Just before Qiao Jiajia could finish being angry, she heard her grandfather say directly, “Whether our family has a boy or a girl, whether we take in a son-in-law or not, our life will definitely be better than yours with a son.
We don’t need to suck the blood of our married daughters from time to time for the sake of a son, like your family does, not stopping until we’ve torn apart our daughter’s family.
Those who know understand your family had a son; those who don’t would think your family gave birth to a blood-sucking leech, growing up by sucking the blood of his own sisters.”
Qiao Qiusheng had never been someone easy to mess with. At this moment, he fired back at Master Hu without holding back in the slightest.
Although Qiao Qiusheng had a sharp tongue, his sharpness was reserved for specific people—kind words for good people, harsh words for troublemakers. This was merely a counterattack.
Stung by these words, Master Hu was furious but had no good way to retaliate. He didn’t dare to fight—everyone in the factory knew how formidable Qiao Qiusheng was. He had once caught a spy trying to escape with a gun in hand. Besides, how could someone become a Grade 8 Fitter without some strength? He was incredibly strong. If Master Hu tried to start a fight, he’d only end up getting beaten.
As for cursing back, aside from mentioning that the Qiao family’s son and daughter-in-law had only given birth to a daughter after five or six years of marriage, he had nothing else to say.
At this point, he could only angrily blurt out, “Anyway, my family had a son.”
Upon hearing this, Qiao Zhufang didn’t curse back but instead remarked calmly, “If we’re talking about having sons, you’re of the same generation as us. We had a son more than twenty years before you did. What’s there for you to boast about?”
At this, Qiao Zhufang thought Master Hu might be out of his mind. His own son had just been born, and grandchildren were still a distant prospect. Yet here he was, meddling in whether her family would have a grandson or granddaughter. Wasn’t this like a dog trying to catch mice—poking his nose into others’ business?
Master Hu was left speechless by Qiao Zhufang’s words, his face shifting through various expressions.
After all, the facts were clear: Master Hu was of the same generation as Qiao Zhufang and Qiao Qiusheng, and he was even a year older than Qiao Qiusheng.
It was only because his son was born around the same time as the Qiao family’s granddaughter, and his was a boy, that he somehow felt his family had one-upped the Qiao family.
Unable to match the Qiao family in other aspects of daily life, he could only cling to having a son to balance his inner dissatisfaction.
“Why are you still outside? If you don’t bring the food in soon, it’ll get cold. If I go hungry, where will I get the milk to feed our son?” Just then, Master Hu’s wife, holding their son, lifted the door curtain and called out to him.
Hearing this, Master Hu quickly took the opportunity to step down from the confrontation. As he walked away, he muttered, “Forget it, I won’t argue with you anymore. I’m going home to hold my son.”
Qiao Jiajia, lying in her cradle, listened to her grandfather and grandmother’s sharp retorts and watched the man slink away. Instantly, she felt refreshed and invigorated. She loved her grandparents’ temperaments!
When Qiao Heping and He Yingying returned home in the evening and learned about the incident, He Yingying was so furious that her beautiful eyes turned cold. With hands on her hips, she scolded, “What kind of trash is he? His son is the worthless one! My daughter is precious! Talking about exchanging her for a bride price—does he think everyone sells their daughters like his family does?”
He Yingying was not only beautiful but also sharp-tongued. Back in the village, she was known as a formidable arguer, and no one dared to cross her. If it weren’t already late and causing a disturbance would disturb the neighbors, she would have marched straight to the Hu family’s doorstep to give them a piece of her mind.
Qiao Heping smiled and comforted his wife, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Leave this to me.” How could anyone dare to look down on his daughter? Though he didn’t lash out like his wife, his anger burned just as fiercely.
Their daughter was the family’s treasure, cherished by everyone. How could they tolerate anyone speaking ill of her? And to say such things right in front of her—didn’t they know she was learning to talk? What if she understood and got hurt?
Despite his upright and harmless appearance, Qiao Heping was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. When it came to getting back at someone, he had plenty of cunning ideas up his sleeve.
The Qiao family were outsiders in He Family Village. Although the village chief looked out for them due to his grandmother’s influence, the chief couldn’t control the children. When the village kids played together, they often formed cliques, and Qiao Heping, with his different surname, was an easy target for bullying.
But with his quick wit, Qiao Heping not only held his own among the village children but also gathered a few followers. Three of them later took his advice and followed him to the city, where they became factory workers. Their families in the countryside now lived more comfortably than most, and they were immensely grateful to Qiao Heping, their “big brother,” always ready to help whenever needed.
In no time, Qiao Heping had already devised a plan for revenge. He leaned close to his wife’s ear and whispered his idea. After hearing it, He Yingying’s expression finally softened, and she snorted, “They deserve a taste of their own medicine. That’ll teach them to mind their own business instead of gossiping about others.”
