An Ning, a stick of candied hawthorns in each hand, walked with the swagger of a bandit raiding a village.

The rare warmth of the winter sun spilled from the sky, casting Jiang Xia’s face in silhouette.

One corner of his mouth tilted up, his gaze involuntarily following An Ning, a hint of doting affection in his smile that he himself hadn’t even noticed.

"Hop on, Jiang Xia!"

"Coming!"

Jiang Xia placed the board he was holding onto the truck, grabbed the side of the cargo bed with one hand, and with an easy leap, landed standing inside.

He and An Guoqing sat in the cargo bed. He slapped the metal side with one hand, and up front, the driver, An Guoming, got the signal, started the engine, and they were off.

After they got home, An Ning hopped down from the truck and tilted her head up to look at Jiang Xia, who was standing in the truck bed.

Under the sunlight, her porcelain-white skin was covered in a fine layer of peach fuzz, giving An Ning an air of innocent charm.

"Jiang Xia, this is for you. Take it home to eat."

Jiang Xia squatted down, took off his gloves, and his handsome fingers closed around the stick of candied hawthorns An Ning offered him.

"Thanks."

"Don’t mention it, big bro."

Having sold New Year’s couplets for several days, An Ning’s grasp of the local dialect had improved by leaps and bounds.

But for some reason, whenever the dialect came from her mouth, it sounded particularly hilarious.

She was like a toddler who had just learned to talk. Everyone expected a soft, sweet little accent, but the moment she spoke, it shattered their perceptions.

An Ning, however, was completely oblivious. She happily ran into the courtyard with her candied hawthorns and, copying An Guoping, stuck the treat into a crack in a wooden post outside.

"Alright, let’s unload."

The siblings ran back out and unloaded the truck together.

After everything was put away, Jiang Xia took his candied hawthorns and returned to his house next door. He would be back in the afternoon for one last meal, and then this period of mooching meals would come to an end.

An Ning took the remaining candied hawthorns inside and handed one stick to each person.

Lin Cuihua took a stick, bit into it, and said, "I haven’t eaten one of these things in years."

"Oh, right. Your eldest brother said we should go to his place for New Year’s Eve celebration tomorrow, and then celebrate at our place the day after. It works out perfectly, since there’s no thirtieth day this lunar month."

An Sancheng, who was sitting and eating his candied hawthorns, had his mouth full and couldn’t speak. He could only nod repeatedly, mumbling "mhm, mhm" to show his agreement.

An Ning listened from the side, not quite understanding these customs, but she was very excited.

’New Year’s is almost here!’

This would be her first time formally celebrating the New Year. They had the holiday back in the interstellar era, but she never had the time and had never once participated.

The family sat together in the west room, each with a stick of candied hawthorns, munching away happily.

After finishing her treat, Lin Cuihua immediately began to plan the menu for the meal in two days.

Whatever needed preparing had to be prepared. Furthermore, they couldn’t go to her brother-in-law’s house empty-handed tomorrow; they had to bring at least one dish.

An Ning couldn’t help with the cooking, so she grabbed a handful of melon seeds and sat before the stove pit, cracking them open one by one.

’I’ve decided,’ she thought. ’I’m going to get some proper rest these next few days. In other words, it’s time to be a total slacker.’

’I’ll do nothing at all and just focus on the eating and drinking to come.’

Just as An Ning was concentrating on her rest, someone arrived at the door.

"An Ning, Yin Xuemei is here," Lin Cuihua called out amidst her chores.

An Ning quickly stood up, brushed the melon seed shells off herself, and ran outside.

Yin Xuemei was at the doorway and didn’t look like she was planning to come inside.

Their group lessons had stopped when An Guoming came back and were set to resume after the New Year.

Jiang Xia had also sent Li Chengze packing, telling him to go back to the city for the New Year.

"An Ning."

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, I came to bring you some New Year’s gifts."

