Starting a new chapter in life

The children have grown up and all have their own jobs. Zhizhi can't come back for the Lunar New Year, so only An'an brings Fu Zixu to celebrate. They'll be going to the Fu family's house again on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

There was no other way; Fu Zixu was an only child, and he couldn't just marry someone and then take their daughter away. Fortunately, Jingyan had He Zhijun to keep her company, so she wasn't too lonely.

Right after the New Year, An'an happily returned home with good news: his wife was pregnant.

The elderly couple were naturally delighted. Jingyan took out the two boxes of jewelry and treasures she had brought from Shanghai, and the couple sat on the sofa and examined them one by one. They found a jade pendant with a safety buckle design that they really liked.

He called An'an out of the kitchen and handed it to him: "I think this peace amulet is very suitable for Xiaoxu. She is pregnant, so the meaning of peace and safety is the best."

An'an took the safety amulet and happily put it in her pocket: "Thank you, Mom. I'll put it on her when I get back."

After the family finished eating, Jingyan spoke up: "An'an, I've been away from home for over thirty years. I only talk to my fourth sister and two brothers on the phone during the Lunar New Year, but we've never met in person."

I want to go back and visit. I'll probably stay in Liaoning Province for a while. Zhizhi is still busy, and you can't get away from here either. Your dad and I will go back first, and when you and Zhizhi have time, please pick us up. We can also introduce you to your fourth aunt, eldest uncle, and second uncle.

An'an looked at her father, He Zhijun, and nodded: "Listen to your mother. Last year when you got married, although they couldn't come in person, they sent the wedding gift money. It's only right and proper that we go and visit them."

An'an nodded in agreement: "Okay, when Zhizhi comes back, I'll take her to Liaoning Province to pick you up."

After An'an left, the elderly couple began packing their things. Jingyan looked at the pile of jewelry and discussed with He Zhijun, "This jade bracelet was given to me by the grandmother who brought her great-granddaughter to our house and asked me to help breastfeed her. I want to give it to my fourth sister."

He Zhijun nodded: "Sure, we should also prepare some gifts for our eldest brother, second brother, eldest sister, second sister, and third sister. We can't be biased towards one another."

Jingyan snapped the jewelry away and shook her head: "I used to be closest to Fourth Sister, so it's fine to give her something expensive. Brothers, we'll take some good wine back with us."

As for my sisters-in-law, a gold ring or a pair of gold earrings will suffice for each of them. They won't accept anything too expensive. As for my other two sisters, something similar to what my sisters-in-law would be fine, maybe a heavier one at most. My third sister lives in Shanghai; there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

He Zhijun smiled and said, "You can decide. How should we get there?"

"You can only get there by train, and it's a direct route."

"Should I go buy the tickets?" He Zhijun asked.

Jingyan nodded: "Buy tickets directly to Jinshi, go see my eldest and second brothers first, and then go to the village to see my fourth sister."

He Zhijun nodded in agreement, took the two men's ID cards, and leisurely boarded a bus to the train station.

With the train tickets bought, the two went to a gold shop in the city center with their bank cards to select gifts. They acquired four pieces of gold jewelry, further solidifying their already strong belief that Chinese middle-aged women loved gold.

Indeed, if you don't like it, why would you buy so much at once? No one would guess it's a gift. But what's wrong with liking gold? It's beautiful to look at. It may be a bit tacky, but who isn't a tacky person in this world?

After buying the gold jewelry, Jingyan returned home and took four bottles of Moutai liquor she had brought from Shanghai. The price was now much higher than the original purchase price, so she had taken all the Moutai from the warehouse when she moved the store.

Da Tou kept the bottles in the basement of his house on Changxing Island. He only brought ten bottles with him, originally intending to use them to help An An with her connections. He hadn't even taken them out when he got married. This time, he took half of them with him.

Everything was ready. The two of them, each with two suitcases, boarded the train and left. An'an didn't even know his parents had departed until they called him after they got off the train.

This left An'an, who had prepared a lot of local specialties, somewhat bewildered. In the end, he could only tell them to ask for the address when they arrived so he could mail the specialties to them.

The two readily agreed, and then Jingyan called her older brother. The old man, already seventy years old, answered the phone with a loud and clear voice, clearly very confident. He was overjoyed when his younger sister returned home to visit.

After confirming the location, he insisted that his eldest son pick him up. Jianjun, the eldest son, was still at work when his father inexplicably assigned him the task of picking him up. He had no choice but to quickly ask for leave and hurriedly drive to the train station to pick him up.

When he arrived at the station, he saw the two of them squatting on the curb, each holding a jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe) and happily munching on it. If it weren't for the fact that Jingyan's face hadn't changed much except for a few more years of weathering, he might not have recognized her.

