Gao Guojing, oblivious to his inner thoughts, said, "Aren't you busy? Rujia and I will take Duofu and the others to film."

Gao Shujing was clearly dissatisfied with the answer and continued to stare at Yu Rujia.

Yu Rujia wasn't going to indulge him. She assigned him his tasks, since they were having barbecue on the second day of the Lunar New Year, but they didn't have a barbecue grill at home yet.

Yu Rujia: "If Fourth Brother has time, please make a barbecue grill. I want to make barbecue on the second day of the Lunar New Year."

Before Gao Shujing could speak, Gao Guojing excitedly said, "Barbecue is great! We haven't had barbecue in so long. Brother, I'll make a barbecue net with you."

Seeing that Gao Guojing didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with not taking him along for the photoshoot, Gao Shujing thought to himself that he could get rid of this younger brother.

Yu Rujia made a request: "Make the net denser, so that you can spread the meat and vegetables on it to grill. You can decide how to do it."

Foodie Duolu was the first to ask, "Auntie, is barbecue delicious?" None of the kids had ever eaten barbecue before, and this was the first time they had heard of it.

Yu Rujia: "You'll know once you eat it."

Duofu knew that Yu Rujia liked only good things: "It must be delicious. Auntie has never let us eat anything that doesn't taste good."

Duoshou: "Auntie, what is barbecue?"

Yu Rujia: "Barbecue can be used to grill meat or vegetables."

Duoshou: "I want to eat."

Yu Rujia: "We'll eat in a couple of days."

Duoxi waved her hands beside her and said, "Eat, eat, eat."

Not only were Yu Rujia and others complaining that there wasn't enough goose intestine dish, but even Chen Manman from the educated youth compound was complaining: "So much goose intestine dish is gone already, these people eat it too fast."

They went out to pick goose intestines and were seen by someone, who casually mentioned it, and as a result, the whole brigade sprang into action.

Zhang Zhaodi: "There's nothing we can do. Goose intestines are much more tender than green vegetables. Just a little seasoning is enough to make people want to keep eating them. Everyone loves them, so that's just how it is."

Chen Manman said dejectedly, "We shouldn't have told them in the first place. If they still thought we were picking goose intestines to feed the chickens, they wouldn't have picked them so cleanly, leaving us with nothing to eat."

Lu Kuohai also felt a bit sorry, because after only a few days of eating it, it was almost completely devoured. Goose intestines are only good when you eat the very tip; the older parts are just like chewing grass. It's unbelievable that these people could take them all.

Lu Kuohai: "Who could have imagined these things back then? Now that things have turned out like this, there's no point in thinking about them anymore."

Zhou Beifa: "There's some further away." The freshness of the goose intestines was so delicious that even the usually taciturn Zhou Beifa couldn't help but exclaim.

Who would want to eat bad food if they could eat something better?

Lu Kuohai: "I'm going to go somewhere far away with Bei Faming tomorrow."

New Year's Eve, staying up all night

When Gao Shujing and Gao Guojing returned from town, they brought a full basket of goose intestines, more than they had ever picked before, fulfilling Gao Guojing's promise from the day before that they would be able to eat their fill.

They also brought back a large amount of New Year's gifts, including fifty catties of rice, five catties of meat, two catties of oil, and eight apples.

Captain Huang came back with them. As the captain, he also received some New Year's gifts, but they didn't even add up to a pound.

The two Gao brothers, carrying a full load of goods, were spotted by the idle old women as soon as they entered the brigade.

An older woman asked, "Hasn't the Gao family prepared their New Year's goods yet? Are they already going out on New Year's Eve?"

Team Leader Huang: "This is a New Year's gift issued by the commune, not something we bought."

Upon hearing that it was a New Year's gift, the women immediately gathered around, wanting to reach out and see what the commune had given Gao Shujing. It was so full of things, but he stopped them as soon as they touched the items.

An elderly woman with sharp eyes spotted something inside: "What a huge piece of meat! It must weigh several pounds, right? And there's rice and oil too. This cadre's New Year's gift is too generous."

Gao Shujing: "It only happens once a year, so the commune gave out a little extra to celebrate."

Captain Huang: "Alright, Shujing has to go home and do some work, everyone please make way."

One of the team members asked, "The battalion commander and Officer Gao came back from the commune together. What about your New Year's gift?"

Captain Huang: "Can I compare to Shujing? He's a college student and can do so many things. How many people have you met who are as capable as him? My New Year's gift is just half a pound of meat and some biscuits."

Amidst envious glances from the crowd, Gao Shujing and Gao Guojing returned home.

After putting the things down, Gao Shujing washed two apples. The apples were big, almost a pound each, and the two apples made up a whole plate.

The packaged apples were handed to Yu Rujia.

The children who were playing outside all gathered around him when they saw him.

Gao Shujing: "Go wash your hands and come back to eat the apple."

It has a strong apple flavor, unlike modern apples which often have little to no flavor.

Even Yu Rujia, who doesn't usually like apples, couldn't resist taking two more.

The little millet buds, now with a new recipe, kept making crunching noises.

When it comes to new foods, the foodie pioneer Duolu is always the most enthusiastic to express his opinion: "Uncle, the apple is delicious, it's fragrant and sweet."

Duoxi kept grinding his little teeth, juice dripping all over his mouth and even onto his clothes. Hearing his beloved second brother speak, he raised his little hand in support and said, "Guoguo, I like it."

After tasting the sweetness of the apple, Duoshou couldn't help but plead, "Uncle, can I have a couple more slices of apple?"

Duofu got three pieces of apple, two pieces for each of the twins, and one piece for Duoxi.

Duoshou has always been unusually sensible for a child who is almost two years old, and rarely does things like Duolu, which involve protecting his food.

Gao Shujing wouldn't easily break his own principles; he couldn't give an extra apple, but he could reward him with one.

Gao Shujing: "If you sweep the floor later, your uncle can reward you with an apple."

Duoshou and his family have started doing some household chores that they can manage, such as washing vegetables and sweeping the floor.

Gao Shujing made special small brooms for them, so there was no need to worry about them being unable to swing them or hurting their hands.

Hearing that there was hope, Duoshou, fearing that he might change his mind, readily agreed: "I'll go sweep the floor after I finish this apple."

As the most responsible child in the family, Duofu certainly wouldn't just think about making things easy for himself: "I'll sweep with Duoshou."

The house and yard of Gao Shujing and Yu Rujia are several hundred square meters. Even if Duoshou were to sweep them all by himself, the little guy wouldn't be able to finish sweeping them in a whole day.

Gao Shujing encouraged them, "Thank you for your hard work. After you finish sweeping, Uncle will give you apples."

Duolu naturally wouldn't miss such a good opportunity, and raised his little hand, saying, "Me too, I'll sweep too."

Duoxi lifted her face, which was as dirty as a cat's, from the apple and echoed, "I, I'll sweep it up."

Gao Shujing: "Okay, we have them all."