"It has nothing to do with whether it's heavy or not!"
Shu took it away angrily and wrapped it in a handkerchief: "This thing can be made into a family heirloom. So do you think that little Qian is very cheap?"
"Doesn't she feel bad about giving such a good thing away? According to you, this is only fifty taels of silver! The boss won the election, so she can't be so fawning, right?" Li Yan looked at Shu suspiciously.
"That's just a superficial excuse." Shu covered her mouth and smiled: "Think about it again, what does she mean?"
Then he took out the two golden bell bracelets and said, "Here, there is also this one. It is said to be given to Dalang's house. This is pure gold!"
"Good workmanship!" Li Yan took it over, looked at it under the moonlight, and praised it. Then he understood: "You mean, Xiao Qian wants us to mediate between her and the second grandma?"
"I think that's what it means." Shu nodded.
Li Yan frowned, wiped the short beard on his chin and thought for a while.
"Second Grandma has mentioned the separation of the family several times, and my eldest brother also urged me to quickly decide whether I agree or disagree." He crossed his legs and sighed: "I haven't given him an answer yet."
"Why?"
"Why?" Li Yanfu asked and sneered: "Our Li family is considered a prestigious poetry and calligraphy family in Yugan City. What will others say if Sanlang is separated?
Bullying orphans and widowed mothers, bullying the weak, these are considered minor! There are even worse things to listen to later.
I have never been an official, but I have also been promoted, and I know the virtues of that "literati and poet"! "
He said bitterly: "When my grandfather was in trouble, I was still young. The officials and gentry in this city called our family rebellious and violent. There were posters all over the door and exterior walls. They wanted to drown us with their spit!"
After the edict issued by Taizu in the third year of his banquet, it was still the same group of people who wrote poems and rhymes, sang praises of virtues, and were all charming.
snort! Some people even cried loudly while holding the completed pillars. Can you imagine? "
"Hey, my husband said this, and I feel like I have experienced it myself." Shu sighed with her fingers to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Others say that I don't like being an official by nature. Who knows that I actually see through the literati and don't want to associate with them. I would rather be a farmer."
Li Yan smiled bitterly and returned to the topic: "But I shudder when I think about what happened today. What if Sanlang misses...?
Will the futures of our three sons be affected by him? I'm worried!
Fortunately, Zhou Du covered his head while beating officials and insulting Wen Wen. This crime would be like a basin of sewage, which would destroy our whole family without any reason! "
"So, are you going to agree with Second Grandma now?"
"I'm also confused. I haven't made up my mind yet." Li Yan shook his head.
"You said...why did the second wife want to separate?"
Shu suddenly broke the silence and asked: "I don't know what means she used. I heard that she has not given any money or food to the courtyard in the past five or six years. It was all Xiao Qian who used her own body and dowry to subsidize it.
If this is true, Xiao Qian's dowry is really generous! "
"You just know that?" Li Yan chuckled and said, "The Qian family is said to be one of the largest families in Lujiang. The old man of the Qian family was very fond of his second brother back then, so the dowry for his two daughters must be quite large!"
He pointed to Shu's pillow: "You can tell by looking at what she gave you."
"Then...Master, are you helping her or the Gao family?"
"Well, well..."
Li Yan looked at the curtain and thought for a while, then said slowly: "My second brother and I were still young when my father passed away. The eldest brother is in charge of the family, and he has not mentioned the separation of the family for so many years.
It was my elder brother who supported and made the decision for both of us to go to school and get married. How much my father left behind was really a confusing matter.
But...according to me, my sister-in-law is not a good manager. When the elder brother wanted to marry the Wen family, the elder sister-in-law made a mess at first, but then suddenly changed her temper and tried her best to promote it.
Sure enough, life became easier for the eldest brother's family after Wen's marriage. You saw your sister-in-law reprimanding Su, but when did you ever treat Wen like this? "
"Oh, you mean Wen is good at business?"
"The Wen family is a wealthy businessman in Shangrao. Although Wen is a commoner, she should have some skills. Besides, she brought a lot of dowry, so the eldest brother was able to turn the corner.
One thing you may not know is that before Mr. Wen came in, his sister-in-law had mentioned the separation. "
"What?" Shu was surprised: "Then, does that mean you dislike your two brothers?"
"No." Li Yan snorted coldly: "Second brother became the magistrate of Lujiang County after watching the government, and you came in at that time, so my sister-in-law stopped mentioning this."
"Huh, that's it!" Shu curled his lips.
