Zhang Fusheng arrived at his in-laws’ house, and An Lixia was already preparing to cook.
Zhao Qingxiang and Xu Hongbing’s families, who had driven over, were still on the way.
Zhou Yongbing had already reached ho and was helping Zhao Tian clean the courtyard’s stove, which would be used soon for the pig slaughter.
Many hands make light work, but slaughtering three pigs was still quite laborious.
After the first pig was slaughtered, Sun Yunfu and Zhao Xiaojing were responsible for stuffing the blood sausages, and Qi Xue i was washing the innards. An Lixia was stewing at inside the house.
"Mom, your at stew is always the most fragrant," Zhao Xiaojing said.
An Lixia knew her second daughter couldn’t grasp things clearly and didn’t want to bother with her.
Actually, she felt that only the second daughter resembled her the most. She, too, valued n above everything else during that ti. Now the second daughter was like that, having only eyes for her husband, though she was better than her because she treated her children well.
Outside, six n were already onto the third pig.
Two large basins of blood sausage had already been stuffed. Sun Yun was thinking about taking so back for the children to taste.
This year had made her realize the goodness of daughters, and now she also thought about preparing food for them.
It wasn’t until after two o’clock that the family sat down to eat. The blood sausage was boiled in the innards pot, especially delicious.
Everyone was hungry, so they ate a lot. An Lixia and Zhao Tian were satisfied watching the children eat heartily.
"Eldest brother, Xiao Ling and the others are truly sensible; everyone agrees with that. In the mid-term exams, both girls scored perfect scores. Hai Jun and Zhixue also ranked among the top ten in their class.
The most touching is Little Hong. Xiao Li said that the girl tidies up the house herself and even heats water for her siblings."
Zhao Qingxiang listened to his brother-in-law with a smile on his face. "That’s great. Xiao Ling and Xiao Le are exceptionally sensible."
"Yes, and during the fall harvest, the four older ones would collect grain from the village every day after school and even help others work. By the end of the fall, they had accumulated a full bag of corn kernels, half a bag of beans, and so winter lons, radishes, and cabbage."
Everyone felt both heartache and pride for the children at the sa ti, for they had grown up understanding and considerate.
After Zhou Yongbing finished speaking, Zhang Fusheng went on,"Xiao Ling told us they’ve been selling tickets for two months, planning to return ho to help shell corn during the winter break.
When we go back, they’ll be on break too. I’m planning to stay with the kids for a day or two, then bring them back."
"That’s great. I was thinking of taking so food to them and checking on them.," Zhao Qingxiang said.
The three families were quite happy, primarily because they could see the children. Honestly, after being away for a year, they missed them too.
It was hard going away, so it was certainly best for the children to return ho.
"Fusheng, Xiao Bing, you still need to take next year’s grain to the kids; if I go to send the kids, I won’t be able to bring back so much stuff."
"Alright, just get ready. We’ll leave tomorrow," Zhang Fusheng nodded.
"Fusheng, we sold all the grain at ho this year. We’re moving over to your big brother’s."
"Alright, we’ll move all the remaining grain from ho this ti."
The brothers-in-law had no objections. It was the sa for everyone.
The entire afternoon was spent weighing things out; Zhao Tian had hired workers to do the job. The corn had long since been dried. A load of wheat and corn was loaded, and Zhou Yongbing wanted the remaining 2,000 pounds of soybeans, but he hadn’t ntioned it to the in-laws yet.
Once the vehicles were loaded, the families helped with the move. There was also quite a bit of firewood that needed to be moved, and the small donkey needed feed. In a farming family, nothing goes to waste.
The whole afternoon was spent transporting things, giving Zhao Tian and his wife peace of mind, as they could go to the field office the next day to transfer the land. They wanted to keep the small donkey.
Since in situations like theirs, when they don’t want the land midway, a small donkey requires so paynt, it was more economical to keep it and reclaim land next year.
The elderly couple now had 2,000 yuan in hand, not counting the money from the two loads of grain.
So even if they didn’t work, they could retire. Plus, they could still open up new land, which would provide them with enough food.
They would spend the night here since they had two sons-in-law visiting.
Early the next morning, the pork was loaded onto the cart, and the family brought six bags of grain, along with sweet potatoes, winter lons, potatoes, napa cabbage, sorghum rice, eggs, duck eggs, and dried fish. They brought whatever they had at ho.
"Fusheng, leave five pounds of lard and a few pounds of at for the kids."
"Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll take care of it."
After seeing off the two sons-in-law, the accountant from the field office followed them because they still needed to transport two or three more loads of fertilizer. While one family could advance the paynt, the field office had to bring money to pick it up themselves.
Xu Hongbing had already started organizing the transportation of grain and goods to the city, hoping to sell them during the winter.
Honestly, he missed Huang i, whom he hadn’t seen in a long ti. Bringing grain to the city was a good excuse to spend ti with her.
Before Zhang Fusheng and the others reached ho, heavy snow started falling. Fortunately, the grain had been unloaded halfway; otherwise, the road conditions would have been a big worry.
They weren’t worried, but Zhang Haisheng was.
"Such heavy snow, we won’t be able to travel for the next few days."
Zhou Yongbing nodded, "Yes, it’s too dangerous. Better to play it safe. Accountant Zhang, if need be, you just handle the paynt and tickets. We’ll drive over when the roads are passable."
"Alright, we’ll have to do it that way. No one should risk their life for this. Moreover, with the snow so thick, it’s hard to climb uphill and impossible to brake downhill."
Because of the heavy snow and strong wind, they got ho a day later than expected.
Zhang Haisheng went directly to the fertilizer plant. He was already familiar with the people there. Soone would accompany him for paynt and ticketing.
When they got ho, the snow had stopped, but the roads were still covered with thick snow.
The remaining grain was delivered directly to Zhang Fusheng’s house, mainly because the children hadn’t been ho for a month, and it was worriso to store too much grain there.
However, the at was delivered to the children, so they could eat it. Life was tough for the kids, and they likely hadn’t used their at ration tickets and had exchanged them for money instead.
The children had exams today, so only the little girl was ho. Seeing the two uncles brought a big smile to her face.
"Big Uncle, Old Uncle."
"Little Hong, this at is from your grandparents. If you don’t know how to cook it, wait for your big aunt to co."
"Big Uncle, please put it in the big jar outside for ."
The two watched the smiling little girl, truly finding her delightful.
"Old Uncle, can you help build a chicken coop next year? I want to raise chickens."
Zhou Yongbing laughed and nodded, "Sure, Old Uncle will help you when he’s free."
"Then I’ll give eggs to Big Uncle, Old Uncle, and the family."
They both laughed; it was impossible not to like a child like that.
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