Chapter 3970: Eve of the Opening Ceremony

On August 6th, Su Xinghui's family returned to the capital. Their return to the capital this time was, of course, to watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics held at the National Stadium on August 8th in person.

For this opening ceremony, Su Xinghui specifically asked Qian Jianan for a few days off. In such matters, Qian Jianan naturally wouldn't make things difficult for him; he readily agreed to Su Xinghui's leave request and told him to go and have a good time for a few days.

In truth, Qian Jianan still felt a bit of envy, jealousy, and resentment in his heart. To be able to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics held in one's own country in person—what a stroke of luck that was. Unfortunately, this kind of luck wasn't something everyone could have.

Regardless of what Qian Jianan thought, Su Xinghui brought his family to the capital. He hadn't had a proper rest in several months, so coming to the capital this time could be considered a chance to rest for a few days.

However, he couldn't rest completely after arriving in the capital; he still had many elders to visit. He visited Elder Yu, Elder Hou, Premier Nan, Gu Shanmin, and others one by one. Although they were no longer young, thanks to good medical conditions, their bodies were still in excellent shape, and their spirits were very vigorous.

That evening, Su Xinghui took Lu Xiaoya and their child to Lu Zhenghong's home for dinner. Lu Zhenghong was truly swamped with work now, but he still carved out an hour to return home and have a reunion dinner with his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson. After the meal, he chatted with Su Xinghui in the study for half an hour.

As usual, Su Xinghui reported his recent work situation in Linshan to Lu Zhenghong, and Lu Zhenghong provided some commentary.

Following this, the father-in-law and son-in-law began chatting about the pilot program for the "only-child-couple-can-have-two-children" policy. Lu Zhenghong asked with a smile, "Xinghui, do you have any plans to have a second child?"

Su Xinghui also smiled and said, "Of course I do. While we are still young, we plan to have another child as soon as the policy comes down, so that Niuniu will have a companion in the future."

Lu Zhenghong nodded slightly. He naturally hoped that Su Xinghui and Lu Xiaoya could have more children, but family planning had made this wish seem impossible. Now, however, the policy for couples where one is an only child to have two children was about to be released, making this wish possible once again.

By next year, Su Xinghui would be thirty-eight and Lu Xiaoya thirty-seven. Although they weren't exactly young, their physical states were still very good. Lu Xiaoya had even started exercising recently in preparation for pregnancy, so given their physical condition, they could absolutely have another one.

Medical science was becoming increasingly advanced; even if Lu Xiaoya was considered an older mother, there wouldn't be any danger.

In fact, Lu Zhenghong had originally wanted to have more children, but after Song Qiaoli gave birth to Lu Xiaoya, she suffered a difficult labor with their second child, who passed away, and Song Qiaoli's body was damaged to the point where she could no longer conceive. This had been a lifelong regret for Lu Zhenghong.

Being able to see Lu Xiaoya have another child now brought Lu Zhenghong great comfort.

Lu Zhenghong said, "I never imagined that the family planning policy would actually change!"

Lu Zhenghong truly hadn't expected that the family planning policy implemented decades ago would ever have a day of change. At that time, family planning was a national policy, concerning the very foundation of the country.

Back then, the country's productivity was severely insufficient, and it couldn't support so many people—over a billion of them. If they had been allowed to give birth freely, no one dared to imagine how many people China would have now. Fifteen billion? Twenty billion? Or even more? That would have meant each mu of arable land would have to support one person, which, at the time, truly seemed impossible.

Yet, no one expected that thirty years after the Reform and Opening-up, China's productivity would have developed to such a level, with grain production increasing several-fold. Now, there was no longer any worry about not being able to support so many people.

Meanwhile, the negative consequences of family planning had gradually emerged, and the birth rate had fallen to a relatively dangerous level. If it continued to decline, the population would continue to shrink, and it would be difficult for the birth rate to return to a normal level.

Examples of this were everywhere in the world. Those countries where the birth rate had dropped to a low level, such as European countries or Japan, found that their birth rates never recovered, no matter what kind of incentive measures were used.

