Chapter Twenty-Four Goodbye, Kid

  Yu Songyuan listened and grabbed Qin Hong's hand, saying, "Wow, sis, you're too awesome! Your translation is exactly the same as the one in the book!"

  Qin Hong said: "I actually practiced this ancient article before the exam, of course. You are smarter than your sister and will definitely do better than her in the future."

  Yu Songyuan asked: "Sister, why did you apply to Tsinghua?"

  Qin Hong said: "Because sister wants to be a scientist, engage in the latest engineering technology research, and serve the motherland in the future. What school do you want to attend in the future?"

  "I want to attend a military academy and become a general in the future. I will lead a large army to defend our home and country, and defeat all invaders!"

  Qin Hong pulled him up by his hand: "Little brother, in the future I'll research advanced weapons, you take them to fight and kill enemies, how about that?"

  Yu Songyuan straightened his back and said: "Good!"

  Qin Hong said: "Aunt Yu made so many delicious dishes, I'm hungry now, do you want to go with me to eat?"

  "Of course I'm willing. But I have a request... Can I mention it?"

  "What's required?"

  "Will you be my sister forever? I mean, not...that kind of relationship?"

  "That's my own sister. Alright, I'll agree with you. But why can't she be your girlfriend? You have to tell me, if not, I won't agree."

  "My sister's name is Yuqin, and she followed her husband to the army. You two are identical except for your looks being slightly different, age difference, tone of voice, gait, even the way you smile, and the scent on your body, it's too similar."

  Qin Hong suddenly realized: "I understand. Then let's be siblings. Was it also for this reason that you helped your sister fight that day?"

  "It's not that I'm not capable. It's just that they're too bullying, and I couldn't bear to watch."

  Qin Hong and Yu Songyuan walked hand in hand, chatting happily as they headed towards Yu Yueyue's home.

  At this moment, the dishes were already done, and everyone saw through the window that they were hand in hand, chatting intimately as they walked together, all smiling with joy. But in Shu Wenfang's heart, there was a faint melancholy. Qin Hong is a university student, Yu Songyuan is just a naughty boy, how can he match up to her? This thing can be said and laughed about, but it can't be taken seriously.

  Zhuang Ba and Da Ge Zi brought Chen Lan and "Pang Dun" to set off a string of 20,000 firecrackers, then everyone warmly welcomed Qin Hong and the others.

  After dinner, when Qin Hong was about to leave, Cui Wenfang stuffed a big red envelope into her hands. Qin Hong wanted to decline, but Yu Yuemei said: "Don't decline, and don't think too much, this is the share of our four families, and it's also our common intention. From now on, this place is also your home, so just consider us as your mothers." Only then did Qin Hong tearfully accept it.

  Time passed like this for two or three years, and Yu Songyuan and his younger brothers studied very hard under Qin Hong's encouragement. The "Yu Brothers" of Hongwei Middle School became famous throughout the county and became a key protected object of the school. Among the four, Shu Tong was absolutely the first in the county.

  Several unified simulation exams were held across the county, and Su Bei's several counties jointly organized a subject-based competition. Shu Tong was always the first in total score, earning enough face for the school. Among the four, Yu Songyuan's studies could only rank second, slightly stronger than Chen Lan and "Pang Duan". But teachers all predicted that if these four brothers performed normally, they would all be able to attend a first-class undergraduate program.

  However, on the eve of the college entrance examination, a sudden storm changed the fate of Yu Songyuan and his brothers. As if it was destined, Zhou Jianguo and Zhou Kun had been waiting for an opportunity to take revenge, and it came just before the four brothers took the college entrance examination.

  Yu Song was in his second year of high school when his sister-in-law Li Wen became pregnant with her fourth child.

  The elder sister-in-law was once the director of the Women's Federation in the village, originally responsible for grasping family planning work. At that time, her enthusiasm for grasping family planning work was unprecedentedly high, writing slogans, issuing tools, checking pregnancies, and taking pregnant women to have abortions were the main tasks.

  In Yu Songyuan's impression, there were slogans for family planning everywhere on the highway, village walls and utility poles, such as "Family planning is a fundamental national policy." "The country prospers, every husband has a responsibility; family planning, husbands have a responsibility." "One person gets sterilized, the whole family is glorious." "Fewer boys are born, more trees are planted, fewer girls are born, more pigs are raised!" It can be said that they were everywhere.

  She first gave birth to a girl named Yu Xiaohong. Xiaohong's birth made her sister-in-law's world dark from then on. Many people who were forced to have abortions during her tenure as the head of the Women's Federation secretly cursed her, saying that she was being punished by heaven and would not be able to have any more children. However, still serving as the head of the Women's Federation, she continued to break the law in the following years, giving birth to two more girls, whom she named Yu Xiaomei and Yu Xiaoyin.

  At this time, his elder brother had changed jobs and was assigned to the county standard parts factory as a mid-level cadre.

  After Yu Xiaoyin was born, the head of the Women's Federation couldn't take it anymore and was heavily fined. However, Dajie didn't give up, but instead went far away to another place, where she gave birth to a fourth daughter, named Yu Xiaohui. This girl wasn't dared to be brought home, so she was fostered at her elder sister's home, and many years later, people finally knew about it and took her back home.

  Everything has its cause and effect.

  Yu Xiao Hui, who had a life full of twists and turns, also underwent a fundamental change in her personality due to the hardships she experienced in her childhood. With a body full of evil energy, she brought endless disasters to the two families of Yu Song Yuan and big brother Yu Song Dong in their future lives. However, this is already a later story.

