Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xia and the Zhou family lent Aunt Dong money after Uncle Dong suffered a serious head injury, then Zhou Chenglei called in Dean Gao and two specialists to review the case. The chapter left the family awaiting the experts’ assessment while Zhou Bingqiang’s Wife mistakenly assumed they had come to treat her husband.

• Aunt Dong asked Father Zhou for money because Uncle Dong had been injured by a pig and might need brain surgery, and Jiang Xia lent her a thousand yuan.
• At the hospital, Aunt Dong declined Zhou Bingqiang's Wife’s loan offer, which required Uncle Dong’s family to put their boat up as collateral.
• Zhou Chenglei asked the doctors about Uncle Dong’s condition and learned that surgery had a thirty percent chance of success and could leave lasting effects.
• Zhou Chenglei called Dean Gao, who arrived with Director Pan and Doctor He to examine Uncle Dong’s scans.
• Zhou Bingqiang's Wife greeted the doctors as if she were part of Zhou Chenglei’s family, and Dean Gao mistakenly thought they had come to assess her husband.

Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei arranged Uncle Dong’s surgery and brought Aunt Dong’s family back to the village, while Zhou Bingqiang’s Wife tried unsuccessfully to get a ride for herself and Guo Hua. Back home, Jiang Xia’s family headed to Zhou Chenglei’s eldest brother’s house for lunch with generous gifts.

• Jiang Xia pulled Zhou Bingqiang’s Wife’s hair free from her brooch and demanded compensation, prompting her to flee and then unsuccessfully ask the hospital cashier for a discount.
• Director Pan scheduled Uncle Dong’s surgery for the first operation the next morning, and Jiang Xia helped Aunt Dong’s family decide who would stay at the hospital.
• Zhou Bingqiang’s Wife demanded a ride for herself and Guo Hua, but Jiang Xia quoted her an exorbitant fare, and the family instead rode home on a tractor.
• Jiang Xia’s family returned to the village and learned that Zhou Chenglei’s eldest brother’s household had prepared lunch for them.
• Jiang Xia packed malt extract, milk powder, snacks, and fruit to bring to lunch, while Li Xiuxian noticed Zhou Chenglei carrying the gifts.

Jiang Xia and the Zhou family prepared for the Lunar New Year while Zhou Chenglei and his brothers cared for Uncle Dong after his surgery. The chapter ended with the family bringing hundreds of valuable live fish to the city pier and selling them to eager buyers.

• Jiang Xia heard Zhou Bingqiang's Wife scold Wen Wan, and Zhou Guohua and Zhou Bingqiang eventually spoke up and stopped the argument.
• Zhou Chenglei brought home sea bass and refused Li Xiuxian's request for a fish, telling her to cook for the family before taking the catch home.
• Li Xiuxian complained about cleaning the Old House, but Zhou Ying reminded her that she had left the stove dirty; Li Xiuxian then planned to secretly have her contraceptive ring removed.
• Zhou Chenglei told Jiang Xia that Uncle Dong's surgery had gone well, though Uncle Dong remained in intensive care and might take ten days to half a month to wake.
• Jiang Xia and Mother Zhou helped prepare New Year treats while the Zhou family cleaned and made food for the holiday.
• At midnight, Zhou Chenglei, Zhou Chengsen, Father Zhou, Zhou Yongguo, and Zhou Kangping hauled fish from the net cages near Pearl Island and Abalone Island, then sold hundreds of live fish at the City Pier.

Zhou Chenglei and his family sold their seafood, prepared a lavish New Year's Eve dinner, and celebrated together with food, red envelopes, and fireworks. The chapter ended with Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia sharing a quiet New Year’s kiss on the beach.

• Zhou Chenglei and his family sold their catch at the dock, and he gave Jiang Dong two buckets of seafood to take home.
• Zhou Chenglei caught more seafood on his way back, delivered the remaining fish to the Purchasing Station, and divided the proceeds among his family.
• Jiang Xia and the Zhou family prepared a sixteen-dish New Year's Eve dinner, and the children earned red envelopes by naming the dishes’ auspicious meanings.
• Father Zhou and Mother Zhou gave red envelopes to the children and adults, and Zhou Chenglei took the children and Jiang Xia to set off fireworks at the beach.
• Zhou Chenglei kissed Jiang Xia and wished her a Happy New Year, and Jiang Xia took his hand.