"Hey, haven't you seen that sister-in-law? She doesn't have a son in the house, but she doesn't allow her eldest brother to ask for two more houses. She is jealous and greedy, but she also likes to care about petty advantages.
It was she who persuaded the second grandmother to separate the family. Xiao Qian's family must not be so shabby. She was thinking of taking the opportunity to find some sweetness. "
"It's a pity that she didn't know that someone came to find us." Shu smiled proudly.
"Little Qian of her character would never go to the East Courtyard to ask for help even if she wanted to." Li Yan was also happy: "But it is understandable that each of her three daughters has to prepare a betrothal gift.
In addition to the need for old age, how could she have so much money if she was not greedy? No matter how talented Wen is, there are limits! "
"I don't think it's too late for eldest brother to be born now! Although we have three houses, the Li family will probably have to rely on our three brothers to establish a household in the future.
Now that Dalang has passed the imperial examination, I think Erlang is also smart, but he just refuses to work hard, otherwise it would be no problem to win the imperial examination!
On the other hand, Shiro, what do you think if you teach him to recognize two masters and dance with swords and sticks all day long? "
"I have to guard against big brother!"
"How do you say this?"
"In the past, he always mentioned it half-jokingly, saying that he would let Dalang be adopted by him."
"Ah? Is there such a thing?" Shu Shi trembled all over.
"Don't worry, the eldest brother is his legitimate son, so how can he adopt another wife? Besides, he has already won the imperial examination, so eldest brother can't even think of such an idea!"
Li Yan smiled and said: "I love Shiro. Calling him martial arts also means to avoid my elder brother. He will no longer stare at Shiro.
Only Erlang I am more worried about. I have to arrange for him to pass the county and township examinations as soon as possible... "
"Oh, I understand. Wulang wants to be the leader of the second house, and Sanlang is such a reckless person. Big brother doesn't like him, so the only one he can like is Erlang?"
Shu thought for a while: "Wait a minute, wouldn't it be good if we let Erlang take over?"
"This... I've thought about it too." Li Yan smacked his lips and said, "Firstly, the eldest brother has been hesitating whether to adopt an adopted child. Secondly, I feel that Erlang has been improving a lot recently.
Wouldn't it be more glamorous if our third room had two successful candidates? It would be even worse if one of his brothers had a high school Jinshi!
Thinking about it this way, I'm not too keen on Erlang's adoption. If Big Brother doesn't mention it, I won't take the initiative, just let it be. "
"Okay!" Mrs. Shu nodded, suddenly feeling that her words were interrupted, she covered her mouth and said with a smile, "This is talking about the third bedroom, why did it end up talking about our son?"
"When Xiao Qian sent someone to deliver something, didn't he send you a message?"
"No." Shu shook his head.
Li Yan blinked: "In this way, in two days you can say thank her for the gift, and use this excuse to talk to her face to face to see what she really means.
Do you want to separate, or don't want to separate? We have to know what she means before we can decide how to help later.
However, my preference is to separate as well. To be honest, I was really afraid of that hozen.
This kid might poke a hole in it one day, and our whole family won't be able to accompany him! "
Seeing her husband say this, Mrs. Shu nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you, I'll try my best to lead the conversation to the branch family.
Anyway, no matter what the outcome is, as long as she feels that we have helped her, we will definitely give her a thank you gift in the end, that is a benefit! "
"Hahaha!" Li Yan felt happy when he heard what she said, and praised: "My wife is a virtuous person!" Shu happily fell into her husband's arms.
Although she knew that her husband would go to Cui's room tomorrow, it didn't matter as long as he always put herself first.
Cui's status in the third house is like Wen's in the eldest house. Although she was just a concubine, her father, Cui Jincheng, was a clerk (master) in charge of punishments in the Taizhou magistrate, and he had been used to seeing all kinds of officialdom since he was a child, so he was quite resourceful.
Whenever Li Yan had any undecided matters, he would come to her for discussion, and Shu couldn't control her, so he was like half the head of the family.
After hearing Li Yan ask her whether it would be good or bad for her second wife to separate, Ms. Cui sneered and said, "My third master, you are confused!"
"Ah?" Li Yan was confused: "Where am I confused?"
"If you help the second house break up, the most you can do is get a few thank-you gifts from both sides. What real benefit does it have to you?"
"Uh..., what do you mean?"
"Master, as far as I know, the family property left by my father-in-law after his death is in the hands of the eldest brother. According to the rules, since your brothers were minors at the time, it is reasonable for the eldest brother to take care of it.
