Rebirth of the Fierce, Pampered Wife

"Hmph, if I hadn’t pulled a few strings, you think they would have brought it up themselves?" Fang Juxian snorted.

"What happened?" Yang Qiao asked immediately. ’I knew it,’ she thought. ’No one brings up something as huge as splitting the family for no reason. There has to be an inside story.’

Fang Juxian smugly recounted how she had used her sister-in-law’s bicycle purchase yesterday to instigate the whole "borrowing money" incident. She left out some of her mother-in-law’s comments, though. ’They were sickening enough to hear once; why repeat them and make my own mother uncomfortable?’

"You’ve always been a clever one, even as a child."

Yang Qiao couldn’t help but laugh after hearing her daughter’s story. "It was a no-lose situation for you, asking your sister-in-law for money like that. If she’d lent it to you, you would’ve gotten a free bicycle. And since she didn’t, even if your father-in-law hadn’t brought up splitting the family, the topic would have eventually been forced onto the table. In any case, it’s always better for you to be the masters of your own house."

"Exactly. If we don’t split the family, that old hag gets to control the entire harvest. We don’t see a single thing from it, aside from a bit of food," Fang Juxian nodded, both smug and resentful.

"I’m just saying, your three kids aren’t so little anymore. In any other family, they’d already be counted as able-bodied workers, wouldn’t they?

But your mother-in-law spoils them rotten. They’re old enough, but they can’t do any real manual labor. As long as you don’t split the family, you don’t even have the right to tell your own children to lend a hand in the fields.

If you ask me, you can’t keep coddling those kids. Once the family splits, your husband will be busy earning money. How much work can one woman do? If you’re the only one toiling in the fields day after day, getting filthy and sunburnt, just see if your husband doesn’t start to find you repulsive."

Speaking of which, Yang Qiao had her own share of resentment on the topic. It was one thing for her youngest son to be spoiled rotten by his three older sisters growing up. But ever since her three daughters had married and her son had taken a wife, the main labor force in her own house was just her husband and her daughter-in-law.

It was manageable on normal days, but during the busy harvest season, she and her youngest son could barely keep up. Her daughters all had their own land to farm with their families. It was a blessing if any of her daughters and sons-in-law could spare a day or two to help out.

She had originally thought that since her eldest daughter’s three children were older now, they could at least be of more use. They might not come for many days, but many hands make light work.

But as it turned out, because their paternal grandmother never had the heart to make them work, the children were so pampered they were useless in the fields. She couldn’t count on them for anything.

She pursed her lips and said to her daughter, "If you ask me, you should have your three kids manage your few acres of land. I know they have school.

But it’s not that much land. Having them help out before school in the morning and after they get back should be enough. If that’s still not enough, just pull Cuiqiao out of school to help.

I mean, what’s the point of a girl getting so much education? Of you three sisters, you were the only one who even went to school for a few days. The other two are illiterate, and aren’t they getting by just fine?"

"Mm-hm."

Fang Juxian, long since brainwashed into this way of thinking, saw nothing wrong with her mother’s words. She nodded in agreement. "That was because we hadn’t split up the family yet. Since we hadn’t, why would I make my children suffer?

If the old folks were willing to do more work, then let them. Besides, I wasn’t home much anyway. Things will naturally be different once we’ve split."

"It’s just a pity you won’t be able to come over and keep me company as often anymore."

Yang Qiao suddenly remembered how her daughter, to escape chores at her in-laws’ home, would run over to help her seven or eight days out of ten, only returning at mealtimes. It had certainly made her own life easier. ’After the family splits,’ she thought, ’that cushy arrangement will probably be a thing of the past.’

She felt a pang of regret but didn’t let it show on her face, and her words gave Fang Juxian no reason to suspect anything. ’It’s a shame,’ she thought for a moment. ’But then again, my eldest has always been a filial daughter. Once she has more money of her own to spend, I’ll probably see a good bit of it myself.’

So she quickly got over it and changed the subject, probing for details. "Have your in-laws said how they’re going to split everything up? You’ve secretly saved up a fair bit over the years, haven’t you? You’ll definitely get another chunk of money from the split. Have you thought about using it to start a small business?"

"They didn’t say how. I guess they’ll discuss it tonight?"

Fang Juxian was thrilled at the thought that the family would be split today, but she was also afraid of getting the short end of the stick due to her inexperience. That’s why she had rushed over to her parents’ house right after breakfast.

She asked her mother for advice, "Mom, I’ve never been through this before. What kind of demands should I make to them?"

"You’ve come to the right person. Splitting a family is a huge deal, and there’s no room for carelessness. Especially with three brothers on your husband’s side. You have to fight for what you’re owed and not give a single inch.

By the way, did your in-laws say anything about inviting the wives’ families to be part of the discussion?" Yang Qiao suddenly perked up. Just as she was about to launch into a long lecture, she thought to ask.

"No, they just said they’d invite people from the clan. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Oh, inviting the wife’s family is optional. Usually, people would have the maternal uncles mediate, but your mother-in-law’s brothers are all gone. All that’s left on her side of the family are her sisters-in-law and a few nephews. No wonder your father-in-law said he’d invite the clan elders..."

Yang Qiao shook her head, brushing the topic aside to get to the heart of the matter with her eldest daughter. Having gone through it herself and heard countless stories of how others handled family divisions, she spoke with such authority that Fang Juxian nodded again and again, her eyes filled with admiration.

"You have the most children, and your eldest is the first grandchild. If your third child had been a boy, or if your eldest sister-in-law hadn’t given birth to two sons, you could have used that as leverage to demand a larger share of the assets. What a pity."

Yang Qiao concluded with a regretful shake of her head and a sigh.

"My eldest brother-in-law works in town during the day, and it’s a long way off. In the early years, he didn’t even come home every day, just once every few days. Anyone else would have been lucky to have even one child in that situation. I don’t know how she managed to be so fertile, like a brood sow, and have them all be boys, too," Fang Juxian added resentfully.

"Why couldn’t our family have the good fortune to find a woman that fertile? Look at your sister-in-law—she looks healthy enough, doesn’t she? A shame all that sturdiness is just for her own body.

She’s been in our family all these years and has only had one child. He’s a boy, sure, but a very weak one. He was sick all the time right after he was born. Even though he’s better now, he’s still much skinnier than other kids his age.

And on top of all that, he’s an incredibly picky eater. He won’t eat this, won’t eat that. It’s all because his mother spoils him rotten," Yang Qiao said, her voice a mixture of jealousy and complaint.

"He’s still young. He’ll grow out of it," Fang Juxian said with a small smile.

"True enough." Yang Qiao nodded, then glanced at the time and started shooing her daughter out. "It’s almost noon. If you’re not staying for lunch, you should hurry back and give your mother-in-law a hand. Now that the family is about to split, don’t give them any more ammunition to say you’re always slacking off and never home."

"Things will be better soon. Then I could stay here all day until evening, and no one could say a word," Fang Juxian said as she stood up.

"Get going, get going! Or are you not planning to cook for your three kids anymore? Even if you weren’t, I can’t afford to feed you every day."

"I was just saying," Fang Juxian said, then left without another word, hurrying back. Halfway home, she ran into Guo Xiuying, who was also clearly on her way back from her own parents’ house. Fang Juxian gave a knowing smile. ’No need to guess,’ she thought. ’She went home for the exact same reason I did—to get advice.’

The two sisters-in-law shared an awkward moment upon meeting. After a dry, forced laugh, they fell into step together, making idle chitchat all the way. By unspoken agreement, neither of them mentioned the true reason for their trips home.