For Lai her daily life at work and home did not change significantly. She still faced discrimination from her male co-workers even under the party's watch only to return home and find herself almost entirely responsible for her three children's wellbeing. At the macro level, government and army positions and were still predominantly held by men. This included people like Lai’s husband who was a high-ranking army official in the party. He had received his status from his efforts during the Long-March after working with party officials to curate party messages and rhetoric. Before the long march he had been a student of economics at Shanghai University in Shanghai. Despite being more committed to the party's goals than most could say at this time (he had actually been very active as a student in the city and on campus movements that had survived the Red Purge in 1927) he longed for a more “official” role where he could use his knowledge to aid the fight. However, he saw that the only way up was through pledging loyalty by joining the Red Army in their march. By the time the war started he was considered a loyal member of the army, part of the envied older unit for they were at the top of the party's military hierarchy. Lai Yixiu on the other hand had a more complicated, less respected background due to her family's legacy in the party’s eyes. Though very active in the communist movement's campaigns around her school and university, she found herself more interested in the urban movement’s, more humanitarian, more ethical, less violent approach. That is until the Red Purge when the urban centered party came under attack by the nationalist government who sought to wipe them out- she began to see the necessity of some push back towards the nationalist government as they increasingly encroached on the party's goals and organizing. However, even after the war she still always felt deep down that the use of violence was wrong.  

Perhaps her position as an intellectual, though devout to the party's cause, was enough to make her inferior in status to military leaders and peasants in the party’s eyes. Though it likely was also because she had reason to fear that that violence could one day be turned towards her for having the wrong family background. Her family, who were gentry back during the Qing Dynasty had done very well for themselves for even after the revolution, they preserved their wealth well enough that the family managed to own a sizeable amount of property in Hunan. Her father had sold all the family's businesses and land in the forties when the communist victory seemed inevitable, however, he always remained spiteful towards the party. He was a capitalist and saw any interference with his business plans to cultivate greater wealth, whether it came from the nationalists, communists, or foreign powers, as an unwanted intrusion. Even after selling his land, proving his loyalty, and registering under a faked peasantry status to the party after their victory in the 50s, he still always privately thought to himself whether he should have fled to Taiwan with his children (who were grown) for fear that one day their evil family past would be discovered.  

Lai and her brother had long disassociated with her father as they had both fell into the communist movement during their time boarding at school in Shanghai. They disagreed with their fathers apolitical, and often anti-leftist sentiments, and saw the growing appeal for Marxism as imperialist actors kept interfering in Chinas sovereignty and affairs. She never returned to Hunan and instead chose to stay in Shanghai for university and then work. It was during her time working there that she met her husband, who was taking a leave of absence from the army for an injury he sustained in battle. It was around 1945 and he was working on writing articles for the party about the Soviet economy and how China could themselves implement their central planning policies. He was also taking Russian language courses at the university. They fell in love and married quickly knowing that he would soon have to return to the fight. In 1947 that day came- right before they had their first child. He ultimately returned victorious in 1949 and the small family cultivated a life around the party in Shanghai where her husband had gotten a post as a political secretary. They had two more children by the time the Thousand Flower Campaign would begin causing chaos in this new family.  

The family was registered under the “good class” because of their contribution to the revolutionary cause. Lai was a professor of philosophy and specialized in Marxism, earning her the initial praise of the party despite her controversial past. Her husband's post more specifically earned the family a special status in their unit. Lai was working on articles in support of Mao and his policies throughout the early 50’s especially pertaining to his promises for greater advancements for gender equality. In 1956 when the opportunity for intellectuals like Lai presented itself to offer voices of minor dissent to the party, she took it to advocate for greater adherence to party promises for women's rights. She saw a gap between rhetoric and practice in her daily life as well as in the hierarchy of the party itself. This was much to the fear and anger of her husband who saw this as an extremely careless and dangerous act for the family. It could be seen as counter-revolutionary or politically incorrect and not only hurt his image as a high-ranking party leader but also have them both thrown in jail, especially considering her past.  

He was right to be concerned. Mao allowed intellectuals to speak out in an attempt to appear more democratic in the eyes of the international community as well as domestically after various anti-communist uprisings and Khrushchev’s condemning of Stalin who was always mirrored with Mao frightened him. When it quickly got out of control he turned around and portrayed it as a purposeful campaign to weave out the rightists. He went after the very academics, thinkers, and professionals he seemed to support at first. This included Lai and by extension her husband.  

 

Back in Shanghai, Bolin was doing his best to erase his past. He married a fellow loyal party member named Yan Le. Bolin was classified as a Revolutionary Cadre/ Revolutionary soldier. He and his wife bore 4 children over the following decade, 3 girls and a boy. All of these children would be educated with the help of the party. Bolin was largely unaffected by the political campaigns of the 1950s. He maintained his high position, only being targeted once. During the Five Anti campaign,  two members of his workplace targeted him as a capitalist. He managed to get away with minor self-criticism as he emphasized his early joining of the communist party, participation in the Long March, and how he cut ties with his brother early on. He deflected much of the blame onto his brother and expressed his remorse over his family's exploitation of the Chinese people. Bolin understood the world to be a much better and brighter place. He fully believed in the communist ideas and Mao and was getting along rather well. With his young family and his new morality, he truly believed he was doing what was best.