A jinx, me? But I bring good fortune to my whole family!

The moment those two words were uttered, the courtyard fell into a deathly silence.

At this time, rural areas place great importance on clan kinship; severing ties with relatives is a serious matter that would involve smashing ancestral tablets.

Grandma Gu was stunned by the shout, but she quickly realized that this was a good opportunity to ask for money!

"Fine! Fine, you Gu Jianguo! You've got guts!" Old Mrs. Gu jumped up and down, cursing. "You want to sever ties, huh? Fine! You want to dump this old woman and live a good life on your own? No way! Fine, we'll sever ties, but this house belongs to the Gu family, so you'd better vacate it! Also, give me ten yuan a month for my retirement! Not a penny less!"

"Ten yuan?"

The brigade leader, who had just entered the courtyard, almost laughed out of anger when he heard this.

He and his wife Hongxia rushed over after hearing the news, only to be met with this outrageous demand as soon as they reached the door.

"Aunt Gu, is your mouth blessed? How much does a first-class worker in the city earn in a month? And you just throw around ten yuan? Why don't you go rob a bank?" The brigade leader walked in with his hands behind his back and a stern face.

Sister-in-law Hongxia followed behind, spitting out a contemptuous slur: "You want a house again? This dilapidated house leaks and drafts. When it was allocated to Xiulan and the others, it was just a shack. Now that it's fixed, you want to take it back? Have you no shame?"

When Old Lady Gu saw the brigade leader arrive, she wasn't afraid at all; instead, she became even more agitated, plopping down on the ground and slapping her thigh: "Brigade leader, you have to stand up for me! My son beats his own nephew and wants to kick his own mother out; he's trying to drive me to my death!"

"Enough!" Gu Jianguo interrupted coldly. "The house is yours. You don't have ten yuan, but you can have ten yuan a year, take it or leave it. Now write this letter of severance and put your fingerprint on it. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other in life or death!"

Su Xiulan was startled and turned to look at her husband: "Jianguo, where will we live now that we've been given the house?"

Nuannuan blinked her eyes beside her and quietly tugged at her mother's clothes with her little hand.

[Mom, don't worry! Out with the old, in with the new! This old house is cold and damp, but we have money, we can build a big, tiled house!]

Su Xiulan felt reassured. Yes, she had several hundred yuan in her hand; why would she care about these few dilapidated mud houses?

She'd be happy to sleep outdoors as long as she could get rid of these vampires!

"Alright! I agree!" Su Xiulan threw down the fire poker, her voice brimming with joy. "Captain, please be our witness. As long as we sign the dissolution of the marriage agreement, we'll vacate the house immediately! Even if we have to sleep in the snow tonight, we won't stay at the Gu family home!"

The captain frowned, looking at the resolute expressions of Gu Jianguo's family, and sighed: "Jianguo, have you thought this through? Once you sign this document, you'll be two separate families. After you die, you won't be able to be buried in the ancestral graveyard."

"I've made up my mind." Gu Jianguo looked at Gu Xiaoyong, who was whimpering in Zhang Aidi's arms, and then at his own mother, whose face was full of calculation. His heart had long since turned cold. "Keeping this kind of relative around is just a disaster."

Ancestral graves? If you can't even get along while alive, why bury each other after death? To continue fighting?

Upon hearing that the house would belong to her and she would also receive money, Old Mrs. Gu immediately jumped up and shouted, "Write it down! Write it down now! Ten yuan a year it is, give me this year's first!"

The captain shook his head and sighed, then took out a pen and a notebook from his pocket and wrote three agreements.

"Please put your fingerprints on this."

It's not good for Old Madam Gu to keep making a fuss; it's better to stop now, he's fed up with it.

Gu Jianguo picked up the inkpad, pressed his thumb on it, and then pressed it onto the paper.

Su Xiulan pressed it too.

Old Mrs. Gu snatched the agreement and pressed her fingerprint on it: "Get out of here now! Move everything out before dark, don't take a single blade of grass from this house!"

"Don't worry, I find your stuff dirty." After saying that, Su Xiulan turned around and went into the house to pack her things.

There wasn't much of value in the house, just a few tattered quilts and some food.

All the good stuff is with Nuannuan.

Grandma Gu folded her letter severing ties with her husband neatly and tucked it into her bosom as if afraid it would be blown away by the wind. She stood at the doorway, legs spread apart, blocking the way like a dark-faced demon, her triangular eyes gleaming as she stared intently at the people tidying up inside.

"Get your act together! Are you trying to linger and not leave?" Old Mrs. Gu yelled in her hoarse voice. "Hey you, put down that broom! That's my Gu family's property, even if it's reduced to ashes, it's still mine!"

Su Xiulan was about to throw the bald broom into her basket when she heard this and paused. Looking at the old woman she had called "Mother" for over a decade, she felt her last shred of hope vanish.

"Okay." Su Xiulan loosened her grip, and the broom fell to the ground with a thud. "I'm saving this for your coffin money."

"You jinx, surnamed Su, who are you cursing?" The old lady was so angry that she jumped up and down, pointing her finger randomly and cursing.

Inside the house, Zhang Aidi was also busy, her triangular eyes darting around, specifically targeting anything warm.

Su Xiulan had just rolled up a cotton quilt, the one they usually used.

"You can't take this!" Zhang Aidi rushed over and pressed down hard on the corner of the blanket.

"Jinbao peed on the blanket, and he used it for a while, so it belongs to Jinbao. What right do you have to take it away?"

Su Xiulan almost laughed out of anger. She held onto the other end of the blanket and didn't budge.

"Second sister-in-law, are you even being reasonable? This quilt was brought back from the army by Jianguo, and it even has a number printed on it! Just because your Jinbao peed on it doesn't mean it belongs to you? Does that mean everything in our village is yours?"

"I don't care about what's outside!" Zhang Aidi was already unreasonable, and now she was even more so, burying herself on the quilt. "This cotton is good, my Jinbao really needs a mattress. You're all leaving, what do you need such a good quilt for?"

"Give it to her!" Gu Jianguo stood at the door, leaning on his cane, his face grim. "Xiulan, we don't need the old stuff anymore. It's all dirty and we'll have to wash it when we get back. We'll go buy some new stuff later."

Su Xiulan thought to herself, "Buying a new one costs money, doesn't it?"

However, since the head of the household had said so, she didn't want to get entangled with Zhang Aidi. She decided to leave first and clarify her relationship with this family.

As soon as she let go, Zhang Aidi, who had used too much force, fell flat on her face, wincing in pain. But she still clung to the blanket, grinning smugly.

"Are you trying to drive someone to their death in the middle of the night?!"

A loud shout came from the courtyard gate, and Sister-in-law Hongxia and the brigade leader came in with flashlights. The light shone on Old Mrs. Gu's face, making her squint.

Sister-in-law Hongxia rushed in, sweat beading on her forehead despite the cold weather. Looking at the mess in the room and then at Old Madam Gu's state, her anger flared.

"Xiulan, don't be afraid! Your sister-in-law is here to help you!" Sister-in-law Hongxia rolled up her sleeves. "Let's see who dares to bully you today!"

With Sister-in-law Hongxia and the brigade leader standing there, Old Lady Gu and Zhang Aidi were still cursing and swearing, but they dared not reach out to snatch anything anymore.

The adults were arguing loudly at the door, and no one paid any attention to the children.