Although Lin Tao was sad that she couldn't go back to Xiangcheng to visit her family this year, there was no other way.

Li Chengxi looked at Lin Tao's disappointed face and felt sorry for her, so he started to think about it.

Half a month later, Lin Changhai, who was far away in Taohua Village, Xiangcheng, received two letters from Shengshan Island.

The first letter was written by Lin Tao. Lin Changhai and Aunt Fang each received one. The letter mentioned her pregnancy. Lin Changhai and Aunt Fang were very happy to hear about it.

The second letter was written by Li Chengxi, saying that Lin Tao could not return to Xiangcheng for the New Year this year because she was pregnant, but she missed Lin Changhai very much after being away from home for so long. Li Chengxi asked Lin Changhai in the letter if he could come to the island to celebrate the New Year this year, and he could send his guards to pick Lin Changhai up.

Lin Tao had been gone for more than half a year, and Lin Changhai had long wanted to have a concubine.

Now that his daughter is pregnant and cannot return, he is naturally willing to go there.

Last time, Lin Tao sent him a letter asking him to go live with them on the island. Although he refused, he actually felt very uncomfortable and guilty. This time, it would be nice for him to spend the New Year with his daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

So after receiving the letter, Lin Changhai immediately wrote a reply and asked the postman to send it away.

Aunt Fang knew that Lin Changhai was going to the island to celebrate the New Year, so she started to get busy: "When you go there, bring the gloves I made for Tao. They are thick and have cotton inside. Her hands tend to get frostbite in the winter. When you go there, tell Cheng Xi about this and tell Tao to use warm water when washing vegetables and dishes. Don't just use cold water for convenience, or she will get frostbite and it will be painful and itchy."

"I'll go to the city tomorrow and buy some more food from here. You can bring some with you. Ah Tao likes to eat square cakes, bacon, and bacon the most. I don't know when the brigade will kill pigs this year. It would be better if we can kill the pigs and distribute the meat earlier. If it's too late, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up. I have to pickle and smoke the bacon. If it's really impossible, I'll use all the tickets Ah Tao sent me before to buy meat. Buy more meat and make more bacon. She is so far away and can't come back. She just misses the food at home."

In the past six months, Lin Tao has sent her a lot of tickets. When she left last time, she even stuffed a stack of money and tickets into the book. What a kid.

I knew she would not keep it if she saw it, so I deliberately hid it in a book.

Aunt Fang was sad and happy. She was sad because Ah Tao was so far away from home, and she couldn't visit her even if she wanted to. Over the years, she had already treated Lin Tao as her own daughter. She felt as sad about Lin Tao getting married as if she were marrying off her own daughter.

Lin Manman added, "There are also books. Sister Tao likes reading. Uncle Lin, when you go, take these books with you. I found them recently. Sister Tao will definitely like them."

Lin Changhai looked at the mother and daughter who kept talking about these things, and quickly said: "Alright, alright, I know everything you said. You don't have to worry about the bacon and sausage. I have already bought the meat and marinated it. It will be smoked in a few days."

Along with the letter came a pair of shoes.

Lin Changhai tried it on and found that it fit him perfectly. He thought that his lady was really considerate.

The transport factory had factory uniforms, and the clothes and sweaters that Lin Tao had made for him in previous years were still wearable, so Lin Changhai actually had no shortage of clothes. The only problem was that shoes were easily damaged for those of them who ran transport companies.

This pair of shoes was made by Lin Tao herself inside and out. They are comfortable to wear and covered with a layer of pig skin on the outside, which makes them sturdy and can be worn throughout the winter.

Wearing shoes made by a lady herself is a different feeling.

***************************

The weather was getting colder and colder. Lin Tao was very afraid of the cold and usually didn't want to go out unless necessary. At most she would go to Chen Shuifen's house or Xu Yuting's house.

The temperature dropped so low that the yard was covered with white frost the next morning. The cabbage tasted very sweet after being hit by the frost. Our family has been eating stir-fried cabbage for half a month.

However, Lin Tao seemed to never get tired of eating. After finishing her meals every day, she could eat a lot alone.

After becoming pregnant, Lin Tao's appetite became much bigger than before. She didn't have any dietary restrictions and enjoyed everything she ate.

Xu Yuting was very envious of this, because she had no morning sickness in the first few months, but she had started to vomit recently, and her appetite was also poor, and she couldn't eat anything. She had been suffering for the past month. Wang Yuanliang had thought of many ways to get her to eat more, but all to little avail.

