Chapter 119
The over-birth guerrillas stayed at the Wu family for more than a week without any trouble. The two older children gradually became familiar with the children around them and started playing with them.
But their grandmother's sudden visit broke the peace.
That afternoon, Su Miao was about to go to school. He woke up early from his nap and wanted to get to the classroom early. As soon as he walked out of the gate, he came towards an old lady with a package in her hand. Her clothes were patched and her hair was a little messy.
Just then, a little boy passed by her. She anxiously asked him something in Zhuang language, but the boy didn't understand. He just waved his hand and walked away. The old lady looked around helplessly.
Although Su Miao is of the Zhuang ethnic group, he has lived in a county town with a high degree of sinicization since he was a child, so he can understand Zhuang but cannot speak it.
She walked over and asked, "Grandma, are you looking for someone?"
The old lady's eyes lit up, and she bent her already crooked back and said in Zhuang language, "Le Shao, do you know Wu Dawei's home? Wu Dawei at the Environmental Sanitation Bureau."
Oh! It turned out to be the Wu family where the guerrillas lived. Su Miao thought it might be a guerrilla's family, so she took her to the Wu family and knocked on the door.
Wu Dawei's wife came out to open the door and was startled to see the old lady. She turned around and shouted into the house, "Xiaogang's father! Si Niang is here!"
After saying that, he took the package from the old lady and led her into the house. The old lady pointed at Su Miao and said, "It was this Le Shao who found it for me. No one else could understand me."
Aunt Wu squatted down to thank Su Miao, and her grandson even pulled Su Miao into the house to eat biscuits.
"Sister Miaomiao, eat some cookies and candies, they smell so good!"
Thanks to Wu Xiaobao's enthusiasm, Su Miao heard everything that happened at the guerrillas' home up close.
The two children rushed over and called for their grandmother. The young wife also carried her babbling granddaughter out to show her. The old lady nodded with tears in her eyes: "Okay, as long as you are safe. Ah Wei, I am really sorry to trouble your family."
Wu Dawei poured her some hot tea and said, "Si Niang, don't say such awkward things."
Her daughter-in-law asked, "Mom, why are you here? Is there something wrong at home?"
The old lady nodded. "Our family was reported. Five days ago, the family planning police stormed our house to arrest us and demand a fine. I said we only had one older child and no extra children. They searched our house and found the photos you sent me last time. They asked who the people in them were. I said they were relatives, but they didn't believe me. They said a relative had reported that this was my daughter-in-law and the extra grandchildren. They wanted to fine us 5,000 yuan on the spot."
Everyone in the family was shocked and asked what was going on.
"Our family has always been classified as poor peasants. How could we ask for money? Humph! I told them I was going to raise money and to come back the next day. Then Qingsheng and I moved all our valuable belongings to other relatives' homes overnight. We only had a bed at home to sleep in. When they came the next day, the house was already empty. I even moved the big iron pot to your second uncle's house. Not to mention the rice jar. I didn't leave them a single grain of rice. A mouse would starve to death if it fell in!"
Wow! Sure enough, there are countermeasures for every policy. Su Miao asked curiously, "So when they come and see that the house is suddenly empty, won't they make a fuss?"
"So what if they were making a fuss? I said my family was poor and I owed relatives a lot of debts I couldn't pay back, so I took those things to pay them off. It was reasonable. They turned the house upside down, and I left an egg in the nest and didn't pick it up. They also pocketed it. Later, they were so angry that they said they would take Qingsheng to jail."
"Ah! This! What should we do?" Her daughter-in-law jumped up in fright when she heard that her husband was going to be arrested.
"Don't worry! We didn't catch him, so our cousins, uncles, and aunts blocked the road with hoes. They said the policy required a fine, but didn't say arrest. If they tried to arrest us, they would be buried at the entrance of the village! That's why they left, but they cursed and said they would never let our family go."
Wu Dawei said worriedly, "This isn't a solution. If you offend them, they'll definitely come after you. Their daily work is to issue fines and arrest people."
The old lady sighed. "So, my eyelids kept twitching for the next two days. I was so worried about you that I decided to come and see you. I asked Qingsheng to take the eldest child outside for a while. It's winter now and there's no work in the fields, so we can find some odd jobs outside."
Hearing this, Wu Xiaobao suddenly shouted, "Sister Miaomiao, we're going to be late!"
Su Miao looked up at the wall clock and saw that class was about to start in 15 minutes, so he quickly said goodbye to the Wu family.
When someone came to the house, Wu Dawei said to her, "Miaomiao, could you spare two minutes to help take little brother Xiaobao to school? Just send him to the school gate."
Xiaobao is now in elementary school, and the school is right next to No. 1 Middle School. It is common for children from the alley to go to school together, and it is common for the older ones to take the younger ones with them, so Su Miao agreed. She held Wu Xiaobao's hand and sent him to school. She watched him enter the classroom before turning back to her own school. The bell rang just as she sat down, and the time was just right.
After all, this matter had nothing to do with their family, so Su Miao didn't take it to heart. But on the second night after the old lady arrived at the Wu family, something happened!
At 9:30 in the evening, Su Miao had finished washing up and was about to read a magazine before going to bed when he heard what seemed to be conversations outside his courtyard gate.
There seemed to be a lot of people rustling around. Just as Su Miao was about to go out to check, he saw Su Yu tiptoeing towards the courtyard gate and putting his ear to the door.
Su Miao also walked over quietly and put her ear close to Su Yu. Su Yu was caught off guard and their eyes met. He was so scared that he almost screamed "Ah".
Fortunately, he covered his mouth in time, otherwise people outside would have heard it.
Su Miao made a "hush" gesture, then pointed outside and asked Brother Yu to listen carefully.
At this time, there were six men standing outside, seemingly from two groups. One of them asked, "Director Feng, which room are you in? Are you sure they're all here?"
A man replied, "It's the last one at the end of the alley. Don't get too close or you'll alert the attacker. We'll knock on the door shortly. The kids are almost in bed by now, so they can't run that fast. As soon as the door opens, rush in. It doesn't matter whose child it is. Just grab the child if you see them."
Another person asked, "Director Feng, we're from downstate and don't know the city's rules. Can we arrest people like this here? Will there be any trouble?"
"Don't worry! This crackdown on excessive births is a top-down initiative! The city is also cracking down very strictly. Besides, the informant is very confident, saying he saw her there this afternoon. If there's a real commotion, I'll be there to smooth things over."
"Oh no! Then we're all relying on Director Feng! This group is truly despicable. Not only do they refuse to cooperate with us, they're also playing us around like crazy. We won't be able to get away with this unless we catch them."
"This time we're jointly enforcing the law. Don't forget when you make your report..."
"Don't worry, everything is thanks to you. Your name must be placed first in the report!"
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