“Oh right,” the classmate turned around and continued talking to her girlfriends.

"So that girl just accepted her fate?"

"What can she do if she doesn't accept her fate? Can she leave that family? Putting aside whether she can even leave that family, how will she live without a household registration and introduction letter? Sigh, my family has started arranging blind dates for my older sister. After my older sister gets married, it will be my turn. I don't want to get married so early at all."

“I remember your older sister is two years older than us, right? If you don’t find someone soon, won’t it be too late? My mom also said that I should stop studying after junior high school and start looking for someone to marry. Actually, I don’t want to get married too early, but my mom said that if I wait any longer, there won’t be any good families left.”

Qian Xiao shook her head, feeling a bit unreal. These were topics that junior high school students should be discussing.

She's not planning for her mother to go on blind dates when she's seventeen or eighteen, is she? No, definitely not. She doesn't want to step into the grave of marriage so soon after she comes of age.

If this were the 21st century, even if she didn't get married until she was thirty, she would only be nagged a few times, and people wouldn't criticize her too much. But now, if she's over twenty and still not married, people will say really nasty things.

Qian Xiao patted her forehead. What was she thinking? Qian Xiao, you're only nine years old. Why are you so sentimental at this age? This isn't like her. If she doesn't want to get married, no one can force her.

From the moment her deskmate found out how old Qian Xiao was, her age spread throughout the school. This shows how talkative her deskmate is; she can't keep even the smallest things to herself and has to tell others.

She felt like a monkey in a zoo, with people curiously glancing at her every day, as if they were taking advantage of her for free. It was so annoying.

This made her somewhat averse to studying.

"Erdan, what's wrong? You look so listless. Did you get bullied at school? No way, who would dare to bully our Erdan?" Qian Sanbao quickly asked, concerned when he saw his niece looking a bit dejected.

"No way, Erdan, someone really bullied you. Tell your third uncle who bullied you, and he'll go and beat them up for you. Where did your toughness go? How come you let someone bully you?"

Qian Xiao was truly impressed by her third uncle; he could put on a whole show all by himself: "No one bullies me, it's just that my classmates found out my age and were curious, so they look at me like I'm a monkey every day."

"Hey, what's the big deal? They're just envious of you. What kid is so smart and young to be in middle school? They're just jealous of you. Don't pay any attention to them. Don't you have a day off tomorrow?"

"Oh, how did you know?"

"Just listen to what the students at your school said. Don't think about anything else. During the holiday, go to the mountains to relax and maybe bring back some meat to eat."

He always comes back empty-handed when he goes up the mountain alone. Why isn't he as lucky as his own niece?

"I'm not going. I'd rather go to the fields with you guys. I'm too old for that kind of play. When are you going to work on that land?"

Qian Sanbao knew that his eldest niece was asking about the land in the mountains: "Your second uncle and I cleared it out a couple of days ago. We can just go over there and plant the crops here after we finish planting here."

"How about I go over there to farm by myself, and you guys do the work in the village?"

"No need. If we let you go there to farm by yourself, your grandparents would be heartbroken. You're still a child. You just need to play."

"Then I'll go up the mountain and get some meat to eat."

“I think it’s a good idea. We haven’t had meat in a while, but don’t go too deep. Just bring back some chicken and rabbit to satisfy your craving. Oh, I think I’ll go with you. Your family is worried about you going alone.”

"Ah, I'll be careful. You should stay home and do your work. I can manage on my own." Taking my third uncle along would be too much trouble, so she preferred to go up the mountain alone. If things got really dangerous, she could use her space to hide. But if she was with someone else, she couldn't use her space.

...

1958 seemed to come by very quickly. In the blink of an eye, Qian Xiao was already ten years old and in her first year of high school. She could only go home once a month. After all, the county town was much farther from the village than the commune, and it was quite a waste to have to take a bus to go back.

After getting out of the car, Qian Xiao saw her third uncle who had come to pick her up: "Third uncle, have you been waiting for a long time?"

"No, I timed my arrival perfectly. What's in your bag? Why is it so heavy?" Qian Sanbao took his niece's schoolbag and almost dropped it.

"How could it not sink if it's filled with scrap metal?"

"Why did you buy this thing?" His eldest niece had run out of books to deal with, so she started playing with scrap metal.

"Let's talk about it when we get home. Has my dad come back yet?" Her dad wrote to her when school started, saying that he could come home to visit this year. It seemed that he wanted to bring her mother to live with him in the military after things had settled down.

"No, they said they'd arrive in the next couple of days. I don't know if you'll be able to see your father."

"Are you really not planning to go with your mother to join the army?" He would prefer his eldest niece to stay at home, where it would be more lively, but the child would always want to be with her father, wouldn't she?

"No, it's too much trouble to transfer schools. I'm familiar with this place." She plans to try taking the college entrance exam next year. If she wants to go back to her parents, she'll wait until after she graduates from university.

“It’s fine if you don’t go. Your father said in his letter that it’s even more desolate than our home. You’ll have to walk a long way to school. You’re still young and won’t know anyone there. Your grandparents will definitely worry about you. You can stay at home and have your second and third uncles to take care of you.”

"My mother has decided to go?"

When she was about to leave for school, her mother was still hesitant. The main problem was that the conditions there were worse than at home, and her two younger brothers were also of primary school age, so it wouldn't be convenient for them to go to school there.

“Your grandparents told your mother to go, saying that it’s impossible for a couple to only see each other every few years. If they’re worried about the children’s schooling, they’ll let your two younger brothers stay at home too. Anyway, San Dan and Si Dan are grown up and can take care of themselves. They just need to be fed.”

Not to mention Qian Xiao's two younger brothers, even her second uncle's two younger brothers can now wash their own clothes. None of their children are spoiled.

“My mother will not agree. If my brother and I stay, we will only be a burden on the family.”

"What burden could there be? Three or four eggs are only so big. How much can they eat?"

When they were little, their eldest brother raised them. Although they often got beaten up, their eldest brother treated them very well. Whenever there was food, they would eat first, and the eldest brother would eat the rest himself. They would even be willing to raise their eldest brother's children.

"Look at my parents. I reckon my mother will take San Dan and Si Dan with her to join the army. That would be good too, since my father is all alone over there and lonely."

Her father is now a regimental commander, what if her mother gets into trouble again?