When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

Familiar land, familiar words, and familiar... debt collection text messages.

Looking at the blunt words on his phone screen, Chen Yang's initial feeling of "I'm home" was instantly dampened.

It was my second aunt again, and my cousin Chen Qiang.

Three years ago, he went to Mocheng with 100,000 yuan that he had scraped together, including 20,000 yuan borrowed from his second uncle's family.

Later, his partner ran away, and he lost everything. He has never been able to pay back the 20,000 yuan.

This became the perfect excuse for his second aunt to berate him and his parents in the village.

Now things are really messed up. The old debts haven't been settled, and new ones have been added. They're asking for 50,000 right off the bat.

If the penniless Chen Yang from before saw this message, he would probably be so ashamed that he would want to crawl into a hole and hide.

but now……

A cold smile appeared on Chen Yang's lips.

Without saying a word, he lightly tapped the screen and dragged the text message directly into the trash can.

Delete it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

He looked up and saw Katyusha pressing her little face against the cold car window, her blue eyes gazing curiously at the scenery rushing past outside.

The train is slowly pulling into the platform at Manzhouli station, where it will undergo customs inspection.

Katyusha's mysterious document is actually useful in China.

After successfully passing through customs on the platform, vendors wearing thick cotton-padded coats and carrying large red lanterns pushed their carts, their calls of hawking coming through the gaps in the train windows.

"Candied hawthorn berries! Big and sweet candied hawthorn berries!"

"Roasted sweet potatoes! Hot and fresh roasted sweet potatoes!"

"Sticky rice buns, freshly steamed sticky rice buns!"

The lively, bustling atmosphere instantly relaxed Chen Yang's tense nerves.

His nose felt a little sore, and his eyes were a little wet.

Three years have passed, and I have finally heard that familiar local accent again.

"Chen, what's that?"

Katyusha pointed to a vendor's cart outside the window, displaying bunches of bright red hawthorn berries coated in glistening sugar, and asked curiously.

Her mouth was practically watering.

"That's called candied hawthorn berries, it's delicious," Chen Yang said with a smile. "Want some?"

Katyusha nodded frantically without hesitation, like a chick pecking at rice.

"Come on, get off the bus, I'll buy you something to eat!"

Chen Yang helped Katyusha up, and the two of them wrapped themselves in heavy clothes and got off the train.

A biting cold wind, carrying the smell of coal smoke, swept over him, making him shiver, but Chen Yang's heart was burning with warmth.

He walked straight to the stall of the woman selling candied hawthorns.

"Boss, how much are your candied hawthorns?"

"Five yuan a skewer, ten yuan for three skewers! Young man, bringing your foreign wife back to China? She's really beautiful!" The woman from Northeast China had a loud voice and an exceptionally warm personality.

Chen Yang glanced at Katyusha, who was staring longingly at the candied hawthorns beside him, and waved his hand generously:

"I'll take all the candied hawthorns in your car!"

"What?" The woman was stunned. "Young man, I still have about a hundred skewers left on my cart. You want them all?"

"I'll take them all, I'll buy them all!"

Chen Yang took out his phone and scanned the code to pay.

Seeing the extra 600 yuan in her phone, the woman beamed with joy. She quickly grabbed a large bag and stuffed all the candied hawthorns into it.

The surrounding passengers all stared in surprise, wondering whose spendthrift young master this was.

Chen Yang handed the bag to Katyusha, who happily hugged it to her chest, like a little squirrel that had stockpiled a full granary of food.

"Hey little sister, come here, let me take it!" The older sister selling candied hawthorns saw that Katyusha looked like a porcelain doll.

"This thing is called candied hawthorn. In our Northeastern dialect, to praise how delicious it is, you say: 'It's so delicious!' Say it with me!"

Katyusha blinked her big eyes and earnestly imitated her older sister's accent, uttering each word carefully:

"Is it... delicious...?"

Her pronunciation was a little stiff, but her earnestness made the older sister laugh out loud.

"Yes, yes, yes! That's the taste!"

Katyusha took the candied hawthorn skewer and eagerly took a big bite.

The outer sugar coating is crunchy, the hawthorn inside is sweet and sour, and the icy texture stimulates the taste buds.

She squinted her eyes in happiness and hopped around on her little feet.

Then, holding up the half-eaten candied hawthorn, she turned to look at Chen Yang, deciding to put her newly learned "advanced vocabulary" to good use.

She pointed at Chen Yang and said loudly and earnestly:

"Chen, you... you... scoundrel!"

She thought that words following "zeila" were all compliments. Just now on the bus, she heard the fat man next to her swearing, and he seemed to have used the word "hu" (tiger) in a particularly loud voice.

"puff--"

The woman selling candied hawthorns who hadn't gone far burst out laughing.

The surrounding passengers burst into laughter.

Chen Yang's face instantly darkened.

Is this foreign daughter-in-law's language talent a bit misplaced?

He chuckled and tapped Katyusha on the head, saying, "Tiger is an insult! It means stupid!"

"Huh?" Katyusha looked blank, clearly not understanding why "tiger" was an insult.

Looking at her innocent and naive appearance, Chen Yang's frustration instantly vanished.

He took her hand, and amidst the friendly laughter around them, carrying the large bag of candied hawthorns, they returned to the warm carriage.

For the rest of the journey, Chen Yang became Katyusha's temporary Chinese teacher.

He taught her "hello" and "thank you".

"Chen, this feels great!" she exclaimed contentedly as she lay on the soft bunk.

"Chen, I want to eat that too!" She pointed to the candied hawthorns in the bag, her eyes sparkling.

Chen Yang corrected her pronunciation while laughing.

He found that he seemed to enjoy being with this silly "money-devouring beast" more and more.

This feeling is very relaxing and warm.

The train sped across the vast Northeast Plain, the snow scene outside the window remained unchanged, but the atmosphere inside the carriage was quietly warming up.

As time went by, the city's silhouette and flashing neon lights began to appear on the distant horizon.

The final stop, Harbin, is almost here.

Looking out the car window at the familiar lights, Chen Yang was filled with emotion.