Jianshu never expected that Wu Xiufang was concerned about the transportation fee. In her opinion, the most uncomfortable thing about a long distance is the long commuting time, and the cost is secondary.

She also prefers places that are close to home to places that are far away. "That's the reason. There are many advantages to being close to home. It's also convenient if I need something on a daily basis."

Suddenly remembering something, she smiled again, "Now it seems that letting children become independent early on has its advantages. Otherwise, if you suddenly go to work, they won't know what to do at home."

"That's true! It's just right that they have gradually adapted to the situation now, otherwise I would really have a headache." Wu Xiufang was very grateful for this. Fortunately, she had listened to the advice before, otherwise she would not be able to work with peace of mind.

The weather is cold and hands are always easily frozen. Jianshu replaced the hot water in the cups of both of them, so they can hold them to warm their hands and drink some hot water to warm their bodies.

"When do you start work? There are no children in the nursery now, right? When can you register?" Jianshu asked a few more questions.

Wu Xiufang took a sip of hot water, her breath still hot. "I'm going to work next Monday, so I need to get ready. You know we cleared out the classrooms in a hurry, so a lot of things aren't ready yet. Once everything is almost ready, we can sign up."

Elementary school and daycare require different things, and there's a lot to prepare. It's obviously going to be busy.

"Then you have to rest well these two days. Once you go back to work, you won't have as much free time as you do now." Jian Shu teased with a smile. Taking care of children is not an easy task.

Wu Xiufang waved her hand nonchalantly. "As long as I get paid, I don't mind being busy!" It's just babysitting, isn't it? It's not like I've done that before. And getting paid for it, how great!

"There seem to be quite a few children in our family compound, right? Approximately how many people have signed up for the nursery this time?" Jianshu was a little curious about this.

She rarely went out and didn't interact with many people. Apart from Tiedan and his group of brothers, she didn't really know many children.

But Tiedan's group of children are basically of elementary school age. She really doesn't know how many two- or three-year-old children there are, but she thinks there should be quite a few. After all, she hears from time to time that someone's wife is pregnant or someone else has given birth.

In addition, there was no family planning in those days, so it was normal for a family to have five or six children. Many people got pregnant again just after their child turned one year old. The ages of the children were basically in an arithmetic progression, with one child every two years.

When Jianshu first heard about it, she was shocked, but later she became numb. Continuous childbirth has a huge impact on a woman, but she can't care about others and can only take care of the people around her.

Wu Xiufang was well-informed about this information. She did some mental calculations, "I'm not very good at math, so I don't know the exact number, but there are about ten children born in our family compound this year. Last year, there were even more, so there must be around twenty. Excluding some who were too young to be born, and those who have families to take care of them and don't necessarily need to be sent to the nursery, there are already 20 to 30 children under two years old alone. There are even more for those over two years old. There will definitely be quite a lot of people by then."

Jianshu quickly calculated in his mind. The number of people was not too many, but there were many infants and young children who needed care, so the workload was quite a lot.

"Then you will be busy in the future!" She couldn't help but feel sympathy.

One child is noisy enough, and dozens of children combined would probably be deafening. I hope Wu Xiufang's ears are okay.

After counting the people, Wu Xiufang was a little scared. With so many children, she wondered if she could handle it.

"It's okay, I can hold on!" For the sake of salary, she has to hold on. Everything will be fine once she adapts.

"Speaking of which, our military benefits are really good. As long as a direct blood relative is in the military, the nursery fees are waived, not a cent. The child can even eat in the cafeteria, which can save a lot of money." Wu Xiufang was puzzled. "What does direct blood relative mean? Why do we have to stipulate direct blood relatives?"

Jian Shu briefly explained to her, "Direct blood relatives refer to parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and so on. As for the regulations, think about it, if there were no such regulations, and someone brought all their nephews and nieces in, would the nursery accept them or not?"

"Like the families of our family, where the elderly come to live with their brothers and sisters' children, are we supposed to take them all in for free? Isn't that taking advantage of the country and asking the country to raise their children? The benefits that military children enjoy are earned through the blood and sweat of their parents. If everyone else did the same, and took their brothers and sisters' children in when this opportunity arose, how could the government afford it?"

Wu Xiufang suddenly realized, "You're right, isn't this taking advantage? If this really starts, I'm afraid the Dong family and the others will have to arrange to bring their entire families here, and that won't work."

The Dong family was also a family in the family compound. The old lady was mean and partial, favoring the eldest son over the younger one. Captain Dong was in the middle, neither loved by his father nor his mother. He had finally achieved his current status on his own and could live a stable life with his children's clothes, but his family members came to him because of the smell.

He was asked to arrange jobs for his older brothers and younger brothers, to pay the bride price for his nephew, and finally to move in with his two youngest grandsons.

He found fault and made nitpicks every day at home, causing chaos and becoming a laughing stock and gossip in the entire compound.

In the past, Wu Xiufang always mentioned his family in the gossip she shared with Jianshu. Every time she talked about it, her remarks were always filled with sympathy for Captain Dong, who didn't have a good mother and was surrounded by a bunch of blood-sucking bugs that he couldn't get rid of.

Every time she heard news about the Dong family, her unhappiness lessened a little. Happiness is always gained through comparison. Compared to the Dong family's situation, her family was much better off. At least her mother-in-law couldn't move in.

However, Jianshu disagreed. In her opinion, Captain Dong was not innocent. If he had not been cowardly and foolishly filial, things would never have developed to this point. If anyone really wanted to sympathize with him, they should sympathize with his wife and children for having to deal with such a husband and father.

After spending more time with Jianshu, Wu Xiufang's thoughts gradually changed. This change didn't happen overnight, but rather gradually.

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