After Shen Yu and Meng Tao landed in the provincial capital of Province D by helicopter, they went to another city and released a batch of supplies. Yang Licheng and Zheng Hui were responsible for handing them over to Tang Shao, while the couple rushed back to Linshui Village.

On the 29th day of the lunar year, many families have already put up bright red door charms and spring couplets, which look particularly beautiful against the backdrop of the falling snow. From one end of the village to the other, the aroma of fried meatballs fills the air from every household, and the whole village is filled with a strong festive atmosphere.

Knowing that Shen Yu and Meng Tao would come back to celebrate the New Year, Jinniu had asked his brother-in-law to guard the village entrance every day. When they were informed that a car was entering the village, the couple hurried out to greet it. When they saw that it was indeed their family, they were immediately overjoyed.

Jinniu ran over to look for them in the car, but he didn't see Xiao Yunhai and Xiao Wangcai. When he heard that they didn't bring the children, his smile disappeared immediately and he complained, "We have to bring the children home for the New Year. It's lively and the children are happy. I also bought him a lot of firecrackers and fireworks. He can walk and play now, so he must like them... You guys, really!"

Dongmei also pouted: "I'm looking forward to it every day. I miss my eldest nephew so much. He must have grown taller and can talk, right? It would be great to bring him back to see his sister!"

Meng Tao was speechless: She didn’t expect that her son was more popular than his parents. Without bringing her son back, the couple were actually disliked.

Shen Yu had no choice but to lie: "Little Yunhai caught a cold a few days ago and had a bit of a cough. His parents were worried that it would be inconvenient for him to take medicine on the road, so they didn't let him come with them."

Jinniu and Dongmei were speechless when they heard this. As parents themselves, they knew how difficult it was to take care of a child if he or she was not feeling well.

Captain Bao and Aunt Yu arrived shortly afterwards, and were disappointed when they didn't see Xiao Yunhai. Seeing that they were about to blame her again, Meng Tao quickly used Shen Yu's trick and got away with it.

Shen Yu moved the things from the car back to the house, and Captain Bao and Jinniu helped. As he moved, he said to them: It's great that you're back, but you still brought so many things. It's so hard to move them on the road. Don't do this again. Now our family situation is much better than before. We can eat and wear warm clothes. We can even have meat during the holidays. We don't lack anything! They didn't know that these things were not in the car before. Meng Tao put them out after getting off the car and stuffed them into the trunk and the car.

Meng Tao pointed to a cardboard box and said, "Uncle Bao, these are all grain and fruit seedlings that Shen Yu brought back from overseas. We can plant the grain and harvest the fruits for seeds. The fruit seedlings can be grafted or not... Anyway, if they grow on our land, we can treat them as our own."

In fact, these grain seeds and seedlings have been optimized to several levels after several rounds of planting in space, and the agricultural science institute that originally developed them does not dare to recognize them as theirs.

Anyway, it will be promoted from Linshui Village in the future, which will fulfill their original intention and benefit the public.

When Captain Bao and Jinniu heard that they had brought back new seedlings, they were so happy that they vied to hold the cardboard box. The young man was quick and Captain Bao could not grab the box from his son-in-law, so he said to Meng Tao with a serious face: "Don't talk like that in public, kid. What do you mean by 'treat them as your own'? These are ours! Our what, that what, that agricultural science group cultivated them!"

Meng Tao: “…”

She gave him a thumbs up: Uncle, you are better than me at talking nonsense! Jinniu and Dongmei had a baby, but the yard was still clean and bright. It was not like other people's houses with diapers and mattresses hanging everywhere. This was also because the house was spacious. After seeing Xiao Yunhai's baby room, Jinniu and his wife learned from it and made a room specifically for taking care of the baby.

There are various colorful children's pictures on the wall. In the room are the baby cribs, baby strollers and other things sent back by Meng Tao, as well as a charcoal stove. The stove burns all day long in rainy and snowy weather. It is surrounded by bamboo covers woven by Jinniu himself. The baby's diapers, clothes, quilts and mattresses are washed and placed on the bamboo covers, where they are quickly dried, folded and put in a special cabinet. Everything is kept neat and clean.

The educated youth all returned to the city to celebrate the New Year, and they didn't have to go back to their hometown after the holiday. All seven educated youth in the Meng family courtyard took part in the college entrance examination and all of them were admitted to university.

Jiang Xiaodong and He Huijuan were admitted to the same university in Province F. Qian Xiaoyun, Qian Liang, Sun Yutang and Xu Guoliang were all admitted to famous universities in Hai City, and Jiang Limei was admitted to WH University.

Jinniu smiled and said, "On the day we found out the results, these people were so happy that they sang and laughed and drank all night. It was so noisy. Cuiling also came to drink with us. Cuiling was admitted to the provincial university. Sister, you know that, right?"

Of course Meng Tao knew about it. They all wrote to her and called her, sharing the joy of being admitted to the university with each other. Qian Liang and others even invited Meng Tao to visit Haishi. They were from Haishi and said that as long as Meng Tao went to Haishi, they would ensure that she had good food, accommodation and entertainment.

As everyone was talking, little Yanran woke up and started crying loudly. Everyone in the new and old courtyards could hear her. Her lung capacity was amazing.

Jinniu and Dongmei's daughter is named Meng Yanran.

This name was not thought of by the couple, but was given by the educated youth. When they learned that Dongmei had given birth to a daughter, the seven educated youth were very happy. Each of them gave a gift and also thought of a name. They wrote it on a piece of paper, rolled it into a ball, and scattered it on the table for the baby to grab the name she grabbed. The name was Meng Yanran.

