The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

After the meal.

Li Kaixin's parents began unpacking the luggage she had brought back.

The mother first opened the package that Li Kaixin had taken from home.

Inside was the tattered cotton-padded coat that Li Kaixin had changed out of after leaving Northeast China.

The mother picked up the cotton coat and immediately noticed several large, conspicuous tears in it. She paused for a moment, then looked directly at Li Kaixin, waiting for an explanation.

Li Kaixin scratched the back of his head, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Mom, this... I accidentally tripped and fell, and got scratched by a tree branch."

Li Kaixin's mother looked at her with some skepticism, but ultimately didn't press the matter further. She simply sighed and said, "You'll have to be more careful next time. I'll make you something better when you have time on your day off."

Clean up this package.

The mother noticed that there was still a lot of food left over from what she had brought. She looked at her eldest son again and said with concern, "Don't be too frugal when you're traveling. You should eat when you're hungry."

Li Kaixin quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no! We were served food in the canteen when we were in the Northeast, that's why there's some left."

The mother nodded, her expression softening.

So I separated the clothes that needed washing and planned to wash them first thing tomorrow morning.

As soon as their mother opened the other two packages brought back from Northeast China, their younger brother Li Kai rushed over and stared at them expectantly.

Seeing his younger brother's greedy look, Li Kaixin couldn't help but laugh and casually grabbed a handful of walnuts and handed them to him.

Li Kai, the younger brother, brightened up and happily accepted the gift, saying, "Thank you, big brother!"

The father watched from the side, his eyes filled with satisfaction. The harmony between the brothers was the best thing.

While tidying up, the mother joked, "You're already thinking about food again after just putting down your bowl. There's not enough food for you to eat."

"And remember to share some with your sister."

"Okay!" Li Kai replied.

Then, he happily ran over to his younger sister, Li Xiaoxiao, with the walnuts in his arms and started dividing them.

When Li Kaixin and his parents saw his younger brother Li Kai looking like this, they all smiled at each other.

The father then took out the family scale from the room and weighed himself.

More than 120 jin of walnuts and more than 30 jin of pine nuts.

This quantity was specially taken out by Li Kaixin from the secret realm space, and it was about the same as what the other transport teams brought, so as not to attract too much attention.

After tidying up, my father and mother only kept 40 jin of walnuts and 4 jin of pine nuts in the main room, and put the rest into the large cabinet in the house.

After that, the mother hurriedly left the house.

Before long, Aunt Wang, Aunt Zhao, Aunt Sun, and Aunt Liu from the courtyard all arrived, each carrying a cloth bag.

As soon as Li Kaixin entered, four aunties greeted her with smiles and chatter.

"Happy is back!"

"This trip must have been tough, right? You look a little thinner."

Then, he noticed a small mountain of walnuts and pine nuts piled up in the corner. He was surprised for a moment, and then his smile quickly deepened.

The aunts had heard Li Kaixin's mother, Qin Xiuli, say that her son had brought back some local specialties from Northeast China, and they thought it would only weigh about ten kilograms. Who would have thought there would be so much?

Then he turned to Li Kaixin's mother, Qin Xiuli, and praised her:

"Oh my, Xiuli, you really raised a good son. You're so capable of bringing so much back from so far away."

"Exactly! Where can you find such a capable and filial child!"

They exchanged words, each one a heartwarming compliment that cost nothing, making Li Kaixin's mother, Qin Xiuli, feel a little embarrassed.

He waved his hand and said, "No way, stop praising him. He's got it all out of the ordinary."

Unable to contain herself any longer, Qin Xiuli, the mother, said once everyone had arrived:

"Ladies, these were all bought by my son in Northeast China. They cost four cents a pound. If you want them, just pay the original price."

Aunt Wang spoke first:

"That won't do. These are all in high demand at the supply and marketing cooperative. They cost at least one yuan each, and you can't even buy them."

"Your son carried this all the way back; labor costs too. How can we take advantage of that? We'll just give you one yuan!"

