The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

After Chen Ai's family left, the house became quiet. Wang Guihua asked Chen Xing, "Xiao Xing, what time is it?"

Chen Xing glanced at his watch: "It's five o'clock."

Tell Xiufen that you can start cooking dinner. The weather is overcast and it gets dark early, so not many people will be eating dinner.

Wang Guihua is chopping pork ribs, marinating them, and packing them up. She plans to take them out in the summer and stir-fry them with green peppers.

Inside the ribs, some lean meat was also cut and placed inside.

Chen Xing walked out of the house and saw Wang Xiufen playing with her son, so he went over to her.

"Xiufen, Mom wants you to cook. It's five o'clock, you can start cooking now."

"What is Mom doing? I need to take care of the child."

"Mom is chopping ribs. The child is so big now, he should play outside by himself. Don't take care of him."

Wang Xiufen looked at Chen Xing: "You sure know how to order me around. Why don't you go and ask Jiang Yiqiu to cook?"

"She just got back, and she's already helping out with cooking and washing dishes. It's normal for her to rest when she's tired, isn't it?"

"She's the one who's tired, not me. She's a leader outside, but does she still want to be a leader at home, bossing people around?"

Chen Xing's face darkened: "Just do what I tell you to do. Stop with all this nonsense. Wang Xiufen, I'm warning you, don't cause any trouble when Xiao Shi and his wife come back for a day or two. If you disrupt family harmony, I'll give you a good beating when we get back."

Seeing Chen Xing's anger, Wang Xiufen whispered, "You only dare to bully me. If you have the guts, go bully outsiders. What kind of man are you, being so domineering towards your wife?"

Chen Xing clenched his fists, his eyes turning cold. Seeing that Chen Xing was about to hit her, Wang Xiufen quickly said, "Can't I go cook? My life is so hard, marrying into your family."

I reluctantly went to cook.

Chen Xing took out a cigarette and took a puff. His relationship with his younger brother had cooled down a bit. Chen Shi had returned, but hadn't spoken to him yet.

My younger brother is now the deputy county head, and he's getting further and further away from me.

He turned back and went to the living room, where he saw Chen Shi and Chen Yanshi chatting. He took out cigarettes and handed them to Chen Yanshi and Chen Shi.

Chen Shi took the cigarette, and Chen Xing took out a lighter and lit it for Chen Shi.

"Xiao Shi, are we going to invite people for a pig-slaughtering feast tonight?"

"With so many people, cooking will be a problem. Let's not call anyone else. Just call Brother Jianhua and Brother Jianyong."

"I'll go and call them over for dinner."

"No need to call them, they will come on their own."

Chen Yanshi put the cigarettes back into the cigarette case. He still preferred smoking dry cigarettes. He found them satisfying, though they had a strong smell. At home, it didn't bother him, but he didn't smoke dry cigarettes when he was out.

"Xiao Shi, your brother works at the power management office. After National Day, he was promoted to deputy director, which makes him a leader now."

Chen Shi was somewhat surprised, as he hadn't heard his second brother mention this matter before.

Chen Xing quickly said, "He's just a deputy director, it's nothing, he still does the same work, so I didn't tell you."

Chen Shi knew that Qin Jiang had promoted him, and that he owed Qin Jiang a favor.

"Brother, the deputy director is also a leader. You should be careful about the impact of your actions in the future."

"I understand," Chen Xing knew that this was due to his younger brother's connections. There were many people in the power management office who were more senior than him and graduated from prestigious universities, but they promoted him. Many people didn't dare to say it to his face, but they were resentful of him in private.

Chen Jianhua and Chen Jianyong walked in. Chen Jianyong was carrying a large rooster. He said with a smile, "Xiaoshi, I brought a chicken for you to slaughter and eat during the New Year. It's a free-range chicken, raised in the mountains. It's never been fed commercial feed. It's been raised for two or three years. It makes a delicious soup."

Chen Shi glanced at the chicken Chen Jianyong was carrying. It weighed three or four pounds and was a typical free-range chicken, which was hard to find outside.

"Thank you, Second Brother."

"Xiao Shi, we have two more at home. I'll bring one up to the county town for you."

"That's enough, it doesn't taste good if you eat too much."

