The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

As darkness descended, the streets thinned considerably, with people hurrying home. Yang Hong sniffed his red, frozen nose and quickened his pace. The bag on his shoulder was heavy, making his thin shoulders ache. He thought of how effortlessly Xi Lang carried that bag, and felt a mixture of frustration and envy.

Xi Lang is too strong; he cannot compare to him.

Perhaps only someone like Xi Lang is worthy of Chen Zhi.

Rain mixed with snow fell from the sky, and Yang Hong shivered, becoming even more alert.

Chen Zhi was not someone he could covet. From now on, he could only bury this thought deep in his heart and not reveal a single trace of it.

Yang Hong took it in stride. He grinned, stuck out his tongue to catch the snowflakes—they were so cold.

"Brother, are you stupid? You're so old, why are you eating snow?" Yang Rong came out to take out the trash and saw his brother catching the snow falling from the sky with his mouth, and immediately laughed.

Yang Hong wasn't angry at being laughed at. He quickened his pace, "Hurry home, my brother brought back some good stuff."

Upon hearing this, Yang Rong's eyes lit up. "What good stuff?"

Yang Hong lowered his voice, "I'll look at it when I get home."

He didn't know what it was either.

What will Xi Lang give him?

If this is what they bought today, then Xilang is being far too generous.

After passing the large pile of clutter, the Yang brothers entered their home and closed the door.

The house has windows at both the front and back, and the windows are glass windows that let in light so that the house is not too dark.

Yang Jialing was still pasting cardboard boxes when she heard the noise. She looked up at her younger brother, then went back to her work. "You must be freezing outside. Come and warm yourself by the stove. There's hot water with ginger on it. Pour yourself some water to drink."

"I heard it's going to snow in the next few days, sis, have we stocked up on vegetables?" Yang Hong asked.

Yang Jialing paused, "We need to stock up on groceries now, is winter coming so early this year?"

Yang Hong nodded. "That's what people outside are saying."

Yang Jialing: "Then let's go buy some vegetables tomorrow."

"Sister, it's sleeting outside now, the vegetable vendors probably won't be coming tomorrow," Yang Rong reminded her.

"Even if the street vendors aren't coming, the supply and marketing cooperative still has some. We'll bring our food ration coupons and queue up together tomorrow. If there's meat, we'll buy some too." Yang Jialing licked her lips; she and her brothers hadn't eaten meat in a long time.

Yang Rong's mouth watered at the mention of meat.

"Maybe there's meat in this bag." Yang Hong wasn't entirely sure himself. He warmed his hands by the stove and then went to untie the rope of the burlap sack.

Yang Jialing: "What's in this bag? Who gave it to you?"

Yang Hong: "It was given by Chen Zhi's lover; there should be some food inside."

"This whole bag is full of food?" Yang Jialing exclaimed in surprise. "Even if it's just a sack of cabbage and radishes, it'll be enough for the three of us for ten days to half a month. Chen Zhi's husband is really generous."

Yang Jialing had a good impression of Chen Zhi and was willing to give her money. Now she also has a good impression of Chen Zhi's husband and is willing to give him gifts.

Both of them are generous people.

Yang Hong had already untied the bag. "It's not cabbage or radish."

He first took out a piece of meat, pork, weighing six or seven pounds.

"Wow--"

Yang Rong's mouth dropped open. "So much meat!"

Yang Jialing was also pleasantly surprised, "Why did you give so much?"

Yang Hong pursed his lips. He hadn't expected that next, he would take out a sheep's head, four sheep's hooves, and a sheep's tail connected to its rump.

"They bought a sheep today," Yang Hong explained.

"We don't mind," Yang Jialing said, bringing over a wooden basin. "It's all meat; we'll stew it and make hot pot."

Yang Rong nodded, "This is delicious too, make it spicy."

Yang Hong grunted and continued taking things out. Next was a gray rabbit, unprocessed, still with fur, very fat, weighing about ten pounds.

Hey!

Goodness, they even have this!

The three siblings' eyes lit up again.

"Quickly, see what else is inside," Yang Rong urged.

"Okay, I'll take them all out at once." Yang Hong reached into the bag again and took out a small cloth bag this time.

Yang Rong snatched the small cloth bag away. "It's flour, lots of flour, looks like it weighs about ten pounds."

Refined grains? Their family hasn't eaten refined grains in a long time.

"I didn't expect there to be food left. Chen Zhi is such a thoughtful husband," Yang Jialing exclaimed.

Yang Hong nodded. "It's very thoughtful. They not only provide food, but also fruit and sugar."

Yang Hong took out a few apples, a few pears, a few oranges, and a bag of loose white sugar, which looked to weigh about two pounds.

"He's helping us out. They're such good people." Yang Jialing's eyes welled up with tears. In recent years, people have been so eager to take a piece of their flesh from them that they haven't felt this kind of kindness in a long time.

Yang Rong: "Brother, next time they need something, ask me to go with them. I want to do my part."

Yang Hong: "...I'm just showing them the way."

Yang Jialing: "They're really kind. But they gave you all these things willingly; you didn't ask for them, did you?"

Yang Hong shook his head. "They offered it to me willingly. I said I didn't want it, but they insisted on giving it to me."

"That's good. We can't take advantage of their kindness and bully them. You can't do anything shameless," Yang Jialing instructed.