  Li Wenhui's fifth pregnancy was when the team secretary Zhou Jianguo felt that the timing was ripe.

  Zhou Jianguo, together with the team branch secretary Kang Jun, first organized people to report to the commune and county. However, he himself hid behind the scenes, organizing people to write letters to the county, region, province, State Council, and National People's Congress, until a letter from the masses titled "Women's Federation Director Leads the Way in Having Five Children, Family Planning Policy is Nothing but an Empty Promise" was published in the State Council's Letters and Visits Report.

  The sky was finally pierced, and a big hole was poked through it.

  Level by level, the pressure came down, and Li Wen became a typical "nail household" for supervision at all levels. Huang, the deputy county magistrate in charge of family planning, personally oversaw the handling of the matter. Yu Songdong and Li Wen were declared to be "dual-opened" (i.e., expelled from the party and removed from public office), regardless of how many months pregnant she was or whether it would result in loss of life, an abortion was mandatory.

  In those two years, from county to village, the family planning propaganda slogans became very bloody and terrifying, such as "Better to have rivers of blood than to allow one extra birth." "Whoever does not implement family planning will be called a destroyer of families." "One child born, second child tied up, third and fourth child - scrape! Scrape! Scrape!" "One child ringed, second child tied up, third and fourth child killed! Killed! Killed!" "If you should tie but don't, your house will collapse; if you should flow but don't, your house will be pulled down and your cow taken away!"

  To force the family to hand over Li Wen, the commune's birth planning office and the brigade's birth planning sub-team issued an ultimatum, if they don't hand her over, severe measures will be taken. Yu Xinhai gathered the whole family together, but no one knew where his sister-in-law was hiding, so there was no way to hand her over.

  At the appointed time, the whole family stood by and watched as their house was demolished, beams and wooden pillars were taken away. All property including grain, pigs, chickens, clothes, etc. were confiscated, pots and pans were smashed, even the vegetables, crops, and trees in the private plot were cut off at the waist. A good home, in an instant, not a single tile remained, there was no place to live.

  Yu Songyuan, now seventeen years old, clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, while the three brothers held Yu Xiaohong, Yu Xiaomei, and Yu Xiaoyin, the three nieces, crowded around Yu Songyuan's side. Under their father's severe gaze, they did not dare to move rashly, watching with wide eyes as their home was razed to the ground.

  What's even more tragic is that even after their home was completely destroyed, the disaster had only just begun. Li Wen was already nearly seven months pregnant at this point, but she was soon discovered and forced to have an abortion. The child was induced prematurely into this world of suffering through a medicinal bath, and Li Wen clearly remembers being attended by a doctor known as "Doctor Qian".

  When the child was clamped and forcibly pulled out of the mother's body, accompanied by a loud and piercing cry, some doctors or nurses exclaimed: "Wow, it's still alive, what a beautiful baby boy! What should Qian Jie do?"

  "Shut up, the woman is still conscious, hand her over to me," Dr. Qian said hastily. Immediately afterwards, the baby's cry was brutally strangled. A pair of sinister hands belonging to a woman had strangled this weak little life. As soon as the cry suddenly disappeared, Li Wen fainted.

  After the forced abortion, Li Wen's nerves were in a state of confusion for a long time, and she was subjected to intense stimulation. From then on, she went far away from home, until several years later, when she reappeared in people's sight, holding a beautiful baby boy.

  She finally gave birth to a boy in her sixth pregnancy.

  She proudly said that if she were still a girl, she would continue to give birth until she gave birth to a boy. This hard-won son was named Yu Shang by Yu Songdong, with a delicate appearance and intelligent mind, becoming the treasure of the whole family. After growing up, he was admitted to the provincial university and became a civil servant in the provincial capital after graduation. However, his mother Li Wen left the world early due to her miserable fate and physical devastation.

  It was in that tumultuous year that Yu Songyuan and his younger brothers were supposed to take the college entrance exam on schedule.

  During the Gaokao, Qin Hong, who was on vacation, accompanied them. She had just learned about Yu Songyuan's family tragedy and was heartbroken. Before entering the examination room, she said to Yu Songyuan, who was still feeling down: "Little brother, your foundation is good, forget everything, take a deep breath, take a deep breath, and make sure you perform normally."

  But every time, seeing the four brothers always being the last to leave the examination room, her heart was bleeding and crying, but she was powerless. The intelligent and wise girl could not replace them in the battle, she could only force a smile, trying hard to encourage them. But deep down, she knew that the high school entrance exam would definitely end in failure, with no way to turn back time.

  As many people had expected, the exam results were disappointing for the "Yu Brothers". Xishi barely made it into Fudan University with a four-year undergraduate program. Chen Lan only got into a local finance and accounting school, while Pundan got into a local financial school, both of which are two-year junior college programs.

  Yu Songyuan, however, failed to make the cut-off score for junior college admission by two points. What Yu Songyuan couldn't forgive himself for was that at a time when his family had just suffered a great misfortune and needed a surprise to give them more courage to live on, he had let them down once again.

  School has started, and 17-year-old Yu Songyuan saw off his three good brothers in the county town before walking all the way home. Like a strong wolf, his subordinates had left him, leaving only him to walk alone along the banks of the Nan Chao River on this hometown evening. He felt helpless, wandering, confused, and even desperate, not knowing which path to take next.

  He sat by the Nan Chao River for a whole night, unable to clear his mind, and only when dawn was approaching did he stride away in the morning mist. Only Old Widow Qiao Er Ye from the village saw him hastily leaving as he got up at dawn to collect dung.