After finally reaching a place not far from the village, Xu Minghan's hands were about to cramp. He thought he should jump off the car as it went uphill and walk back instead!

Xu Mingjiang followed suit and jumped down.

"Third Brother, this station is really uncomfortable. I should have waited for the next one," Xu Mingjiang complained, shaking his numb hands.

"You think you can ride in the next one? There are so many people here now, and there are only two cars in our village. The wheels are probably smoking by now."

Xu Mingjiang thought about it and agreed. Anyway, it's the same every year, which is a unique feature of rural areas.

When the car reached the village entrance, it stopped, and Zhang Xuemei jumped out with her child in her arms.

Xu Dongxiang also came over from the driver's seat to help unload the things before continuing to drive inside.

“I don’t know when your brother and the others will arrive. Never mind, I’ll wait here. Go home and call for them. Mom should be here.”

Zhang Xuemei stood on tiptoe and looked at the road in the distance. There was no one at the bend, so they hadn't arrived yet.

Xu Mingwan nodded, took Panpan's hand and walked home, calling out as they went, "Mom, Mom, I'm home, are you home?"

Inside the house, Granny Liu, who was making tofu, wasn't deaf. She had already heard her youngest daughter's voice, but she was busy making tofu and dared not leave, otherwise the whole pot of soy milk would be ruined.

"If you're inside, you won't come in by yourself!"

As soon as Xu Mingwan entered the house, she saw her eldest brother helping to start the fire. "Big brother, you're here just in time! Third sister-in-law is still at the village entrance! The things on the ground can't be moved, go and move them back!"

"Where's the third brother? He hasn't come back yet?" Xu Mingri asked, but he was quick and ran out before his younger sister could answer.

"My third brother and youngest brother jumped off the hill ahead, probably because their hands hurt and they wanted to walk back."

After Xu Mingwan finished speaking, he looked at the tofu pudding that was slowly taking shape in the pot, and his mouth watered.

"Mom, is it ready yet? Can I eat now? Give me a bowl first!"

"Didn't you see the brine I just ordered? What's the rush?" Granny Liu glared at her youngest daughter, who hadn't even greeted her when she came back; all she knew was eating.

Zhang Xuemei came in carrying her youngest daughter and asked softly, "Mom, is the bed in the inner room ready? Linlin is asleep, I'll put her down first."

Granny Liu put the pot lid on, stepped forward and glanced at the little girl in Zhang Xuemei's arms, "She's so chubby and healthy, she's doing very well. Go to the inner room to sleep! The quilts and bedding are all freshly aired, they're very warm!"

Zhang Xuemei smiled and went into the house. Her husband had told her last time that her second aunt was unwilling to lend them the house. She wondered if it was cold upstairs. The adults were fine, but the two children were.

Well, we'll see when the time comes! If all else fails, we can talk to my sister-in-law and try to squeeze in with her! The husband then went upstairs.

"Panpan, do you want some tofu pudding? Grandma just made it, it smells so good." Grandma Liu smiled at her eldest granddaughter. It seemed her parents were taking good care of her; her little face had gotten chubby.

"Yes, I want to eat Grandma's tofu pudding. The ones I buy don't taste as good as Grandma's. Give the candy to Grandma." Xu Panpan was a sweet talker, and she immediately stuffed two candies into Granny Liu's hand.

This pleased Granny Liu greatly. She looked at her youngest daughter with pride and said, "See? That's more like it."

So, the lid was lifted, and a large pot of tofu pudding was revealed.

"Mom, didn't you say there wasn't any left? How come there's still a pot left?" Xu Mingwan couldn't resist the sight of the tofu pudding. She loved the tofu pudding her family made; it had a special flavor.

"You didn't ask. If you want to eat, bring a bowl. And bring Panpan's bowl too." Granny Liu first filled a bowl to the brim for her eldest granddaughter and sprinkled a spoonful of white sugar on top.

"Put it on the table for Panpan, watch her carefully, and make sure she doesn't get burned," Granny Liu instructed her youngest daughter. It wouldn't be good if she got burned during the New Year.

"Mom, making tofu!" Zhang Xuemei came out of her room and saw Panpan eating tofu pudding, which also whetted her appetite.

Granny Liu knew exactly what they meant, so she immediately filled another bowl and handed it over. "Add sugar yourself if you want. Your dad said that making two pots was too much, but I said it might not even be enough! You guys, you haven't even seen the tofu yet, and you've already finished a bowl of tofu pudding each."

Zhang Xuemei chuckled twice, "That's all thanks to your excellent cooking, Mom. We don't like this tofu pudding in the shops outside; the taste is just not right."

"All you do is say nice things," Granny Liu said, though she was secretly pleased, since everyone likes to hear nice things.

"Mom, sister-in-law, I've brought everything in. Nianmei called me for lunch, so I'll head back now. I'll come over later to make tofu."

After moving the things, Xu Mingri called out to the kitchen and prepared to go back.

Zhang Xuemei quickly came out, took out two bags from her suitcase and handed them to him, "Brother, these are the new clothes I bought for Dingwen and Dingyang. The larger one is for Dingwen and the smaller one is for Dingyang. I bought them all the same, they look good."

Xu Mingri was surprised that his third sister-in-law had bought new clothes for the children. "How come this is costing money! You and the third brother don't earn money easily, we..."

"What are you babbling about? It's not for you. If it's for the child, take it back." Granny Liu frowned at her eldest son. What's with all this dawdling?

Xu Mingri's face stiffened. No matter what, his mother wouldn't give him any face.

"Thank you, sister-in-law. I'll head back now." He thought to himself that he hadn't bought any gifts for his sister-in-law's two children this time, so he'd better give them extra money as New Year's gifts!

After her brother-in-law left, Zhang Xuemei glanced at her mother-in-law, then went back into the house and took out a red envelope, handing it over. "Mom, this is a New Year's red envelope from Minghan and me for you and Dad. It's also to thank you for all you've done for us."

Granny Liu was completely bewildered by what she had just said. How did she suddenly become so eloquent? The thickness of the flesh under her hand felt quite substantial, and she was itching to know how much it was!

Xu Mingwan could tell what her mother was thinking just by looking at her expression, so she said directly, "Mom, your third sister-in-law gave you two thousand yuan. Are you happy?"

"How much, two thousand?" Granny Liu touched the thickness and knew it must be more than a thousand, but she thought it could also be fifty stacked together, but she didn't expect it to be two thousand.

Zhang Xuemei smiled and said, "Mom, just accept it. I've made some money this year, so it's time to give it to you."

Granny Liu clutched the red envelope tightly and pressed, "You still have money on you, right? If you do, you should pay back Granny Liu's money first; she always charges high interest."

"Yes! Minghan is going to return them tonight, and everyone else has returned theirs too."

"That's good, that's good. If you don't have enough money, I have some here."

"That's enough. We really made some money this year, that's enough." Zhang Xuemei was also grateful for her parents-in-law's contributions. Although her father-in-law was very stingy, they had a debt of over 100,000 yuan in their previous life, and they didn't pay it off entirely on their own. Their siblings and both sets of parents also helped.

Especially the parents-in-law, they would buy rice or vegetables grown at home, save some up and send them to them so that they could pay back the money owed to outsiders first.

Doesn't your father-in-law know the money is gone? Of course he knows, he's just pretending not to.

So she remembered this.