Chapter 432: Division of the Family Estate
Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Division of the Family Estate
Mrs. Bai was deeply gratified by her sons’ attitude. She didn’t mind bringing the matter up now; this day would come sooner or later anyway, and clarifying things early was actually for the best.
"Alright, I have my own plans for this," she said. "I prepared a dowry for Suihe before, but she has suffered a bitter fate and ended up in a wolf’s den."
At this point, she shot a sharp glare at Bai Jingwen. He was the one who had finalized their daughter’s marriage. Fortunately, their son-in-law’s recent performance had been commendable, otherwise she would have made sure no one had a moment’s peace.
Bai Jingwen knew that this woman always held a grudge. Ever since the Gu Family was convicted, she had made countless passive-aggressive remarks. If he didn’t have a few Jieyu Flowers in the backyard to comfort him, this life would be truly unbearable.
But the Gu Family had been at the height of their power back then, and he never expected Gu Baijiang to be so useless. He only had this one legitimate daughter; how could he possibly want to harm her? Thank goodness their daughter was fine, otherwise he feared this woman would have completely fallen out with him. He wondered what she meant by entering a wolf’s den. Previously, the look in her eyes whenever she saw their son-in-law had been full of affection. She had been incredibly satisfied with him!
"Suihe has no one else to rely on; from now on, she can only depend on you two. Although I subsidized her a bit in private, it was only a little over ten thousand taels of Silver," Mrs. Bai said, taking this opportunity to lay everything out in the open. While her two sons wouldn’t hold a grudge against their older sister, who knew what kind of characters their future wives would be?
"Mother, say no more. Most of your dowry should have gone to Suihe anyway. You can make the decision; we will accept whatever you choose." Bai Jianbei glanced at his older brother. "I have enough Silver anyway. Why not just give it all to Suihe?"
Although this decision was a bit unfair to his brother, his heart also ached for his sister.
"That won’t be necessary. I agreed with you boys a long time ago that the three of you would split it equally.
"When Suihe got married, I had her take a portion of it. Fortunately, I didn’t let her take all of it back then, or who knows whose hands it would have fallen into.
"As for the remaining portion, once I sort everything out, I will hand it over for you two to manage yourselves."
This time, their daughter had also provided a recipe, allowing both brothers to take great advantage of it. Truthfully, their daughter was the one taking the loss.
The back-and-forth deferments between the mother and her two sons left the illegitimate sons of the Bai Family holding in a breath of frustration. At the same time, they secretly resented the fact that they hadn’t been born from the legitimate mother’s womb. If they could receive so many assets, they would have been able to make a show of generously deferring to one another too. However, thinking of the unacknowledged illegitimate children kept outside by their father, they realized those children would receive even less compared to their own open and rightful share of the inheritance. This brought them some psychological balance. At the very least, their names were on the family registry. If anything happened in the future, the legitimate branch wouldn’t be able to just ignore them.
Hearing no mention of those outside children from their legitimate mother this time also made them feel a bit more at ease. But right now, they had a more important matter at hand. They absolutely disagreed with leaving a portion of the family assets behind to be divided equally in the future. Who knew if other children would be born later on? Even if there were, they wouldn’t allow it.
Having figured this out, they subtly hinted at their respective birth mothers. These women were no fools either; how could they let the meat already in their mouths fly away? Thus, they all unified their stance: divide everything equally among everyone present first. As for any future children, they could each take out a portion of their shares later. Of course, once the family fortunes were safely in their own pockets, getting them to cough it back out wouldn’t be so easy.
Bai Jingwen actually wanted to keep a portion of the estates for himself. With his skills, he could certainly double them in due time. But this time, no one was willing to cooperate with him. Even the usually gentle and yielding concubines demonstrated an iron-clad will, refusing to agree no matter what he said. As for his wife, she simply sat there holding her teacup, watching the spectacle. Not wanting to lose face, he gritted his teeth and accepted the arrangement.
The division of the household quickly concluded. Afterward, Bai Jingwen finally remembered the few children he had left on the outside. In the end, he could only heave a sigh. He had already given them enough in the past, and it would be sufficient for them to survive.
All of these details were penned down in letters from her mother and two younger brothers. Reading them, Bai Suihe also felt a breath of relief. A few of the favored illegitimate daughters had caused her no shortage of private grief in the past. Seeing this outcome now, her entire being felt thoroughly refreshed. So what if they had been favored? Their birth status had already dictated everything.
"This is truly rare. To divide the household like this without causing a massive uproar," Gu Kaiyuan sighed in amazement after finishing the letters.
He had heard no shortage of farces born from dividing inheritances in the past. With the Bai Family holding such massive estates and distributing them so unevenly, a peaceful transition was genuinely rare.
"What is there to make a fuss about? From the moment the children of the Bai Family are born and learn to speak, they start memorizing the family rules. Certain things are already ingrained in their very bones. Even if they wanted to cause a scene, they would have to see if they had a valid reason.
"If the inheritance was divided after my father passed away, making a fuss might have gotten them a bit more. But right now, my parents are still the ones in charge. Even if you gave them ten times the courage, they wouldn’t dare stick their heads out. Otherwise, the only thing waiting for them is expulsion. The Bai Family isn’t exactly lacking in heirs."
"Then we should divide our family fortunes early in the future too," Gu Kaiyuan said.
Bai Suihe rolled her eyes at him. "We only have one daughter. What is there to divide?"
Gu Kaiyuan took this opportunity to lean closer. "My dear, having only our baby is a bit too lonely for her. If she gets bullied in the future, there won’t be anyone to back her up."
Bai Suihe turned around and looked at him coldly. "Are you favoring sons over daughters?"
"You can’t spout such nonsense," Gu Kaiyuan said. He quickly glanced in their daughter’s direction, and finding her sleeping soundly, he lowered his voice. "No matter how many children we have, our baby will always be the most important.
"It’s just that being alone is far too lonely. We can’t let her end up with no one to support or speak up for her after we grow old and pass away."
"There’s no rush for that." Although Bai Suihe had recovered her memories from her past life, she still felt uncomfortable immediately resuming a true husband-and-wife relationship with Gu Kaiyuan. Now, faced with this issue of having more children, all she wanted to do was avoid it for the time being.
However, Gu Kaiyuan calmly scooted even closer. "There is no rush. We were just discussing the issue of dividing the inheritance early for our children in the future. I actually think your father’s family has a great rule here; we could write it into our own family rules."
"What? Do you want to learn from my father and fill an entire backyard with women?"
Gu Kaiyuan thought back to the day Bai Jingwen arrived—the man had brought along a whole flock of concubines. Gu Kaiyuan’s house couldn’t even fit that many people, and they had been forced to rent out an entire inn just to accommodate them. Terrified by the thought, he quickly shook his head. "I wouldn’t dare. Having just you is enough for me. I told you when we got married back then. It will be just the two of us for our entire lives."
Bai Suihe blinked. "When the Gu Family came to propose back then, they said the exact same thing. Moreover, that was supposed to be your family’s rule. But Baijiang has already taken a concubine, and your father is keeping a mistress outside..."
Gu Kaiyuan felt incredibly wronged in his heart. He had already severed all ties with the Gu Family, yet he hadn’t expected them to still be planting landmines for him like this.
"They are them, and I am me. I will never have any concubines or outside mistresses.
"If I ever violate this vow, I am willing to be cast out with absolutely nothing. I can write all of this down for you in black and white..."
In order to restore their marital relationship, Gu Kaiyuan was truly putting everything on the line...