I used rebirth to bury his captivating gaze.

Chapter 53 Grandparents Pass Away One After Another (A Snowy Winter)

On the third day, the two elders nodded in agreement to allow the Yang family's sons to divide the family property.

To ensure fairness and impartiality in the division of the family property, Yang Hong asked Yang Zhannan to summon Captain Wang to oversee the division of the family property.

Captain Wang did not refuse and went to the Yang family compound with Yang Zhannan. He began to divide the family property among the Yang brothers on a voluntary basis.

The Yang family was overjoyed, knowing his character and conduct; he was neither greedy nor lustful, and was fair in his dealings with others.

The division of the family property was done in this way: the land that was just allocated was divided according to the amount of labor power in each small family. Women and children who were not able to work received half as much land as the able-bodied men.

Adult men, who are considered laborers, own six mu of land, while women and children, who are not considered laborers, own three mu of contracted land.

The land has been divided, all of which were drawn by Captain Wang with a pen and a piece of white paper. Before the village opens for planting next year, a few people will personally go to the land site in advance to carry out the actual division.

Next, the first land was contracted out, and each family began to divide up their farming tools. As for the smaller tools, such as hoes, picks, shovels, and others, each family took their own. With the addition of more people, the old lady would then take a couple of small coins and go to Tuandingshan Township to buy more.

Larger items can't be divided like that. The production team allocated one white horse-drawn cart and one red horse-drawn cart. Just like in the production brigade, the brothers would draw lots to see who had the best luck. If someone had bad luck, they wouldn't get a single horsehair.

The family in the courtyard consists of two generations of uncles and nephews: Yang Zhannan, Yang Zhanxi, Yang Chong, and Yang Zhi. These four have divided the family property. As for the two elders, it's just a matter of their care; who they will ultimately live with is another matter. As for the young girls, they're completely sidelined.

The four of them had two carriages. Yang Zhanxi and Yang Zhi were lucky to be from the same family; they would have been happy to get one carriage. In the end, there was still one room that didn't get a carriage.

Captain Wang explained beforehand that the four people should sign a piece of white paper he had written, stipulating that whichever of the two families that were allocated a horse-drawn carriage must use it for the family that did not receive one, and that they must take turns using it for farming.

In other words, just because you caught the carriage doesn't mean it's yours; it's just temporarily stored at your home!

There's also the rule that if you put the land at your house, you can use a horse-drawn cart to plow the land first, and then let people without horses plow the land. The agreement is implemented by having Captain Wang sign a note, and you can take turns plowing the land with a horse for one day and he can take turns plowing the land with a horse for the next day.

They began drawing lots to divide the horses and their wooden carts.

At this moment, a crowd of onlookers had gathered in front of the gate of the Yang family courtyard. The young and old members of the Yang family were also standing in the courtyard watching their family members draw lots. The two elders sat on two wooden chairs, and everyone in the family was holding their breath as they drew lots for their own family, hoping for a good result.

Of course, people are selfish; if a person doesn't look out for themselves, they'll be doomed!

Yang Yuhan was no exception; her eyes kept darting around as her father finished picking up the plots of land he was happy with, and then she watched to see if he would get another good hand!

After the land belonging to the Yang brothers and nephews was divided, Captain Wang continued to the next round, where a hand could be reached through a cardboard box to draw lots for the horse-drawn carriages.

Sure enough, after drawing lots for the red carriage, Yang Zhannan from the south wing still managed to draw it. I wonder what kind of magic he possessed that gave him such good luck, allowing him to have such good fortune one after another!

Yang Zhi drew the white carriage. Four people, including Yang Zhannan, Yang Zhanxi, and Yang Chong, participated in the draw. However, Captain Wang decided that since Yang Zhanxi and Yang Zhi were father and son, only one of them could draw the lot. In the end, Yang Zhi drew the white carriage.

It seems unfair that both father and son participate in drawing lots for other families.

