Taking Liu Yifei back to Northeast China for the Chinese New Year has sent the entire internet into

Hua Yu looked down at his bulging haute couture pockets and froze.

He hadn't forgotten that this afternoon in the woods, he had spent half a day arguing his case to get a "dividend."

Fang Yu was incredibly stingy back then, so he only gave them two hazelnuts and two walnuts.

As a result, this happened before he left.

They gave him a huge handful!

Hua Yu reached into his pocket and squeezed the hard, large walnut.

The cold nut shells pressed against my palm.

But a strange, inexplicable warmth rose in his heart.

He stared at Fang Yu for a while, and a rare, unguarded, and genuine smile appeared on his lips.

"...Thanks."

……

Standing beside the large iron gate, the chief director, Zhou Zheng, took in the entire scene, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Having spent half his life creating hit variety shows, he knows best what "showing off" and "persona" mean in this industry.

When he first started planning this show, all he could think about was generating buzz, drama, and viewership.

But it wasn't until the very last day of filming that he suddenly realized that the program had actually captured the true essence of "going home for the Chinese New Year".

There was no deliberate set design.

There is no pretense or insincerity without a script or dialogue.

There was no forced emotional manipulation with tear-jerking background music.

This group of people, who are usually high and mighty, took off their haute couture gowns and squeezed into a warm room filled with the aroma of firewood and meat.

After eating their fill and laughing their fill, no one wanted to be the first to leave.

Zhou Zheng took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Then he turned around and solemnly waved to the cameras of the entire online audience.

Thank you all for your company over the past two weeks!

"Going Home for the New Year..."

"This concludes the series!"

The moment the words fell.

The live stream chat was flooded with comments like crazy.

【Don't turn it off! Please don't turn it off!!】

My electronic pickled mustard tuber is gone! Please air another season! I'll pay for VIP to watch it, okay?!

[Feather Goddess! Celestial Sister! How could I live without you!]

[Director Zhou, are you out of your mind! Connect me to Fang Yu's house security camera footage!]

[I hereby unilaterally announce that the second season of "Going Home for the New Year" is immediately greenlit! The original cast will be retained, not a single one can be missing!]

No matter how crazy the comments were, the broadcast still paused slightly for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, the screen went completely black.

All that remained were a few cold, white characters in the very center of the screen.

—【The program has ended】

This moment.

Countless viewers who stayed in front of their screens stared at the black screen, unable to recover from the intense sense of disappointment for a long time.

This phenomenal variety show, which lasted for half a month, dominated countless trending topics both domestically and internationally, and even attracted the attention of official authorities and state media, has finally come to an end.

Outside the large iron gate.

The bus engine roared through the cold night.

Bright car headlights pierced through the swirling snowflakes, illuminating the village path.

The wheels crunched and groaned as they rolled over the thick snow.

It carried this group of big stars who arrived high and mighty but left down-to-earth, slowly driving away from Kaoshantun.

Finally, the red glow of the taillights completely disappeared into the snow-covered night of the northern country.

……

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

The cold wind was still howling outside in the Greater Khingan Mountains, but gray-white smoke was already rising from the chimney of the Fang family's courtyard.

The heated brick bed in the main room was burning hot.

The spacious kang (heated brick bed) was now piled high with bags and packages.

Zhao Guifang was quickly stuffing things into three woven bags.

Frozen wood ear mushrooms.

Hazel mushrooms.

Red pine nuts.

Frozen pears and frozen persimmons.

There was even a large bag of dried green beans that they had sun-dried themselves.

The main principle is—

As long as the bag doesn't burst, you can keep stuffing it in.

Fang Yu leaned against the door frame, holding a chipped enamel mug in his hand, his eyelids twitching as he looked at it.

"Mom, that's enough."

He strolled over and rummaged through the round urea bag that was already half a person's height.

"We're going to the capital to work, not like vagrants fleeing famine."

"With all this fuss, people who don't know better might think we're going to set up a stall in Sanlitun to sell local specialties."

Fang Yu smacked his lips and continued:

"Besides, if I can't find work and get sidelined in a couple of months, I'll just wander around and come back. Is it really necessary to empty my savings?"

Zhao Guifang didn't even turn her head.

She slapped his hand away with her backhand.

"Get out of here! Stop getting in my way!"

"Who cares if you come back or not?"

The old lady rolled her eyes.

"You grew up in this village, do you think you'd fly away?"

After scolding her own son, Zhao Guifang turned her head and her gaze fell on Liu Yifei, who was standing to the side.

The tone and expression switched seamlessly in an instant.

It emphasizes a gentle, spring-like quality.

She took Liu Yifei's hand and patted it gently, her eyes filled with unconcealed heartache and reluctance.

"Mom is just reluctant to part with my daughter, Yifei."

"You're a tough nut to crack, you could eat dry bread every day in the capital and it wouldn't bother you, but Yifei is different!"

Zhao Guifang sighed:

"They're out filming every day, working from dawn till dusk. What good could the dry, unappetizing meals on set possibly have?"

"If I don't prepare plenty of high-quality, all-natural food from our mountains for her, how can her body withstand it?"

Hearing this, Liu Yifei felt a surge of tenderness in her heart, and her eyes welled up with a touch of warmth.

She didn't say anything polite, but simply pursed her lips and nodded vigorously.

"Auntie, I'll come back to see you when I have some free time."

She paused here, her voice softening but still carrying a firm tone:

"From now on... this will be my second home."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Guifang's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

But she still stubbornly insisted on it, with the characteristic stubbornness of an old woman from Northeast China:

"Absolutely! When you're coming back, let me know in advance what you'd like to eat, and Auntie will make it for you!"

Just then, two clear car horns sounded from outside the courtyard.

"Beep beep—"

Fang Daqiang lifted the heavy cotton curtain and walked in.

A gust of cold wind slipped into the room through the crack in the door, but it was quickly suppressed by the rising heat inside.

Without uttering a single wasted word, Lao Fang strode to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), picked up the heaviest woven bag with one hand, straightened his back, and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"Put on your coat and pack your things neatly."

"The car has been sitting outside in the heat for ages."

He glanced out the window:

"The road is slippery and difficult to walk on; if we stay any later, we'll miss our flight."