Chapter 41 What on Earth Is a Share?

The eldest and second brothers of the Luo family were trying hard to persuade him from the side, while the old matriarch of the Luo family furrowed her brows in deep thought.

Silence fell over the entire main hall of the Luo household.

Luo Changhua clenched his hands tightly, lowered his gaze, and avoided looking at Old Madam Luo.

The other two daughters-in-law in the house also agreed with their husbands' viewpoints. Seeing that everyone else remained silent, they could not help but speak up.

"Mother, this matter of splitting the family is ultimately a family affair. I think it will be fine just to sort out the money."

"Actually, this family can be divided slowly. Mother, it's a good thing that the third brother wants to find other ways to make a living, and it's not right for us to hold him back."

The one speaking was the second daughter-in-law. Hearing this, the second brother of the Luo family became instantly displeased and said, "You've been talking for a long time, but it's like saying nothing at all. What on earth do you mean?"

The second daughter-in-law replied, "Master, don't be hasty. What I mean is, since the third brother and his family insist on splitting up, they won't have a place to live once they move out, right? The old ancestral home belongs to Mother, and it wouldn't be appropriate to give it to the third brother's family. In my opinion, we should just divide the money. Once they have money, are they afraid of not having a place to live?"

However, the second brother failed to grasp his wife's intent and said with displeasure, "Divide the money? Mother..."

"Mother, I think the second younger sister-in-law makes sense," the eldest brother suddenly stepped forward at this moment, speaking with a plausible argument. "When all is said and fathom, isn't the third brother just wanting to do business with the Xue girl? Actually, we don't necessarily have to sell the land; we can just give the third brother the silver he is entitled to from the division, and he can support it however he wants. That way, our family's land is preserved, and the third brother can still run his business."

Prompted by the successive persuasions of her sons and daughters-in-law, Old Madam Luo understood: if the third son followed Tong Chuxue in the dendrobium business, the risks were indeed very high. Should he fail, the entire Luo family would be implicated. However, if they separated the third son first and dismissed him with a little money—to take a step back, in the unlikely event he lost, the Luo family wouldn't be dragged down; to advance, should he strike it rich, as a son, he would naturally have to show filial piety to his elderly mother.

With this thought, Old Madam Luo said, "Third one, I've thought about it. You can split the family if you want, but let's get the ugly truth out first. If your business fails, our Luo family will certainly not patch the hole for you."

Luo Changhua stiffened his neck and said, "Mother, don't worry. If I lose, I will work like an ox or a horse to pay the money back, and I won't ask you elderly folks to help repay it."

Old Madam Luo nodded in satisfaction. She knew her own son best; Luo Changhua was an honest man who would keep his word. "Changhua, your two older brothers haven't separated their households yet, and the children are still young. If the family is divided, you can continue to live here, but your expenses will be separated from ours. We will carve out a vegetable patch for you, and you can set up your own stove to cook your meals. Do you agree?"

Luo Changhua did not speak, but he gave a nod.

Old Madam Luo continued, "Reasonably speaking, when brothers divide a family, they should divide fields and houses. But in our case, only the third branch is splitting off while the other two branches remain together, so it's hard to divide the house and land. I will only divide the money with you. Do you agree?"

"We'll do as Mother says." Luo Changhua raised no objections.

Old Madam Luo went to her own room, and before long, she returned with a cloth bag. With a shake of her right hand, a small pile of scattered silver pieces fell out from the bag. "Third one, all the family assets of the Luo family are right here. The three of you brothers will split it equally. By rights, you should now take one-third, which is three taels of silver."

With that, Old Madam Luo separated a small pile of broken silver pieces from the table—"It's just this much"—and then put the remaining silver back into the cloth bag, tucking it into her bosom.

Lin Chunyan widened her eyes in sheer disbelief. Their Luo family had always been a wealthy household in Qingshan Village, with plenty of farmland, and all three sons were willing to put in hard labor. Over all these years, she estimated their family assets should be at least twenty or thirty taels, yet now Old Madam Luo had only brought out three taels.

Seeing that none of the members of the third branch were speaking, Old Madam Luo said, "Third one, I know you must think the family has a lot of land and wealth, but you don't run a household and thus don't know the cost of firewood and rice. Every branch in our family has a child studying in school. Besides, think of how much silver was spent on medical treatments for Hui'an as he grew up—you've all witnessed it. Nowadays, the family really only has this much left."

Since Old Madam Luo had put it this way, what more could a son say? Luo Hui'an walked forward silently, picked up the three taels of silver, and handed them to Lin Chunyan. Tears swirled in Lin Chunyan's eyes, but they never fell.

Seeing this, Luo Hui'an grabbed Lin Chunyan's hand and squeezed it hard.

"Grandmother, since the money has already been divided, should we go to the government office tomorrow to transfer our household registration?"

To put it bluntly, a family division agreed upon behind closed doors without any written proof held no weight; when real trouble arose, the government office recognized household registration, not verbal statements. Only by stripping their household registration away from the Luo family and establishing a new household could this family be considered truly divided.

The eldest and second brothers were happy to see this outcome. As long as the third brother moved his household registration out, no matter how much debt he carried in the future, it would never implicate them.

Naturally, Old Madam Luo had no objection.

Thus, everyone agreed that at the dawn of the next day, they would take the ox cart to the government office to settle the matter of the household registration.

With Luo Hui'an there, the process of transferring the household registration went very smoothly. Upon learning of the Luo family's actions, Tong Shan did not make much of a comment, only letting out a deep sigh.

However, Tong Chuxue was unaware of the twists and turns during this process; these days, she was meticulously cultivating her dendrobium candidum.

Thanks to the nourishment of the wood-elemental energy, the newly planted dendrobium candidum indoors was developing exceptionally well, its green tender shoots brimming with vitality. Calculating the time, this batch of dendrobium would mature right around when the neighboring rice crop ripened.

She had just received feedback from Tong Shan that in Qingshan Village, besides the third branch of the Luo family, only one other household was willing to follow Tong Chuxue. Actually, saying "one household" was an overstatement, because that household consisted of only one person.

According to Tong Shan's introduction, that older sister was named Liu Fen. She had married into Qingshan Village many years ago and had only one daughter. A few years ago, her husband accidentally fell and injured his spine on the back mountain, leaving him paralyzed in bed, and he passed away not long after.

Liu Fen's daughter had also married into the neighboring village last year, and ever since, Liu Fen had been living entirely alone. Hearing this time that Tong Chuxue had a business venture to undertake, she gritted her teeth and sold the two mu of land belonging to her family, preparing to take a gamble by following Tong Chuxue.

Tong Chuxue understood the other party's mindset very well. Anyway, her only daughter was already married; if it succeeded, naturally that would be wonderful, and if it failed, it wouldn't implicate anyone. This was precisely the case of the barefoot not fearing the person in shoes.

Although there were only six people in total, including two children, Tong Chuxue was already quite satisfied. In ancient times, the cultivation technology of ganoderma and dendrobium could be considered a state secret; the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Having too many people would only make supervision and management difficult.

After pondering for a moment, Tong Chuxue called the people of the Luo family's third branch and Liu Fen into her courtyard.

"Everyone present here is willing to abandon your retreats and sell your farmland to work alongside me, and I am deeply moved. When I told you all back then that this business would yield enormous profits, I was not lying. To safeguard everyone's interests while stimulating everyone's enthusiasm, I have decided to distribute shares to everyone based on their investment proportions."

Hearing this, everyone present wore a blank expression. What on earth was a "share"?