Dongmei got up to look at the child. Meng Tao also wanted to hug her, but Jinniu asked her to wait: "Let Dongmei finish feeding her. This girl has a bad temper. She must eat first when she wakes up. If you don't feed her quickly, she will cry until the roof falls off your head!"

Meng Tao smiled: "So amazing?"

"Of course not." Taurus looked helpless.

Aunt Yu was tidying up things in the kitchen and could hear the conversation outside. She poked her head out and said, "As for the little one, everything will be fine when he grows up. Now that Dongmei is a mother, she is much more stable."

Taurus nodded immediately and responded to his mother-in-law: "Yes, Dongmei is smarter than me. There are some things that I just can't figure out. After Dongmei reads them and tells me, I understand them right away."

Aunt Yu smiled with her eyes narrowed, she couldn't be more satisfied with her son-in-law.

Uncle Zhou and Aunt Yang knew that Shen Yumengtao had returned, so they came to see them and brought them two fresh fish. Zhou Cuiling took her children back to Zhang's house. Her father-in-law and sister-in-law came to pick her up in person. It would not be good not to go back during the New Year, and her relationship with her mother-in-law was strained. She would just stay for a few days. After the Lantern Festival, she would come back and prepare to go to college.

Zhou Cuiling applied for admission to a university in the provincial capital because she wanted to be closer to Zhang Guoqing so that the couple could meet more often. Her child was over one year old and no longer needed breast milk, so she stayed at home to be taken care of by Aunt Yang.

Zhang Guoqing said that he would most likely stay in the provincial capital, and once he settled down he would be able to get a house. By then, when the child had grown up, he could take him to the provincial capital to attend kindergarten.

Lin Dagang, Lin Erhu and several other families also came to visit the Meng family, chatted, and brought some bacon, fried meatballs and other semi-finished New Year's dishes. The elders also said regretfully that it was a pity that they did not come a few days earlier, otherwise they would have been able to eat the pig-killing dish.

Meng Tao also gave each family a portion of the New Year's goods she brought back from the capital. When she heard about the pig-slaughtering dish, she recalled the scene of each family taking turns to eat the pig-slaughtering dish that year, with the bowl filled with palm-sized pork belly. She felt a chill in her heart and was glad that she did not come back earlier, otherwise she would have gained a few more pounds.

It is not customary to visit relatives on New Year's Eve. Every household closes the door and sets up the table with fish, meat, and cakes to offer sacrifice to the ancestors. Then the whole family sits around the stove and eats the steaming hot New Year's Eve dinner.

Linshui Village has electricity, but there is no TV yet. Brother Jinniu's radio is quite lively, but it can't beat little Yanran. The little girl is less than four months old, but her voice is very loud. When she cries, it's like her father described, it can blow the roof off. Shen Yu is afraid and stays away from her.

She is very cute when she is in a good mood. She is a good chatterbox and has a strong desire to win. When she hears singing on the radio, she will also sing and compete to see who has the loudest voice.

So New Year's Eve at the Meng family, although there were only four adults and a baby, was as lively as a Spring Festival Gala.

After breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Meng Tao held little Yanran in her arms, and she and Dongmei went from house to house in the village to pay New Year's greetings, chat with the villagers, and have fun all day long.

Shen Yuze, Jinniu, Lin Dagang and Lin Erhu drove to the power station to play, and then went to the neighboring commune, where an ancient building complex had just been excavated. Many people from outside came to visit, and it has become a tourist attraction.

On the morning of the second day of the Chinese New Year, Shen Yumengtao followed Jinniu, Captain Bao and Uncle Zhou to participate in the team's greenhouse planting. Although it was bleak with ice and snow outside, the greenhouse was warm and full of vitality with red flowers and green leaves. Captain Bao said happily that the fruit company had just delivered two batches of fruits and vegetables before the New Year, and had placed an order for after the New Year. These can be picked in a month. The seedlings have been started in the greenhouse over there, and when the spring thaws, they can continue planting in the fields outside.

After visiting the greenhouse, they went to see the farm. When they passed the natural spring, Meng Tao pretended to wash her hands and added a lot of pine needle dew into the spring pool.

This is the water used in farms and greenhouses.

It was only at Meng Tao's suggestion that Captain Bao began to pay attention to this spring. He cleaned up the surroundings and built two large pools with stone slabs. When the pools were full, the water flowed down into a stream. The stream flowed around the breeding farm and planting area, and a dam was built at the end to form a small lake. The water in the lake was used to feed livestock and for irrigation.

Because it is far away from the village and there is a dedicated well in the village, few people come to fetch water to drink.

But the water quality here is really very good, crystal clear, warm in winter and cool in summer. It is currently only used for irrigation in farms and greenhouses. It is estimated that when tap water is built in the future, the springs here will be used. After all, they come from the Daqing Mountain and are inexhaustible.

In the afternoon, Zhou Cuiling brought her son Zhang Yihang back to the village and met with Meng Tao and chatted for half a day. Meng Tao gave Zhang Yihang a car toy, and the little guy liked it very much.

Aunt Yang, Lin Dagang and Lin Erhu all wanted to invite Shen Yu and Meng Tao to their homes for dinner, but Meng Tao declined each time because the couple would be leaving the next morning and they would have to have dinner at home. Finally, everyone decided to just bring the food over, and relatives and friends gathered together to drink all night.

On the third day of the New Year, Shen Yumengtao bid farewell to his fellow villagers and returned home with a few sacks of hometown specialties.

(End of this chapter)