Chapter 260: Seventies Appraisal System (34)

He Jianming finally managed to take a wife.

The other party was a widow five years his senior who had a son with her late husband; after the husband died, the son was adopted by the paternal uncle, so she did not mind whether she could still bear her own children in this life, nor did she mind that He Jianming was infertile; in any case, she was after the fact that he had a house and a job.

However, this woman was also a formidable one; before the wedding, she demanded that He Jianming's wages must be kept by her, otherwise, there would be no wedding.

Although He Jianming could not get it up, he was a man after all, and it was very shameful not to be able to take a wife; now that a woman was willing to marry him of her own accord, and she was a young, pretty widow with a shapely figure, his heart had melted, and naturally, he listened to everything she said.

The old couple of the He family had no choice but to agree.

The woman thus seized control of He Jianming's wages, and the idea of raising a nephew for her husband's family was out of the question.

Conversely, she tried every possible way to get money from her parents-in-law, and if she got even a cent less, she considered it her loss.

But the old couple only had so much money on hand; once they subsidized He Jianming, the other children received less.

Ever since she became pregnant with her second child, Bai Xiuyuan had never had any spare money.

Once He Ximing's wages were issued, they first had to pay off the debts from the previous month, and then set aside enough for the month's expenses on rice, flour, grain, and oil, leaving almost nothing left.

If they wanted to add some daily necessities, or if a relative was holding a wedding and they needed to give a gift, they would be out of money just past the middle of the month.

After a row with her mother-in-law, He Mu was so angry that she didn't even want to look at Bai Xiuyuan, let alone subsidize her as she had before.

Xie Yang saw Bai Xiuyuan when she was admitted to the hospital to prepare for childbirth—

She had come to the obstetrics and gynecology department for a prenatal checkup; her belly was alarmingly large, yet her face was sallow and gaunt, and she wore a bitter expression from start to finish; where was the high-spirited look she had a year ago when Xie Yang first transmigrated here?

She was clearly only twenty years old, yet she looked like she was in her thirties.

But the more strapped for cash she was, the more Bai Xiuyuan wanted children.

Because every time she gave birth to a son, she could eat better during her postpartum recovery, and her mother-in-law would also give her a pleasant look.

She always felt that her parents-in-law were still hiding a lot of money, and as long as she gave birth to more sons than the other sisters-in-law, she would sooner or later be able to inherit this property in their hands.

Just like that, Bai Xiuyuan exerted herself year after year, and for five consecutive years, she gave birth to five sons for He Ximing.

The family was so poor they could barely put food on the table, and Bai Xiuyuan's body had also suffered tremendous damage.

Even so, she still had no regrets, always believing: the He family must still be hiding a fortune; as long as she was the most fertile among all the sisters-in-law, she would sooner or later obtain this wealth.

During these five years, the couple Xie Yang and her husband lived an increasingly prosperous life.

She had a son and a daughter of her own, her son Qin Yechen and her daughter Qin Yewei; the two children were three and a half years apart, the older brother took good care of his younger sister, and the younger sister was very obedient to her brother.

With both a son and a daughter, Xie Yang felt her life was already complete and did not plan to have any more.

It just so happened that the general environment also began to promote family planning, so Qin Zheng went to get a vasectomy without a second word.

Over these years, Qin Zheng's work had also been very stable; apart from being quite busy when fighting on the front lines or during flood relief, when he had to transport supplies continuously and was often nowhere to be seen, he could usually still come home every day to help her cook and look after the children.

Although Xie Yang had not been working, she held the reins of the family's finances, and the wages Qin Zheng handed over every month alone amounted to over a hundred, occasionally supplemented by the supplies she obtained from her private small business selling pickled vegetables.

Opening up sources of income and reducing expenditure, both approaches were used simultaneously.

At the same time, she had the Appraisal System as a cheat to help her pick up scraps at the Recycling Station.

Antique cultural relics of high value were all deposited by her in the Appraisal Space, to be donated to the state when the opportunity arose.

Small fortunes in the form of real gold and silver belonged to her.