Qiao Jiajia craned her neck and pricked up her ears, trying to catch what her father had said, but she couldn’t make it out. She was burning with curiosity—what had her dad whispered to her mom? She really wanted to know.
Unaware of his daughter’s curiosity, Qiao Heping noticed how lively she was and scooped her into his arms. He kissed her little cheek and leaned in with a smile, saying, “Oh, my little sweetheart isn’t sleepy yet? Haven’t seen you all day—did you miss Mom and Dad? Come on, say ‘Daddy’ for me.”
Qiao Heping had been holding his daughter since she was born and was now an expert at it, cradling her comfortably without causing any discomfort.
Having been kissed on the cheeks by her parents countless times, Qiao Jiajia was used to it. She obliged sweetly, calling out “Daddy,” and not forgetting her mother, who was watching her with loving eyes, she turned and called out “Mommy” just as sweetly.
He Yingying listened to her daughter’s sweet, soft voice calling for her, and her heart instantly melted. She couldn’t help but lean over and plant several kisses on her cheek, saying:
“My daughter is the most thoughtful, a hundred times better than those smelly boys. Who cares if we don’t have a son like the neighbors, as if life wouldn’t be worth living without one? Anyway, having my daughter is enough for me. Daughters are wonderful—I don’t care for sons at all.”
He Yingying had often helped take care of her nephews in the past, and it was several of them at once. One child alone was hard enough to handle, but with several together, there was never a moment of peace. Honestly, the stress of it was something only those who had experienced it could truly understand.
But there was no other choice. At that time, she wasn’t married yet and had to help with household chores. Her mother not making her work in the fields alongside the others was already a sign of affection.
So, she had no fondness for boys. Her two older brothers already had plenty of sons—she had a total of five nephews! Although she felt a bit sorry for her in-laws, truth be told, during her pregnancy, she had secretly hoped for a long time that the baby in her belly would be a girl.
No one in the family disagreed with He Yingying’s words. For Qiao Zhufang, who was a hidden admirer of good looks, having a granddaughter who was already so pretty was like winning the lottery for her son and daughter-in-law. As for whether they would have a grandson or not, she didn’t really care—it was up to fate. She herself was an only daughter, so she had no obsession with needing a boy to carry on the family line.
As for Qiao Qiusheng, his attitude had always aligned with Qiao Zhufang’s. Whether it was a grandson or a granddaughter, he would love them equally. He himself had married into the family and even voluntarily changed his surname. Like his wife, he didn’t believe that having a son was necessary to avoid “cutting off the family line.”
As for Qiao Heping, he had been taught by his grandmother, Qiao Laotaitai. And someone who had arranged for her only daughter to take in a husband would hardly instill ideas of favoring boys over girls in her grandson.
So, Qiao Heping truly didn’t care whether they had a son or a daughter. He didn’t even have much desire for a second child.
He himself was an only child, and his mother was an only daughter. He was already used to the pattern of having just one child in the family. This way, there was no favoritism or any messy, complicated issues—how wonderful!
When there were too many children in a family, all sorts of dramatic situations arose, and he had seen plenty of such examples around him.
Take his father, for instance. His father wasn’t an only child—he had a younger brother. But during the great famine, his father was left behind and exchanged for food as a child-bridegroom.
Then, his wife Yingying wasn’t an only daughter either. She had two older brothers and several cousins, and her grandmother favored her uncle’s children, so she had endured no shortage of unfair treatment.
And among the friends who had come to the city with him, two of them were a stark contrast.
One was an only child. He worked as a laborer in the city, while his parents lived in the countryside. Every month, the money he sent back would often be returned by his parents.
After learning that everything in the city had to be bought with money, the elderly couple felt even more sorry for their son. They would often walk ten or twenty miles to bring vegetables they had grown to the city, and they even raised chickens specifically to save eggs for their son to eat.
As for the other brother, he had an older brother and a younger brother at home. Compared to the brother who received financial support from his family, this brother not only received no support, but his parents were practically trying to scrape every penny from him. They always felt that since he was doing better than his older and younger brothers at home, he should help out.
In Qiao Heping’s view, all these issues stemmed from having too many children. Forget the saying that the palm and the back of the hand are both flesh, or the idea that with several children, you can treat them all equally. Even the flesh on the palm and the back of the hand isn’t distributed evenly. It’s common for things to be unbalanced, so having just one child is best—no issues, and no child will ever feel wronged in the future.
No one taught Qiao Heping this idea of having only one child; he figured it out himself. As an only child, how could he not know the benefits of being an only child?
Now that he had a daughter, he already felt content. There was no need to have another child. Whether it was another son or daughter, he thought it would just be trouble.
Because he had always held this belief, when he heard his wife’s words, he not only nodded but also chimed in:
“Yingying is right. Our family is complete with Jiajia. Besides, if we had another child, there wouldn’t even be a room for them. How cramped would it be for two kids to share one room? And what if we had another boy? Would we make Jiajia, a girl, share a room with her younger brother? That’s just not right!”
Author’s Note:
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