Building houses

Liang Yusheng's old lady always took special care of the little patch of crops she grew. If they did not listen to her, she would nag them several times a day. She only said that because she had a soft spot for her third son.

She wanted to harvest all the corn so she could sell it for a little money. While she was still alive, she wanted to put aside more savings of her own, so she could leave something for her grandsons when she died.

After knocking the spent tobacco out of his water pipe, Father Ye looked around at the children and grandchildren filling the room. He had intended to bring up what he had discussed with Mother Ye the night before, but someone beat him to it.

"Grandma, not long after you went out this morning, Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle came over demanding a share of the money!"

Of course she was going to tell on them!

Ye Huimei, the tattletale!

Their family had finally made some money, and those two uncles had shamelessly come knocking to demand a share. She could not go spreading it around outside, but she was definitely going to tell Grandma!

The children in the room all chimed in. "That's right, Great-grandma! Our two great-uncles were really mean!"

"They even banged on the table and glared!"

"They yelled at my dad, too, and wouldn't let him speak!"

Their chattering gave everyone a headache. Ye Yaodong waved the children away. "Go on, get out! What's it got to do with you? Go outside and play. Stop getting in the way!"

"Bleh, bleh, bleh!"

The children stuck out their tongues, made faces, and ran outside to romp around. They had just finished their snake gourd anyway, and had no desire to stay home listening to the adults talk.

Before leaving, they all remembered to call out to Mother Ye, "Grandma, call us when the corn's ready!"

The old lady had not so much as lifted her eyelids the whole time. A sudden windfall that large would make anyone jealous.

They were all her children, after all. She merely said, "Don't mind them. Each family should live its own life. No one should envy anyone else."

Father Ye murmured an acknowledgment and said nothing more. He had not intended to tell the old lady in the first place, lest it upset her. Besides, the money was in his hands, and no one was getting it out of him.

He glanced around at his sons and daughters-in-law, then said solemnly, "I discussed it with your mother last night. Since we have the money now, we're planning to build houses for you brothers, then divide the household so each family can live its own life."

The house they lived in had been left by the old man. Since Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye had married first, the old man had built each of them a house after their weddings, then divided the household and let them move out to live on their own.

Father Ye was the youngest and had married last. The old man had figured the house would stand empty after his death anyway, so he had not built another one. Instead, he had put up a little room of less than ten square meters beside the vegetable patch in the backyard and added an earthen stove. He and the old lady would spend their remaining years there, leaving their house to Father Ye.

Although this house was a little bigger and had four rooms, it had been patched up over many years and was already very run-down, so Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye had raised no objections.

Now, with so many children and grandchildren, there was no longer enough room.

Of the four rooms, each brother's family squeezed into one, while Ye Huimei shared the last with Father Ye and Mother Ye, sleeping in an extra little bed.

Among the three brothers, only Ye Yaodong had a family of four. The eldest and second brothers each had five in their families. Five people living in one room and sharing a single old-fashioned canopy bed-it was easy to imagine how cramped that was.

Even meals required a large round table, and the women still had to eat standing up. It was not discrimination; there simply was not enough room to seat everyone. Only after the children had been fed and finished eating could the women sit down to eat.

Father Ye and Mother Ye saw all of this and had long wanted to divide the household so their sons could live their own lives. But they had no money to build houses. Even if they divided the household, everyone would still have to live together. With just one stove, they could not separate their meals either, so dividing it would make no difference.

Catching the large yellow croakers and making that money had given them an opportunity to divide the household.

Otherwise, with such a large sum suddenly coming into the family, everyone would start having ideas.

Sure enough, Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law and Ye Second Sister-in-Law's eyes lit up at the mention of dividing the household.

Ye Yaodong paused, then remembered. In his previous life, his father had also built houses after catching the large yellow croakers. But he had been out fooling around with his friends from early morning until late at night every day. He had neither cared nor helped.

Earlier, he had been so busy regretting that he had traveled back too late and missed the large yellow croakers that he had forgotten about building houses and dividing the household. Only now, hearing his father mention it, did he remember.

Ye Eldest Son was surprised but said nothing. A tree branched out as it grew; this was only natural.

Ye Second Son, on the other hand, seemed at a loss. "Dad, this... everything's been fine. Why do we need to divide the household... ow!?"

Before he could finish, his wife jabbed him in the arm with her elbow. He froze, glanced at her, and fell silent.

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. His second brother was the most honest and straightforward person in the family, while his wife was the most calculating. They certainly complemented each other!

She was also the one who disliked him most!

Only because his parents let everyone keep their own earnings, while their daily food came from the fields and foraging along the shore without costing money, had the family managed to remain reasonably harmonious this long. Otherwise, all hell would have broken loose.

As for the reason-

Well, of course it was because he was dragging everyone down!

Father Ye glanced at his second son, opened the little round tin of tobacco, and slowly began pinching some out. "Now that we have money, why wouldn't we divide the household? You still want the whole family crammed together? Does that make you feel closer?"

Now no one dared say another word, afraid the plan might fall through!

Sitting on a stool with one leg crossed over the other and his foot bouncing, Ye Yaodong saw that everyone clearly wanted it but refused to speak up. Fearlessly, he said, "Sounds good, Dad. We all have families of our own now. It's time to divide the household. New houses would give us more room, too."

"I'm afraid you'll starve to death!" Father Ye shot him an irritated glare.

"Ah, huh? No, no, it won't come to that. Once we divide the household, I'll definitely work hard!"

"And how exactly will you work hard?"

"Uh... however my eldest and second brothers work hard, I'll learn from them."

"Like hell I believe you!"

Ye Yaodong: "..."

He was serious. Unfortunately, no one believed him...

The old lady gave Ye Yaodong a reassuring pat and said, "Dividing the household and letting everyone live their own lives is a good thing. A little distance keeps people fond of each other; living too close breeds resentment. We should have done it long ago, really."

Sitting beside the stove's firebox, Mother Ye picked up the conversation. "The money from selling the large yellow croakers can go straight into building houses. That'll stop people eyeing it, too. If it's not enough, we'll put in whatever we earn from going out to sea afterward. It's all being built for you anyway. We meant to bring it up right after breakfast while everyone was here, but it got delayed until now."

Then she said to Father Ye, "Go ask at the People's Commune in a bit and settle the purchase of the housing plots. Let's hire people to start building as soon as possible."

"Mm." Father Ye looked up at his sons and daughters-in-law. "This money will go toward the houses, and we'll put in our earnings from going out to sea afterward, too. Once the houses are finished, we'll divide the household. None of you have any objections, do you?"

Ye Eldest Son shook his head. "Dad, you and Mom can decide. We have no objections."

Ye Second Son followed suit. "Do whatever you think best, Dad. We have no objections either."

Their wives had nagged them plenty at night. Of course they had no objections to dividing the household and living their own little family lives.

Ye Huimei was not married yet, so she would naturally stay with her parents. Besides, she was a daughter; whether the household was divided had little to do with her. She could just watch.

For the time being, the decision to use the money to build houses and divide the household was settled.

Father Ye took a few more puffs from his water pipe before heading out.

If you come across ads such as "Are you a real person?", simply ignore and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!