Decision to Be Childfree
Xiao Lan is beautiful, but still single. She has been on numerous blind dates, but each time, there were no further developments after the first meeting. It’s not that Xiao Lan is too picky, but her basic requirement is something most men can’t accept.
Her requirement isn’t anything extraordinary; she simply wants to be part of a DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) family. In larger cities, DINK families are quite common, but in this small town, they are considered quite unusual.
Each time she mentioned her desire to be childfree during a blind date, it would immediately scare the men away. Eventually, she decided to make it clear upfront that if someone didn’t accept a DINK lifestyle, there was no need to meet.
One day, Sister Yang from the same street told Xiao Lan, “With your conditions, only Zhou Damin is a match for you.”
Xiao Lan asked who Zhou Damin was, and Sister Yang replied, “He works at a company and is a mid-level manager. He also wants to be part of a DINK family, which is why he hasn’t married yet.
When he heard about your requirements, he asked a mutual acquaintance to introduce him to you. I think you both have the same idea, so I wanted you to meet.” Arranged by Sister Yang, Xiao Lan and Zhou Damin met.
Although Zhou Damin wasn’t particularly handsome, he had regular features, and they got along well. Zhou Damin expressed that he thought a DINK lifestyle, free from the burden of children, would improve their quality of life and allow them to enjoy a happy, sweet, two-person world. These ideas matched Xiao Lan’s thoughts.
After their first meeting, Xiao Lan was satisfied with Zhou Damin in all respects, and their relationship grew closer until they eventually got married.
Happy days always pass quickly, and they enjoyed a few blissful years as a couple. One weekend, Zhou Damin said to Xiao Lan, “I’ve joined a charity organization that helps out at a nursing home every week. The person scheduled to go with me this week suddenly has an emergency. Why don’t you come with me?”
Since Xiao Lan had nothing else to do, she went along. They helped clean the floors and windows at the nursing home, working up a sweat.
After finishing their work, they sat outside to rest, watching the elderly residents. Zhou Damin sighed, “These elderly people without children are so pitiful. Just think, when we get old, we’ll end up here too. It’s not a pleasant thought.”
Xiao Lan asked curiously, “How do you know we’ll end up here?”
Zhou Damin replied, “Where else would we go? We’re a DINK family, and when we’re no longer able to care for ourselves, we’ll have to come here, just like these childless elderly people.”
Xiao Lan was startled and said, “You wouldn’t be regretting our decision, would you? We agreed on this from the start.”
Zhou Damin quickly shook his head, “No, I was just expressing my thoughts.”
At that moment, an elderly woman behind them said, “Who says we’re all childless?” They turned to see the elderly woman smiling. “Many of us chose to come here. Our children are busy, and we can’t expect them to keep us company all the time. Here, we’re with other elderly people, and life is much more fulfilling.”
Xiao Lan glanced at Zhou Damin with a teasing smile, and Zhou Damin quickly lowered his head.
Not long after, one evening when Xiao Lan returned home from work, she received a call from Zhou Damin asking her to cook more food because they had a guest. She asked how many guests, and Zhou Damin said just one. When she asked who it was, he laughed and said, “You’ll find out soon.”
After spending a lot of time in the kitchen, Xiao Lan set the table and Zhou Damin came in, carrying a large backpack. Seeing no one behind him, she asked, “Didn’t you say we had a guest? Where are they?”
Zhou Damin smiled and said, “Lower your gaze a bit. Come on, say hello to Auntie!” He then pulled out a four or five-year-old girl from behind him.
Xiao Lan asked in surprise, “Is this the guest you mentioned?” Zhou Damin nodded and explained that a colleague had to go on a business trip and had no one to look after his child, so he had accepted the task as a good friend.
The little girl sweetly called Xiao Lan “Auntie,” which delighted her. She asked for the girl’s name, and the girl said, “My name is Zhang Ya.” Zhou Damin explained that the girl’s parents were divorced, and she lived with her father. Her mother left the city after the divorce, so during the father’s business trip, they would take care of her.
