Grandma Jin had spent the Lunar New Year at the Qian family's house a couple of years ago. Back then, Jin Jinxiu wasn't home, so only Qian Sheng, Qian Duoduo, and Qian Mao were there. They felt the New Year celebrations were rather quiet, and the Jin family's place was indeed small, not enough for the Qian family to come over. However, this was Qian Rao's idea; Grandma Jin was a rather traditional person, and she felt that such matters should be decided by her son-in-law!
Old Jin said from the side, "Don't act on your own, kid."
Qian Rao said with a grin, "Grandpa, look at what you're saying! How could I dare to say anything out of turn when my father has spoken!"
Upon hearing this, Grandma Jin nodded and said, "Alright, then come pick us up on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, and let your uncle and the others pay respects to their ancestors first!"
Qian Rao immediately agreed, saying, "Okay, Grandpa, then it'll be the 29th. I'll rush over to pick you and Grandma up. Hehe, with you two here, my mom won't dare to punish us."
Hearing this, Grandma Jin smiled and said, "Okay, Grandma will back you up!"
Qian Rao nodded immediately and sat down next to Old Man Jin, saying, "My mother just keeps thinking about Duoduo. Nothing she does is right. She's usually fine, but now that winter is here and she has nothing to do, she keeps talking about Duoduo at home. She only calms down a little when my Yutong is around. My dad and I don't dare to say a word!"
Grandma Jin watched with a smile as Qian Rao earnestly complained. As she got older, she liked having the children around her, but Duo Duo was away studying, so there was nothing she could do. Fortunately, he was with the eldest son, which made her feel a little more at ease!
After Qian Rao returned home, he told his parents that his maternal grandparents had agreed to spend the New Year with them. Jin Jinxiu's attention was immediately diverted from the fact that her eldest daughter was not at home. She told Qian Sheng and Qian Rao that the New Year should be plentiful this year. Fortunately, before Duo Duo left, she taught them how to grow vegetables in greenhouses, so their family still had some greens.
She said to Qian Sheng, "We can't sell the vegetables in the greenhouse anymore, otherwise we won't have anything to eat ourselves."
Qian Sheng nodded and said, "Since Father, Mother, and Kuohao are here, I'll go buy some more meat."
Qian Rao watched his parents discussing New Year's goods, then walked out the door toward his own room. Before he even reached it, he heard someone calling his father's name outside the door. He immediately turned the corner, opened the door, and saw it was the postman. He immediately said, "Brother Liu, you've come all this way in this freezing weather? Quickly park your car in the yard, have some hot water, and where's your cup? I'll fill it with something warm for you."
The postman smiled and nodded, then followed Qian Rao into the yard. When Qian Sheng saw someone come in, he stopped talking to Jin Jinxiu and said to the postman, "Why did you come in such cold weather? You could have just made a phone call."
The postman smiled and took the water cup from Qian Rao, saying, "Isn't this your money order and package? I just happened to be delivering mail here, so I brought it over for you."
Qian Sheng took the remittance slip, saw that the address was Jinshi, and said, "Is the second brother in Jinshi?"
Jin Jinxiu said, "The second son's wife is in Jinshi, and her grandfather works at a research institute there."
Qian Sheng nodded, opened the envelope, and saw the money order inside. The amount was quite substantial, but since there were outsiders present, he didn't say anything. He simply took the parcel slips and saw that there were several of them. These were things sent by his eldest son's wife, his second son's wife, and his third son. He handed the parcel slips to Qian Rao and said, "It's still early. You can take the bus back with the postman later. They can look after you on the way."
Qian Rao took the package ticket and nodded immediately. He even took a cup that Qian Duoduo used in Harbin and filled it with water. The cup was made of iron, but hot water would stay warm all day after being poured in. Qian Rao liked it very much.
Once the postman had warmed up, he went out with Qian Rao. Since Qian Rao's family had grown vegetables and used the rice seeds that Qian Duoduo had brought back, after paying their grain rations, they still had some left over. They kept enough for their own consumption and sold the rest to the grain depot. Because their grain was of good quality, they got a high price, so they bought two horses. Now, driving the carriage, Qian Rao felt quite impressive. After all, his family's carriage was unique in Qianshan Village!
He asked the postman to put the bicycle on the carriage, and then the two of them rode together to town. Along the way, Qian Rao secretly rejoiced that he had been smart to choose to come by carriage, especially when they arrived at the town post office and were astonished by the sight before him—huge piles of parcels. He wondered if buying things was free. He knew that if he hadn't come by carriage, transporting all these parcels home would have been a very difficult task for him.
He drove the carriage home, first carrying all the things into the main room, and then hurriedly sending the horse into the stable. This horse was built after Qian Rao bought it, and it was a treasure besides his own family.
Jin Jinxiu looked at the three large packages and was somewhat at a loss. She looked at Qian Sheng and said, "Old man, why are all of you so wasteful, buying so much stuff!"
Qian Rao chuckled and dusted off his ridiculous hat, saying, "Let's take a look first. See if my eldest brother, second brother, and third brother have all sent them back."
Qian Sheng nodded and said, "These are all the children's good wishes, take a look!"
Jin Jinxiu nodded. She asked Qian Rao to use scissors to open the largest package, revealing a letter inside. Jin Jinxiu said, "Fourth brother, be careful not to damage the letter."
Qian Rao nodded immediately, carefully took out the letter, opened it and looked at it, saying, "Mother, this was sent by my second sister-in-law. It's mostly clothes, and she also bought clothes for Grandpa and Grandma, and clothes for my uncle's children. There are also some local specialties from Jinshi in there, so Dad and Mom can try them."
Hearing that her second son's wife had even bought clothes for her parents, Jin Jinxiu was deeply moved. She nodded and said, "Your second son's wife is a good child!"
At this moment, Qian Rao had already opened the package, taken out a stack of clothes, and said, "Second Sister-in-law is really a meticulous person. Look, each piece of clothing is pinned with a safety pin to indicate whose clothes they are. That way, you won't make a mistake."
Jin Jinxiu nodded and said, "Old man, let's divide this package between us. Fourth brother, you continue opening it."
The other two packages also contained clothes and shoes. Ling Yun's package also contained cured meat, dried longan, and dried lychee. Qian Mao's package was even simpler, containing only local specialties from Haishi. It was clearly a man's package; he wasn't as meticulous as a woman. Jin Jinxiu saw Qian Rao reading a letter and asked, "Whose letter is this?"
Qian Rao immediately said, "This is my sister-in-law's. It says that Duo Duo went to my sister-in-law's place first, and the two of them were very happy to meet. Duo Duo helped my sister-in-law, so my sister-in-law said that during the Spring Festival, she will take the children to my brother's place to celebrate the Spring Festival with Duo Duo."
Upon hearing this, Jin Jinxiu nodded and said, "That's great. Now that the eldest daughter-in-law is gone, I can rest assured."
Qian Sheng looked at Qian Mao's package, which contained nothing but local specialties from Haicheng. He straightened up and said, "That third brother is really brainless; he didn't even send a letter back."
Jin Jinxiu rolled her eyes at him and said, "There's so much food, we can't finish it all. Let's clean it up later and send some to my brother's family."
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