Delivered at midnight!

The daughter must have brought her son-in-law's children with her. It's not a big deal to feed them, but what will happen when they come back and ask for more food?

Every mother-in-law would secretly slip food to her daughter. They dared not give it openly, for fear that their daughter would be mistreated when she returned home and be ordered by her mother-in-law to come back and ask for more food.

It's alright if there's no daughter-in-law; you can at least feed your daughter before she goes home. But if there is a daughter-in-law, it's going to be a big battle.

If you give it to your daughter, it will be even more troublesome. Once it happens, it will happen again and again. Your daughter-in-law will also ask you for food to send to your mother's family.

Some people even secretly told Liu Maocai that the meals on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year were just porridge, and it had to be very thin, so that even if someone came over at mealtimes, such food wouldn't attract attention.

Anyway, everyone's opinion is the same: pretend to be poor.

Since everyone agrees, Liu Maocai couldn't be happier to do it this way, as it would save him a lot of trouble.

Now, Liu Maocai is most grateful that he's no longer the village chief. Seeing Wang Hongxi returning from meetings with a long face, sometimes even tearing her clothes in the process, he thinks, "This isn't being a village chief; it's being cannon fodder."

Wang Hongxi always complained to him that every time there was a meeting, the village chiefs from various villages would borrow grain from him, and the township head did not stop them.

Borrowing grain? That's like borrowing lives! So Wang Hongxi and Liu Maocai agreed on the same story: My family is poor, we only drink porridge every day.

But nobody believed it. There are no secrets that stay hidden forever. Although they didn't know how much grain Liujiatun produced, given Liu Maocai's character, it was impossible for him to hand over all the grain to the state or keep less for everyone to survive.

Liujiatun is now the most sought-after village. Matchmakers are all eyeing the eligible young men in the village, and they are happy to find husbands from Liujiatun.

The girls from Liujiatun were also unwilling to go out, which resulted in many young people getting married in the first month of the lunar calendar.

After finishing her thin porridge, Zhang Hongmei found Wang Hongxi. "Village chief, when will we slaughter the sheep?"

“Hongmei, your great-grandmother and I have discussed it and decided not to slaughter the sheep. However, all your sheep must be returned to the brigade. Don’t worry, you won’t be treated unfairly. We’ll give you money or work points at the market price, whatever you like.”

Zhang Hongmei felt relieved when she heard that the old lady knew, knowing that she wouldn't suffer any loss.

Wang Hongxi continued, "Although the sheep belong to the public, you will still be the one herding them. From now on, you won't need to work in the fields; herding sheep will be all you need to do."

Zhang Hongmei was satisfied, but hesitated before asking, "Did the villagers agree?"

"That's not your concern. The sheep will be driven to the brigade's livestock shed on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."

"Okay, I'll do as my uncle says."

Back home, looking at the eighteen sheep in the pen, I thought, "I'll feed you more these next few days, because you'll be leaving soon."

When Liu Jianguo left in the second year of junior high school, Er Lengzi still drove him away on his bicycle. Ever since they got bicycles, they've saved Lao Niu so much work.

Starting from the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, her bicycle became her wedding car. Ten young men in the village were getting married, and they all asked Zhang Hongmei in advance to borrow her bicycle to pick up their brides.

Thoughtful families would bring some local produce or a few pieces of candy, while those who didn't would come empty-handed and act all self-righteous.

Zhang Hongmei refused to lend money to the latter type of family, and it was only after Liu Maocai intervened and talked to Zhang Hongmei that the problem was resolved.

The villagers also knew that this little girl was not someone to be trifled with, and that she had quite a temper.

The dinner on the third day of the Lunar New Year was particularly hearty: a big pot of stewed fish, along with potatoes, cabbage, and sorghum rice.

After two days of hunger, the villagers understood even more how difficult life was outside.

When they got home, they instructed the children not to talk about food, and to just say that it was porridge.

The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is also called "Po Wu" (破五), and we eat dumplings there. Er Lengzi had already told Zhang Hongmei that it was fine if they ate in the cafeteria, but if they were eating alone, he would definitely cook for her.

The village has been celebrating since the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Today is Zhang Hongmei's birthday. Not many people know this, and Zhang Hongmei didn't care. However, Liu Aimin's aunt, the granddaughter-in-law of the old lady, brought over a bowl of noodles with two eggs on it.

Li Cuihua also boiled six eggs for him.

Zhang Hongmei felt warm and fuzzy on her birthday, knowing that people still cared about her.

However, Zhang Shouyi, far away in the capital, was in a very bad mood.

I was initially happy to receive the package and see the address on it, but the only thing I wasn't too happy about was that the package was for his dad.

Give it to his dad if you want. The package was full of good stuff; this girl is really generous.

She flipped to the last page and saw a flimsy letter. Opening it, her eyes narrowed. It was filled with greetings to her father, her own situation, and finally, information about the villagers. She'd actually gone to her father for someone else's sake?

Although she didn't explicitly say she would take care of her, based on my understanding of that girl, she wouldn't say anything useless.

She didn't mention herself at all, haha, I'll remember that.

Zhang Hongmei was unaware that she had offended a powerful figure. Every day, she went to the brigade headquarters to teach the children to read, and now the children in the village are at the level of a second-grade elementary school student.

Before we knew it, the fifteenth of the month arrived. There was still millet in the brigade's warehouse. Several women responsible for milling the millet worked for two days to grind a bag of millet flour.

Li Cuihua led a team to make the bean paste. Since they didn't have sesame seeds, they had to use bean paste instead.

After breakfast on the morning of the fifteenth, we started preparing for the Lantern Festival that evening.

Zhang Hongmei watched as Wang Hongxi's wife peeled the steamed and cooled sweet potatoes, then added them to the millet flour to make dough, eliminating the need for water. It was the same method she used to make sweet potato balls.

Then, ten women responsible for cooking made glutinous rice balls.

Zhang Hongmei secretly tasted a bite of the bean paste and leaned close to Li Cuihua, saying, "Third Aunt, this bean paste isn't sweet at all."

"We don't have any sugar, we have too much salt. Who knows when Liu Changlin will come back with the money?"

"Didn't the accountant go to the supply and marketing cooperative today?"

"They haven't come back yet."

"Wait a bit, what Lantern Festival dumpling isn't sweet?"

"You greedy girl, if you wait too long, dinner will be late."

"I guess no one will complain even if I'm late."

"Okay, I'll go talk to them about it."

Who doesn't want something sweet these days? So we all agreed to wait a bit.

After waiting for nearly an hour, everyone got impatient and Liu Changlin finally returned.

He went there in an oxcart, but only brought back ten bags of brown sugar and one bag of coarse salt.

"Changlin, why did you just get back? I've been waiting for the brown sugar."

"Ugh! Don't even mention it. The supply and marketing cooperative simply doesn't sell to our village."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. Ladies, hurry up and cook. I'll go unload the truck."

In fact, Liu Changlin went directly to the old lady's house after unloading the truck. On the way, he saw Dashan and asked him to call Wang Hongxi and Liu Maocai over.

Liu Maocai arrived the fastest. As soon as he came in, he saw Liu Changlin sitting there listlessly, looking like a wilted eggplant.

"What's wrong?"

"Sigh! We're about to be isolated."

As soon as Wang Hongxi entered, she heard the word "isolation." "What happened?"

"We went to the township supply and marketing cooperative today but couldn't buy anything. They won't sell to us."

The three grown men looked at the old woman sitting steadily on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"It's alright, I have military scrip here, and Hongmei should have some too."