In the delivery room, cries of pain, one louder than the last, echoed.
"Aunt Liu, quick, over here!" Zhao Hongfei pulled the midwife through the courtyard gate and led her into the delivery room.
Yang Chunhua pushed Zhao Hongfei outside: "Go outside and wait! Don't come in!"
With a bang, the door slammed shut, and Zhao Hongfei paced back and forth outside, extremely worried.
After a flurry of activity, Boss Zhao called out, "We've only just started, there's still a long way to go. Those who aren't busy, please continue eating."
Xie Yuyao sat at the table, listening to the screams, and couldn't eat anything.
Seeing this, Zhao Honghui put down his chopsticks and said to his father, "I'll take Yaoyao back first."
"Alright, Yao Yao, come over another day for a proper meal," Old Zhao said.
Xie Yuyao smiled and agreed, then went out with Zhao Honghui.
She had just given Huang Qiufen a cup of spiritual spring water, so she figured nothing serious would happen.
On the way, Zhao Honghui held Yao Yao's hand tightly, "Yao Yao, do you like children?"
Xie Yuyao raised an eyebrow: "Hmm?"
"If you like, we can have one child in the future."
What if I don't like it?
“Then we won’t have the baby. I can’t bear to see you suffer the pain of childbirth.” Zhao Honghui stopped and looked at Yao Yao with tenderness in his eyes.
Xie Yuyao hugged him tightly and patted his back: "Relax, we'll talk about the future later. We haven't even gotten married yet!"
Zhao Honghui hugged him tightly, wishing they could hold their wedding the very next day.
Back at the youth quarters, Xie Yuyao closed the door tightly. She lit candles, took out a takeout meal from a high-end restaurant, and ate it slowly and carefully, while Zhao Honghui ate heartily, exclaiming how delicious and satisfying it was.
After dinner, the two set off fireworks together in the yard.
Xie Yuyao held a stick of incense and carefully placed it on the firework on the ground, lit the fuse, and emitted sparks.
She playfully threw away the incense sticks, hid in Zhao Honghui's arms, and turned to look.
With a whoosh, the fireworks shot into the sky, blooming in mid-air, a breathtaking sight.
Lovers embrace and make a lifelong vow amidst the dazzling fireworks.
*
The weather was fine on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
When Xie Yuyao woke up, Zhao Honghui had already made dumplings. He told her that Huang Qiufen had given birth to a daughter that morning, and that both mother and daughter were safe.
It's unknown whether Huang Qiufen will continue to act arrogantly and domineeringly after seeing that she gave birth to a daughter.
After breakfast, the two tidied up and went to the cowshed to wish Old Sun and the others a Happy New Year. Afterwards, Zhao Honghui took Yao Yao back to the educated youth compound, as he still had to visit his close relatives and neighbors for New Year's greetings.
Xie Yuyao sat in the front yard for a while, and everyone exchanged auspicious greetings and chatted casually.
Ren Fei suggested, "Let's go and wish the brigade leader, the village party secretary, and some of our close relatives a Happy New Year."
Xie Yuyao nodded. Putting aside others for the time being, she would definitely have to go to the brigade leader's house.
Yu Wenbo didn't go far, and it was cold outside, so he stopped going out.
Jiang Yan felt that everyone in the brigade was targeting her and was unwilling to lower herself to offer New Year's greetings.
Therefore, only Ren Fei, Xie Yuyao, and Yu Wenjiang traveled.
Along the way, many people strolled around visiting each other in groups. Ren Fei was the most enthusiastic, smiling and saying good things to everyone, whether she knew them or not.
After the brigade leader finished his New Year's greetings, Xie Yuyao said to Yu Wenjiang, "Zhao Honghui's house is next door, and Zhao Jianbin's house is just over there. I'm going over there, are you coming with me?"
Yu Wenjiang immediately said, "Let's go together, we all know each other."
Ren Fei nodded as well.
