Rebirth: My Dear Little Wife Is So Scheming

Chapter 135 - 135 135 Vacating the House

?Chapter 135: Chapter 135 Vacating the House Chapter 135: Chapter 135 Vacating the House Old Master Fang forcefully knocked his tobacco pipe on the doorstep, “Haven’t you had enough? Just look, you’ve already gotten your second uncle into this state. Still defending him, sooner or later you will bring ruin to our family.” Old Master Fang was truly angry.

Old Lady Fang was also scared, after all, Old Master Fang was the head of the family.

Murmuring softly, “The second son hasn’t even said anything, what are you hollering about?”

Yang Mei lifted the curtain and came in.

“Mom, Dad, the business deal fell through, we’re left with a huge debt, and after offsetting the debts with the stock and items at the town store, it looks like we’re left with practically nothing. With Jianping’s health in this condition, the doctor said he needs to be looked after properly. We and Little Shanzi can only come back home, at least we can grow some crops to feed ourselves. Otherwise, we would have to spend money on everything in town, and we have no way of making money,” the couple had discussed these words beforehand.

Old Master Fang nodded, “The business turning out like that, I’m afraid it really can’t be pursued. With your second brother’s condition, it’s best to come back. There will always be food on the table at home; you won’t be neglected.” His own son couldn’t be chased off.

Yang Mei glanced at the room, “Mom, Dad, it’s already noon, and Little Shanzi is still sleeping. This won’t do, I’m going to wake him up. That room needs to be cleaned up. Once we come back, we’ll be living in that room. Even though we don’t have a livelihood in the town now, we’re here to stay for the long term, so we must tidy up.” That was their room, and it didn’t make sense for Xiaoshan to be sleeping in there.

“About that… we haven’t told you yet, but Xiaoshan is about to get married. Since you two were always in town, your father and I thought it was wasteful to leave the house empty. Houses deteriorate if nobody lives in them for too long, so we spruced it up a bit, planning to use it as Xiaoshan’s bridal chamber.” Old Lady Fang showed no guilt, acting as if it was her natural right to allocate their house to someone else.

“Mom, Dad, the money to build that house came from us. Once the house was built, we all sat down together and agreed that those two rooms belonged to us. After all, doing business in town can only sustain us temporarily; we can’t do it for a lifetime. Eventually, we need to return to our roots and come back home to spend our old age. Now that Xiaoshan has taken our rooms, where are we supposed to live?” Yang Mei was furious; to come back and find out they had nowhere to stay was outrageous.

“The house is big enough, why can’t you stay anywhere? It’s just the two of you. How about this: you move into the small room where Little Shanzi used to live, isn’t that fine? We’re one family, why quibble over such things?” Old Lady Fang chastised Yang Mei as if it were a given, always finding fault in her daughter-in-law, never speaking a kind word.

“Mom, is that appropriate? Since we’ve split the family assets, that house is ours. You say we’re all family and shouldn’t care about such things, but if that’s the case, why don’t you have Big Brother and his wife move into the small room and let us live in his two rooms? Is that okay?” Yang Mei exploded; these blatant favoritisms within the family had become clear during this visit home.

Old Lady Fang was fuming at her daughter-in-law’s audacity, “Have you lost your mind? You’re like a barren hen, daring to talk to me like that. Are you lusting after your big brother and sister-in-law’s house? What gives you that right? If it weren’t for my son refusing to do it, a wife like you who can’t bear a son would have been sent packing back to her parent’s home. You still dare to stand tall and talk back in this house? You should be grateful for any place to stay, yet you dare to be so picky.

Your house has been given to Little Shanzi to live in, so what? In the future, Little Shanzi will bear the responsibility for both households, caring for you in your old age. In the end, isn’t the house eventually going to be Little Shanzi’s anyway? Living there sooner or later—it’s all the same. You talk too much nonsense every day.” Old Lady Fang pointed at Yang Mei’s nose and scolded her.

Every time Yang Mei spoke up, Old Lady Fang would berate her for not being able to have a son.

Yang Mei usually put up with it, but this time she was truly incensed, and now they didn’t even have a place to stay. The house was built with their money, and yet somehow they ended up being the ones without any rights. How could this be?

Yang Mei was ready to have it out with the old lady. She’d made up her mind that, if push came to shove, she would just divorce. Ever since she had heard what Bai Xiao said about his sister’s plight, Yang Mei had resolved not to spend another day living under her mother-in-law’s thumb.

If life wasn’t going to be lived properly, then it wasn’t worth living at all.

Just as she was about to speak up, Fang Jianping opened his eyes, “Mom, am I not your son? After the division of the family, the house that was divided to me became my house. I get to make the decisions about my own home; nobody has the right to just give my house away to someone else. Not even you, Mom. When you say these things, don’t you feel the slightest bit guilty? The money to build the house was hard-earned by both my wife and me. Now, ironically, we can’t even live in it after we’ve built it.

When we divided the family, we wrote a division agreement and had the village chief as a witness. Do you want your son to bring the village chief and others to disgrace our family by discussing this shameful matter in public?

A nephew occupying his uncle’s house, where’s the justice if such a thing were to be known to the world?”

Yang Mei hurriedly went over to Fang Jianping and began rubbing his back, secretly pushing him back down onto the kang, fearful that he might jump up in agitation and give away their position.

Even though they were in the right, it could quickly seem as if they weren’t.

“Second son, what are you talking about? That’s not what Mom means!” The old lady could assert herself confidently in front of Yang Mei because she was just the daughter-in-law, and moreover, one who couldn’t bear a son. It would be perfectly justified for a mother-in-law to scold her normally, and usually, even if Fang Jianping had overheard, he would have pretended not to, because perhaps he too thought it wasn’t wrong.

But she never expected that today Jianping would speak up and outright claim the house as his, bought with his own money. Beggars can’t be choosers, and even the old lady would have to admit she was in the wrong.

“As long as that’s not what you meant, I’m relieved. I thought Mom only wanted her grandson and not me, her son. That would really be heartbreaking!” Fang Jianping sighed. Even if his own mother was wrong, he couldn’t bring himself to be cruel to her. Was he being too soft-hearted?

The old man stood up, “Second son, rest assured, this is your home. Old woman! Go tell Little Shanzi to get up and clear out the room, come and carry your brother over here. It’s what he ought to do.” The old man saw the situation clearly; the grandson would need Jianping’s support for marrying, so they couldn’t afford to upset him. Besides, Jianping’s point was valid. Initially, they had thought that since Jianping wasn’t living at home, it would be fine for Xiaoshan to move in. But if Jianping wanted to settle there, there was no rationale for an uncle to vacate his house for his nephew.

Now it was time for Fang Xiaoshan to step up and to let Jianping see how important it is to have a son.