Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Upon reaching the door, they saw Zhao Da'e and Zhou Chunwen anxiously waiting: "Uncle, did you see who it is? Is it that scoundrel of a grandfather?"

"I didn't see him clearly. It was too dark, but I hit him with a rock and he limped away," Zhou Yuren said.

Zhou Chunwen said, "No matter who it is, we have to be careful these next few days. Dad, you should bring the firewood from outside into the yard these next few days. It wouldn't be good if Old Zhao retaliated against the goose and set our woodpile on fire."

Zhou Yuren said coldly, "No need. With your father here, I don't believe anyone would dare to come and set fire to our house."

Zhou Chunwen was taken aback: "Didn't someone just come here?"

Zhou Yuren: "..."

My dear daughter, if you say less, no one will think you're mute...

“Maybe they’re just passing by. I’ll stay up late tomorrow, and your older brother and I will take turns keeping watch. If we see anyone coming to our house to cause trouble, you can chop them up. You guys can sleep soundly, I’m here to take care of things.”

Then Zhou Yuren put on his clothes, leaned against the windowsill, and looked outside. He kept his axe in his hand, and didn't move for a long time.

No one came again until dawn.

Zhao Da'e didn't really want to go home today, but he had no choice but to go home.

However, yesterday's incident was very unpleasant, and Wang Guixiang went to the fence again.

If Zhao Tingxu could still pretend to be a good person last time, things might not be so good this time. Zhao Da'e has already fallen out with the people at the old house, so she's thinking of not wanting to go through the front yard, but the other places in the back yard only have small paths, which are a bit of a detour.

The main problem is that the family on the east side built a wall, and the family on the west side also built a wall, so there's no way to get through. The family on the east side had a vegetable garden, and then they used stones as the foundation, millet stalks mixed with red clay as the top of the wall, and a low wall with jujube tree branches on top. But the one on the west side has a very high wall, and there's only a gap in front of it where one person can barely pass through.

Zhao Da'e was in a bit of a dilemma.

If Zhao Tingxu were to run into her when she got back today, Zhao Da'e wouldn't even bother to acknowledge him. Those old folks are truly wicked; they lost the money, so why didn't they just accuse Zhao Da'e of stealing it? As a result, Wang Guixiang ended up in jail.

Thirty thousand yuan is no small matter. To blatantly report a false story and then pretend to be confused and say you were delirious is nothing short of contempt.

Of course, it's mainly Zhao Dage who needs to investigate.

Rumors were circulating throughout the village that Zhao Da'e had stolen money, and Zhao Da'e certainly didn't want a bad reputation. A person's name is like a tree's shadow; Zhao Da'e had walked an upright and honest path. No one can escape the consequences of their wrongdoing. As the saying goes, Heaven is watching what people do; there are gods three feet above your head.

After this incident, Zhao Da'e estimated that the Zhao family was basically falling apart. Zhao Tingxu could no longer be the patriarch, and the division of the family was a foregone conclusion.

Actually, the Zhao family is so poor that there's practically nothing left to divide among them. Rich people can get houses and land when they divide their assets, but the Zhao family gets nothing – not even a penny. They'd be burning incense for good measure if they didn't get some famine relief.

Furthermore, so far, no land has been allocated in Dongtaizi Village. The villagers cultivate their own plots of land within the village, meaning the village provides the land for them to cultivate, but the crop is rotated every three to five years. The village collective owns the majority of the land. Therefore, the land in a household doesn't belong to them personally; it all belongs to the village and cannot be redistributed.

The Zhao family now consists of three dilapidated mud-brick houses, a run-down yard, and a few struggling members. Whether the property is divided or not is unimportant; Zhao Da'e doesn't want to separate his third uncle after the family division, leaving him to live with Wang Guixiang and have to care for that old hag until her death.

Zhao Da'e knew that around 1996, the village also completely redistributed its land. All the land was distributed to everyone as permanent farmland. Of course, the land redistribution had started in 1994, but it hadn't happened yet because of land disputes with other villages.