But now more than ten years have passed, and it is still not mentioned in black and white. Is it wrong to leave this public case to future generations? "
"This..." When it came to his eldest brother, Li Yan was a little frightened. He frowned and complained: "I'm here to discuss the second house with you, how can you disturb the eldest brother and sister-in-law?
Don't complicate things! "
"That's not what you said, sir."
Mrs. Cui put a cup of tea into his hand: "If you want to talk about the second room, you should first solve the problem between us and the eldest brother. Otherwise, if you mention it in the future, people will say that the second room was separated before and you didn't mention it. , it can be seen that it is a fait accompli by default.
At that time, even if you want to make a comeback, you can't! Moreover, the affair between the two is over, and it is impossible to overturn the previous separation result. How can they help you speak?
Therefore, the order should be to resolve the division between you brothers first, and then resolve the division of property in the second house. This is the right thing to do! "
"Hiss...!" Li Yan was stunned and said for a long time: "So, just talking about the second wife means that our family has given up on inheriting our father's inheritance?"
"Although you haven't given up explicitly, how can you act accordingly? If you haven't given up, why did you skip talking about it? Isn't it difficult to justify it?"
"Oh, it seems that I thought it was easy!" Li Yan raised his forehead with his hand: "I originally thought that it doesn't matter between brothers, so there is no need to worry about it like this, but it seems that it still doesn't work?"
"Brothers don't need to be too fussy, but if we don't claim what legally belongs to us, it's the same as giving up.
People say: Brothers settle accounts clearly. This is not unreasonable. "
Mrs. Cui gave her gentle advice: "You can't argue about small things, but inheritance is a big deal, so it's better to figure it out early!"
When Cui said this, Li Yan's heart was pounding. How much money can you make by mediating the separation of two families? But it would be another matter if the two families jointly asked the eldest brother to separate the family first.
Although he was still young, he clearly remembered that his family still had several shops and hundreds of acres of farmland. No matter how much it is, it’s all wealth!
Li Yan's heart pounded. When I went back to talk to Mr. Shu, her eyes also shone with enthusiasm.
That night, Mr. Shu joked that the eldest daughter-in-law had three girls to marry. In fact, Li Yan's third wife also had two daughters. Who wants to marry a daughter without a bride price? The couple were tempted.
It's just that... Li Yan felt a little guilty when it came to the possibility of going to court with Li Su. His eldest brother had been an official. Although he was elected, he had not become an official. In this regard, Li Yan was a little unsure.
"What are you afraid of? We are not making any excessive demands!"
After all, wealth is so attractive, Mrs. Shu gritted her teeth and twisted her neck and said, "Besides, there is the second grandma, I don't believe she wouldn't have such an idea!
Maybe they had already thought of it and were waiting for us to bring it up. We hit it off immediately, so what reason could there be for the elder to occupy and ignore us? He scores even if he doesn't score! "
This is well-founded. Mrs. Cui also said that according to the laws of this dynasty, all sons have the right to inherit, but the legitimate sons have priority, and the concubines only have half the share.
And if any son seizes or controls the inheritance and refuses to return it, the other brothers can sue and demand a fine based on annual interest. Half of the fine will go to the official and half will be given to his brother as an apology.
For more than ten years, if Li Suruo refuses to admit his debt, the fine alone will make him bankrupt!
This is not to mention other things like hiding the population and avoiding taxes (taxes are linked to the head of the population. Li Su put all the land and shops in his own name, causing the second- and third-bedroom residents to not pay taxes for a long time. The resulting tax evasion crimes will be committed by Li Su. Li Su takes full responsibility.
Of course, this can be a big or small thing, it all depends on how you say it).
"I think so," Li Yan took a moment to make arrangements: "You should first tell the Second Mistress about this matter and see what she thinks.
If she is willing to come together, then our two families will join forces. After the matter of the eldest house is settled, I can help her tell her how to divide it with the Xiao Qian family. "
"Then why don't I ask Qian's side?"
"You can ask," Li Yan nodded: "But don't reveal what happened between us and the chief first."
"Oh! I understand!" Shu smiled softly. The husband said this because he did not want the news to be exposed prematurely, and at the same time, he also prevented Xiao Qian from using this to cause trouble and ruin the good thing.
But she felt that her men thought too much. Maybe men were good at this, but how could women be so cunning?
Anyway, Mr. Shu felt that this little Mr. Qian was more considerate to him than those in the first and second bedrooms!
