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Gao Fusheng, the eldest son of the Gao family, was now more than 50 years old. Because he was the only boy in the family, he was sent to the town school to study, which allowed him to be successful. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he went to work in the canteen of the commune and later in the supply and marketing cooperative of the commune.
In this era, people who work in the supply and marketing cooperative are looked upon highly wherever they go. They could always secretly find a way to get something without tickets.
Therefore, Gao Fusheng was considered respectable in the entire Gaojia Village.
At this time, however, the respectable Gao Fusheng was offering something to his mother.
Old Mrs. Gao looked at it with a long face. It was some cloth that did not require tickets and several taels of white sugar. “Next time, bring back some brown sugar. Xiulan likes that, saying it’s better for her daughter to drink more brown sugar water.”
Gao Fusheng immediately nodded.
Old Mrs. Gao placed away these things and asked, “What did you get for your wife?”
“Mom, I didn’t bring anything.” Gao Fusheng patted his chest and said, “It was just the dried sweet potatoes last time. I thought you couldn’t bite it now, so I gave it to her.”
“Hmph! I can’t eat it, but Xiulan or Qingmiao’er still could eat it. What are you doing for her? Is her surname Gao? It’s not like she came out of my belly, so why are you giving it to her? I still blame myself for not being able to give birth to a son!”
Gao Fusheng said, “Mom, it’s been so many years
.”
“I can’t forget it even if it’s been so many years! I was so good to her when she entered our house before. I see you dote on her. All your sisters gave into her and served her. And what was the result? What was born? Seeing that your eldest younger sister gave birth to a daughter, she started to blame me.”
Old Mrs. Gao reached out to touch her son’s head. When she couldn’t reach it, she said, “Bow your head.”
Gao Fusheng bowed his head with a bitter face, stunned by his mother, “You only remember the benefits and not the suffering. If people really thought that our family couldn’t give birth to a son, this daughter-in-law wouldn’t be able to ascend to heaven and do whatever she wanted. You have to remember your third sister’s kindness. If it wasn’t for Gao Xiulan working hard, how would your mother live these days?”
Gao Fusheng nodded in agreement when he heard what his mom said. In the beginning, he was miserable. He thought that he inherited his mother’s fate of only having daughters.
Because of this, he had nothing to say when his wife gave birth to many daughters.
Later, Gao Xiulan gave birth to three fat boys in a row, which gave him the confidence to go out.
Old Mrs. Gao added, “This way, Jianwei would be able to marry a wife, but we don’t know if he would be fertile. We would have to count on the three nephews of your third sister’s family. Didn’t I tell you that nephews and sons are not that different when you’re an uncle? Xiulan said that too. Since they did not have a father, they would be filial to their uncle in the future.”
Gao Fusheng was distressed. His only son, Gao Jianwei, was only 18 years old, but his body was not good, and is unable to do heavy work. Ordinarily, he could only do light work that the female comrades in the team do. Aside from that, he could only work for half a day.
Now, it was time for Old Mrs. Gao to talk business.
“Today, Xiulan went here and mentioned Qingmiao’er’s marriage. She’s 16 years old already, so I’m going to start looking for people. Thinking optimistically, she would get married in two years. Xiulan works in the village and does not know any good people. You might be able to find some in the commune.”
When he heard this, Gao Fusheng felt his head aching.
He knew that his niece was a treasure. However, others do not know that ah. People want girls that know how to work
 “Mom, isn’t QIngmiao’er too young? Besides, she still can’t do work outside or housework.”
Old Mrs. Gao was unhappy, “Why would you want her to work? She doesn’t have to work at their house. Why would she work at her husband’s house? I want you to find a family that can raise her and won’t let her work. The family conditions should be good. Preferably, those with more brothers in the family and the youngest in their line so that there would be brothers and sisters-in-law that would support them after marrying.”
“
” Gao Fusheng was stunned. Was there such a good family? If there was, then he wanted to be reborn as a daughter and marry over.
