"But my brother-in-law is getting on in years now, with a weak educational foundation and poor computer skills. Even if he starts to learn now, it will be very difficult for him to catch up. Being competent enough for a financial director at that level is basically impossible.
"But even just being the financial manager of a branch company, the salary and benefits wouldn’t be too bad.
"Additionally, I plan to develop a tourism and holiday resort in our hotown next year, to exploit the tourism resources of our local mountains. My older sister likes living in our rural hotown, and my brother-in-law could also work at the tourism and holiday resort developnt company.
"Is it even necessary for my older sister to farm in the village? Wouldn’t it be nice for her to open a small supermarket in the resort instead?"
There’s no other way. Soone has to take care of our hotown! After thinking it over and over, Yi Anguo decided it was best to let his older sister and her husband stay there. After all, they liked it and were accustod to life in the countryside.
"Since accounting and managing finances are so important and profitable, why not let Huan Huan learn accounting too? What’s the use of being a primary school teacher in Shenzhen? Sooner or later, she’ll have to return to her hotown to get married and have kids. If she’s not teaching anymore, she can still work at the tourism and holiday resort you ntioned," his older sister suddenly suggested.
"Mum! I like being a teacher! What’s wrong with that? Although the pay isn’t high, it’s enough. There are winter and sumr vacations, weekends off, and I only work a few hours each day. The benefits are quite good, too! I can tutor students on weekends to earn so extra money. How is that earning less?" Fu Huanhuan objected.
She didn’t like the thought of living in her hotown. How could it possibly be as comfortable as Shenzhen? She had already grown accustod to life here.
Actually, for an ordinary person, the salary of a primary school teacher with a permanent post in Shenzhen’s Blue Mountain District wasn’t low. In fact, it was higher than that of many common jobs. Many primary school teachers even had a master’s degree, and a bachelor’s was standard. Public recruitnt basically required a bachelor’s degree. According to the normal hiring process, Fu Huanhuan, who had only graduated from a normal junior college, wouldn’t even be eligible for an interview.
However, Yi Anguo’s older sister still hoped her daughter would return ho to get married and have children, as they were counting on soone to support them in their old age. The second daughter could no longer be counted on, having married soone in another province. The third, after graduating from college, would definitely build her life in a big city. They could only rely on the eldest. If even the eldest wasn’t willing to return ho to get married and have children, then they really couldn’t count on anyone.
But as things stood, it was clear that Fu Huanhuan had no intention of returning to her hotown; she wanted to keep working in Shenzhen.
Yi Anguo also didn’t feel it was appropriate for him to intervene. Everyone has their own aspirations, after all.
Even though they had already moved into the Duplex Villas at Xiangye Lake, and the first floors of the two villa buildings had been connected, it was hard to get everyone together due to their busy schedules.
Today, however, was an exception. It was the Winter Solstice, so almost everyone had co, making the house incredibly lively.
People in Guangdong Province take the Winter Solstice very seriously, considering it an even bigger holiday than the Lunar New Year. On this day, families are supposed to reunite. Many who live far away make it a point to return ho for a family reunion al. Those who co to work and live in Guangdong also adopt the local custom. Many factories arrange for extra als on this day and avoid scheduling evening overti.
In Yi Anguo’s hotown, the Winter Solstice wasn’t given much attention. Instead, they placed more importance on the Start of Winter. On that day, people would slaughter chickens and ducks and prepare a lavish dinner for the family to gather and share a reunion al.
China is vast, and cultural differences between regions can be quite significant. So areas celebrate the Kitchen God Festival on the 23rd of the last lunar month, while others do so on the 24th. So say it’s celebrated on the 24th in the South and the 23rd in the North, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule. In the sa Xijiang Province, for example, there are places that celebrate it on the 23rd, others on the 24th, and so even on the 25th, so it can’t simply be divided along North-South lines. This is similar to how Northerners like to eat dumplings for any holiday, a custom not generally found in the South. At least, in Yi Anguo’s mory, his family had never eaten dumplings on New Year’s Eve.
Ding Jing was already over eight months pregnant. By the New Year, she would be more than nine months along, and the child was expected to be born around the Spring Festival.
Yi Anguo felt quite helpless. The year before last, it was precisely because Ding Jing was heavily pregnant that he had canceled their plan to return ho for the New Year. Was he supposed to cancel their hocoming plans again this year for the sa reason? If he didn’t cancel, he certainly couldn’t leave Ding Jing alone in Shenzhen.
The thought alone was a headache. I just assured my older sister that we would definitely go ho for the New Year, only to have to consider canceling the plans once again?
Yi Yunlong and Yi Yufeng were already over two years old, and Yi ifeng was almost two. After dinner, they all clung to Yi Anguo, asking their father to play with them.
Yi Xinyi had just turned eight, but she still loved to stick to her dad and play with him. She preferred it even more when Yi Anguo took her shopping or when they raced each other to see who could run faster. Simply buying a small bottle of soap solution to blow bubbles could keep her happy for an entire day.
"Dad! I want to buy a diary with a lock," Yi Xinyi said, tugging at Yi Anguo’s hand.
"What do you need that for? Do you write in a diary now?" Yi Anguo asked with a smile.
"Yes! Our teacher told us to keep a diary, and many of my classmates have diaries with locks," Yi Xinyi nodded.
"Why does a diary need a lock? Can’t I see what you write?" Yi Anguo asked curiously.
"No! Our teacher said that keeping a diary is private, just like writing letters, and we shouldn’t show it to just anyone. We have to learn to protect our personal privacy," Yi Xinyi explained, shaking her head.
"But I’m not just anyone. Why can’t I see it? Do you have sothing to hide from ?" Yi Anguo continued to ask.
"Dad! Our teacher said that parents have to respect our personal privacy rights, too. Without our permission, you can’t just read our diaries. If you do, it’s considered an invasion of our privacy, and that’s illegal. We could even sue you," Yi Xinyi explained.
"That’s why our teacher suggested our parents buy us diaries with locks—to prevent you from casually reading them."
"Alright, alright! I won’t sneak a peek at your diary. I won’t violate your privacy rights or commit any cris. I’ll buy you a diary with a lock. Are you satisfied now?"
Yi Anguo found himself being lectured on the law by his eight-year-old daughter, which left him with mixed feelings of amusent and helplessness.
At the sa ti, he truly felt that his daughter had grown up. She had her own little secrets now, many thoughts she was unwilling to share with her father, preferring to lock them away in a diary.
Yi Anguo began to reminisce about what he was like at eight years old. He found his mories of that ti were rather vague; he could hardly rember them clearly.
He certainly hadn’t understood what "privacy rights" were, and he probably didn’t know much about keeping a diary, either. After all, in his ti, kids started school at seven. At eight, he would have only been in the second grade, barely able to recognize a few characters. He seed to recall that they only started learning to write essays in the third grade.
He had definitely kept a diary, but certainly not one with a lock; the most he used was an exercise book. As for privacy, there was no need to worry. His parents could barely read, so even if they saw his diary, they wouldn’t have known what he was writing.
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