At lunchtime, Old Ma brought over a food box and said, "This is enough for you. Eat this this afternoon, it's fresh out of the pot, eat it while it's hot. You can cook more tonight, I'm going home now, my family is waiting for dinner!"

Since Wu Sicheng was inside, An Moxue didn't let Old Ma go in, and just said with a smile, "It's still thanks to you that I'm here."

Old Ma said, "This outfit looks good! But you can only wear it secretly at home, don't let outsiders see it, understand?"

An Moxue said coquettishly, "Okay, I know! You're the only one who saw it. Uncle Ma, Happy New Year in advance!"

"Yes, you too. Happy New Year, and may you have a safe and peaceful year! Go back now! It's cold outside, why didn't you wear enough clothes? I'm leaving." After saying this, Old Ma turned and left, his steps light and cheerful.

An Moxue stood at the gate and watched Old Ma walk a distance before closing the gate and returning inside.

"Wu Sicheng, don't cook the rest of the dishes. We have enough food. We can't finish cooking too much. Let's cook more tonight! Uncle Ma brought me some vegetables." He held up the food box in his hand as he spoke.

An Moxue opened the food box, which had two layers and contained a total of six dishes, each in a full bowl, still steaming hot.

When Wu Sicheng brought in a platter of braised meat, An Moxue was putting dishes on the table.

"So much! Is it alright to bring you so much?" Wu Sicheng put down the plate, turned around, and went back into the kitchen.

"What's the problem?" An Moxue asked, putting down a bowl of food, puzzled.

“Their son and daughter-in-law! Food is so precious these days.” Wu Sicheng took a bowl, chopsticks, and steamed buns into the house.

"Oh, this shouldn't be the case. I prepared medicine for Uncle Ma and Auntie, and they're feeling much better. Their children know that." An Moxue placed all the dishes on the table and put the food box aside.

"That's good. It's not worth causing family conflicts over some food. I'll scoop the food out of the pot and we'll eat." Wu Sicheng turned and left the house.

“Yes, so I didn’t go to my aunt’s house for the New Year.” An Moxue took out two bottles of wine from the cabinet.

"Luckily I didn't go. If I had, I would have come for nothing and would have had to spend the whole trip alone."

"How did you usually spend the year?" An Moxue asked curiously.

“In previous years, I would spend the year with my comrades in the army at the beginning, but then I didn’t spend it at all for two years because I was on missions outside.” At this moment, Wu Sicheng brought a plate of pickled fish into the house.

"Haven't you been home for a year?"

The two people got onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and sat down at the table.

"No. I haven't spent Chinese New Year at home for many years. I remember when I was a kid, there was a bunch of us kids in the residential compound, it was so much fun. One year, we even stole some wine from home, drank too much, and all of us fell asleep in the movie room. Our parents searched high and low for us, and in the end, several of us got a good beating. Our parents were really fierce," Wu Sicheng said nostalgically.

"Did you get beaten up too? Want a drink?" An Moxue asked curiously, raising the bottle of liquor in her hand.

"I'd be happy to oblige. Getting beaten up would be fine! Unfortunately, that's not the case." Wu Sicheng felt somewhat helpless as he thought about it.

"So how were you punished?" An Moxue looked at her, even more curious, and poured a glass of wine for each of them, leaving only the bottom of the bottle.

"How was I punished! My dad made me write military regulations, military laws and discipline, and it had to be in calligraphy, both regular script and cursive script. Can you imagine? While the other kids who got beaten were out playing, I was still at home writing!" Wu Sicheng raised his glass to An Moxue.

An Moxue also picked up her wine and raised it to Wu Sicheng, "Haven't you ever been beaten? Your handwriting must be very good."

“No, not even once. The kind of punishment where you have to write until your handwriting is acceptable. The punishments were never lacking, and they were always unforgettable.” Wu Sicheng gently smelled the wine, took a small sip, savored it slowly, and said, “What kind of wine is this? It tastes very good.”

An Moxue swallowed the wine in her mouth and said, "Hawthorn wine, the other people who got beaten up must be very envious of you."

Where did you buy it?

"I brewed it myself."

“They envy me for not getting beaten, and I envy them for being able to go out and play after getting beaten, while I'm still suffering through writing. You don't know, my dad punishes me by making me write simply because my mom likes these two styles of calligraphy. My mom says that regular script is like a young master from a noble family, and cursive script is like a famous knight-errant.”

"Your father and mother must have had a very good relationship."

"Of course, you can tell just by looking at my name—Wu Sicheng. I feel like I'm superfluous. Really, ever since I was little. In my dad's eyes, I'll always be ranked after my mom."

"Father and mother are true love, children are an accident." An Moxue was a little curious about his father and mother.

The two of them chatted, drank, and ate together.

"Yes, that's the feeling. It's not that they don't love me, it's just that I have to be ranked last. This dish is really delicious!" Wu Sicheng picked up a piece of chicken stew with mushrooms.

"I could tell it was made by Aunt Ma as soon as I tasted it; her cooking is exceptionally delicious. I love it."

"I can tell you've eaten a lot of her cooking. Are you always going there to freeload?"

"No, sometimes my aunt cooks something that she thinks I like to eat, or something I haven't tried before, and she'll invite me to eat it, or bring me some. Many of the elderly people in this village are very kind to me and have helped me a lot."

What An Moxue didn't know was that they helped her simply because she resembled her mother and grandfather. They treated her kindly as their descendant. The saying "a family that accumulates good deeds will surely have abundant blessings" probably refers to this. It's just that An Moxue didn't know that the good deeds of the elders benefited the younger generation.

This is also one of the reasons why An Moxue's parents told her to come back here because the situation was not good.

"It seems you've come across a good village for your rural outreach program."

"Yes, I think so too. Oh! How many days can you stay here?"

I have to leave tomorrow.

"So fast? Is the mission complete?"

Seeing that An Moxue had finished a whole enamel mug of wine without changing her expression or speaking clearly, Wu Sicheng knew that she had a certain alcohol tolerance.

"The mission wasn't difficult, but the level of secrecy was very high. It's accomplished."

"Come on, finish what's in your glass, and have some more." With that, he finished the last of the wine in his glass, and Wu Sicheng also finished his glass.

"Mo Xue, can you still drink? If not, then don't drink!"

"It's alright, these two bottles are fine for now, any more than that won't work." With that, he poured wine into both of their glasses.

"It's rare that you're in such a good mood, so I'll just have this one drink with you. Once you finish this, you can stop drinking. That's two bottles of wine already. Even though it's fruit wine, it still has an alcohol content. If you want to drink more, I'll have another one with you tonight."

"Okay, let's drink some more tonight!"