After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

December 30

Zhang He carried the small bamboo basket in her left hand and held Xu Zhuzhu's hand in her right. Xu Zhuzhu followed behind her, wagging her tail. It was a sunny afternoon, and the winter sun was shining lazily.

Since it stopped snowing, the snow has been melting very quickly, and the ground is almost dry. The snow that was as heavy as the day she first arrived has long since melted, leaving only mottled white spots on the distant, higher mountain peaks.

Laoya Village is located in a river valley. It is not called Laoya Village because there are many people in the village who raise ducks, but because the layout of the whole village is like a duck. Li Quanfu's house is at the head of the duck, and Xu Zhuzhu's house is at the tail of the duck. The villagers call this area "Duck Tail Beach".

Yagutan was originally located by a river, and the land was fertile. According to Li Quanfu, most of the villagers in the previous generation used to farm here.

Decades ago, the river changed course, and the land here could no longer be irrigated. The soil could no longer support the crops, so people gradually moved to the east end of the village to farm near the river, and this area became wasteland.

These were the words Xu Wenjie said to her and Xu An when they first settled in Laoya Village.

However, the villagers still call it Yagutan (Duck Gu Beach), even though it is no longer a mudflat.

So Xu Zhuzhu and her family became known as the Xu family with duck buttocks in the village.

"Shouldn't we call them the Xu family of Yagutan?"

Zhang He smiled and said that the villagers called her whatever they liked, she couldn't really explain it.

Looking at the houses scattered here and there in the village, not a single one made of blue bricks and tiles, Xu Zhuzhu couldn't help but sigh, "This Laoya Village is truly poor..."

After entering the village, there were more people.

There is a locust tree on the belly of the duck, which is nearly a hundred years old. According to Li Quanfu, it was planted by the first family to move to Laoya Village, which is now the Zhang family in Laoya Village. They are the most prosperous family in Laoya Village.

There are three elderly people in the Zhang family. Whenever something happens in the village, the three Zhang family elders are invited to take charge, and Li Quanfu, who is the village head, is always automatically ignored.

Therefore, Li Quanfu's position as village chief was merely nominal.

Xu Zhuzhu saw many people sitting under the big locust tree in the village, basking in the sun and chatting, all with smiles on their faces. Xu Zhuzhu could guess what they were talking about.

The snow that had lasted for months finally stopped before the New Year, and everyone was all smiles, saying they could have a good New Year.

Despite the thick snowfall, it melted almost completely in less than ten days after a few days of sunshine. This was something Xu Zhuzhu never saw in the north before she was three years old; the snow would only start to melt slowly after the New Year.

One of the dark-skinned old men, wearing patched clothes, saw Zhang He from afar and came up to greet her warmly.

"Madam Xu, Happy New Year! Where are you going? Is this your son? He's a very handsome young man."

???

Even though it's just a polite way of saying it, the gender should at least match, right?

Xu Zhuzhu looked at her dusty cotton-padded coat, which had several patches, and then tugged at some cotton that her mother had recently taken from her father's coat to make her a small hat.

She's been so thin and pale from hunger these past few months that she really doesn't look like a girl at all. The only thing that's somewhat acceptable is that she inherited her mother's big eyes.

"It's a daughter."

Zhang He greeted them with a smile.

When they said they were going to the village head's house, they asked Xu Zhuzhu to say hello. Only then did Xu Zhuzhu realize that it was Old Man Deng, who made wooden basins for their family.

Yesterday, her mother went to Old Man Deng's house to buy a bamboo basket. Thinking that he had given her four stools as a gift, she brought him a bowl of dumplings. Unexpectedly, Old Man Deng simply gave her the bamboo basket instead, saying it was inappropriate to accept money...

Xu Zhuzhu greeted her sweetly.

Old Deng smiled and patted her head, looking very kind and approachable. "It's a girl! What bright, sparkling eyes you have!"

Xu Zhuzhu: ...

After turning onto a small path leading to the main road, Xu Zhuzhu finally arrived at Li Quanfu's house, which was much better than her current home. Although it wasn't a brick house, it was at least a mud house with tiles.

A fence half a person's height was built with slender bamboo, while the gate to the courtyard was quite tall.

The yard was planted with a lot of Chinese cabbage and rapeseed, which were all ripened by the snow and are now growing limply.

Actually, Xu Zhuzhu had visited Li Quanfu's house when she first arrived in this place.

However, she was so hungry that she was dizzy and on the verge of death, so she had no mind to look at other people's houses.

At this moment, the sound coming from the courtyard disrupted Xu Zhuzhu's thoughts.

A woman cursed, "...You brat, how dare you talk back to your old mother!"

The courtyard gate creaked open, and a little boy, about half a person's height, rushed out of the yard.

A tall woman carrying a bamboo stick followed closely behind.

The little boy clung to the fence, made a face at the woman, and then ran away.

"You brat! If you've got the guts, don't come home for dinner tonight!" the woman yelled angrily.

Hu San Niang then noticed Zhang He standing in front of the courtyard gate, and immediately put on a smiling face, "He Niang is here? Oh, this must be Zhu Zhu, do you still remember your aunt?"

Xu Zhuzhu giggled, "I don't remember..."

