Chapter 49: Lin Bingwei’s Biological Parents Have Arrived

After the meal, the three of them took Zhang Jianguo to process the adoption paperwork.

The staff member scrutinized them for a moment before suddenly asking, “How long have you and your husband been married?”

“About five or six months.”

“Five or six months, and you don’t have any children?”

Lin Bingwei replied, “My husband is a soldier. He was on a mission for the first few months, and then he was recovering from injuries for the rest. That’s why we don’t have children yet.”

At the mention of a soldier’s wife, the official’s expression changed—from serious to somewhat respectful.

She smiled and said, “I asked about your children because of this—there’s been talk from above about family planning. It’s uncertain when it’ll become law, but once it does, each household will only be allowed to have one child. If that happens, you won’t have a birth quota. Your husband is a soldier, so he’s expected to set an example. In other words, if you adopt this child and don’t have your own before the law is enacted, you might not be allowed to have any biological children at all.”

Hearing the words family planning, Lin Bingwei’s mind buzzed.

She only remembered that it started in the ’80s, but she couldn’t recall the exact year.

But this was only 1981. Wasn’t it too early?

She wasn’t sure.

If she mistimed it and didn’t give birth before the policy was enacted, it would be a real problem.

Li Yurong was still confused. “What do you mean by family planning? You have to plan to have children now?”

The official stepped out from behind the counter and led them to an empty room, patiently explaining, “Our country has a large population. To control the numbers, the higher-ups have proposed a policy where each family can only have one child.”

“Huh? They can do that?” Her voice was quite loud, and the female official quickly hushed her.

“Auntie, keep your voice down. I brought you in here to tell you the truth. This policy hasn’t been officially decided yet, so I can’t openly talk about it. But since this young woman’s husband is a soldier, I didn’t want to see a soldier end up without his own child, so I’m giving you a heads-up.”

Li Yurong nodded repeatedly. “Thank you, comrade, but I still find it hard to believe. They control everything—can they really control childbirth too? Young couples living together, how could they not have kids? Unless they castrate the men like they do with pigs.”

“As for whether it’ll be the men or the women getting fixed, I don’t know. But that’s how things are shaping up. My advice is: don’t adopt until you have your own child first.”

Li Yurong asked again, “When do you think this will become law?”

The woman shook her head. “I don’t know that. But I’m telling you, just in case. What if it gets passed next year?”

Lin Bingwei had been racking her brain, trying to remember when it officially started. Hearing the woman say next year, a vague memory surfaced—it really was next year.

Damn it. Zhang Tingyuan wasn’t even home, and it was too late to conceive now.

In the end, they abandoned the adoption. Since they’d been given such a warning, they had to be cautious.

Thinking about the family planning policy, Li Yurong became anxious. “Ugh, if I’d known, I would’ve had you two marry earlier. Now what? What if it really starts next year? I was hoping you’d have a few more kids!”

Lin Bingwei couldn’t help but laugh. To be honest, with or without family planning, she had only ever planned to have one child.

Having Zhang Jianguo around was actually quite nice—it saved her from the pressure of having a son.

“Mom, we should support national policies.”

“Yes, yes. But we should still call Tingyuan and have him come back. You two should hurry and have a child before it’s too late. What if they suddenly don’t allow it at all?”

Lin Bingwei: “…”

“How is that possible? If they don’t allow children at all, won’t we go extinct?”

“Oh, right! I was just panicking.”

Actually, Lin Bingwei vaguely remembered that, in the beginning, the policy didn’t strictly limit families to just one child—maybe they could have two? It was only later that it became strictly one-child only. But her memory wasn’t that clear.

When they got home, they unexpectedly saw an elderly woman from a neighboring village lingering at their door.

Seeing this, Li Yurong quickly went over. “Sister Suyen, are you looking for me?”

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for you for a while. You all went to the market, didn’t you?”

“What happened?”

“What else? You asked me to keep an eye on Lin Wangsheng’s family!”

Hearing this, Li Yurong got a little worked up. “Did Weiwei’s biological mother show up?”

“She did, she did!”

At those words, Li Yurong gripped Lin Bingwei’s hand tightly, her excitement palpable.

Lin Bingwei felt both excited and uneasy.

She had long known the Ye family would come for her. But now that they really had, she found herself with complicated feelings.

Whether she would acknowledge the Ye couple was one thing. What mattered more was ensuring that Lin Wangsheng’s family didn’t get away unscathed.

“Where are they?” Li Yurong asked urgently.

“They haven’t come to the village. They should be in the city.”

“Huh? Then how do you know all this?”

Sister Suyen explained, “Isn’t Lin Yaozu from their family in the same school as my grandson? I heard from my eldest grandson that Lin Yaozu took a leave of absence two days ago, saying he was visiting relatives. When he came back, he was wearing brand-new clothes—said they were from his city relatives.

“Not only that, but my grandson also said that yesterday morning, Lin Yaozu was dropped off at school in a private car.”

Li Yurong’s face twisted in disbelief. “Lin Wangsheng’s family—relatives from the city? Their ancestors for eight generations were all farmers! Where would city relatives come from? Other than Ye Bingyu, who else could it be?

“So I had my suspicions. This morning, when I took my grandson to school, I stuck around for a while. Sure enough, I saw a young woman drop Lin Yaozu off in a private car.”

She glanced at Lin Bingwei. “She looked about the same age as Weiwei. I think it was Ye Bingyu—she does resemble her childhood self a bit.

“The car came from the city, so I figure they must be staying there.”

Li Yurong nodded excitedly. “Yes, that must be it!”

Sister Suyen continued, “I’ve been watching them closely. The past couple of days, that couple has been leaving early and coming home late. This morning, they sold off all their chickens and are now trying to sell their ducks too. Their hens are still laying eggs—why would they sell them off so suddenly?

“My guess? They’re planning to flee in secret. You need to be careful—if they run away, good luck finding them!”

Li Yurong was stunned.

Lin Bingwei had mentioned before that they might try to escape, but she hadn’t really believed it.

She had thought that, at most, the Ye family would send some gifts and maybe a few bottles of good liquor as thanks.

But… would they really take that whole family to the city?

Would they really be able to get them city household registrations?

How powerful were Weiwei’s biological parents?

Lin Bingwei remained silent, head lowered.

Li Yurong glanced at her, then turned to Sister Suyen with a smile. “Thank you so much! Hold on a second, I have something for Da Lin.”

She had prepared in advance—she had gone to the city specifically to buy some fine chocolates as a thank-you gift if this ever worked out.

Accepting the beautifully wrapped chocolates, Sister Suyen beamed with delight.

“Old Li, I’ll keep watching them for you! If I hear anything, I’ll let you know right away.”