Chapter 16

I patted her head. “Now you can understand how I feel.”

“This is the life of ordinary people,” I let out a long sigh. “Nothing comes easily. We have to work hard enough and never slack off, or we’ll fade into the crowd.”

The afterglow of the sunset fell on her young, innocent face.

Facing the direction of the setting sun, I said, “Qiuqiu, this is the meaning behind all our efforts.”

“Enjoy this feeling of striving upward, constantly breaking through your own limits. Qiuqiu, I believe you can do it.”

With every breakthrough, we would hear a cracking sound.

That is our breaking, and even more so, our rebirth.

We work hard so that one day, when we look back, we can say without regret: “I did my best. I have no regrets.”

That winter, a few things happened.

Xiangxiang got divorced.

The child was left with the husband.

She was only twenty years old, her household registration booklet still showed “unmarried.”

But she had already been through a hopeless marriage, and her whole being had withered.

My younger sister placed in the top fifty in the year-end exams.

My eldest cousin ended up going down the path of blind dates.

No house, no car, no stable job-rejected in countless ways.

In the end, he settled on someone two years older than him.

She wanted 68,000 yuan as a bride price, plus three pieces of gold jewelry.

This time, Aunt didn’t dare say a word.

She was afraid that if she nitpicked again, her son would be left single.

The engagement was set for the sixth day of the first lunar month. They would date for a year, then get married at the end of the year.

I don’t like Aunt, nor do I like my eldest cousin.

But if he wants to get married, let him. I can’t stop him anyway.

It’s not like it affects me.

But I was still too naive.

On New Year’s Eve, we all gathered at my uncle’s house for dinner.

Both aunts were called back too.

This time, Aunt was surprisingly enthusiastic. She prepared all the dishes herself. I thought she had changed, but it turned out she wanted something from us.

Halfway through dinner, Grandma spoke up:

“Dabao is getting engaged. All you uncles and aunts should contribute as well.”

“The Zheng Family line can’t just end with our generation, or how could we face our ancestors in the afterlife?”

“Dani, Xiaoni, you each need to give five thousand.”

“Jianjun, you’re an uncle, and you’ll be relying on your nephew to carry the family line in the future. You need to give twenty thousand!”