On New Year's Eve, the Zhou family argued over the children's Lucky Money, while Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian's strained relationship continued. After midnight, Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei felt their babies move for the first time, and the story ended with the babies responding again when shown Lucky Money.

• Tian Caihua questioned her sons about their Lucky Money and tried to take it, but the children ran off to keep it themselves.
• Li Xiuxian let Zhou Ying stay at the New House, learned how much Lucky Money she had received, and grew eager to have a son of her own.
• Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian ushered in the New Year, but he rejected her attempt to get close because he was exhausted.
• Zhou Chenglei gave Jiang Xia four Red Envelopes for her and the children, and they felt the babies move in Jiang Xia's abdomen.
• Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia wished their babies a Happy New Year, and the babies moved again when Jiang Xia showed them the Red Envelopes.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei shared an affectionate morning before preparing a vegetarian feast with the Zhou family. Watching their warm marriage stirred Wen Wan’s resentment toward Zhou Guohua, and she began plotting to embarrass Jiang Xia’s family over Father Zhou’s card-playing connections.

• Zhou Chenglei waited for Jiang Xia to wake, and the couple began the new year affectionately.
• Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei cooked six vegetarian dishes with Mother Zhou while Wen Wan watched them and resented her injured husband.
• Zhou Zhou brought Father Zhou back from watching mahjong, where he had helped his in-law win by drawing tiles.
• Wen Wan overheard the family discussing Father Zhou’s mahjong visit and planned to use it to embarrass Jiang Xia’s family when she returned to her parents’ home.

Jiang Xia persuaded Father Zhou to join the family at the temple fair, keeping him away from a card game that was raided by the authorities. When the family returned, they learned that Wen Wan, Zhou Bingqiang's Wife, and Li Xiuxian's father had all been arrested, while Wen Wan's role in reporting the game remained uncertain.

• Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei persuaded Father Zhou to go to the temple fair with the family instead of helping Father Li play cards.
• Wen Wan secretly made a call at the Production Team, then went to Uncle Gui's home and was dragged into a card game just as the authorities arrived.
• Jiang Xia noticed someone hiding by the Production Team telephone and suspected the clothing belonged to Wen Wan.
• The family went to the temple fair, while Wen Wan returned to Uncle Gui's home and was caught in the raid alongside the card players.
• On the way back, Jiang Xia and her family heard that the authorities had arrested the card players, including Wen Wan, Zhou Bingqiang's Wife, and Li Xiuxian's father.

Li Xiuxian failed to get help for her father or recover his confiscated money, while Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei took Zhou Zhou to visit the Jiang Family for the New Year. On the road, Wen Wan watched them pass and regretted her marriage and the choices that had led her away from Zhou Chenglei.

• Li Xiuxian asked Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia to help release her father, but Jiang Xia said she would only ask if he made public apologies and paid a fine.
• Zhou Chengsen offered to take Li Xiuxian to pay a fine, but she did not pay, and the family continued celebrating the New Year.
• Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei loaded New Year gifts into their vehicle and set out with Zhou Zhou to visit the Jiang Family.
• Wen Wan saw the vehicle pass while walking back to the village with Father Li and the other villagers, and she regretted marrying Zhou Guohua instead of pursuing Zhou Chenglei.
• Mother Jiang welcomed the family, and Jiang Dong lifted Zhou Zhou up and promised to take her to set off fireworks.

Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei spent the New Year with the Jiang family, where Zhou Zhou enjoyed playing with her maternal grandparents. Jiang Dong agreed to accompany them to the village and visit relatives, while Father Jiang asked Mother Jiang whether she had seen Ye Xian again.

• Jiang Dong took Zhou Zhou sledding and exploring the pedestrian street, and Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei stayed with the Jiang family for an extra day.
• Father Jiang took Zhou Zhou to play on the kindergarten slide, and Zhou Chenglei secretly slid down it with Jiang Xia after sending the other children to buy snacks.
• Jiang Xia invited Jiang Dong to come to the village with them to dig bamboo shoots, and Mother Jiang urged him to skip his high school reunion in case Ye Xian attended.
• Jiang Dong agreed to go with Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei, partly because he did not want to upset Xiao Yan by possibly meeting Ye Xian.
• After seeing their daughter and son-in-law off, Father Jiang asked Mother Jiang whether she had seen Ye Xian again.