Xu Zhuzhu had heard her mother mention Li Quanfu's wife, Hu Sanniang, but she didn't remember her.

Hu Sanniang smiled and pulled Zhang He into the house, then called out into the house, "Quanfu! He Niang is here!"

Li Quanfu, wearing an apron and beaming, came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands as he walked.

When Li Quanfu saw Zhang He's visit, he was very enthusiastic, but there was a hint of deliberate restraint in his enthusiasm. Zhang He, who was just as shrewd as Xu Wenjie, could tell what was going on and said it directly.

"Brother Li, is something the matter?"

Li Quanfu then recounted the story of the private school.

What a private school? Weren't they here to deliver dumplings today?

Zhang He and Xu Zhuzhu were completely confused by what he said, and it took them a long time to understand.

Zhang He pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Second Brother Li, there's no need to worry about the school. Our family fled here and has no roots, power, or influence. Fortunately, Second Brother Li treats my husband like a brother and takes care of our family in everything. This is already a great kindness."

"My husband and I only wish for our family to live a good life. If God is kind to us, that's fine. If not, that's our fate... My husband has been going to town to set up a stall these past few days, saying that there will be many people during the New Year, and maybe someone will want to write Spring Festival couplets. It's not because of this that we've been less busy."

Her father was the most composed person when it came to such an unbelievable matter. He would never reveal a word to anyone before he succeeded, not even her mother.

When she passed the imperial examination to become a scholar, Xu Zhuzhu and her mother naturally didn't know about the private school.

Hearing Zhang He say this, Li Quanfu breathed a sigh of relief. He really thought that Xu Wenjie hadn't been coming recently because he was resentful of him. He was also ashamed because things had fallen through and he didn't dare to go to Xu Wenjie.

Li Quanfu explained, "It's also my fault. I didn't find out clearly that the old gentleman had recommended a disciple to take over before he left. Although he was also a scholar, he had his own teacher recommending him."

Zhang He nodded and smiled calmly. She had heard her husband talk about this kind of thing many times and knew about it to some extent.

The recommendation from his mentor was naturally different from the relationship with his husband, who was completely unrelated to him, so he repeatedly advised Li Quanfu not to take it to heart.

He then lifted the vegetable leaves covering the bamboo basket, revealing a large bowl full of dumplings, and said with a smile, "...It's almost Chinese New Year. I'm very grateful for Brother Li's care over the past month. So, I made some dumplings to bring over to you and your wife."

Zhang He smiled slightly, then seemed a little flustered, "It's just that my family is short of money, so these are just ordinary vegetarian fillings. I brought them over as a small token of my gratitude. Please don't mind, Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law..."

Xu Zhuzhu shook her head inwardly, but there was nothing she could do; it seemed impossible to conjure meat out of the garbage bins at the garbage station.

The flour they brought back from the garbage dump had gone from a small handful to filling an entire plastic bag, but they hadn't found a single piece of meat.

Their family doesn't have a stable income these days, so naturally they won't spend extra money on meat. In the past two days, his dad's pirated calligraphy and painting stall only sold one pair of Spring Festival couplets, and he even got a freebie...

However, the dumpling filling is made with water that has been boiled in that stainless steel pot, and if you taste it carefully, you can still taste a faint meaty aroma.

At first, Zhang He felt sorry for the two children and thought it would be better to buy some, but Xu An and Xu Zhuzhu directly refused: "Daddy and Mommy, it's not too late to eat them later."

Zhang He hugged and kissed the two sensible children.

Hu San Niang took the bowl and examined it carefully.

"Oh, this thing looks so festive. He Niang's cooking skills are really good."

She was a native of the South and a child from Xiaocuo Village. She had never seen dumplings during the Lunar New Year since she was a child. Now, seeing the dumplings in the bowl, each one perfectly round, like gold ingots, Hu San Niang was overjoyed.

He added, "...You're too kind. We're all from the same village, why say such things?"

Hu Sanniang asked Li Quanfu to invite Zhang He into the house for a bowl of water, while she herself took the bowl and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

Li Quanfu's family was not wealthy. As the head of this poor and remote village, he only received a small amount of meat during festivals, and that was only because the government gave it to him out of consideration for his brother-in-law.

Moreover, this year's harvest was poor. The rice was all flooded in the summer, and less than 50 catties of rice were harvested per mu. We had to rush to plant coarse grains, but then there was very little rain in the fall, and before winter even arrived, we encountered a snow disaster...

If it weren't for that one crop of coarse grains, the villagers would probably have starved to death long ago. But thankfully, they managed to survive this year.

The snow has melted; things will get better...

Thinking this, Hu San Niang picked out two more plump and tender pieces of meat from the pot and put them into Xu Zhuzhu's bowl.

When Hu San Niang came out, Xu Zhuzhu saw that her bowl was already full of meat, and she opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

Seeing this, Zhang He quickly said, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have needed to come."

Xu Zhuzhu also joined in, smiling and saying, "My brother and I don't like to eat meat, so Aunt Li and Uncle Li left it for Brother Li to eat."

When Hu San Niang heard a little kid say such things, she was overjoyed. She hugged Xu Zhuzhu and kissed her, but then she got annoyed thinking about her own brat who always knew how to contradict her.