Liu Fengya, carrying his bag full of spoils, ran to a corner to sort out his haul.

As for the finishing touches, the villagers would naturally take care of them. Although they had been busy for most of the day and it was completely dark, no one was sleepy at all.

Inside the cave, everyone cleared away layer after layer of rocks. For safety reasons, they almost dug three feet into the ground.

Of course, even the smallest gaps and crevices were not overlooked; no matter how big the gap was, it was checked several times.

As night fell, the rain started falling again, and the cave, with its strong, fishy smell, was not a suitable place to rest.

After discussing it, everyone decided to forgo rest and work through the night to clean up the area so they could return to the village early the next morning.

Although the huge snake den was destroyed, the village took this matter very seriously, especially the area behind the mountain, and the village organized people to search for it every few days.

Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the Yun family elders are anxiously waiting in the courtyard.

"You said you'd be back today, why haven't you gotten home yet?" Looking at the still empty village road, Yun Zhiming couldn't sit still any longer. "I'll go to the village entrance and see if something's holding me up."

"We haven't heard any gong, so we haven't arrived in the village yet. It's normal for things to be delayed by a day or two sometimes. Let's just wait at home." Although Mrs. Yun was also anxious, she still made sure to reassure her husband.

"That couple is really something. It's the first time Junjun and Lele have gone out with them, and they don't even know to keep track of the time," Yun Zhiming muttered to himself.

The family of four he was nagging was hurrying home. Looking at his parents, who were still dawdling behind him, Lele couldn't remember how many times he had urged them to hurry up.

"Hurry up! Grandma and Grandpa must be getting impatient."

Yunqi said, "Since you knew the elders at home would be waiting, why were you wandering around like that before? Now you're urging us on."

Hearing her mother's teasing voice, Lele immediately understood that this was blatant revenge.

She turned to look at her father for help, but he just turned his head to the side and began to admire the scenery along the road.

She snorted heavily through her nose and didn't bother arguing with them.

She turned to her brother, who was leading the horse, and complained, "Brother, look, they're bullying me."

A smile flickered in Junjun's eyes, but her face remained expressionless. "Go back and tell Grandma and the others."

With just a few simple words, Lele glanced smugly at her parents behind her and said, "That's a must. It's because they're wasting time here that we're delayed getting home."

Now that she had decided to shift the blame onto her unscrupulous parents, Lele felt much more relaxed. However, she didn't slow down her pace. After being away for so long, she had missed her two elderly parents at home.

Looking at her two children in front of her, Yunqi couldn't help but complain to her husband, "If only these two kids could have a combination of their personalities. Look at your daughter's arrogant expression; who knows what mischief she's up to right now."

Si Cheng looked at his steady son and his daughter who was always making a fuss beside his son, and comforted Yun Qi, "They're doing great. They know what they're doing. If we take care of them for a few more years, we can start preparing for retirement."

Yunqi said, “When you get back, don’t mention retirement in front of the two elders. They almost packed their bags and came with us when they saw us taking their two darlings out. I just told them they were getting old and should take it easy, but they scolded me for ages.”

Thinking about his parents, who seem to grow younger with age, Yunqi doesn't know the reason behind it. Perhaps it's because he spends a lot of time with his two children, and his thinking has become somewhat synchronized with theirs.

Si Cheng also said with a smile, "That's good. A good mindset is more important than anything else. No wonder the four of them, grandfather, grandmother, and grandson, are so close."

Yunqi glanced at him. "They are also good to their grandfather. No matter what happens, as long as their maternal grandparents have it, their grandfather will also have a share."

Speaking of her father-in-law, he has rarely come to bother them over the years, but whenever he has something unusual, he will eagerly send it to the two children.

Although Junjun and Lele are not as close to their grandfather as their maternal grandparents, they are still very respectful and filial.

Si Cheng felt a headache coming on whenever he thought about the messy affairs of the Si family. If it weren't for Si Zhengwei's refusal to move in with them, he wouldn't want to bother with that family at all.

Si Ming and Si Liang both got married one after another. Si Ming was luckier and found a wife in Hutiao Village whose family had many brothers. With their mutual support, they were able to make a living.

However, under Huang Yun's selfish motives, Si Liang devised a plan to find him a wife. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law colluded and disrupted the whole family's peace. Several times, they even tried to take their side, but Si Zhengwei suppressed them each time.

Before this trip, I heard that there was a dispute over splitting up the family over there, but I don't know if it was successful.

Yunqi also thought of that restless mother-in-law. She had heard several times that Lian Qingfeng and his son were living a good life now. During several village collective activities, she tried to post about it again, which made a lot of fun for everyone.

Now that her life has improved a lot, she no longer keeps bringing up the matter of Si Cheng taking care of her in her old age. However, since the road has been repaired and a layer of protection has been added on both sides, she goes to Pinghe Village every few days to try to win over the two children.

Junjun and Lele were not flattered by her sudden show of goodwill; instead, they wondered if there was some kind of conspiracy behind her back.

Si Cheng and he themselves didn't want to get involved in their subtle sparring. Regardless of whether Gao Shuzhen truly intended to have the two children or had other plans, they would let things take their course.

It's not that they don't care, but their two children need to grow up and develop their own judgment; they can't make all the decisions for them.

Junjun and Lele feel very comfortable with their free-range parenting style, but the two elderly people in the family can't understand it and always feel that they don't care enough about the children.

As they got closer to the village, Lele ignored her parents behind her and pulled her brother along, running quickly forward.

Si Yongjun could only helplessly pull the horse's reins and hurry to catch up with his sister. As for his parents behind him, they didn't need him at all; they should just focus on protecting his sister.

Si Ming was standing guard at the village entrance when he saw Junjun and Lele and quickly waved, "You're finally back! Your grandfather asks about you several times a day, now he can finally rest easy."