The weather was warm today, so Luo Xiu sat in the courtyard with Xiaoyu in his arms, basking in the sun.

Zheng Xiaofeng and her daughter were in the field catching bugs to feed the chicks. The little girl had sharp eyes and wasn’t afraid of cabbage worms; she caught a bunch and tossed them to the chicks, giggling to herself.

Just as they were having fun, a shrill shout suddenly rang out from outside the gate: “Zheng Xiaofeng, get your butt out here!”

Niuniu was startled and quickly hid behind her mother, staring at the old woman at the gate with a terrified expression.

“Mom… why are you here?”

“Have you no shame? You can’t even cry at your ancestral graves, so you run off to cry at a mass grave?”

Zheng Xiaofeng, her face flushed, patted her daughter on the shoulder and told her to go find Luo Xiu. She stepped forward herself and said, “Let’s talk about this back home. Don’t make a spectacle of ourselves here.”

“Do you even care that people are laughing at you? You haven’t been back in half a year and didn’t even check to see if your mother was still alive. If others hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have even known you were back. You and your older brother are just as heartless as each other!”

This morning, Zheng Laotai was picking vegetables in her garden when Sun-shi from next door walked by and exchanged a few casual words with her.

“Are you busy, Auntie?”

“I’ve been growing some Chinese cabbage, but it’s been overrun with bugs—they’ve almost eaten all the leaves.” Zheng Laotai straightened her back and gave it a few taps.

“My vegetable patch is full of bugs, too. I catch them today, and they’re back tomorrow—I don’t have time to catch them every day. By the way, why don’t you ask your daughter Xiaofeng to come over and help you?”

Zheng Laotai replied, “It’s quite a distance—why would I call her over for that?”

Sun-shi chuckled. “Auntie, you must not know yet—Xiaofeng is actually over on the east side of the river. Yesterday I went to visit my cousin there and happened to run into your Xiaofeng washing clothes by the river. I was wondering whose clothes she was washing, but then I heard people talking—she’s gone to help the widower from the Liu family with his postpartum care.”

“You must have gotten that wrong.”

“No way. I also heard that your son Daqiu is going to marry that widower Luo as soon as he finishes building his house.”

As soon as Zheng-niang heard this, she flew into a rage, dropped what she was holding, and hurried over.

“Taking care of a widower who’s no relation to us—is he your father or your mother? Come home with me right now!” 

“Don’t say that. Big Brother is about to marry Luo Xiu; we’ll all be family soon…”

“Pah! Who says we’re family? Since she’s carrying the Liu family’s child, naturally the Liu family should take care of her. What are you doing here, making a spectacle of yourself?”

The sound of their argument quickly drew the attention of the neighbors. During the off-season, everyone was at home with nothing to do, so as soon as they saw a commotion, they happily gathered around to watch.

Zheng-niang grabbed Xiaofeng’s arm and tried to pull her back. She was naturally no match for Xiaofeng in strength, but since she was an elder, Zheng Xiaofeng wouldn’t dare be rough with her.

All she could do was plead, “Let me finish making lunch first, then I’ll come over. Niuniu is watching…” 

“Smack!” Mother Zheng slapped her across the face, leaving one side of Xiaofeng’s cheek bright red.

As soon as Niuniu saw her mother being hit, she burst into tears. Luo Xiu hurriedly picked up the child and stepped forward to mediate. “Auntie, please don’t get angry. Let’s talk this out—there’s no need to hit anyone.”

Zheng-niang eyed Luo Xiu up and down, tutting twice. “What business is it of yours how I discipline my own daughter? Who do you think you are?

“No wonder Daqiu won’t listen to me anymore—it turns out there’s a little vixen behind the scenes giving him advice. I recall your husband died less than three months ago, right? Are you already so desperate to find another man?”

Luo Xiu’s face instantly flushed red, then turned pale at her words. Realizing this was Zheng Beiqiu’s mother, he swallowed his retort and stood awkwardly to the side, cradling his child.

“A widow who brought misfortune upon his husband and is now dragging his child around—and you still want to enter the Zheng family? Forget it!”

“Who’s giving up on that idea?” Zheng Beiqiu strode over, his face dark with anger as he gripped a shovel.