Yang Hong and Yang Rong nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, sister, we'll remember."

"Brother, have you taken everything out? Is there anything else?" Yang Rong reached out to lift the sack, but couldn't manage it for a moment. He tried harder and finally managed to lift the sack in front of him.

Yang Hong stood up. "I'll go get a bigger wooden basin."

Yang Jialing asked curiously, "What is it?"

"It's a fish," Yang Hong said. He hadn't expected it to be such a big fish, taking up half the total weight of the sack.

There's no shortage of fish in the northern winter.

But you have to pay for those.

Their family couldn't afford it. The last time they ate fish was during the Chinese New Year. His sister went to the fish stall and bought a few fish heads and tails at a very cheap price. On New Year's Eve, his sister cooked a big pot of sauerkraut fish. The three of them ate it until they were sweating and extremely satisfied.

This fish weighs about fifty pounds; it's a very large one.

Yang Rong didn't care how cold the fish was. He touched it several times, and even though his legs went numb from squatting, he couldn't bear to leave.

"Let's make some sauerkraut fish stew tonight," Yang Jialing suggested.

Yang Rong: "Let's skip tonight, let's cook now."

Yang Jialing glanced at the sky outside and said, "Okay, let's cook it now. This fish can be eaten more than ten times. If it snows, we can freeze it with snow and keep it until the New Year."

Yang Hong: "We don't need to buy meat at home anymore. Let's buy more vegetables and whole grains so we can eat our fill."

The three siblings are all too thin. They should eat more and grow taller. Next year, he can go out and see if he can find some odd jobs.

Yang Jialing agreed, "Okay, let's buy more vegetables and whole grains so we can eat our fill."

On the other side, Chen Zhi and Xi Lang were eating hot pot around the stove.

The stove contained mutton and radish, with some green vegetables on the side.

Just as the atmosphere was getting right, there was a knock on the door.

Xi Lang frowned, his displeasure at being disturbed evident.

Looking at him, Chen Zhi felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. She stood up and said, "I'll go open the door."

Outside the door stood Song Zhaoyuan and his nephew, along with Taoist Yang. The three of them held umbrellas, looking travel-worn and their faces were bluish-purple from the cold.

Chen Zhi opened the door for them and then closed it again.

"It's so cold, why aren't you staying home? What are you doing out here?" Xi Lang asked in an unfriendly tone.

Song Zhaoyuan and his two companions looked at each other, realizing they weren't popular.

Song Zhaoyuan remained calm; he was thick-skinned.

Master Yang has a good attitude and is always cheerful.

Song Yuanzhi, however, blushed.

"Please sit down first, I'll go get you some bowls and chopsticks." Chen Zhi walked towards the kitchen, then said to Xi Lang, "There's not enough meat, could you cut some more?"

Xi Lang nodded and went into the kitchen as well.

Song Zhaoyuan was the first to move a chair and sit down by the stove. The soup in the stove was bubbling and bubbling, and the aroma was irresistible. He hadn't felt hungry before, but now his stomach was rumbling.

"Mr. Xi is living a more comfortable life," he sighed.

Song Yuanzhi nodded. "This kind of weather is perfect for sitting around the stove, chatting, eating and drinking. Now that things have temporarily come to an end, shouldn't we take a break for a while?"

Song Zhaoyuan sneered, "What are you thinking? The closer it gets to the end of the year, the more monsters and scoundrels there are."

Master Yang nodded, "That's indeed the case."

Chen Zhi then brought over bowls and chopsticks. There was only half a bowl of rice in each of the three of them. Chen Zhi explained, "That's all there is. You guys eat first, and I'll go cook some more."

Song Zhaoyuan: "Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Chen Zhi."

Xi Lang chopped another large bowl of mutton and an extra plate of radishes.

Song Zhaoyuan: "We are in for a treat today. Thank you, Mr. Xi and Comrade Chen Zhi, for your hospitality."

Xi Lang didn't even glance at him.

Chen Zhi responded, "You're welcome."

Master Yang said, "Over the past month, we have gradually dug out some bodies from under the snow mountain. We have found all the other bodies, and now we are only missing the body of the man in the black cloak."

"He's not dead," Chen Zhi said.

Master Yang was taken aback. "Not dead?"

"He shouldn't be dead. He ran away when the explosion happened, faster than I was." It turns out Chen Zhi lacked common sense; he didn't know those things were explosives and reacted a step too slowly.

Master Yang sighed, "No wonder I can't find it."

At this moment, Xi Lang suddenly asked, "Does Master Yang have a formal position?"

"..."

The atmosphere inside the room became somewhat strange.

Master Yang paused for a moment before saying, "I'm planning to establish a Taoist association and I'm currently applying for one. Would Mr. Xi be interested?"

Master Yang thought that if Mr. Xi was interested, he would hand over the presidency of the association to Mr. Xi. With Mr. Xi in charge, it would definitely attract more talented people to join the association.

Under Master Yang's expectant gaze, Xi Lang nodded, "Yes."

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow in surprise. What was the Taoist Association? If Xi Lang wanted to join that Taoist Association, would he still go back to Sandong Village with her to farm?

Next, Master Yang and Xi Lang proposed some ideas for the association, and Xi Lang also put forward some of his own ideas. Even Song Zhaoyuan and Song Yuanzhi offered a few suggestions.

Chen Zhi listened in the whole thing, but only understood a little bit.