"Thank you, auntie."

Lu Xingxing happily took the snacks and took his brothers back to the west room to share them together, with no one eating alone.

After a while, Lu Guozhi came back from outside carrying a hoe, and asked happily as soon as he entered the yard.

"I heard that Shi Shen and his wife are back?"

Lu Qingyuan said, "I'm back. I'm in the main room."

Yang Niannian and Lu Shishen heard Lu Guozhi's voice, came out of the main room, and shouted together.

"dad."

"Father-in-law."

When people get older, they like to be in a lively environment and have many children and grandchildren. Lu Guozhi was very happy to see his youngest son and his wife come back after a long time.

He responded and put the hoe casually under the eaves.

"As soon as we entered the village, we heard that you were back. The three children ran home happily, saying, 'It's good to be back. It's good to be back.'"

His youngest son and his daughter-in-law are capable. All the villagers envy him for his good fortune. They say behind his back that good bamboo shoots come from bad bamboos, but he doesn't get angry when they hear it. People say so much behind his back just because they envy him.

No one in the surrounding villages lives as well as his family.

Lu Qingyuan came over with the slaughtered chicken and put it in the enamel basin.

"Dad, go inside and chat with Shi Shen first. I'll take off the chicken feathers and then go back to accompany you."

Lu Guozhi, "Let mom do it. You go to Wu Laosan's house and get some wine. The three of us will have a drink tonight."

When Lu Qingyuan heard this, he bent down and washed his hands in the basin by the well, then went to the house to get an empty wine bottle and rode his bicycle to Wu Laosan's house.

Wu Laosan runs a grocery store in the next village. His store sells only bulk wine, and villagers from the surrounding areas all come here to buy wine.

They were all villagers from nearby and it was not their first time here, so they were all familiar with each other. As soon as Wu Laosan saw Lu Qingyuan coming over with a bottle of wine, he greeted him happily.

"Are there any relatives coming to your house?"

Lu Qingyuan handed him the bottle of wine and said, "My brother and his wife are back. My dad is happy. Let's have a couple of drinks together as a family."

Wu Laosan praised while helping to pour the wine.

"Your brother is capable. Your family will have a better life in the future."

Lu Qingyuan smiled and nodded with pride.

"My brother has loved practicing martial arts since he was young and likes to be a soldier. He is quite ambitious. My sister-in-law is also capable. She is a student at Beijing University and just graduated this year."

Wu Laosan had heard about this a long time ago. The news that a student from a prestigious university had emerged from the countryside had spread throughout the surrounding villages.

He asked curiously, "Has the government assigned you a job? A Peking University graduate should at least be a small leader, right?"

Lu Qingyuan answered truthfully, "My brother and sister-in-law wanted to be entrepreneurs, so they didn't take the jobs assigned by the government."

Wu Laosan looked regretful, "It's not that easy to be an entrepreneur. You still need a good and stable job so you don't have to worry about food and clothing in the future."

Although Lu Qingyuan was an honest man, he had a clear mind. He knew that his brother and sister-in-law were capable, educated, and had a broader vision than him, so he would not admit death.

Just the way.

"My brother and sister-in-law have this diploma. Even if they don't want the jobs assigned by the government, they can find plenty of good jobs on their own."

At this point, Wu Laosan didn't say much and handed him the bottle full of wine.

"Thirty cents."

Lu Qingyuan took out the money and handed it to him, then took the bottle of wine and went home happily.

In the evening, Guan Ailian cooked a big pot of chicken stewed with vermicelli, and put a circle of pancakes on the edge of the iron pot. Such food is not easy to eat during the New Year in the countryside.

According to our usual eating habits, all the dishes are put into the vegetable bowl and everyone eats around the table.

Guan Ailian thought that her mother-in-law had bad eating habits and liked to stir the food in the bowl with chopsticks. Her brother and sister-in-law, who were very clean, would definitely not like it, so she served each person a bowl and let them eat separately.

