"Look at young people these days, they just care about having fun and never think about us. Just imagine, while we still have the physical strength for walking, we can help take care of the kids if they have any. What’s so bad about that?" Granny Pan said sympathetically after hearing Mother Qi’s words.
Mother Qi felt as if she had found an ally and eagerly responded, "Exactly, that’s the point. But there’s nothing I can do, they don’t want to, can I force them to have children?"
"So, are they using contraception?" Granny Pan asked, bouncing her grandson on her knee.
"If they’re not planning on having kids, they have to use it, right? I didn’t ask about these things. As a mother-in-law, should I really be meddling in their bedroom matters?" Mother Qi said, embarrassed.
"That’s true," Granny Pan said, also feeling embarrassed, "But you still have to talk to your son about it. A daughter-in-law, after all, didn’t come out of your own belly and can’t have the same heart as you. If you want grandchildren, you should start with Taiguo. In my opinion, with birth control, there are also times when it can’t be avoided. If it happens, they’d have to have the child, right?"
Her words struck Mother Qi like a revelation and she felt a jolt. She thought carefully, if there was an accident, the child would have to be born, wouldn’t it?
She thought about others who had children whenever they wanted. In their generation, it was the same—all the kids just came one after another; there was no such thing as contraception, not like now, with all the talk about family planning. The village women’s leader even organized meetings, advocating birth control and distributing condoms for free, teaching how to use them. Oh my, it was all so embarrassing!
After Granny Pan left, Mother Qi kept thinking about the possibility. But asking her son about something like that, wouldn’t it be mortifying?
She thought for a moment, put down the basin she was holding, and walked into Qi Taiguo’s room.
Father Qi saw her acting all mysterious after talking with the neighbor and couldn’t help shaking his head.
Cheng Su and the others were aimlessly wandering around town, completely unaware that their mother-in-law was fretting over their birth control plans.
"There’s not many shops open for New Year’s Eve today, huh?" Cheng Su noted that many shops had closed their doors, with only a few still open.
"Those that are open are probably run by the owners themselves. They take any business they can get. The ones that are closed are likely renting and have gone back to their hometowns for the festivities. It’s fine, let’s just walk around." Taiguo took her hand, saying, "There might not be many shops open today, due to New Year’s Eve. After the first day of the New Year, people will be visiting relatives and such, needing to buy presents like fruit, so there will definitely be some shops open."
Cheng Su smiled sweetly, "Mm!"
They chatted and browsed, buying some fireworks at a grocery shop, envying a child nearby who was looking on eagerly. Cheng Su was delighted.
"Big brother?"
Someone called out to them. Taiguo looked over and saw a young man dressed in jeans, with a slicked-back hair and a jacket, smiling at them; a long-haired girl stood next to him.
"Jianming."
That was his cousin from his uncle’s family, Qi Jianming.
"It really is big brother." Jianming walked up, paused when he saw Cheng Su, and then greeted her with a smile, "Sister-in-law!"
"Hello!" Cheng Su smiled.
"I was just thinking of going back to have a few drinks with you, big brother. I didn’t expect to bump into you here. Are you out shopping with my sister-in-law? That’s great, let’s you and me go have a drink." Jianming laughed and said, turning to the woman beside him, "Say hello to big brother, sister-in-law. Big brother, this is my girlfriend, Taozi."
"Big brother, sister-in-law!" The girl named Taozi greeted sweetly, her eyes darting around, moving from Cheng Su to Qi Taiguo, and then settling on him.
Cheng Su saw this and although she was smiling on the outside, she wasn’t feeling pleased on the inside.