Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Chen Zaisheng took out his notebook from his briefcase, pulled his chair closer to the coffee table, and then looked at his father, Chen Xiangui. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Chen Xiangui coughed lightly.

"Today we're dividing the family property, so let's get this straight. All five of you brothers are here, and your wives are here too," Chen Xiangui said, taking out an iron box from under the coffee table. The edges of the box were worn down to the point where the paint had all come off, and the rust had turned black.

"According to tradition, when families separate, brothers live independently. Your father is not capable enough to give each of you brothers a piece of land to build your own house. This old house is ancestral property, passed down from your grandfather, and will be passed on to your eldest brother's lineage in the future, so it will not be divided!"

"I just discussed it with A-Dong and Secretary Tian. The neighborhood committee agreed that as long as you move your household registration out and set up your own households, the neighborhood committee will allocate a plot of land for each household to build their own houses. I will pay for this, as you will be making up for your losses."

Chen Xiangui's sons and daughters-in-law had no complaints. This old house was originally given to Chen Xiangui, the eldest brother, when the three Chen brothers divided the family property. And with this latest division, it was passed on to Chen Zaiguang, the eldest son. This is almost the tradition in Jiping Town.

Chen Xiangui used his fingernails to pry open the tightly closed iron box, revealing money and some gold and silver jewelry inside. Little Chen Hui and Little Rongguo, who had somehow gotten close, exclaimed in surprise when they saw what was in the iron box. Little Rongguo asked in astonishment, "Grandpa, is all this your New Year's money?"

"No, little brother, this is your great-uncle's secret stash of money," Xiao Chenhui corrected him. Xiao Rongguo tilted his head, looked at his grandfather, and laughed, "Grandpa, can I have your money later?"

"You brat, come back here right now, or I'll spank you!" Chen Zaixing laughed and scolded as he went to pull his son away. Little Rongguo ran away yelling, and in the crowd, he accidentally bumped into Chen Zailong's leg and fell on his bottom.

Xiao Rongguo cried out in pain, clutching his bottom. Xiao Chenhui ran over and asked, "Little brother, are you alright? Let me take a look."

"Brother, my butt hurts!"

"It's okay, your butt's still there!"

To everyone's surprise, when Xiao Rongguo touched his bottom, he discovered that his pants had ripped open, and he immediately burst into tears, crying, "Mommy, my bottom is split in two! Waaaaah!"

"Hahaha!" Upon hearing this, everyone in the room burst into laughter.

"You idiot, whose butt isn't split in two?" Wu Fangru was about to die laughing at her silly son. She went over, pulled her son over, and looked down. Her pants had popped out and split in two. She couldn't laugh anymore.

Chen Xiangui was laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. He quickly wiped his eyes while getting a cigarette and continued, "This is the money your mother and I have saved over the years, a total of three thousand two hundred yuan. As for these jewelry pieces, they were given to your mother by your grandmother when she married into the family. These are all to be left to the eldest daughter-in-law and eldest granddaughter-in-law, and will not be divided among them."

Chen Xiangui looked at Huang Tairen, signaling that he could begin to oversee the division of the family property. Huang Tairen then spoke to everyone, saying, "You are all married now. The eldest son is working at Adong's food factory, the second son is with Adong in Jinbu, Mianyang Town, the fourth son manages a supermarket, and the fifth son... well, let's not talk about him!"

"No, Uncle, why don't you say anything when it's my turn?" Chen Zaixing was getting anxious. He wanted to hear his uncle praise him, so why didn't he say anything?

"Old Five got lucky and stumbled upon a real estate venture. Are you satisfied now?"

Hehehe!

Chen Xiangui rolled his eyes at him, and Huang Tairen continued, "There's only the third brother, who's still just a head chef in the cafeteria. What I mean is, you four brothers who have established yourselves, in front of your uncle, tell each other how much to give the third brother."

"Uncle, that's not right," Wu Fangru said immediately upon hearing that they were supposed to give money back to their third uncle, Chen Zaiguang. "This supermarket was something our third uncle said he wouldn't participate in; we opened it with our own money. Why should we give him money back?"

"Yes, Uncle," the second daughter-in-law, Gu Ying, also voiced her objection. When her husband was sick and needed money, the third son secretly hid his savings, clearly unwilling to spend money on his own brother. How could she possibly agree to give money to the third son, Chen Zaiguang, as a subsidy?

Ma Jiao glanced at Zeng Xia, and seeing that she didn't seem inclined to speak, she swallowed back what she was about to say. Huang Tairen waited until his two nephews-in-law finished speaking before saying, "It's true that you two contributed the money yourselves back then, but you didn't divide the family property at the time. Now that you're dividing the family property, you have to discuss it clearly and formally."

"Back when our third son worked in the meat processing plant's canteen, he sent ten yuan home every month. You can't deny that, can you?"

Huang Tairen is their maternal uncle, so he wouldn't comment on whether it was right or wrong for the third son to secretly hoard money. Putting right and wrong aside, the division of the family property had to be as fair as possible. It couldn't be that the other nephews would be millionaires after the division of the property, while the third son's family would only have pots and pans left.

Huang Tairen looked at Chen Zaiguang and asked, "Eldest son, you're the eldest son. Do you think this division is fair?"

Despite having many opinions about the third son, Chen Zaiguang, Huang Tairen's way of dividing things still convinced Chen Zaiguang. He frowned and nodded. Huang Tairen then looked at the second son, Chen Zaisheng, "Second son, you're the older brother. Tell me, shouldn't we give some subsidies to the third son?"

Chen Zaisheng glanced at his third brother, who was bowing his head, his face grim. He wanted to say it shouldn't be done, but reason and manners made him say, "It should be done, Uncle, your division is very reasonable!"

"Fourth and fifth brothers, your supermarkets are doing very well now. Fifth brother, you're so lucky, everyone in the village calls you 'General Manager Chen' when they see you. Even the village dogs bark 'Woof woof' when they see you. Tell me, shouldn't we give your third brother's family some money?"

Upon hearing his uncle's words, "Uncle, since you've said that, if I don't give it to you, you'll definitely ruin my reputation by spreading rumors about me everywhere!"

"Don't talk nonsense. Your uncle never gossips, and I would never spread rumors that you've forgotten your own brothers now that you're rich," Huang Tairen said with a smile, looking at Chen Zaixing. "You're the youngest, so starting with you, tell me, how much of the subsidy will be given to your third brother?"

Wu Fangru winked at Chen Zaixing, and when Chen Zaixing saw his wife blink five times, he said, "Then I'll give you a subsidy of 5...50,000...5,000 for Third Brother."

"Alright, let's make it even bigger, another 55,000. Fourth brother, how much do you get?"

"Ah! Uncle, no, I mean..."

"A man's word is his bond. How can you go back on your word so soon?" Huang Tairen asked Chen Zaixing, glaring at him. Chen Zaixing was dumbfounded. He was shameless enough, but he never expected that his uncle would always be his uncle!

I'm convinced!