At this moment, Chen Ruiqing offered kind words of advice, and Zhang Shuzhen could no longer argue with her son, so she nodded and smiled.

"Yes, the family is doing well now, thanks to the eldest son's hard work. Not to mention anything else, we never lack meat to eat all year round, which is great."

Everyone laughed at this, even Sheng Xinhua, who was fiddling with wooden knives and spears on the kang (a heated brick bed), joined in the laughter.

Since Sheng Xinhua picked up the knife and gun and didn't like anything else, the baby's first birthday celebration was considered over.

So Zhou Qinglan packed up everything else, leaving only the wooden swords for the child to play with.

After a while, Sheng Xinhua got sleepy and started to fuss, so Zhou Qinglan quickly took the child to the west room to coax him to sleep.

Although Chen Ruiqing and his wife were anxious to return to the provincial capital, Chen Feng did not want to leave. Furthermore, the Sheng family tried their best to persuade them to stay, so the couple could not be too hasty and could only agree to stay at the Sheng family's house.

When guests come to your home, you should always prepare some delicious food to entertain them.

We had dumplings to welcome guests and noodles to send them off. There wasn't enough time to make dumplings at noon, so in the afternoon Zhang Shuzhen led her daughter and daughter-in-law to chop the filling and knead the dough.

Everyone pitched in, making dumplings and cooking various dishes, and prepared a lot of delicious food.

Sheng Xiping didn't go to work in the afternoon either, staying home to talk with Chen Ruiqing. At the same time, he asked Sheng Xikang to invite Liu Changde and his son, as well as Wang Jiachuan and Zheng Xianyong over.

In the evening, the Sheng family set up two tables with eight main dishes, plus sauerkraut and pork dumplings. Everyone got together and had a lively time.

Chen Ruiqing and his wife stayed at the Sheng family's house for one night. After breakfast the next day, they said goodbye and left.

The Sheng family knew they couldn't keep him, so Zhang Shuzhen and Zhou Qinglan started packing Chen Feng's things: clothes, shoes, stationery, books, toys, and so on.

Everything that Chen Feng had used in the past year or so was selected as the best and organized for him to take with him.

While they were packing their things, Chen Feng was crying; he really didn't want to leave.

"Uncle, we made a promise, you have to come to the provincial capital to find me then." Chen Feng said, tugging at Sheng Xitai's hand and crying.

"Yes, I will definitely come to find you. Please remember to write to me when you get back."

Do you know our address? Qianchuan Forest Farm, Songjianghe Forestry Bureau. Remember it, please remember it!

Sheng Xitai was also there wiping away tears; neither of the children could bear to part with the other.

Beside them, Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei were also quite upset. Even the still immature Sheng Xinhua lost his smile and just reached out to Chen Feng, saying, "Brother, brother."

This child can say a lot of words now. He can call out "Dad," "Mom," "Grandpa," and "Grandma," and sometimes he will call out "Uncle" and "Aunt."

The pronunciation is slightly non-standard; it's extremely rare to hear someone call someone "brother" so clearly like today.

Chen Feng walked over, picked up Sheng Xinhua, and kissed Xinhua's cheek.

"Brother is leaving now. Xinhua, take good care of yourself, eat more, and grow up quickly. When you grow up, brother will take you to the provincial capital."

Sheng Xinhua couldn't understand what his brother was saying, but he saw tears on his brother's face, so he raised his chubby little hand to wipe away his brother's tears.

"Brother, brother," the little guy kept calling out.

Over there, Zhang Shuzhen and Zhou Qinglan gathered all of Chen Feng's belongings, packed them into a large canvas backpack, and handed it to Chen Ruiqing.

"These are all things Xiaofeng uses. You can take them with you. You won't need to buy any more when you get back, as these are all new."

"Oh, thank you, Auntie. I'll have Xiaofeng take good care of these things, so don't worry."

Chen Ruiqing accepted the heavy backpack, which contained the Sheng family's heartfelt wishes for Chen Feng.

Sheng Xiping handed over another package, "Brother, these are local specialties from our mountains: mushrooms, wood ear fungus, pine nuts, and two pieces of skin."

Don't think it's too little; you can take it home and eat it yourself, or share it with family and friends. If you like it, I'll send you more next fall.

These are the kinds of things you find in the forests of Northeast China. They're free, just require a little effort, and make great gifts.

"Here you also get pancakes, cooked meat, eggs, green onions, and other things. You can eat these when you take the train back to the city, so you don't have to spend money to buy them."

Yesterday, Zhang Shuzhen specially cut a plate of the stewed meat, wrapped it in oil paper, and took it to the car to make meat and scallion pancakes. With just a little hot water, it was enough to fill you up, better than any other dry food.

"Oh dear, look how bad this is."

We didn't bring much home with us, and now you're packing all this food and supplies for us before we leave. You should leave it at home; it'll be easier for us on the road.”

Chen Ruiqing felt embarrassed. The other party had helped raise the child for more than a year without asking for a penny, and even gave him so many things to take with him when they left. He felt bad about it.

"Brother, if you don't accept these, you're disrespecting your brother."

"What? You're back in the city now, a high-ranking official, and you look down on me, a lumberjack who did all the heavy lifting?"

Sheng Xiping shoved the things into Chen Ruiqing's hands and said deliberately.

Chen Ruiqing used to be a junior official in the Provincial Department of Commerce in charge of foreign trade. This time, he was transferred back from Jiapigou and promoted to division chief, which is why Sheng Xiping said that.

After saying that, what could Chen Ruiqing say? If he really didn't accept the gifts, Sheng Xiping might turn against him.

Chen Ruiqing sighed helplessly, "Brother, if anything happens in the future, remember to write to me or call me."

If I ever have the chance, I'll definitely take my uncle and aunt to the provincial capital for a few days. I'll show you around the city.

"Okay, brother and sister-in-law, don't worry, we'll definitely go when we have time."

"It's getting late, let me take you to the station. Our forestry station's vehicle should be waiting there."

Last night while we were drinking, Wang Jiachuan said that he would arrange for a motorcycle from the forest farm to take Chen Ruiqing's family to Songjianghe today.

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