Home is where your parents are.

Every traveler eagerly anticipates returning home as the year draws to a close. Train stations are bustling with people, and the moment they board the train, long-lost smiles appear on everyone's faces.

It's still more comfortable to travel in a sleeper car. Li Chunmei took out the playing cards she had prepared and started playing with Xia Jianguo and Xia Xiaomei.

Xia Minmin was engrossed in reading the math primer recommended by Teacher Zhu. After the New Year, Teacher Zhu planned to formally teach her math, and that would end her abacus mental arithmetic lessons there.

Over the past year, Xia Minmin has read many history books. In the eyes of adults, she can read and write common characters accurately without any problems.

My memory is so much better than in my previous life. I can still remember the Tang poems I memorized a year ago, and I can recite them after reading them two or three times.

"Boxed lunches! Boxed lunches! Boxed lunches are for sale!"

Xia Minmin nudged Xia Jianguo, who was engrossed in playing cards, and said, "Dad, buy me a boxed lunch! I'm hungry!"

The train windows were difficult to push up; only Xia Jianguo could do it.

Xia Jianguo said to the train food delivery box, "Four boxed meals and a bag of oranges, please."

"Okay!" The lunchbox vendor neatly packed it up and handed it in.

Xia Jianguo handed the shopkeeper twenty yuan, and the shopkeeper quickly gave him change and stuffed it through the window.

"Second brother and sister-in-law, this boxed lunch tastes different from the one we bought last time. It's quite delicious."

Li Chunmei said, "It's pretty good. They make a lot of profit selling boxed lunches at the station."

Xia Jianguo said, "Having connections is what really matters."

Life on the train consisted of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating.

The family originally planned to take a minibus and transfer to another bus to go home, but the minibus was too crowded!

Not only were there many people and many suitcases, but the minibus was also severely overloaded. A sudden stop could send people flying out of the vehicle.

When Xia Jianguo got off the train, he saw minivans for rent and thought he would rent one to go home. After inquiring about the price, Li Chunmei thought it was too expensive, so in the end they still had to rent a minivan to go home.

When the roads in Shenzhen were in good condition, Li Chunmei's motion sickness never flared up. But she didn't expect to get motion sickness again when she encountered bumpy roads!

The van driver asked, "Brother, are you coming back from Shenzhen?"

"How did you know?" Xia Jianguo asked, puzzled.

"I wait for passengers at the train station every day, and I know exactly when which train arrives," the van driver said with a smile.

"oh oh."

"Brother, I'll leave you my phone number. If you need to take the train there after the New Year, you can call me and I'll come pick you up."

"Wow, you must have made a lot of money driving a taxi during the Chinese New Year."

"You guys earn more than me, big brothers. Those of you who go to Shenzhen are the ones who really make a fortune! Judging from your clothes and appearance, you don't look like ordinary working people."

"It's not easy to come home, so I have to buy some clothes to look presentable."

As Xia Jianguo and the van driver bantered, they approached their destination: the Xia family's old residence.

...

Whose car is this?

"I don't know, I haven't heard of anyone buying a car. Let's go and take a look."

"Hey, you guys really have too much free time."

"You're not going? Then we'll go."

"Go, go, I didn't say I wasn't going, wait for me."

"Why is this car parked at Xia Jianshe's house? I didn't hear that he bought a car."

"Is it that kid Xia Jianguo who's back?"

"I heard from others that he works in Shenzhen."

"Is the Shenzhen Stock Exchange really that profitable? You can buy a car in just one year?"

"It might not be him who bought it yet. Let's go and check first."

"It really is Xia Jianguo!"

"Let's go, let's go take a look."

...

We've finally arrived! It's really not easy to go home! Li Chunmei even threw up twice.

"Little sister, help your second sister-in-law inside and sit for a while, I'll get the luggage!"

After collecting his suitcases, Xia Jianguo paid the fare to the van driver and was about to go inside with the three suitcases.

"It's Jianguo who's back!"

"Hello, Aunt Niu, Aunt Hua, Aunt Lin."

"Hello! Hello! Jianguo is acting like a city person now, he speaks so eloquently."

"That's right, Jianguo must have struck it rich this year! He even has a car to drive you back."

"No, no, I rented a car from the train station to go home."

"That must have cost a lot of money!"

"It's almost the same as taking a minibus. I missed the minibus back to the county town, so I had to grit my teeth and rent a car to go home. Aunties, I still have a lot of things to do at home, so I'm going home first. You all keep going. Xiaomin, say goodbye to the grandmas."

Goodbye, Grandma!

Xia Minmin wiped non-existent sweat from her forehead. These people are too difficult to deal with! None of them are easy to mess with; they can even call a black cat a white cat.

The father and daughter pushed their luggage and fled in panic.

"They really made a fortune. The clothes and shoes look to be of very good quality, and they even came back pushing three huge suitcases."

"Yes, I'll let my son go work with him next year."

"Your son is incredibly lazy, yet he's making money! He's probably just dreaming."

"What are you saying, you old woman? Believe me or not, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"I'm so scared!"

The three sisters, who were once close, have now parted ways again, but this is normal, and they will make up again tomorrow.

Li Chunmei sat on a chair in the main room to rest, with a cup of hot water next to her.

Xia Xiaomei was boiling water in the kitchen. She also needed to clean two rooms that hadn't been lived in for a year and were too dusty.

Xia Jianguo opened the door to let in some fresh air. The room smelled musty because no one had lived there for a long time. He also needed to take the blankets out to air them. Luckily, he had arrived home in the morning and the sun was shining brightly today, otherwise he would have nowhere to sleep at night.

After resting for a while, Li Chunmei finally recovered and took the basin and rag from Xia Xiaomei to clean their room.

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