The entire school's faculty and students participated in the autumn harvest, or more precisely, in the rush to buy autumn vegetables. Now, each unit is showing off its skills, preparing to take the initiative.

The school held a mobilization meeting, explaining the dire situation, and began working day and night in the fields. Soon, the school cafeteria began to pile up walls of cabbage, bringing back Zhou Jiao's homesickness for Northeast China.

She didn't know whether Zhang's mother had started pickling sauerkraut, poking the chimney, or making preparations for winter.

The autumn harvest in Northeast China, the Daqing Mountains at the end of October, familiar scenes and objects often appear in her dreams, evoking her deep longing for her hometown.

Zhou Jiao had received many letters since she started school, but Zhang's father and mother were the only ones who would often ask Zhang Laoer to wait for a moment, saying things like, "We're doing fine, or you better be careful out there."

How could they reassure the couple, compressing their deep family affection into just a few simple sentences? Zhou Jiao was especially alarmed by the fact that many of her rural classmates had begun sending food and coupons home.

Zhou Jiao leaned back in her chair, staring at the letter on the desk. How could she convince her in-laws to come over? She didn't know what was happening to her kind and sensible parents at home.

"Jiaojiao, elder sister wrote us a letter." Zhang Guoqing came in, happily holding up a stack of letters.

Zhou Jiao's eyes lit up when she heard this. She finally got a reply from Zhang Meili.

Last month, she had suggested that Zhang Guoqing write to her elder sister-in-law, asking her to help persuade her. After such a long wait, there was finally news.

Zhang Guoqing closed the door, put away the remaining letters, opened Zhang Meili's letter, and poured out a whole thick stack of letter paper from it. You could still vaguely see the densely packed small handwriting.

Zhou Jiao couldn't help laughing when she saw this—her frugal nature hadn't really changed. She guessed her sister-in-law must have felt bad about the postage and asked everyone to put it together.

"Oh, my eldest brother, second brother and second sister, they're all wiped out. Look, there's also Xizi's letter."

Zhou Jiao couldn't wait to say, "Let's read the letter from my elder sister first."

The couple stood together head to head and finally finished watching it, then smiled bitterly at each other.

Zhang Chunming's ghostwritten letter, filled with three pages of inquiries from Zhang's parents asking if they had enough to eat at school and if they wanted to send rations. They insisted they had enough to eat and drink at home and wanted to stay in Beijing for the winter, never mentioning coming to Beijing.

This time, the couple coincidentally read Xizi's letter first.

Compared to adults, children are much more honest. The letter paper looked like it was torn from a homework book, and the handwriting was probably scribbled out.

Xizi first wrote that he missed his family, then recounted the events of Zhangjia Village, and finally reassured them. He now lived alone with Zhang's father and mother. If his grandparents were hungry, he would ask Zhao Dashan to send a telegram to the capital.

Zhang Guoqing savored the words carefully, and after a moment, he finally smiled with relief. The child had really grown up and knew what he wanted to hear most.

Zhangjia Village has a highly respected old captain, a blessing for the villagers. They've had a bumper cabbage harvest, and now they've got rice bran, radish berries, and cabbage lumps, which will keep them going until at least the beginning of next spring.

That’s good, that’s good…

The ancestors of the Zhang family should thank the old captain for saving their descendants.

Zhang Guoqing took a deep breath. He hoped that the escape route he had prepared for the villagers would not need to be used. That would truly be a great occasion for everyone to celebrate.

"We'll go home during the winter break! We'll come back after the Little New Year."

Zhang Guoqing smiled and nodded. He couldn't care less about others, but he couldn't let go of his Zhangjia Village family. He should go back and see them. And his parents, what to do next? He still needed to carefully plan.

After reading the letters from his two brothers and sisters, Zhang Guoqing curled his lips and smiled coldly. Fortunately, he didn't leave any food in the village. He actually found his village courtyard!

Zhang Laoer was right, there were so many rats behind the scenes! Zhang Guoqing really didn't believe these bastards would dare to come to his small courtyard in the county town. The document clearly stated that they were investigating the countryside. If they dared to come to his home in the county town, he would chop off their claws.

"Put all these letters away and don't leave them outside."

Zhou Jiao nodded, leaned over to his ear, and asked worriedly, "Will the food in the temple be discovered? When spring comes next year, someone might go up the mountain looking for food."

Zhang Guoqing picked her up and whispered, "Most people wouldn't dare go up there. Who else has the strength of your husband to move that huge rock?"

Zhou Jiao covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, blinked her eyes, and pointed at herself.

"Don't worry, even if we are discovered, we will only lose some rice bran and corn. That is, now. Who would want to eat this thing that is stuck in the neck normally?"

Zhou Jiao smiled. Just because they looked down on her didn't mean she wasn't worth anything. She had just arrived at the Zhang family, and they were still eating cornmeal steamed bread.

"Okay, let's stick to the original plan. Hopefully, they can get through this. We'll talk about it later when they write to us asking for help. We'll just forget about it."

Zhou Jiao nodded. According to the original plan, if the village really couldn't hold on, they would have to put on a show. I hope they can still hold on, so that the couple won't have to worry.

After discussing it, the couple decided to send some food coupons back home. Otherwise, Zhang's father and mother would still be worried and afraid to eat the food they had. Furthermore, if they didn't send anything back home, rumors would probably spread quickly.

There were 52 students in the class. Not only were the rural students already tightening their belts, but even the city students were saving their food coupons to send back home. Fortunately, people like Yi Jiefang held the line; otherwise, the couple would have been stabbed to death by everyone's eyes.

The couple hurriedly read the other letters and began to sit down and reply one by one.

Zhou Jiao carefully read the letter from her godmother Huang Huimin. She didn't believe her godmother's claims of a good life. Given her godmother's personality, if she were doing well, she would have sent her a lot of packages.

However, she had just sent some things during the holidays and had no plans to send more this time. Giving too much would only make the flaw bigger. Compared to ordinary people, it was impossible for the Zhao family to really starve.

It was almost dinner time, so Zhang Guoqing put down his pen, took his two lunch boxes, and went to the cafeteria. He had long since discarded the two enamel bowls the school had originally distributed.

When Zhou Jiao returned, she took it and opened it. Sure enough, the red sorghum rice was covered in cabbage. With the cabbage wall, she'd been eating cabbage every meal for the past few days. But seeing everyone else was so happy, she couldn't get the cabbage soup in the iron bucket if she was late. She had no choice but to take it back to the dorm to eat later.

Living on campus was inconvenient. If it weren't for the evening education classes and meetings, Zhou Jiao would have definitely rushed home long ago. She was always nervous about sneaking food to fill her stomach—she was afraid of smelling even a piece of meat, let alone any other fragrant food.

I heard that there was a building in front. A female classmate brought back a small piece of pork head from home on Monday, and as a result, all the students in the building could smell the fragrance.

Zhou Jiao had privately discussed the authenticity of this request with Zhang Guoqing. However, judging by the roast duck Wan Dayong brought back, it was indeed fragrant and savory. It was very authentic!

For the past two days, a notice has been posted in the cafeteria prohibiting the stealing of cabbage. Zhou Jiao was stunned at first, but then she thought about it and felt relieved. Cabbage is still tastier than wild vegetables.

Life is full of surprises. At this time last year, everyone was full of food, but are you still thinking about it today?