First sister has two sons and one daughter. They have all grown up and had their own children. Although none of them had finished middle school, they are living well and can earn their keep independently.

My first nephew gave up his schooling and became an apprentice bricklayer at fifteen. He got married at eighteen when I was still single and ten years his senior. He has been working at different construction sites not far from his home since. He has two daughters and the older one has been married. He's head of his family. During busy farming seasons he occupies himself with field work. Sometimes he plowed the fields with a tractor for others for making money. He built his family a spacious air-conditioned house with a large gate through which his motor vehicles can go freely. He had been dismayed at his being sonless until the birth of the first son of his brother.

But first sister's grandsons did not come easily. They are a compensation for the heavy losses and the ordeals the whole family has suffered and gone through. It was after a failed engagement and a divorce that my second nephew fathered two sons when he remarried.     

Second nephew is a cute and social guy compared with his brother who is reserved and cowardly like me. He works as a casual electrician and plumber in Tientsin. He once served his apprenticeship with one of his relatives in Peking. He rented one and a half rooms at ￥200 a month in a Tientsin suburb. He dwells there with his wife and elder son during working periods. His ear rings, tattoos, bald head, local accent and sunglasses are of much help to him when he goes to some forbidden places as a passport.

Niece invests a large sum in raising about four thousand pigeons with her capable husband who is experienced in breeding. In addition, the young couple has other sources of incomes. Their family can be called a well-to-do one.