After eating dumplings, the children kowtowed to Grandpa Xia and Mrs. Zhou again, knelt down to thank their parents for raising them, and then washed up and went to bed.

Children shouldn't stay up late. Besides, isn't New Year's money meant to be put under children's pillows on New Year's Eve?

As for staying up all night to celebrate the New Year, that is the job of adults.

The next morning, Xia Youtian and Jiang took their children to pay New Year's greetings.

The first places we visited were the village head's house and my great-uncle Xia Pingkang's house.

Next came the family of Mr. Feng, a wealthy man in the village.

After that, we visit people according to their closeness to us, first visiting those with whom we have deep relationships and with whom we visit frequently, such as close neighbors with whom we have harmonious relationships, and finally visiting villagers with whom we have ordinary relationships.

The entire first day of the Lunar New Year is basically spent with the continuous shouts of "Happy New Year" and "Happy New Year" everywhere.

Xia Daohua followed her family around to pay New Year's greetings. Although she felt her legs had become thinner and her face was stiff from smiling, she still had a good harvest.

As a result, she earned dozens of copper coins as New Year's money on this trip.

Secondly, it allows me to get to know the villagers again.

However, what always puzzled her was that she had never met the bearded man.

I don’t know if it was just a coincidence that the guy was out paying New Year’s greetings and the two sides didn’t meet; or maybe that guy was not actually from Beiguan Village at all?

Xia Daohua didn't want to bother her aunt Xia Yujiao with this issue anymore, so she put the matter aside for the time being.

It’s the New Year, and she has to go to the Space Supermarket to take stock of the goods!

Everything in the space supermarket seemed to be the same as before. Apart from herself, there was no one alive.

But there are still living things in the supermarket.

There is a stall selling tropical fish and another stall selling green plants on the first floor of the supermarket.

Although the stall owner has disappeared, there is no one to feed the fish or change the water, and no one to water or fertilize the plants, but the fish are still very lively and the plants are still lush.

Xia Daohua checked her account and found more than 100,000 yuan in it. Of course, it has now been automatically converted into "supermarket coins".

Fortunately, there was not much loss when it was exchanged into "supermarket coins", and only about one thousandth of the handling fee was deducted.

Xia Daohua suddenly remembered that things outside could be exchanged for supermarket coins at the service desk. She now had dozens of copper coins in her hand. She wondered if they would be considered antiques?

She took the copper coins to the "Exchange Office" at the service desk.

The appearance of the "Exchange Office" looks very much like an unmanned vending machine.

Xia Daohua took a copper coin and placed it on the counter at the "Exchange Office." A green light flashed, and the product name and price appeared on the screen: "Da Chu Tong Bao, face value one cent. Exchange price: 25 yuan."

Xia Daohua counted and found that she had fifty-two copper coins in her hand, but she only exchanged one. The others were carefully stored in the cabinet in the storage area.

Before the family was divided, every penny Xia Youtian and Jiang earned had to be turned over to the public treasury.

Now that the family has been divided, Xia Youtian and Jiang have become the heads of the fourth branch. Will they be able to resist taking the children's New Year's money?

The money given by Mr. Xia and Mrs. Zhou is fine. But the New Year's money given by other families is nominally for children, but in reality, isn't it just a favor between adults?

Since others gave them New Year's money, Xia Youtian and Jiang also had to give New Year's money to other people's children.

Xia Daohua was very pessimistic about whether she could keep the fifty-two copper coins.

Sure enough, on the first night of the New Year, Jiang called the children to her side, looked at them with a loving face, and said with a smile: "Come, give all your New Year's money to me, and I will take care of it for you."

Routines, all routines!

Lihua happily took out her bag of lucky money and handed it to Jiang. Wulang followed closely behind. Linghua was a little reluctant to move, but after much hesitation, she finally crawled deep into the kang cabinet and found her hidden lucky money.

Xia Daohua asked with a smile, "Mom, can I leave a few copper coins for you?"

Jiang hesitated for a moment, and found that the children were all looking at her eagerly. She couldn't bear to refuse, so she bit her lip and said:

"I'll give each of you two copper coins."

Xia Daohua nodded happily, rummaged through her bosom for a long time, and finally pulled out the copper coin bag—a patched cotton sock. Xia Daohua smiled and handed it to Jiang:

"I have left two cents, and here are fifty cents."

Jiang looked at Xia Daohua in surprise. How come this child didn't become a fool after falling down, but instead became wise?

She counted out six copper coins from the bag and gave two each to Lihua, Goro, and Linghua.

The children cheered: "Mom, you are so kind!"

Linghua suddenly threw herself into her arms and gave her a hard kiss on the face.

Jiang collected the children's New Year's money and carefully counted how much she had given out. After counting it all, she found that there was still a shortfall of thirty-five cents in the New Year's money alone.

Jiang sighed slightly. Fortunately, the old couple had been kind enough when they divided the family property. Otherwise, how would they have been able to live?

The next day is the second day of the Chinese New Year, the day when married women return home.

Jiang wanted to take Xia Youtian and several children back to her parents' home to visit relatives.

The village where Jiang's mother's family lived was called Liushutuozi, which was not too far from Beiguan Village. There were three mountain ridges between the two villages, and it took about two or three hours to walk there.

Early the next morning, before the rooster crowed, Jiang got up, cooked cornmeal porridge, steamed a few steamed buns, and cut a pickled cabbage heart and a mustard greens.

Afterwards, he hurriedly woke up the sleepy children, washed them, urged them to eat, and changed them into the most decent clothes.

Xia Youtian looked at Jiang busying around and couldn't help feeling distressed. He said, "My wife, don't worry. I have to go out for something. Wait for me to come back!"

Jiang looked at Xia Youtian's back in confusion. What could happen to him so early in the morning?

However, when she thought about going back to her parents' home, Jiang couldn't help but feel nervous.

The Jiang family all have hot tempers. Whether it is Jiang's parents, or her four brothers and two sisters, they are all very tough and fierce.

Jiang's temperament is like that of a little lamb, she doesn't seem like a biological child of the Jiang family.

The Jiang family also knew that Jiang was a soft-hearted person, so they all protected her.

Jiang had always been afraid of going back to her parents' home, fearing that if she said something wrong, her brothers and sisters would get angry and beat Xia Youtian up.

Although in reality, the Jiang family has never really beaten Xia Youtian.

At most, I would just force him to drink a few bowls of wine.

After Jiang had taken care of the children and tidied up the house, she saw Xia Youtian coming back, covered in frost and panting.

Xia Youtian smiled so hard that his teeth were showing and his eyes were not. He handed Jiang two hemp paper bags and a large jar sealed with yellow mud.

"I finally managed to knock on the door of my fifth sister-in-law's house."