Under Qiu Yu's insistence, Zi Fu, Zi Lu, and Zi Qing hastily set out. Zi Qing was initially reluctant to go, as it was too far and she couldn't bear the long walk. Zi Fu coaxed her, saying: "Good little sister, let's go! If not, big brother will lose face. You're afraid of crossing the Lone Wooden Bridge, aren't you? Big brother will carry you."

  "Little brother is also on the side and advised: 'If sister can't walk anymore, second brother will pull you.'"

  These two years, the family's conditions have been good, and Zifus' height has also increased a lot. Carrying Ziqing for a while is still manageable. However, Zishou was not allowed to go, being too young, saying he was six years old when in fact he was only four and a half. Shen Shi wasn't at ease either. When they arrived at the old house, apart from Ziping, there were also Yanjia's three Maos and Guiying, making a total of nine people who went out together.

  It's unknown how long they walked, but the road up the mountain was so exhausting that Ziqing couldn't move anymore. Zifu took a stick and pulled her from the front, while Zilu occasionally pushed her from behind. When going down the mountain, they ran all the way down, passing through the village at the foot of the mountain. Several people got lost and didn't know which direction to go, blaming each other for half a day, with everyone pointing fingers at Qiuyue, who was the eldest after all.

  Zifou and Damao asked people for half a day but still didn't understand. Ziqing felt that they should be close to the Du Mu Bridge, so she asked an old woman who was sunbathing by the roadside: "Grandma, we want to go to Qiao Village, it's not far from here, there is a river with deep water, and you can cross over on a single wooden bridge."

  As soon as this was said, everyone understood and pointed the way. Several people came to the front of the single-plank bridge. Da Mao, Er Mao, and San Mao quickly ran across, then intentionally jumped up and down on the bridge, causing it to shake violently. Zi Ping was scared to tears and was scolded by Qiu Yu before stopping. Fortunately, Zi Fu was carrying Zi Qing and Zi Lu at the back of the group.

  Arrived at Qiao Village, Xia Yu was seen looking out from the doorway in the distance, still wearing the red cotton-padded jacket she made for her wedding. Her family's house is basically located at the head of the village. Zi Qing saw that there were green couplets pasted on the gate, and it turned out that her maternal grandfather had passed away last autumn. No wonder Second Uncle didn't come to visit during Chinese New Year.

  Everyone came in and said, "Happy New Year." Xia Yu gave each person a coin as a lucky money, the tea bowls were already set on the table, and guests poured themselves tea as soon as they entered. Xia Yu brought out a tray of dried fruit and tea snacks, everyone sat down to have some tea and snacks, but before they could even digest it, Xia Yu took away the tea bowls and brought out ten small dishes from the steamer basket and placed them on the table. Each dish was an exquisite meat dish. There were cured chicken, cured duck, cured pork tongue, cured pork kidney, cured pork, cured beef, two dishes of braised meat, pig head and pig tail, and finally a dish of salted eggs and salted duck eggs. The variety was impressive, but the quantity of each dish was very small.

  Ziying estimated that she had also given her all. In any case, it was much better than what Eldest Aunt's family did, listening to the old lady and mother talking. For over a decade, they hadn't eaten a single meal at Eldest Aunt's house without spending money.

  Because there were no adults, there was no wine to drink. Each person had a bowl of noodles and an egg, but as soon as the dishes were on the table, they began shoveling food into their mouths. Autumn Jade watched with distress, repeatedly saying: "Eat less, eat less! Those are your uncle's guest dishes, if you finish them all, what will he use to entertain guests when they come?"

  "Come on, eat up, you've made it so now you have to eat it."

  "Besides, your uncle didn't say anything either, it's not like you're eating at our house." Da Mao glared at his little aunt with great dissatisfaction.

  "It's really embarrassing to go out with you guys, I've never seen anyone eat like this in eight lifetimes! Next time, I'll never take you guys out again!" Qiu Yu shouted angrily.

  After getting off the table, Xia Yu said: "You guys are idle, why don't you go to the temple in front of the village entrance to play? There are many people there, with games and also money-making activities."

  Er Mao wanted to go out as soon as he heard it, Qiu Yu couldn't stop him, and wasn't at ease either, so she said let's go take a look at the excitement, everyone has come out.

  Ziying saw that the ancestral hall in Qiaocun Village was much larger than their own family's, with a large empty space in front of the closed gate, resembling a small square. There were people gathered in threes and fives, some playing chess, others tossing coins, doing needlework, chatting, eating from bowls, watching the commotion, and cheering. It was more lively than what Ziying saw in Dongtang Village. Xiaoyu said it was because Qiaocun Village only had one surname, unlike Dongtang which had five or six different surnames, so people's hearts were naturally scattered.

