Uncle Qin was silent. Even without saying it, everyone knew what he was thinking. It was simply the issue of not having her. But how could he bring himself to say such a thing?
Grandpa Qin said: " I just asked the eldest son about this matter of adopting Shoucheng and he disagree."
Uncle Qin clenched his fists. He knew his chance of adopting Shoucheng were slim. When Shoucheng was still young, he was also young. How could he have known he couldn't have a son? Then, when his eldest nephew went off to serve in the military, he naturally couldn't bring it up. After all, it his nephew died, he would be criticized for his spine if he brought it up. But now that his nephew was back, even if he brought it up, the first house will not agree.
Grandpa Qin said: "I've also thought about your matter, so i have a few ideas. Let me share them with you and let you listen".
Uncle Qin said opened his month and finally uttered four words in a hoarsed voice: "Dad, you say".
Grandpa Qin said: "If the family is divided, all the family property will be divided into share. Each of you three brothers will get one share. We will follow the eldest family because we will also get the land, which has income. So we don't need you to support us in our old age. When we are older and our health fails, you don't have to worry about the medical expenses. The eldest family will cover it all. This is what i have discussed with three eldest son and Afang."
Aunt Qin heard this and thought it was fine. Although the eldest branch would get more land, it was always the eldest branch that took the biggest share of the family property. Furthermore, three eldest branch would also cover the cost of the old couple's future doctor's visits. Although aunt Qin loves to take advantage of small gains, she wasn't the type to be unaware of right and wrong.
Aunt Qin immediately said: "We, in the second house have no objection".
Mother was little unhappy. The old couple followed three eldest wife and that was the norm. But wouldn't they have to cover their medical expenses in the future? But since her husband and eldest son agreed, she didn't say anything. She thought again: her eldest son was an official now, earning a salary, so the relationship probably still existed. After figuring it out, she dropped the unpleasant idea.
Grandpa Qin continued: "Now, regarding three third branch, I've given the third son two ideas . The first is adopt a child within the clan. But that's a hassle. If someone is adopted from within the clan, their identity can't be hidden and three child will definitely know about their own affair when they grow up. So i came up the second idea. That's for third son and his wife to live away from home for a year and then bring back an adopted child. That way, no one in the village would know the child's background and would just think they were their own."
Uncle Qin raised his head slightly, but still said nothing.
Grandpa Qin sighed and continued: "The third idea is to find a son in law for Sanya. No matter what,Sanya is your flesh and blood. If you adopt of foster, it was someone's else's child. But the child born from marriage will still be your blood line. Wouldn't your grandson be closer to you than one adopted or fostered?"
Third Aunt Qin very excited when she heard this. In fact, she has always preferred her daughter to marry a son in law rather than adopted one, but she didn't dare to say it.
Granola Qin: " Sanya is looking for a husband. You have so many brothers at home. Are you still afraid of being bullied? If Sanya marries someone else, what if so ongoing unexpected happened? It will be too late for three brothers to rush over. What do you think?"
Uncle Qin was silent for a moment: "Father, what is the fourth idea?"
Grandpa Qin: My fourth idea. If you don't agree to above three, then after we passed way, our land will be given to Afang. The produced from the land can be sold for silver as your retirement funds. With land , you won't have to worry about being alone in your old age or having nothing to eat. And with silver, you won't have to worry about seeing a doctor when you're sick. I've discussed this idea with Afang and he agreed. He's eldest grandson and our land was originally given to him. He's willing to used three produced from the land as your retirement funds."
Qin fang was also stunned. According to what they had said in grandfather'ss room before dinner, he would provide for his third uncle and third aunt in their old age, but he didn't say that he would use the output from his grandparents fields. Now that get thought about it, his grandfather had idea from the beginning and his question in the room was just to test his own idea. How could get let himself suffer?
Qin Fang: "Don't worry, uncle and aunt, I'm here and i won't let you grow old without support".
Yang Haiyan and Qin's mother remained silence. If Qin Fang hasn't been promoted to an official position, the eldest branch would suffer red a loss. The old couples land belonged to the eldest son and the medical expenses for the illness should have been shared by three families, but now the eldest family was doing well. Furthermore, if the third branch didn't adopt, foster or find a son in law before they died, then the old couple's land would have continued to support the third branch. Wouldn't that have put three eldest branch at a disadvantage?
But three eldest son Qin Fang became an official, so Qin's mother didn't care about it anymore.
Grandpa Qin: "Third son, what do you think?"
