My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 147 Dilemma
After listening to Xu Guoqing's story, Zhou Jiye and Lao Wen looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

It seems Xu Guoqing's younger sister is a hopeless romantic! It's not surprising that a young girl in the throes of love would have such thoughts, especially since the times are completely different now than they would be decades later. There's very little "bad" behavior in romantic relationships now, and once a relationship is established, the goal is to build a family.

If everything goes smoothly, it would be natural for Xu Guoqing's younger sister and her boyfriend to fall in love and start a family. However, a problem has arisen: the boyfriend's family plans to send their child abroad to study, thus presenting them with different choices regarding love and future prospects.

The younger sister felt that she should support her lover and make sacrifices for love, but she didn't want to give up on him. So, in her opinion, the best solution was to go abroad with her boyfriend.

In that case, they can stay together, work together after going abroad, and strive for the future. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?
This might sound normal, but Zhou Jiye knew that such a situation was unlikely to end well. Leaving aside the fact that going abroad wasn't easy, even if it were done and the person got there, no one could guarantee that their heart would remain pure in that dazzling world.

This kind of situation is all too common. There are countless examples of couples breaking up because of going abroad, or breaking up after going abroad. My younger sister is just an ordinary member of this trend. She has no control over her own future, let alone the ability to change things on her own.

Of course, there might be exceptions, but how many are there? Zhou Jiye felt that Xu Guoqing and his parents were right to advise his younger sister to break up with her boyfriend. There are plenty of fish in the sea, why hang yourself on one tree? Unfortunately, young girls in the throes of new love are far more emotional than rational, and it's hard to persuade them, especially since she's already deeply involved and determined to go abroad with her boyfriend.

"Where is the man planning to go?" Zhou Jiye couldn't help but ask.

“The United States!” Xu Guoqing said expressionlessly, “His family has overseas connections there, and he’s planning to study there.”

“America…” Zhou Jiye thought for a moment and then asked, “So what did this man say? Is he capable of taking the girl with him?”

"He has no ability whatsoever!" Xu Guoqing couldn't help but curse as soon as the topic came up: "This little bastard doesn't even have the ability to go abroad himself. He was able to go abroad because of his family's overseas connections. It would be a miracle if he could go abroad without those connections."

"To be honest with you, if this man has any sense of responsibility and insists on taking his younger sister with him when he leaves, or even registers their marriage in China first before leaving, and refuses to go to America unless they can go together, then I will definitely not stop him and will support him. At least such a man can be trusted. Even if things are tough in America, can it be as tough as what I went through when I was sent to the countryside? As long as the two of them truly love each other and support each other through thick and thin, I can rest assured."

"That's true. So what exactly is going on with this man?" Old Wen couldn't help but ask.

Xu Guoqing picked up the glass in front of him, drank the remaining third of the wine in one gulp, slammed the glass down, and said angrily, "What else could it be? He told my younger sister that he was going abroad, but he didn't say a word about whether he would take her with him. It was entirely my younger sister's own idea to go with him. He didn't offer any help at all, he just said something like if my younger sister could go abroad too, they would continue to be together."

"Listen to this, isn't this just nonsense?" Xu Guoqing said angrily, "A grown man saying such things shows no sense of responsibility whatsoever. Isn't he deliberately stringing my little sister along without giving anything in return? This girl is really stupid. She's lost her mind over dating and can't tell right from wrong. She actually thinks this man is her true love."

“Do you think I would dare let my little sister go abroad with a man like this? He’s like this in China, and there’s no way I can predict what he’ll be like abroad. He’s my only sister, and as his older brother, if I don’t think about her, who else can I think about? But this girl is determined to go abroad to pursue love, and the family has had a lot of arguments about it. I thought she had finally seen the light after listening to my parents’ and my advice, but today I found out that she was secretly planning this all along.”

At this point, Xu Guoqing became even angrier, slamming his fist on the table and cursing, "There's something else I just found out about. That girl actually quit! What the hell! She quit! I begged and pleaded with everyone to get her this job. There are so many unemployed young people in society these days, it's so hard to find a job! She's just a high school graduate, and she got assigned to such a unit and position. So many people are green with envy. She's only been working for a few months and she secretly quit without telling her family. I... I feel like killing someone right now!"

"Fuck!"

Zhou Jiye was also quite shocked by the news. Just as Xu Guoqing said, jobs are hard to find these days. With so many educated youth returning to the city, finding a decent job is practically impossible. Although Xu's younger sister graduated from high school and was eligible for job placement according to policy, even if the state assigned her a job, she would at most be in an ordinary unit or a regular position. Getting a good job was simply out of the question.

