After listening to her son's words, Chen Hong left most of the things in the storage room. She then sorted out the items to be given to everyone, filling each family's bag with a large bag.

Each household received a box of Daoxiangcun pastries, a Peking duck, and a packet of Yushiyuan preserved fruit.

There were four large bags in total, one for the village chief, Uncle Erhu, Xiaohao's family, and Wang Xin's family.

The mother and daughter locked the door, took the dog, and carried their things to the hotel in the front yard.

Since everyone was here, the small hotel didn't have as many tourists as it had before, with an occupancy rate of only 40%.

Everyone took advantage of this free time and worked together in the fields every day.

Weeding, thinning fruit trees—today we work on this family, tomorrow on that family. Several families work together in a lively and efficient way.

Now they've even finished weeding Chen Hong's field, and thinned out most of the pear fruit. They came home early from work today, and everyone is preparing to make dumplings for dinner.

When Chen Hong entered, there were already several trays of wrapped dumplings in the restaurant. It looked like they were almost finished making them and would be cooked in boiling water when it was time to eat.

"I'm back! Everyone, you've all worked hard!" Chen Hong greeted everyone as soon as she entered the door.

The village chief and everyone else warmly crowded around him, asking, "Was your trip smooth? Did you finish everything?"

Chen Hong nodded: "Everything went smoothly, it's all done. Uncle, how's business at the small hotel these days? Is everything alright at home?"

Uncle Erhu and Aunt Erhu said, "We're both staying at home and not working, how could things not be good? The hotel business isn't as good as it was before, but it's not bad either, we're still making a profit."

Chen Hong nodded with a smile. All the families were very simple and honest, and they were already very satisfied with a little surplus.

The village chief said to Chen Hong, "You've cleared all the weeds from your field and thinned the pear trees. Everyone helped out, so you should thank them!"

Chen Hong nodded repeatedly in agreement, but before she could say anything to express her gratitude, Uncle Erhu and Xiaohao's mother said in unison:

"We were just doing this little bit of work as a side job, there's nothing to thank us for. If anyone should thank someone, it's Chen Hong for leading us all to make money!"

Chen Hong could only smile and shake her head, "Then let's not thank each other. We're all family, so we should help each other."

Oh, by the way, these are some local specialties I brought back from Beijing. I've already divided them out, one for each family. Please take them back with you when you leave. There aren't many, so please don't think it's too little.

Xiao Hao's mother took it and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, it's so heavy! Chen Hong, why did you buy so much stuff?"

I heard that Beijing's pastries and roast duck aren't cheap. Oh, and there's candied fruit too? That's quite expensive too, over a hundred yuan a month! These are all good stuff; you've spent quite a bit of money this time!

"Money is no object. I rarely get to go out, and I didn't know what to bring you back. These were recommended by friends in Beijing. They're supposedly time-honored brands, so I bought them for you to try."

Before they knew it, all the dumplings were wrapped, and the women began carrying them into the kitchen.

The restaurant has been cleaned up, and soon the hotel guests will come to eat.

Chen Hong washed her hands and went into the kitchen to help Aunt Guo and the others cook dumplings.

After a while, we heard a dozen or so guests coming into the restaurant outside. It seemed that it was lunchtime and the guests had come to eat.

Some customers saw that they had made dumplings today and ordered a plate as well.

Today, Aunt Guo and her family made dumplings with several kinds of fillings: chives and pork, three kinds of seafood, beef and scallions, and pumpkin and pork crackling filling.

A pot of dumplings had just been cooked, and Xiao Hao's mother, Wang Xin's mother, and Xiao Feng were busy serving the dishes.

Some guests ordered restaurant set meals, while others ordered seafood à la carte. Each table also ordered a serving of dumplings. These plump, white dumplings looked especially appetizing.

Watching everyone working busily yet efficiently, Chen Hong nodded secretly, impressed by the leadership abilities of Uncle Village Chief and Aunt Guo.

Although everyone was busy, they maintained a certain level of order, and the small hotel was now fully back on track.

Chen Hong brought a plate of dumplings to the table for the village chief and the other men. Her eyes swept across the dining room, and she was startled.

Near the bar, by the window at the dining table, a familiar person was smiling at her, and Chen Hong froze.

Yu Yang tugged at her sleeve, followed his mother's gaze, and suddenly slapped his forehead.

"Mom, look, I was so happy to see you home that I forgot to tell you. This Uncle Zhou from Beijing has been waiting for you at home for two days. He said he's your friend."

The old village chief suddenly realized, "Oh dear, I'm getting senile, I forgot to tell you about this. Chen Hong, your friend needs to see you, he's been waiting for you for two days, go and talk to him!"

Chen Hong patted her son's head, took his hand, and led him to sit down at the table by the window.

Seeing the unexpected visitor appear before him, he asked, "Comrade Zhou, what brings you to Rongcheng? What brings you here?"