For families with children taking the middle school or college entrance exams, July is definitely a dark month. There are worries before the exams, anxieties after the exams, and the days of waiting for the results are also agonizing.

Over the past two months, although Sister Lu tried to comfort herself and let things take their course, she couldn't help feeling anxious. For one thing, she lost about ten pounds and suddenly looked noticeably thinner.

When the final results came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; the results were finally in.

The results are out, but it's not over yet; they still have to choose a school. Zhuangzhuang's grades are so low that he has no chance of getting into a top high school in their district—he's not even close. His grades are only good enough for a regular high school, or he could get into a vocational school through connections.

My second sister and brother-in-law felt that their child was still too young, and going to a vocational school would be too risky; they were afraid he would be led astray. In the end, they decided on a regular high school, which was a bit far from home and would require boarding. Zhuangzhuang's situation was settled like that, and they would have to endure another three years.

Similarly, Liang Chao's son's results came out, but the difference was that the boy's results were better, and he was admitted to the key high school in their district, which is the same school as An An's.

After everything settled down, Zhuangzhuang could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He asked his mother if he could go to his second uncle's house for a few days to relax. His second aunt, Lu Erjie, agreed; Zhuangzhuang had spoken to his second aunt himself, and Yu Yin said he was welcome to come.

In September, An'an and Pingping entered junior high school and became junior high students. Kuaikuai and Manman entered the third grade, and their homework increased, so they could no longer play freely.

These are all minor matters, matters concerning only a few families.

In September 1982, family planning was established as a basic national policy, a bombshell that exploded over the heads of the entire nation.

"You've heard? Family planning has been established as a basic national policy!"

"It's true, it's in the newspapers. From now on, you can only have one child, a boy or a girl, and there will be no one to carry on the family register!"

"What should we do? They won't let us give birth anymore!"

"Family planning has been implemented!"

...

For a time, this topic was the talk of the town, in every street and alley.

In fact, many people don't understand what the basic national policy means. They just know that in the future, people will not be allowed to have more children; they can only have one.

From her commute from work to home, Yu Yin heard only this one topic. Everyone from the elderly to elementary school students was discussing it.

"Ugh, Mom, my classmates talk about having babies all the time, it's driving me crazy. Whether or not to have children is an adult's business, what does it have to do with us elementary school students?"

She quickly slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, walked into the house with a grumpy expression, and complained to her mother about her classmates.

"There are very few only children in your class, so what do they have to talk about?"

“Mom, you don’t know. There are only children in our class too, though not many. Some are only children because they have a daughter and are afraid their parents will complain that they’re not a boy. Others are only children because they have a son and say their parents wanted a daughter but now they don’t have the chance.”

Quickly recalling those only children, I felt indignant.

"Also, there are families with two daughters who are sighing a lot. They say their parents feel they have no motivation to live in the future. Without a son, there will be no family line. They even said they want to find sons-in-law to support their two daughters in their old age. How terrible!"

As he spoke, he shook his goosebumps.

"How about you, Manman?"

"It's alright. I don't usually talk about these things with them, and they won't talk about them in front of me. Kuai Kuai and Ping Ping like to gossip about these things, so they keep talking about them in front of you."

The explanation was quite thorough: it was because Kuai Kuai liked to talk about these things with his classmates, so it was all his own fault.

Yu Yin never expected that her youngest son would be so gossipy.

"Alright, after a while, everyone will get used to it and stop talking about it. Or, when a new topic comes up, this topic will be forgotten."

"We understand, Mom."

During dinner that evening, An'an brought up the topic as well.

"Mom, what does it mean that family planning has been established as a basic national policy?"

"The basic national policy is the principle and guarantee upon which the country survives and develops."

Lu Shurui received his wife's distress signal and rushed over to the rescue.

"That is to say, the country has made this requirement, and it is not something to be discussed; it must be implemented."

Pingping's understanding is correct; it's something everyone should abide by.

"Oh dear, now that we can't have children, what if we want to have them again but there's no one left to have them?"

An'an, you are a prophet. Decades later, the country will encourage childbirth and open up the two-child policy. However, many people would rather keep pets than have children. The whole world will experience population aging and low birth rates.

Some people jokingly say that a certain ethnic group might be wiped out by the end of the century because no one will have children.

Grandpa and Grandma Lu didn't offer any opinions. They'd been through so much, and their family already had plenty of children; there was nothing to worry about. Having more or fewer children wasn't important; the key was raising them well.

Yu Yin knew this was just the beginning. Only when family planning was enshrined in the constitution and those who had more children than allowed were dismissed from their posts would people realize that family planning was for real. Only then would various "birth control guerrilla groups" emerge, hiding and running away, with many people just trying to have a son.

Yu Yin doesn't like gossiping, and she'd be even less likely to say anything about this matter, lest she incur hatred.

She's in her early thirties and has four children, including two sets of twins. It wasn't a big deal before, but since the one-child policy was implemented, her family has become the focus of attention again. Fortunately, the children are all grown up, otherwise they might be easily frightened.

No matter how shocked or incredulous they were, life had to go on. The corn cobs at Yu Yin's farm were growing well; each plant had about two ears, and they were quite large. It was a bumper harvest, all thanks to the space they had.

We've bought another batch of ewes, and the ewes that were previously raising piglets are about to give birth. There's also a lot of good news from the pigsty: two batches of pigs have been sold, and the sows are about to give birth.

Everything is going well, and by the end of the year, we may be able to earn back the land rent we have to pay this year.

Yu Yin has had a relatively easy year. Not only will Qian Weiguo receive a portion of the dividends at the end of the year, but the farm is also basically self-sufficient. Yu Yin plans to expand for another year, and if there are no unforeseen circumstances, they will increase the number of animals they raise and achieve economies of scale.

Making a lot of money on such small-scale operations still requires manpower and resources, so let's speed things up so that the employees can feel at ease.

Zhong Liang and Yu Yin had mentioned that they owned their own pig farm and raised a large number of pigs. They could build a meat canning plant to maximize their profits, as selling live pigs yielded too low a profit margin.

Yu Yin never imagined that her original plan was to start small, but once things were set up, she would find that many things would get out of control.

Yu Yin had also considered Zhong Liang's suggestion. She knew there was a more suitable product: ham sausages. However, she hadn't decided whether to develop it; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to enjoy her leisure time.

There's still time. She's still accumulating funds, so there's no need to make a decision so quickly. She should just wait it out for a while.