A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

An Qinghe gazed at Gu Xixi with a warm smile on his face and bright blue eyes.

He was very excited when he came over, even though it had been a long time since we last met.

But he still restrained his emotions and did not open his arms to hug her as he used to.

An Qinghe glanced at Gu Xixi, and was surprisingly shy, as if they had just reunited after a short separation. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

"I...that..."

"This autumn, the Nursery Stock Association harvested its bagged Sterculia foetida fruit for the first time, and just as you said, the fruit is much prettier than before."

"There are 70% fewer blemished and pitted fruits than in previous years; most of them are red, smooth, and beautiful."

"There are also the fruits that were of the worst quality in previous years and could hardly be sold. In the past, we could only keep them for our own consumption or make them into dried fruit, but this year there are almost none of them."

"They had already witnessed firsthand the effectiveness of bagging in preventing pests, diseases, and hail, and now they are completely convinced. They all told me that they must beg you to teach them more in the future."

An Qinghe finished speaking in one breath, only to find that Gu Xixi was looking at him with a half-smile.

He rubbed his hands awkwardly. "Didn't I already say these things to you in the letter?"

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "Let's go inside. It's too cold standing here."

Aunt Zhang took a small broom specifically for sweeping the kang (a heated brick bed) and vigorously swept the snow off Anqing and his cloak.

Only then was he allowed to enter the house, where the wet cloak was hung by the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) to dry.

Little Flower was woken up and raised her little head from beside her furry belly.

It recognized An Qinghe, lazily yawned at him, and continued to lie down.

Anqing happily went over to tease the cat, "Little Flower, Flower Flower, Flower Flower Flower, it's me! Why didn't you say hello before going to sleep?"

"You've been too lazy to go out all winter, haven't you? Look how fat you've gotten in your belly."

It's unclear whether Xiaohua understood Anqinghe's comment about it being fat, or simply found Anqinghe's chatter annoying.

Suddenly, without warning, it turned its head and, howling, bit his hand hard.

Gu Xixi burst into laughter. "Good job, Xiaohua!"

Aunt Zhang suppressed a laugh and went over to check An Qinghe's hand, saying, "It's the New Year, don't bite him."

An Qinghe raised his bitten hand and shook it. There were only two deep teeth marks on his index finger, but no blood was drawn.

He stroked the cat's head with his other hand and chuckled, "Little Flower knows I'm one of our own, so she held back when she bit me."

Seeing him intently petting the cat, Gu Xixi could only ask, "Why did you come to see me at this hour? Is there something urgent?"

An Qinghe then remembered that he had something with him.

He pulled an envelope from his pocket and said, "It's not urgent, I just wanted to bring this to you."

Gu Xixi unfolded it and found that it was the contract she signed when she bought the Pinpo fruit trees from the Yunling Nursery Association.

She kept a copy for herself, and the one in front of her was the one from the seedling association.

An Qinghe said, "This is important, so it couldn't be sent in a letter before."

"Because you not only helped the seedling association achieve its target, but also exceeded it."

"According to the agreement in the contract, the payment for the remaining half of the saplings is now settled."

Gu Xixi took out her copy of the contract, compared and confirmed it with the other copy, and then burned it in front of An Qinghe.

The contract is concluded, and the payment and goods are settled.

Aunt Zhang asked curiously, "You just said you were delivering something, where are you going later?"

An Qinghe blinked and said matter-of-factly, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going back to our home for the New Year. I'll just bring the contract over and let Xixi deal with it in person."

Aunt Zhang and Gu Xixi were both speechless.

So that's how he "shun" (顺, meaning "to pass by").

An Qinghe observed the expressions of the two men and hesitated before saying, "In my country, we don't celebrate the Lunar New Year's Eve. When I was in Yunling County, I always spent it alone, so I don't really understand your customs."

"Is it... inconvenient for you to take in a stranger like me?"

Aunt Zhang's heart softened upon hearing this. She thought of how he had left his hometown at such a young age, and how while other families were celebrating the holidays, he was all alone, unable to return home. The contrast between the two only added to his desolation.

So Aunt Zhang quickly waved her hand, "No, no, it's not inconvenient at all."

Other families may be more particular, but we don't have that many rules.

"You can stay for the New Year. It's just a matter of adding more bowls and chopsticks. It'll be more lively with more people!"

Anqing was excited and moved, her eyes reddening. "Thank you so much, Auntie."

"I heard that people in Daye County are very tired before the New Year. They have to clean their houses and prepare a lot of food."

"I can do it, just give me any job you need!"

Aunt Zhang looked An Qinghe up and down, then smiled, "There really is a job that's perfect for you."

We put up Spring Festival couplets in the afternoon.

The upper and lower couplets have already been pasted up. With Anqing and He present, there's no need to move a ladder to paste the horizontal couplet; a small stool will suffice.

Stone watched from behind as he directed, "It's crooked, it's crooked! Raise it a little higher on the right!"

The couplets were written in stone, and he demanded that the supervisor make sure they were pasted up neatly.

Finally, the requirements were met, and it was pasted up.

Gu Xixi walked over and looked at it. "Hmm! Not bad. You've improved so quickly."

The little guy was just waiting for praise. He beamed and said excitedly, "Sister Jinglan told me that although there are differences in talent in calligraphy, as long as you work hard and practice diligently, you will eventually get better and better."

Gu Xixi couldn't help but think of He Jinglan's childhood trauma.

She practiced calligraphy diligently, but could never catch up with Mu Nanzhao, which is why she said, "Although there is a difference in talent."

Anqing and He also came over to look at the Spring Festival couplets with them.

"The Chinese characters are written so well, it's truly a pleasure to look at. It makes me want to learn calligraphy too."

Stone became interested. "Go ahead and practice! I can teach you!"

An Qinghe thought for a moment and then smiled, “I’ll learn to write from you during these few days of the New Year holiday, and then I can practice on my own when I get back.”

It must be admitted that among the three people present, Shi Tou was the youngest, but his handwriting was the best.

It was Shi Tou's first time teaching, so he was naturally very excited.

He turned to Gu Xixi and said, "Xixi, don't you always say your handwriting is like a dog's scribbles? Let's practice handwriting together! With my strict guidance, I guarantee you'll both write better and better!"

Gu Xixi was struck in the chest by an arrow and broke out in a cold sweat. Farmers finally get a few days off, and she had to practice calligraphy at home. Wasn't she just asking for trouble?

So she immediately made an excuse, "Ah... my hands get cold, I can't hold a calligraphy brush in winter."

In his excitement, Shi Tou failed to notice that Gu Xixi was clearly rejecting him.

He chuckled and said, "Don't worry, the main room is warm. I can sit on the kang (heated brick bed) and write, so my hands won't get cold."

Gu Xixi looked to An Qinghe for help.

An Qing was taken aback, but quickly understood.

"I almost forgot there's something important, Xixi. You mentioned to me before the method of grafting Bodhi fruit and the method of fast-growing fruit tree seedlings. The nursery association wants to buy them, and the price is negotiable."

Gu Xixi took a deep breath with an air of seriousness, "Then I need to think about it carefully."

"Writing a tutorial that you can understand and that is easy to use is not an easy task..."

"Time is of the essence..."

She frowned as she spoke, then slipped back to her room.