After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

On a summer morning, the sun had just climbed over the eastern ridge, and the heat was already intense. Chen Xiaohe, carrying two empty fish baskets, walked along the dew-covered paddy field ridges towards the stream outside the village. This was his daily routine—retrieving the fish baskets and checking the rabbit traps. The riverbank was shrouded in mist, with willow branches drooping low, making it a relatively cool place.

Today was a lucky day. The fish baskets were heavy; upon lifting them, he found three or four crucian carp and grass carp, each weighing about half a pound, splashing their tails at the bottom, their silvery scales shimmering in the morning light. Much better than the usual small, unwanted fish. "Hey! Time for a better meal!" Chen Xiaohe grinned, in high spirits. He quickly strung the fish onto willow branches, then checked the nearby rabbit traps, only to find them empty. Undeterred, he packed up his things, carrying the heavy fish strings, humming a tuneless little tune, and walked briskly home.

As he approached the old locust tree at the village entrance, he saw several women who usually chatted there gathered together. Their voices weren't loud, but their expressions carried a mixture of exaggerated surprise and barely concealed excitement. Normally, Chen Xiaohe would have simply nodded and moved on, but today his sharp ears caught the words "Aunt Li," "family division," and "uproar." His heart skipped a beat. Remembering how his family had almost taken on the job of making camphor wood chests from Aunt Li a few days ago, he slowed his pace and moved closer.

He was shocked to hear this. The more he listened, the more serious his expression became. He forgot about the fish in his hand, turned around and ran home. His steps were so fast that the chickens and ducks foraging by the roadside flapped their wings and flew away in panic.

"Mother! Mother! Are you home?" Before even entering the courtyard, Chen Xiaohe's panting voice rang out, revealing an unusual urgency.

Inside the main room, Chen's mother was doing needlework with Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing, watching the four little ones crawling around on the kang (a heated brick bed). In the backyard, Chen's father and Chen Dashan were repairing farm tools, preparing for the autumn harvest. Hearing Chen Xiaohe's unusual shout, everyone inside and outside the house tensed up and stopped what they were doing.

Chen's mother was the first to lift the curtain and come out, still holding a half-finished shoe sole in her hand, her face filled with worry: "Xiaohe? Didn't you go to collect the fish basket? What happened? Where are the fish?" She was even more worried when she saw her youngest son empty-handed (he had subconsciously carried the fish behind his back), his face flushed, and his forehead covered in sweat.

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing followed them out, and Chen's father and Chen Dashan also quickly walked around from the backyard.

Chen Xiaohe then realized he was still carrying fish. He handed the fish skewer to Su Xiaoqing, who was coming to greet him, and rushed to the water tank. He picked up a gourd ladle, scooped up half a ladle of cold water, and gulped it down before he could catch his breath.

"Mom! Dad! Big brother! Sister-in-law! Do you know what? It's a good thing you didn't let Big Brother take on Aunt Li's job!" Chen Xiaohe wiped his mouth, and this was the first thing he said, his eyes wide open.

"What exactly happened? Tell me slowly," Mr. Chen said in a deep voice, sitting down on a stone stool in the courtyard.

Chen Xiaohe pulled up a low stool and sat down, took a deep breath, and began to recount: "I had just finished collecting the fish and came back. When I got to the big locust tree at the village entrance, I saw several people gathered there whispering, so I went over to listen. Good heavens, they were all talking about Aunt Li's family!"

He paused, and seeing that his family was listening attentively, he continued, "Didn't we refuse her work making chests? Aunt Li then went to find Liu the carpenter in the next village. I heard she spent one and a half taels of silver to have two large camphor wood chests made, using materials she had already prepared herself. This was supposed to be done quietly, but somehow her eldest and second daughters-in-law found out. How could this be? The two daughters-in-law dragged their husbands to Liu the carpenter's house in the next village, crying and making a scene, saying that their mother-in-law favored her daughters and emptied the family's savings, that they couldn't live like this anymore, and demanding that Liu return the money, saying that the work couldn't be done."

Chen's mother gasped, "They've made a scene at the carpenter's house? This is too much..."

"Absolutely!" Chen Xiaohe slapped his thigh. "That carpenter Liu has never seen anything like this before. He was so upset that he had no choice but to return the deposit and the money for the timber. He was so angry that he said on the spot that he would never do business with Aunt Li's family again, and he wouldn't do business with anyone in the village, even if they were related to her! He said that this family is unreasonable and they can't afford to offend them."

Su Xiaoqing listened intently and couldn't help but ask, "And then what happened? What happened after you got home?"

"It'll be even more lively when we get home!" Chen Xiaohe lowered her voice, as if she were talking about some incredible secret. "This time, my two sons and daughters-in-law are determined. They've laid their cards on the table and said that the family must separate before my sister-in-law gets married! Their reason is that if they don't separate, all the money they've worked so hard to save will eventually be spent by their mother subsidizing her daughter! They also have children to raise, and they can't let themselves suffer losses without any explanation."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Chen frowned deeply and even forgot to light his pipe.

"Of course Aunt Li wouldn't have it. She cried and wailed, cursing her sons for being unfilial and her daughter-in-law for stirring things up. But this time, her two sons were very firm, saying either they would divide the family property and support their parents according to the rules, or they would just drag it out and refuse to contribute a single penny of their earnings to the common people's coffers, seeing who could outlast whom. The house was in constant chaos, and even the neighbors couldn't stand it anymore, so it ended up with the village head." Chen Xiaohe sighed as he said this, "The village head couldn't do anything either. Even an upright official can't settle family disputes, but this couldn't go on like this, so he stepped in and mediated, dividing the family property."

"How were they divided?" Su Xiaoyin asked softly.

"The land was distributed among the two married sons, based on the number of people. Aunt Li also kept a small plot for her own consumption, but she was alone and getting old; how could she farm it? In the end, it was agreed that her two sons would give her a fixed amount of grain each year. Providing for her old age and seeing her off in her final days was naturally the responsibility of her two sons." Chen Xiaohe said, counting on his fingers, "I heard that the family's cash, scraped together from various sources, totaled only three or four taels of silver. Five hundred coins were left as a dowry for their daughter who was getting married—this was only because the village head took pity on his daughter and persuaded her to keep it. The rest was divided equally between the two sons."

The courtyard fell silent for a moment, with only the cicadas chirping loudly in the trees.