Yu Changhe tightened his grip on the wooden stick, wanting to say something, but swallowed his words.
Old Lady Yu continued, "Once we separate, the debts you owe will be yours to manage.
Then, you only need to pay us and your father fifty copper coins monthly for our sustenance since we've been supporting the three of you for months ever since your leg became crippled."
Mrs. Sun, unable to bear it any longer, spoke up, "Mother, speak with some conscience. What do you mean supporting us for months? Although Changhe can't do heavy labor, I've been doing both household and outside work without slacking.
When Changhe worked as a government official in town, he handed over his two taels of silver salary to you every month. Now that we're dividing the family, neither giving us land nor money is too unfair to us, isn't it?"
Old Lady Yu, seeing Mrs. Sun daring to talk back, immediately wore a cold expression and said, "Didn't I say the uncultivated land in the southwest corner would be for you? If we gave you first-class land, it would be wasted on him, a cripple, and wouldn't it eventually end up in your maternal family's hands?"
Mrs. Sun was infuriated by Old Lady Yu's words, realizing that the Yu family truly intended to abandon Yu Changhe.
Too angry to speak, Yu Changhe stepped forward, grasping his wife's wrist, looked at Old Lady Yu, and said, "If you despise me as a burden to this family and want to separate, then bring the village chief in to divide the family. However the elder does it, I'll accept without a word."
Old Lady Yu mumbled, "Why bring him in? I know best what there is in this family, how much land, and I can divide it myself."
Yu Changhe said coldly, "If the village chief doesn't come, I won't separate this family!"
Old Man Yu, who was crouched in a corner smoking, heard his second son's words, tapped his pipe against the mud wall to knock off the ashes, and stood up, saying, "I'll go get the village chief."
After Old Man Yu left, Yu Changfu thoughtfully approached Yu Changhe, sighed, and patted Yu Changhe's shoulder, saying earnestly, "Second brother, you're too foolish to keep that little jinx. Ever since you brought her back, it wasn't two years before our brother passed away, and now your leg is crippled. Our family's Changyu didn't pass the scholar exams, and now you're separating from our parents because of her. Surely, she's brought all this misfortune!"
Unemotionally, Yu Changhe removed Yu Changfu's hand from his shoulder, saying, "None of this has anything to do with Lian'er."
Old Man Yu soon returned with the village chief, and under the chief's mediation, Yu Changhe was officially separated from the family.
Unlike before, he received one more acre of first-class land and five hundred copper coins, two hundred jin of rice, fifty jin of sorghum, and a bag of cornmeal.
As for their living place, it stayed the same, and the family of three continued to live in the original house.
Old Lady Yu also gave Yu Changhe some bowls, pans, and farming tools, but they were all the most worn-out ones.
Regarding the kitchen, Old Lady Yu instructed Yu Changhe to build his own stove in the backyard. Until it's completed, they were allowed to temporarily use the original kitchen, but she specifically told her eldest daughter-in-law, Mrs. Cao, that oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar must be bought by Mrs. Sun from town, not borrowed from them.
Yu Changhe asked Mrs. Sun to bring the allocated items into the house. Holding the items, Mrs. Sun looked at Yu Xiaolian with tears in her eyes.
The blame in her eyes was clear to Yu Xiaolian.
When Yu Changhe picked up Yu Xiaolian, he was still working as a government official in town, earning two taels of silver a month. Thus, when he wanted to adopt Yu Xiaolian, the Yu family didn't really object.
But when Yu Xiaolian was two, Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun's biological son, Yu Zikuang, fell ill and died of continuous seizures caused by a high fever.
Because Yu Xiaolian's eyes had a third of gray, people in the village regarded her as inauspicious.
Later, rumors began to spread in the village, claiming that Yu Xiaolian had caused the death of Yu Changhe's biological son.
Initially, Mrs. Sun didn't pay much attention to these rumors and remained good to Yu Xiaolian.
However, as the rumors intensified, Mrs. Sun began to feel uncomfortable around Yu Xiaolian, resorting to cold violence rather than physical abuse.
A few months ago, Yu Changhe offended the eldest young master of the local tyrant Pan Family, Pan Jinrong, and was crippled by the henchmen sent by Pan Jinrong.
Since then, Yu Changhe lost his job and a leg, plunging the Yu family into financial hardship, making Mrs. Sun increasingly unhappy with Yu Xiaolian.
Over the years, Mrs. Sun had not conceived again, and the villagers suspected Yu Xiaolian was to blame, suggesting that sending Yu Xiaolian away would solve everything.
Alas, in this village, Yu Xiaolian was seen as a little jinx whom everyone feared.
Mrs. Sun carefully stacked the bags of grain in a corner of the house, placing wooden boards underneath to prevent the rice from becoming damp.
Yu Changhe brought a string of copper coins into the house.
The five hundred copper coins that should have been given to them were only four hundred and fifty; Old Lady Yu had pre-deducted next month's fifty copper coins for their sustenance.
Yu Changhe handed the string of copper coins tied with a thin cord to Mrs. Sun, "Keep it safe!"
Receiving the copper coins, Mrs. Sun was tearful, saying, "I never imagined Mother would be so heartless. Clearly, you supported the family all these years, and now that you can't work, she casts us out."
Yu Changhe didn't respond to Mrs. Sun's words. Instead, he asked Yu Xiaolian to come over and touched her forehead. Only when he confirmed her fever had subsided did he smile, though the smile didn't reach his eyes.
Yu Xiaolian felt extremely complicated at the moment, knowing the tragic fate awaiting each member of the Yu family, including herself.
Yu Changhe looked at Mrs. Sun, "It's almost noon. Can you make Lian'er something to eat?"
Mrs. Sun paused her tidying, "Mother's using the kitchen now, maybe later!"
Yu Xiaolian tentatively asked, "Father, can I go out and play?"
Yu Changhe glanced at Yu Xiaolian, "You've been running a high fever these days, and it's just gone down. You can't go out in the wind yet. Be good, play inside the house!"
Yu Xiaolian frowned. If she couldn't go out, how could she find the shaman?
She feared that if she delayed too long, she could never return to her original world.
Yu Changhe carried Yu Xiaolian to the kang and placed a bamboo basket from the wooden box on her lap, "Eat some wild fruits first to fill your stomach."
Despite being ten years old, Yu Xiaolian was very thin and looked much smaller than children her age. She glanced at the bamboo basket Yu Changhe handed her. Inside were some slightly reddened wild apricots and wild pears.
Just looking at the wild fruits made her mouth water with sourness, but Yu Changhe was watching her, so she had no choice but to bite into the hard pear.
To her surprise, the pear wasn't sour and had a hint of sweetness, though there wasn't much flesh, and it was very gritty, making the texture unappealing.
After one bite, Yu Xiaolian didn't want another. Perhaps because she felt quite full, and thinking about having to live in this world, she became sad and depressed, losing her appetite.
"I'll go find my elder brother to help build the stove in the backyard." Yu Changhe lifted the curtain and left with his limp.
Mrs. Sun picked up half a bag of rice, glanced at Yu Xiaolian, "I'm going to the east end of the village to mill rice. Don't wander around the house."
Yu Xiaolian nodded, sensing Mrs. Sun's displeasure towards her from her expression.