Chapter 20: Persuading Granny Wang

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Persuading Granny Wang

"Don’t worry, if anything comes up just come to me." Chen Xiu patted Fu Xiaoxiao’s hand, saying happily.

Fu Xiaoxiao listened to them talking about the situation in the family compound. These days only officers at company commander level and above can bring their families, like Sister-in-law Liu—her man is a full company commander—and Granny Wang’s son is the deputy company commander.

Among the wives of the battalion commanders and deputy battalion commanders, only Fu Xiaoxiao has followed the army. The others are exactly those few that Granny Wang and the others always complain about—basically they come to the unit about once a week, stay for two days, and don’t show up the rest of the time.

"The rest of them are married, but their wives and kids are all back home being looked after by the elders, so they can’t come." Chen Xiu saw Fu Xiaoxiao’s confusion and explained.

There are quotas for bringing families, and you also have to meet certain conditions. Some company commanders have elderly parents, young children, and farmland at home, so it’s not convenient to follow the army and they just don’t come.

If both husband and wife can read and write, they can at least write letters. If they’re illiterate, they may only see each other once a year.

Even for those who do follow the army, it’s common to not see their husbands for ten days, half a month at a time.

"Sister-in-law, can I ask, where do the kids go to school...?" Fu Xiaoxiao thought of Lu Lin—he was already seven, logically he should be able to start primary school.

"My kids and Xiu’er’s two go to the school in Upper River Village, the one closest to our unit." Sister-in-law Liu pointed at Chen Xiu and laughed.

"I haven’t even gotten pregnant yet!" Zhang Xiaomei’s eyes dimmed. She wanted to be pregnant, but... her man said she was too young and told her to wait two more years.

Yet Granny Wang was desperate to hold a grandchild, so Zhang Xiaomei was helpless. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"In the village next to ours, Cuihua is the same age as you and already has two kids. You and Jianye have been married two years. You married him at eighteen, and you still haven’t put a baby in your belly." Granny Wang got anxious the moment she mentioned it.

Fu Xiaoxiao stared, eyes wide in shock. How old was that?

"She’d already had two kids by twenty?"

"Of course! Where I’m from, we can get engaged at sixteen, have the wedding feast at eighteen and be married, then one kid a year, just right to make a pair, and it doesn’t even delay doing farm work." Granny Wang said proudly, feeling this age was perfect.

Fu Xiaoxiao looked over at Chen Xiu, and Chen Xiu could only give her a helpless little shake of the head.

Old folks’ thinking—you try to persuade them, but it’s useless, they just don’t listen.

Zhang Xiaomei lowered her head in shame. Granny Wang still wanted to go on, but Fu Xiaoxiao cut her off.

"Granny Wang, I think you can afford to wait another two years." Fu Xiaoxiao’s words made Chen Xiu and the others look at her in surprise. Sister-in-law Liu shot Fu Xiaoxiao a look, signaling her not to push it.

Sure enough, Granny Wang’s face darkened the moment she heard that. She was already rejecting what Fu Xiaoxiao was saying.

"You probably don’t know, right? There’s actually a knack to having babies! And it’s a pretty big deal. If you follow this knack, the children you have will be smart and filial." Fu Xiaoxiao said, looking all mysterious.

"There’s such a thing? Tell me properly." Granny Wang immediately forgot her resistance and got interested.

Chen Xiu and Sister-in-law Liu were drawn in too. Zhang Xiaomei looked at Fu Xiaoxiao. "What is it? Hurry and tell us!"

"Do you know what the best age for a woman to have children is?" Fu Xiaoxiao dangled the answer. Granny Wang blinked. "Isn’t it the earlier the better?"

"Of course not." Fu Xiaoxiao raised a finger and wagged it. "Girls in their teens have only just ripened. Sure, they can have babies, but they’ve only just grown up themselves. The seedlings have just poked through the soil—can you harvest them already?" With that metaphor from Fu Xiaoxiao—

Granny Wang got it and slapped her thigh. "No way! They’re not ripe yet!"