In winter, the supply and marketing cooperatives and food factories had fewer supplies, and seafood and vegetables were not as abundant as before. After winter came, fewer people went out to sea to fish, and the fishermen also stayed at home to prepare for the New Year.

Fortunately, Lin Tao had prepared a lot of food before winter, mostly some dried goods that last longer, plus the radishes and cabbages grown at home, and the pickled cabbage made before, so there were quite a lot of supplies at home.

There is a cellar in the yard. It hasn't been opened for a long time and is full of dust.

A while ago, Lin Tao instructed Li Chengxi to clean the cellar. Before the snow fell, they pulled out all the cabbages and radishes in the yard and hid them in the cellar.

Finally, the couple couldn't help laughing when they looked at the cellar full of supplies.

With so many dishes, it was more than enough for them to eat for the whole winter.

When going to bed at night, Li Chengxi held Lin Tao in his arms.

Lin Tao's belly is a little bigger than before, but it is not noticeable at all because she wears loose and thick clothes during the day. It is only at night, when Li Chengxi holds Lin Tao to sleep, that he can feel that there is a little life slowly growing in Lin Tao's belly.

"We have become a wealthy family now." Li Chengxi sighed at the vegetables in the cellar.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "I have food in my hands, so I am not worried. Besides, I was born in the year of the rat, so I like to hoard things."

Li Chengxi stretched out his hand and pinched the tip of Lin Tao's nose, and asked, "Are your feet still cold, little mouse?"

"It's not cold anymore." Lin Tao said as she retracted her feet.

Lin Tao's feet would be especially cold every winter. Even if she soaked her feet before going to bed, they would still be cold soon after getting into bed.

As soon as winter came, Li Chengxi discovered this and helped her warm her feet by placing her feet on his belly. Soon, they were warmed up.

Lin Tao disagreed at first, but she couldn't persuade Li Chengxi.

"Put a hot water bottle in the quilt next time." Lin Tao said.

Otherwise, I would always put my cold feet on Li Chengxi's belly. Even if Li Chengxi didn't feel anything, I would still feel bad.

Li Chengxi knew that she felt sorry for him, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with warming his wife's feet.

He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow to have a look."

The next day, Li Chengxi brought back a hot water bag from the supply and marketing cooperative. Before going to bed, he filled the bag with hot water and put it under the quilt. It was so warm.

The days when she didn't have to go to school to work passed so quickly that Lin Tao didn't even know the time. When she remembered and looked at the calendar, she found that it was less than half a month until the Chinese New Year.

These days, Lin Tao often hangs out with Xu Yuting and Chen Shuifen, either sitting at home eating melon seeds and chatting, or knitting sweaters together.

Recently, Chen Shuifen has been making shoes for the children, and it took her several days just to sew the soles.

During this period, Zhong Jing also came to meet them a few times, but not often, as she had a lot of things to do at home and was busy.

Chen Shuifen is the best-informed among the three of them. Basically, she is the first to know anything that happens in the family area.

Every time Lin Tao and Xu Yuting heard about it afterward, they realized, oh, so this is true, ah, what, whose family is fighting with whose family again? Why? Just for a chicken? This is too exaggerated...

This time, Chen Shuifen was talking about Huang Aidi.

"You may not know this, but Huang Aidi is pregnant." Chen Shuifen kept moving her hands while she spoke. "Actually, her pregnancy is nothing special, but the things she said were really funny. She said that the baby in her belly must be a son, and she will give birth to a son for the Ma family, and she will be a great contributor to the Ma family. I just don't like her. She took advantage of her pregnancy to order the child of Captain Ma's previous wife around, treating him like a servant. It's a pity she could do that."

Lin Tao was not interested in Huang Aidi, nor did she care whether she was pregnant or whether she was pregnant with a son or a daughter.

She just thought of Ma Xiaoying, the girl who was obviously very good but was despised as worthless by Huang Aidi.

I don't know if Director Yang can handle Huang Aidi's case. This is a military camp after all, and Huang Aidi's behavior will have a bad impact. At the same time, Lin Tao also hopes that Ma Xiaoying can be braver and more resilient, and not let such a family wear down her will.

Lin Tao hopes that Ma Xiaoying will always remember what she said to her that day.

She hopes that one day in the future, she can see a brand new Ma Xiaoying.

Lin Tao pondered in her heart, and then she listened to Chen Shuifen continue to say: "But she didn't act so arrogant for a few days. Director Yang found out that she treated herself as a slave and the child was a slave. Director Yang went to talk to her, and she calmed down."

