TGDS Chapter 77.2

The Good Dad System (Arc 11) Chapter 77.2: A Patriarchal Family (2)

Second Uncle was overjoyed, afraid someone would try to take advantage of him, and immediately chimed in: “You really have to go back, hurry up, go home! Your wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy, as a father, you should see him more often!” He knew everything that was happening in the village. The Pei family had been making such a fuss just to have a son, and now they had! Supporting them was definitely the right thing to do.

“Okay, then I’ll be going now, you guys keep having fun.” Pei Naochun waved, carrying his bag, and headed home.

The few remaining players were no longer focused on the game. They looked at each other, whispering amongst themselves. Some voices were tinged with envy: “Look at Naochun, what a lucky man! He’s got a son, and going to work seems like a good option.”

“Lucky man? What a joke!” someone scoffed. “If it weren’t for good luck, how could he have a son? His wife must have drunk countless cups of incense ash water! Besides, haven’t you heard of putting on a show? No matter how good his job is outside, it can’t compare to his factory job.”

“That’s true. No matter how good his job is outside, it can’t compare to his machine factory job! But there’s nothing they can do. They were unlucky enough to have a daughter first.”

“Yeah, by the way, I heard your wife is pregnant? I heard she’s at a city hospital; you can get treatment if you pay.” Someone whispered furtively, “Remember to go check on her when the time comes.”

“Introduce me to someone, I can’t find anyone I know, even a red envelope won’t help.”

Pei Naochun couldn’t hear the back-and-forth conversation on the other end. He was a hard-working man, strong and muscular, and could carry so many things without even needing to switch hands to catch his breath. After turning a few corners, he quickly arrived at his own door. As he walked in, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “Mom, Zhaodi, Xiaoping, I’m back!” The temperature inside and outside was about the same, but once inside, there was always a sense of relaxation. He casually unloaded his things and was soon greeted by his army of women.

Leading the way was Wu Guizhi. She ran incredibly fast and reached her son in no time, her smile beaming, the lines around her eyes crinkling together: “Son, you’re finally back! I was worried you wouldn’t make it back for the New Year!” She reached out to help brush the dust off her son’s clothes. The village had no paved roads, and when the wind blew, sand and dust would swirl around. After walking around for a while, you’d inevitably be covered in sand and dust. She herself usually wore old clothes and didn’t mind, but her son’s clothes today were clearly new, and it pained her to see them like this. “Naochun, you’re home.” The old couple, Tang Zhaodi, wasn’t shy at all when she saw her husband. She wanted to go inside to pick up her son, but as she turned around, she saw her daughter, Pei Xiaoping, holding her younger brother with her thin, slender hands, taking each step with bated breath, being extremely careful. Anyone could see how careful she was; if she were to fall, she might even get hurt herself, but she wouldn’t let her brother fall behind.

Tang Zhaodi didn’t take it seriously. She hurriedly took her son and smiled as she moved closer to her husband, “Naochun, look at our Zihao! His eyes, his mouth, he looks more and more like you!”

“Yes, yes, my brain is all foggy, I forgot all about it. Look at Zihao!” Wu Guizhi quickly made way for her daughter-in-law, beaming, and reached out to tease her just-woke-up grandson, “Zihao, do you miss your dad too? Look, he smiled, he smiled as soon as he heard ‘Dad’!”

Pei Zihao cooperated quite well, showing a toothless smile, which was exceptionally cute. Of course, whether he recognized his father or not was a matter of opinion, but his smile excited both women.

Pei Naochun smiled and looked down, but out of the corner of his eye, he looked into the distance. Pei Xiaoping, who had been left behind, was quietly watching them. Her head was held high, her eyes full of envy, but she didn’t dare to take a single step closer.

This immediately reminded Pei Naochun of the “duckweed” in his memory.

…

The familiar dark space, the same familiar formula. Upon entering, Pei Naochun saw a middle-aged man squatting there. If one had to call him middle-aged, he looked far too old; yet, he wasn’t quite elderly. He squatted there, his back hunched, his hair a mix of silver and black, his skin yellowish-black, his face and hands covered in wrinkles. At first glance, one could tell he was someone accustomed to hard work.

Seeing Pei Naochun, he seemed embarrassed, giving an awkward smile. His hand instinctively reached into his clothes, but when he couldn’t find cigarettes or a lighter, his gaze became unfocused, and he lowered his head in embarrassment.

“Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?” Pei Naochun asked without hesitation, cutting straight to the point.

“Yes.” He spoke first, and the other person followed suit. His hands were trembling slightly, but he didn’t look up. He just said in a low voice, “Can you help my daughter?” The space was empty, but his voice was particularly clear. He slowly told the story of his life in his simple and unpretentious language.

This time, Pei Naochun is entering a world built upon a semi-autobiographical novel called “Floating Duckweed,” which tells the story of a rural girl’s short and painful life.

This rural girl is the original owner’s daughter, Pei Xiaoping.

