Chapter 25: Record of Moving to the City in the 90s. 25

Other than Zhang Meijuan, who knew that Ms. Meng was Yu Zexiu’s mother, no one else knew.

Ms. Meng was a very refined person. She had never looked down on Su Huandan because of her background. On the contrary, every time they met, she was full of goodwill and constantly made it clear how much she liked Su Huandan.

Su Huandan wasn’t stupid either. She could tell the difference between genuine affection and simply loving someone for another person’s sake¹.

Because of that, Ms. Meng’s appearance really did put Su Huandan in a difficult position.

Ms. Meng was very shrewd. She never told Su Huandan to wait for her son.

She only came to deliver things. If there was enough time, she’d ask Su Huandan to share a meal with her. If there wasn’t, she’d say a couple of words and leave.

The letters and gifts Yu Zexiu sent Su Huandan were all delivered by Ms. Meng.

Even though he wasn’t there in person, he still appeared in Su Huandan’s daily life from time to time, making his presence known.

Su Huandan’s attitude toward this situation was neither here nor there.

First, she had no plans to find another boyfriend at school, so Ms. Meng’s appearances didn’t really affect her.

Second, Yu Zexiu was working hard to repair their relationship and maintain their connection. He had even brought his own mother into it. Su Huandan didn’t know what other people would think if they ran into something like this.

As for herself, she felt that in this lifetime, aside from Yu Zexiu, she would probably never meet another man who would go to such lengths for her.

Love in one’s student days was pure, and because there wasn’t much pressure from society yet, most of one’s free time probably got poured into romance.

Once student life ended and people entered society, a man was bound to be unable to devote that much effort to a woman anymore.

There was no time, no energy, and perhaps no willingness to spend that much thought on it. After all, rich men could make women bend over backward to please them with money alone, so why would they bother trying to please women instead?

That was the reality of things.

So at first, Su Huandan didn’t understand why she hadn’t firmly rejected Ms. Meng’s closeness. Later, she realized the truth. Deep down, she couldn’t bear to give up the affection Yu Zexiu had for her. She enjoyed it.

Back then, Yu Zexiu had asked her something face-to-face. Now, through a letter, Su Huandan gave him her answer.

“I’ll wait for you for five years. Five years also happens to be the time I need to finish my studies, so if you still can’t come back in five years, then there’ll be no possibility left between us.”

That was Su Huandan’s reply to Yu Zexiu.

They had never explicitly broken up before, and now they were back together again.

Su Dakui’s response was, I honestly can’t make heads or tails of what my third girl is doing.

Jiang Chunhua was furious. During the summer break of Su Huandan’s junior year, when she came home, her mother immediately opened fire on her.

“Is Yu Zexiu the only man in the world? Are all other men really that much worse than him? Will you die without him? How many five-year stretches does a woman have to waste? You’re in school, sure, but as long as you get into graduate school, even if you’re still just a student, with no job and no salary, there’ll still be plenty of families lining up to marry you into their homes. If you want to find someone from a good family, it’s not like there aren’t any now. Your second brother-in-law’s police station chief, his son graduated from Peking University and now works at the TV station. His future is bright too. You think you wouldn’t get along? They’ve already been asking about you.”

The way Jiang Chunhua looked at her third daughter was like she was looking at an idiot.

Wasting five years of your youth over a man? You were only dating, not married, no children, so why should you waste five years on him?

In those five years, you could get married and have two kids.

Su Huandan’s eldest sister was pregnant. She was already more than nine months along and close to giving birth.

Jiang Chunhua had even taken her eldest daughter to the hospital to find out whether it was a boy or a girl. With family planning² being what it was, having a son was better.

In the end, the doctor said it was a girl.

Eldest Brother-in-law wasn’t unhappy in the slightest, and Old Grandma even cried out, “The Sun family hasn’t had a girl in three generations. A girl is good, a girl is good.”

In truth, they were all just trying to reassure the eldest sister. In this day and age, who didn’t want a son?

In private, Old Grandma told her grandson, “You two are still young. You can keep having children. The family’s conditions aren’t bad either, so it’s not like you’d be afraid of having more than one. Just pay a little fine³. No matter what, the Sun family line can’t be cut off.”

Jiang Chunhua had said more or less the same thing, but she said it to her eldest daughter.

“After this one is born, recover for two years, then have another. A family should have two or three children. That way the kids will have someone to rely on in the future, right? As for your second sister’s side, I don’t count on them anymore. The two of them have taken so much medicine their faces are yellow and sickly. It’s painful just to look at them. Talk it over with your husband. If it really comes to it, why not have another son and let your second sister’s family raise him? Putting everything else aside, your second sister’s family has two courtyards. Your husband isn’t stupid either. His own son would be growing up right under his nose, and when the child grows up, there’ll be a huge family fortune waiting. Think about it. Doesn’t that make sense?” That was what Jiang Chunhua said from her own perspective.

She wanted all her daughters to live well, and in her understanding, a woman was supposed to get married, and once married, have children. Only then was life steady and secure.

But just because she thought that way didn’t mean her daughters needed the same thing.

Su Dakui blew up on the spot. Was that something she could say right now? And was that any way to say it to Eldest Brother-in-law?

Why had the second son-in-law been taking medicine and going back and forth to the hospital all this time?

Wasn’t it all because he wanted a child of his own blood?

At this very moment, the second son-in-law was still trying. He hadn’t given up hope of having a child yet. And here she was, his mother-in-law, already discussing with Eldest Brother-in-law the idea of giving him a son, even shouting outright that if the boy were given away, there’d be a large inheritance to gain.

Heh, just try saying that out loud to other people.

Sooner or later, the eldest and second daughters would fall out over the matter of children.

Children were an important factor in a family, and what about family property?

Money and assets were an even more important part of a household. These days, if a family had no savings to speak of, wanting to marry a wife who was decent in every respect was nothing but a fantasy. They could only pick from what others had passed over and make do.

“Don’t listen to your mother. Your second sister and her husband won’t be taking in someone else’s child within the next ten years. And don’t mention this to your husband either, or else you and your second sister won’t be able to get along later.” Su Dakui’s words were the ones that truly got to the heart of the matter.

Not to mention farther away places, just looking at Yuanyi Village was enough. Anyone with eyes could see it. Every household had spent the past year or two pouring time and money into rebuilding their homes into multi-story buildings. This place really had become a nest of gold.

In the early years, the girls from Yuanyi Village who had married out were always so busy that they did not even have time to come back to their parents’ home for a visit until the New Year.

But now?

It was not just the married daughters coming back to Yuanyi Village every few days to visit their parents. Even the sons-in-law, who used to show up only once a year, now dropped by from time to time carrying an old hen or a couple of fish, coming to their mother-in-law’s house to drink with their father-in-law.

They were more attentive and flattering than the sons themselves.

And what was the purpose behind all this?

Wasn’t it all for that self-built house⁴ under the old people’s name?

Even if they could not get any rental income now, what about later?

If they kept close and stayed on good terms, they would have a share in that building sooner or later.

People are driven by profit. If Sun Jianbin took Jiang Chunhua’s words seriously, then the two families would definitely end up at odds over money.

That was not a situation Su Dakui wanted to see.

Translator’s Notes