However, even so, a few years ago, Lu Zhenghong hadn't thought that the family planning policy would one day change or loosen.

Su Xinghui said, "It's not too late to change now. If we wait another two or three years, until the birth rate drops to a dangerously low level, it won't be so easy to recover, and it might even be impossible forever."

Lu Zhenghong said, "Is it that serious? Surely not? The Chinese still have the tradition of 'more children, more happiness.' I think as soon as it's relaxed, the population will quickly go up."

Although Lu Zhenghong was wise, he hadn't experienced the era Su Xinghui had, so he couldn't imagine a future where people wouldn't want to have children even if they were allowed to.

Su Xinghui said, "Think about it, Dad. It used to be so easy to raise children; as long as they could survive, that was enough. The older ones could even look after the younger ones—it was an extensive way of raising children. Now, children have to be raised intensively, learning this and that. The cost of raising one child is too high. If housing prices skyrocket, it will be even more unaffordable to raise children."

Lu Zhenghong nodded slightly. What Su Xinghui said certainly made sense. What they were striving for now was to control prices and housing costs, but if housing prices couldn't be controlled, then the situation Su Xinghui described might very well happen.

Housing prices weren't too high yet, so this policy for couples where one is an only child to have two children came at just the right time. The stimulus to fertility should be relatively large. The first generation of only children was now mostly around thirty, at the age for marriage and childbearing, and many already had one child and could have a second.

As for Su Xinghui's generation, they weren't yet forty and could still catch the tail end of their golden age to have another one. If they waited a few more years, I'm afraid they wouldn't have the ability to have children, and the cost of raising them would be too high, so naturally, many wouldn't be able to afford it.

Su Xinghui added, "Another reason is that the proportion of women receiving education is getting higher and higher, and the higher the level of education, the less willing they are to have children. In the future, they might not want to have them even if you ask them to."

Lu Zhenghong said, "There's this factor too?"

Su Xinghui said, "Think about it. The higher the level of education, the higher the participation in the workforce. Once they join the workforce, they naturally hope to build a career. But having a child means at least a year or two of not being able to work normally, let alone getting promoted. And when they are ready for a second child, it's exactly the golden age of their careers, so how would they be willing to have children?"

Lu Zhenghong pondered for a long time and nodded slightly again. What Su Xinghui said was indeed reasonable.

In China today, economic development relies on the demographic dividend. If the population decreases significantly, especially if the population of the main ethnic group decreases significantly, the consequences would be self-evident; the very foundation of China would become unstable.

Lu Zhenghong smiled again and said, "Then we shall wait for the birth of our second grandchild."

Su Xinghui said, "That day won't be too far off."

Lu Zhenghong said, "Are you going back right after watching the opening ceremony?"

Su Xinghui said, "After watching the opening ceremony, it will be the weekend, so I plan to watch some competitions on Saturday and return on Sunday. Work in the city is quite busy, so I can't be away for too long."

Lu Zhenghong said, "I saw you on TV when you went to the disaster area for rescue work. You did very well."

In fact, Lu Zhenghong had also gone to the disaster area to inspect it during the last great earthquake in Western Sichuan. However, he didn't go to Xingfu County, and although the county he visited wasn't far from Xingfu, the father-in-law and son-in-law hadn't met. Still, Lu Zhenghong often saw news about Su Xinghui in the disaster area on TV, and he was very proud of him.

Under those circumstances, being able to go to the disaster area for rescue work truly required immense courage.

At the mention of that earthquake, Su Xinghui's expression dimmed again. He shook his head and said, "I didn't do enough."

Lu Zhenghong had also heard from his daughter that after Su Xinghui returned to Linshan following more than half a month of rescue work in the disaster area, he had developed some psychological problems and had to see a therapist every week. He could understand this very well.

He had gone to the disaster area once and was shocked by the tragic scenes there, let alone Su Xinghui, who had stayed there for over half a month. ===== CHAPTER 3972 =====