Chapter 069: Fighting for the Family Estate

When Yang Tian returned home, he was surprised to find that Yang Yang’s parents—his uncle and aunt, Yang Ming and Su Fang—had come to their house. This was a rare occurrence, both before and after his rebirth. In Yang Tian’s memory, Yang Ming and Su Fang seldom visited, as they looked down on Yang Bao.

Yang Bao was merely a laborer, while they were both factory workers, living comfortably, unlike Yang Bao’s family, who barely managed to put food on the table.

Though astonished, Yang Tian still greeted Yang Ming and Su Fang with a polite smile. Yang Xueling, on the other hand, was different; she never smiled at those she disliked. She simply ignored the couple and strode past them with her head held high, so infuriating Yang Ming and his wife that they stamped their feet in anger.

“This girl is already so grown up, yet she still acts like a child. No manners at all—just like her father!” Su Fang complained, while Yang Ming snorted coldly.

“Brother, sister-in-law, what brings you here today?” asked Yang Bao and his wife, who sat across from them, looking utterly bewildered. In their hearts, they knew that Yang Ming and Su Fang would never come unless it was for something important.

Yang Tian was also curious about their purpose, so he deliberately sat down beside his grandfather, Yang Qingtang, who, as usual, sat quietly, never intervening in his children’s affairs.

“What? Can’t we come over without a reason? Now that you’re growing vegetables in greenhouses, you don’t even acknowledge your brother and sister-in-law?” Yang Ming said sarcastically.

“Of course not; we’re delighted to have you both here! Xiaotian’s father, hurry and buy some groceries!” Yang Tian’s mother, Li Xiuying, quickly interjected with a forced smile. Although she disliked Yang Ming and Su Fang’s ways, they were, after all, Yang Bao’s brother and sister-in-law, and with Yang Qingtang present, she didn’t want Yang Bao to lose face.

Yang Tian saw all of this and understood clearly: his uncle and aunt were jealous of his parents, and the reason was obvious—they were envious because of the greenhouse vegetables.

“No need for that; we won’t be staying for dinner. Let’s get to the point. We’re here this time mainly to discuss the family inheritance with the old man as witness!” Su Fang stopped Yang Bao, who was about to leave for groceries, and spoke sternly.

“The inheritance?!” Yang Bao and his wife were stunned, and even Yang Qingtang was taken aback.

“This house is the ancestral home of the Yang family—so it should belong to both our families. The fields in Daliushu Village should be shared as well,” Yang Ming added.

What they said wasn’t wrong. The house Yang Bao currently lived in was indeed the ancestral house, and both he and Yang Ming had grown up there. It was only later that Yang Ming bought a home at the market and moved out.

According to rural custom, ancestral property and farmland were collectively owned by the male descendants, usually divided equally, with both sons sharing the responsibility of caring for their parents.

Back when Yang Bao and Li Xiuying got married, they had once brought up the matter of inheritance to Yang Ming and his wife. At that time, Yang Ming had scoffed at them and, in front of relatives and friends, proclaimed that he was more capable than Yang Bao; he would leave all the inheritance to Yang Bao, and he alone would care for Yang Qingtang.

Their relatives and friends all praised Yang Ming and his wife as dutiful children, but little did they know that most of the money Yang Ming used to buy his house in the market had come from years of Yang Bao’s hard labor. Back then, Yang Bao would hand every cent he earned to Yang Qingtang, and later, Yang Ming had tricked him into using that money to buy the house.

“So, what are you saying…” Li Xiuying asked nervously. She knew Yang Ming and Su Fang never came without a motive, but she hadn’t expected them to come for these things.

Yang Tian frowned, a bad feeling rising in his chest. He suddenly realized that his uncle and aunt’s true motive was the greenhouse vegetables.

“It’s simple: let’s just divide up the inheritance! In the past, we didn’t, because your family was struggling and Yang Bao is such an honest man—we couldn’t bear to see him suffer. But now things are different. Yang Bao is a well-known boss, a wealthy man. It’s time we talked about the inheritance!” Su Fang feigned righteousness.

“Oh, is that so? Brother, sister-in-law, all that’s left from father are this house—which we renovated—and the fields. How about this: you name a price and we’ll pay you, and that’ll be the end of it. We’re all family; no need to divide up the inheritance and make ourselves a laughingstock in the village,” said Yang Bao, ever the good-natured one, with a smile.

“Well, well, Yang Ming, did you hear that? That’s your brother talking—he’s a man of status now, so we mustn’t ruin his good name!” Su Fang twisted his words, her tone biting.

“Sister-in-law, that’s not what I meant!” Yang Bao hurried to explain. He was being sincere—the Yang family was now a prominent household in Daliushu Village; how could they let others laugh at them?

“So what do you mean then? Enough with the nonsense—dividing up the inheritance is only natural! As for money, we don’t want it—we’re not short of money. Let’s stick to the old rules: the house and the fields, split equally!” Yang Ming lit a cigarette for himself, not bothering to offer one to Yang Bao, or even to Yang Qingtang, which made Yang Tian feel uncomfortable.

“Well…the house is easy to deal with, but the fields are already planted with greenhouse vegetables. We’ve signed contracts with factories in town. If we hand over half, we won’t be able to fulfill our supply. We’d have to pay a penalty for breach of contract!” Yang Bao said with difficulty. Now that their greenhouse vegetable business was running smoothly, everything depended on the contracts. It was convenient and profitable, but the greatest fear was breach of contract—both the large fines and the loss of reputation, either of which could be fatal for a businessperson.

“What’s to worry about? We’ll use our half for greenhouse vegetables too. We can deliver to those factories ourselves!” Su Fang grinned slyly.

Yang Bao and his wife were stunned. They finally saw through it—Yang Ming and Su Fang were after the greenhouse vegetable business.

This was unacceptable to Yang Bao and his wife. When they first started the greenhouses, Yang Ming and Su Fang had done nothing to help and only ridiculed them as crazy. They hadn’t even lent them two hundred yuan in an emergency. Now that the business was profitable, they wanted to take half under the pretense of dividing the inheritance? Impossible!

After all, the greenhouses were the result of years of hard work and dedication. They would never give them up without a compelling reason.

“No. Absolutely not. You can have the house—we’ll rebuild. We can even buy the fields from you. But the greenhouses—we will never let you have them. Don’t even think about it!” Yang Bao, after a moment’s thought, spoke firmly and loudly. Though he respected his brother and sister-in-law, the memory of their actions filled him with anger.

PS: Highly recommend Qu Feng’s excellent novel “A Second Chance at Life: The Long Road.”