When Gao Fusheng didn’t speak, Old Mrs. Gao became upset, “Are you still Qingmiao’er’s uncle? Our Qingmiao’er is sensible. For you to have face, she came out last. As a result, she couldn’t even see her father. You are no different than her father! Do you not care about her?”
“Mom, I know. I know. I was just thinking about who would be suitable for her. I was thinking of going to the county town to have a look. How could there be people in town who is worthy of our Qingmiao’er?” The critical point here is to be aware of their roots and background. Regarding Qingmiao’er’s situation, people can easily inquire about it

Old Mrs. Gao nodded, “That’s reasonable. Our Qingmiao’er is destined to go to the city.”
After talking to his mom, Gao Fusheng returned to his room. As soon as he entered the room, he saw his wife sitting on the edge of the bed with a stern face, not wanting to talk.
“What’s the matter? I’ve been working hard all year to raise my family, and I still have to see that face when I come back?” Old Mrs. Gao mentioned to Gao Fusheng the events that happened years ago. This made him unhappy with his wife.
When she saw that Gao Fusheng was angry, Sister-in-law Gao did not dare keep up her facade. She quickly waited on him to change his clothes and shoes. “Jianwei’s father, it’s my fault ah. Xiulan took all the things you gave to mom today. Mom didn’t even eat any of them.”
After hearing this, Gao Fusheng felt uncomfortable and said, “Mom’s like this. When I was young, she refused to eat and drink and would give it to me. It’s the same now. She saved money for me to study in the past, and now she loves Xiulan. That’s how she cares about her children.”
Sister-in-law Gao: “
” She didn’t feel bad for the old lady! She’s heartbroken about the things at home!
“Jianwei’s father, all the things you brought back were given to Xiulan. Nobody else was able to eat them.”
Gao Fusheng wiped his face with a towel, “Xiulan has a lot of sons and grandchildren at home, so she should have more. Our family’s Jianwei does not have a large appetite. Didn’t Xiulan give him chicken last time?”
Wasn’t that just the chicken’s head and butt? The house was emptied because of that! Sister-in-law was about to cry in anger, “Our girls haven’t eaten yet.”
Hearing this, Gao Fusheng retorted, “Do you think I have three heads and six arms? Do you want to tire me out?”
Sister-in-law Gao was so scared that she did not dare speak. She sat honestly by the bed.
Afterward, Gao Fusheng cleaned up while Sister-in-law Gao poured a glass of water. When she came back, Gao Fusheng was already lying on the bed. She went to pick up a fan and fanned her husband, wanting to gossip to lighten up the atmosphere, “Jianwei’s father, what did your mother tell you just now? It took so long for you to come out. I’ve been waiting for you to rest.”
Gao Fusheng closed his eyes comfortably, “We talked about Qingmiao’er’s marriage. My mother wanted me to find her a city family that won’t let her work.”
When Sister-in-law Gao heard this, she said smoothly, “Mom’s thinking is too simple. Which of our three daughters are not married in the countryside?” That Qingmiao’er is so fond of eating and playing and is so averse to working

Gao Fusheng said lightly, “Can they be compared? Xiulan’s capability of birthing sons is excellent, and Qingmiao’er will definitely be the same in the future. While we are only capable of birthing daughters, so it’s already good that our daughters can marry.”
Sister-in-law Gao’s face cracked. Mother, ah, why did she have to talk so much?
A day before Su Qinghe’s birthday, five fish weighing one catty and some side dishes appeared in Gao Xiulan’s big urn. It looks pretty complete.
Gao Xiulan hugged the big urn, “Dagen, I know that you love your daughter, and you know that it’s her birthday tomorrow. I will cook something delicious for her.”
Su Qinghe came over and took a look at the urn. She smiled and said, “Mom, I think my father was thinking about how hard it has been for you after giving birth to me. Didn’t you say that father used to catch fish for you? You said that you like the fish that he caught the most.”
“This child, how can you say that?” Gao Xiulan grimaced in embarrassment, but she could not hide the joy in her lips and eyebrows, “Who cares about him? I’ll still cook for you tomorrow.”