  Er Mao snatched the copper plate from San Mao and Guiying, and ran to watch the street performers. Zi Qing saw the villagers sizing them up, and quietly asked whose relatives they were. Zi Fu and Zi Lu were still wearing their square scarves and long gowns, which clearly marked them as scholars. The three siblings' new clothes were also eye-catching: Zi Qing wore a delicate pink floral padded jacket and skirt, with two buns on her head; Zi Fu and Zi Lu wore purple-red padded robes. Xia Yu came out and saw the villagers' envious glances, feeling a sense of pride.

  Dinner was quite sumptuous, with large plates and eight dishes. Not long after dinner, Zhou Tianqing burned a fire in the hall using an old tree root, his elder brother lit three flower lamps, and asked if anyone wanted to play cards?

  "Never mind, they're just kids," Qiu Yu hastily said. Zi Qing was actually quite curious and wanted to see it for herself, but unfortunately couldn't say so out loud.

  Everyone sat around the bonfire chatting, Xia Yu sat aside with a kettle of boiling water, Zhou Tianqing made a cup of tea for each person, brought out dried fruit snacks, and buried several sweet potatoes in the fire. Everyone was laughing and talking, drinking tea and eating roasted sweet potatoes.

  Xia Yu and Qiu Yu were talking about household chores, telling Qiu Yu that today's cured meats were all made by herself, the chickens and ducks were raised by herself, and she also raised a pig. She also talked about this year's harvest, the rice yield was severely reduced, not even reaching three-tenths of the usual amount, luckily they planted some sweet potatoes and peanuts, so they could barely make ends meet.

  Zi Qing felt a pang of sadness after hearing this. The two younger aunts had always been at home, but Grandma wouldn't even let them lift a finger. Now, with the firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, everything required her own hands-on effort. This made her think of her own mother, who must have gone through similar experiences when she was young and living with her maternal grandmother. When her grandfather was still alive, their family's conditions were not bad, but after marrying over, not only did she have to do a huge amount of household chores, but they also couldn't afford to eat or dress well.

  Zi Qing had heard Xiao Gu complain before, her mother had just married over and was still dissatisfied with the coarse food at Ah Po's house, it was hard to swallow, so she didn't get along with Ah Po, thinking she was too delicate. Later, it was still a long time that ground them into this state.

  At this moment, Ziying thought that she must work hard to build a career for herself, so that her future life would be secure. Otherwise, living a life like theirs, full of grievances, was something she could never accept.

  Just as they were thinking, it was already late at night, and Auntie got up to prepare the midnight snack. The midnight snack consisted of a bowl of wine and small tangyuan for each person. Zi Qing counted that from entering the house until now, she had eaten five meals, no wonder people said that this village's customs were hospitable and valued guest etiquette.

  At night, the boys and girls slept separately. In the morning, Zifou got dressed and found that the six copper coins in his pocket were gone. He asked Zilu: "Little two, check if your copper coins are still there?" Zilu checked and also didn't have any. Zifou was angry and went to search Ermao's pockets. Ermao shouted indignantly: "Why are you searching mine? Can't I have money too? You're bullying me!"

  San Mao, still young, asked: "Second brother, where did you get the money? You robbed me and my sister yesterday. You have money but still rob us. Even the two copper coins grandma gave us were taken by you."

  Zi Qing immediately reacted, "So you're treating us differently? We're all family and only got one copper coin each. Why did they get two?" Zi Qing wasn't afraid to speak out.

  Qiu Yu saw that everyone was making a fuss, felt annoyed, scolded Er Mao a few times, and then scolded San Mao. San Mao inexplicably retorted: "Why scold me? It's not like I'm the one who stole it!"

  Xia Yu heard the noise and came in to ask Zi Fu how much money he had lost, wanting to make it up to him. Zi Fu quickly said, "Second Aunt, don't bother, I'm not worried about this little bit of money, I'm worried that Er Mao won't study well."

  The matter ended in nothing, and in the afternoon, when he returned home, Zifeng angrily told Zeng Ruixiang and Shen Shi about this. The two of them did not make a sound, Zeng Ruixiang didn't know what to say, and Shen Shi was watching Zeng Ruixiang, who was too embarrassed to speak ill words.

  The next day, Chunyu and his family were invited to come over for dinner. Zifeng put away all the valuable small items from each room into the study and locked it up. If he wasn't afraid of embarrassing his grandparents, Zifeng would have liked to lock up both rooms. Many years later, Ziqing's family still maintained this habit.