Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 38 Separation
  "Dad, my second brother and his family are too shameless. It will be the Chinese New Year in a few days and they won't be back yet."

In the Li family, the eldest aunt was sitting in front of the brazier, cracking melon seeds. The scattered melon seed shells fell into the brazier, causing a lot of smoke in the house.

The eldest aunt was cracking melon seeds as if unaware. Seeing that her father-in-law didn't answer, she continued: "I heard that my second brother and the others have made a lot of money and bought a house outside. They don't want to separate the family."

"Cough cough."

Seeing that his father's face was not very good, Li Dong pulled his wife and signaled her to stop talking.

"Mom, you should be careful when eating melon seeds. The shells fell into the brazier and filled the room with smoke. It made me cry." Li Fu muttered.

The eldest aunt glared at her husband and son, then looked at her father-in-law and continued: "Dad, the business of the second family is very profitable. I went to them before and asked them to teach me, but they were still unwilling. When they come back, what can you do? I have to talk to them well so that I can do it elsewhere and not compete with them for business.”

"enough!"

Li Mu couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and scolded him, turned around and entered the house.

"I told you to stop talking." Li Dong scolded in a low voice.

"Why don't you let me tell you? We are a family. The second brother's family earns so much money. They go out every day to eat and fish. They only give dad 200 yuan a month. I think they just want to live alone, otherwise they will buy What house.”

The eldest aunt not only did not stop when she heard this, but she deliberately spoke loudly.

While speaking, he deliberately looked towards the back room, obviously speaking to his father-in-law.

In her opinion, her father-in-law's anger was directed at Lao Er's family. Only when Lao Er's family came back and her father-in-law had an attack, Lao Er's family would teach her how to make braised meat.

Li Dong was working at the dock, and Li Nan's business was so booming, so she knew it.

The eldest aunt was so jealous of this that she even came to her door to borrow money. However, Mrs. Liu took out the previous IOU and she could only return in frustration.

At that time, she didn't know how much money Li Nan and the others made. It wasn't until Li Fu came back later to calculate with him that Li Nan and his family could earn at least a few taels of silver a month.

Hearing this, the eldest aunt couldn't sit still. She came to Liu's house several times to ask her to teach her. After being rejected, she often spoke ill of Li Nan's family in front of her parents-in-law when she came back.

This was because Li An and Liu persuaded Li Nan not to tell him about buying a house, otherwise the eldest aunt would probably be stuck there.

Li Nan is a filial son and feels that he must talk to his father about such a big thing as buying a house.

Li An and Mr. Liu felt that they couldn't tell it for the time being. In the end, they decided to use the twenty taels as a windfall, and it would be easy to expose it if they told it, so they persuaded Li Nan to stop.

Li Fu heard the noise, looked outside and said, "Mom, the second uncle and second aunt are back."

"Second Brother is back. Please say a few words, Master You. Dad, Second Brother and the others are back."

When Li Dong heard this, he turned around, warned his wife, shouted into the room, and went out to greet her.

……

Li An came to Shi's house carrying a jug of wine and more than ten kilograms of meat. When he arrived outside the courtyard gate, he was stunned.

He saw that the snow on the roof of Shi Lin's house had been cleared, but the snow in the yard had not moved.

Moreover, the snow on the roof should have been pushed down with something, and it fell into a pile under the eaves and was not cleaned up.

Generally speaking, rural areas have thatched and adobe houses. After the snow stops, the snow on the roofs and doorways will be cleared.

If it is not cleaned up, the house may be damaged.

Moreover, when the snow melts, the yard is filled with water, making it inconvenient to get in and out.

Shi Lin is not a lazy person. The snow stopped yesterday evening. It makes no sense that the snow in the yard has not been cleared yet.

"Master, Goudan!"

Li An had a bad premonition in his heart. He put the things in his hands on top, pushed open the courtyard door, and shouted.

"Squeak~"

As soon as Li An opened the courtyard door, the house door was opened from the inside.

Shi Zhu was surprised when he saw Li An and said, "Brother Li San, are you back?"

Li An quickly asked: "Where is the master?"

Shi Zhu's eyes turned red when he heard this, and he said, "Dad was injured while hunting two days ago."

"What?" Li An's expression changed when he heard this, and he asked anxiously: "Is the master's injury serious?"

"Dad said the injury wasn't serious, but he just couldn't leave." Shi Zhu said.

Li An was a little speechless. He couldn't leave even though he was not seriously injured.

However, he also knew that Shizhu's expressive ability was limited, so he didn't ask him any more and went straight into the house.

As soon as he entered the house, he smelled a fishy smell. Without thinking about it, he went directly into Shi Lin's room.

Shi Lin leaned on the bedside and saw Li An coming in. He smiled and said, "A Niu is back."

"Master, how are you? Where are you injured? Why didn't you let Goudan notify me?" Li An asked anxiously.

Shi Lin smiled and said, "It's just that my leg is injured. I'll just take care of it for a while. If Goudan goes to find you, who will take care of me?"

"Let me see."

Li An said, lifting the quilt and checking it out.

"Why is it hurt so badly?"

Li An frowned slightly. Although the injured area was bandaged and he couldn't see the wound, he could tell it was quite large just by looking at the bandage.

"It's okay. I often get injured while hunting. I can handle it myself. It only takes a few months for me to recover." Shi Lin said.

"No, I'll send the master to the city to see the doctor." Li An said worriedly.

Medical conditions in ancient times were already backward. This injury was to the legs, and it would be troublesome if there were any sequelae.

Shi Lin felt very relieved, shook his head and said, "No need to bother, I told you it's okay."

Li An ignored him and said to the stone pillar on the side: "I brought a jar of wine and meat. I just put it at the gate of the courtyard in a hurry. You go and bring it in, and I will go home and drive the donkey cart."

After saying that, he ran out without giving Shi Lin a chance to speak.

"Aniu, Aniu..."

……

"father!"

Li An ran all the way home and shouted at the gate of the hospital.

However, he didn't get a response. When he entered the yard with doubts, he saw his brother Li Ping coming out.

"Brother, where is dad?" Li An asked.

Li Ping whispered: "Grandpa said that we want to separate the family. Dad and the others are all in the house."

"Family separation?" Li An was stunned, frowning, and asked, "What happened?"

The laws of the Song Dynasty stipulate that parents are not allowed to separate the family while they are still alive, and they cannot even mention it, otherwise they will be severely punished.

However, there are exceptions, and that is when parents take the initiative to separate families for their children.

Such behavior is allowed, after all, the court collects taxes on a household basis.

Although taxes were levied on a household's population and land, miscellaneous taxes and corvees were levied on a household basis.

For example, during Shang Yang's political reform, there was a mandatory rule that those with two or more sons would have twice as much wealth.

To put it simply, if a family has more than two sons and the family does not separate after adulthood, the tax will be doubled. This is to allow people to divide the family and collect more taxes.

By the time the Han Dynasty came, they only respected Confucianism and advocated governing the country with filial piety, believing that family separation was against filial piety. Later dynasties gradually restricted family separation.

Therefore, children cannot propose family separation while their parents are still alive or even during their death, but parents can.

"We just came back..." Li Ping slowly told what happened.

　Thanks to Wu Qi Zhenjun, The Fire in the Green Mountain, Book Friends 20230512014934612, and Gu Lin Qingfeng for their monthly ticket support.

　　Thank you brothers for your recommendation votes. I planned to add an update today if there were 100 recommendation votes yesterday. Although it was a little short, I still added an update today.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)