“I was the one who said that. Are you going to hit your own mother?”

“Didn’t we agree last time to split the family and go our separate ways? Why are you always picking on me for no reason?”

Zheng Laotai was momentarily at a loss for words. After a long pause, she said gloomily, “That was you and the second son splitting off—I, as your mother, never agreed to it.”

Zheng Beiqiu wasn’t afraid she’d try to wriggle out of it. He pulled two slips of paper from his coat and said, “Fine, then help me pay off this high-interest loan. They’ve been hounding me for days, and I’ve been at my wits’ end trying to find the money.”

“Who’s going to pay back the money you borrowed yourself?!”

“Didn’t you say we’re family? Naturally, you’re supposed to help pay this back. It’s been two months, and the debt has already ballooned to fifty-six taels. If we don’t pay it back soon, it’ll keep rising.”

Zheng Laotai flung her sleeves aside with a look of disgust and said, “I’ve had enough of meddling in your business. If you want to marry a widower whose wife brought him bad luck, go ahead—but if you end up being cursed to death, don’t even think about being buried in the family tomb!”

“Mother!” Zheng Xiaofeng shouted, startling everyone.

“How can you say such a thing? What good would it do you if my older brother died?!” Xiaofeng was in tears. She had always thought her mother was harsh, but she never imagined she could become so vicious—actually going so far as to make a curse against her own son.

“Ever since you were little, you’ve always favored Second Brother. Do you think First Brother and I were just picked up off the street?!”

Mother Zheng snapped angrily, “Did I ever skimp on your food? Did you grow up with your bare bottom exposed?! I worked so hard to raise you all this long, and now you’re questioning me?!”

Zheng Xiaofeng wiped away her tears and nodded. “Yes, you never let us go hungry. When Second Brother ate meat, we ate beans; when he ate dry food, we drank thin porridge. When Second Brother studied, we did the hard labor.”

“That’s because you two are too thick-headed to study—how is that my fault?”

Zheng Xiaofeng continued, “Second Brother is smarter than us, but what about our clothes? Why do my older brother and I always wear hand-me-downs, while Second Brother gets new clothes every year? In winter, Second Brother wears a padded coat, while my older brother and I stuff our clothes with reed catkins. We’re so cold that my older brother and I have sores all over our hands. How can you be so biased?”

A few people standing nearby watching the commotion began to murmur among themselves upon hearing this. They hadn’t expected that while the three Zheng children looked more or less the same on the surface, they were actually treated so differently behind the scenes.

Mother Zheng, unable to save face, said with disgust, “Blame your grandmother! It’s your fault you two take after her—I can’t bring myself to love you the moment I saw you!”

The two froze in unison, unable to understand what this had to do with their grandmother.

Zheng Beiqiu’s grandmother had passed away when he was seven or eight, and Xiaofeng didn’t even remember what she looked like.

“Your grandmother was biased when she was alive. Even though they were both sons, why did she always give extra to the eldest son’s family, while your father got nothing! Back when the family split up, the eldest son’s household got seven mu of prime farmland and three new rooms, while ours got nothing but six mu of wasteland—and the house was old, too! Your father was certainly a dutiful son—he never fought or competed for anything—but he made my life miserable for nothing. That ramshackle house let the wind in during winter and the rain in during summer; how much suffering did I endure because of it?” 

Zheng Beiqiu said, “So you’ve taken your resentment toward Grandma out on us. How are you any different from her, then?”

Zheng Laotai knew she was in the wrong, but after favoring one child for so many years, she simply couldn’t change her ways. On top of that, since her second son was successful and she was counting on him to take care of her in her old age, she naturally favored him even more.

“Say whatever you like. Xiaofeng, if you’re going to acknowledge me as your mother, pack your things and come home with me!”

Zheng Xiaofeng stood rooted to the spot. Her heart had long since grown cold. If her mother had merely favored her second son, she might have let it go, but she simply couldn’t accept that her own daughter was being mistreated as well.

In all the time Niuniu had been growing up, she hadn’t received a single egg from her, nor a single piece of cloth to wear; she hadn’t even come to give a gift of money for the baby’s one-month celebration. Because of this, she’d been mocked by several of her sisters-in-law at her in-laws’ house for a long time, and even her child couldn’t hold her head up in shame.

