"Ivy, you're not off work yet."
Susan had finished packing and was about to leave work when she saw her sitting at her seat with a thick stack of documents in front of her. She had no intention of leaving get off work at all, so she asked curiously, "Don't you have to pick up your niece today?"
Ivy raised her head. Her skin was fair and a pair of large framed glasses covered half of her face. She pushed the frame of her glasses on her nose and smiled gently. "She was left in the laboratory by the teacher to do an experiment today. I guess she won't go home. I'll go back after I finish this plan."
When she thought of her promising niece Meilin, her heart softened.
"You, don't try so hard. You're already in your forties, and you don't even consider your personal problems. I think David upstairs is interested in you. Are you really not going to consider it?"
Susan winked at her.
"No, you know my situation. I really have no plans to get married. Well, your husband is still waiting for you downstairs, so go down quickly."
Ivy pursed her lips and waved goodbye to her. In her situation, she should not bring harm to others.
"Oh, I forgot. I'm leaving now. You should come back early too." Susan patted her head. She almost forgot about her man. She waved to Ivy, picked up her bag and ran out in a hurry.
She withdrew her gaze and returned it to the document in front of her, but her thoughts were drawn to what Susan had just said.
Ai Wei, whose real name is Jiang Lai Di, has lived in a small rural village in China since she was a child. She was born in the 1960s and has experienced the most chaotic decade in China. She has tasted the ups and downs of life. That home has left her with nothing but painful memories. Ever since she was old enough to understand, she has wanted to escape from that place.
Jiang Lai Di has four older sisters, and she is the youngest in the family. However, in that family that favors boys over girls, she has never received any sympathy just because she is the youngest.
While they were working hard, the two sons of their second uncle were playing everywhere. When they were dizzy with hunger, the two sons of their second uncle could occasionally eat meat. The eldest sister and the second sister married a widower and a cripple respectively, just to find wives for the two precious boys.
A patriarchal and serious grandfather, a cunning and overbearing grandmother, a silent father who only knows how to work hard, and a mother who is suppressed by her grandmother because she cannot give birth to a son.
My grandparents felt that their eldest son would not carry on the family line, so they always wanted to adopt a child from their second son to inherit the family line. They scraped food from their own family to feed their second uncle's family, who were lazy and gluttonous. The cowardly and incompetent couple could only watch their daughters become tools for other families to make money.
The little warmth she had left in her childhood came from her older sisters. Under such circumstances, the five sisters could only support each other and move forward. Looking back on the days when five people shared a steamed bun made of wild vegetables, it was truly bittersweet.
A trace of grief flashed across Ivy's face. It was a pity that her elder sister was tortured by her alcoholic husband at a young age and died, leaving only Meilin as a daughter. She promised her elder sister that she would raise Meilin into an adult. Because she had a child with her, she still hadn't found a suitable partner and wasted her time until now.
She came to the United States, firstly to have a new start, and secondly to get away from her blood-sucking family. Meilin is a good girl, caring and sensible. Over the years, she has treated the child as her own flesh and blood and has never regretted her decision.
She came to her senses, and finally left that place, why did she think of it again? She shook her head, stopped thinking about those annoying things, and focused on the case in front of her. She could get a lot of bonus by completing this case, which would bring her one step closer to her dream of buying a house and settling down in the United States.
The cell phone on the table flashed. She was using the oldest Nokia, which could only make calls and send text messages. The small screen was already a little blurry. She picked up the phone and took a closer look. It turned out to be a text message from her niece. The supermarket near her home was having a promotion in the frozen food section. The price was very reasonable and it was only valid today.
After she came to the United States, her expenses were huge, and she also had to support Meilin's college education. Both of them were very careful with their daily living expenses.
I stood up and organized the ingredients on the table and put them into a bag beside me. I would do the same thing when I get home from work. Supermarket promotions are hard to come by, so I might as well stock up on some extra beef today. It can be kept in the refrigerator for a long time.
The supermarket she was going to was on the B1 floor of a building. The upper dozen floors were also shops selling electrical appliances, clothing and the like.
The supermarket was very large, with an entire floor devoted to it. She pushed her cart to the frozen section and carefully selected items on sale. Tuna was also on sale. Meilin loved sashimi, but it was too expensive and she could only eat it once a month. She carefully selected a piece that looked the freshest and put it in the cart. Thinking of Meilin's expression when she saw the tuna, she couldn't help but smile, making her face look more lively.