Su Qinghe said, “Mom, let me do it. I want to be filial to you.” This was going to be one of the dishes for her assessment. To accumulate these ingredients, she has not exchanged grains for a long time. Fortunately, there were hundreds of catties of grain in her storage space. It wasn’t so bad. At this time, she felt that the system was very annoying. They wanted to assess her but required her to gather the ingredients independently.
Gao Xiulan’s nose was sour. She was too happy. Her man loves her, and her daughter is filial.
She was only unhappy about the fact that she would have to go to the county town to fool a few inconsiderate sons.
It’s been too long since she has been to the county town. It was an excellent time to stroll around. She would also exchange the old rice at home for some coarse grains to eat.
When Su Qinghe found out that her mother wanted to go out and exchange grains, she felt uneasy and wanted to go with her.
On the way there, they bumped into people from the village who greeted them from afar, “Aiguo’s mother, where are you going with Qingmiao’er?”
Gao Xiulan wanted to say that it was none of their business, but she stopped herself. Her daughter was now an altruistic hero, an honorary figure. She should not bring shame to her daughter, “It’s our Qingmiao’er’s birthday tomorrow. We wanted to go to the city and see if we could find anything. Alas, our Dagen is gone, and this child has suffered a lot.”
“Aiguo’s mother, remember to be kind to Qingmiao’er. Remember to give her a lot of dried sweet potatoes; she loves to eat them.”
Su Qinghe: “
” Why did she feel that what the other party wanted to say was ‘that mice love to eat’?
Gao XIulan was friendly to everyone who was nice to her daughter. After a few social exchanges with those people, they hurried along.
When they reached the county town, Gao Xiulan immediately gave Su Qinghe water mixed with rock sugar to drink, “It has been hard for my daughter. Doing this for those bastards.”
“Mom, drink some water.” Su Qinghe took a sip and handed it over to her mother.
Gao Xiulan took it, covered it with a lid, and continued to carry it, “What drink? Let’s carry on with our important business.”
Su Qinghe looked at the bottle inside the basket and licked her lips, “Mom, I don’t want to drink sugar water next time. I want cold water to quench my thirst.” She was alright with drinking cold water.
“Okay, Mom will bring you some cold water next time.”
The two came near the machine factory to secretly ask people. Although they knew a family of workers, it was unsafe to go to them to exchange grains frequently. Going to the black market or asking around the factory interchangeably was better.
The mother and daughter pair stood outside waiting when a healthy-looking woman walked out of the machine factory. Gao Xiulan and Su Qinghe immediately walked over, “Comrade, do you want to eat refined grains?”
The woman was stunned for a moment. Does she want to eat refined grains? Of course, she wanted to. Only a fool would not like it.
She glanced at her sides and quickly pulled the mother and daughter pair to an alley.
She first inspected the goods. Although it was a little stale, it was rice, ah. Her eyes lit up. In the past, when her younger brother-in-law was at home, he used to eat all of the fine grain. Now it’s finally their turn.
“A total of 20 catties, right? I want it all!”
The female comrade did not have many food tickets and coarse grains on her, so she directly led Gao Xiulan and Su Qinghe to an alley near her neighborhood, where she got some food tickets.
She didn’t dare bring the two inside her house, so she could only let them wait in a nearby alley. The female comrade constantly changed directions until she arrived at a CCP county committee compound. “Big brother, sister-in-law, Changping, Mom, do you have food stamps and cornmeal? Hurry, let’s exchange it for white rice.”
When they heard there was white rice, they quickly searched for food tickets in their rooms. Finally, they took out ten catties worth of food tickets and 15 catties of coarse grain to exchange for Su Qinghe’s 20 catties of white rice.
After Gao Xiulan and Su Qinghe left, the female comrade returned home and heard a thin cry at home, “My poor Chang’an. I don’t know if he can eat white rice in the army. There is good food at home, and he can’t even take a single bite. Our Chang’an is so pitiful.”
Her eldest son, eldest daughter-in-law, second son, and second daughter-in-law suddenly froze.