The red and white carriages each had their own owners, leaving Yang Chong's wife and children, a family of four, with only a few acres of not-so-good land. The carriages were left empty.

Captain Wang reassured him, "Don't be afraid. Take this slip of paper with everyone's signature. If they violate it, just come to me and I'll handle it. If that doesn't work, I have two horses for you to use."

Chen Erlai, who was watching the commotion at the gate, chimed in, "Yes, yes, and there's a group of us here to testify for you. If you don't like it, you can use your old ox to plow the field."

"Yes, I also have two black donkeys at home, which you can use for plowing," Wang Ermazi said with a grin.

"If all else fails, I still have two big tabby cats and a flock of sheep," the shepherd boy said.

"If your big raccoon and sheep can be used as wives, you won't need to get married."

Captain Wang continued, "Get the hell out of here. Go do what you're supposed to do."

As soon as Captain Wang started yelling, the onlookers at the gate immediately dispersed!

Finally, he said goodbye to the Yang family and left.

The Yang family members and Ah Manyi's families all returned to their respective small houses. In the end, the houses were allocated according to their original residences.

Meals were no longer shared in the main kitchen; each room had its own small kitchen and a well with a pulley.

And so they separated and lived separately, completely breaking down the days when the sisters-in-law and nieces-in-law took turns cooking communal meals every week!

Initially, Captain Wang arranged for the two elders to take turns eating in different rooms of the courtyard each week. However, Yang Zhannan eventually decided that the two elders would simply eat all three meals a day in the summer and two meals a day in the winter in the south wing.

Liu Shulan didn't object, and Yang Yuhan just rolled her eyes. She didn't really dislike her grandparents that much, after all, everyone gets old eventually.

They're so old; they'll both be almost eighty by the time the New Year comes around.

As for the red carriage and the good land that his family obtained, it was also due to Yang Yuhan's abilities; otherwise, how could Yang Zhannan have had such good luck!

The red carriage was used for a short time before being given to Yang Chong's family to plow their fields. This, of course, is something that will happen later.

Let me tell you about Grandpa. He wasn't in a good mood the day the family divided the property. Coupled with the death of his eldest niece, Yulu, he fell ill and couldn't get out of bed for several days. His sons, grandsons, and granddaughters asked him to go to the county hospital for treatment, but the old man was stubborn. He said he never believed in going to the hospital for treatment and that it was a waste of money. He said that with that money, he would rather buy some good food.

In the last quarter of an hour before he died, he regretted it and wanted to live a few more years to see how things would develop in the future. But it was too late. In his last moments, he said he wanted to eat the big tofu from the tofu shop at the east end of the village.

The old man wanted to eat tofu, which was just a very ordinary little thing. Because of the division of the family property, the things and grains in the storeroom on the west side of the courtyard were still being shared.

So when the old man asked for large blocks of tofu before he left, the people in the south wing immediately agreed, and the people in the north wing did not object either.

Of course, these days, you had to carry several kilograms of soybeans in an iron basin to the village tofu shop in exchange for large blocks of tofu.

At that time, the land had just been allocated and contracted out. The small amount of soybeans in the warehouse were collected by the idle people in the compound from the soybean fields after the production team had harvested the soybeans.

The old man's request for large blocks of tofu angered the woman in the west wing, who shouted, "Eat! What do you want? Large blocks of tofu? Are you going to die today or tomorrow?"

She didn't blush after saying that, but she forgot that when she gave birth to Yang Zhiyu, it was the old man who went to the bookstore in the middle of the night during a blizzard, braving the freezing cold, to find a midwife to deliver her baby.

Finally, Yang Zhannan from the south wing went to the west warehouse to get some soybeans and exchanged them for a few pieces of tofu. After eating, the old man closed his eyes and died.

The old lady also passed away shortly after him.

The Northeast is very cold in winter, especially in those days when the temperature would drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius. Some elderly people had poor physical condition and were less resistant to cold. They lived in mud-brick houses, which were not warm enough. The elderly often died on the coldest nights of winter.