As usual, lunch was eaten at Lao Da Zhou Guofu's house that day. That night, San Shu and his family stayed at Da Bo's house. By the fourth day of the New Year, a large crowd had arrived at Zhou Xiaoyun's house, and Zhao Yuzhen had been busy since early morning.

  Zhou's father borrowed a large round table from his elder brother's house, which could seat about ten people. Adults and children squeezed in together to sit down.

  Zhao Yuzhen brought out a large bowl of chicken, duck and fish meat that she had prepared from the beginning of the year.

  When relatives come home for New Year's dinner, it must be the highest level of hospitality at home. If everyone is not full and not well-fed, the host family will lose face. So, Zhao Yuzhen, who usually cooks with thriftiness and doesn't put enough oil in her dishes, made an exception this time and used lard to cook the dishes.

  Although the Zhou brothers and Zhou Fang, who had gone out, were considered to be the poorest in their family, Zhao Yu Zhen had always been a competitive person. On New Year's Day, she thought that no matter what, she had to make some decent dishes, or else people would look down on them. With this in mind, Zhao Yu Zhen put the meatballs that had been fried at home into the pot.

  Zhou Xiaoyun didn't like sitting in the corner of the table, with so many big and small people surrounding it. The children had to stand up and stretch their hands to reach for dishes. She made an excuse to go help in the kitchen and slipped away, and Zhou Fu was too busy to pay attention to her going.

  The pot was burning with a fierce fire at the bottom of the tree branches, Zhao Yu Zhen was busy cooking, and Zhou Xiao Yun ran to help serve the dishes.

  The scalding bowl edge was unbearable even for adults to hold, so Zhao Yuzhen didn't let Zhou Xiaoyun touch it. Zhou Xiaoyun picked up a towel from home and wrapped it around the bowl edge, the temperature was just right and she wasn't worried about dropping it, Zhao Yuzhen praised Zhou Xiaoyun for being clever.

  Zhou Xiaoyun saw the dishes she loved to eat, so she asked Zhao Yuzhen to put some in a small bowl. It was more comfortable for her to eat alone without competing or grabbing than eating at the big table!

  After a lunch break, it was almost two thirty. Zhao Yuzhen cleaned up the remaining dishes, and Shen Huafeng and Song Mingli also came to help. The children all ran out to play, only Zhou Xiaoyun stayed on the side to help sweep the floor and clean up the stools.

  "Your second aunt, your big girl is really a sensible and good child. At such a young age, she knows everything and understands everything like a little adult. The other day, when Da Bao and the others brought over the cage, I saw some small packages inside and asked casually, only to find out that they were packages made by Big Girl. And you know what? This child is so skilled with her hands, she can even make shuttlecocks! My little Xia in our house kicks that shuttlecock every day, and it's said to be made by Big Girl."

  Zhao Yuzhen smiled all over her face and humbly said a few words, but in fact she was extremely delighted. Who wouldn't be happy to hear their own child being praised like that?

  Song Mingli had not returned to her hometown for more than half a year and it was the first time she heard about it, so she couldn't help but look at Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Zhou Xiaoyun listened to the praise without showing a pleased expression, politely smiled at Shen Huafeng and arranged the long benches by the table one by one.

  Seeing Zhou Xiaoyun's calm demeanor, Song Mingli smiled and nodded: "I haven't been back for a long time, the kids have changed so much. Da Yu is much taller than when I last saw him, he can even go to school now."

  "Her third aunt, our family's eldest daughter went to first grade last year." Zhao Yuzhen said with great pride that Song Mingli was a graduate of a regular school and had culture, and she was also a teacher. She praised her own daughter for two sentences, saying that her weight was much heavier than her elder sister's.

  Song Mingli was surprised: "Oh? I remember that Daliao was only seven years old when she turned over the year, did she go to school at the age of six last year? This reading is early enough, Daliao, can you keep up with the class and understand the lessons in school?"

  Zhou Xiaoyun didn't like to show off, nodded and replied briefly: "I can understand."

  "This child is too modest. The final exam was two hundred points, and I heard from Hai Zi that he was the first in the whole grade." Shen Hua Feng had already heard from her son Zhou Zhi Hai about Zhou Xiao Yun being the first in the grade, and at that time, she was amazed at home for a long time, wondering why children were so different.

  In Song Mingli's astonished and surprised eyes, Zhao Yuzhen's vanity was greatly satisfied. Being able to show her face in front of her sister-in-law who was better than herself in every way was a historic event: "Dajie asked to go to school by herself, my husband and your second brother were initially not very agreeable. We thought the child was too young to attend school so early, but the child insisted and we had no choice but to agree. And we didn't expect her grades to be this good."

  Song Mingli immediately looked at Zhou Xiaoyun with new eyes, as a teacher, she always had a good impression of children who were good at studying and loved to learn. Next, Zhao Yuzhen began to talk about Zhou Xiaoyun's various advantages, although not exaggerated, it was enough for Song Mingli to hear.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was delighted that San Shu appreciated her, but when she heard her own mother's endless praise for herself, she couldn't bear it even with a thick face, so she fled in disarray.

  The next day, a large crowd of people went to Aunt's house again.

  This is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, also known as Little New Year. Zhou Fang's home was very spacious, and the children could run around and make a ruckus that could shake the roof. The girls, led by Zhou Xiaoxia, along with Zhou Xiaoyun and Wu Mei, plus the youngest Er Ya, only four of them, were jumping rope and kicking shuttlecocks together.

  Elegant. Among the boys, Da Bao is the greatest, followed by Zhou Zhihai and Wu Yue, then Zhou Zhiyuan and Xiao Bao. The five boys, led by Da Bao, turned the sky upside down.

  The happiest person in the past two days is Zhou Zhiyuan from San Shu's family. As an only child, he rarely has playmates at home. This time, with a bunch of brothers and sisters around, he was overjoyed. By evening, no matter what, he refused to go back home.

  Zhou Zhimin was persuaded for half a day and finally gave up, Song Mingli's face turned stern, but before she could say two words, Zhou Zhiyuan obediently walked away, the onlookers in the family couldn't help but laugh.

  Grandma couldn't bear to see her favorite grandson with his head hung low, so she whispered in his ear: "Yuan Yuan, don't be unhappy, tomorrow Eldest Uncle's family and Second Uncle and Auntie's family are all coming to our house for dinner, how about you play with Da Bao Ge and the others again tomorrow?"

  Zhou Zhiyuan listened and immediately beamed with joy.