Qin Mugen heard the old lady call him and walked into the main hall with a smile, carrying a burlap sack. He then placed the sack at the old lady's feet and opened it for her to see.
"Oh my, my three grandsons are quite capable, they actually picked up so much coal."
Seeing that the burlap sack her father opened contained things she didn't recognize, Qin Xiaomei reached out to play with it.
Qin Mugen quickly reached out and stopped her, "You can't play with this, you'll get your hands all black."
Grandma Qin glanced at her daughter-in-law, and seeing that Cheng Shi also looked pleased with the good news, she smiled and praised her grandsons.
"My three grandsons are all good lads. They went out for a day and found so many good things."
Hearing their grandmother's praise, the three brothers grinned and puffed out their chests, looking like they were the best.
Cheng Shi also doted on her three sons and urged them to warm themselves up quickly, "Dinner is almost ready."
"Hey, we're starving."
"You can be hungry, but throw away those last two words for Grandma."
"Mm. We'll throw them away and never say them again." The three brothers replied in unison with smiles.
At the dinner table, the three children were still talking enthusiastically about picking up coal.
Qin Dalang also said, "Dad, I'll take my two younger brothers to pick up coal every day. You can also set up a stove for Grandpa and Grandma, so they won't be cold."
"Okay, Dad will set it up tomorrow."
Although the dinner was the same as usual, with only thin porridge and pickles, the family ate with relish.
With filial children and grandchildren, Grandpa Qin's cloudy old eyes shimmered with tears. He hated his old bones for being so useless, making the children suffer.
But the children didn't feel hardship. The three brothers were still discussing picking up coal again tomorrow.
"We'll go pick up firewood in the morning tomorrow and pick up coal in the afternoon."
"Brother, why aren't we picking up coal in the morning?" Qin Erlang was afraid that someone would discover this secret and take all the coal.
"Second brother, are you stupid? If we carry firewood back at noon, no one will say anything. If we carry coal back, others will definitely learn from us and go pick up coal too."
"Brother is right."
"We'll come back when it's dark, and no one will see. Even if someone sees, in the dark, they won't care. We'll just talk our way out of it."
"Heh heh." Qin Mugen hadn't expected that his eldest son, who usually only knew how to work hard, was quite clever.
Qin Mugen didn't know that a few days later, the coal his three sons collected filled two burlap sacks, which his old mother sold to restaurants in town, earning a lot of money.
Seeing the clinking copper coins, his heart itched, and he soon joined his sons in collecting coal.
No one knew that this winter, the Qin family worked from dawn till dusk, and their little lives were more prosperous than in previous years.
During the New Year, they not only bought five catties of pork belly with more fat than lean, but also bought five catties of white flour.
The old lady said, "We have to make a meal of pure white flour pork dumplings this year no matter what."
The five children of the Qin family all jumped for joy on the ground.
"Grandma, you're so good. I'm six years old and I've never eaten pure white flour pork dumplings."
Hearing his third brother speak, Qin Dalang felt even more emotional, "I'm ten years old, and I haven't either."
Qin Er held his little sister and said, "Speaking of which, our little sister is lucky to have eaten pure white flour dumplings at the age of two."
"Yes, lucky." Qin Xiaomei nodded happily. She didn't know what white flour dumplings were in her memory, but if her brothers said they were good, then they were good.
This was also Fu Xinci's last New Year spent at her maternal family's home. She didn't mind; it was just a change of sleeping place.
But her grandfather and parents didn't think so. This year's New Year's Eve dinner was also exceptionally elaborate.
Mother Yang, Madam Zhang, and Aunt Han all helped Madam Fang.
Looking at the row of prepared ingredients on the long cutting board, Madam Zhang secretly gasped.
In her life, she had never seen so much delicious food.
Mother Yang also did not expect that the master's family would have so many fresh ingredients in this cold winter. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
She thought that the Wei family might not have had so many delicacies in the past.
Madam Fang's heart did not pay attention to their reactions at all. Her current thought was to cook delicious food and make a lot of delicious food for her daughter.
The dishes for the Meng family's New Year's Eve dinner were so abundant that they still had plenty after filling two Kang tables, so they had to stack plates on top of plates.
Seeing that all the dishes were her favorites, Fu Xinci waited for Madam Fang to take the first bite of food before she also picked up her chopsticks and began to eat heartily.
Seeing that her daughter liked it, Madam Fang kept putting food into Fu Xinci's bowl.
In no time, the bowl in Fu Xinci's hand was full.
"Mother, please stop. I can't eat so much," Fu Xinci said, and then she put a chicken wing into Madam Fang's bowl.
The chicken wing was difficult to swallow. Thinking that her mother would be focused on dealing with the chicken wing and would stop looking at her, Fu Xinci's eyes flickered, and she finally relaxed. She was a little too full.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Grandpa Meng sat in the east room with his sons and grandsons, chatting with the Qi family father and son.
Madam Fang, with the help of others, was preparing the filling for tomorrow morning's dumplings in the kitchen.
Fu Xinci also brought a small stool and sat next to Madam Fang, helping to pick vegetables.
Madam Fang looked at her daughter's fair and soft little hands and wanted to say that she was not needed here.
However, thinking that her daughter would be married in no time, she did not speak, but looked at her daughter with eyes so gentle that they could drip water.
It was late at night. Fu Xinci wanted to stay up with her grandfather and parents to see the New Year in, but she couldn't stay awake after the hour of Hai.
Madam Fang felt sorry for her daughter and had Chunyu and Lichun help her back to rest.
Fu Xinci wanted to struggle a bit more, but her eyes were completely disobedient, so she had no choice but to give up.
The stars in the winter night didn't seem to be many, with only a few scattered across the dark blue sky.
After Chunyu and Lichun served their young lady to wash up and go to bed, they sat on the small couch in the main hall and talked.
"Is it like this every year during the New Year in our family?"
"More or less."
"Our family is really good." Lichun was younger and didn't have her mother's worries.
"Better than your previous master's family, right?"
"Mm." Lichun remembered that although her mother was the most trusted person by the madam, someone still secretly plotted against her mother, and she herself had suffered losses several times.
It was different in the Meng family. The Meng family had few people, and there were no such troublesome matters. Her mother said that the Meng family was the cleanest family her mother had ever seen, and they should cherish this fortune.
Occasionally, the sound of firecrackers could be heard from the town. Chunyu listened for a moment and then grumbled in a low voice, "These people are really something. What time is it, and they still can't be quiet."
"Sister Chunyu, today is New Year's Eve, so it's definitely not quiet."
"Indeed, once it's midnight, the sound of firecrackers will be like popping beans."