Song Darong said, "The child's name is Zhou Zan. His father died in a mission a few days ago. His mother took him to the army base, but she fell ill as soon as she arrived. In addition, she was too sad and eventually died as well, leaving this poor child behind."

Fang Jie felt a pang of heartache upon hearing this.

“How could this happen? That child is so pitiful. Does he have any relatives? If not, he can stay here and I will take care of him. It's the same whether I raise three or four.”

Fang Jie couldn't stand hearing such things. How pitiful and suffering children who have lost their parents must be.

Song Darong knew Fang Jie was kind-hearted. "Wife, I'm so lucky to have married you. But the child's grandparents are still here in the capital. They heard their son and daughter-in-law had passed away and they've fallen ill from grief. They're both in the hospital. I was worried that if we sent Zhou Zan back, there would be no one to take care of him. He's such a young child, and if he sees his grandparents sick, he'll be heartbroken. So I called and asked the two elders for their opinion, and they agreed to leave Zhou Zan here for the time being until they feel better before sending him back."

Fang Jie nodded. "Honey, you're so thoughtful. Okay, let Zhou Zan stay here for now."

In the courtyard, Song Fanxing pulled Zhou Zan and her two older brothers to have a snowball fight.

Song Yaohui was the eldest, and he assigned his younger sister to his own group, while Song Yaohua and Zhou Zan were in the same group.

But Zhou Zan refused and followed Song Fanxing around.

"I want to be in her group."

Song Yaohui: "No way, if you two younger ones are paired up, wouldn't that be us bullying the younger ones? No way!"

Song Fanxing pulled Zhou Zan closer to her and said, "That's it, little Zan and I will be in one group, and the eldest and second eldest brothers will be in another."

Song Yaohua: "Little sister..."

"Big brother, second brother, stop arguing. You might not be able to beat us."

At first, Song Yaohui and Song Yaohua let Song Fanxing and Zhou Zan have their way, but later they discovered that the two little ones were quite formidable, and each snowball they threw at them hurt quite a bit.

They had to hide and dodge, and dared not fight back seriously, for fear of hurting their dear sister; even a single blow would break their hearts.

Seeing Song Yaohui and Song Yaohua's disheveled appearance, Zhou Zan chuckled.

Song Darong and Fang Jie peeked out when they heard the noise.

Song Darong: "This kid finally smiled. No matter how I tried to make him laugh these past few days, he wouldn't. It's the three of them who have a way with him."

Fang Jie smiled and went back to continue cooking.

The New Year's Eve dinner was very lavish, with braised pork, stewed rooster with mushrooms, steamed eggs with scallions, stewed cabbage and tofu, and cold cucumber and peanut salad—a whole table full of food.

Song Darong was surprised that his family still had fresh cucumbers to eat in the dead of winter.

Fang Jie gave a vague answer.

Song Darong didn't pry into these matters; as long as it tasted good, that was enough.

His wife's cooking is still the best; her culinary skills have improved a lot. After eating home-cooked meals for a while, he couldn't eat the army food when he returned to the military base.

Fang Jie picked up a chicken leg and gave it to Song Fanxing, and gave the other chicken leg to Zhou Zan.

Zhou Zan silently placed the chicken leg into Song Fanxing's bowl.

Song Fanxing thought this little crybaby was quite sensible; in just a short while, she knew to side with her.

Song Darong and his wife, along with Song Yaohui and his brother, were very satisfied with Zhou Zan's performance.

Song Fanxing is the family's treasure, and everyone dotes on her. Now, Zhou Zan has joined the family as well.

However, Song Fanxing still put the chicken leg back into Zhou Zan's bowl.

"Little Zan Zan, one chicken leg is enough for me."

Zhou Zan wanted to return the chicken leg.

Song Fanxing held him down, "Listen to me, eat what I tell you to eat!"

Xiao Zhou couldn't keep up with the praise, so he quietly ate his chicken leg.

Uncle Song's rooster was delicious; he'd never had such a good chicken leg before. The other dishes were also delicious; Auntie's cooking was excellent.

Zhou Zan ate with relish, holding his bowl. Perhaps he had used up a lot of energy playing in the snowball fight, or perhaps he hadn't been eating properly lately, or perhaps the food was especially delicious today. He ate with great satisfaction, gnawing on a pile of chicken bones, eating a few pieces of braised pork, some vegetables, and then a large bowl of white rice.

Although the food was tempting, he maintained good table manners, eating slowly and deliberately, which was a pleasure to watch.

Fang Jie exclaimed, "This child must have excellent family upbringing."

After a delicious New Year's Eve dinner, Song Darong took his four children to set off firecrackers in the yard.

Song Fanxing felt a warm glow in her heart as she watched the sparks fly from the firecrackers.

This is her first New Year here, with her parents, two older brothers, and Xiao Zhouzan by her side.

Her life was complete.

I hope she will have family with her every New Year from now on.

Song Fanxing clasped her hands together and silently made a wish in her heart.

The laughter and joy temporarily made Zhou Zan forget the grief of losing his parents.

Although his uncles kept it from him, he knew that his parents had gone to a very far place and would never come back...

While things were bustling around here, Old Lady Song and Song Dalong's family were in a terrible predicament.

During the Lunar New Year, each person had a bowl of thin corn porridge in front of them.

Song Haitao slammed his bowl on the table. "I don't want this! I want something delicious! I want meat!"

Li Zhen scolded, "What time is it? Are you dreaming? You're lucky to have this to eat. In a few days, you might not even have this to eat. We've spoiled you. You can't handle any hardship."

Old Mrs. Song couldn't eat either, and pushed the bowl away.

"What right do you have to lecture Haitao? He's starving now because you two are so lazy. If you were more diligent and went to work, would we be going hungry? It's all your fault!"

"Mom, I'm disciplining Haitao, why are you meddling?"

"If you're not doing a good job of educating people, then I have to tell you what to do!"

"I gave birth to this son, and I can raise him however I want. It's none of your business!"

Grandma Song slammed her hand on the table. "Who says it's none of my business? I'm Haitao's grandmother, and I'll do whatever I want!"

Li Zhen had been feeling quite frustrated lately. She had been hoping that her mother-in-law could get some money back from her brother-in-law, but she hadn't seen a single penny.

She had been putting up with her mother-in-law for a long time and had a lot of pent-up anger with nowhere to vent it.

He grabbed Song Haitao and forced him to kneel on the ground.

"You little brat, you've gone too far! If I don't teach you a lesson, you won't know who your real mother is!"

He grabbed a broom and smacked Song Haitao on the back a few times.

They beat Song Haitao until he cried loudly.

"Mom, I won't do it again, please don't hit me..."

When Old Lady Song saw this, she realized that Li Zhen was indirectly insulting her and slapping her in the face.

She leaped up from the stool, rushed over, grabbed Li Zhen's hair, and, being strong, knocked Li Zhen to the ground, then began slapping her face repeatedly.

"You bitch! You can't even keep quiet during the New Year, you're cursing me, aren't you? You're insulting me indirectly, aren't you? I'll beat you to death! I'm not dead yet, you think you can ride on my head? No way! As long as I have a breath left, you'd better be servile in front of me. If you dare to be arrogant, I'll kill you!"