In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth day of the New Year.

Guo Yu and his wife took Zhou Jiazhen back to the countryside early in the morning.

They seemed to be moving house and brought a lot of things with them, including Zhou Jiazhen's daily necessities, clothes, shoes and socks.

There were also pork, rice, salt, oil, malted milk, White Rabbit milk candy, and some grain coupons, supplementary grain coupons, cloth coupons, etc.

Liang Xueying assured Guo Yu and his wife not to worry, she would take good care of the child, and asked them to write back when they were free, or come back to see the child during holidays.

Guo Yu and his wife left shortly after lunch.

They said they had to go back to the county town to pack their luggage and get up early tomorrow morning to catch the train.

When they left, Liang Xueying specifically asked Guo Haochen and the others to take Zhou Jiazhen out to play, for fear that he would see them and cry and want to go back with them.

As a result, when they returned home, Zhou Jiazhen threw a tantrum when he didn't see his parents, and no one could comfort him. It was only when Guo Haochen and others took their own toys and some delicious food that they coaxed him into submission.

In this way, Zhou Jiazhen settled down in Laoan Village.

As Guo Yu went to Guangzhou, Guo Jianping and Guo Jianjun returned to the county town to work one after another.

Guo Haochen and his friends are very caring towards their little cousin Zhou Jiazhen, and take him with them when they go out to play.

Even Guo Ningwan and Guo Haoran were very happy because they were no longer the youngest in the family.

They quickly started to act like older brothers and sisters, letting their younger brother play with fun things and eat delicious food first.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Before the spring plowing started, Liang Xueying and Deng Qingling started making pumpkin rice cakes.

Deng Qingling took out a pumpkin, cut it in half, then removed the seeds and skin of the pumpkin and cut it into small pieces.

Then boil water and steam the pumpkin.

After the pumpkin is steamed, use a rice spoon to scoop out the pumpkin flesh, then use the rice spoon to press the pumpkin into a paste until it is fine and free of particles.

Then add glutinous rice flour, corn flour, sugar and chopped green onion into the pumpkin paste and knead into dough.

Take a small ball of dough, roll it into a round shape in the palm of your hand, and flatten it into a pancake shape.

Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, put the beaten pumpkin cake into the pan and fry it over medium heat until it is slightly puffed up and crispy.

Then use a bamboo colander to scoop out the fried pumpkin rice cakes, drain the oil and place them on a plate.

The children playing in the yard smelled the delicious aroma and ran to the kitchen door.

The children were peeking around there.

"Grandma, can we eat the pumpkin rice cake now? My brothers and sisters are hungry." Guo Haochen said.

The other children looked at Liang Xueying with shining eyes.

"Not yet. This freshly baked pumpkin rice cake is still hot. Go wash your hands first, then wait in the main room and I will bring it out to you." Liang Xueying said with a smile.

"Okay." As soon as the words fell, the children all ran to wash their hands.

Afterwards, Liang Xueying brought six pumpkin rice cakes to the main room in a bowl.

When Guo Haochen and his friends saw the old lady (Podai) carrying out pumpkin rice cakes, their eyes lit up and they all gathered around.

"Wow."

"It smells so good! Is this pumpkin rice cake?"

They haven’t eaten yet!

Liang Xueying: "Yeah, there aren't many yet. Take one each. Be careful, it might still be a little hot."

Liang Xueying said this and first distributed the pumpkin rice cakes to the three smaller ones, and then to the bigger one.

“Thank you, grandma (podai)”

As they spoke, the children took the fragrant pumpkin rice cakes and couldn't wait to take a bite.

Mmm, it’s delicious!

The skin is crispy and the inside is soft and sticky.

It’s fragrant and sweet, so delicious.

The children ate with gusto, with satisfied smiles on their faces.

Seeing how happily they were eating, Liang Xueying smiled and turned back to the kitchen.

When Liang Xueying returned to the kitchen, Deng Qingling had already fried a plate.

She used chopsticks to stir the pumpkin rice cakes in the pot. After putting down the chopsticks, she picked up a pumpkin rice cake and took a bite.

It’s delicious, fragrant, soft and chewy.

Seeing her mother-in-law coming in, Deng Qingling smiled and said, "Mom, I've fried some more. Do you want to take a few for grandma to eat? These glutinous rice cakes are so soft that even if she doesn't have teeth, she can eat them."

Liang Xueying: "Okay, later, while everyone is having lunch, let Haochen secretly send five to his grandmother."

Deng Qingling nodded and said, "Yeah."

It’s not that Liang Xueying and Deng Qingling were unfair. They only gave it to the old lady of the Guo family and not to Uncle Guo’s family.

Making this pumpkin rice cake requires glutinous rice flour, white sugar, and a lot of oil. She really couldn't bear to give it to Uncle Guo's family.

After all, the feelings between people are mutual.

On weekdays, whenever Uncle Guo’s family had something delicious, no matter how much or how little, they would give some to Guo Haochen and his family, treating them like their own grandsons.

As for Uncle Guo's family, it wasn't that Liang Xueying and Deng Qingling were interested in his things, but they didn't interact with each other on a daily basis and would only get together when there was something that needed to be discussed by everyone.

It seems that everyone's relationship is close but lacks affection. Of course, these are all Deng Qingling's thoughts.

Guo Haochen brought five pumpkin rice cakes to Uncle Guo's house. He put down the rice cakes and ran away, not giving Uncle Guo any chance to refuse.

Uncle Guo and his wife each ate one, Guo Hongqing ate one, and old lady Guo ate two.

They didn't think it was too little, after all, it was good to have something to eat.

Uncle Guo also told Mrs. Guo that his brother-in-law and his family were too polite and that they should just give the old lady two.

Why would they eat them? After all, there are many people in their family, and there are six children.

Mrs. Guo: "It's only natural to give you food. You usually give them a lot of food."

Brothers also need to reciprocate with each other so that their relationship will be good and long-lasting.

Uncle Guo: "What's right or wrong? I'm the eldest brother. When Dad passed away, he asked me to take good care of my younger siblings. I've gotten used to it over the years." He is used to sharing any delicious food with his younger siblings.

Uncle Guo in the book is like the honest Kang Qiguang in the TV series "Foreign Daughter-in-law Local Son-in-law";

In fact, no matter how good the relationship is, it needs to be maintained. If it is one-sided and there is no return, even the best relationship will fade.

The return does not need to be something expensive, but it means making the other person feel that you care about him, which means that his efforts are not one-sided.

Don’t say silly things like you don’t ask for anything in return. Even from your biological parents, you need something in return. Otherwise, how would you become an ungrateful person or an unfilial son?