Little Uncle's place.
Little Uncle Mei Yongfu didn't live far away either, just in the building next to Oldest Uncle's, but not in the same one as Auntie.
Compared to Mei Yifan and Wang Gaofeng's restlessness, Little Uncle Mei Yongfu was much more composed.
As soon as he got home, Aunt Jiang Xiumei came right up to him. "Well? Was it all divided up?"
Mei Yongfu looked rather smug: "All sorted. Split into six shares, all six families get one each."
But as soon as Jiang Xiumei heard this, she exploded. "Why was it split into six? It should be five! The fourth brother is dead, why should his share get any money?"
Mei Yongfu said casually, "Fourth brother is dead, sure, but he still has kids. Besides, the only thing he left behind for the family was three thousand two hundred yuan, that's all his assets. If we don't keep a share for the kids, we definitely won't get a piece of this money."
Jiang Xiumei was clearly dissatisfied. "Fourth brother and his wife are so irresponsible, not even leaving money for their kids—so why should we have to give up our share for them?"
"Alright, that share was always meant for the kids. Anyway, this way the two kids can live on their own. We won't have to take care of them. When I went over there, I was worried we'd have to keep Chenchen here because of Mengfei, felt so annoyed about it. Now the kid doesn't even want to stay with us, just wants to be with his sister. Isn't it better that we don't have to raise him?"
Sure, it's better, but why should we obviously get Chenchen just because Mengfei is younger? Jiang Xiumei felt more and more pissed off. "Why though?"
"Obviously because the two kids are close in age, they can grow up together. Anyway, this is a pretty good arrangement."
The so-called Mengfei here was Mei Yongfu's youngest son, Mei Mengfei, and they also had an older daughter, Mei Mengying, she just happened to not be home today.
Jiang Xiumei hugged Mei Mengfei, worried she'd scared her precious son with her outburst. But Mei Mengfei couldn't care less—when he heard that Chenchen wouldn't be coming to live with them he was so thrilled he almost cheered. "Awesome, now my little brother won't steal my toys!"
If it were any other mother, she might have told her kid about sharing and stuff. But Jiang Xiumei? Like mother, like son. Jiang Xiumei immediately agreed, "Of course Nonon's stuff is all yours. No need to share with anyone. It's yours alone! If someone wants your stuff, you just take it right back!"
Mei Yongfu saw Jiang Xiumei raising the kid like that and didn't find anything wrong with it. In fact, he nodded approvingly.
But was that the end of it? As soon as Jiang Xiumei thought about those two kids getting that much money for nothing, she got annoyed again. "Why though? Both of them are dead, how come the kids still get money? Yongfu, is that it? If we got that share, how much would we get?"
"That's definitely how it'll be split. But the money hasn't come down yet. Even after it does, there'll be all kinds of twists and turns." I mean, why did you think he was arguing so fiercely earlier, just to have a nice chat at home? Not at all. On his way back from the Lun Family, he was already scheming how to get his hands on the cash those two kids would have.
He didn't think he was the only one eyeing the money, so he needed a foolproof plan to grab it before any other relatives.
How to do it, though, he hadn't figured out yet. Still, there was a year or two left—plenty of time.
By then, he'd find ways to take that money from the two kids, bit by bit.
With this plan in mind, the two of them actually calmed down for the moment.
...
And out of all the sisters, none was as riled up as Auntie.
Auntie's place.
As soon as Mei Yinan walked in the door, she saw Uncle Fan Hongwei, sprawled out on a deck chair, drinking tea and reading the paper, laid-back as ever—her anger flared up instantly.
The thing is, she stomped up the stairs so loudly, there's no way he didn't hear her. When she slammed the door coming back in, he flinched, but still didn't ask what was going on—like he was air or something. You tell me, isn't that infuriating?
Auntie heads over to the dining table, pours herself a huge glass of water, gulps it down in one go.
But Fan Hongwei still pretends not to see angry Mei Yinan. Finally, she can't take it anymore: "Didn't you notice I'm furious right now?"
Fan Hongwei answers calmly, "I saw that, yeah."
"If you saw, can't you at least ask me what happened? What's the point of having a mouth then?"
Fan Hongwei folded up his paper, glanced at Mei Yinan, and said, "What is it, who pissed you off this time?"
"Keep pretending, just keep it up! You really don't know where I went today?" Mei Yinan slammed her cup on the table, shattering it to pieces.
This time, Fan Hongwei really couldn't keep calm. He scrambled up from the deck chair to check if Mei Yinan hurt her hand. Luckily, the shards were big, and she let go quickly, so she didn't get cut. Still, with her so worked up, even the calmest person would get rattled. "Look at you, always making trouble for yourself, and now you want to blame it on our cups?"
"Is it my fault? I'm worried about the two kids being taken advantage of, you know? You have no idea, I was still sitting there, and every one of them was talking like they wanted to drive the kids to their deaths."
Fan Hongwei grabbed the trash can and swept up the broken cup, then put it aside with a snort, "Like I don't know what your siblings are like? It's a miracle you've put up with them this long. Enough, don't be mad. So, did you get it sorted?"
"Sorted."
Fan Hongwei looked puzzled: "If it's sorted, what are you mad about?"
Mei Yinan glared at Fan Hongwei, then recounted everything that had just happened. But the one who surprised Fan Hongwei the most in that whole story wasn't Mei Yinan, but Mei Mengzhen.
"Who would've thought, that kid is always so quiet usually, but when it comes down to it she's sharp as hell. If she hadn't spoken up, they might have actually had to pay rent, and maybe she'd be left out of the inheritance. I'm actually pretty satisfied with how Mengzhen handled things. The outcome is good, so why are you still so mad?"
"I'm mad that none of them was even willing to give two hundred bucks a month for living expenses! I cursed them out, they just pretended not to hear, not a single damn conscience among them." Mei Yinan slapped her thigh in anger.
But Fan Hongwei thought that was even better, "Fine, so they won't pay. We can just take better care of the kids day to day. Our own two are about to graduate college anyway, we don't really have any big responsibilities left. If you were giving your heart to those ungrateful siblings of yours, I'd hate it. But giving to these two kids with no one else—I have zero complaints. Besides, you think getting their money would be a good thing? I used to let you do your thing, but this time, if you'd taken the money, there's no telling how much trouble it'd cause later. You know your siblings, right? Trust me, this is for the best."
Mei Yinan thought every word Fan Hongwei said made sense, but listening to it, she still felt uncomfortable no matter what.