Yin Xuemei took An Ning’s arm, led her from the doorway, and turned to the left.

"This is so much!"

An Ning saw three sacks on the ground, each one stuffed to the brim.

Yin Xuemei gave a shy smile, her eyes filled with the most sincere gratitude.

"This one is from Yang Jianguo. The other two are from me."

"Yang Jianguo went back to the city for the New Year and asked me to bring this over for him."

"You should take them inside. I have to go now."

An Ning immediately stopped her, grabbing the corner of Yin Xuemei’s jacket with two fingers.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I’m making a trip back to the city. I’ll be back on the first or second day of the New Year."

Hearing this, An Ning let go.

"Okay. Have a safe trip."

Yin Xuemei nodded, turned, and walked away.

An Ning carried the three sacks inside and opened them to take a look.

Yang Jianguo had sent yarn—a whole sack of it.

The two sacks from Yin Xuemei were filled with food, and each package was clearly labeled.

There was braised beef, cured salted fish, and semi-prepared Dongpo pork that just needed to be steamed. There were also roasted melon seeds, along with some pine nuts and hazelnuts.

"She’s so thorough, and she brought so much..."

Lin Cuihua was very fond of Yin Xuemei. She asked An Ning, "Where is Yin Xuemei going for the New Year?"

"She went back to the city. I was going to ask her to join us."

When Lin Cuihua heard this, she didn’t ask any more questions.

Going home for the New Year—this was the strongest sense of belonging for the people of the north.

Lin Cuihua put the things away. That evening, after dinner, the family went to bed early.

The next day, Lin Cuihua was up before dawn, loudly waking everyone.

"Hurry and get ready! Let’s go over early and help out."

"An Ning, start the fire. Get this dish stewing; we’ll take it over in a bit."

An Ning washed her face, applied a bit of vanishing cream, and rubbed some on her hands to keep them moisturized.

In the north, if you didn’t use lotion, your face would get terribly dry and chapped.

After a simple breakfast of porridge and pickled vegetables, the family grabbed their things and headed for Eldest Uncle’s house.

An Ning and An Guoping followed behind, carrying a large basin that held two large pork knuckles stewed until they were fall-apart tender, four pig’s trotters, and half a pig’s head, all cooked by Lin Cuihua.

The family hadn’t even reached their uncle’s house when they saw An Guoyang’s seven-year-old eldest son running toward them.

"Third Uncle-in-law! Third Great-Aunt!"

"Second Uncle-in-law and Second Great-Aunt are here!"

An Ning, carrying the basin from behind, took a moment to process this before realizing that "Second Uncle-in-law" referred to An Ercheng.

Her second uncle, who had all but married into a city family and hadn’t been back in seven years.

Even An Sancheng stopped in his tracks, a complicated mix of emotions welling in his heart.

"Let’s go. Let’s go have a look."

The family followed behind An Sancheng, the previously joyful atmosphere now tinged with tension.

An Sancheng had just stepped into the courtyard when he saw a girl about An Ning’s age, dressed in a pink cotton-padded jacket, throwing a tantrum in the middle of the yard.

"What is this dump? You call that a toilet? It’s disgusting!"

"Mom, I want to go home! I refuse to celebrate New Year’s here!"

The girl frowned, waving a hand in front of her face. Her nose was scrunched up, her expression of disgust overly obvious and affected.

The girl’s willfulness and rudeness were not chided; instead, she was comforted.

A woman in a bright red cotton-padded jacket with a head of permed curls soothed the girl, saying, "Alright, alright. Mommy knows the conditions here are poor. We’ll leave in a little while."

"Be good, and Mommy will buy you new clothes when we get home."

"I’ll even buy you that cashmere coat you like, how about that?"

At this, the wailing girl’s face lit up as she asked, "Really?"

"Really."

The girl was placated. Standing at the doorway, An Ning looked down at her own clothes, lost in thought.

’A cashmere coat?’

’I think I have one of those.’