Chen Jianhua felt embarrassed that his hands were empty: "Xiao Shi, I cured a ham for you. Once it's dried, I'll deliver it to the county town."

"The ham from last year is still sitting there; we can't finish it all, so please don't send it."

Chen Shi stood up and went to his room to get cigarettes. Jiang Yiqiu, who had been sleeping, sat up.

What time is it?

Chen Shi said, "It's almost six o'clock."

"I'll go cook."

"Second sister-in-law, please sit down and rest if you're tired."

"I'm so tired after coming back."

Chen Shi took down three packs of good cigarettes and tossed them to Chen Jianyong and the other two.

"I'll take it back and smoke it when we get back."

Chen Jianyong took the cigarette and generously placed it aside: "Thank you, Xiao Shi."

Chen Jianhua wanted it, and somewhat awkwardly took the cigarette in his hand, placing it next to Chen Jianyong's.

Wang Xiufen had taken four or five cartons of cigarettes home earlier, and Chen Xing said, "We already have some at home, so Xiufen took a few cartons home."

Chen Shi didn't care about these things: "Brother, take it back and smoke it."

Chen Xing then put the cigarette away.

Jiang Yiqiu got up, washed his face, tied his hair up, put on an apron, and went into the kitchen to help with cooking.

"Second sister-in-law, you wash the vegetables, I'll cook them."

"Yiqiu, why don't you sleep a little longer? I can cook for these people. You're the leader, how can I expect you to cook when we get back?"

Jiang Yiqiu ignored Wang Xiufen and went to cook.

The dishes were quickly prepared, and the family sat down with Chen Shi at the center. Chen Xing brought out wine and poured everyone's glasses.

They ate and chatted, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Chen Shi was slightly drunk after drinking, so he stopped drinking. Since Chen Shi stopped drinking, everyone else stopped drinking too.

After dinner, Jiang Yiqiu cleared the dishes, and Wang Xiufen took the child back to bed and left early.

When the villagers learned that Chen Shi had returned, they all rushed to his house to play, and the place became lively.

Chen Xing took out cards and started playing cards with the villagers. Chen Shi, mindful of his image, didn't play cards but chatted with some of the villagers instead.

I went to sleep around 11 o'clock.

Chen Shi went to sleep, and the villagers gradually dispersed.

The next morning, Jiang Yiqiu got up while Chen Shi was still fast asleep. He put on light makeup and woke Chen Shi up, saying, "I need to go home. Are you coming?"

Chen Shi opened his eyes and said groggily, "I'm not going. Go back by yourself and come back early this afternoon."

Jiang Yiqiu grabbed his car keys, walked out, and said to Wang Guihua, "Mom, I need to go back."

Wang Guihua brought out some meat: "Take this to your parents. This is from our own free-range pigs. They've never been fed commercial feed, so the meat is very fragrant."

"My parents also slaughtered a pig. Keep this little bit of meat for yourselves."

Wang Guihua insisted on putting it in Jiang Yiqiu's hand: "This is a small token of our appreciation. Take it back with you."

Seeing that Wang Guihua insisted on giving it to him, Jiang Yiqiu put it in the trunk.

Wang Guihua asked, "Isn't Xiaoshi going with you?"

"He's sleepy, let him take a nap."

"It's foggy, drive slowly," Wang Guihua reminded him.

Jiang Yiqiu drove home, and Zhang Qingrong asked, "Didn't Chen Shi come?"

"He didn't come." Jiang Yiqiu opened the trunk. "Where's Jiang Yishan?"

"Still sleeping, haven't gotten up yet."

"Tell him to come and pick up the things."

"I've already brought these things. Let him get some sleep; he probably stayed up late playing games again last night."

Jiang Yiqiu looked at Zhang Qingrong: "Mom, how many times have I told you not to spoil Jiang Yishan anymore? When he comes back, let him help you sell things."

The shop is so busy, it's the end of the year, a time to make money. All you do when you get home is hide in your room playing video games. How are you going to support this family in the future?

Jiang Huazhou came out and helped carry the things: "Xiao Qiu is right. Xiao Shan's habit is not good. From now on, we need to supervise him to get up early every day and go to the store to help out."

Fireworks and firecrackers sell well at the end of the year; after that period, almost no one buys them.