Just as she was walking towards the next container, she suddenly heard panicked shouts and the sound of bullets behind her.
Could it be that she was caught in a gang fight or a terrorist attack? As soon as this thought flashed through her mind, she was swept away by a burst of air and lost consciousness.
The only thing that flashed through my mind was that it was a good thing that I had made a will a long time ago, and the money I saved over the years was enough to cover Meilin's college expenses for a few years.
******
In 1963, the Cultural Revolution had just ended and people's lives were still relatively difficult. Most people were pale and thin, having not yet recovered from those difficult years.
A remote rural village in China - Qingshan Village
"Son, son. May our ancestors bless me. It must be a son." A skinny old lady paced back and forth in the room, muttering to herself.
She was wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt and a pair of loose trousers. There were several patches on her clothes, but they were washed very clean. There were many silver threads mixed in her black hair, which was combed meticulously. At first glance, she looked like a stern and serious old lady.
"Ahhhh - it hurts." Sharp screams came from the room at the side. The partitions in the room were separated by straw mats, so the noises from both sides could be heard clearly by the other side.
"All they do is howl, but they haven't given birth to a single male child in our Jiang family." The old man sitting in the first seat frowned, with a hint of displeasure on his dark face. In his hand was an old pipe, and a pungent smell of tobacco wafted from it.
"Big brother, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but look at your younger brother, he's already given birth to two sons, and your family has a bunch of girls. Let me be frank with you, if this woman in your family gives birth to another money-losing child this time, I will decide to give your younger brother's second child to you, so that you can have a family line." Jiang Cheng looked at his eldest son, his face full of displeasure.
In the middle of the room squatted a sturdy man, who looked to be about thirty years old, with dark skin, wearing a yellowed sweatshirt. He had a serious look, but his brows were furrowed, showing a sense of irritability. At this moment, he held his head with both hands and remained silent. A man without a son cannot hold his head up in the village. He also wanted to have a son of his own, and did not want to adopt a brother's child.
"Dahai, it's right to listen to your father. I think there's something wrong with Mei Zi's broken land. You see, you've given birth to four girls but not a boy. Do you want no one to help you break the pot when you die in the future?" Miao Sanfeng advised earnestly.
"If I had known this, I shouldn't have agreed to you marrying that woman."
She gave birth to two sons and a daughter in her life, and she loved her eldest son the most, because several daughters-in-law of the Jiang family at that time gave birth to several daughters in succession, and she gave birth to this eldest son right after she married into the Jiang family. Even her mother-in-law looked up to her, and she was suddenly superior to all the sisters-in-law. Her life went smoothly, and this eldest son naturally became the apple of the old lady's eye. Even though she gave birth to another son and a daughter later, they were not able to suppress him.
But it is this son that worries her the most.
Jiang Dahai's wife was the one he chose himself and he asked my mother to propose marriage to him. At the beginning, Miao Sanfeng also liked the eldest daughter-in-law who was hardworking and honest. But no matter how satisfied she was, it was worn out after she gave birth to four daughters in a row.
Jiang Dahai remained silent, worried about his daughter-in-law who was giving birth in the room.
Miao Sanfeng sighed and made up her mind that if the eldest daughter gave birth to another girl this time, she would force her son to adopt the boy from the second daughter's family.
Gu Dongmei, who was giving birth in the house, clearly heard what was coming from outside. She was holding back her anger and her lips were bitten to the point of bleeding. This era was too difficult. Just because she didn't give birth to a son, she was pointed at everywhere. The man from her second brother's family almost looked at her with his chin down.
Just because she had no son, she could only watch helplessly as the food that she and her husband worked so hard to earn went into the mouths of the lazy men in the second room. Her daughters could only watch helplessly, becoming pale and thin from hunger. As a mother, she did not dare to resist at all. The family had clearly been divided, so why should her second brother's family still have to rely on them for support? Was it just because the two in their family were more valuable?
Although she was only in her early thirties, she had wrinkles on her face due to frequent childbirth and heavy labor. Her yellow and skinny cheeks were covered with sweat, but one could still vaguely see the delicate and beautiful appearance of her youth.
A son, it must be a son, Gu Dongmei's eyes were red, as long as a son was born, everything would change.
With this belief, she exerted force and a warm current flowed out from under her body. Gu Dongmei breathed a sigh of relief and gradually lost consciousness.
The midwife cut the baby's umbilical cord and patted the baby's butt.
"Wow——" a weak cry was heard.
The people outside the house stared at the door, waiting for the midwife to come out.
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