In the blink of an eye, 1976 has passed and 1977 has arrived.

On New Year's Day, January 1st, Xiao Xinhua will be a year old. Of course, his birthday is calculated according to the lunar calendar, not the solar calendar.

Because there's a leap month in August this year, it will be another ten days or so before Xinhua's birthday.

People these days don't really care about the Gregorian calendar year. Office workers in the farm's departments work half a day and have the afternoon off.

The loggers on the mountain don't even get half a day off; they just get a better meal in the evening, with the canteen serving large steamed buns filled with sauerkraut and pork.

In the past, the Sheng family wouldn't have cared much about it.

Things have gotten better in the last two years, especially since Zhou Qinglan married into the family, and Sheng Xinhua was born on New Year's Day.

Although Zhang Shuzhen didn't say it, she started preparing delicious food from the morning.

In the afternoon, the family made dumplings with cabbage and pork filling.

In the evening, Zhang Shuzhen led her son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and grandson to sit around the table.

Besides dumplings, there were four other dishes on the table: braised pork, sauerkraut stewed pork ribs, stir-fried roe deer meat, and deep-fried pork tenderloin.

"Come, come, sit down. Today is the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar. Although your father and second son are still on the mountain, we should still celebrate the festival at home."

We'll have dumplings and vegetables tonight, you can eat whatever you want.

Mom is very happy that you have all made progress in your studies, and I hope you can keep it up.

At the same time, I also have to thank your sister-in-law. Without her watching over your studies and giving you practice questions, you wouldn't have achieved such good results.

Zhang Shuzhen herself was illiterate, so she paid special attention to her children's studies. Nothing could make Zhang Shuzhen happier than her children getting first place in exams.

No matter what the winds are blowing outside, in the Sheng family and in Zhang Shuzhen's eyes, nothing is more important than being educated and cultured.

Therefore, Zhang Shuzhen was especially happy that the children achieved good results this time.

I made wontons on the day the results came out, and today I specially prepared a bunch of delicious food to reward the children and to thank Zhou Qinglan.

"Thank you, sister-in-law and auntie," the children shouted in unison after hearing Zhang Shuzhen's words.

"We're all family, no need to thank me. As long as you study hard and have a bright future, that's enough."

Zhou Qinglan smiled. Although she had only been a teacher for two years, she loved her job and enjoyed spending time with the children.

She taught diligently and conscientiously at school, and at home she would supervise her brother-in-law and sister-in-law's studies. The children's achievements gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

"Come on, let's eat, the food's getting cold."

Zhou Qinglan smiled and served some food to her mother-in-law, then served a piece of spare rib to Sheng Xinhua, who was sitting next to her.

Sheng Xinhua, who is now twelve months old, can sit up and eat by himself.

This kid is tough and has a big appetite; he eats everything with great relish.

The pork ribs were stewed until very tender. He sat between his mother and grandmother, holding a small bowl in one hand and gnawing on a pork rib in the other.

His mouth was covered in oil from eating, and even the little apron he was wearing had some oil on it.

When toddlers are learning to eat, these things are unavoidable. Zhang Shuzhen never disciplines her children for this; she lets them eat on their own, and if necessary, she'll just wash them after they're done.

Anyway, Zhang Shuzhen made several of these little brooches, so we can wear them in rotation.

After finishing the ribs, Sheng Xinhua grabbed two dumplings and ate them.

Seeing that Xiao Xinhua was eating well, everyone put a piece of braised pork on his plate, and another put a piece of fried pork tenderloin on his plate. The little guy's bowl was quite full.

Xiao Xinhua didn't say anything; he just ate whatever was offered to him.

In the end, it was Zhang Shuzhen who spoke up, saying that no more meat should be put on Xinhua's plate, and that eating too much would be a problem. Only then did everyone stop eating.

There were dumplings and four main dishes, and everyone was quite satisfied with the meal.

In the end, Sheng Xitai and Chen Feng were both stuffed. They patted their round bellies, waved their hands, and stepped aside.

Sheng Xinhua had finished eating and, imitating his uncle and older brother, rubbed his little belly and crawled to the side to play.

The group had almost finished eating, so Zhou Qinglan and Sheng Yunfang quickly went downstairs to clean up and wash the dishes.

Zhang Shuzhen also went to help, cleaning up the leftover food, dumplings, and other things.

Sheng Xiping sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a wooden ball and playing with his son.

Sheng Xiping would deliberately roll the ball to the end of the kang (a heated brick bed), and then call Sheng Xinhua to fetch it and give it to him. This was a little game that the father and son often played.

Normally, when Sheng Xinhua retrieved the ball, he would crawl back using both his hands and feet.

Sometimes his little hands can't hold the ball, and it just rolls off somewhere. Then he goes looking for it, and he can play like that for a long time.

But today, after Sheng Xinhua picked up the ball, he held it in both hands and then stood up from the kang (a heated brick bed).

Then, the little guy took a step forward with one foot, and then took another step forward with the other foot.

Sheng Xiping was so surprised that his eldest son had actually walked away.

When this baby was less than ten months old, he could walk around while holding onto the wall, but I never dared to let go of him.

Unexpectedly, the child left without a word.

Sheng Xiping dared not make a sound, for fear of frightening the child, so he opened his arms and stepped forward, clapping his hands as he guided his son to walk slowly forward.

Sheng Xinhua looked at his father and giggled. While laughing, he continued to lift his leg and walk slowly forward, step by step.

Despite it being the little guy's first time walking, he walked quite steadily, step by step towards Sheng Xiping, and finally handed the ball to him.

"Oh my, my good son, you can actually walk now." Sheng Xiping picked up Sheng Xinhua and kissed his son's tender cheek.

"Mom, wife, our Xinhua can walk now!" Sheng Xiping called out to the outer room while holding her son.

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