer tax, there is no surplus food at home. You know, my family has a total of eight acres of paddy fields and two acres of dry land. With these, it is impossible to support this large family. So there is really no extra land to give away."

When Lin Wan heard about Li Chongbai, she remembered that this was the son that her stepmother Zhang brought with her when she married into the family. He was listed in the Li family tree and became her husband's second brother. Her stepmother also brought a daughter, Li Cui.

She couldn't understand why Li Changren, who was still "complaining", chose to keep his step-son and step-daughter by his side, but separated his own young son and daughter.

Is he showing off his brain?

Lin Wan saw that he was still talking about how reasonable the previous division of the family was and how helpless life was, but he did not mention a word about why he separated his youngest son and daughter.

She looked worriedly at Li Chongle who was standing in the corner.

The little boy held his sister's hand with one hand and clenched his fist with the other. When he heard his father say that his eldest brother had died and the eldest son in the family had been replaced, his eyes instantly turned red.

After that, he just kept his head down silently, listening to his father's words, and his head lowered lower and lower.

At this moment, the two siblings looked like a pair of abandoned puppies, curled up in the corner, waiting for their father to abandon them again.

Lin Wan didn't want to see Li Changren continue his hypocritical performance, nor could she bear to see the two children continue to be hurt by their family, so she took the initiative to propose:

"I will take Xiaole and Xiaoke with me and divide them up. I don't want the land either. Give us the forest near the thatched cottage and five taels of silver."

On the way here, she inquired about the land situation of the second branch of the Li family and had already decided on the hill behind the house where she would take over.

Seeing that Li Changren and his wife didn't respond, she continued, "I roughly calculated that these five taels of silver are only enough for us to buy the most basic living items and a month's food for three people, not to mention the cost of renovating the house. If you agree, please ask the clan leader to write the separation documents and handle the new household registration."

Lin Wan didn't dare to ask for too much. She had assessed Zhang's psychological price. If she asked for more, Zhang would not agree. Lin Wan was unwilling to keep Xiaole and Xiaoke.

The two children were so kind that she couldn't bear to leave them in the second branch of the Li family and be wasted by Zhang.

When she was a child, she lived in her grandmother's house in the countryside for several years. Every winter and summer vacation, she would play wildly in the mountains at her grandmother's house. At that time, she would go up the mountain to pick wild fruits and vegetables and trap pheasants, and go down to the river to fish, catch shrimps and crabs. With the mountains behind her, she didn't believe that she couldn't support the three of them.

Zhang calculated in her mind that she could sell the two children away for the money of one acre of land, and the mountain land they wanted was not valuable, so she felt it was a good deal and signaled to Li Changren with her eyes to agree.

Uncle Li saw the quarrel between Li Changren and his wife, and before he could reply, he hurriedly advised:

"Changren, please think about it again. I suggest that Xiaole and Xiaoke should not be separated, and the others should be divided according to Lin's suggestion."

When Li Chongle heard Uncle Li's suggestion again that his father should not separate them, he still had a glimmer of hope, hoping that his father would agree, so he looked up and looked closely at Li Changren.

Li Changren was thinking about what Zhang and he had planned before.

Zhang said that Li Chongbai had made great progress in his studies recently and had a bright future. The future hopes of their second branch depended on Chongbai.

Therefore, they had to separate Li Chongle and Li Ke to reduce the burden on the family. The correct choice was for them to use all their family's strength to support Chongbai in his imperial examinations.

Li Changren ignored the look in Li Chongle's eyes, closed his eyes and exhaled, then made up his mind and said:

"Okay, I have no objection."

"Brother, does daddy really not want us anymore?" Li Ke asked Li Chongle in a low voice while sobbing.

Yesterday, it was only stepmother Zhang who was arranging for the separation of them, and there was no sign of father from beginning to end. Today, he heard his father personally agree to separate them. Although Li Ke is still young, he can understand that his father wants to abandon them.

"Don't be afraid, sister. I'm here."

Li Chongle reached out to wipe away his sister's tears and comforted her softly.

At this moment, he had completely given up on his father. He hated his stepmother's viciousness and resented his father's indifference even more.

All the harsh treatment they suffered from their stepmother was due to their father's indulgence.

He didn't want to stay in this house for a moment.

He remembered that last night his sister-in-law gave the only quilt to him and his sister and stayed with them all night, and that just now his sister-in-law offered to take them away without despising them for being a burden.

He made up his mind that he would follow his sister-in-law.

Li Chongle took his sister to Uncle Li, bent down and bowed deeply, and said, "Granduncle, thank you for considering us. We are willing to follow you, sister-in-law."

"Children, you are still young and cannot support yourself. It is better for you to stay with your parents..." Uncle Li wanted to continue persuading.

"I've made up my mind. Let's follow my eldest sister-in-law." Seeing that his great-uncle was still trying to persuade him, Li Chongle expressed his wish firmly.

Seeing that the three parties had reached a consensus, Uncle Li felt that it was useless to persuade them any further. He could only go home helplessly to get pen, ink, paper and inkstone to write down what he had just said.

The document states that the parents took the initiative to separate the family property, the details of the division of the property, and that they will live separately and not interfere with each other in the future.

After writing it, Uncle Li handed it to Li Changren and Lin Wan in turn to confirm the content.

At this moment, Lin Wan was a little grateful for having the memories of her original body. Her original body had learned to read and write from her eldest brother, so she didn't have to be illiterate.

She saw that Uncle Li wrote on the document that the Li family thatched cottage belonged to Lin Wan and her friends. It was obvious that the old man was helping them to the best of his ability.

After confirming that everything was correct, Mr. Li copied it twice, making three copies, and then said, "Okay, Changren and Lin, please sign and seal your names."

"Let Xiaole and Xiaoke put their fingerprints on it as well." Lin Wan suggested.

Lin Wan always felt that the separation of Li Chongle and his sister from the second branch of the Li family must be complete, and she would feel more at ease if it was documented.

Years of work experience have given her a feeling that things must be put into black and white.

Li Changren and Zhang were overjoyed with Lin Wan's proposal. If they signed and sealed it, it would effectively prevent Lin Wan and her family from moving out and coming back to harass them in the future.

After hearing Lin Wan's words, they immediately expressed that they had no objection and quickly signed and put their fingerprints on it.

Li Chongle calmly pressed his fingerprints and considerately wiped the ink off his sister's fingers with the palm of his hand.

Lin Wan, who was watching this scene, couldn't help but sigh in her heart: What a sensible and caring brother!

"One copy will be kept in the clan, one copy will be kept by Changren, and one copy will be given to the Lin family." Uncle Li said as he distributed the documents.

When he handed the document to Lin Wan, he said, "Ms. Lin, you take the two children back first. I'll ask your second cousin Changyi to go to the village head to help you get your household registration done. You can come and get it this afternoon."

Under the burden of heavy taxes, his family could barely make ends meet.

He felt deeply guilty for not being able to take the two children back home to raise them, so he wanted to help as much as possible wherever he could.

Alas, a fifteen-year-old girl with two children lives in an empty, dilapidated thatched hut. I am really worried about how they will live in the future.