Uncle's place.
Uncle Mei Yongfu doesn't live far, either—he's in the building next to Grandpa's place, but not in the same building as Auntie.
Compared to Mei Yifan and Wang Gaofeng's nerves, Uncle Mei Yongfu is much more calm.
He got home, and Auntie Jiang Xiumei immediately rushed over, "Well? Is it settled? How did it go?"
Mei Yongfu was still a bit smug: "It's settled. Split into six shares. Each of our six families gets one share."
But as soon as she heard that, Jiang Xiumei exploded, "Six shares? It should be five! Fourth brother is dead, why the hell's he still getting money?"
Mei Yongfu said offhandedly, "Fourth brother's dead, but he's still got kids. Besides, he only left the family with three thousand two hundred yuan, that's all his assets. If we don't keep the kids' piece, we'd definitely end up not getting any of this money."
Jiang Xiumei was really disgruntled, "Fourth brother and his wife are a real piece of work. Didn't leave a cent to their own kids, so why do their kids get to take a portion of ours?"
"Enough, that share was always meant for the kids anyway. Besides, now both kids can just live on their own, we don't have to bother with them. When I was over there earlier, I was still worried they might leave Chenchen with us because of Mengfei, which would've been a hassle. But now the kid doesn't want to stay with us, he wants to be with his sister. Isn't it better for us if we don't have to raise him?"
Sure, it's better, but just because Mengfei is younger they naturally get Chenchen too? Jiang Xiumei was annoyed, "Why should we?"
"Naturally because the two kids are close in age, they can grow up together. Anyway, it's a good arrangement."
This Mengfei is Mei Yongfu and Jiang Xiumei's son, Mei Mengfei. They also have an older daughter, Mei Mengying, just happened not to be home today.
Jiang Xiumei hugged Mei Mengfei, worried she'd scared her precious boy with her earlier outburst—but Mengfei couldn't care less. When he heard Chenchen wouldn't be coming to their house, he nearly cheered, "Awesome! Now my little brother won't steal my toys!"
If it were any other mother, she might try and teach him about sharing. But Jiang Xiumei? Like mother, like son. She immediately agreed, "Of course, Mengfei's things don't need to be shared with anyone. They're yours and yours alone. If anyone tries to take them, you just snatch them right back."
Mei Yongfu saw how Jiang Xiumei was raising their kid and felt nothing strange about it—he even nodded in approval.
But is that the end of it? Jiang Xiumei still felt uneasy about the two kids lucking into so much money, "Why should these two dead people's kids still get money? Yongfu, are we really splitting it like this? If we got their share, how much would we get?"
"That's how the money will be split, but it hasn't actually come in yet. Before or after it gets here, there'll be lots of twists and turns." Why do you think he fought so hard just now? Not so he could come home and chat so calmly—of course not. On the way home from the Lun family, he'd already started plotting how to get his hands on the money those two kids would get.
He certainly didn't think he was the only one eyeing the cash. So he needed a foolproof plan to snatch the money before any of the other relatives could.
As for how, he hadn't worked that out yet, but he wasn't in a hurry. There's still a year or two to figure it out.
When the time comes, he'll be chipping away at the money those two kids hold, bit by bit.
With this thought in mind, Mei Yongfu and his wife calmed down for now.
...
Meanwhile, of all the sisters, Auntie was the least calm.
Auntie's house.
Mei Yinan walked in and immediately saw Auntie's husband, Fan Hongwei, sitting on the lounge chair sipping tea and reading the newspaper, not a care in the world—she was fuming.
The point is, she stomped up the stairs so loud he couldn't possibly not hear her coming. She slammed the front door too—it startled him, but he didn't even ask what happened, just sat there like a piece of furniture. Wouldn't that piss you off?
Auntie went to the dining table, poured herself a huge glass of water, and gulped it down in two big swallows.
But Fan Hongwei still pretended not to see furious Mei Yinan. Finally, Mei Yinan couldn't stand it anymore, "You don't see I'm pissed off right now?"
Fan Hongwei answered calmly, "I can see that."
"If you can see it, why don't you ask what's going on? What's the point of having a mouth?"
Fan Hongwei folded up the paper, glanced at Mei Yinan, "What happened? Where were you mistreated now?"
"Keep pretending! Pretend all you want! Like you don't know where I went today." Mei Yinan slammed her glass on the table, shattering it into several big pieces.
This time, Fan Hongwei really lost his composure. He jumped up from the lounge chair to check if her hand was hurt—luckily, the shards were big and she let go quickly, so no cuts. Even the calmest person gets rattled seeing her like this, "You know, you just look for ways to piss yourself off, and now you've gone and ruined the glass too."
"Was it my idea? I just don't want those kids getting screwed! You don't know—while I was sitting there, everyone was basically saying stuff to force those kids right to the edge."
Fan Hongwei grabbed the trashcan, swept the broken glass in, and after putting it away, snorted coldly, "Don't I know what your siblings are like? It's surprising you don't snap sooner. Okay, enough. Did you sort it out?"
"Sorted."
Fan Hongwei was puzzled, "If you sorted it, what are you still angry about?"
Mei Yinan glared at Fan Hongwei, then told him everything that'd just happened. But, out of all of it, what really surprised Fan Hongwei wasn't Mei Yinan, but Mei Mengzhen.
"Didn't expect it, huh. That kid keeps quiet normally, but when it counts she's got some smarts. If she hadn't spelled it out, they just might've forced her to pay rent—and who knows if she'd even get her share of the money." Fan Hongwei was unexpectedly impressed with Mei Mengzhen's performance, and thought the result was pretty good. "So what's got you so riled up?"
"I'm mad none of them were willing to even pay two hundred a month for living expenses. I cursed them out and they acted like they didn't hear, not a scrap of conscience." Mei Yinan slapped her thigh in anger.
But Fan Hongwei thought this was for the best, "Let them keep their money. We'll take care of the kids a bit more. Ours are about to graduate college, we don't have any real burdens. I can't stand you throwing money at those heartless siblings of yours, but supporting those two orphaned kids—I won't complain about that. And you think taking their money is a good thing? I never bothered saying this before, but if you take their expenses today, there's bound to be endless trouble later. You know how your siblings are. Trust me, this is the best outcome."
Mei Yinan thought every word Fan Hongwei said made sense, but no matter how she listened, it still rubbed her the wrong way.