Chapter 60: Do You Prefer a Grandson or Granddaughter?

Lin Xiangyi chatted with Xie’s mother and soon returned to the Xie family.

As she stepped through the door, she saw a little girl, about two years old, with two pigtails and rosy cheeks, standing in their courtyard. The girl was holding a starfruit and nibbling on it.

She turned her head when she heard the sound, her big dark eyes looking at Lin Xiangyi and Xie’s mother timidly.

“Oh, it’s Taotao! Are you here to play today?” Xie’s mother laughed.

Taotao didn’t answer, but tilted her head and looked at Xie’s mother. Perhaps realizing that Xie’s mother was someone she knew, she handed her the half-eaten starfruit, wanting Xie’s mother to eat it.

Even Lin Xiangyi laughed. The little girl was so cute.

“This is your eldest brother’s daughter, Xiaomei and Guoqiang’s daughter, Taotao,” Xie’s mother told Lin Xiangyi. Then, she squatted down with a smile and said to Taotao, “Auntie won’t eat it, Taotao can eat it yourself.”

Xie’s eldest sister-in-law and Su Xiaomei, who were busy in the kitchen, heard the sound and came out. “You’re back?”

Su Xiaomei said to Lin Xiangyi apologetically, “She insisted on coming with me this morning. She wouldn’t stop crying if I didn’t bring her, so I had to bring her. But Guoqiang will be here soon to take her back.”

She was explaining to Lin Xiangyi that she wouldn’t be delaying her work.

Lin Xiangyi smiled, “It’s okay, we’re not very busy right now. It’s nice to have a child around.”

Su Xiaomei breathed a sigh of relief.

She had been working here for a few days now. She got paid daily and was provided lunch, which always included meat and was incredibly delicious.

Even in the county’s offices and factories, they didn’t necessarily have such good benefits.

Su Xiaomei cherished this job. She could tell that Lin Xiangyi was a fair person. When it came to work, she didn’t hesitate to give them tasks.

So she was afraid that Lin Xiangyi would misunderstand her bringing her child to work and affecting their work.

“Taotao, this is your aunt. Call her aunt,” Su Xiaomei coaxed Taotao.

Her husband, Xie Guoqiang, was a few days younger than Xie Qingxiao, but he didn’t finish middle school and got married early.

“A-u-nt,” Taotao’s pronunciation was still unclear. Then she handed the starfruit to Lin Xiangyi again.

Lin Xiangyi laughed, “Auntie won’t eat it, Taotao can eat it yourself. Wait a minute, Auntie has something good for you.”

Lin Xiangyi went inside and came out with a handful of candy, both fruit candies and Da Bai Tu milk candies.

“Why so many candies? Xiangyi, you don’t need to,” Su Xiaomei quickly said.

“Oh, I’m not giving them to you, I’m giving them to the child,” Lin Xiangyi laughed, not allowing her to refuse on behalf of the child. She squatted down in front of Taotao and said softly, “Auntie’s candies for you. Put them in your pocket, okay?”

No child could resist candy. Taotao immediately opened her pocket and stared at the candies, her mouth watering.

Everyone laughed. Su Xiaomei couldn’t help but say, “Taotao, hurry up and thank your aunt!”

“Thank you, A-u-nt,” Taotao said eagerly.

Lin Xiangyi smiled and put the candies in her pocket. She couldn’t help but touch her head. She was so well-behaved.

She used to be indifferent to children, but lately, she didn’t know if it was because she was pregnant, but she seemed to like children.

Every time she saw a child, she couldn’t help but stop and take a closer look.

Her loving gaze fell on Xie’s mother and Xie’s eldest sister-in-law.

Xie’s eldest sister-in-law teased, “Xiangyi, you like children so much, why don’t you have one yourself? While your parents are still young, they can help you take care of it. It won’t affect you and Qingxiao from doing business.”

Lin Xiangyi laughed and said generously, “I want to have one, but I don’t know when I can get pregnant.”

Oh, Xie’s eldest sister-in-law and Xie’s mother exchanged glances, both of them laughing.

In their generation, getting married meant having children, and the more children, the better.

“Okay,” Xie’s eldest sister-in-law said with a smile, “You’re young now, have one first, and then have another two years later. That’s good for your body. Xiaomei had Taotao, and I raised her for two years. Look at her, she looks much better than those girls who have several children in a row.”

Lin Xiangyi looked at Su Xiaomei. Actually, she wasn’t in the best condition. After all, their family was poor, and they didn’t have anything particularly good to nourish her. But she did look more energetic than those women who had several children in a row.

Su Xiaomei was a little embarrassed when Lin Xiangyi stared at her. “Actually, I’ve recovered now. I’m planning to have another child next year.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiangyi said, “If you want another child, you should have it now.”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was surprised. Xie’s eldest sister-in-law hurriedly asked, “Xiangyi, why?”

Because the family planning policy was about to be implemented in a month.

Lin Xiangyi explained, “Our country has too many people now. There was a slogan a few decades ago, what was it called? ‘One is not enough, two is just right, three is too many.’ You can see that the country has felt that there are too many people since a few decades ago and has been intentionally restricting population growth.”

“I like to read newspapers and listen to the radio to learn about current events. In the past two months, I’ve often seen articles about population and fertility. I’m guessing that soon, in order to restrict population growth, the country will take some measures.”

Xie’s mother and Xie’s eldest sister-in-law were stunned. How could they restrict people from having children?

“Qingxiao’s wife, is that true?” Xie’s eldest sister-in-law asked for confirmation.

“This is just my guess, it might not be true, you don’t have to believe me,” Lin Xiangyi quickly said. She could only remind them to this extent.

Xie’s eldest sister-in-law and Su Xiaomei looked at each other and said, “Then we have to consider this. We only have one daughter, we need to have a son. If we don’t have a son, we will be looked down upon and bullied.”

Lin Xiangyi didn’t refute. This was a historical concept that couldn’t be changed overnight.

Moreover, Xie’s eldest sister-in-law wasn’t particularly biased against girls. Looking at Taotao, although she wasn’t fat, she had some flesh on her face, which was better than many girls in the village who were skinny as bones.

However.

Lin Xiangyi looked at her mother-in-law, wondering if her mother-in-law was biased against girls?

After family planning, she could only have one child. What if she had a daughter?

Lin Xiangyi liked Xie’s mother, her mother-in-law, and hoped to continue getting along well with her.

So Lin Xiangyi asked directly, “Mother, do you prefer a grandson or granddaughter?”

Xie’s mother immediately understood why Lin Xiangyi asked this. She said, “I like both grandsons and granddaughters.”

Although her words were meant to appease Lin Xiangyi, there was not much falsehood in them.

She truly liked both grandsons and granddaughters.