"It's not the right time to make large-leaf celery right now. We'll wait a few days until it's grown enough before we make celery filling."

Zhang Shuzhen pointed to the dumplings on the table and smiled.

"Oh, my mom understands me best. In the two years I've been away from home, I haven't been craving anything else but dumplings."

"Especially the dumplings my mom makes, I dream about them all the time." Sheng Xiping sniffed; the aroma of the dumplings was so tempting.

"If you want to eat them, that's easy! I'll make them. Your mom may not be good at much else, but she's an expert at making dumplings."

"When you go back to the forest farm in a couple of days, I'll make you dumplings in different styles, until you're tired of them."

Hearing her son say that, Zhang Shuzhen smiled even more happily.

The food was all ready, and the family sat down to eat. Sheng Xiping didn't eat anything else, he just ate the dumplings with gusto.

These shepherd's purse dumplings at the beginning of spring are so delicious, one bite and your mouth is filled with freshness, you'll want to swallow your tongue.

Sheng Xiping ate three plates of dumplings by himself, and only stopped eating when he couldn't eat anymore.

Everyone found it both funny and heartbreaking to see Sheng Xiping wolfing down his food.

The food outside must be incredibly bad to have made someone as tough as Sheng Xiping so weak.

"Are you full? Would you like to eat some more?" Zhou Qinglan asked tentatively.

"I'm full, I'm full. I ate a lot this time, I'm so stuffed."

Since returning to China, Sheng Xiping has eaten a lot at every meal, but today's meal really made him stuffed.

"These dumplings are so delicious today, they smell amazing."

Once you're full, you become too lazy to move.

At home, there's no need to worry about appearances. Sheng Xiping lazily sprawled on the sofa, chatting with his father and father-in-law about his experiences at sea.

Sheng Liancheng and Zhou Mingyuan tacitly refrained from asking Sheng Xiping what he had been doing.

If this matter could be discussed, Sheng Xiping would have mentioned it when he called home before. Since Sheng Xiping didn't bring it up, it must be a confidential mission.

The older generation has a high level of awareness; no matter how curious they are, they will never ask about things they shouldn't.

Zhou Mingyuan and his wife were both retired, and with nothing much to do at home, they spent the evening at the Sheng family's house, having dinner.

They left after dinner.

Around 6 o'clock, Jilin TV broadcasts storytelling, and CCTV broadcasts cartoons.

The Sheng brothers, Xinhua and Sheng Xinyue, want to listen to storytelling, while the Sheng sisters want to watch cartoons. Now that the children are older, they fight over the TV every day.

Fortunately, when Sheng Yunfei came back last year, she brought home a 24-inch color TV.

The new TV was placed in the east room, while the old TV was placed in the room where Aunt Li lived.

Aunt Li is old and doesn't need much sleep. She goes to bed late at night, watches TV for a while, and goes to sleep when she gets sleepy.

Whenever the children asked to watch this or that, Zhou Qinglan would send her two daughters to the west room to watch cartoons, while the others would watch storytelling in the east room.

After the storytelling session ended, Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu went to the west room to watch cartoons, while the adults stayed in the east room to watch other programs.

According to the Sheng family's rules, once the evening news broadcast begins, the children must turn off the TV and go back to their rooms to study.

If you finish your homework quickly and early, you can watch an episode of TV after the news broadcast or when the drama is on, and then go to bed at nine o'clock.

If you finish your homework slowly, you won't be able to read anything.

So, as soon as the evening news started, the children immediately went back to their rooms to do their homework and review their lessons.

The adults were in the east room, watching TV and chatting. After the children finished their homework, they all came to the east room to watch TV.

"No, I'm sleepy, I need to go to sleep."

Xinhua, you guys should go back to your rooms and get some sleep too. Didn't we agree to go back to the forest farm early tomorrow morning? Why aren't you asleep yet?

Just as it turned nine o'clock, Zhang Shuzhen started urging everyone to go to sleep.

When Sheng Liancheng is at home, he always watches two episodes of TV before going to sleep. He's only finished one episode and isn't sleepy yet.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw his wife wink at him, and Sheng Liancheng suddenly understood and quickly echoed her.

"Yes, yes, I'm sleepy too. Let's go to bed. Hey, Xinhua and Xinyu, you guys should go to bed early too, don't just stay glued to the TV."

With the grandparents having spoken, the children reluctantly turned off the TV and went back to their rooms to sleep.

Sheng Xinhua and Sheng Xinyu were in the inner room of the west wing. Sheng Xinyue and Sheng Xinqi usually slept on the same kang (heated brick bed) with Zhou Qinglan, but tonight Zhang Shuzhen had sent them to Aunt Li's room.

As for the elderly couple, Sheng Liancheng and his wife, they lived in the suite in the east wing.

Everyone went to wash up and tidy up, and soon they all went back to their rooms to lie down. Only Sheng Xiping and his wife remained in the east room.

Zhou Qinglan had just finished making the bed when Sheng Xiping finished washing his feet and brushing his teeth. He then took off his clothes and crawled into bed.

After Zhou Qinglan finished getting ready and got onto the kang (heated brick bed), Sheng Xiping pulled his wife into his arms and kissed her twice before saying anything else.

"Keep your voice down, Mom and Dad are in the inner room," Zhou Qinglan said softly.

"I know, I know, what's there to be afraid of when we're an old married couple?"

Didn't you see Mom keeping giving Dad meaningful glances? They understand.

Sheng Xiping didn't care about any of that, and his hands started to wander. "Wife, don't you miss me?"

Zhou Qinglan reached out and hugged Sheng Xiping's neck. "Guess if I miss you?"

Is there even a need to guess? Wouldn't it be better to show it with concrete actions?

The couple had a lot of trouble that night and didn't fall asleep until midnight.

This was the most restful night's sleep Sheng Xiping had had in over two years. The next morning, the noise from Zhang Shuzhen and the others cooking did not wake him.

It wasn't until after seven o'clock that all the children got up, went out for a run, and came back, but Sheng Xiping was still fast asleep on the kang (heated brick bed).

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