Shen Fuyu and Yang Maolin eventually reconciled. Yang Maolin handed over all control of the household finances. Shen Fuyu believed that men turned bad because they had money, so she firmly controlled the family finances. Every expense had to pass through her hands. Yang Maolin's allowance never exceeded one hundred yuan, and he had to report the amount and where it was spent to Shen Fuyu.

To manage the car dealership's accounts, Shen Fuyu even took a leave of absence without pay, focusing entirely on being the dealership's accountant and cashier. Zhao Mingyue felt it was a bit of a pity; the couple originally had their own careers and personal lives, which was perfectly fine. Now, being together day and night—was this what Yang Maolin wanted? But Shen Fuyu had her own plans. To excel as an accountant, she even took an accounting certification exam, deciding to switch careers to accounting. After all, she used to teach math, so she would still be dealing with numbers.

Seeing that Shen Fuyu had learned her lesson and wasn't putting all her eggs in one basket, Zhao Mingyue felt relieved. Besides work, Shen Fuyu also started paying attention to her appearance, asking friends to bring back skincare products from abroad and exercising to lose weight at Zhao Mingyue's suggestion. Zhao Mingyue admired Shen Fuyu's ability to recover and bounce back from a marital crisis in middle age. Now, it's probably Yang Maolin who's feeling the crisis. Why do men have to be so foolish? They're given trust and freedom, and you squander it, ending up with nothing, even your dignity.

In the latter half of 1988, Zhao Mingyue bought a loss-making electric fan factory, marking her first step in expanding her business. She spent a lot of money hiring many professional technicians to develop air conditioners and air coolers, deciding to start from the basics and gradually transition to other home appliance products.

At the end of 1989, Shen Xuyue was transferred to the position of Deputy Secretary of the Jizhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. Zhao Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief; her family and friends had all safely passed through this crucial year. She had indeed been on tenterhooks that year. Shen Xuyue worked in a government department, her friends were all teaching in schools, and Jingjing was in high school—all very sensitive positions and ages; one wrong move and something could have gone wrong. Fortunately, everything was alright.

That year, Zhao Mingyue's company's profits doubled, and business was booming. At the end of the year, Zhao Mingyue gave all employees a large red envelope so that everyone could go home and have a lively Spring Festival. On New Year's Eve, Zhao Mingyue also gathered all the employees on duty and those who hadn't gone home for a meal together, going to Quanjude to eat Peking duck and having an early New Year's Eve dinner.

Yu Youfen didn't go home this year; instead, she took her two daughters to a restaurant. The two little girls now speak fluent Beijing dialect and are dressed very nicely, looking just like true city folks. Liangliang went to the restaurant with his mother; he was quite familiar with the two girls and they had a lot of fun playing together.

There were about thirty employees at the dinner, plus their families, making a total of five tables. Many of them brought their children, so Zhao Mingyue had the children sit at a separate table and let them play by themselves.

Liangliang showed a strong sense of ownership. Although he was the youngest at the table (the younger ones didn't want to sit with them and went with their parents), he held up his hands, rolled up the duck meat in lotus leaf pancakes, and placed them on a plate, filling the plate to the brim: "Sisters, I rolled up some roast duck for you, please eat."

Nannan and Yanyan happily accepted it, saying, "Thank you, Liangliang."

Next to Yan Yan was a boy of about seven or eight years old, staring at them with bright, dark eyes. He wasn't eating or making a sound. Liang Liang said, "Big brother, do you want me to roll it for you too?"

The little boy nodded shyly, "Okay."

Liangliang rolled up a lotus leaf pancake and handed it to him. The little boy stretched out his hand, which was covered in chilblains with cracks. It looked scary, and the two little girls next to him were startled.

Liangliang looked at his hand: "Big brother, what happened to your hand?"

The little boy stuffed the lotus leaf pancake into his mouth before saying, "It's frozen."

Nannan said, "I know, it's frostbite, it's too cold. Don't you have heating at home?"

The little boy shook his head: "My family only has a kang (heated brick bed). The school has heating."

"Where do you live?" Liangliang asked.

The little boy said, "Tongzhou."

The children didn't know where Tongzhou was.

"Does it hurt?" Liangliang asked with concern.

The little boy said, "It doesn't hurt, but it's very itchy after I go to sleep at night."

The little girl asked, "What's your name? Who are your mom and dad?"

The little boy lowered his eyes: "My name is Gao Jianjun. My father is Master Gao, and my mother is dead."

