For a while, the situation became almost impossible to bring under control.
He Yi did not find Eldest Aunt’s words especially surprising. She often turned accusations back on other people and could make black sound white. But Eldest Uncle had not immediately denied what she said, and that was far more intriguing.
Without any proof, however, He Yi was not about to believe it blindly. Even so, when he looked at Great-Uncle now, a trace of doubt inevitably entered his gaze.
Great-Uncle, despite being the person directly implicated, looked completely unconcerned. He continued stealing glances at He Yi from the corner of his eye, his expression kindly yet somehow strange.
He Yongxing’s hands were still trembling, but his face had already returned to calm. Nothing unusual could be seen on it. He even told Great-Uncle to continue with the division.
The village head coughed and indicated that they could proceed.
After everything was calculated, He Yi only needed to pay one-third of the funeral expenses, roughly one tael and three hundred copper coins. He Yi had no objection to that portion, and He Yongxing did not intend to keep arguing over it, so the matter was settled.
Next came the division of the inheritance left by He Yi’s parents.
Because He Yi had not yet reached crowning age and was still unmarried, his parents’ estate had previously been kept by A’ma. After A’ma’s death, Eldest Uncle ordinarily would have taken over its safekeeping. But now that the household was being divided, Eldest Uncle had no right to do so. He Yi was entitled to take back his parents’ inheritance.
He Yi’s father, He Yongquan, had spent some time as an overland trader and made a considerable fortune. Most of that money had probably been turned over to the common household funds. Otherwise, the He family could hardly have afforded to raise pigs and sheep while also supporting Eldest Uncle’s family’s lavish spending.
By now, though, the accounts were hopelessly tangled. His father had died suddenly and left no will, so the only money that could clearly be said to belong to He Yi was the sum saved for his future marriage. Unfortunately, after A’ma died, Zeng Qianqian had been the one to clear out the old woman’s room. Whatever had or had not been inside was now entirely theirs to claim, and He Yongxing insisted he had seen no money at all.
He Yi naturally did not believe him. Given A’ma’s personality and the way Eldest Uncle’s family had pushed her aside, there was no chance she would have hidden absolutely nothing, whether for He Yi’s sake or her own.
But He Yi had been up on the mountain at the time and could not have watched over the room himself. It was too late to say anything now. There was no longer any way to prove whether that money had existed, much less how much there had been.
He Yi did not know, but He Yongxing certainly did. He Yongquan had saved a full fifteen taels of silver for He Yi. Seeing that He Yi had no way to prove it, He Yongxing was in an excellent mood. “Don’t say your Eldest Uncle has never cared about you. Here’s half a guan. We specifically saved this for you so you’d have something when it came time to marry. We’ve been saving it since you were fourteen, right up to your eighteenth year. Here. Take it.”
He said it with such grandeur that anyone who did not know better might have thought he was handing over several taels. Yet four supposed years of saving amounted to a mere five hundred copper coins, not even enough for a proper betrothal gift. In their village, anyone hoping to marry a respectable wife needed at least three to five taels of silver.
The ease with which He Yongxing handed it over only proved that the money He Yi’s father had left must have been far more than this. But if there was money to take, why refuse it? It was money. He Yi intended not only to take it, but to take it standing tall. So he remained as composed and elegant as ever, showing none of the humiliation He Yongxing had hoped to provoke. He calmly accepted the half guan, and even his thanks sounded casual.
He Yongxing had wanted to knock He Yi down a peg, but He Yi refused to take the bait. Instead of angering him, He Yongxing had simply lost five hundred copper coins and found himself furious.
He Jie tried to snatch the money back and once again slapped the table as he rose. “What kind of attitude is that when someone’s giving you money? If you don’t want it, give it back! Who do you think you are?!”
“Did I say I didn’t want it? This is Eldest Uncle’s heartfelt kindness. Sure, it’s a little small, nothing compared with what my father left for me, but after all, that was your father, not mine. I understand, I understand.” He Yi was nowhere near as calm inside as he appeared. His father’s savings for the original He Yi had been swallowed by this family, and all He Yi could do for now was needle them with a few remarks. It was maddening. Reality rarely went exactly as one wished, though, and opportunity had to be waited for. One day, he would get it back. When that day came, they would pay the price.
