Jiang Ruyu had no ulterior motives towards Annie. It was already quite surprising that Annie, a foreign guest, remembered her. She only needed to maintain normal contact with her as a friend. She prepared a bag of pine nuts, hazelnuts, dried mushrooms, and other dried fruits that Zheng Yang had brought from Northeast China, as well as her own smoked bacon, cured chicken, pickled radish, a bottle of wild honey that she had received for signing in, a wool hat that she had knitted out of boredom at work, and a pair of gloves for Annie.

She wrote down how to prepare and eat the food, just in case she wouldn't know how to eat it or if she would be used to it!

The items weren't many, but they were among the better ones she had. She planned to hand them over to the manager when she went to work. They had supported her in maintaining friendly relations with foreign guests, and the last letter she sent had been through them, apparently through connections with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She didn't care about all that; her things weren't afraid of being inspected anyway. The letter she wrote simply introduced her local New Year customs and invited her to visit again sometime, offering to be her guide.

The next morning, even though it was New Year's Eve, Jiang Hui and Jiang Lin were instructed by the old lady to put up Spring Festival couplets early in the morning. Since the policy changed in 1966 and there was no holiday for the Spring Festival, some of the old New Year customs have disappeared. Things like ancestor worship, worshiping gods, and setting off firecrackers have slowly disappeared from people's lives. Even the Spring Festival couplets now contain slogans like "No stopping on New Year's Eve, keep going on New Year's Day".

Jiang Ruyu's counter was still packed with people. Jiang Ruyu and Zhang Guisheng were so busy that they were practically running around like headless chickens. They later divided the work: one was responsible for grabbing the candies, and the other was responsible for weighing and packing them. Zhang Guisheng's hands were as precise as the scales, and there were almost no discrepancies. Their cooperation was very smooth, and the people in line did not cause any trouble.

"Master Zhang's apprentice has graduated! Look how skillful he is!" A regular customer chatted with Zhang Guisheng while waiting in line.

Zhang Guisheng smiled smugly: "That's right, my apprentice, Comrade Xiao Jiang, is a young man who learns quickly and is very nimble."

Jiang Ruyu smiled and said, "This is because my master taught me well. I still have a lot to learn."

"Young people should be humble. Learn well; there's plenty of skill to learn from Master Zhang."

"Yes, I still have a long way to go."

She was so busy all morning that she barely had time to breathe. It was the weekend, and she was supposed to be off, but it was New Year's Eve, so everyone was off work after this half-day. She didn't need to come in the afternoon. Before she went home, she bought two cans of fruit from another counter.

Before going back, she took the package to the manager's office upstairs, knocked on the door, and explained her purpose. Manager Wang smiled and nodded, "Good, Comrade Jiang is very thoughtful. I will send the package out. By the way, this needs to be checked according to regulations. Is there anything inappropriate about that?"

"Don't worry, manager, feel free to check. It's all just food and supplies."

"That's good, that's good."

After receiving a lot of praise from her boss, she was finally allowed to leave. When she got home, her grandmother was still frying something in the kitchen. When she saw her, she pointed to the small pot on the stove and said, "The food is over there. Come and help when you're done eating."

After Jiang Ruyu finished lunch, she washed the dishes and took over Jiang Hui's place. Grandma was rolling out sesame dough to fry banana leaves later. Grandma's hometown is in Anhui Province, and they are used to frying dumplings, banana leaves, candy balls, and other kinds of pasta during the New Year.

Jiang Ruyu found an apron, put it on, took the long chopsticks, and deftly picked up the cooked dumplings and put them into a strainer: "Jiang Lin, get up and tell Jiang Hui to light the fire. Look, the dumplings are all burnt."

"It's not burnt, I'll eat it." Jiang Lin gave his seat to Jiang Hui, stood up, grabbed a glutinous rice ball, and started eating: "Milk, this time the taste is just right, not too salty."

Grandma Jiang looked at him with disdain: "Hey, maybe you shouldn't talk."

Jiang Lin is the kind of person who never learns from a bad memory: "Grandma, I want to eat sugar cakes, can you fry some for me, okay, Grandma?"

Jiang Ruyu and Jiang Hui exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes. Jiang Ruyu silently counted: three, two, hey, before she even reached one, Grandma Jiang reached out and put her hand on her grandson's ear: "Get out of here! You can't even shut your mouth while eating, why do you talk so much?"

Jiang Lin chuckled and carried the fried dumplings out. A little while later, he heard his neighbor's nephew crying. Jiang Kai was both angry and amused and wanted to hit Jiang Lin: "Jiang Lin, how old are you? Still teasing children, how childish!"

Jiang Lin scratched his head: "Who knew kids were so easily teased?"

Jiang Ruyu put down her chopsticks and went outside, only to see her older brother holding her little nephew, Jiang Yangyang, who was just over two years old and crying miserably. Jiang Ruyu went up to Jiang Lin and kicked him, saying, "You deserve a beating, especially during the New Year."

He then went over and took out two pieces of gummy candy: "Oh, our Yangyang is so good, don't cry, don't talk to your uncle, your uncle is mean, have a piece of candy to sweeten your mouth."

Jiang Kai said with a smile, "You've really gotten a good deal for Yangyang. These milk candies are quite expensive."

"So what? Yangyang is our only child. Big brother, I'm not talking to you anymore, there's still something frying in the pot."

"Go quickly." Jiang Kai watched his cousin grow up day by day. Now it seemed that she was in charge of his second uncle's family. He wondered how Ruyi was doing in the countryside and whether she had adapted well.

So what was Jiang Ruyi like at this time?

At this moment, in a production brigade of Yishi City, Heilongjiang Province, Jiang Ruyi was blushing as she listened to Gu Changzheng's confession: "Ruyi, I like you. Would you like to be my boyfriend? I don't want to see you so tired. If you agree to be my boyfriend, I'm strong and my family is well-off, so I can help you openly and honestly."

Jiang Ruyi looked shyly at Gu Changzheng in front of her. He was handsome and tall. Although he was a bit dark-skinned, he had a manly air about him and treated her very well. Jiang Ruyi thought to herself, but she also knew that she couldn't agree too easily, otherwise it would make her seem like she didn't value herself.

“Brother Gu, I’m still young and haven’t thought about these things yet. I know you’re good to me, but I’m scared. My family still sends me packages every month, but I don’t know when it will stop. They’re not good to me. I was forced to come to the countryside by them, especially my cousin from my second uncle’s family. She’s the worst.”

Taking the opportunity, Jiang Ruyi told Gu Changzheng about her tragic family history. As Gu Changzheng watched the girl he liked speaking sweetly about the injustices she had suffered, his heart was filled with pity for her and resentment towards his cousin.

Jiang Ruyu, far away in Beijing: "..." Aren't you polite? Excuse me? How offensive are you?

Jiang Ruyu's family was already sitting at the dinner table eating. Their New Year's Eve dinner this year was quite sumptuous. Half of the ten-pound goose was roasted and stir-fried into a large plate, and the old duck was stewed on the stove all afternoon until it was very tender.

We took out all the shrimp and fish that we had checked in with earlier and cooked them. The shrimp and conch were just boiled and seasoned with sauce. We left the crabs uneaten and buried them in the snow pile by the door to eat when our relatives come on the second day of the Lunar New Year. The big grouper was steamed, and we also stir-fried some cabbage with vinegar. It was a feast of five dishes and a soup, all of them main dishes.

Jiang Ruyu took out a bottle of Moutai from her room: "Grandma, it's Chinese New Year today, and I'm back at work. Jiang Hui and Jiang Lin are almost adults too. Shall we have a couple of drinks as a family today?"