As soon as he spoke, the children who were happily eating at the table fell silent. In their little minds, death was a terrifying thing. They even became somewhat afraid of Gao Jianjun, their eyes darting away from him. Gao Jianjun lowered his head and curled up into a ball.

Yan Yan sat next to him and suddenly leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Actually, my father is dead too."

Gao Jianjun looked up and turned to look at Yan Yan. Yan Yan smiled at him and then picked up a lotus leaf pancake that Liangliang had rolled in her bowl and gave it to him: "Here, have this."

Liangliang is a very kind child. Knowing that the older boy was sad, he quickly said, "Big brother, you can have my chicken leg. I've never had one before."

Gao Jianjun nodded: "Thank you." The little boy wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Before they had even finished eating, the children had already formed a deep friendship.

After dinner, Zhao Mingyue saw off her colleagues and then drove Yu Youfen and her daughter to Yu Youqing's place. Yu Youqing hadn't gone home for the Spring Festival this year either, so the siblings' families could spend it together. The three children chatted excitedly in the back seat, talking about Gao Jianjun.

Zhao Mingyue asked, "Who are you talking about?"

Liangliang answered first: "A little boy, his hands were covered in chilblains, they were rotting, it was so scary."

Yan Yan said, "His mother died, and there are only him and his father at home. He usually lives with his grandparents and only comes over during holidays."

Zhao Mingyue frowned: "What's your name?"

“His name is Gao Jianjun.” The little girl was a bit older, but she still grasped the key point. “His father’s name is Master Gao.”

Zhao Mingyue thought for a moment and concluded that it must be a former employee of the electronics factory.

Yu Youfen asked, "Is it Lao Gao, who's sitting at the same table with me today?"

"Why did he sit at your table?" Zhao Mingyue asked in surprise. Although both factories had their own employees, they didn't usually interact much, and they would automatically sit at separate tables when eating.

“They must have run out of room on their side, so the person who came to our table is a very honest and simple person,” Yu Youfen said.

Zhao Mingyue thought to herself that she would find out more about the situation after the new year. Employees with financial difficulties at home should be given more care. A good company should make every employee feel a sense of belonging, so that they will have more love and loyalty to the company.

While they were eating at the restaurant, Shen Xuyue had just returned home. He had driven himself back; his current workplace is more than an hour's drive closer than his old one, so it only takes him a little over three hours to get home. This will make it much more convenient for him to go home or visit relatives in the future. It would be even better if the highway were built.

After seeing Yu Youfen and her daughter off, Zhao Mingyue looked at her husband, who had just arrived home, and said, "I'm so glad you made it back. I hope you can be transferred back to Beijing sometime soon."

Shen Xuyue resignedly said, "It's good enough that I wasn't transferred to the south or the northwest. I don't dare to hope to go back to Beijing."

Zhao Mingyue sighed softly: "What if you're transferred to another province when your term ends?"

Shen Xuyue held his wife's hand: "It's the New Year, don't sigh. Going to another province is fine, now that civil aviation has been opened, we can just take a plane back."

Zhao Mingyue laughed and said, "I'd rather earn money to buy a private jet."

"Nonsense, there are no private planes in our country." Shen Xuyue looked at his wife's wild imagination with amusement.

Zhao Mingyue said, "Just because it's not happening now doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. Anyway, I just need to make money."

"Don't get too greedy for money." Shen Xuyue truly admired his wife's ability to make money.

Zhao Mingyue said, "I'm not obsessed with money. If you're enslaved by money, you'll naturally be controlled by it. But if you enslave it, you'll discover how to use it to do many good things. While I'm making money, aren't I also supporting more people? Money is a double-edged sword. If used well, it can be used to do many good things."

Shen Xuyue gave a thumbs-up approvingly: "Brilliant! By the way, our city is holding an investment promotion conference, do you have any suggestions?"

Zhao Mingyue thought for a moment and said, "My suggestion is not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, or be unable to resist the lure of profit. We need to consider whether the money can be made. If it's about making money at the expense of future generations, then it's money that will lead to the extinction of our lineage. We can't do that." What she said was true. In the early days of China's reform and opening up in the 1980s and 90s, China became the world's factory. Many heavily polluting factories from Europe and America moved to China. Some leading cadres, in pursuit of GDP and political achievements, completely disregarded sustainable development and brought in heavily polluting and destructive factories, which ended up becoming a major cancer affecting the lives of local residents.

