"Alright, don’t be so glum. Isn’t it just about the house’s facade? In a couple of years when things get better, we can decorate however we want. We’ll make it so city folks are envious, wishing they could trade their high-rise for our little brick house, right?" Seeing her silly husband still sulking, Shuzhen couldn’t help but laugh, pulling his arm and comforting him for quite a while.
It’s already late 1974, approaching the autumn harvest, and the end of these oppressive times is genuinely not far off!
"I’m just a big man, does it matter what kind of house I live in? All these years you haven’t particularly cared for anything, but now you’ve finally got your eye on something, and yet you have to worry about this and that. We have money but can’t spend it freely, it’s really annoying. I earn my money honestly, why can’t I let my wife enjoy spending it as she wishes?
Actually, you don’t have to worry so much, if..."
"If what, if! Just like what Brother Su said, the facade is just for appearances. As long as the contents inside are good, who cares if the packaging is a bit lacking? As long as our family is happy together, let the meat be buried at the bottom of the bowl. Why try to be the standout beam and draw too much attention, risking getting beaten up?" Shuzhen giggled, continuously trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Knowing that she didn’t want him to blame himself, Lianshan didn’t bother dwelling on useless thoughts.
He just hoped that these troublesome times requiring caution would pass soon, so he could give his wife everything she wanted and that he could afford.
The couple embraced closely, filled with boundless tenderness and beauty, a faint sweetness in the air.
Meanwhile, in a hospital in Beijing, the elder lady of the Dai family felt like the sky had fallen.
Her eldest son, the one who had made her most proud and most content in her life, was unexpectedly injured on a mission and was now in the operating room with his fate uncertain.
The surgery had been going on for four whole hours, and the old lady stayed by the operating room door without moving. Her eyes stared intensely at the operating room door, afraid to blink for fear that something might happen to her son—the one she had raised to make her mother-in-law look at her in a new light. As a grown-up, he even married two beautiful and capable women, yet if something happened to him...
"Mom, don’t worry. Dad arranged for the city’s best doctors to come; Weiguo, Weiguo will definitely be fine. Mom, have something to eat, drink some water! Otherwise, if Weiguo is fine but you fall ill from worry, he’d be upset when he wakes up, wouldn’t he?" Seeing her father’s face turning more impatient, Bai Jing had to reluctantly call out a couple of "Mom"s.
Seeing her father’s furrowed brow slightly relax, Bai Jing couldn’t help but smirk inwardly: Obviously, he despises her country-bumpkin mother-in-law to the core, yet insists on them getting along harmoniously. Who knows whether he values her more as a daughter or values the Bai family’s reputation more? His heart, tainted black by power and ambition, still insists on wearing a facade of peace and amiability.
Tsk tsk, people in politics, they’re so hypocritical!
But no matter how much she fussed in her heart, Bai Jing knew exactly why she could live so freely and recklessly.
Seeing her father with impatience written all over his lined face, she quickly spoke with tact: "Dad, your presence here and arrangements are the greatest love for Weiguo and me. You have so many important community affairs waiting for you. With us and the siblings here, there’s no need to stay if you’re busy. Weiguo understands your worries and burdens."
Upon hearing this, the secretary accompanying Mr. Bai quickly chimed in: "Leader, you have an important meeting at 3 PM, a meeting with Mr. Leader at 5 PM, and an appointment with an old colleague at 8 PM. Because of Comrade Dai’s situation, you’ve already missed an important meeting this morning; you can’t delay the afternoon one too!"
At this point, guarding outside, Dai Weimin and Dai Weijia both chimed in, assuring Mr. Bai to go ahead with his work. They were there for their older brother!
Even so, Mr. Bai Zhiyuan, the experienced leader, still graciously expressed his apologies to the two siblings, bid farewell to his country in-laws, and only then turned and left after repeated prompting by the secretary.
With him gone, the Dai family, like a flock of quails, collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Nothing else, the old man’s presence was overwhelming, stifling them to the point where they hardly dared to breathe!
With the mountain-like presence gone, Huang Wei dared to cry tearfully and complain to Bai Jing.
Looking at her wailing like her heart was being torn apart, one might even think it was her own husband, Dai Weimin, in surgery!
She lamented aloud at the heavens’ injustice, pitying her honorable brother-in-law, who had sacrificed so much for the country, only to suffer such a calamity. In his thirties and still childless. It was practically pointing at Bai Jing’s nose and calling her barren in a roundabout way, yet every word seemed to hit home with the Dai family’s elder lady.
The eldest son married twice yet didn’t have any children. The second son’s wife barely had one, only for Bai Jing to insist on sending it away, and it was lost during the journey.The third son’s wife and the youngest daughter could bear children, yet they each bore three daughters—six worthless girls in total.
The old lady, now, yearns for a grandson so much that her eyes are turning blue.
Already feeling that apart from her family background, Bai Jing had nothing over Shuzhen, aided by constant provocations from Huang Wei and Dai Weijuan. If the old lady could ever think highly of Bai Jing, that would be the day pigs fly!
Being glared at by this country bumpkin wife added to Bai Jing’s fury, simmering to the brink of explosion.
Even in public, with the frail old lady leaning on her natural position as mother-in-law, otherwise...
Bai Jing gritted her teeth, silently muttering that revenge is best served ten years later.
Very soon, very soon, there wouldn’t be a single person in the Dai family who would dare to criticize her about having children.
This time, she would vent every injustice and pressure she had suffered over the years!
This time, she would drive fear into every bone in the Dai family who dared to disrespect her while living off her, forcing them to beg her, cry for her not to divorce.
As the operating room door gradually opened, her best friend, also Dai Weiguo’s attending doctor, heavily informed them: The patient is out of danger and should be able to recuperate at home in a few days. However, the patient sustained severe trauma to his lower body and has lost his ability to father children. Bai Jing knew right then, she had won! From now on, the issue of having children would no longer be her Achilles’ heel but instead, Dai Weiguo’s shortcoming.