After lunch, everyone gathered in the main room, including Rowan's married sister Jilan and her husband Shiyan.
Looking at his family, Tomas, as the head of the household, began speaking. "You all know why I called you here today. We've talked about this before."
No one spoke, waiting for him to continue.
"Rowan got married yesterday. Today we'll divide the household. Just like always, once a son gets married, he lives on his own. Today just makes that official."
Liwen, the eldest son, spoke first. "Dad, however you decide to split things, we're fine with it. No complaints from us."
Muwen, the second son, agreed. "Yes, we don't have any objections."
Their wives also stayed quiet. They trusted Tomas and his wife to be fair.
Rowan didn't say anything either. He had no opinions about it, and Sienna didn't care much either.
Jilan, as the married daughter, didn't have a say in the family division. She wouldn't even be there if Tomas hadn't insisted. Shiyan, as a son-in-law, had even less to say.
Seeing everyone's calm expressions, Tomas was satisfied. At least no one was fighting or making things difficult.
"First, the houses. Liwen and Muwen already have homes we built for them in the past two years. Rowan will get money instead, since he won't be building here anytime soon. As for Jilan, she's not getting a house, but there will always be a room for her in the old house. That's hers. Any objections?"
"No."
"No."
"No."
"Dad, just keeping a room for me is enough. So I have a place to stay when I visit. No need to give me more. It wouldn't be right."
Tomas looked at her and said, "You don't need to worry about that. Maybe it won't be equal like what your three brothers get, but we'll still give you something."
The kitchen tools don't need to be divided since each of you already has your own.
What's left is the money. There's a total of 378.56 yuan. Each of your families will get 60 yuan. Adding in the 60 for us, the parents, that makes 300 yuan. The remaining 78.56 yuan, 50 yuan will go to the third son as compensation for the house, and the last 28.56 yuan will stay with us.
If you don't have any problems with this, then that's all. The only thing to divide in this family is the money, as you all know.
As for taking care of us in old age, now that the family is divided, you three brothers won't need to send money to the shared household anymore. Instead, each year you'll give us 200 jin of grain and five yuan.
Right now, we can live on our own without your help. When we get older, each of your families can take turns caring for us.
"Dad, Mom, you both know our situation. Since we've split up and taken things from the house, Jilan and I should also share the responsibility for taking care of you. We might not have grain, but we can give money for your care," said Shiyan.
Tomas and Cuilan were happy to hear this, but Tomas still said, "It's kind of you to think this way. Visiting us during holidays is enough. We gave things to Jilan when splitting the house because she's our daughter. We're getting old, and this might be the last time we give her anything. There won't be more later on."
"But I still have three sons. Our daughter doesn't need to take part in our elderly care. She's married now and should just live a good life with her husband. You don't need to mention this again."
Shiyan was about to say something else. After all, he never cared much about his own parents. That's why he moved several provinces away to work. To him, Tomas and Cuilan were more like true parents, and caring for them felt right, especially now that they had shared things with him. But Jilan pulled his sleeve.
Seeing his wife signal him, Shiyan didn't speak again.
When Tomas saw that everyone was quiet, he said, "That's it for the family division. Let me know if there's anything else. If not, we'll leave it at that."
Everyone agreed that there was nothing else and had no objections.
Rowan said, "We don't have grain, so I'll give money instead. Also, you two can just do some light work when going to the fields. Don't overwork yourselves. The three of us brothers can support you."
"We know that, no need to worry," Tomas replied. "One more thing, if we get sick, the cost should be split evenly among the three of you."
"If nobody has any more concerns, let's write up a division document. Tonight, we'll invite the village elder and accountant over for dinner and have them sign as witnesses."
After that, everyone went their separate ways, and the family division was done.
After leaving, Shiyan asked Jilan, "Why didn't you let me say anything?"
"Just listen to Dad and Mom. We can show respect by giving them red envelopes during holidays. That counts as helping with their care. No need to argue with them about it."
Shiyan smiled at her words and hugged her. "You're really smart."
Felix said with emotion, "The Zhou family is really peaceful. It's nice that the family division went so smoothly."
Steve added, "You probably don't know this, but once someone in the Zhou family gets married, they live their own life. The aunt never scolds the daughters-in-law."
Felix and Brandon were both shocked. In those days, it was normal for a daughter-in-law to be picked on by her mother-in-law. Even if the mother-in-law was reasonable, the daughter-in-law would still be criticized sometimes. But letting the couple live on their own? That was rare.
"How do you know that?" they asked.
"I heard some gossip from the village aunties when I went out the day Rowan got married."
After that, the two didn't say anything, but who knew what they were thinking inside.