Expelled from the Duke's mansion, the fake heiress is richer than a country.

Yu Wenbin quickly went inside to fetch stools, and at the same time called his father, Yu Man, out. Yu Wanran, familiar with the place, found the kitchen and boiled water to serve everyone.

Yu Wenbin was a little confused by her attitude of treating him like family.

Yu Wenrong tugged at his older brother and whispered to him, "Brother, this third sister might have done it! Last night, she carried Mother all the way back from the city. She stayed up all night taking care of Mother, and that's how she got better!"

His admiration for Yu Wanran was like a flowing river, never ceasing.

Yu Wenbin was somewhat skeptical.

The new little sister's small frame looked incredibly frail; could she really have carried her mother back from the city? But her mother was indeed lying in their own bed, leaving him no choice but to believe it.

They discovered that the village elders, whom their uncles had invited back, were followed by a group of villagers who had come to watch the spectacle. Men, women, young and old alike were all secretly observing Yu Wanran. The two brothers went over; one took the tray of water, and the other pulled Yu Wanran into the house.

They were afraid that the villagers would embarrass Yu Wanran in the countryside. They especially couldn't let Yu Wanran bear any blame in the division of the family property. Otherwise, who knew what the villagers would say about her!

Worried that Yu Wanran might overthink things, Yu Wenrong stayed with her, peering out the window from inside. He pointed and introduced her to the people who had come.

The village head didn't come; he only invited two elderly people who had some prestige in the village.

The village head's son works in the city government office, so he must have known about what happened at the Duke's mansion immediately.

At such a sensitive time, how could the village head dare to approach the Yu family? He simply made up an excuse to avoid them. Therefore, the two brothers, Yu Tai and Yu Shu, could only invite their two uncles, who were not well-informed.

However, two uncles are enough. It's just a matter of dividing the family property. The parties involved have no objections, and afterwards they can take the agreement to the government office to register and establish their own households.

Unlike a family that separates but doesn't divide households, this household, once divided, becomes two separate families. Each family must bear its own taxes and corvée labor. Of course, they also each bear their own share of the blame for misdeeds.

The reason we hadn't separated households before was because of concerns about corvée labor.

One month a year was free to serve the government, and brothers from the same family could take turns. Now that households are divided, both families need to contribute their own people.

There was no other way but to choose the lesser of two evils. Compared to corvée labor, the eldest and third sons were more afraid of incurring the Duke's wrath because of the matter of the second son's family's real and fake daughters.

Yu Wanran suspected that her mother-in-law and her eldest uncle's family had planned to separate the family property long ago. After the table and chairs were set out and the uncles were invited to sit down, Liu Yan took her mother-in-law's place and brought out a bag of land deeds, land deeds, and loose silver.

Seeing Liu Yan's air of being in charge, they guessed that her family and their third uncle's family would suffer losses in this division of the family property.

Yu Shu and Chen Fang thought the same thing, and the couple exchanged a knowing glance.

Yu was absent-minded.

He glanced at his mother and uncle, then at the west room. Clearly, he was still troubled by the fact that his child had been switched. Even with his patriarchal views, he had developed a deep affection for his daughter after raising her for sixteen years.

The two uncles examined the belongings the Yu family had brought out and spoke quietly with Granny Yu. They were primarily seeking the opinion of the eldest son, Yu Tai; the dissatisfaction of the others was unimportant.

In this era, whether in the countryside or the city, the majority of the family fortune belongs to the eldest son of the main branch—it's only natural. Whether others want a larger share depends on their parents' wishes.

Clearly, Granny Yu had reached an agreement with the eldest branch of the family, and Liu Yan was the one speaking without hesitation.

The matter of dividing the family property was quickly "agreed upon". The third uncle took the three contracts written by the seventh uncle, cleared his throat and read them aloud.

The Yu family owns a total of thirty mu of farmland and one mu of residential land.

The thatched house built on the homestead, needless to say, was intended for Grandma Yu's retirement, and would be inherited by her eldest son after her death.