"Yes, yes, let's just charge it by one yuan." Aunt Liu, Aunt Sun, and Aunt Zhao chimed in.

Mother Qin Xiuli waved her hands repeatedly, saying sincerely, "Really, there's no need. You've always helped us out whenever anything happens at home. We've been neighbors for years, so let's just go for the original price."

"Besides, buying and selling isn't allowed now. Let's split it at the original price. If we get reported later, we can just say we were helping to bring it from the Northeast. That'll make sense."

Fearing her older sisters might misunderstand, Qin Xiuli, the mother, glanced at them and quickly explained:

"It's not that I don't trust everyone, it's just that I was chatting outside and it slipped out unintentionally, causing trouble for no reason."

The voice just fell.

Aunt Wang smiled and replied, "Xiuli, we understand what you mean."

Then, pointing to the pile of mountain goods, he asked, "Is this all? Did you keep any for yourselves?"

"I've kept them all. My family's share was set aside separately. You can divide these among yourselves," said Qin Xiuli, the mother.

After hearing this, Aunt Wang turned to the other three aunties and smiled, "How much do you plan to take? If you don't take much, I'll take the rest for myself."

Upon hearing this, the three women immediately became anxious:

"Oh, Sister Wang, you're so greedy!"

"Exactly, who wouldn't want more of something this good?"

"We want a bigger share too, so don't even think about taking it all for yourself!"

They all knew perfectly well that walnuts and pine nuts, in this day and age, were not only respectable nutritional supplements that could be given as gifts when visiting relatives and friends, but also things that could be stored as dried goods to stave off hunger.

Besides, with such a reasonable price, who would be willing to pay less?

A hint of regret flashed across Aunt Wang's face as she said, "Alright, then let's split it evenly, no one should argue, and no one should get more, is that alright?"

In the end, the four people split the money equally, and each person received ten catties of walnuts and one catty of pine nuts.

The four aunts deftly took out their money, a total of seventeen yuan and sixty cents, and neatly placed it on the table next to Li Kaixin's mother.

As they were leaving, the four aunties turned back with smiles and said, "Xiuli, thank you so much. We'll head back now."

With a smile on her face, Qin Xiuli, the mother, saw her aunts off to the door and gently closed it only after they returned to their rooms with their cloth bags.

Back inside, both mother and Li Kaixin breathed a sigh of relief.

The father, who had been watching from inside the house, smiled and teased, "Xiuli, if you ask me, your son is really something else. He's practically being praised as the most outstanding person in our neighborhood."

Upon hearing this, the mother felt embarrassed and, with a mixture of shame and anger, made a move to pinch him.

"You're quite the sarcastic one! Why didn't you come out to greet the neighbors when they were here?"

Li Kaixin, who was standing to the side, was also a little embarrassed, and her face turned red again.

The father was hit on the arm, and he pretended to be in pain, crying out "Ouch!" before shouting that he was innocent.

"Wife, you've wronged me! In our family, big and small matters all depend on your word as the head of the household!"

After hearing this, the mother's expression softened slightly.

Seeing this, the father coaxed, "Besides, my wife is so beautiful, and my son is so successful, can't I even say a few words of praise?"

A few sweet words instantly transformed the mother's angry expression into a shy blush. She leaned gently against her father's shoulder and whispered, "Mingde, did I... pinch you too hard just now?"

The father casually put his arm around the mother's shoulder and said gently, "Why does it hurt when you pinch me like that? I can never get enough of your pinching in my whole life."

Standing to the side, Li Kaixin was already exasperated and wanted to escape.

Then the mother remembered her business, put the money she had just received on the table, and quickly called out, "Kaixin, take this money."

Li Kai didn't even turn her head, but simply waved her hand and said, "No need, Mom, you keep it."

As she spoke, she grabbed her younger brother and sister, who were still cracking walnuts at the table, and they practically fled the main room.

Watching Li Kaixin lead his younger siblings away, the father chuckled and shook his head, saying, "This child..."

Then she and her mother became all lovey-dovey again.

......