A peasant girl travels through time with a hospital, rising to become an empress.

The snow was falling heavily, so Nie Qianqian didn't let her uncle's family go back in the snow. Instead, she let them stay at her house.

The new house was warm and cozy, and Tiedan was overjoyed. Children love excitement, and he didn't want to go back anyway, as he was hoping to sleep with Tuantuan.

Huang Zhenzhu was also very happy. Everyone who saw Liu Yan's new house was envious and wanted to live there.

The village is small, so any interesting thing that happens will be talked about by the villagers for a long time.

The Liu family's new house is famous throughout the village. After its completion, every villager who visited praised it. Many people, who were not familiar with Liu Yan's family and had never been there before, tried their best to get close to Liu Yan after hearing the news, hoping to have a chance to see what the new house was like.

As a result, they came full of curiosity, but left feeling sour.

Who wouldn't be envious? Which house in the village could be built so big and spacious? The front yard was so grand; instead of raising chickens and ducks, they were raising goldfish. It was the first time the villagers had ever heard that fish could not only be eaten but also kept as ornamental plants.

Of the family, Liu Xiong was the least bothered by this. In his opinion, it didn't matter where he slept; no matter how luxurious the place, it couldn't compare to his own doghouse. He still felt that he slept most comfortably at home.

After settling Mr. Qiao and the children in, Liu Yan, as usual, started preparing food for her stall the next day.

Seeing this, Nie Qianqian quickly stopped her, saying, "Mom, don't bother. The snow is so heavy, you'll definitely freeze if you set up a stall. Tomorrow is the Little New Year, and after that, the New Year will be just around the corner. You and Uncle have been so busy these days, it's time to rest now that the Little New Year is here. Let's go to the county town market tomorrow to buy some New Year's goods and prepare for the New Year properly."

Liu Yan counted on her fingers and realized it was true; it was already the Little New Year. Time really flies.

She used to dislike celebrating the New Year. Even though the whole family looked forward to it when she lived with Old Nie, she didn't.

During the Chinese New Year, she did all the usual chores, including taking care of the whole family's food and drink. She was busy with all sorts of things, but didn't get any credit. The only thing that gave her some comfort was that she wasn't constantly being watched while cooking, and she could always find a moment to cut some meat for Tuantuan.

But you can't cut too much meat. These days, everyone in the village is poor, and no one has much oil or meat. If you cut too much, you'll be caught immediately.

She wouldn't even eat a piece of meat herself, leaving only a tiny bit for Tuantuan, just so Tuantuan could have a taste.

But this year is completely different; just thinking about the Lunar New Year...

She was eagerly anticipating the New Year.

This is her first New Year after her divorce, and also the first year she has supported her family by earning money on her own.

This year, we must celebrate it properly!

Huang Zhenzhu always told her that after the divorce, she would be the head of the household with Nie Qianqian, and she would have to take care of everything. But she was so busy that she forgot about it.

Liu Yan slapped her forehead and said, "Look at my memory, I'm so busy I'm dizzy. It's almost the Little New Year, I should really prepare some New Year's goods."

During this period, Liu's restaurant made a lot of money again, and Liu Yan felt more confident, thinking that she should make good preparations for the New Year this time.

Liu Yan told Da Ma and Xiao Ma that the business would be closed tomorrow, and then went to Huang Zhenzhu to discuss the shopping trip to the city the next day.

Huang Zhenzhu was still awake when she heard Liu Yan's words, and she was so excited that she couldn't sleep. She said, "That's great! Qianqian just happened to drive a carriage back. Tomorrow, our two families can ride together to the county town."

Nie Qianqian's carriage belongs to Jishetang, and she hasn't bought another one yet. However, she plans to purchase one this time when she goes to the county town.

One?

Nie Qianqian thought to herself, why not just buy two cars, one for her and one for Gu Xiao, so that it would be more convenient for them to go out in the future.

There's also that cow at home, named Dahuang. Ever since we got the horse-drawn cart, we haven't used Dahuang much. But Tuantuan likes Dahuang, so we've kept it at home. Since we don't have any land to cultivate, Dahuang eats well and does little work, so it's gotten quite fat.

The next day, sunlight streamed into the house through the windows. The Liu family didn't need to set up their stall or get up early, and they all slept in comfortably.

Outside, the snow had stopped, the sun was out, and everything was covered in white. Tuantuan and Tiedan, wearing thick cotton-padded coats, were having a wonderful time playing in the snow.

The two were building a snowman, their little faces red from the cold, but their eyes were full of joy.

Nie Qianqian watched from the side, then casually picked up a small piece of snowball and threw it at Tuantuan, making Tuantuan giggle.

It was freezing cold, and Nie Qianqian told Gu Xiao not to stay with them, but Gu Xiao refused and stayed by their side. Nie Qianqian was just about to make another snowball to "ambush" Tuan Tuan when her hands were suddenly enveloped by a large hand.

Gu Xiao placed a hand warmer in Nie Qianqian's hand, then held her hand in his own to warm it.

"It's cold, be careful not to catch a cold..."

Gu Xiao's hands weren't very warm, far from being a hand warmer, but Nie Qianqian felt that every inch of her skin touched by Gu Xiao's hands was burning hot, and even her face felt hot.

Gu Xiao hadn't held Nie Qianqian's hand many times either. He pretended to be calm and watched Tuantuan and Tiedan play without changing his expression, but he didn't dare to look at Nie Qianqian at all, and his ears were completely red.

Neither of them dared to look at each other, so naturally they didn't see each other's reactions. Just then, Liu Xiong came out to call the others to eat, and noticing one person's face was flushed red and the other's ears were bright red, he scratched his head in confusion...

He muttered to himself, "This young couple has been married for years, why do they still look like they just got married, their faces are so red..."

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Dinner's ready!" and went inside, casually touching Huang Zhenzhu's hand.

Huang Zhenzhu was busy serving dishes when she slapped his hand away, saying, "Don't bother me. We still have to go to the county after dinner." Why was he holding her hand? He was delaying her from going to the county to buy New Year's goods.

Huang Zhenzhu got up early and dressed up specially. She didn't change her clothes; she wore the same ones as yesterday. However, she carefully styled her hair into a bun and styled it into one for Liu Yan as well. Both of them wore the hairpins they had kept at the bottom of their trunks.

Liu Xiong felt a little embarrassed after being clapped, and secretly harbored some resentment...

He and Pearl were an old married couple, and their hand-holding wasn't as exciting as Nie Qianqian and Gu Xiao's.

After a quick breakfast, the group of people boarded a horse-drawn carriage and headed towards the village entrance.

These days, most vehicles in the village are oxcarts, and not every household owns one. If most people want to go to the county town, they have to catch a specially driven oxcart at the village entrance and pay a toll before they can make their way.

The appearance of a single horse-drawn carriage in the village was enough to astound the villagers of Qinghe County, let alone two!

Two tall horses walked along the village road, as if they knew they were very rare in the village, and they held their heads high.

Anyone who saw two fine horses pulling a carriage passing by would stop and marvel at it.

Aunt Wang lived nearby and was the first to see the two carriages drive away. She felt a pang of sadness; she had been planning to go out, but upon seeing this scene, she turned around and went back home, slamming the door shut behind her.

A while ago, she confidently asserted that city people were picky eaters and would definitely not be used to the food in the village, so she wouldn't be able to make money by setting up a small food stall.

As it turned out, the food stall's business was booming, becoming quite famous in Qinghe County. She even went to check it out herself; Liu's Restaurant was packed with people, business was incredibly good. She could tell with her own eyes that Liu's Restaurant must have made a lot of money.

Isn't this a slap in the face?