I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

They arrived at Dashui Village amidst laughter and chatter. Qiaoqiao spotted a familiar figure squatting under the eaves of the new courtyard, eating noodles.

"Dad, when did you come to Dashui Village?" Zhou Wenhui asked in surprise.

"Oh, you're here, in-laws. The children are back. Cook a couple more bowls of noodles."

Zhou Zhonghai didn't even bother eating his noodles anymore; he picked up Zhou Xiaowei and spun him around in the yard.

Qiaoqiao's mother and grandmother came out of the kitchen, their smiles making their wrinkles look like rainbows: "Qiaoqiao, Wenhui, come inside, come inside and cool off, I'll make noodles."

Not wanting to be a burden, Hu Xiaomei immediately went into the kitchen: "Auntie, Auntie, let me make the noodles."

"Who are you……?"

"I'm your cousin... I'm the nanny. Qiaoqiao told me not to say I'm the nanny, so just think of me as Zhou Wenhui's cousin." Hu Xiaomei couldn't lie, and her face turned red.

"Since you're here, you're a guest. How can we ask you to go into the kitchen? Go wait in the main room; the noodles will be ready soon."

"Auntie, you have to let me do it, otherwise I'll have to go back. I'll start the fire, start the fire."

Hu Xiaomei busily took over Qiaoqiao's grandma's seat.

The five main rooms were spacious and bright, but the rooms were sparsely furnished, making them appear empty.

Zhou Zhonghai pointed to the west room and said, "Tonight, Xiaowei, Wenhui, and I will sleep in this room. It can sleep ten people; it's a huge kang (heated brick bed)."

In the west room, there was a large kang (heated brick bed), a table, a toothbrush, toothpaste powder, and a glass jar filled with tea.

It's clear that Zhou Zhonghai has been here for more than just a day or two.

"Dad, why did you move to Dashui Village without saying a word?" Zhou Wenhui asked again.

"What do you mean, 'without saying a word'? I'm here to urge the villagers to plant tea. Ten thousand tea seedlings will make it much easier to drink tea in the future."

Zhou Zhonghai said unhappily, "This is official business."

"Ten thousand tea seedlings? That must cost a lot of money, right?" Qiaoqiao knew that her father-in-law owed the research institute a lot of money, so she couldn't help but worry.

"Since it's a gift, I might as well take it. When I get back, I'll go to the research institute again and see what else they can give me. I'll bring it all to Dashui Village."

Zhou Zhonghai was overjoyed, having gotten a great deal.

"Dad, thank you. You've been so good to Dashui Village."

Qiaoqiao was sincerely grateful. Dashui Village was so poor that they could only plant two tea trees at the entrance of their own vegetable garden. In the spring, they could pick two or three catties of tea leaves, but after drying, they would only have less than a catty, enough to last them a year.

Some families don't have tea trees, so they drink plain water all year round.

"No need to thank me, I've already made up my mind. When my parents get old, they'll come to Dashui Village to retire. I love it here, hahaha..."

Zhou Zhonghai hugged Zhou Xiaowei and laughed. Zhou Xiaowei was getting impatient with his grandfather's pinching and hugging, so he broke free and ran into the yard by himself.

He noticed that there was a small yellow dog next to the big yellow dog in the yard, and it was especially cute.

"Dad, as we've looked all this way, the wheat ears are bent low with the weight of the grain, and one corn stalk has four or five ears of corn, when a corn stalk should only have two or three kernels at most?"

Qiaoqiao is quite familiar with crops. This year's wheat ears are particularly plump, and in another ten days or so, it will be ready to be harvested.

"Qiaoqiao, you really need to go and take a look in the fields. There aren't just four or five ears of corn, there are quite a few, like six, and they're big and plump. Your dad and grandpa go to the fields every day to smoke a few cigarettes and look at the grain; it makes us so happy."

"Is this new variety really that amazing? I'll go check it out this afternoon."

"It's still early for corn. In another month, we can eat tender corn."

"I can't bear to waste it. We'll wait until October when the corn is ripe, grind it into flour, and make corn pancakes. That's when they'll taste the best."