"Right? So you have to wait for the body to fully mature. Push it back a few years—between twenty and thirty, a woman’s body is completely mature. That’s when it’s the best time to have children. The babies get sick less, are healthier, and they’re smart too." As soon as Fu Xiaoxiao said that, Granny Wang mulled it over carefully; it really did sound quite reasonable.

"Xiao Xiao, you’ve been to school, haven’t you?" Granny Wang sized Fu Xiaoxiao up.

"Granny Wang, I graduated from high school!" Fu Xiaoxiao replied with a smile.

"No wonder—one look and I knew you were educated. What you say just sounds convincing." Granny Wang was satisfied. Hearing that Fu Xiaoxiao was a high school graduate, she took it for granted that what she said was true.

"So that’s why Brother Wang won’t let me get pregnant so early?" Zhang Xiaomei understood too—turns out her man stopped her from getting pregnant because he was really thinking of her good.

"Then you’re truly blessed, meeting a man who cares about you that much." Fu Xiaoxiao chimed in with a timely compliment. Zhang Xiaomei gave a shy little smile, feeling absolutely wonderful inside.

"Since Xiao Mei has put it that way, I won’t push anymore either! No rush about the baby—let’s wait two more years!" Hearing that her own son had said the same thing, Granny Wang believed it even more. She no longer kept a stern face toward Zhang Xiaomei—two years later is two years later—her precious grandson’s health was what mattered most.

"Okay." Zhang Xiaomei gave Fu Xiaoxiao a grateful look. She hadn’t expected her stubborn mother-in-law to actually be talked around by Fu Xiaoxiao.

Chen Xiu and Sister-in-law Liu exchanged a glance and secretly gave Fu Xiaoxiao a thumbs up.

Being able to persuade the most stubborn elder among them—impressive.

Fu Xiaoxiao just smiled faintly, hiding her merit and fame.

After getting on good terms with the other army wives, Fu Xiaoxiao decided to take Lu Lin to check out the primary school in Upper River Village. He was already old enough for school; she couldn’t let him keep running around the back mountain every day.

When she got home, Lu Lin and Lu Chen were just grabbing their stuff and heading out.

"Where are you two going?" Fu Xiaoxiao asked curiously.

"To the back mountain." Lu Chen glanced at Fu Xiaoxiao as he answered, worried she might not let them go.

"Can you take me along?" Fu Xiaoxiao’s eyes lit up. She’d always wanted to see what was up there in the back mountain.

"You?" Lu Lin and Lu Chen both froze. It was the first time they’d heard someone volunteer to go up the mountain with them—everyone else just told them not to go.

"Yeah! I want to go. If you run into anything you can’t handle, I can help!" Fu Xiaoxiao patted her chest as she volunteered. After all, she’d grown up in the mountains as a kid; she was very familiar with the forest.

"You’re not going to scold us?" Lu Chen blinked, finding it all very strange.

Fu Xiaoxiao really was different from the others.

"Why would I scold you? It’s not like you’re stealing or robbing anyone. I think you’re amazing! So young and you already know how to survive in the wild." Fu Xiaoxiao was just telling the truth—the two kids together were only twelve, and they already knew how to survive out there.

"...Don’t think that just because you praise us, we’ll take you." Lu Lin’s face flushed red as he glared at Fu Xiaoxiao.

Five minutes later, Fu Xiaoxiao was following Lu Lin and Lu Chen up into the back mountain.

"Stick close to us. The back mountain is huge, and there are black bears and wild boars." Lu Chen made a scary face, trying to frighten Fu Xiaoxiao.

Fu Xiaoxiao smirked and reached out to pinch Lu Chen’s cheek. "Scare me, huh?"

"No, no." Lu Chen quickly shook his head, rescuing his poor cheeks from Fu Xiaoxiao’s hand.

Ugh, she bullied little kids.

Lu Lin glanced back at the two of them, amused, then walked ahead to lead the way. Fu Xiaoxiao grabbed Lu Chen and hurried after him, watching as Lu Lin moved deftly through the trees, guiding her to a dark, damp patch of forest.

"There are lots of wild mushrooms here." Lu Lin showed Fu Xiaoxiao, pointing to the wild fungi that were already poking up not far away.