Chapter 1 Household Registration: The Old Dong Family Refuses to Accept Heye's Household Registration...
April 1989
A late spring cold snap and a spring snow fell, and all the newly opened buds of the peach trees in the staff quarters of the Eighth Steel Plant were knocked down, leaving only a few drooping flowers. When the cold wind blew, the few scattered flowers fell away without a trace.
The peach blossoms have fallen, so we can’t eat peaches this year.
However, the people in the family compound had no time to feel sorry for the peach blossoms. Everyone's eyes were looking towards the old Dong family, and they were listening attentively to what was happening in the Dong family.
The cause was that the eldest daughter of the old Dong family, who had been an educated youth in the countryside for more than 20 years, came back with her younger daughter.
As for why the mother and daughter came back, everyone knew it. In March of this year, the country introduced a new policy that allowed educated youth who had been sent to the countryside and were unable to return to the city to choose one of their children and send him back.
However, the child couldn't just come back whenever he wanted. He needed relatives in the city willing to be his guardian, and he needed a place to live.
The eldest daughter of Old Dong came back this time just for this matter. The reason was that although her younger daughter came back according to the policy, her household registration could not be obtained yet.
If the household registration cannot be obtained, the child cannot become a Hucheng citizen. If he is not a Hucheng citizen, he cannot study in their Hucheng school. Not only can he not study, but he may also be easily mistaken for a vagrant and arrested when he walks out.
When the eldest daughter of the Dong family heard this, she was so angry that she immediately asked for leave from work and bought a train ticket to rush back.
Of course, the Dong family wasn't the only one unwilling to accept their child's household registration. These days, every household was poor, especially their houses, which were pitifully small. Many families had three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, a dozen or twenty people, crammed into a single, 30- or 40-square-meter room.
Everyone is so crowded in the room that even if you stand at the back with a slightly raised nose, you'll bump into the back of the head of the person in front of you. It's so crowded that you can't even move your feet. If we take in another child, how will the whole family live?
However, the reason why everyone pays so much attention to the Dong family is because the Dong family is extraordinary.
Old Dong married two wives.
His first wife gave birth to two sons and two daughters, but unfortunately she had a short life and died early in her forties due to overwork.
This second daughter-in-law is very capable. She has not given birth to any children with Old Dong, but she can still control him completely.
In those years, when educated youth went to the countryside, the eldest daughter of the old Dong family and A Ping of the Mei family were both old enough and had to go to the countryside without jobs. Old Dong was reluctant to give up his salary as a third-level worker, so he watched his daughters go.
As for the Mei family, Old Mei was also a third-level worker. He was reluctant to let his daughter go to the countryside to suffer hardships, so he gave up his job to his daughter despite the pressure. This decision was not an easy one.
A third-level worker earns 45 yuan a month, but his children can't inherit his rank by taking over, so they have to start as temporary workers. Temporary workers only earn 12.5 yuan, a full 32.5 yuan less than before. Not to mention the various securities, food coupons, and benefits that third-level workers receive.
In the first few years after Old Mei started working, life was tough for the Mei family. Ordinary families were poor, but at least they could buy a fish and two pounds of meat during the holidays to satisfy their cravings.
As for the Mei family, they were reluctant to eat a single bite of the fine grains distributed by the steel plant during the holidays. They instead exchanged them for coarse grains such as sweet potatoes and sorghum just to fill their stomachs.
Everyone was talking about it, saying that Lao Mei was stupid. She sacrificed a daughter in exchange for a better life for the whole family. Which family wouldn't do that?
So everyone understood that Mr. Dong was reluctant to give up his job, but who would have thought that two years later, Mr. Dong would remarry and marry his current wife.
This daughter-in-law was also a second marriage. She had a son with her first husband. After her husband died and she couldn't make ends meet, she remarried to the widower, Old Dong. She brought her son with her when she married him.
Two years later, the stepson was old enough to go to the countryside. I don't know what the new wife said, but in the end, Lao Dong gave the job to the stepson.
The stepson was already fourteen or fifteen years old when he came to the Dong family. He was neither his biological son nor the one he had raised since childhood and they had a deep relationship. He was even able to persuade Mr. Dong to give the job to his stepson. What do you think of the young widow who just married Mr. Dong as being very powerful!
The powerful young widow is facing off against the eldest daughter who has been living in the countryside for 20 years. The Dong family is in big trouble.
At this time, the Dong family was on the verge of a falling out.
There are always many conflicts in a reconstituted family. Children who are related by blood often have conflicts, not to mention stepbrothers who are not related by blood.
Dong Hongfu usually disliked his stepbrother Liu Qiang, especially after his father gave up his job to Liu Qiang. When both of them got married and had children, and squeezed into this small house of less than 40 square meters, the conflicts became even more serious.
However, at this time, facing the eldest sister (stepsister) who wanted to send her daughter back, the two families rarely reached a consensus.
Dong Hongfu said, "Sister, it's not that I don't want to take my niece in, but look at our house, where can we find room for one more person?"
"Your sister-in-law and I have two children. Your eldest nephew, Kangtai, is already 20 years old this year. Others at this age would have been talking about marriage long ago, but he's still nowhere to be found. Isn't it because there's no room for him at home?"
"Even if you don't talk about your nephew, just think about your younger brother's good fortune. He's twenty-six years old this year, and he can't start a family because he has no place to live."
After Dong Hongfu finished speaking, Dong Fuyun immediately said, "Brother, don't use me as a scapegoat. I have no objection to my niece settling back."
Dong Fuyun has had a good memory since childhood. Even though his eldest sister left home 20 years ago, he still remembers that she always took care of him when he was little. He was just over a year old when his mother left. If it weren't for his eldest sister taking care of him, feeding him and clothing him, he might not have grown up.
When the eldest sister went to the countryside and sent some things back, she also told him that some of them were prepared for him, fearing that he would have a hard time living under his stepmother.
Although most of the things she sent back were snatched away by others, Dong Fuyun still remembered his elder sister's kindness. If he hadn't had his elder sister's care, his life would have been even more difficult.
After Dong Fuyun finished scolding his elder brother, he looked at his father, Old Dong, and said, "Dad, my elder sister has been working in the countryside for twenty years, and this is all she asked for. He Ye is also your granddaughter. Do you really have the heart to let her go back to that remote corner of the countryside and waste her life just because of the issue of settling down?"
Old Dong was shaken.
Liu Qiang could see his stepfather was wavering, but he really didn't want another person in the family. She was called a niece, but what did this cheap sister's daughter have to do with him?
Liu Qiang was afraid that the old man would give in, so he quickly glanced at his mother. Wang Sumei returned her look to reassure her son.
Liu Qiang felt relieved instantly.
He knew her ability and the old man could not defeat her no matter what.
Old Dong knew that he was sorry for his eldest daughter. After hearing what his youngest son said, he looked at his eldest daughter Dong Taohua and met her pleading eyes.
Old Dong's guilt reached its peak. Just as he was about to agree to let his granddaughter stay, his step-wife Wang Sumei reached out and twisted his arm hard.
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