He even put some more chicken in Yang Niannian's bowl and said with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, you should eat more. The chickens raised at home have better meat quality."

When Yang Niannian took the bowl and chopsticks, she found that there was more meat in her bowl than in others. She took the bowl and chopsticks with a smile, and then put a few pieces of meat into Xingxing's bowl on the grounds that she couldn't finish so much.

"Sister-in-law, you eat it. No need to give it to her. There is more in the pot." Guan Ailian said.

"It's okay. I can't finish that much."

As Yang Niannian spoke, she put two pieces of meat with chicken skin into Lu Shishen's bowl.

Lu Guozhi held the wine cup and drank two taels of wine with his two sons.

Without Ma Xiuzhu's noise, the meal was very harmonious.

After dinner, Guan Ailian sent the three children back to the house to sleep, and the adults sat in the living room and chatted about family matters.

"Shi Shen, how many days will you have off this time?" Lu Guozhi asked.

Lu Shishen replied calmly, "Three days. I have to return to the team the day after tomorrow."

Lu Qingyuan continued, "Then you will take the train back tomorrow, right?"

Lu Shishen nodded and said, "Tomorrow morning's train."

Guan Ailian felt that they had finally come back, so she wanted to keep Yang Niannian with her for a few more days.

"Sister-in-law, why don't you stay at home for a few more days and ask Qingyuan to take you to Beijing later."

Without waiting for Yang Niannian to speak, Lu Shishen spoke.

"She's coming back with me."

Guan Ailian knew Lu Shishen's temper, and seeing that he had made his decision, she did not try to persuade him to stay.

Yang Niannian said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, when we have the annual leave next year, we will come back and stay for a while longer."

Guan Ailian nodded, "Okay, you guys call me in advance so I can wash the quilts. Now that we have a phone at home, it will be convenient to get in touch."

Lu Guozhi took over the conversation, "Everything is fine at home, you don't have to worry, just take care of yourself, and come back more often when you have time."

He groaned for a while, then looked at Lu Shishen and said, "Now that Nian Nian has graduated, you should also prepare to have children."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiuzhu couldn't help but interrupt.

"Yes, it's time to have a baby. You can have children while you are still young. If you give birth to a girl, you can have another child. Then you can register the baby under your brother and sister-in-law's name. You can have a second child after paying a fine."

Lu Qingyuan and Guan Ailian had no objections and did not interrupt. It was up to their younger brother and his wife to decide how many children to have and when to have them.

Lu Shishen frowned and said.

"No matter if it's a boy or a girl, we will only have one child in the future."

Ma Xiuzhu opened her mouth to refute, but Lu Guozhi stopped her with a glare and then said.

"You decide how many children you want to have, we won't get involved."

Why are you thinking about having a second child when you haven’t even given birth to your first one?

If having a second child is discovered, it will affect the future of the younger son and it will not be worth it.

Yang Niannian took note of the expressions of several people, with a slight smile in her eyes, but did not respond.

Whether to have children or how many children to have is her own decision, and no one can force her.

As for Lu Guozhi's inducing labor, the reason why she didn't say anything was very simple, because she was already preparing for pregnancy.

Seeing that no one was talking and the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Lu Qingyuan changed the subject.

"Sister-in-law, I have something you can help me with. Aren't farmers encouraged to start businesses to get rid of poverty and become rich? There happens to be a hill in the village that can be leased for free for one year, and the contract fee will be charged in the second year. It also supports unsecured loans. I want to lease it and plant fruit trees."

"Ailian and I don't have much business experience. We don't know if it's possible to contract a mountain to plant fruit trees. Do you think this mountain can be contracted?"

Guan Ailian also said, "Sister-in-law, Qingyuan and I have been discussing this for several days, but we still haven't made up our minds. I was planning to call you to ask for your opinions, and now that you're back, it's just in time."