When Bonnie saw Xu Fang again, she didn't even recognize her; she had changed so much.
After winter set in, Gu Ye became busy, traveling on business every few days.
Bonnie belatedly realized that this should be the beginning of a crackdown.
Records indicate that the crackdown began in 1984, but in reality, it started in the second half of this year. However, it didn't have a significant impact at the beginning, and many people were unaware of it.
"Bonnie, I'd like to ask for a day off tomorrow. I need to go home and take care of some things."
After dinner, I told my older sister and Bonnie about my request to take the day off tomorrow.
"Okay, is one day enough?"
"That's enough. My little girl is getting engaged. I'll go back and make the arrangements."
The eldest sister smiled broadly; she was quite pleased with the boyfriend her youngest daughter had found.
"Wow, what a wonderful thing! Did you meet him yourself or was someone introduced to you? What does he do?"
“Introduced by someone else, a comrade of my eldest son. He also knows my eldest son. He was a soldier who was demobilized and now works at the Public Security Bureau.”
I was happy to mention my younger daughter's boyfriend to my older sister. He had served in the military, so his character was reliable.
"That's good. Being a public servant means a stable job."
"Yes, it's official. His parents are doing well. I've asked around. His parents are retired, and his older brother and sister are both married. The two old people live alone."
After they get married at the end of the year, the young couple will live separately. They own a house not too far from my daughter's workplace; it's not big, just a one-bedroom apartment in a tenement building, but it's enough for them. Now that my daughter is married, I can finally relax a bit.
Sister Xiang is always in high spirits when she's happy, and once she starts talking, she can't stop. She's been holding it in for several days, and now she can finally say it; otherwise, it doesn't feel real.
"That's great. The young couple both have jobs and a house, so their future won't be bad."
Bonnie also thought this was a good idea; the police wouldn't be among those facing future layoffs. Besides, since last year, family planning had been enshrined in the constitution, limiting families to one child and lightening the burden.
It's quite interesting to talk about this. Most of the residents in their compound are elderly leaders, so the issue of having a second child doesn't exist for them. However, some of their children and grandchildren do have children, especially those who are already married and have daughters, and that's when things get really chaotic.
Because of this, Bonnie and Sister-in-law Wei Hong spent several days off gossiping together. To be honest, these people really went to great lengths to evade the one-child policy, coming up with all sorts of tricks and schemes.
Some couples faked divorces, some gave their daughters away for adoption, some changed their daughters' household registrations, and some, devoid of conscience, secretly abandoned their daughters...
In the end, the fake divorce became a real one. The woman cried and made a huge scene, but to no avail. The most hateful one was the one who abandoned the child; when it was discovered, she almost lost her job.
In short, she disregarded everything else in order to have a son, and didn't even know what the family had to inherit.
Bonnie chatted with Sister Xiang for a while, and then they each went back to sleep.
Sister Xiang's daughter is engaged, and Bonnie didn't prepare any gifts or red envelopes. She'll give them all at the wedding.
My older sister gets up early to make breakfast. With fewer people in the family, she cooks less, which makes things much easier.
When Bonnie got up, Sister Xiang had just finished packing and was getting ready to leave.
"Congratulations, Sister Xiang!"
"Thank you, I'm leaving now. I won't be back tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow morning."
"No rush, come back after you're done."
Bonnie gave a word of advice: getting engaged means a lot of people coming and going at home, and there's a lot to do.
After breakfast, Gu Ye and Sanqi left first, while Bao Ni left after cleaning up the dishes.
After get off work in the evening, Bonnie went to the small market to buy lamb. They were having hot pot that night. Xiangjie still had some hot pot base that she had made before, so she just needed to buy some meat and vegetables.
The meat from Dayang Village is now very famous. It has a fixed store in the market, and you can buy all kinds of meat at any time. The village has also become rich. This year, they even built a road. Every household in the village raises livestock.
After buying her groceries, Bonnie carried her shopping basket home. Before she even reached the entrance of the residential compound, she saw a figure that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
With his gray hair, hunched back, and lifeless eyes, Bonnie couldn't immediately recall who this person was.
"Lin Baoni, you don't recognize me anymore. You must be happy to see me like this! I'm very indignant. We share the same surname, Xu, and we're from the same ancestor. Why can Xu Ning live a good life while I have to live a life of serving others?"
I tried my best to live a better life than Xu Ning, but in the end, my children are useless, while Xu Ning's children hold high positions and enjoy great wealth. She left us young, and her children cherished her. My children, however, see me as an enemy. My only son died young; I, an old man, have to bury my son. Heaven is so unfair.
Bonnie watched the hurriedly departing figure and realized that the person was Xu Fang. This was unbelievable; she looked more than ten years older, like a woman in her sixties or seventies.
After the initial shock, Bonnie felt that this person was hopeless. What she had just said meant that she didn't think she was wrong at all, and that everyone else was at fault. It's true what they say, there's always a reason why someone is pitiful.
Back home, Bonnie started preparing the ingredients for the hot pot. As for Xu Fang and the like, she really didn't take it to heart and didn't plan to tell her brother Ye, so as not to make him feel uncomfortable.
It was a rare occasion that the three of them were eating hot pot with mutton in the evening.
"Sigh, it doesn't taste as good to eat hot pot without my sister."
Sanqi took another bite of meat, but felt like something was missing.
"Your sister should be back this week, it's been a month."
Bonnie misses her daughter too. She wonders what the food is like at the military academy. Last time she came back, her daughter Liu Jiu had lost weight.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
