Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire

After Lu Jiaxin went to sleep, Big Uncle Lu visited Seventh Uncle’s home. When he arrived, Seventh Uncle was still discussing matters with the village chief and several elder members from their clan.

Seeing Big Uncle Lu, Seventh Uncle felt reassured. Since Big Uncle Lu was overseeing the matter of Jiaxin subsidizing the education of the clan’s children, he now had considerable say in village affairs.

After sitting down, Big Uncle Lu asked, "How are the discussions going?"

Seventh Uncle and the village chief felt they could agree, but they were worried that the villagers might not be willing to accept it since there was no precedent. The villagers, being rather short-sighted, might think that allowing a girl to claim a share of forest land was breaking the rules and harming the interests of the males, and then there might not be enough land to go around if too many applied.

After listening, Big Uncle Lu brought up his own family’s situation, "I have three sons. The eldest and the second each have three sons, and the youngest has two. Do you see my family building new houses (cave dwellings)? So far, the only house we have is the one we live in now, which was built more than a decade ago. As for the future..."

He strategically paused, then looked at the people present and said, "I won’t even mention the four children of Jiaguang, who grew up in the city and won’t come back. Jiazong has three; Lu Shan has now established himself in the Forty-nine City with a house and a shop; Lu Yun and his wife are helping the second brother run the noodle restaurant and will definitely stay in the Forty-nine City; and with a job, Lu Tao is even less likely to return. Jiayao’s two sons, the elder one got a job with the railway bureau, and the younger one, after finishing high school and not getting into college, will also move to the city to find work."

"None of my eight grandsons will need land to build houses in the village in the future. Similarly, children who study and pass exams to leave won’t come back to the village to live in a cave dwelling. Now with the family planning policy, a family can only have two children, and those who are capable will go out to make a living. Girls applying for land won’t make a difference."

The example of none of the eight grandsons from the main branch of the Lu Family returning to build houses was very persuasive. Of course, the main point was the family planning policy he mentioned. If it was like before, when people had as many children as they wanted, there would never be enough land, but now the situation had changed, making it easier to persuade them.