Chapter 225 (First Update) 1993 - It was painful...
Tang Mingli quickly tidied herself up and returned to her study, where she happened to see her daughter covering her mouth and giggling adorably at her husband. She wished she had a smartphone right then and there so she could capture this cute moment of her daughter's.
This is not the first time Tang Mingli has felt such regret.
Her daughter is so adorable, she wants to capture so many moments.
In her disappointment, she unexpectedly discovered that the camera was placed on the shelf by the study door. She picked it up decisively, clicked the shutter, and captured the moment.
The click sound made the father and daughter turn their heads.
Tang Mingli pressed the shutter again, capturing this precious moment.
As for Fu Yu, since she no longer had to keep her father's secret, she couldn't wait to ask her mother, "Mom, are you happy?"
"Happy?" Tang Mingli was indeed very happy, but she didn't understand what her daughter meant by being happy.
"Dad said that you should celebrate your 15th wedding anniversary."
So that's what it is.
Tang Mingli smiled and said, "Mom is very happy."
Fu Yu suddenly asked, "Mom, I was five years old when you celebrated your fifteenth anniversary. How old will I be when you celebrate your fiftieth anniversary?"
Simple addition and subtraction calculations are still too difficult for five-year-old Fu Yu.
Tang Mingli told her daughter, "When your dad and I celebrate our 50th golden wedding anniversary, you'll be 40 years old."
Upon realizing she was getting older, she suddenly felt a little sad.
Her baby is still a child; it's hard to imagine what he'll be like at forty.
Have you achieved academic success or made significant contributions in a particular field? Are you married and have children?
But what she cares about most is whether she is still as carefree as she was when she was five years old.
Her darling, may you live a carefree life forever.
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After celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, Fu Ci returned to Shenzhen, leaving behind a pair of small elephants carved from crystal.
When Tang Mingli saw the gift, she couldn't stop smiling.
How could someone be so adorable? Because it's our crystal wedding anniversary, they specially gifted us crystal carvings.
She likes gold, so does that mean she has to wait another thirty-five years to receive a gold ornament?
Fortunately, her grandmother and mother-in-law understood her and, being very practical, gave her a gold pig weighing over 100 grams.
Tang Mingli put the golden pig into a safe, while the crystal ornament was placed in the study.
When practicing calligraphy in the study, glancing at it a couple of times when I get tired can help relieve fatigue.
Perhaps because she had seen them so many times, she grew to like the pair of baby elephants more and more.
However, the daughter seemed a little downcast when she saw the baby elephants.
Only after Tang Mingli pressed her for an explanation did she understand the reason. She was annoyed at her own negligence and called her husband that very night.
"Xiaoyu hopes to have a little elephant that symbolizes her."
Fu Ci instantly realized his oversight; he had only thought about giving his wife a gift to commemorate their 15th wedding anniversary, completely forgetting to consider his daughter's feelings.
He quickly went back to the crystal factory, made a small elephant sculpture, and rushed home the day after receiving the sculpture.
When Fu Yu saw her little elephant, the sense of loss that had enveloped her for so many days finally dissipated.
She carefully carried the baby elephant upstairs, placed it next to her parents, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Our family is finally reunited."
What was said without malice may have been taken to heart by the listener.
Fu Ci felt the peak of guilt for not being able to be with his daughter all the time.
Once his career is on track, the company is more mature, and everything is stable, he will definitely spend more time with his daughter.
As they waited, two years and a year passed in the blink of an eye.
The year is now 1993.
This year was a painful, unforgettable, and agonizing one for millions of ordinary families.
For the first time, people realized that even the "iron rice bowl" they once thought of could crumble.
Many state-owned enterprises have had to adjust their cumbersome employee organizational structures due to efficiency issues.
Many people were suddenly laid off.
For someone who has held onto a secure job for half their life and thought they could live a peaceful and stable life, suddenly encountering such a situation in middle age can be devastating.
Although no one in the Fu family was laid off, they still saw the news on television.
Even more so, this happened right around them.
Gu Dazhi's son, Gu Wei, was also laid off.
Upon learning this devastating news, Gu Dazhi immediately called the Fu family to cry to Old Master Fu and Old Madam Fu.
Although Mr. Fu and Mrs. Fu were also very worried.
Gu Dazhi is still so young, and he has a wife and children to support. What will he do in the future?
But this is national policy. If others can be laid off, why can't you?
They could only offer comfort and reassurance regarding Gu Dazhi's layoff, while also trying to find ways to help him find another job.
Hearing these words from Old Master Fu and Old Madam Fu, Gu Dazhi felt much relieved.
To them, this meant they were willing to help solve Gu Wei's job problem.
However, after waiting for several days without any news from the Fu family, they became anxious again.
Gu Dazhi took early retirement last year because of the factory's poor performance. If his son loses his job as well, it will be a double blow to their family.
When both breadwinners of a family are unemployed, it's like the sky has fallen for that family.
Gu Dazhi and his wife wanted to go to the Fu family and plead with Old Master Fu, their elderly maternal uncle, in person.
They wanted to come to the Fu family to ask Old Master Fu for help, but fortunately, Gu Lin found out about it before they could do anything about it.
Gu Lin knew that it was her sister-in-law, Tian Xiao'e, who called to tell her.
