Zhou Ying entered the kitchen and saw his father putting the braised fish from the pot into a plate.

The braised fish has a bright color, and the whole fish is covered with thick sauce. After it is out of the pot, some green onions and coriander are sprinkled on it, which makes it look, smell and taste good.

At this time, the whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of fish.

Father Zhou brought the dishes to the table and wiped the water on his apron.

Zhou Ying hurried over and served two bowls of fragrant rice.

Zhou's father felt sorry for his daughter's suffering in the past, so he would prepare delicious food for her every day to nourish her body, and rice was an essential part of her three meals a day.

Even though the family was not very wealthy, Zhou's father would not be stingy with his love for his daughter.

They sat opposite each other and ate.

Zhou's father picked up a large piece of fish meat from Zhou Ying's belly.

"Eat more. The meat here has no bones."

Zhou Ying also picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and gave it to Zhou's father.

"Dad, you eat too."

Seeing his father's aging appearance, Zhou Ying felt very uncomfortable.

Since that incident, Zhou's father has changed a lot. He has aged a lot, and the white hair on his temples is even more obvious.

"Ying'er, who were you talking to just now?" asked Zhou's father.

"Oh, it was a woman from the village who came to me and said she wanted to introduce me to someone, but I didn't agree."

Zhou Ying took small bites of the fish and replied absentmindedly.

Father Zhou looked at Zhou Ying with loving eyes.

He asked tentatively, "Ying'er, if there is a suitable one, you can also consider it."

Zhou Ying immediately refused, "Dad, I don't want to get married again in this life. I just want to stay with you and mom."

Father Zhou said nothing more and ate his meal in silence.

In a short while, my eyes became moist.

Zhou Ying noticed his father's strange behavior, sighed, and felt sad.

"Dad, why are you crying? Your daughter is living well now and doesn't need to rely on a man."

Father Zhou couldn't hold back and wiped away his tears.

"Ying'er, Dad is old and can't take care of you all your life. What will you do if we get old? Who will take care of you?"

What parents worry about most is their children's future.

Zhou Ying quickly wiped her father's tears, "Dad, don't cry. If you cry, I'll want to cry too. Let's not think about things that far ahead, okay? I've done too many wrong things in my life, and I don't want to get involved in marriage anymore.

Dad, I've made up my mind. Let's leave here! Go to the county town or the city. We still have a little money in hand, so we can do business.

Aren't you a good cook? Let's open a restaurant and do business together.

Once you earn enough money, it won't be difficult to provide for your old age.

I believe that as long as I work hard and steadily, I will have a good future. ”

Zhou Ying patiently persuaded Zhou's father.

The words were also very beautiful.

But she wasn't just making up stories to fool Zhou's father.

She really wants to leave here and live somewhere else.

People in the village can't change their habit of gossiping. Even if they don't say it in public, they secretly ruin the Zhou family's reputation.

Even if Zhou Ying didn't mind, she didn't want to embarrass her parents.

Therefore, leaving is the best choice.

If she hadn't been waiting for Zhou's mother to come out of prison, she would have left long ago.

After hearing what his daughter said, Zhou's father stopped crying.

He also didn't want to make his daughter sad.

But I am still somewhat worried about my daughter's future.

"Ying'er, if you want to leave here, let's go! Even if you want to go to the ends of the earth, Dad will accompany you."

Zhou Ying burst into tears again.

Having such loving parents is the greatest happiness in her life.

"Okay, but we have to wait for mom to come back, and then the three of us will leave here and never come back."

Father Zhou touched his daughter's head and nodded.

"Okay, we'll leave when your mother comes back and our family is reunited."

The two burst into laughter and continued eating.

Although the food was cold, their hearts were still boiling with excitement.

In the future, Zhou Ying will live a pretty good life through her own efforts.

As the New Year approaches, Yonggan Village becomes lively again.

It was Shen Jiaojiao's first time to celebrate the New Year in the village.

The grand New Year atmosphere is no less than that in Beijing.

Starting from the 18th day of the 12th month, every household begins to prepare new year goods such as smoked bacon.

This year, Liu Xiaolan smoked a lot of bacon.

We don't have much at home, most of them have to be sent to Beijing.

This is what Mr. Shen asked Liu Xiaolan to do for him before he returned to Beijing.

It was not in vain. The old man took out a little from his coffin book, 100 yuan, and gave it to Liu Xiaolan to help him buy meat.

It was only 100 yuan, but I felt the pain for a long time.

The old man is only generous to Shen Jiaojiao. It is not easy for others to get something from him.

It takes a day and a night to smoke bacon, and bacon smoked with cypress branches tastes more fragrant.

String the smoked bacon with a rope and hang it in a ventilated place to blow dry the remaining moisture in the bacon.

Good bacon can be kept for a year without going bad.

This is also one of the ways for working people to preserve food.

The day of New Year's Eve.

I started to get busy early in the morning.

The men of the Xu family were responsible for cleaning the courtyard and pasting up couplets and Chinese characters for "Fu".

The women began to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.

Of course, it was mainly done by Liu Xiaolan and Li Ermei.

Shen Jiaojiao and Sun Huahua were responsible for taking care of the children and taking them to play in the yard.

Ping'an is now one year and one month old. He has just learned to walk, but he walks a little crookedly, like a drunk penguin.

Sun Huahua followed behind Ping An, wherever the little guy went, she followed.

I’m afraid the child might get bumped into something if he’s not paying attention.

Little Xu Jiamu in Shen Jiaojiao's arms is also two months old.

Now I either eat or sleep, and I am rarely awake.

Even when awake, he would just stare here and there with his round eyes.

There is no playability for children of this age.

Unlike children over one year old, they can not be taken to play together.

"Jiaojiao, ask your friend to come over for dinner tonight. She is alone here with no relatives or friends, and she must be very pitiful.

Let her join in the fun.”

Liu Xiaolan was plucking the chicken by the well in the yard while talking to Shen Jiaojiao.

She was talking about Zhao Haitang.

Shen Jiaojiao was sitting on a stool under the eaves, cutting the nails of the sleeping kid. She replied without raising her head, "She has gone home. Her mother wrote to her saying that she is not feeling well and asked her to go back to take care of her."

The day after Zhao Haitang received her college entrance examination results, she came to tell Shen Jiaojiao that she was going back.

Zhao Haitang was admitted to university with a total score of 365, which was a very good result.

At Shen Jiaojiao's suggestion, she chose the Chinese Department of Peking University, the same school and major as Shen Jiaojiao.

If you are admitted to university, you can naturally return to the city and your household registration can also be moved.

This should have been a happy thing, but Zhao Haitang was not happy at all.

She was reluctant to go home, but there was nothing she could do.

After all, we have biological parents. We can’t just cut off all ties with them and never have any contact with them again!

This is unrealistic.

However, Zhao Haitang still held on to a glimmer of hope and went back.

She was admitted to Kyoto University, so her family must be more or less proud of her!

Just like that, Zhao Haitang returned home in hesitation and anticipation.