Zhang Ya stayed with them. Despite being young, she was very sweet and always called Xiao Lan “Auntie” affectionately, making Xiao Lan very happy. She took Zhang Ya to and from kindergarten every day and often took her to the amusement park. One day, a familiar person saw them and was surprised to see that Xiao Lan had such a big child, and Xiao Lan happily nodded in response.
One night, the child suddenly developed a high fever, and Xiao Lan, extremely worried, rushed her to the hospital. They stayed by the child’s bedside until the fever subsided, ending up with dark circles under their eyes.
Soon, the child’s father returned from his business trip, bringing gifts to thank Zhou Damin and taking Zhang Ya home. Watching the child leave with her father, Xiao Lan felt a sense of loss.
Zhou Damin laughed and said, “Look how happy people are with a child.”
Xiao Lan replied, “Of course it’s joyful, but when the child is sick, it’s really worrisome.” Then she looked at him meaningfully and asked, “I heard from the child that her grandmother also lives in this city. Did you deliberately bring her here to let me bond with the child? Are you trying to change my mind?”
Zhou Damin quickly shook his head, “No, I didn’t mean that. I just knew her grandmother was ill and couldn’t take care of her, so we helped out. Besides, I wanted to bring some joy to our home.”
Xiao Lan then said, “That’s good. We agreed on this.”
Soon, it was the Spring Festival. Their hometowns were not in the city, and according to tradition, they would spend New Year’s Eve at the husband’s home and the second day at the wife’s home.
On New Year’s Day morning, children from their brothers’ families came to pay their respects, calling them uncle and aunt, making them happy and handing out red envelopes.
To their surprise, this year was different from previous years. Many relatives kept coming, cousins and second cousins, one after another, all bringing their children to pay respects. By noon, Xiao Lan had given out several thousand yuan to dozens of children.
Xiao Lan became anxious and pulled Zhou Damin into the room, asking, “What’s going on? Why are there so many relatives this year? We never had this many before. Could there be some fake ones?”
Zhou Damin smiled wryly and said, “How could there be fakes? Maybe they were too busy in previous years to come.”
Xiao Lan took out her wallet and said, “But this money is going out too fast. We can’t keep up with this. Maybe we should hide.”
Zhou Damin replied sternly, “How can we hide from this? To be honest, there are still many relatives who haven’t come yet. Since I started working in the city, I haven’t seen them and wanted to meet them.”
Xiao Lan had no choice but to hope the day would pass quickly. That evening, she counted the money in her wallet and found that almost all of the ten thousand yuan she brought was gone. This was their combined salary for more than two months. Zhou Damin said, “We need to withdraw more money tomorrow for your family.”
Xiao Lan shook her head and said, “My family won’t have that many visitors.” But to be safe, she withdrew money the next morning and went to her parents’ house with Zhou Damin.
To her surprise, her family also had many relatives visiting this year. Childhood playmates and sisters came, making Xiao Lan both happy and distressed. But she had no choice; whenever a child called her aunt, she had to quickly give out money. By the end of the day, another ten thousand yuan was gone.
After the festival, they returned home, lamenting that half of their annual income was gone. Their salaries weren’t high, and the coming days would be tough. They feared this might happen every year. They could only smile bitterly at each other, blaming the terrible custom.
Over a year later, Zhou Damin was overjoyed, holding their one-month-old daughter. He said to her, “I’ve been waiting for you for years. To win your mother’s heart, I had to lie. I spent so much effort changing her mind. Thankfully, she decided to have you herself. I didn’t persuade her.”
Xiao Lan snorted and said, “I recently heard from my mother that you conspired with our families to have all our relatives visit us for red envelopes to change my mind. Now that we have a child, you better think about how to earn money for her milk.”
Zhou Damin hugged his daughter with one arm and Xiao Lan with the other, smiling, “I definitely will.”
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