Zheng Beiqiu said, “Don’t push Xiaofeng too hard. Last time I mentioned dividing the household, the second son agreed—it was just a verbal agreement without a written contract. Let’s draw up the contract today to avoid trouble later.”

“Xiaofeng, go fetch the second son. I’ll call the village head as well. Starting today, we’re officially splitting the household. From now on, you’ll treat it as if you’d never given birth to me or my sister, and I’ll treat it as if I’d never had any of you as family.”

Xiaofeng wiped away her tears and ran out. Zheng Beiqiu called his Tang-ge and asked him to help fetch the village head. Zheng An tried to reason with him for a moment, but seeing that he was determined to split the family, he could only go help summon the village head.

Before long, Zheng Yaqiu and Yang-shi arrived with their two sons, and Zheng An had also brought the village head over. Since dividing the family was a major matter, the village head tried to reason with both sides. Seeing that neither side would be swayed, he helped draw up the deed.

Zheng Er carefully read through the deed. Seeing that the wording was in order, he prepared to affix his fingerprint.

Yang-shi immediately grabbed his hand and said, “We can’t repay the three hundred taels of silver from before—after all, Mother will still be relying on us to support her in her old age.” The village head pointed to the deed and said, “Haven’t we already given you the house and the land? Why do you still want extra money for her support?”

Yang-shi stammered, unable to explain herself clearly; the IOU for those 300 taels of silver had always weighed heavily on her mind, and she’d hoped to settle the debt once and for all with this division of the family estate.

“Say something,” she nudged her husband.

Zheng Yaqiu said, “Well, I didn’t spend all that silver on my own. A portion of it went toward the gift money we gave to villagers for social occasions… and, when Mother fell ill a few years ago, the money for her medicine also came from that fund. So I can’t repay the full 300 taels.”

Zheng Beiqiu couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. He pulled the IOU he’d written that day from his bosom and tore it in half. He hadn’t intended to keep the silver in the first place—he’d only made him write the IOU out of anger that day. Now, hearing him speak like this, even the last shred of brotherly affection was gone.

He pressed his thumbprint onto the deed with decisive finality; Zheng Er gritted his teeth and did the same.

It was clearly stated in black and white: as of today, the two families were officially severing ties; there would be no contact regarding weddings, funerals, or other family matters.

Zheng Beiqiu put the deed away and said, “The division of the family estate is complete, and you’ve made enough profit. If you dare to come over here and cause trouble or bother Luo Xiu again, don’t blame me for being harsh.”

Zheng Laotai spat out, “As if anyone would want to come here.” With that, she led her two grandchildren away in a hurry.

Zheng Yaqiu looked at his older brother with disappointment. Earlier, he had thought that if he took the initiative to apologize to him, he would let the incident of him beating him slide. In the future, once he passed the provincial examination and became an official, he might even help him get a job as a constable in the magistrate’s office.

Since he was so heartless, he wouldn’t be the one to show any loyalty. With a cold snort, he flung his sleeves and turned to leave.

After the division of the family estate was settled and the onlookers had dispersed, Luo Xiu stood nearby, looking anxious, and said, “Biaoshu… is it because of me…?”

Zheng Beiqiu replied, “This has nothing to do with you. Even without you, I’d have wanted to cut ties with them long ago. It was just as well that they came today. When I have a moment, I’ll explain everything in detail. It’s getting windy outside—let’s take the baby inside.”

Xiaoyu, in his arms, had also woken up and was whimpering for milk, so Luo Xiu had no choice but to carry his son inside first. Xiaofeng, holding her daughter, asked with some concern, “Big Brother, what was that about the three hundred taels of silver just now?”

“That’s the silver I’d sent home before—over three hundred and seventy taels in total. They said they’d spent it all, so in a fit of anger, I made him write an IOU.”

“Well, then why didn’t you make him pay it back?”

“Does he look like he can actually pay it back? I just wanted to settle things once and for all, to avoid any more arguments later.” 

“Sigh…”

For a family to end up in such a state—it’s not scarcity that’s the problem, but inequality. Parents’ favoritism has sown the seeds of disaster for their children.