The land consisted of five mu of private land and twenty-five mu of public land. The private land included one mu of superior quality, two mu of medium quality, and three mu of inferior quality.

The eldest son's family receives one mu of superior land, one mu of medium land, and two mu of inferior land; the second son's family receives one mu of medium land and one mu of inferior land; the third son's family has already married into the woman's family and is willing to receive no land but will receive additional silver.

Public land is fine; those with the means can rent it from the government. As long as they can pay the taxes, they can rent as much as they want. For now, the eldest son will be allocated fifteen mu, and the second son ten mu.

Then they divided the family savings, which amounted to twenty-two taels of silver. Granny Yu said that was all they had.

The old man left five taels as his coffin money, and three taels of the remainder. The eldest and second sons each received three taels; the third son, because he did not claim any land, received an extra eight taels, totaling eleven taels.

There were about two hundred catties of grain stored: about one hundred catties for the elderly and the extended house; fifty catties each for the second and third houses. Chen Fang didn't want coarse grain, so Yu Man immediately stepped forward and bought it at the market price of five coins per catty, giving the third brother's family two hundred and fifty coins.

As for the chickens, Liu Yan said that Grandma Yu was not in good health, so they would definitely be left for the old lady to lay eggs to nourish her body! As for whether she got to eat them or not, the other two families had opinions but couldn't say in front of everyone.

Finally, there was another agreement: the elderly would live with the eldest son's family, and the second and third sons' families would have to pay the elderly a certain amount of grain or money each year as a support fee.

Yu Wanran silently calculated in her mind that her family would receive a total of one mu of medium-grade and one mu of low-grade private land, ten mu of public land, two taels of silver (750 wen), and one hundred jin of grain.

They seemed to be doing alright, but the money wasn't enough to pay a year's taxes; even if they mixed wild vegetables with porridge, the grain wouldn't be enough to feed the family for a month. If they didn't work hard to find food, they wouldn't survive the winter.

Of the last few thatched houses, her family was allocated one room to live in, which was the original west room; there was also a wood shed, and a thatched shed was built to serve as a temporary kitchen. These houses were separated from the main house on the east side by a fence.

This is temporary. Because the land belongs to Granny Yu, and after Granny Yu passes away, it will be inherited by the eldest son's family.

They need to find another place to build a house and move away before then. Otherwise, it will look bad if Liu Yan decides to kick them out.

Liu Yan was satisfied and generously spent one hundred coins to respectfully see off her two uncles.

Liu Jiao refused the dilapidated thatched house. Instead, she took her husband Yu Shu, stuffed the contract and money into her pocket, and the whole family left that very night in a mule cart.

This place is so poor, she wouldn't even bother coming here again!

Yu Shu entered the house, handed the contract and money to Ji Chunhua, and hid them in a hole under the bed. The couple sighed at each other, their hearts heavy. How were they going to live from now on?

Ji Chunhua is disabled, and the family is missing a main breadwinner, requiring care in the short term. I wonder if the Duke's mansion will cause trouble again?

With the official title above two mouths, if others wanted to make things difficult for them, they wouldn't need to personally intervene. Plenty of people would know to read the Duke's mood and proactively come to cause trouble.

Ji Chunhua thought of Yu Wanran, who was already sixteen years old. Before, when she was in the Duke's mansion, they naturally didn't need to worry about her. But now that she was back home…

She asked the man tentatively.

"Honey, what do you think? Shouldn't the marriage we arranged for Yao Yao, the son of the hunter from Yangjia Village, be given to Ranran?"

The other family was one of the wealthiest in Yangjia Village. Although they had many brothers and sisters, their daughter would at least be able to eat meat several times a year after marrying into the family. Unlike their own family…

Yu Shu frowned and interrupted his wife without hesitation.

"No way! Ranran just got home and isn't familiar with us yet... Besides, look at the airs she's been raised by the Duke's mansion!"

To propose to the hunter in Yangjia Village would be an insult to his daughter! It's not that he favors his own daughter, but how could that smelly, burly, and uncouth man be worthy of marrying Ranran?