When Bonnie got home, she let the children play by themselves and wanted to lie down for a while.
Liu Jiu and San Qi looked at their mother (the second aunt) who seemed listless, and felt a little worried. It was the first time they had ever seen their mother so listless.
"I understand, Second Aunt. You go to sleep and don't need to pay attention to them. They're all insignificant people."
Xuan Yu pulled Liu Jiu and San Qi back to their room; the two children had their own ideas.
"Brother Xuanyu, is my mother hiding something from us? She seems off."
Sanqi stared at Gu Xuanyu with a stern face, which was quite intimidating.
"Second Aunt misses Second Uncle. He has been in closed training for several months. Second Aunt hasn't seen Second Uncle for several months and misses him very much."
Gu Xuanyu's words were only half true; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to convince Liu Jiu and San Qi.
"Really? We haven't seen Dad for months either."
Sanqi's implication was that he wasn't actually that listless.
“Sanqi, how can you be the same as your second aunt? Second Uncle and Second Aunt are husband and wife, they are going to hold hands for a lifetime, and they will be buried together in the future. You are still young, you don’t understand.”
Sanqi blinked and gave his brother a disdainful look. "As if you know everything. You're a bachelor too!"
Gu Xuanyu...
Sanqi, are you being polite?
Bonnie woke up feeling much better after a nap.
"You stay home, I'll go to the courtyard house to get some groceries."
Bonnie said goodbye to the children, put on her clothes, and left.
It was right after the New Year, and the temperature outside was still very low. Bonnie tightened her scarf, put on her gloves, and set off on her tricycle.
Upon arriving at the courtyard house, Bonnie first swept the snow in front of and behind the house. There wasn't much; she and the children had already cleared it before the New Year.
Sigh, I must say, doing some work and sweating a bit makes me feel great. That's why her grandfather always says that people can't be idle; many things happen when you're too idle.
The vegetables I took out of the cellar were still very fresh; the potatoes hadn't sprouted at all. I wonder which master chef they hired to build this cellar back then; their skills were top-notch, even better than a refrigerator.
Bonnie didn't bother Teacher Zhai. It's said that she spends these few days every year in seclusion at home.
Back in the compound, I saw groups of people gathered in twos and threes. I didn't need to listen carefully; they were talking about the spoiled brats in the compound, including Gu Bei.
"You know what? We have them in all these compounds, covering land, sea, and air forces. We've even got them in the government compound next door. A dozen or so boys and girls, tsk tsk... It's so embarrassing!"
"That's right, I heard that when the police went in, there were still a few people with their butts naked!"
"Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking. It's one thing for the guys to be like this, but for the girls to be like this too, their daughters will have a hard time finding partners in the future!"
...
Bonnie listened to all sorts of news, some true and some false, and two aunts were talking animatedly.
"You know, the Gu family guy, supposedly he got drunk. When the police went in, they saw him with a man. You know, the one from the Air Force family compound, the really burly one, the one with all those muscles."
"I've heard about it too. They say that the young man from the Gu family has incredibly fair skin, even fairer than a young lady's..."
The women spoke with such certainty, as if they had gone in with the police officers and witnessed it firsthand.
Bonnie sighed, "No matter when, these kinds of scandalous news stories are always the most popular and spread the fastest."
Bonnie didn't want to hear these stories that had gone through countless procedures and been edited multiple times; she didn't care.
Perhaps because of what happened yesterday, no one with any sense of propriety went up to her and gossiped, so she was able to have some peace and quiet.
In the following days, the children started studying with Teacher Zhai, and Bonnie stayed home alone. Suddenly, she felt that the house was very quiet.
When Bonnie heard the knocking, she was momentarily confused, thinking she had misheard.
After a series of knocks and inquiries, Bonnie confirmed that it was her own door that was being knocked on.
"Gu Wei, Lili, you're here?"
Bonnie let them in. She hadn't seen this family of three for a while—no, a family of four, with one more in her belly.
"Sister-in-law, I wish you a belated Happy New Year. My mother fell ill before the New Year, and Gu Wei and I have been helping to take care of her at the hospital. She was just discharged yesterday."
Chen Lili explained why they only came today.
"What illness did you have? Are you fully recovered? I haven't heard anything about it."
Bonnie and Gu Wei get along quite well; the Gu family is one of the few people who can get along with them.
"I had an acute stroke, and half of my body is now paralyzed. The doctor said I can only recover slowly and there's no other good way. Now, I go to the hospital near my home regularly for acupuncture to see how much I can recover."
A full recovery is impossible; maintaining the current state and preventing it from worsening is the best outcome.
Chen Lili has been very anxious and stressed these past few days. Fortunately, she hasn't been bedridden or paralyzed on the kang (a heated brick bed), which is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
"You can't rush or get stressed with this illness. You need to stay positive, move around more, and exercise gradually. You're almost due, aren't you? Your belly looks quite big now."
Bonnie and the others haven't seen each other for over a month. They weren't this big when they last saw each other.
"There's still over a month left, and the doctor said everything is normal. Sister-in-law, I heard that family planning will be strictly enforced in the future. If I wait any longer, I might not be able to have a child."
Chen Lili overheard her colleagues talking about how various organizations are now promoting the idea of having fewer and better births.
“I’ve heard about it too, but I don’t know the specifics. You’re doing well, with two children. Even if they don’t allow you to have more, it’s fine.”
Bonnie couldn't remember exactly when family planning was written into the constitution, but it seemed to be in the early 1980s.
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