Province C is a well-known large province in China, with a vast area and a large population, resulting in significant wealth disparities. Heping Township is located in the northern part of Province C. The city it belongs to consistently ranks near the bottom of the province’s economy, notorious for dragging down the overall GDP. Heping Township shares similar conditions with many mountain villages, characterized by continuous mountain ranges and considerable distances between villages. Unlike urban villages, even in the 1990s, it continued to live according to its traditions. In a sense, this place preserved the clan, genealogy, and traditional culture passed down through generations. However, in another sense, it also possessed feudal, backward, and superstitious characteristics.

The Pei family was just such an ordinary family rooted in Heping Township, not much different from the surrounding families.

The original owner’s father owned land in the village and made a living by farming. Due to his hardworking personality, good health, and marriage to Wu Guizhi, a thrifty woman, he quickly accumulated a fortune. The house the family lived in was built brick by brick by him. After having a son, he had a long-term vision and persuaded the original owner, who was quite academically gifted, to study in the county town. The original owner had excellent grades and was always among the top students in school. After graduating from vocational school, he successfully got a job at the largest machinery factory in the county town through connections in the village.

Although everyone talked about reform and opening up, in the eyes of the villagers, such a stable job was even more enviable. The machinery factory was like a small “society,” taking care of everything from food and clothing to housing and transportation. There was a unified canteen, uniforms, holiday gifts, employee dormitories, and a factory kindergarten and primary school jointly built with several surrounding factories. Once you got in, you could say you didn’t have to worry about anything and just had to work hard.

Therefore, once he got a permanent position at the machinery factory, he immediately became a “hot commodity.” Every time he returned home, he would encounter many matchmakers eager to introduce him to potential partners. The original owner was somewhat of a looks-oriented person, and after much deliberation, he chose Tang Zhaodi.

Tang Zhaodi was not the only daughter in her family; her family was large, with four sisters in total. They had a younger brother before the fifth child. Because the whole family focused on the younger brother, the four daughters basically only attended elementary school until the fourth or fifth grade before dropping out. However, the Tang family had good genes, and each of the daughters was outstanding. Although they demanded high dowries and did not provide any dowry, they still married off one after another. When it came to Tang Zhaodi, having three well-off brothers-in-law was a plus. After some consideration, the Pei family still paid for the original owner to marry her.

Shortly after getting married, Tang Zhaodi went to work at the machinery factory with her husband. However, she wasn’t an employee and could only do odd jobs in the canteen. She and her husband usually stayed in the dormitory, which was quite cramped. It wasn’t until more than three years after their marriage that Tang Zhaodi became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Pei Xiaoping, at full term.

As soon as her daughter was born, her in-laws, who had initially treated her well, became somewhat displeased. The village had always had a strong preference for sons over daughters. It was taboo to include daughters in the family genealogy, and daughters were even forbidden from entering through the side gate during ancestral worship. If there was no son, there would be no direct descendant whose name could be engraved on the tombstone after death… Under these various rules, the local custom gradually took shape. No matter how successful a person was, if there was no male heir in the family, the family line would end.

This worried Tang Zhaodi terribly, but some things only get worse the more you rush them. Pei Xiaoping was getting older, and she just couldn’t get pregnant. To make matters worse, rumors suddenly spread in the city that the government was implementing family planning, meaning that people like them, whose household registration was in the city, wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rural rules about having a second child—even in the neighboring county, people were saying that in rural areas, having a second child would result in being arrested. This was devastating for them. The anxious couple tossed and turned like fish being fried, unable to sleep at night. Meanwhile, the elderly couple in the village, watching their usually lovely granddaughter, grew increasingly worried. But as if on cue, just as the family planning office was loudly announcing the policy everywhere, Tang Zhaodi became pregnant!

The head of the women’s federation at the machinery factory repeatedly warned that anyone who couldn’t control their pregnancy would likely lose their job. Suddenly, the balance was shifted between a son and a job. Wu Guizhi secretly consulted a fortune teller, who immediately gave the answer: it would definitely be a son. Well, this time the choice became even more difficult. A son or a job—which should she choose?

The original owner of this body was extremely anxious and stressed every day. What should have been good news only made him more worried. Then, two days later, his father fell ill. He had overworked himself in his younger years and hadn’t taken care of his health. He was bedridden and didn’t say a word, but everyone in the family knew perfectly well that he just wanted to see his grandson before he passed away, so that he could leave a lineage for the Pei family.

Well, the choice was made. The original owner decided to resign, sending his wife back to Heping Township, where his mother took her to hide with relatives in the back mountains. He himself went out to work. Six months later, Tang Zhaodi gave birth to their son, Pei Zihao, in the back mountains. Shortly after the child turned one month old, the original owner’s father passed away peacefully with a smile on his face. This elevated Pei Zihao’s status in the family, and the story begins from here.

For Pei Xiaoping, her childhood memories were gray, not painful, but seemingly devoid of joy.

She lived with her grandparents from a young age. For the first year or two, they treated her well, but as soon as she could remember, their attitude changed. Her grandparents would often pat her head and lament that it would be better if Xiaoping were a boy. Their treatment of her was always inconsistent, sometimes warm and sometimes cold, forcing her to learn to read people’s faces at a young age.

Then one day, her younger brother was born, and her grandfather passed away. Everything changed completely.