With no major wealth but constant small blessings, the family of four had no worries about food or clothing, and the numbers in their bankbook grew year by year.

Until the arrival of the Reform and Opening-up, the motorcade where Qin Zheng worked underwent restructuring; it was no longer affiliated with the military region but was placed under the City Transportation Bureau.

The City Transportation Bureau was a department that combined transportation, urban construction, and post and telecommunications; the restructured motorcade was no longer called the Combat Readiness Motorcade, but the Material Transportation Department.

Qin Zheng, who had excellent technical skills and high seniority, was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Transportation Department, his salary was raised by three grades, and they moved to a larger house.

Before they even started worrying about how to divide the rooms as the two children grew up, didn't a four-bedroom apartment just come along?

However, Xie Yang still preferred a courtyard that stood tall and firm.

So, after learning through internal news that urban housing could be bought and sold, she took out her savings and immediately secured the Main Courtyard of a grand mansion left behind by a prominent family—five main rooms.

With a courtyard in front and a yard in the back, the location was also surprisingly good—right in the City Center of Yongcheng.

When it was eventually demolished for redevelopment, it was estimated that it could be exchanged for at least three or four suburban villas of the same size.

Whether it was the wedding house for her son, the dowry for her daughter, or retirement for the two of them, there was nothing to worry about.

The only thing that troubled Xie Yang was: the pile of antiques and curios in the Appraisal Space was getting larger and larger, and the storage fee had risen to a number that was painful to look at, even if it was better not to.

Fortunately, after entering the eighties, the state attached increasing importance to the protection of cultural relics and established museums in various places one after another.

Yongcheng also had its own museum.

Xie Yang found an opportunity, and under the guise of taking the children to visit the museum, she quietly released the treasures with historical research value that she had collected over the years, donating them all to the Yongcheng Museum without keeping a single one.

The news of a patriotic individual anonymously donating over a hundred collection-grade cultural relics was published in the Yongcheng Daily for three consecutive days, and subsequently, local newspapers and the Youth Daily also reported on the matter at great length.

Xie Yang read the newspaper the family subscribed to once, then put it away and pressed it to the bottom of a red lacquer chest, hiding her merit and fame deep away.

The Sub-system was even more pained than she was: 【Host, an anonymous donation, you don't get any benefits, aren't you heartbroken?】

Main System: 【Your host only feels heartbroken over negative points.】

Xie Yang raised an eyebrow: "What? My points are negative again? Brother System, you didn't deduct them randomly, did you? Send me the details so I can take a look!"

【…】

【…】

…

Ten years later—

"Yang Yang, bringing the children back to your maiden home?"

"Chenchen has grown so tall? He's almost catching up to his dad, right?"

"Weiwei is also starting to sprout up, isn't she? She's looking more and more like Yang, the mother and daughter are like two peas in a pod."

After getting off the car, just as the driver turned around to leave, Xie Yang and her two children were surrounded by the enthusiastic villagers.

Xie Yang smiled and nodded to everyone in greeting: "Yes, the children are on summer vacation, so I brought them back to stay for a few days to keep their grandmother and grandfather company."

"A few days is not enough! Your maiden home has plenty of room now, so stay a few more days once you're here, staying until school starts is fine too."

Speaking of the changes in the Xie Family over these years, which of the villagers is not envious?

When the household contract responsibility system first came out, the Xie Family, with the support of their little daughter Xie Yang, contracted a piece of mountain land with the best orientation and began planting unremarkable vegetables such as Chili, radishes, garlic, cowpeas, and Chinese cabbage.

At the time, everyone thought the Xie Family had gone mad; spending money to contract mountain land, only to grow these vegetables that could be seen everywhere. Even if they were taken to the city to be sold after maturing, they wouldn't even earn back the contract fees, right?

Who would have expected that the Xie Family was not selling fresh vegetables, but various kinds of pickled vegetables—things like Fresh Chili Sauce, Chili Oil, Sour Pickles, Spicy Cabbage... and they made a fortune from these pickled vegetables.