Third aunt Qin saw that uncle third Qin didn't say anything, so she said softly: " I want to choose the third one and let Sanya find a husband".
Third uncle Qin glanced at her and fell silent gain. He was so silent that everyone thought he was going to adopt or foster a child. Finally, he nodded ands said, " Let's find a son in law for Sanya." A grandson born through son in law would be still his own grandson and with Sanya's brothers at home. Sanya wouldn't suffered any loss. AlthoughAfang has became successful, adopting Shoucheng would allow Afang to take care of him, but Shoucheng is indeed old enough and he couldn't forced his eldest brother to let Shoucheng be adopted.
In this case, let's take a step back and let Sanya find a husband. If Afang becomes successful in the future, won't he take care of Sanya?
The Qin family's division was quickly decided. Speaking of which, there was no daughter in law who dislike the idea of splitting. Especially since Erya and Sanya were learning embroidering at the embroidery workshop and were almost done, the money they earned from embroidering handkerchief would belong to the family and not have to be turned over to the public account. How could Second Aunt Qin and Third Aunt Qin not agree?
Besides, the eldest family has more people and eats more, while the second and third wives have fewer people. So it is definitely profitable to split the family.
Grandpa Qin: "One more thing. The wedding banquet will be held in public. After that, the wedding banquet will held by each of your branches . You don't have to feel that you are at a disadvantage. If we don't split up and all the wedding banquet are held in public, the eldest family will have several more".
Uncle Qin second and third didn't say anything either. The didn't care about it.
Second aunt Qin and third aunt Qin didn't say anything. For third aunt, her daughter would need the support of the brothers from the eldest family when she will a husband in the future, so she doesn't care about such a small matter. For second aunt Qin, Qin Fang was not a successful man, so naturally she didn't care about such a small matter. In the face of overall situation, second aunt Qin still knew her limit.
Yang Haiyan said at this time: " No need, let's host the wedding for my husband and i, ourselves in the main house." She didn't want the second and third house to feel that they were taking advantage.
Mother Qin: " Yanyan.."
Yang Haiyan: " what i mean is that we , three eldest branch, will pay for the wedding banquet ourselves. Of course grandparents will still have to support the occasion and there's no need to mentioned this matter to anyone. After all, when Daya got married, the public has already had wedding banquet for our eldest branch. Now, that we've split up, it's not good for us, the eldest branch to take advantage of it."
Grandpa Qin looked at Qin fang: " Afang, what do you say?"
Qin fang: " Listen to Yanyan?"
Grandpa Qin looked at him for a moment. " Then, let's do it this way. Next, divide up the things that need to be divided. The houses will be arrange according to current occupants. The main house now has three rooms: one for the eldest family, one for Afang and his wife and one for Shouye and Shoucheng. The second son and his wife and one for Niudan. The third house has only one room. There's still one room left, which is for Erya, Sanya and Daya. This room belongs to the third son. She'll marrying off in the future, so this room will be reserved for her. But for now, let Erya and Daya live there first. Third son, is there any problem?"
Third Uncle Qin: " No problem". Speaking of which, he didn't expect his father to give them an extra room and he was very touched by it.
Grandpa Qin nodded: " Then it's settled". Then came the matter of dividing the money. The Qin family has just build a house a few years ago, adding two more rooms, so the family didn't have much money. After the money was divided, each household received 600 coins.
Then, Qin's father went to invite the village chief and invited the village students and elders to witness the division. This was the most peaceful and fair division they had ever witnessed.
Speaking of the Qin family's elders, they are not really elders in the true sense.
In ancient times, villagers in many villages were from the same village and had the same surname. However,Baili village was different. Some has three surname Qin, some had surname Han and some head others surname. This was related to the famine that occurred after the founding of the Qi kingdom.
During the famine the people fled everywhere. The Qin family was originally from Qinjian village. Everyone in the village had surname Qin and their ancestors were all from the same clan. The people of Qinjia village fled to Jintian County and under the arrangement of the county magistrate at that time, settled down here with other refugees. This village, made up of different refugees, was called Baili village,a name given by the county magistrate at that time.
The only ones from the Qin family who fled here were Grandpa Qin and his parents. Not long after grandpa Qin got married and had children, his parents passed away. Moreover, when grandpa Qin settled here with his parents, his parents were also injured due to the famine, so grandpa Qin was the only one left at home.
The elders of the Qin family were from Qinjia village, the same people who had fled here together. When escaping, it was important for everyone to stick together and live together.
After the Qin family split up, everyone returned to their own rooms.