On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people have to pay New Year’s greetings to their elders. Dabao put on his new cotton-padded jacket and went out to pay New Year’s greetings.

He first went to his grandparents' house and said a lot of nice things. He got a red envelope of two cents and a bag of fried peanuts. He was so happy that he grinned from ear to ear. He hid the money and ran away.

Next was her uncle's house not far away. Li Qingyun never extended the conflicts between adults to the children, so Dabao still treated them the same as before.

Mrs. Gu just gave Dabao a handful of roasted melon seeds and wanted to send him away, but she was stopped by Brother Gu, who stuffed her with a red envelope of five cents.

Dabao said thank you and left quickly. Although he didn't say it, children can best feel the kindness and malice of adults. He knew that his uncle and aunt didn't like him and his brother.

Next, we had to go to our godfather and godmother's house to pay New Year's greetings. When we got there, Maotou also went out to pay New Year's greetings.

Cheng Jie Qiuju enthusiastically invited him into the house and gave him a lot of snacks and a red envelope of two cents.

Dabao said a lot of nice things happily, and they were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling.

Li Qingyun at home also quickly cleaned up after Dabao left. She filled the table in the main hall with snacks such as roasted nuts and candies, heated up a pot of bean buns, and prepared several red envelopes of different sizes.

After a while, Da Ni and Er Ni came over. They were wearing new clothes made of the fabric that Li Qingyun had given them before. When they came to her, the two children timidly said to her: Happy New Year, Second Aunt.

Li Qingyun smiled and wished them a happy new year. She packed a bag of snacks for the two girls, a bean bun for each of them, and gave each of them a red envelope with ten cents.

Dani was speechless holding the bean buns and red envelopes. When Dabao just went home, she saw it clearly. Her own mother wanted to send people away with a handful of melon seeds, but Second Aunt never treated them harshly because of the conflict with her mother. She was old enough to know right from wrong and had self-esteem. Her mother's behavior made her feel ashamed to see Second Aunt.

Erni is different. She is younger and more unstable. Recently, she has been more and more influenced by her mother. She has been taught a little astray by Yan Shufen and always tries to be the best in everything.

In the past, when Dabao was not doing well, she felt sorry for him. Now Yan Shufen always talks about how well Dabao and Erbao are doing and how well they eat, but she refuses to share anything with them. Now the family is struggling to make ends meet, and Gu's father and mother are patriarchal and don't like them either. They only like Dabao and Erbao.

Therefore, the little girl hated them a little in her heart and felt that her current unhappy life was all their fault.

So she felt that she deserved the red envelope from her second aunt.

As soon as he got it, he opened it and saw that it was a dime. He smiled with satisfaction and tugged at his sister's sleeve, signaling her to leave quickly.

Li Qingyun could see that Dani had something on her mind. This girl was very thoughtful.

"It's okay, don't think too much, everything will be fine." Li Qingyun said and patted Dani's shoulder.

This gentle comfort was still engraved in Dani's heart many years later. Whenever she encountered difficulties, she would think of her second aunt's warm words and feel that all difficulties were just that easy.

When they got home, they gave the money to their mother. Yan Shufang took the two cents proudly and was very happy. She had made a net profit of 15 cents.

As soon as the two young ladies left, Maotou and Erniu came to wish them a happy new year.

As usual, Li Qingyun gave snacks and red envelopes, 20 cents to Maotou and 10 cents to Erniu, but Erniu refused to accept them, saying that he was already an adult and didn't need New Year's money. Li Qingyun didn't insist anymore.

Li Qingyun asked them to sit for a while. Not long after, Dabao came back and took out a bunch of snacks from his clothes and trouser pockets, put them on the table, and asked the two to help themselves to them.

The three of them ate snacks together, and picked up some small firecrackers that had not been lit in the yard from yesterday's firecracker show. They lit them and played with them. There were crackling sounds in the yard. Li Qingyun didn't allow the two little ones to touch them, so Erniu took them to play with them.

After playing for a while, they felt bored and decided to go and pay New Year's greetings to other families in the village. Although there would be no red envelopes, it would be fun. Some people would give snacks or something.

Since Erniu was following them, Li Qingyun felt relieved and let them go after giving them a few instructions.

Several groups of children from the village came to Li Qingyun's house to pay New Year's greetings. Since it was a rare New Year's celebration, she was generous and packed snacks for everyone, including a handful of roasted nuts and two fruit candies.

The little grandsons of Aunt Jiang and Aunt Li also came, as well as several little grandsons of the team leader's family. Li Qingyun gave them each a red envelope with a few cents in it, not much, just as a token of appreciation.

The two children of Widow Wang also came and brought some dried sweet potatoes they made themselves. Not to mention, Li Qingyun loved eating this kind of dried sweet potatoes the most in her previous life. This year, time was tight, so her family didn't make any.

Li Qingyun invited them in to sit down and asked them how they were doing and whether there was enough food at home.

Nizi was quite talkative and told her everything about the family.

This year, there was enough food per person and plenty of fine grains. They exchanged all the fine grains for coarse grains, and if they saved a little, it would be enough for a family of three to eat for a year.

Last year, the work points my family earned me were exchanged for some money, which is enough to buy daily necessities for next year and to prepare for the Chinese New Year this year.

Seeing that the two half-grown children were supporting the family and that they could make ends meet, and that they looked much more energetic than before, Li Qingyun felt less guilty towards Widow Wang.

She told her two children to be careful and to keep an eye on the money and food at home.

There are thieves in some villages. They are lazy people in the village who steal everywhere when they are hungry. Their family only has two half-grown children and an elderly person, so they are undoubtedly the targets of such people.

Nizi took note of it carefully.

Li Qingyun gave them some roasted pine nuts as a return gift. They were still young and certainly couldn't get any pine nuts, and they were reluctant to buy them. In the end, she also gave them a few bean buns.

By noon, there were no more children coming to visit for the New Year, and each household was preparing to cook and eat, and everyone was eating at home today.

Li Qingyun thought that she hadn't eaten pickled fish for a long time, so she steamed a pot of rice, took out the frozen fish to thaw, and took out a pickled cabbage she had pickled herself, preparing to make a pot of pickled fish.

Only half of the fish was cooked, and the other half was left for next time. The two of them could not finish the whole fish.

Li Qingyun's fish was not out of the pot yet when Dabao came back happily. He had a really good harvest today, earning nearly 80 cents worth of red envelopes, which made him very happy.

Until he saw his mother's thoughtful look, he quickly covered his purse.

"Mom, I haven't warmed up yet!"