Chen Hong insisted on giving it to him, saying it was specially reserved for their family to eat, so how could they refuse? She also asked him to take two to the village chief's family, so that the village chief's family could also taste this year's silver pomfret.

Uncle Erhu couldn't refuse any longer, so he took the fish home. Watching the three of them walk away, Chen Hong smiled. They were all good people; since she married into Yujia Village, they had helped her with chores a lot.

Not wanting to disrupt the village's wage distribution system, Chen Hong could only supplement his family's income elsewhere. Things would be better once outsiders came to the village; then Chen Hong could increase his family's wages according to the wage range of those out-of-town employers.

Now Chen Hong has no choice but to follow the village's prices. She can't let Uncle Erhu's family disrupt the village's labor market and cause the villagers to turn against her.

Time flies, and before Chen Hong knew it, her wallet was still empty. It was time to go back to her parents' home.

This time when she went back, Chen Hong didn't plan to bring too much stuff. With the child in tow, she had to travel by car and train the whole way, and it wouldn't be easy to go empty-handed.

With only ten catties of dried fish and five catties of dried shrimp, Chen Hong took her child back to Jinan. In Jinan, she had to transfer buses to get home.

I left home at six o'clock, first by car, then by train, then by train again, and finally by car, before I finally got home.

It was almost 3 a.m. when they got home. The journey alone took nine hours, including waiting for and riding in the car. The child even took a nap along the way. Carrying a sleeping child was incredibly tiring; Chen Hong felt it was more tiring than fishing for 3,000 kilograms of fish at sea.

No wonder people don't like to go out much nowadays. Unlike later generations, with the widespread deployment of high-speed trains, even the most distant cities can be reached in just one or two hours. How fast and convenient!

Now, taking the kids out is exhausting, it's so tiring.

After arriving home, Chen Hong handed the dried fish and shrimp she had brought back to her mother and then left it to her own devices. She could eat it herself or give it away as she pleased; it was all up to her to decide how to distribute it!

Holding Yu Yang, the father said to Chen Hong, "Why are you carrying so much stuff with a child? It's tiring! Why are you doing all this when you're at home?"

Chen Hong just smiled and didn't say anything. She said that if she went back to her parents' home without bringing anything, the neighbors would laugh at her and think that she had a fight with her parents' family.

That's how it is in the countryside. Neighbors are very friendly and help each other out when needed. But there are also a lot of gossips and disputes. Small things spread throughout the village, and there are no secrets at all.

Tomorrow is the day of the banquet, but my sister hasn't arrived yet; her child just turned one year old this year. My father didn't want her to come; her husband is a soldier in Beijing and isn't a free agent, so he can't come back with her and her child.

It's inconvenient for her to travel with a small child; diapers, bottles, and changes of clothes are all too much for her. The child is so young, and the constant need to poop and pee along the way is too much trouble.

My younger sister is homesick and wants to go home once, and if my older sister comes back too, the whole family can see each other. It's been several years since we've all gotten together, so this banquet is a rare opportunity.

Dad said he had already called and said she would be home by 6 p.m., and also said that she shouldn't be picked up from the station; she would take a taxi home.

The family is quite busy right now. The cook from the village who came to help is leading the men and women of the family in preparations for tomorrow's feast.

The women picked and washed vegetables, and scrubbed basins and dishes. The men chopped and prepared all sorts of vegetables. The cooks fried, boiled, and steamed the chicken, fish, meat, and pork hock as needed. Everything was prepared in advance so that these main dishes could be served tomorrow.

In the countryside, hosting a feast at home is always a lively affair, with people bustling about from the very first day. The entire yard is filled with the aroma of cooking, attracting the neighborhood children who come to linger outside the house, their mouths watering.

The chef dared not share the main dishes with them, but he had a solution. He chopped up the salted fish, mixed it with a large bowl of batter, and fried it into small dough balls. Each child received a handful, and if there were too many, the adults could also get a handful.

It tastes fragrant and crispy, with a rich salted fish flavor, making it a popular local dish for banquets.

This is a favorite flavor from the childhood memories of many people in Jinan, although to modern people it may seem like a cheap, low-quality dish. However, in the memories of several generations of people in the Jinan area, from those born in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and even 2000s, it is the most delicious banquet dish.

Chen Hong also loves this dish and has tried making it at home before. However, she can never quite replicate the taste of the large-batch version. Actually, many dishes are like this: you eat a particularly delicious dish at a rural banquet and then try to recreate it at home.

I used better ingredients than others, the best oil, and the same order of adding the ingredients, but the taste was so different, it wasn't the same at all.

The family was bustling with preparations for the banquet, and my sister finally returned home at 6:30. There were a lot of people at home tonight; everyone who came to help stayed for dinner, and we sat at three tables in total.

More than twenty people ate together. The men drank and talked about tomorrow's arrangements, who would host the guests, who would keep the tab, who would manage the tea and water, who would manage the cigarettes and alcohol, and a few people would serve the dishes.

Chen Hong and her sister only needed to look after the children and rest after eating, as they were tired from the long car ride. The dishes and chopsticks were washed by the aunts and sisters-in-law who came to help, so Chen Hong and her sister, who were married, didn't need to do anything.

Tonight, Chen Hong and her daughter, along with her sister and her daughter, will share a room. Their house is a self-built house, and it's quite spacious. They will be staying in a large room of about 20 square meters, with two beds that are 1.5 meters wide.

The two sisters each slept in a separate bed with their children, which was quite comfortable. The blankets at home were all handmade by their mother, because it was much warmer at home than in Rongcheng, and Chen Hong really couldn't stand being covered by a blanket.

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