After the guests were seated, the banquet began. The wedding dishes were delicious. There were adults and children at Su Qingmeng's table. Chopsticks were flying around the table, and everyone was competing with each other for speed.

A little kid wearing dirty clothes and with black fingernails was grabbing shrimps with his bare hands. When he couldn't reach them, he kept calling his grandmother to pick up some food for him. His grandmother would just keep saying "eh eh" and would agree to his every request without eating much herself.

Kang Kang stared at the child with wide eyes, thinking it was so rude.

Su Qingmeng quickly picked up a few chopsticks of the dishes on her side and put them into Kang Kang's bowl. She hadn't attended a banquet or anything like that for so long that she had forgotten about it and was rushing to eat the dishes.

She still remembers that when she was a child, she often encountered this situation when she followed her parents to attend other people's weddings.

This was the case a few years later, let alone now. In the 1990s, the living standards of ordinary families could not afford to eat meat every meal, and attending a banquet was a rare opportunity to eat meat, so everyone cherished it.

Aunt Wu whispered to Su Qingmeng, "That's the child from the Liang family at the end of the alley. His parents went to the south to work and left him with his grandmother. He's been spoiled beyond belief."

Su Qingmeng remained silent. This was indeed a widespread social problem, with more and more left-behind children. There were spoiled children like this one, and then there were children who were hungry and cold. It all depended on the character of the grandparents who took care of them.

Su Qingmeng was also a left-behind child for two years when she was a child. She is from the rural area, and it is not easy to make money from the land in the countryside. Many young and middle-aged people in their village go out to work in the city.

Although she had enough food and clothes to eat at her grandparents' house, the child definitely missed her parents. Later, her parents earned money, returned to their hometown, and took her to live in the city, and her treatment improved.

There are many other children in the village who live worse than her, and many of them are raised by their grandparents.

This situation exists not only in rural areas but also in cities. The performance of state-owned factories has declined, the iron rice bowl is no longer secure, laid-off workers are everywhere, and many people cannot earn money at home, so they go south to work. It is inconvenient to take their children with them when they go out, so the children become left-behind children.

On the way back, Kang Kang was still complaining about the impolite child. Su Qingmeng gently stroked his hair and said, "That child is also young and knows nothing. He is also spoiled by his grandma."

Kang Kang was curious, "Don't his parents care?"

Su Qingmeng explained the current social situation to her son. "His parents have to go out to work to earn money. Otherwise, how will he pay for food, drink, and schooling? Do you think the child's parents don't want to be with him?"

Kang Kang seemed to be lost in thought.

Su Qingmeng continued, "So you know how happy you are, right?" A child born in Rome.

Kang Kang threw himself into Su Qingmeng's arms and hugged her, "Thank you, Mom."

Lin Xiuyao, who was in the driver's seat, asked, "Where's Dad?"

Kang Kang blew him a kiss and said, "Thank you too, Dad."

——

Wangfujing Street in Beijing is bustling with people. Su Qingmeng and Qiu Ling shuttled through the crowd, strolling leisurely.

After attending Zhou Hai's wedding, Su Qingmeng stayed at home quietly for two days and then asked Qiu Ling to go shopping.

Qiu Ling talked about her work, "Now our publishing house has to be responsible for its own profits and losses, and we have been very busy recently." If the publishing house makes too little profit, their salaries cannot be high, so the president has carried out drastic reforms.

"It's a market economy now," Su Qingmeng said. "It's no longer the same as it was in the past when supply was less than demand. Now it's the consumers who rule the world."

"Haha," Qiu Ling laughed, "Yes, it's our world."

"There's a jewelry store here, let's go and take a look." She pulled Su Qingmeng into the store called "Beautiful You".

Qiu Ling picked up an earring and tried it on. "This is the same style as that Hong Kong celebrity. Does it look good?"

Su Qingmeng looked at her. Today's jewelry is influenced by Hong Kong, and earrings are quite exaggerated. Qiu Ling tried a large round hoop. She had a round face, and it looked very cute in contrast. "It looks pretty good, very cool."

Su Qingmeng had a lot of jewelry and didn't like the style of this store. In the end, Qiu Ling only bought a plate of hairpins and the earrings she had tried on, spending a total of fifteen yuan.

Walking out of the store, Qiu Ling sighed, "Prices are rising fast, but wages are rising slowly."

Su Qingmeng said: "Your unit is still okay. Look at other state-owned factories that have gone bankrupt." Generally speaking, public institutions can still last longer than factories.

"That's true. The daily chemical factory assigned to the Sports Commission can't pay wages, and I heard that the factory is going to be sold to foreigners." Qiu Ling said, "After introducing foreign capital, we have to re-evaluate, and unqualified employees will be laid off." Her neighbor was laid off in this way.

Talking about her current situation, Qiu Ling is confused: "Things have changed so fast in the past few years. Before, everyone was proud of having a stable job, but who knew that jobs are no longer secure anymore."

Before the college entrance examination was resumed, her dream was to work in a factory. The factory she wanted to work in has closed down. Fortunately, her parents have reached retirement age and retired directly, otherwise they would also face layoffs.

Su Qingmeng comforted her, "It's still easy for us college students to find jobs. It's okay to work in private companies. Capable people can still make a name for themselves even if they change companies.

I think the hardest hit are those in their 30s and 40s who don’t have any skills and may have elderly parents and young children to support, and face even greater pressure from unemployment.”

Qiu Ling nodded. "My second uncle is like that. He's already old and he's been laid off, but he still has to sell breakfast at a street stall. My cousin is still in high school, and he has no other options."

The current environment is different from that in the 1980s. At that time, any self-employed person with a little skill could make money, but now the competition is fierce, and you must have outstanding skills to make money.

The two of them went to a newly opened commercial building and browsed some foreign brands. Looking at the prices, Qiu Ling complained, "I might as well just rob them." A piece of clothing cost several thousand.

This is just the beginning. In a dozen years, there will be items costing hundreds of thousands of yuan each, Su Qingmeng thought.

The two of them just strolled around casually and didn't buy much. Qiu Ling was short of money, and Su Qingmeng felt that it was unnecessary. She was not one to pursue big brands, and she just wanted comfortable clothes and shoes.

Unless it is a luxury item with collection value, such as a watch, she is reluctant to spend money. If she has the money to buy a house, she has not given up on being a lazy housewife.

It was noon, and Su Qingmeng said, "Let's go eat some noodles with soybean paste." It was so hot that she had no appetite.

Qiu Ling agreed, and the two entered an old restaurant. After ordering, they found an acquaintance. Gao Qin was eating with her daughter at a table not far away.