So the three of them went to Zhao Honghui's house first. Yang Chunhua warmly welcomed them into the house, and Zhao the eldest poured them tea. "Honghui went out to pay New Year's visits. I'll send someone to find him and bring him back."
Xie Yuyao quickly said, "Uncle, no need, we want to go to other places for a stroll."
The group didn't stay long; they went to Zhao Jianbin's house, Secretary Liu's house, Accountant Li's house, and several other familiar people's houses to offer New Year's greetings.
Ren Fei was going to visit Accountant Li's house. She said that with the new year comes a new beginning, and harmony is the most important thing.
It wasn't a major grudge, so Xie Yuyao and Yu Wenjiang went together. When Accountant Li and his wife saw the three of them smiling and offering New Year's greetings, they naturally wouldn't show any displeasure on the first day of the Lunar New Year. No matter what they thought in their hearts, they all smiled and said words of blessing.
By the time they returned to the youth center, everyone was quite tired. Xie Yuyao declined Yu Wenjiang and Ren Fei's invitations and went back to the backyard to rest.
I stayed up with Zhao Honghui until dawn last night, and was woken up early this morning by the crackling sound of firecrackers. Now I'm just taking a nap.
When she woke up again, it was already afternoon. Zhao Honghui had already returned and, seeing that Yao Yao was awake, wanted to make her some simple noodles.
"No rush, I have some ready-made." Xie Yuyao took out two takeout portions of spicy hot pot from her spatial storage. Zhao Honghui ate with her and was secretly amazed.
Starting from the second day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Honghui was busy visiting relatives and friends, and was basically not at the educated youth settlement during the day. Since the educated youth, far from home, didn't have many people to visit, Yu Wenjiang invited Xie Yuyao to play cards.
Xie Yuyao was curious and went over to take a look, only to find that it wasn't the playing cards she had imagined.
These cards were found by Yu Wenjiang. They were made of grayish plastic and had figures and Chinese characters on them. Xie Yuyao knew from the original owner's memories that these were leaf cards, which were similar to mahjong, like a poker-style mahjong.
Xie Yuyao picked up a card, looked at it, and laughed, "I'm not very good at this!"
"It's okay, we're not very good at it either," Ren Fei said.
Once you start playing, the rules are actually quite simple, and Xie Yuyao got used to them after a few rounds.
To Xie Yuyao's surprise, Jiang Yan sat down next to Ren Fei to play cards, seemingly having reconciled.
When Zhao Honghui came to pick her up, he saw that Yao Yao had a lot of patches on her forehead and burst out laughing.
Xie Yuyao slapped his arm in exasperation, "What are you laughing at? Everyone wins and loses, it's not that I'm bad at it."
“Yes, yes, everyone’s the same.” Zhao Honghui smiled and leaned down to ask her, “What would you like for dinner? I’ll make it.”
"Let's play together, then we'll stop after this round."
A short while later, the two returned to the backyard, and Zhao Honghui asked, "Was playing cards fun?"
Xie Yuyao nodded: "It's quite fun, and it can help pass the time."
"Then have fun!"
Time slipped away quietly while we were leisurely playing cards, and before we knew it, it was the sixth day of the first lunar month.
Early in the morning, Zhao Dayong and Arong knocked on the back door of the educated youth compound, just like last year.
"Thank you, educated youth, Happy New Year!"
"May all go well with you!"
Zhao Dayong and Arong cupped their hands and smiled, explaining that it was inconvenient for them to interact openly, which was why they were meeting for the first time after the New Year.
Xie Yuyao smiled and congratulated them, inviting them inside for tea.
After the three sat down, Zhao Dayong got down to business: "Zuo Jun has been arrested. Our territory has expanded a lot this year, and I want to sell the braised meat in the new territory. In the future, when the sales volume increases, the two of us won't be able to carry that much stock. Do you think we can change the transaction method and sell the braising broth to us, and we'll cook the ingredients in the county town?"
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