Xu Guoqing went to great lengths to get his younger sister a job. He not only pulled strings but also gave her a lot of gifts. It was only with great difficulty that he finally got her a job at a very good company. Moreover, the position wasn't that of a worker but an office job with a permanent position. The work was easy and the salary was not low. This was a job that many people would kill for!
But now she's suddenly resigned, supposedly to go abroad with her boyfriend? Her thinking is truly baffling; no wonder Xu Guoqing is so angry.

“This whole thing has gotten into a real mess, but don’t worry, Ah Qing. I don’t think it’ll be easy for my little sister to leave. Since this man isn’t helping her, it’s not going to be easy for her to get the necessary paperwork to go abroad. Let’s wait. Maybe after this man leaves, and my little sister stays in the country, this whole thing will just blow over eventually.” Old Wen thought for a moment and said this. But these words only made Xu Guoqing more worried. He shook his head and sighed, “If it were someone else, this would indeed be a solution. But you know my little sister’s personality, Brother Wen. She’s been very stubborn since she was little. I’m afraid that if she gets the man and then leaves, she won’t be able to leave. If she gets agitated, she might cause some serious trouble.”

"This..." Old Wen opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything, and nodded with a long sigh.

Seeing Xu Guoqing's troubled expression, Zhou Jiye didn't know how to comfort her for a moment. The thinking of a girl in love cannot be deduced by common sense, and this matter is not a small matter. If Xu's younger sister really goes to that point and does something drastic, it will be too late to regret it.

"Brother Qing, if it really doesn't work, then don't stop her. Just let her go out." Zhou Jiye said after thinking for a while. He felt that forcibly stopping her was not only unlikely to succeed, but would also be worse if a conflict broke out.

"Impossible! I absolutely will not allow it!" Xu Guoqing said resolutely.

"Don't rush, let me explain," Zhou Jiye quickly advised when he saw that he was agitated.

Zhou Jiye told Xu Guoqing that Xu's younger sister is now completely unwilling to listen to any different opinions and is determined to go abroad to study with her boyfriend. If she completely falls out with her family under these circumstances, regardless of the consequences, whether she can ultimately go abroad or not, it will mean that she will have no way out.

At times like this, it's better to be more open-minded and let her go out and see the world. Whether the two of them end up together or not, it won't be a regret for Xu's younger sister. Moreover, if anything happens after she goes abroad, she still has her family as a fallback plan. With the help of her older brother, Xu Guoqing, she can always come back if things don't work out overseas.

After a few words of advice, Xu Guoqing gradually calmed down. He didn't say anything, but just pondered deeply. It seemed he needed to consider this matter carefully. As a brother, Zhou Jiye couldn't say much more about this matter. He could only say so much, after all, it was Xu Guoqing's family matter, and it wasn't appropriate for an outsider like himself to give too much advice. Besides, Lao Wen and Xu Guoqing were relatives, yet they couldn't do anything about this either.

After this meal, Zhou Jiye was still unclear about Xu Guoqing's thoughts on the matter of Xu's younger sister, but the goods they obtained from Lingnan were quickly transported to Shanghai.

783 tape recorders is no small number. Tape recorders are large to begin with, and with the outer packaging and other materials, it would take up two truckloads.

There was almost a problem when picking up the goods. The goods were too conspicuous, and the patterns on the boxes made it easy to identify what they were. If Xu Guoqing hadn't made prior arrangements and produced the commercial introduction letter he had prepared beforehand, the warehouse would have detained the goods. If that had happened, their losses would have been huge.

They got a truck and made two trips to deliver the goods to a warehouse that had been prepared in advance. Because the goods were of high value and sensitive, Zhou Jiye, his two companions, and Amin decided that at least one person should be on guard at the warehouse. In addition, the buyer that Xu Guoqing found also quickly notified them to come and see the goods. After they had inspected the goods in the warehouse and confirmed that there were no problems, the transaction began.

This batch of goods is quite large, and it won't be easy to sell them all so quickly. However, the start has been pretty good, with nearly two hundred units sold in just half a month. Based on this, the initial investment has basically been recouped, and the remaining sales will be pure profit.

Aside from the sale of tape recorders, business at Xigong and Fengyang Road is proceeding normally, and sales are even better than usual as the end of the year approaches.

They were all busy every day. Although it was hard work, they were happy to see themselves earning more and more money.

December 11th is a memorable day because it was the day that individual businesses finally emerged. With the issuance of the first license, history began. Although Zhou Jiye and his colleagues did not get the first license, they all became members of the first batch of individual businesses in Shanghai on the same day.

(End of this chapter)