Qiaoqiao also knows that tender corn is delicious, but no one would eat it; it would be such a waste.

"Things are different now, so eat as much as you want until you're full. From now on, our family and our Tonggang County will never go hungry again."

Zhou Zhonghai was even happier than if he had won a battle on the battlefield. Looking at the wheat and corn covering the mountains and fields, all of which were new varieties he had bought on credit, they were growing well. He estimated that the yield would be at least two-thirds more than last year.

"Qiaoqiao, Wenhui, in-laws, the noodles are ready! Come and eat, don't let them clump together!" Qiaoqiao's mother called out, holding a large bowl of noodles.

"You guys go ahead and eat, I'm full," Zhou Zhonghai instructed.

The noodles were all brought by Zhou Zhonghai. There's probably no other minister who brings his own food rations when he goes on business trips.

"Wenhui, just grab something to eat. We'll have free-range chicken for dinner." The noodles were braised with chili and eggs; there wasn't time to cook anything else at noon.

"Mom, it's nice, it smells so good."

As Zhou Wenhui spoke, he took a big bite. "Delicious, really delicious."

Qiaoqiao also had a large bowl, but she couldn't finish it all, so she shared some with Zhou Wenhui.

"It's strange, the same noodles, the same eggs, but they taste better in the countryside." Zhou Wenhui smiled contentedly.

"You're hungry, but it's also possible that food cooked over firewood tastes better."

Qiaoqiao eats the same things all the time, but she eats more when she's with her mother.

After finishing her bowl of noodles, Qiaoqiao suddenly remembered where Sister Hu had gone.

Sister Hu carried a bowl of noodles and followed behind Zhou Xiaowei. Xiaowei would take a bite and then chase after the little yellow dog. The mother dog wanted to bark at him but didn't dare, and watched with worry as Zhou Xiaowei chased her puppy all over the yard.

"Zhou Xiaowei!"

The stern voice, like a bolt from the blue, forced Zhou Xiaowei to withdraw his hand before he could even grab the little yellow dog.

"If you let Aunt Hu chase you all over the yard again, I'll send you back to the city."

Qiaoqiao was furious. How could a child eat like that?

"Oh dear, he's just a kid, he's having fun, why are you scaring him?"

Hu Xiaomei hugged Zhou Xiaowei tightly with heartache and quickly ran to the kitchen.

"Sister Hu, you can't do this. Let him eat it himself."

Qiaoqiao chased after him to the kitchen, where Zhou Xiao was serving herself noodles and picking them up one by one with chopsticks.

"Say it nicely, look how good Xiaowei is, he said he'd eat by himself and he did," Hu Xiaomei encouraged.

"Exactly, you shouldn't scare children."

Qiaoqiao's mother chimed in, saying, "Now that's great! Zhou Xiaowei is already lawless, and with so many people protecting him, he'll be even more outrageous."

In the yard, the little yellow dog finally escaped Xiao Wei's clutches and snuggled up to its mother, whimpering as if telling her something.

The mother dog tenderly licked her little yellow puppy, as if telling her child that the little devil was her little master's son, her little master, and that they had to be patient with him.

Qiaoqiao felt heartbroken and prepared some noodle scraps and soup, which she then served to the mother dog and the little yellow dog.

The big yellow dog had been with Qiaoqiao for many years. Many people advised Qiaoqiao's mother to kill the dog and eat it, but the Yang family refused, as it was also a member of the Yang family.

In an era when people couldn't even get enough to eat, Qiaoqiao would always save some food for her big yellow dog.

"Eat up, eat more. Next time Xiaowei grabs your baby, bark at him to scare him."

The little yellow dog ate happily, the big yellow dog wagged its tail happily, and licked its owner from time to time.

Of course, Xiaowei wouldn't let the little yellow dog off the hook just because Qiaoqiao was strict. Whenever Qiaoqiao wasn't paying attention, he would chase the little yellow dog all over the yard, getting so tired that he was covered in sweat, and the dog was also exhausted and panting.

Finally, the man and the dog reconciled, and when Xiaowei tried to catch the little yellow dog again, the little yellow dog didn't run away.

Xiaowei held it in his arms and called it "baby, sweetie."