Chapter 673: The Fifty-Year-Old Motherhood System (30)

【Host, your Women's Director's estimate is correct; Hongqi County has forty-plus new cases of young orphans.】

【There are six in your town. Besides Liu Jinyuan's son, Liu Zhuangzhuang, the other five are: an eight-year-old, Cao Xiaojun, whose mother ran off with someone when he was very small; he lived with his grandmother, but she passed away from illness last winter. Then there is a pair of twin sisters, Jiang Chunni and Jiang Qiuni, seven years old this year; their mother remarried and didn't want them, and other relatives didn't want to raise them, calling them money-losing goods.】

【There are also two, a brother and sister: the older brother, Chen Xingguo, is seven, and the younger sister, Chen Xiaolan, is two. Their mother's health was already poor after suffering complications during the birth of the younger sister, and she couldn't pull through after receiving the news that the children's father had sacrificed his life. Their grandparents are one bedridden and one with limited mobility, unable to raise them.】

【These children were already having a hard time, and now it's even worse. Sob sob sob, the little ones are so miserable!】

"..."

Xie Yang then said to Cao Zhuren: "I submit articles to the Newspaper Office during the slack farming season and have earned some royalties. If things stabilize, I should be able to get ten or twenty yuan. I don't have the ability to do more, but the six children in our town can be left to me to raise. However, the organization will need to help solve the housing issue."

Fearing she was acting on impulse, Cao Zhuren repeatedly advised: "Xiao Xie, why don't you think about it carefully? Adopting children isn't as simple as you think."

Xie Yang nodded: "I know, but I really want to do something for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. I don't need the children to change their names or register their household status under mine; they will always be the descendants of martyrs. I am just putting in some effort while they are young; when they are able to support themselves, they will naturally walk their own paths in the future."

After a pause, she continued: "The children have only lost their parents, which doesn't mean their fields are gone. It's just that they are too young to support themselves right now, but the fields can be lent to trusted villagers to farm. In return, they can receive some grain, which is basically enough for them to eat. At most, I will just take care of their daily lives. But I can't run to six different places to look after them, so I hope the organization can allocate a plot of land to build a row of dormitories for the children to live in, and I will look after them collectively. If I get too busy, I can pay to hire enthusiastic sisters in the village to help. I have savings and can still earn royalties; I believe I can afford this money myself."

"But..." Cao Zhuren was impressed yet puzzled, "Even if it's just taking care of their daily lives, there are six children, not just one or two. If you use your own income to subsidize them, what about your own lifelong marriage plans?"

Which husband's family would accept a daughter-in-law who spends money year after year like a leaking purse?

It is precisely because she does not want her lifelong marriage plans to become a tight hoop constantly urging her on that she has this idea.

Xie Yang smiled: "Cao Zhuren, I am afraid I will never be able to forget the ten years I spent in the Zhuang family, so I have made up my mind: I don't intend to get married. I will raise the martyrs' children and be their foster mother; it will be as if I have six children! After I pass away, the Lin family's graves won't be left without anyone to sweep them."

If Qiu Caohua were present right now, she would surely jump up: You don't want to get married, fine, but don't drag the Old Zhuang Family into it! And you want to pin this pot on the Old Zhuang Family, you wish!

But since the original body did indeed suffer ten years of torment in the Old Zhuang Family, the facts are there. With her saying it like that, Cao Zhuren only felt sympathy and not a shred of doubt.

Seeing that Xie Yang's mind was made up, Cao Zhuren patted her shoulder in admiration and took her to find the Town Mayor.

The Town Mayor was, of course, happy; someone willing to adopt these martyrs' orphans was helping him reduce his burden. Otherwise, the town would have to step in to solve the upbringing of these children.

Just as Xie Yang said, the children's grain was the least of their worries.

Each family's fields are right there; the town can step in to find reliable villagers to help farm them for the children. Once the harvest comes in, they distribute some grain to the children, and the rest goes to the villagers who helped farm. Families with plenty of strong labor are more than happy to do it.

The main worry is that the children are too young, and no one is willing to raise them. Letting them live on their own—what is the difference between that and letting them fend for themselves?

Even if someone is willing to raise them, most are after the house, the fields, and the consolation goods allocated by the county. Once they get the benefits, they might abuse the children to the extreme. If something happens, the accountability would still fall on the town for not doing its job properly.

But the town Cadres have their own work and families; it's impossible for them to pay attention to these children's lives all day long.

So Xie Yang's proposal truly spoke to the Town Mayor's heart.

Not to mention that he trusted Comrade Xiao Xie's character, raising these children collectively is indeed better than finding people to adopt them separately. When the time comes, the town can send people to check on the orphanage regularly; running to one place is always easier than running to six.

"Comrade Xiao Xie, your high level of consciousness is worth learning from for every one of us! Don't worry! The children's housing is not hard to solve. I'll see where there is a larger vacant plot of land, and I'll approve it for you right now."

Xie Yang then asked if she could choose the foot of the mountain near her home: "That area is far from the village entrance and has quite a few vacant plots. My grain fields are right nearby, which makes it convenient for me to look after them, and it won't affect my work in the fields during the busy farming season."

The Town Mayor naturally had no objections.

Xie Yang asked again if the plot could be approved to be a little larger, as she wanted to adopt more martyrs' orphans in the future when she had the ability. If the plot is large, she can add more buildings if the dormitories aren't enough.

Upon hearing this, the Town Mayor waved his hand and simply allocated all the vacant plots near the foot of the mountain to the orphanage she was applying for. He would later allocate a piece of land elsewhere to Shili Village as a replacement.

In this way, the land for the orphanage was removed from the management of Shili Village and fell under the direct jurisdiction of the town, which would save a lot of trouble in the future.

When the villagers heard that Xie Yang had gotten the town to approve a plot of land to build an orphanage and that she would be raising six orphans alone, they all thought she was crazy.

"Not getting married and adopting other people's children? And raising six at once? What is she thinking?"

"Who knows what she's thinking? Could she be possessed? Everything was fine, and she goes off to adopt six children."

"And it's not even called adoption; the children still keep their biological fathers' surnames, and they only call Xie Yang foster mother."

"Tsk! Can she still find a partner then?"

"She doesn't intend to look for one anymore."

"What! She doesn't intend to look for a partner?"

All the villagers who heard this news were so shocked their jaws nearly dropped.

In this day and age, where is there a girl who doesn't get married?

Old maids who don't marry are either physically disabled and have no one to marry them, or they are burdened by their maiden families and looked down upon. Like Xie Yang, who is neither, and has fields, a house, and savings—she would have been so easy to marry off!

As long as she opened her mouth, how many young men in the surrounding ten miles would be willing to marry her.

Yet she stubbornly refused to budge, and now she has simply decided not to marry and has adopted six burdens! Has she lived a good life for so long that she's forgotten how to write the word 'bitter'?