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

At this moment, Qin Xiuli, the mother, and her two aunts came out of the kitchen.

Mother Qin Xiuli asked with a smile, "What are you chatting about? It's so lively!"

"Qin Shouye asked me to pass on a message to his daughter," Father Li Mingde replied.

Upon hearing this name, Qin Xiuli's face immediately fell:

"You agreed? Don't forget how that Jia Zhangshi slandered our son last month!"

Father Li Mingde was somewhat embarrassed, and his voice became much softer:

"I'm just thinking that we're from the same village, and besides, it wasn't his daughter's fault, was it?"

"What happened?" Grandpa asked, looking puzzled.

The two uncles and aunts also looked curious.

Father Li Mingde was speechless for a moment.

Mother Qin Xiuli took a deep breath and simply told the whole story of how Jia Zhangshi had slandered Kaixin.

The people listening didn't look too happy.

Seeing everyone getting angrier and angrier, Kaixin quickly interjected, "Mom, actually I've already figured out how to vent my anger."

"When did this happen? How come I have no idea?" Mother Qin Xiuli asked in surprise.

Seeing this, Li Kaixin smiled and explained, "I went to look at houses a while ago and saw Jia Zhangshi forcibly occupying public housing. I immediately went to the neighborhood office to report her."

He paused, then added, "The neighborhood committee fined her fifty yuan and made her sweep the streets for three months. She's probably still sweeping them right now."

After hearing this, Qin Xiuli, the mother, looked pleased:

"I knew it! I saw that old woman sweeping the street with her head down the other day. Turns out it was you, Kaixin, who did it!"

The two uncles and their aunts exchanged glances and then laughed.

"By the way, what exactly happened to Qin Shouye that he needs us to call his daughter back?" Qin Xiuli, the mother, suddenly asked.

The atmosphere froze for a moment after those words were spoken.

Grandpa frowned and said, "His house!"

He sighed and continued, "Last year, I arranged a marriage for his son, and the woman asked for forty catties of coarse grains as a bride price."

"At the time, we thought things were alright, but who could have imagined that the village's harvest would be reduced by more than half this year? When the girl's family saw this situation, they quickly arranged for their daughter to marry into the family this year."

"After paying off those forty catties of grain, his family probably won't last until next spring."

Upon hearing about the village's harvest, Qin Xiuli, the mother, immediately turned to her two younger brothers: "Brothers, do you have enough food to eat this year?"

The smiles on the faces of the two uncles froze instantly.

The eldest uncle's eyes darted away, and he said in a low voice, "Eldest sister, my family... we'll just have to make do, maybe we can eat until spring."

My second uncle nodded in agreement, but the expression on his face looked forced.

Seeing the way her two younger brothers looked, their mother, Qin Xiuli, became somewhat angry, her face showing displeasure.

"Do you still consider me your elder sister? Are you going to tell the truth or not?"

Seeing that his eldest sister was angry, his uncle sighed, gritted his teeth, and said:

"My family... is about a month short of food rations, which is about 120 jin (60 kg)."

"My family is slightly better off than my eldest brother's, by about half a month, and weighs around fifty pounds less," the second uncle chimed in.

After hearing this, Qin Xiuli, the mother, turned around, first looked at her husband, then turned to look at her eldest son, her eyes filled with pleading.

When Li Mingde saw his wife's expression, he felt heartbroken and looked at Li Kaixin.

Seeing that his parents were looking at him, Li Kaixin nodded to indicate that he could.

Qinjiagou's geographical location is even worse than Lijiacun's.

At least Lijia Village has a stream, while Qinjiagou is all slopes. If Lijia Village's harvest was poor this year, the situation in Qinjiagou will only be worse.

Li Kaixin noticed the strange expressions on his uncles' faces and heard his grandfather finish speaking. Combined with the situation in Qinjiagou, he had a general idea of ​​what was going on, but he didn't know where to start speaking at first.

Seeing this, Qin Xiuli, the mother, immediately felt emboldened and said to her two younger brothers with great confidence, "Alright, we'll make up for the food rations that your two families are short."

Upon hearing this, the eldest and second uncles assumed that the eldest sister was going to use her own grain to make up for the shortfall, and quickly waved their hands:

"No need, no need, big sister, we can figure it out ourselves."

At this moment, Li Kaixin knew it was her turn to shine, so she approached her two uncles with a smile on her face:

Uncle, Second Uncle, you don't need to rush to refuse.

Then, Li Kaixin used the same excuse he had used in Lijia Village before.

"We're all family, it would be too formal to refuse," said Li Mingde, the father, who was standing to the side.

After hearing Li Kaixin's words and seeing that his brother-in-law Li Mingde had spoken, the two uncles could no longer refuse and repeatedly said, "Thank you, brother-in-law."

He then turned to thank Li Kaixin and his elder sister Qin Xiuli.

The two aunts who were listening nearby also came over, their eyes a little red with emotion.

Grandpa sat there, his eyes also glistening with tears.

These days, people say that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup. A son-in-law like ours, who not only remembers to bring them food every month but also helps their two good-for-nothing sons, is truly hard to find even with a lantern.

Li Kai, the younger brother who was fiddling with his bicycle, noticed his grandfather's condition and came over to ask, "Grandpa, what's wrong?"

Grandpa wiped his face with his hand, then patted Li Kai's head, smiling, "It's alright, Grandpa is just happy."

Hearing the commotion, everyone looked at Grandpa and saw that his eyes were red, and they all understood what was going on.

Mother Qin Xiuli changed the subject at the right moment: "Oh, right, I also brought you some things."

Without further ado, he went straight to the main room and came out carrying two small bundles.

This time, her mother, Qin Xiuli, brought back a total of fifteen jin of beef jerky, five jin of mutton jerky, and ten jin of grain.

The ten jin of grain were the fine grains that Li Kaixin brought home.

"These are for you two. Each of you has five catties of beef jerky and one catty of mutton jerky." Mother Qin Xiuli handed the two bundles to her younger brother.

The eldest uncle quickly declined, saying, "Eldest sister, this won't do! You can take it to Mom and Dad. You've already helped us so much, how can we accept anything more..."

"Yes, eldest sister, this is too precious," the second uncle added.

"Don't worry, I've prepared everything for your parents. This is just for the two of you. Besides, your nephew specially brought this back from Inner Mongolia," the mother said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, the two uncles glanced at their brother-in-law, Li Mingde, and seeing that he remained calm, they smiled and accepted the gift.

At this moment, the father, Li Mingde, glanced at his watch, walked over to the mother, Qin Xiuli, and whispered, "Daughter-in-law, it's getting late. We should leave."

Mother Qin Xiuli nodded as she listened, then said to her grandfather, "Dad, we have to go back now; we have to go to work tomorrow."

Although Grandpa was reluctant to let them go, he knew that their work was more important.

Grandma, who was in the kitchen, heard the noise, wiped her hands and came out, telling them to "come often when you have time," and then she and her husband saw their daughter's family out the door.

My two uncles and aunts were also standing at the door waving.