"Xiping, look at Brother Chen's daughter, isn't she beautiful? She's such a rare find. And her voice is so soft and sweet!"

Zhou Qinglan held Chen Yue in her arms, adoring her.

"Oh dear, Auntie came in a hurry and didn't bring anything nice. Wait a minute, let me look for it."

"Sister-in-law, don't bother. We have everything we need. The wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms you sent us before the New Year were too precious for your sister-in-law to cook. We still have plenty at home."

Upon seeing this, Chen Ruiqing quickly spoke up, telling Zhou Qinglan not to bother looking for anything.

Despite Chen Ruiqing's kind and polite words, Zhou Qinglan couldn't really stop searching. She pulled out a bag of pine nuts, a bag of hazelnuts, and a bag of shelled walnuts from her package.

"These were all picked up by your uncle and his family last autumn. They brought some for you. And this is for Yue'er."

As Zhou Qinglan spoke, she stuffed a red rope with something tied to it into Chen Yue's hand.

"These are wolf teeth and pig teeth. Your uncle specially ground them out, punched holes in them, and strung them with a red string to wear them."

"This is good for children to wear; it wards off evil spirits and calms their nerves." Zhou Qinglan saw Chen Yue staring blankly and assumed she didn't understand, so she quickly explained.

Every time Sheng Xiping returned from hunting, he would leave behind some animal teeth and other things, especially wolf teeth and boar teeth.

Pig's ear, also known as pig's semen stone, is actually a small, flat, round bone inside a pig's ear that can be ground down and then drilled.

Children's eyes are pure, and older generations always say that children can see things that adults can't, so they are easily frightened.

In ordinary families, after a child is born, they will put a pig charm on him, usually tied to his wrist.

Sheng Xiping's pig dung is all obtained from wild boars, and it is said to be more effective than that from domestic pigs.

Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu both wore it from birth.

Now that Sheng Xinhua is older, he wears pig's quiver and wolf's teeth together around his neck.

The Sheng sisters, Sheng Xitai and Sheng Yunfang, also had them. When Chen Feng was in the Sheng family, Sheng Xiping also made one for him to wear.

"Auntie, I have this one. My brother gave it to me."

Chen Yue freed one hand and pulled a red rope from her collar, where Wolf Fang and Pig Fright were indeed tied.

It turned out that Chen Feng saw his sister liked it, so he gave her his share.

"Oh, it's alright. You want this new one, so give the other one back to your brother." Zhou Qinglan smiled. "Or, you can give this one to your brother too."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yue took off the rope around her neck and returned it to Chen Feng, then put the one Zhou Qinglan had given her around her neck.

Zhou Qinglan liked Chen Yue, so she put her arm around Chen Yue and the two chatted quietly.

Just then, Shao Minzhi finished preparing the meal, so she set the table and started eating.

"Well, we have some important business to attend to this afternoon, so let's just have a simple lunch."

"Once my younger siblings' school registration is complete, I'll treat everyone to dinner tonight," Chen Ruiqing said with a smile, inviting Sheng Xiping and the others to sit down for a meal.

"Brother, six dishes and a soup, is that easy? It's already pretty good."

When cadres go to the countryside, they are only served four dishes and one soup. This six dishes and one soup, including pork head meat, roast chicken, and canned food, is already quite good.

"Oh dear, we can't compare to your family. We live in the city, and everything else is fine, but when it comes to food, we can't compare to you. You live by the mountains and the water, so it's convenient to eat whatever you want," Chen Ruiqing said with a smile.

"When I get old and retire, I'll go to your forest farm and get a small house and a small courtyard."

Raising some chickens and ducks, growing some vegetables, and going fishing in your spare time—what a leisurely and comfortable life!

“Okay, I’ll go fishing with you then, brother,” Sheng Xiping replied with a smile.