My best friend is living a famine-stricken life; you're going crazy, I'm farming.

"Speak up!" Xu Dazhu suddenly roared.

Old Mrs. Xu's expression changed. "Who are you yelling at?"

"So you think you should just push my daughter into the fire so that your lazy family can survive?"

Xu Dazhu had been honest his whole life and had never been so angry before. For a moment, everyone was frightened by him.

This includes Lin Cuiniang and Xu Yingying, who were eavesdropping in the west room.

"Xu Laosan, speak up!" Xu Dazhu slapped the bowl out of Xu Sanzhu's hand. "Your wife ran away because you're incompetent, or because my Yingying didn't get married in exchange for a dowry to give you a good life? Huh? Answer me!"

Xu Sanzhu had only spoken in anger, but his elder brother's pressure made him lose his temper as well. "Brother, I didn't want to argue with you, but look at yourself, what girl is still at home at sixteen? She's so big, if she doesn't get married, are we supposed to support her for the rest of her life?"

The noise in the main room grew louder and louder.

Xu Yingying rolled up her sleeves. "I can't take it anymore, I have to say something!"

"Wait a minute." Lin Cuiniang pulled her back, gesturing for her to continue listening.

Inside the main room, Xu Dazhu patted Xu Chunsheng on the shoulder, "Go back to your room first."

"Oh." Xu Chunsheng also sensed that something was wrong and immediately ran back into the house.

"If she wants to marry me, she can marry me; if she doesn't, I'll support her for the rest of my life. What's wrong with that? A grown man can't even support a child? Xu Sanzhu, I'm warning you, Yingying has only been staying at the Xu family for a few months."

"You never raised her, and nobody in the Xu family raised her! What she does has nothing to do with you!"

"If I ever hear of anyone again trying to harm my daughter..."

Xu Dazhu grabbed the chopsticks from Xu Erzhu's hand and snapped them hard.

Breaking chopsticks with bare hands is nothing special; what's frightening is the change in his eyes, which now resemble a tiger protecting its cubs, making him someone you absolutely cannot mess with.

“Brother,” Xu Erzhu said slowly, “your whole family ran away during the famine years, leaving us to suffer. Now that we can’t survive outside, we think of coming home. What kind of good person are you?”

Xu Dazhu was stunned. He was indeed not a good person, but at least he protected his wife and children, unlike Lao San, whose wife and children ran away and he still had the nerve to blame him.

Xu Dazhu was utterly heartbroken. He closed his eyes in despair. "Fine, if that's how it is, then what's the point of this family?"

"Then you can leave," Xu Erzhu said casually.

The eldest brother looked down on them for trying to take advantage of Xu Yingying, and they looked down on the eldest brother's family for fleeing famine, saying they didn't look like they were starving.

If his eldest brother's family were in even worse shape than them, he might give him a couple of cakes.

"Separate the family." Xu Dazhu solemnly uttered the two words.

The saying "While parents are alive, the family remains united" has always been an ancestral precept ingrained in our bones.

Even during years of famine, he never considered dividing the family property.

If his mother hadn't been so biased, if his second son hadn't been so selfish and his third son so lazy, why would he have left them behind when he fled the famine?

Now that they're back, they don't even bother to pretend.

"Mother, I want to separate from the family," Xu Dazhu emphasized.

"I'll split it up. I can't afford to support a family of ungrateful wretches like you."

Xu Dazhu didn't expect that Old Lady Xu would agree so readily.

I thought she would try to take advantage of Yingying, pretending to stay so she could later use her to exchange for a dowry.

“Okay, you said it! I’ll go find someone to be a witness right away.” Xu Dazhu turned around and went to find the village chief.

……

"Sister, why are you crying?" Xu Chunsheng turned to look at Xu Yingying.

Xu Yingying then realized that her eyes were blurry with tears. She suppressed the bitterness in her heart and said, "It's nothing, just some sand in my eyes."