After wandering around outside for half a day, Xu Damao finally rode his bike home, only to find something upsetting as soon as he got home.
His dear younger sister, Xu Fengling, was also wearing a red armband, chatting animatedly with a few other boys in front of their house. Xu Fengling was 17 years old, the age when she should have been able to start working after another year of school, but with this situation, she definitely couldn't continue her studies.
Xu Damao had previously told the other party that they should either stay at school or stay at home and not participate in any activities, but he didn't expect that this would still happen.
Seeing that the little girl was still unaware of the seriousness of the situation, Xu Damao had no choice but to forcefully pull his sister back home.
"Fengling, what's wrong with you? Didn't I tell you not to get involved in these things?" Xu Damao said angrily.
Xu Damao's shout startled both of his children; they had never seen their father so angry before. But the children were clever enough to know that their voices carried little weight, so they hurriedly ran to the inner room to fetch Wang Minzhi.
"What are you yelling for? I could hear you from inside." Wang Minzhi quickly came outside.
“You don’t understand. I told her long ago not to get involved. Once you get involved in this kind of thing, it might follow you for the rest of your life,” Xu Damao said.
"Brother, I don't want to participate, but all my classmates are participating. If I don't participate, they might isolate me," Xu Fengling said, feeling wronged.
She was telling the truth. At that time, many of those participating in sports were teenagers, whose minds were not mature at all, and who even thought that sports were fun. Often, one person would call on a group, and then they would split into different gangs.
At school, many classmates participated in sports and invited Xu Fengling many times. At first, she followed Xu Damao's instructions and did not participate. However, as time went on, some classmates began to have opinions about her, believing that she lacked ambition and had problems.
Forced by her classmates, Xu Fengling had no choice but to go along. Although she found things were getting out of control, the feeling of being able to control adults and act as the master of the country was so exhilarating that she couldn't resist.
After hearing his sister recount the whole story, Xu Damao realized he had oversimplified things; not everyone could remain unscathed like him.
It's true that Xu Damao comes from a later era, but his memory of history is only vague; he's unclear about the specific events at certain points in time, so he didn't think to have his sister start work early. It seems that this time, Xu Fengling has to start working.
Although it was all part of a political movement at the time and recruitment had stopped, securing a job wasn't a problem for Xu Damao. Moreover, he remembered that not long afterward, the "Down to the Countryside Movement" for educated youth, which lasted for about a decade, would begin.
Xu Damao couldn't remember the exact start date, so he could only arrange for his younger sister to work beforehand to prevent her from being sent to the countryside. Xu Fengling was 17 years old now, and if she were sent to the countryside, it would basically mean a lifetime of marriage and children in the rural area.
Mr. and Mrs. Xu Fugui loved their daughter far more than their son, Xu Damao. If they knew how much suffering she endured in the countryside, they would never have been able to bear it.
“Okay, I’ll go to the school with you tomorrow to complete the withdrawal procedures. You can start working at the steel rolling mill in a few days,” Xu Damao said.
"Drop out? Brother, I'm about to graduate. Wouldn't it be too much of a loss to drop out?" Xu Fengling's grades weren't very good, but she still wanted to finish high school and get her diploma.
“Listen to your brother, he won’t hurt you. Fengling, I’m scared just watching this situation. I’m worried about you, a girl, running around outside all by yourself,” Xu’s mother advised from the side.
She went out to buy groceries today and discovered that a former capitalist she used to help with chores had been dragged out into the street and subjected to public criticism. Even she, a simple woman, knew that while he was indeed a capitalist, he was a genuinely good person, yet this had happened to him.
“Yes, given your current situation, how can you continue going to school? You might as well drop out and go to work,” Xu Fugui advised.
“Let me tell you, this movement isn’t going to stop anytime soon, so you definitely won’t be able to go to school. But let’s put it another way, if one day all your classmates go back to school, with your older brother’s abilities, I guarantee you can go back to school too,” Xu Damao assured him.
For Xu Fengling, she had been a student for over a decade, without having to worry about anything. The sudden decision to drop out of school and work in a factory was a psychological adjustment she hadn't quite grasped.
But she knew her brother wouldn't harm her; it was definitely the best arrangement under the current circumstances, so she had no choice but to accept it.
“Alright then, I’ll listen to you,” Xu Fengling said.
Now that his sister's matter had been decided, Xu Damao decided to help his brother-in-law Wang Jianguo resolve his own issues as well, and brought it up with Wang Minzhi.
"Da Mao, is the situation that serious?" Wang Minzhi asked.
Wang Jianguo is younger than Xu Fengling and is currently in his first year of high school. His academic performance is usually okay, and his family still hopes that they can finish high school and go to university.
"Yes, it's more serious than you think. Also, some things involve classified information, so just listen to me," Xu Damao said.
"After we finish dealing with Fengling's matter, come home with me. There are some things I tell them that they might not care about much. But if you say something, they will definitely consider it seriously."
As her husband's status and position have risen over the years, Xu Damao's words have long been valued more than her own in the Wang family, which is why Wang Minzhi hopes that Xu Damao will go back with her.
Even if Wang Minzhi hadn't said anything, Xu Damao wouldn't have dared to let his wife go back to her parents' home while heavily pregnant, so he naturally had to accompany her.
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