Ancestors, I told you to seduce the villains, not to turn evil.

Xu Manman prepared eight dishes in eight wooden basins, one basin for steamed buns and dumplings, and she also cooked millet porridge and made tea eggs.

She stocked up on eggs before the Lunar New Year.

In addition, the chickens and ducks she raised also started laying eggs, so Xu Manman had a harvest every day.

After all, her family's chickens are well-fed.

While other people's chickens can only eat wheat bran and the like in winter, their chickens can eat the freshest grass and cornmeal in winter.

Because they were raised well, Xu Manman's chickens, apart from being young, were the same size as Aunt Lin's chickens next door.

Aunt Lin praised Xu Manman several times when she saw her, saying that she had raised her well.

Tea eggs, millet porridge, pork cracklings, pickled cabbage, glass noodles, and steamed buns, plus some cold side dishes, and that's it for the meal.

However, eating these things all the time can get boring.

Scallion pancakes, savory pancakes, and egg pancakes are also available.

All afternoon, the smokestacks in Xu Manman's house were constantly burning, and the whole yard was filled with the aroma of meat.

Next door, at Aunt Lin's house, her daughter-in-law had long since finished her postpartum confinement. Aunt Lin is a good mother-in-law; she killed three chickens during her confinement and provided eggs every day.

In addition, fish was distributed during the Lunar New Year, so Xu Ying ate plenty of this good stuff.

But she still craved it, especially since the neighbor was stewing meat; the aroma was so strong it wafted into her house.

Xu Ying couldn't help but look at her mother-in-law: "Mom, let's have some meat today! It smells so good next door, it's making my mouth water."

Aunt Lin gave her a disapproving look: "You've been eating a lot during your postpartum period, and you're still so greedy. So today, I'll stir-fry a piece of sausage."

Aunt Lin was used to being frugal, and in the past, she would always save these foods for the New Year.

But since her daughter-in-law said she wanted to eat it, Aunt Lin reluctantly took out a sausage and stir-fried it.

Xu Ying immediately smiled and said sweetly, "Mom, you're so kind. Can your daughter-in-law eat a little chili tonight?"

Xu Ying also liked to eat chili peppers, but she stopped eating them after having a child.

The baby is now over three months old, but she has to breastfeed and doesn't dare to eat normally.

I was really craving something today, so I couldn't resist pleading with my mother-in-law.

Aunt Lin never had a good mother-in-law when she was young. She didn't get to eat any meat during her postpartum period. Her mother-in-law raised more than twenty chickens, but she wouldn't let her eat even two eggs.

It is precisely because she has experienced hardship that she can empathize with her daughter-in-law.

She knew her daughter-in-law liked spicy food, but for the sake of the child, her daughter-in-law had been enduring it.

The baby is three months old now, so it's okay for him to eat a little bit.

"Then you can only eat a little less, since you're still feeding the baby."

Xu Ying immediately smiled and agreed.

Next door, Xu Manman happily stocked up on food. For dinner, she ate steamed buns, braised pork with potatoes, and some pickled radishes, green beans, and cabbage, along with some pickled chili peppers, garlic cloves, and ginger. It was incredibly delicious.

However, while eating, she couldn't help but sigh, "If only we had rice."

Braised pork and potatoes over rice is absolutely delicious, but unfortunately, due to the environmental conditions in the fields here, rice is relatively scarce, and the supply and marketing cooperative only occasionally has some.

Xu Manman went twice, but still couldn't buy it.

Seeing that Xu Manman looked like she really wanted to eat, her eyes even brighter than usual, Fei Huainan immediately made a mental note of it.

My wife likes to eat this, so I insisted on buying some.

Xu Manman just casually remarked that being able to eat her fill at this point was already quite good, and she was even able to eat meat every day, which was already very good.

She is easily satisfied.

That evening, Fei Huainan, worried about Xu Manman staying home, took her to Ding Huiying's house.

Ding Huiying and Lü Ming were very welcoming to Xu Manman, especially Lü Ming.

He saw that Xu Manman was extremely adoring.

"Sister Xu, the comic book you gave me last time was really amazing, everyone loves reading it."

Lu Ming used to have no friends because he was often bullied in the village since he didn't have a father, and no one played with him.

Only the girl next door was willing to talk to him.

Sometimes when Lü Ming saw other children playing and laughing in groups, he felt very envious.

But ever since Xu Manman gave him the comic books, many people have been coming to play with him every day.

He made many good friends as a result.

Li Tianyou, the village chief's grandson, was the leader of the group of children and never liked him.

He was very unhappy to see that he could get everyone to play with him with just a few books, and he threatened to ask his grandfather to buy him books so that he could read them with everyone when he came back.

Just when Lü Ming thought he was about to lose another friend, everyone completely ignored Li Tianyou.

Li Tianyou, relying on his position as the village chief, acted tyrannically in the village, and no one liked him at all.

Previously, it was Li Tianyou who led the isolation of Lü Ming. They were unaware of the situation and genuinely thought Lü Ming was a bad kid, but after getting to know him, they found that Lü Ming was quite a good person.

Children's feelings develop over time. They didn't understand Lü Ming before and thought he wasn't good.

After spending time with him, we found that Lü Ming was very easy to get along with, and now everyone really enjoys hanging out with him.

Even without comic books, I enjoy being with Lü Ming.

Lu Ming was very touched, feeling that it was Sister Xu's comic book that brought him friendship, and he was also very grateful for Brother Fei's training.

I unexpectedly saw Xu Manman come over today, and I pulled her into the house.

Ding Huiying's family had limited firewood, so she slept on the kang (a heated brick bed) with her son during the winter.

Xu Manman entered the house, and Ding Huiying immediately went to add some firewood.

She had been to Xu Manman's house, which was very warm. Xu Manman had helped her a lot, and Ding Huiying didn't want Xu Manman to get cold.

Xu Manman was a little embarrassed, but Ding Huiying didn't give her a chance to refuse at all, and even took out some melon seeds from her home to give her to eat.

That winter, Xu Manman made clothes and quilts for her, which helped her pay off a lot of her debts.

To be honest, she usually only takes on small sewing and mending jobs, earning only a penny or two. She rarely does big jobs like making clothes.

After all, there are relatively few families nowadays that don't know how to sew, and those who do sew are usually unwilling to spend money to ask for help.

It means that the young girl loves beauty, so she spends money to have him embroider a simple pattern for her, because it looks nice.

Otherwise, she'll ask for help making clothes for her wedding; she doesn't get many jobs at other times.

For a normal family, earning a few dollars could supplement their household income.

But she had to pay off her deceased husband's gambling debts, so she had to live more frugally than others.

With Xu Manman at Ding Huiying's house, Fei Huainan felt relieved and turned to go to the cowshed.

It's going to snow tomorrow, which will easily leave marks, so tonight is the best time to do it.

A secluded corner outside Xinghua Village.

Liu Boyu took out a sharp dagger and handed it to Lao Ba.

"The gunshot is too loud and easily noticed. This is a dagger made of fine iron, extremely sharp, and can cut those people's throats in an instant."

A silenced gun isn't completely silent.

The primary function of a silencer is to reduce the sound of gunfire, but it cannot completely eliminate it.

This mission only offers one chance, so using a dagger is safer.