Shen Xuyue laughed and said, "That's a must. Have you forgotten what I studied?"

Zhao Mingyue nodded: "Yes, you are an expert in this field."

“Sigh, I can’t call myself an expert anymore. If I had continued to do academic research, I might have really become an expert. Now that I’m in this field, I can only be considered an insider,” Shen Xuyue said.

Fang Zhen came in from outside, looked at the young couple talking inside, and said with a smile, "It's the New Year, and you're still worrying about the country and its people. Hurry up and help put up the Spring Festival couplets, and then we'll get ready to eat."

Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "You're here."

Shen Xuyue put on his coat and went out to put up Spring Festival couplets.

Jingjing was setting off firecrackers in the yard with her two younger brothers. Liangliang and Zhuangzhuang weren't afraid of the cold; the boys were bundled up in thick clothes, each holding an incense stick, and shakily tried to light the fuses of the firecrackers. It was too cold, and the incense sticks went out in no time. Jingjing then sent the two boys back to the kitchen to light them again so they could continue.

Zhao Mingyue said, "Jingjing, tell your younger brothers to stay away from the firecrackers. Don't get too close, or they might hurt their eyes."

Jingjing said, "I know."

"Mom, I was very careful," Liangliang said crisply, sniffling.

"Yes, we need to be careful."

Shen Qixue stood on a stool, brushed paste onto the door lintel, and then said to the people below, "Okay, bring the Spring Festival couplets."

Shen Xuyue then picked out the Spring Festival couplets and handed them over: "A little to the left, yes, that's the spot."

Seeing that she couldn't help, Zhao Mingyue went to the kitchen. The kitchen was filled with steam and the rich aroma of various foods wafted through the air. It was the most crowded area; Chen's mother was chopping meat and making dumpling filling, Yang Maolin was cooking, and Chen Fuyu was kneading dough. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Mother Shen said, "Please help me pick and wash all the scallions, and wash the cabbage too."

Zhao Mingyue rolled up her sleeves: "Okay."

Fang Zhen was busy tidying up the table, setting out the bowls and chopsticks. Only Shen's father, like an old leader, stood with his hands behind his back, looking around as if he were inspecting the place, with a faint smile on his lips.

As dusk settled, the sound of firecrackers outside grew louder, crackling and popping incessantly. The New Year celebrations were gradually building. Just then, the neighbor's firecrackers also went off, sending plumes of blue smoke rising into the air. Liangliang and Zhuangzhuang grew impatient. Liangliang turned to them and said, "Mom, the neighbors are setting off firecrackers, when are we going to set them off?"

Shen Xuyue laughed and said, "Come and get the firecrackers, let Jingjing set them off. You all come in, wash your hands and get ready to eat."

Zhao Mingyue came out of the kitchen and took her son and Zhuangzhuang to wash their hands.

Jingjing took out firecrackers, hung them on a bamboo pole, and said, "Firecrackers are going off! Come inside quickly!" Then she lit the fuses, handed the bamboo pole over, and the firecrackers crackled and popped.

Liangliang and Zhuangzhuang clapped their hands inside the curtain: "Oh, oh, it's New Year's!"

Looking at her overjoyed son, Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "Yes, it's Chinese New Year."

Liangliang lifted the curtain: "Mom, it's snowing."

"It's true."

The two children clapped their hands: "It's snowing! It's New Year's! This is so much fun!"

Shen Xuyue stood at the door and shouted loudly, "Come in, everyone, it's time for New Year's Eve dinner!"

The children ran excitedly into the house: "Oh, oh, we're reunited! We're getting red envelopes!"

The table was laden with a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner. The elders were already seated at the table. Shen Xuyue poured wine for the adults, while Zhao Mingyue poured drinks for the elderly and children.

Everyone raised their glasses, and Mr. Shen took the lead in standing up: "Come on, let's celebrate our whole family smoothly entering the 1990s! Living conditions have improved, but we must also know how to cherish them, so that we can have such a harmonious and beautiful day."

Shen Qixue said, "Dad is right, cheers! Happy New Year everyone! May your lives get better and better every day."

Everyone raised their glasses in a toast.

Zhao Mingyue glanced at her husband, then at her serious-looking son, and then at her smiling family members. She smiled too. This was the life she had always pursued, each day more beautiful than the last.

Author's Note: The main story ends here. Thank you all for your support and encouragement along the way. *bows* I may write some side stories, so please continue to follow for updates if you're interested.