Xia Xiaolan felt like kneeling before her mother.

How could Tang Hong’en joke about such matters? Yu’s Grandmother must have told him about it, which was why he rushed to Yu Nan today.

There wasn’t time to “settle accounts” with Yu’s Grandmother now. Xia Xiaolan immediately shattered her mother’s illusions:

“I don’t think Uncle Tang was joking. If he’s serious, what do you plan to do?”

Li Fengmei didn’t think it was a joke either. Is a high-ranking official coming to the countryside to make such jokes? Don’t be ridiculous! Moreover, Tang Hong’en planned to stay at his sister-in-law’s house on New Year’s Eve, matching his earlier statement about “dating with marriage in mind” – it was too obvious, that this was a public declaration of intent. Li Fengmei had no idea how Tang Hong’en had taken a liking to Liu Fen; she too was experiencing such a fantastical situation for the first time!

For a woman with rural household registration, marrying someone from the city was already difficult.

Marrying an official was even rarer.

That’s why Liu Fang had been so proud back then – Liang Bing’an had started as a government employee and later became deputy director of the neighboring county.

But Liu Fang had been young and beautiful then, the most attractive of the three Liu siblings, so marrying Liang Bing’an wasn’t surprising. More than a decade ago, Liang Bing’an had been far from becoming a director.

Tang Hong’en’s situation was different – he was such a high-ranking official that even Liang Bing’an, as a deputy director, couldn’t compare.

Li Fengmei didn’t share Yu’s Grandmother’s foresight about worrying whether Liu Fen could handle someone of such high status. Her thinking was simple and direct – the better Liu Fen married, the more those who had bullied and looked down on Liu Fen would regret it.

All past grievances would vanish at once.

“Yes, what are you going to do? Mayor Tang wasn’t joking. A high-ranking official coming to the countryside for New Year’s, saying such things in front of everyone just to help you save face! If he didn’t like you, our whole family together wouldn’t have anything to make him interested, why would he especially come to help you save face?!”

Liu Fen might not believe Li Fengmei’s words.

But when even Xia Xiaolan said it wasn’t a joke, Liu Fen had to believe it.

Li Fengmei had laid everything out plainly, making it impossible for Liu Fen to play dumb.

What Mr. Tang had said to her earlier was true! But why? Liu Fen didn’t understand.

“No, no, how could I possibly be with Mayor Tang—”

Xia Xiaolan sat down beside her mother, “There’s nothing impossible about it. You both had unsuccessful previous marriages, you’re both single, you have a daughter, he has a son from his previous marriage, he’s only a few years older than you – you’re quite well-matched in age. His salary is several hundred yuan per month, stable with good benefits. You’re self-employed, with varying monthly income. Not counting profits, just your management salary from two clothing stores isn’t less than his salary… If there’s anything truly difficult about you two, it’s not your different family backgrounds, it’s that one of you is in Shenzhen and the other is heading to Beijing. Mom, this would be a long-distance relationship!”

Liu Fen had been very nervous, but Xia Xiaolan’s words sent her thoughts in a different direction.

Li Fengmei secretly pinched her, “Are you being silly, girl?”

Xia Xiaolan was educated by her aunt’s actions and felt wronged. Of course, there were differences. No matter who talks about equality, looking at common people’s reverence for those with money and power, true equality was rare.

Xia Xiaolan spoke this way to help Liu Fen feel more relaxed, saying remarriage was too distant, and that with a suitable partner, one could try dating first — Xia Xiaolan had held this attitude with Zhou Cheng before, but then found it completely unworkable. If Zhou Cheng couldn’t accept such concepts, people of Liu Fen and Tang Hong’en’s generation would accept it even less.

The impact of Reform and Opening Up wasn’t yet substantial. In 1985, mainstream social thought was: that relationships between men and women should be premised on marriage, otherwise it was considered improper!

Tang Hong’en’s attitude was very proper. Xia Xiaolan carelessly advised her mother would amount to toying with others’ feelings.

Regardless of gender or social status, sincere feelings deserve serious consideration.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know why Tang Hong’en had taken a liking to her mother, and whether they were suitable aside, she quite trusted Tang Hong’en’s character. Now that he had made his intentions clear, her mother certainly couldn’t keep avoiding it like an ostrich.

After Xia Xiaolan clarified things, Li Fengmei chased her out of the room.

Her uncle Liu Yong was doing real work under heavy psychological pressure, registering the names of those who wanted to work in Shenzhen. The introduction letters would depend on Chen Wangda to arrange. After Liu Yong finished registering, Tang Hong’en offered a suggestion:

“Ask at the Public Security Bureau. I remember national policy was established last year, perhaps this year they can start issuing ID cards nationwide. For someone like you who travels frequently, you’ll need ID cards more often in the future.”

“Uncle Tang, we can get ID cards now?”

Xia Xiaolan was even more interested in this than Liu Yong.

Introduction letters were truly inconvenient – needing one every time you traveled, otherwise, you couldn’t buy tickets.

Train tickets couldn’t be bought, and introduction letters for plane tickets were even more troublesome.

Even for lodging, you needed introduction letters to check into rooms.

“The first batch of ID cards was issued last year, though very few, only several hundred. This year the state will expand the scope of issuance. To facilitate household registration management, the promotion of resident ID cards will increase in the coming years, everyone will need to get one.”

Tang Hong’en also told Xia Xiaolan an interesting story about a famous female singer who was among the first to receive an ID card in Beijing. When she tried to withdraw money at the post office using her ID card, the staff insisted on seeing an introduction letter to prove her identity. It was only after multiple levels of leadership approval and involving the Public Security Bureau that she successfully withdrew money using her ID card.

“It was even in the newspapers, how could you not know about such important news?”

Xia Xiaolan thought for a moment, “You mean last summer, Uncle Tang? I had just finished my college entrance exams then.”

Xia Xiaolan was very interested. For people who didn’t travel far, ID cards would just be kept at home, which was the case for most Chinese people at the time. But for those who needed to travel, having an ID card would be extremely convenient. Xia Xiaolan wanted to apply for one.

As for whether it was possible to get one, Tang Hong’en would need to see when the official documents were issued.

“No need to rush, ask your teachers at school, you qualify.”

Xia Xiaolan’s household registration had been transferred to the school. Technically, her allocated farmland should have been returned, but if civilians don’t report it and officials don’t investigate, Chen Wangda could keep covering it up.

When ID cards were mentioned, the villagers all listened intently.

Chen Wangda stayed, so others had to stay as well. By 5 PM, it became inappropriate for Liu Fen to keep hiding. With so many people in the house, she, as the host, had to arrange dinner.

Those who had helped in the morning continued working. Tian Xiaoyan had spent half a day at Xia Xiaolan’s house feeling uneasy, with all sorts of thoughts, but couldn’t cry forever – there weren’t that many tears. Anyway, Chen’s Fourth Sister-in-law and others kept watching her; the young girl who had threatened to kneel until death was truly someone they dared not provoke.

Just as they started cooking, a group of people with their families came rushing through the snow to Xia Xiaolan’s house, led by Tian Big Brother:

“Uncle Da, the police took my third brother away. What’s the meaning of this? Our village always resolves conflicts internally. How big a deal is this that it needs to be reported to the police?!”