Lin Tao heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this.

At the same time, I have great admiration for the Yang Aidang. It is because of the Yang Aidang that this military district can maintain superficial peace.

Otherwise, with Lin Hui's personality and Huang Aidi involved, who knows what kind of trouble would arise.

In the following days, Lin Tao started to pickle radishes. After pickling two large jars of radishes, the cellar was half empty.

She plans to eat the remaining radishes fresh, and make stir-fried radish shreds, radish and pork ribs soup, or stewed radish. Everything can be arranged.

Originally, Lin Tao was planning to buy some meat and smoke it at home, but the kitchen here was not convenient for smoking bacon, so she gave up.

Within two days, Li Chengxi brought back another package sent from Shanghai. It contained several marinated ducks, salted meat, ham, and a large piece of dried beef.

My aunt must have remembered that Lin Tao likes to eat pickled food, so she sent her a lot of bamboo shoots this time.

In addition to these, there are two cans of milk powder and some vitamin tablets.

Shanghai is a big city, and you can buy good things there that you can't find in many other places. However, when Lin Tao saw the milk powder, she was still a little confused.

Ask Li Chengxi: "Chengxi, did grandma and the others remember the date wrong? The baby won't be born until the second half of next year, why are they sending milk powder now?"

After reading the letter, I found out that the milk powder was specially sent to her.

The letter said that pregnant women are prone to calcium deficiency, and asked Lin Tao to drink some milk powder to supplement calcium to avoid cramps due to calcium deficiency in the later stages of pregnancy, which would be very uncomfortable.

Lin Tao felt warm at heart after reading the letter. In Taohua Village, let alone pregnant women, babies couldn't even drink malted milk after they were born. Who would buy milk powder for pregnant women?

"Cheng Xi, my grandma, uncle, aunt, and aunt are so good to me that I don't know what to do." Lin Tao sighed.

She was on the island, and the only things she could send them were some seafood and dried goods, and she couldn't buy anything else. Last time she sent a letter, she sent her grandmother a cashmere vest that she made herself.

Li Chengxi said to her jokingly: "As long as you take good care of yourself and live a good life, grandma and the others will be relieved."

"Yes." Lin Tao nodded and said, "Then I will go to the village with Sister Chen in a couple of days to see if we can exchange for some good things and send them back to grandma and the others."

Grandma and her family had no shortage of money or tickets, so Lin Tao could only send them some seafood and dried goods.

In fact, they have no shortage of these, and they are also sold in Shanghai, which is close to the sea. However, it is true that the seafood in Shanghai is not as good as that on the islands, and is more expensive.

Two days later, Lin Tao actually got a lot of good things that the food factory didn't have. She got a lot of dried abalone and dried sea cucumber from a family.

She planned to mail it out in two parts the next day, one to Shanghai and the other to Xiangcheng.

Who knew that the next day, Li Chengxi told her early in the morning that he had taken a day off to pick someone up at the dock, and asked Lin Tao to go with him.

Lin Tao asked who it was, but Li Chengxi kept it a secret and only told her that it was an acquaintance.

Lin Tao didn't take his words seriously, thinking that he was an acquaintance of Li Chengxi. She put on a cashmere hat and a scarf, and then followed Li Chengxi out.

The car stopped at the door of the house, but Li Chengxi was driving himself.

Lin Tao sat in the back seat and asked Li Chengxi, "Where's Xiao Ning? I don't think I've seen him recently."

Li Chengxi answered while driving: "I assigned him an important mission and he went to do it."

Lin Tao didn't ask anything. She didn't understand their missions and didn't want to ask. It was useless to ask.

Li Chengxi drove steadily all the way to the pier.

When they arrived at the pier, Li Chengxi got out of the car first, then opened the door for Lin Tao and helped her out. Fortunately, it was cold now, and the number of people on the pier gradually decreased. Now there were only a few people on the pier, and no one was looking at them for the time being.

The wind was very strong at the dock. As soon as Lin Tao got off the car, she felt the wind blowing on her body. Although she was wearing a thick cotton jacket, she still felt chilly.

Lin Tao pulled the scarf up to her face, covering most of her face.

After waiting for a while, Li Chengxi looked at the time on his watch and said, "We're almost there."

Not long after she finished speaking, Lin Tao noticed a ship in the distance coming towards them. From far to near, the ship that originally looked very small gradually became larger as it approached.

Therefore, Lin Tao noticed the man standing on the deck.

That person...

Just like her dad!