When Leng Yue and Leng Xiaoyu returned, they were warmly welcomed by Li Xiaoling and others.

Li Xiaoling, in particular, poured out her heart to Leng Yue, expressing her deep longing for her. Meanwhile, Leng Xiaoyu was held in Xie Juruo's arms, who kept calling him "my dear" like a mother and child reunited after a long separation.

Of course, the gifts Leng Yue brought them were also highly praised. After all, they came from the capital city, thousands of miles away—a place many people never get to visit in their lifetime. Receiving local specialties from there was truly a great honor!

Leng Yue also visited Qianchen Pavilion and found that although business wasn't as booming as before, it was still decent. After all, the quality was good and the prices were low, which was Qianchen Pavilion's advantage. Leng Yue stayed at Qianchen Pavilion for two days, gave several employees bonuses, and also gave each of them an extra red envelope so they could buy themselves some new clothes.

After dealing with all that, Leng Yue took Leng Xiaoyu home. During the Spring Festival, Li Guilan invited Leng Yue and her brother over, and they spent the holiday together. Afterwards, Leng Yue took Leng Xiaoyu to visit their parents' graves, sweep the tombs, and then quickly returned to the county town.

It wasn't that Leng Yue didn't want to stay in the village any longer; it was just that these people came to her house every day trying to arrange marriages for her, which annoyed her to no end. But she couldn't reason with them, so she could only flee in panic.

At this time, there were no customers in the shop, so Leng Yue and Leng Xiaoyu each had a small stool and sat outside basking in the sun, cracking sunflower seeds.

"Sister, why are we leaving? I still want to play with Dazhuang and the others!" Leng Xiaoyu said with a face full of regret.

Leng Yue reached out and tapped Leng Xiaoyu's forehead. "You're having a good time, no one bothers you, but your sister is suffering!"

"Sister, are you unhappy that the aunties and grandmas are arranging marriages for you?" Leng Xiaoyu asked knowingly.

"I think you're getting worse and worse. Be careful, or I'll tell your brother-in-law!" Leng Yue threatened.

Leng Xiaoyu was about to explain when she looked up and saw Ye Qian. She exclaimed, "Sis, look, brother-in-law is here!"

"Are you stupid? Your brother-in-law doesn't even know where this place is!" Leng Yue said, cracking sunflower seeds without looking up.

"Really? Little Fish, do you think your brother-in-law won't be able to find you?" Ye Qian was tall and had long legs, and he reached Leng Yue in just a few steps.

Leng Xiaoyu yelled and pounced on him, "Brother-in-law is the best! Brother-in-law, I missed you so much!"

Ye Qian laughed and lifted Leng Xiaoyu up, "Little Fish, you've gotten heavier these past few days!"

Leng Yue, still holding the sunflower seeds blankly, asked, "Why are you here?"

"What, you don't want me to come!" Ye Qian raised an eyebrow, already used to Leng Yue's silly look.

"Brother-in-law, thank goodness you came. So many people in the family want to arrange marriages for my sister!" Before Ye Qian could ask, Leng Xiaoyu spilled all the secrets of Leng Yue's life in the village.

"Leng Xiaoyu! You...you're such a two-faced person!" Leng Yue said, pretending to hit Leng Xiaoyu, who screamed and clung to Ye Qian's neck, trying to jump up. With Ye Qian intentionally protecting her, Leng Yue could only hit Leng Xiaoyu's feet.

"Alright, is this something to get angry about? Why are you acting like a child?" Ye Qian said, putting Leng Xiaoyu down. "Go, go play over there for a while. I'm going to talk to your sister."

Leng Xiaoyu glanced at Leng Yue, who gave a soft snort. Although she didn't attack again, she didn't seem to feel any satisfaction. Leng Xiaoyu grinned, made a face at her, and ran away.

"You brat, you're asking for it!" Leng Yue was furious and turned to Ye Qian to vent her anger. "Hmph, none of you men are any good!"

Ye Qian chuckled to himself. Was this situation getting more and more serious?