After parking the car, I stepped forward and asked hesitantly, "Auntie?"

Jing Yan looked up and asked, "Who are you?"

"Auntie, it really is you! I'm Zhang Jianjun, my dad, Zhang Jingtian." Jianjun was immediately excited. He was already fifteen or sixteen when Jingyan left. In his memory, his aunt doted on him and his younger brother, and would give them candy every time they met.

Jing Yan stood up cheerfully: "Your dad said you were to pick me up. I thought it was during working hours and I'd have to wait a while, so I bought a pancake to eat first. It's pretty good, hehe~"

Jianjun took the suitcase directly and said, "Auntie, Uncle, you two eat first. I'll load the luggage into the car first, and you can come over later."

Jingyan nodded and let him go twice to pack the four suitcases. On the second trip, the two of them followed behind Jianjun very obediently, which made Jianjun feel flattered. After all, his parents had never been so obedient before.

As the van drove along, Jianjun would occasionally point to the surrounding buildings and explain: "When was this commercial street built? All the old bungalows were demolished. We moved here because the old house was demolished..."

Jingyan watched in silence the whole way. Thirty years have passed, and the changes are truly remarkable.

When we arrived at my elder brother's house, he and his wife were already busy in the kitchen, killing chickens and stewing meat, making it a lively scene.

Seeing that his younger sister had returned, he quickly ushered them into the house, saying, "Come in, come in. You haven't been back for years, but thankfully we've kept in touch. You finally have time to come back and visit."

Jingyan smiled and followed her brother and sister-in-law into the house: "You didn't say you wanted to come to Haishi for a visit. As the younger sister, I can do my best to be a good host. My third sister went to Haishi more than ten years ago. She has two younger sisters there. Why don't you go and visit her?"

Zhang Jingtian laughed happily: "Oh dear, the kids are all busy, and no one goes out with us. If the two of us went out alone, we would be quite scared, so we didn't go out. It's the same for you to come back. You can visit each other's homes. We've come back this time, but who knows when we'll be back again?"

Stepping inside and onto the kang (heated brick bed), taking off my shoes, and setting up the kang table, I immediately felt that familiar feeling from my childhood.

Watching her older brother and sister-in-law busily setting the table, Jingyan was too embarrassed to mention that she had just made a jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe). Jianjun, seeing his aunt's forced smile, maliciously refrained from helping her out of the predicament.

Not only that, he kept putting food on Jingyan's plate. Jingyan glared at him several times before she calmed down a little. He Zhijun watched the two aunt and niece bickering quietly and also curled up the corners of his mouth.

After the meal, Jingyan was so full that she felt quite satisfied. After the meal, Jingyan nudged He Zhijun, who knowingly pulled over a suitcase and took out two bottles of Moutai liquor, placing them on the table.

"Big brother, these two bottles are for you, and the other two are for second brother," Jing Yan said to Zhang Jingtian, pointing to the two bottles of wine.

Zhang Jianjun curiously picked up a bottle and looked at it. His eyes widened immediately. "Auntie, it's Moutai! It costs four or five hundred a bottle. Auntie, this is almost a thousand!"

Jing Yan smiled and shook her head: "I bought this wine when it was cheap, about twenty years ago. Back then it was only six or seven yuan a bottle. It's just that the price has been inflated in recent years."

Jianjun gave her a thumbs up: "Auntie, how much could my uncle earn when it was only six or seven yuan? This wine is never cheap. Dad, let's collect it too."

Zhang Jingtian glared at him: "No matter how valuable it is, it's still just wine. Put it away, and we'll all try it together this Chinese New Year. I've never had Moutai before, so I'll have to indulge myself."

Seeing Jianjun put the wine away, Jingyan took out a jewelry box and handed it to her sister-in-law: "Sister-in-law, this is a little something from me. You can wear it for fun."

The eldest sister-in-law hurriedly returned her jewelry box: "Jingyan, what are you doing? You are the youngest sister, how can we accept your things? No, no."

Jing Yan forcefully stuffed it into her hand: "This is a token of my appreciation. I prepared it for every family. I've only come back once in decades, so you can't refuse it."

Zhang Jingtian looked at Jingyan, then at He Zhijun who hadn't said a word, and said, "Alright, isn't this pushing and shoving unsightly? Just accept what Jingyan gave you. While she's here, just cook some good food for her."

The sister-in-law hesitated for a moment before accepting it, feeling embarrassed.

Jingyan turned to Jianjun and said, "Jianjun, give me the mailing address here later. My son prepared some local specialties and originally wanted us to bring them over, but we were fast enough that we arrived before he found out. He said he would mail them over, so you can pick them up and share them with everyone."