After steadying his mood, He Yi asked Great-Uncle to continue with the inheritance from his mother.
This part should have been straightforward and beyond dispute. He Yi’s mother had mostly handled household work. Her only income came from things like embroidery, weaving, and bamboo craftwork, and after contributing to the common household funds there had been little left. Aside from that, the only property He Yi could claim was her dowry.
To determine what had been in that dowry and how much money it included, they needed to compare it against the dowry inventory. The only person familiar with that matter was Zeng Qianqian.
Following He Yongxing’s instructions, He Jie made two trips back and forth before finally persuading his mother to come out again. Zeng Qianqian’s eyes were still red when she appeared. She spread both hands and said, “What dowry inventory? You really think his mother came from some great wealthy household? When she was carried here as a bride, she didn’t bring anything worth calling a dowry. It was all worthless junk. Why would there have been an inventory? You could probably count everything she brought on one hand.”
It had happened too long ago for He Yi to find any memory of it. “Then does Eldest Aunt remember what there was?”
“I remember! Dowries in our village come in better and worse grades, and hers was the poorest kind. She had sewing things, pillows, quilts, that sort of thing. I never saw any scissors or silver.” Zeng Qianqian refused to look at anyone else. She simply examined her own fingers as she spoke, her words as cutting as ever.
He Yi truly did not know the details of his parents’ marriage. Too many years had passed for any of it to be investigated now, but the original owner’s memories were very clear about how deeply his parents had loved one another. He Yi said, “Money is more important than a good match, after all. Even if you marry the wrong man, getting slapped in front of everyone must still be better than living through the hardship of having no money.”
“You!!” How could Zeng Qianqian fail to understand who He Yi was mocking? In a fit of rage, she seized He Jie’s arm so hard that her fingernails dug into his flesh, hurting him enough that he tried to shove his own mother away with an elbow.
He Yongxing’s face had gone livid as well. Apparently he was no less furious.
Having won that exchange of words, He Yi knew there was nothing useful left to argue over here and moved on himself. What remained was a collection of miscellaneous household property.
There were, for instance, the family’s two pigs and one sheep. He Yongxing’s family could not take them when they moved, so they had hired a butcher to slaughter them. Whatever could be sold was sold, and whatever could not was kept for the family to eat. The original He Yi had tasted some, but only parts like pig trotters, which people of this dynasty considered dirty and which few would buy even cheaply. He Yi remembered the sale price very clearly because he had been the one ordered to transport the meat into town: eight taels of silver and thirty copper coins. Divided per person, He Yi should have received at least two taels. But as mentioned earlier, the proceeds had already been counted as common household funds, so apart from the one guan allotted to him before, he would receive nothing further from it.
Then there were the chickens and ducks. Because they were small enough to keep at the house in town, He Yongxing’s family wanted to take all five hens, two roosters, two female ducks, and the dozen or so young Sanhuang chickens. They intended to leave the remaining four young Silkies to He Yi, probably because they disliked how strongly the Silkie coop smelled.
Elio’s Notes: Sanhuang (三黄鸡, literally “three-yellow chicken”) refers to a traditional type of Chinese chicken associated with yellow beaks, feathers, and feet. The other birds here are Silkies, known for their fluffy plumage and dark skin.
He Yi was hardly going to let them have everything their way. After another round of arguing, he came away with one hen, four Sanhuang chicks, and four Silkie chicks.
The household also owned a single ox, but it was registered as He Yongxing’s personal property, so He Yi had no claim to it.
When everything was finally tallied, He Yi received six mu of paddy fields, two mu of dry fields, and nine chickens. In money, he was due twelve taels and five hundred copper coins. After deducting the one thousand three hundred copper coins he owed toward the funeral expenses, he ended with eleven taels of silver and two hundred copper coins.
When that result was reported to the village head, Eldest Uncle’s family looked ready to grind their teeth to pieces. Zeng Qianqian momentarily forgot her earlier conflict with her husband and moved close to him and He Jie, whispering, “We absolutely cannot hand over this money. I’d sooner use it to hire someone to take that wretch’s worthless life than give it to him!”