As soon as she learned that they wanted to visit her great-uncle and great-aunt at the Fu family's house, she wished she could buy a train ticket and come back immediately.
But she also knew that by the time she returned by car, her parents would probably have already gone to her great-uncle's house.
Gu Lin could only try to persuade her over the phone.
She advised her parents not to go to her great-uncle about this matter.
"Your great-uncle is over eighty years old and hasn't been feeling well lately, so please don't bother him."
"What about your brother?" Gu Dazhi still thought of his son first.
Gu Lin took a deep breath in anger before saying, "So what if I'm laid off? There are so many private factories now. If I'm laid off from a state-owned factory, can't I go work in a private factory?"
"You'll still call it a private factory, but how can a private factory be as stable as a state-owned one? What if I lose this job after two years?"
"If you don't have one, just find another. You have hands and feet, so you can't be without work. Besides, look at me, I've been working in a garment factory for several years now. Isn't that stable?"
After talking about herself, Gu Lin used Tang Mingmei as an example.
"There's also Mingli's cousin, who used to work at a brown sugar factory. Later, when the factory's business declined, she started her own street stall and eventually opened her own clothing store. After that, she came to Shenzhen and worked at her cousin's clothing store for two years. Now she has her own clothing store in Shenzhen."
Gu Lin really admires that someone can open their own shop in Shenzhen.
In short, Tang Mingmei is now a role model for ordinary people to strive for in her heart.
However, Gu Dazhi and his wife wouldn't listen to any of this. All they knew was that without a stable job, their son's life would be in turmoil.
Having no other option, Gu Lin could only threaten her parents: "Your great-uncle's health is not as good as it used to be. If you really bother him and cause him any health problems, do you think your cousin's family will forgive you?"
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
She didn't plan to tell her parents too much about it. It was her eldest brother who was laid off. Her sister-in-law had just called her crying, and she had already comforted her on the phone and given her sister-in-law some advice.
She believed that her older brother and sister-in-law would listen to her advice.
However, after thinking about it, I still felt uneasy.
Should we talk to my cousin about it?
But no one in the factory knew about her relationship with her cousin. If she went to find him rashly, and others found out about their kinship, she didn't know what the consequences would be.
After thinking about it, she decided to talk to her cousin-in-law.
So he called the Fu family again and told Tang Mingli about it.
Tang Mingli has been feeling particularly heavy-hearted lately because of her grandfather's health.
She knew that people would have various health problems as they got older, but knowing that was true, she still couldn't help but worry when she saw her family members' health deteriorating day by day.
She said to Gu Lin on the other end of the phone, "Thank you, Gu Lin. Grandpa has indeed been unwell recently and was even hospitalized yesterday. It's really not a good time to be disturbed."
"Is Uncle-in-law in the hospital? Is he sick? How serious is it?"
Gu Lin was extremely anxious when she heard that Grandpa Fu was hospitalized.
Tang Mingli comforted him, "It's nothing. Grandpa is already eighty-eight years old. He didn't seem to be in good spirits yesterday, so we had him hospitalized for an IV drip and a thorough check-up. It's alright, don't worry. If Grandpa really had a health problem, Fu Ci wouldn't be able to stay in Shenzhen with peace of mind."
That is indeed true.
Gu Lin was relieved, but she still wanted to go back and see her great-uncle.
Tang Mingli advised her, "You should focus on your work in Shenzhen for now. You can come and visit Grandpa when he's feeling better."
Gu Lin nodded. Her great-uncle was in the hospital, and if she insisted on going there, it might cause trouble for her cousin-in-law and the others.
Before hanging up the phone, she pleaded with her cousin-in-law: "If my parents insist on going to my uncle's house to find them, please don't let them in."
Tang Mingli smiled.
They're all family members; how can we not let them in?
However, she can assure them that they will absolutely not bother their grandparents.
Hearing this, Gu Lin was finally relieved.
She increasingly felt that she should be like her cousin-in-law in terms of how she conducts herself and how she does things.
Have principles and have a bottom line.
Gu Lin was focused on the phone and didn't notice that two coworkers had appeared behind her, waiting for her to finish her call.
Perhaps because they had been waiting for a while, the two of them did not look very good.
One of them couldn't help but mutter, "What kind of person is this? There are only two phones in the factory, and they don't even know how to be considerate. They keep making calls and chatting for so long."
Gu Lin quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, something happened at home and I took up the phone for too long."
Hearing that she was in such a hurry because of a family emergency, her coworker could understand and his tense expression relaxed.
"It's alright, everyone has their moments of urgency. It's just that more and more people can afford to install telephones at home now, and the number of employees in the factory is also increasing. The factory should install a couple more telephones for the employees."
Gu Lin smiled. This was something the management could decide, and she couldn't say anything about it.
But his coworker's words reminded him that more and more families are now able to afford to install telephones at home, which means that more and more families are living better lives.
She hopes her parents will realize this soon.
On the other end.
After hanging up with Gu Lin, Tang Mingli immediately received a call from the hospital.
On the other end of the phone, Mrs. Fu sounded anxious.
"Mingli, something terrible has happened."
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Author's note: [Let me see] In November, Zhi Leng Jiu is starting anew.
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