Upon hearing this, the sister-in-law said, "Nephew, why are you being so polite? It must have cost a lot of money to send it from so far away. Why waste money like this?"

Jingyan held her hand down: "Sister-in-law, it's not my money that's being spent. Your nephew is making money, so he can spend it. We don't need to save money for him."

Zhang Jingtian… “You really are a good mother.”

Jingyan ignored him. "Hmph," she thought, "he's always been the one being lectured by his older brother since he was little. He's so old and still can't change. I'm ignoring him, I can't hear him..."

In the evening, the two stayed at the older brother's house. After two days of traveling by car, they were exhausted and soon fell asleep.

Zhang Jingtian and his wife couldn't sleep. The eldest sister-in-law opened the storage box, looked at the ring inside, and frowned: "This ring is not light, it must weigh five or six grams."

Zhang Jingtian sighed: "Your sister gave it to you, so just keep it. You've been with me your whole life, and I've never even bought you a decent piece of jewelry. Now that I'm old, I still have to rely on my sister for it."

His sister-in-law glared at him and said, "I've never suffered much in my life with you. Although we haven't bought much jewelry, we've moved to a bigger house, and we've given subsidies for our two sons' weddings. I've always kept the money, so it's not your fault if I don't buy anything myself. Don't become sentimental when you're old."

Zhang Jingtian nodded seriously: "Okay, I won't be coy. Try this ring on and see if it looks good."

The older sister-in-law put it on with great delight, looking at herself from every angle and admiring how beautiful it was.

The couple stayed at their eldest brother's house for two days before heading to the county town. They then lingered at their second brother's house for two more days, bringing back the same two bottles of wine and a gold ring.

The second brother's family wasn't as well-off as the eldest brother's, but they still tried their best to cook the best food for Jingyan and her husband. Before leaving, Jingyan gave her sister-in-law a red envelope.

Second sister-in-law insisted on not accepting it, and finally Jingyan stuffed it into second brother's pocket before it was over.

After the two left, the second brother took out a red envelope and handed it to his sister-in-law, saying, "Keep this from Jingyan."

Second Sister-in-law opened the red envelope and counted the money: "One thousand yuan, Jingzhao, this is too much."

The second brother waved his hand: "Jingyan probably thinks we're not living a very comfortable life. Since she gave it to us, let's just accept it."

Second sister-in-law sighed: "If it weren't for the fact that the second son's child was hospitalized recently and the expenses were too high, we wouldn't be in such a tight situation. We even had to ask my sister to help out. We'll repay this favor when we have the chance in the future."

Jingyan's final destination was her fourth sister's house, which was the old house.

When they arrived at Fourth Sister's house, they really let loose. The two sisters slept alone that night so they could chat late into the night. In the end, He Zhijun and Peng Chunsheng shared a room. The two old men stared at each other for a long time before finally having to sigh and lie down.

After the two sisters finished washing up, Jingyan handed the jade bracelet to her fourth sister: "Here, take this. Don't be fooled by the magazines inside; it's still of good quality. Wearing it will nourish your body."

Fourth Sister didn't stand on ceremony and took it, putting it on her wrist. Unfortunately, her hands, dry and chapped from years of hard work, didn't match the jade bracelet. Shaking her head, Fourth Sister took the bracelet off and put it back in the box. "I'd better put it away. My hands are too rough; it won't look good on me. I'll give it to my daughter later."

Jingyan didn't say anything more; how she wanted to deal with the things given to her was none of her business.

The two sisters lay down, turned off the light, and then began to talk about their experiences over the years. Jinghuan's life had always been peaceful; Peng Chunsheng treated her very well, but she also had to do a lot of chores.

There's no other way; everyone in the village relies on the land for a living. As a man, he does even more work, so there's nothing to complain about. In recent years, the government has provided a lot of subsidies, and there are guaranteed prices for corn, wheat, and other crops, so their lives aren't bad, and they're content.

On the contrary, Jing Huan was very curious about Jing Yan's experience. When Jing Yan talked about how she invested all her savings in opening a restaurant, and how her husband's family not only did not stop her but also backed her up, she couldn't help but admire Jing Yan's courage and how her husband's family spoiled her. Of course, she was also genuinely happy for her sister.

When talking about her grandmother's passing and her mother-in-law's passing, Jingyan couldn't hold back her tears. Jinghuan, choking back sobs, also mentioned missing her mother-in-law. Indeed, Aunt Liu had watched them both grow up.

Jingyan's relationship with her was much deeper than Jinghuan's in the early years. After all, she had a good relationship with Peng Chunlai back then and often visited the Peng family. It wouldn't be wrong to say that this was her second home.