CH 110

Several of their experienced elders muttered for a while when they thought about the current situation. They agreed that once the elders turned 60, they might not be able to fend for themselves anymore, so that was where the children came in. The four sons would contribute an evenly-split quarter. After the age of 66, the elders could start to live as they want, not needing to work if they didn’t want to. All four sons contribute to the rations according to the actual pension standard as they would also provide the money, care, etc.

The old lady shouted through the window, “Jinbao and Jinyu are not married yet.”

Han Yongfang said, “This one has regulations. When the younger siblings get married, the compensation can be split into four. Each of the four separate families would contribute their share.”

Naturally, dowries would have to follow the current societal standards, so no one should have the authority to ask for more.

This way, everyone would be satisfied and content with how the responsibilities would be divided— despite the old lady thinking that Han Yongfang was being partial towards the Third family.

The eldest sister-in-law also euphemistically asked about dividing the family after the youngest son got married. But the old man merely answered that they would talk about it later when the time came.

The second sister-in-law was unhappy. Now that the money and the rations were divided to the Third family, there would be nothing left for hers!

Even so, the eldest sister-in-law knew that this was Old Man Han’s way of compensation towards the Third family. To be honest, although 100 Yuan seemed to be a hefty lot, it wasn’t anything much compared to the Third family’s contribution over the years.

After all, their money was entirely earned by Han Qingsong.

It would be fine if he wasn’t married, but since he had a family and even children, this sum of money had every right to belong to the Third family. All this time, it was unfairly used by Old Lady Han on her youngest son and daughter, so it made sense to return it to its original owners.

Old Man Han was keeping a backup plan for himself, after all. He naturally had his own set of rules when it came to filial piety.

In fact, he also favoured his youngest son and daughter— there was no helping human nature after all.

Though, he wasn’t as unreasonably favouring as the old lady because he had his own limits. According to his grandfather and father’s behaviour back then, they would always treat the sons equally on the surface. This would ensure that the sons wouldn’t be sceptical or be unwilling to carry out their duties when the elderly needed the support.

If they were seemingly favouring a particular child, the other sons would claim that they weren’t loved as much when they got older. Since the youngest was the one that curried their parents’ favour all the time, why should they have a hand in providing for their parents?

With the parents, then old and unable to carry out movements easily, wouldn;t the younger generation have the final say?

Even if the government was going to meddle, what was the use? The government wasn’t the one providing the funds to care for the elderly, so the sons would still have to fill in that role.

This was also the insight left by the ancestors, passing them down from one generation to the next. Old Man Han did not understand the philosophy back then, but he knew that he should learn and listen to the advice provided from the previous generation as his father was the same.

No matter how eccentric the mother was, as long as the father kept the standards as level as possible, the sons would take that into account and not treat their mother badly for their father’s sake and vice versa.