He Jie was certainly resentful, but he knew their family was well-off. He was not yet the head of the household and had always done nothing but spend money on pleasure, so naturally he had no idea how difficult that sum was to earn. Seeing how much hatred was in his mother’s face actually frightened him a little.
In a low voice he said, “Mother, calm down. Calm down. It’s only this much. Just give it to him.”
Zeng Qianqian arched her brows and was about to explode, but He Jie hurriedly continued, “Once I become a yamen runner, whether it’s our money he’s eaten or money of his own, he’ll spit every last bit of it back out! Don’t worry, Mother. He won’t get to strut around for more than a few days.” A sinister smile spread across He Jie’s face.
That was exactly what Zeng Qianqian and He Yongxing wanted to hear. Once their family established itself in town, what benefit or money would be beyond their reach? They had dreamed of that wonderful future countless times. The resentment and bitterness in their hearts eased somewhat.
After much hesitation, they reluctantly reached an agreement: for now, they would not make trouble. They would let He Yi take the money.
The transfer of property and signing of documents afterward went smoothly.
He Yi could hardly believe things had actually proceeded so smoothly. When the silver ingots finally touched his hand, he was almost dazed. The money and field deeds were his now. He Yi glanced at the household shrine in the center of the main hall and thought that, while the village head was still here, he might as well try asking for A’ma’s memorial tablet too. He did, only for Eldest Uncle’s family to cling stubbornly to their performance of filial devotion in front of outsiders. “It isn’t displayed because the tablet was only finished yesterday. We didn’t bring it home until sometime between seven and nine this morning.”
He Yongxing declared that he would enshrine A’ma’s memorial tablet himself. That made it impossible for He Yi to take the tablet with him.
He Yi: “…” If Eldest Uncle’s entire family had not looked as though they had swallowed flies alive, He Yi might have suspected they were doing this deliberately just to keep A’ma’s memorial tablet from him.
Since he had received no house and the ancestral home now belonged to Eldest Uncle’s family, He Yi needed to make plans before he was simply thrown out. He would have to find somewhere he could rent for a while. Building a house suited his profession and would not be difficult in itself, but buying land and choosing a site would be troublesome, and the lack of modern building materials posed its own problems. Everything would have to be taken slowly.
When He Yi escorted Great-Uncle and the village head out, he asked the village head where he might be able to rent a house.
“Rent?” the village head repeated. “We don’t get many travelers through the village, we’re far from the official road, and even traveling merchants are uncommon. This isn’t like town. People here simply don’t make much of a habit of renting houses out to outsiders.”
The village head paused, then added with a chuckle, “If you truly can’t find anywhere to stay and decide to buy land, just come to me.” There was far more profit for him in taking a cut from a land sale, though naturally he could not say that openly. At the very least, he could do He Yi a favor in the process. So he turned to He Yongxing, who had also come out to see them off, and made a show of suggesting that He Yi be allowed to remain at home for a few more days.
He Yongxing had been debating whether to throw He Yi out immediately. He had not expected the village head to warn him off the idea at once. His plan ruined, he was in a foul mood, but he could only agree reluctantly.
The ox-cart driver finally returned from another family’s courtyard, and the village head and Great-Uncle prepared to climb aboard.
The rear seat of the ox cart was high and the step awkward to use, so He Yi went forward to offer an arm and help them up.
While helping Great-Uncle, He Yi clearly felt the old man secretly squeeze his arm. Disgust flashed through him at once, but Great-Uncle was elderly, and if He Yi pulled away he might make the man fall. In the end, he did not dodge.
Great-Uncle had helped him considerably today. Without him, He Yi truly had no idea what kind of result the household division would have produced. His feelings were therefore complicated. Lowering his eyes, he bowed and said, “Take care, Great-Uncle. Safe travels, Village Head.”
“No need to see us any farther. Go back,” Great-Uncle said with a smile.
The ox cart then rolled over the uneven dirt road, swaying as it gradually disappeared into the distance.