"What are you laughing at? What's so funny!" Leng Yue couldn't hear Ye Qian speak for a while, and when she looked up, she saw that he was just looking at her and laughing.

"You're so cute, even when you're angry you're still so beautiful." Ye Qian never hesitated to praise Leng Yue.

"Hmph! You're just saying nice things. I'm still angry!" Leng Yue remained arrogant, but a smile played on her lips as she turned away.

Ye Qian pulled Leng Yue into his arms. Leng Yue was startled by the sudden action and cried out, "What are you doing? You scared me to death!" She even hit Ye Qian while saying this.

Ye Qian sighed softly, "I'm exhausted, let me hug you."

Sure enough, Leng Yue became obedient. "How did you get here? Did you take the train?"

"We drove here, thankfully it didn't snow." Ye Qian held Leng Yue and sat there peacefully.

"Driving? All by yourself?" Leng Yue's eyes widened. "How could you do something so reckless!"

In this era, firstly, the roads aren't very good; otherwise, why would there be the slogan, "To get rich, build roads first"? So driving takes a long time and is very tiring. Secondly, it's unsafe. There are no surveillance cameras, and roadside robberies happen frequently, especially in remote areas! Therefore, if you're driving, you must have someone with you. Otherwise, you never know what might happen!

"You're not allowed to drive alone anymore, especially at night. It's so unsafe!" Leng Yue was very angry, extremely angry. This was too reckless.

Ye Qian grinned foolishly, "It's real! That's wonderful! Yueyue, I've missed you so much these past few days. The ancients said that a day apart feels like three autumns, but I feel like a century has passed. It's been so hard! Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

Seeing Ye Qian like this, Leng Yue felt both heartache and pain. How could she have had an easy time apart from Ye Qian?

Leng Yue touched Ye Qian's face with both hands. His mouth was covered with stubble, and he looked much more weathered.

"Go to sleep and get some rest. I'll cook for you." Leng Yue stood up and reached out to help Ye Qian up.

Ye Qian was incredibly obedient at this moment, getting up when told to get up and lying down in bed when told to lie down. Leng Yue took off his shoes and covered him with the blanket; Ye Qian was already snoring. He was clearly exhausted!

Leng Yue sat by the bed and watched Ye Qian for a while, then sighed softly and went to cook for him.

As a result, Leng Xiaoyu squeezed in, complaining that she was hungry. Leng Yue checked the time and saw that it was almost eleven o'clock, so she decided to start making lunch.

When she returned, Li Guilan brought Leng Yue some dried vegetables, cured meat, sausages, radishes, and cabbage. Leng Yue, of course, didn't want them. She could buy them with money; why bring these things?

Finally, Li Guilan said that the streets were closed right after the New Year, so it was better to bring some things in case we didn't have enough vegetables. And so, Leng Yue went back with large and small bags, and came back with several more large bags. Same packages, different contents, but all equally heavy!

Fortunately, Leng Yue brought it, because there really weren't any shops open in the county town.

With only these ingredients, Leng Yue could only do her best. She planned to steam cured pork on top of the rice, stir-fry some vegetables and sausage, and make a soup.

Because it was a coal stove, cooking was quite slow. It took Leng Yue over an hour to finish preparing the meal. Leng Xiaoyu stood to the side, drooling, constantly asking, "Sister, can we eat now?"

Leng Yue looked at him with amusement, "Look at you, how can you get so hungry even though you keep snacking? Go wake your brother-in-law up, then we can eat."

Upon hearing this, Leng Xiaoyu quickly ran to wake Ye Qian, "Brother-in-law, time to eat! Get up!"

Ye Qian was still yawning when Leng Xiaoyu pulled him up, but his stomach started growling when he smelled the aroma of food.

Leng Xiaoyu laughed from the side, but became even more attentive, "Brother-in-law, please sit down and eat!" As she spoke, she brought Ye Qian a bowl and chopsticks.

"Little Fish, your brother-in-law has done his best to spoil you!" Ye Qian said, but he still waited until Leng Yue sat down before they started eating together.

……………………………………………………

Ye Qian: It feels so good to hold my wife!