Jiang Xia asked Jiang Dong whether Ye Xian had come looking for him and pressed him to recount how their relationship began. As he finished explaining how a series of misunderstandings had led him to act as Ye Xian’s boyfriend, Jiang Dong suddenly realized something.

• Father Jiang told Mother Jiang not to let Ye Xian’s visits make her nervous, while worrying that Ye Xian might be targeting her.
• Jiang Xia rode with Jiang Dong and asked whether Ye Xian had come to see him; he said their mother had seen Ye Xian several times.
• Jiang Xia suspected Ye Xian might be deliberately making Mother Jiang anxious and asked Jiang Dong to recount their first meeting.
• Jiang Dong explained how he met Ye Xian on a train, lent her money, and repeatedly encountered her afterward, leading others to believe they were a couple.
• Jiang Dong described how Ye Xian kissed him publicly, later hugged him after he rescued her, and how he eventually started treating her as his girlfriend to avoid seeming irresponsible.
• At the end of his account, Jiang Dong suddenly froze as something occurred to him.

Jiang Xia warned Jiang Dong to be cautious about people connected to Ye Xian, while he insisted that he genuinely loved Xiao Yan. When Jiang Xia’s family visited Zhou Chenglei’s Maternal Granduncle, Ye Xian spotted Jiang Dong among them and wondered whether he was related to the village.

• Jiang Dong told Jiang Xia that he truly liked Xiao Yan, and Zhou Chenglei brought Jiang Xia back to ride in his car.
• On the fourth day of the New Year, Jiang Dong drove the family to visit Zhou Chenglei’s Maternal Granduncle, while Li Xiuxian tried to introduce him to her female cousin.
• Jiang Dong wondered whether the village they passed was Ye Xian’s Ye Family Village, but Father Zhou said they were going to Lei Wu Village.
• The Maternal Granduncle’s wife shared green sugarcane with the family, and Jiang Xia warned Jiang Dong not to eat too much.
• Ye Xian hid in a cassava field and watched Jiang Dong eating sugarcane, astonished to see him there.

Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei visited Maternal Granduncle’s family, where they shared a meal and received sugarcane and cassava. At lunch, Jiang Xia refused to help find a match for Lei Yuzhen, leaving the family to continue their search without her help.

• Ye Xian confirmed Jiang Dong was at Lei Wu Village, then decided to wait until the night of the sixth before seeing him.
• Maternal Granduncle’s Wife gave Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Dong sugarcane and cassava to take home.
• Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Dong joined the relatives for lunch, while Jiang Xia sat with the women at another table.
• The eldest cousin’s wife asked Jiang Xia to find a suitable young man for her daughter, Lei Yuzhen.
• Mother Zhou suggested Zhou Guodong, but the eldest cousin’s wife insisted she wanted someone who worked for a unit.
• Jiang Xia declined to arrange a match and told the eldest cousin’s wife to take her time finding Lei Yuzhen a good partner.

At lunch with relatives, Jiang Xia’s family fielded matchmaking talk before she drove everyone home, alarming Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Dong with her driving. The next morning, the Zhou family set out by car for Jiang Xia’s maternal grandmother’s home, while Ye Xian traveled into the city.

• Second Wife of Male Cousin urged Jiang Xia to find a match for A’Zhen, but Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Dong told her to ask someone more experienced.
• Second Wife of Male Cousin asked Mother Zhou to consider her niece Xu Ling for the young man Mother Zhou knew, and Mother Zhou agreed to ask about it after New Year.
• After lunch, Jiang Xia insisted on driving because Jiang Dong had been drinking, then overtook Zhou Chenglei on the main road and frightened the passengers.
• At home, Zhou Chenglei asked Jiang Dong to keep the car keys from Jiang Xia, but the next morning he claimed she had slept poorly because of the village dogs and returned the keys to Jiang Dong.
• The Zhou family loaded supplies into their cars and set off for Jiang Xia’s maternal grandmother’s home, while Ye Xian dressed up and rode into the city.

Ye Xian tried to disrupt Jiang Dong’s life after learning he had missed his reunion, while Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia began a trial project raising Blue Mussels. The mussel stakes were planted, and Jiang Dong returned home for the Lantern Festival before planning to go back to the Capital City.

• Ye Xian told Jiang Dong’s classmates she was his girlfriend, then learned he had gone to visit relatives with Jiang Xia.
• Ye Xian discussed Jiang Dong’s absence with an accomplice and described his brother-in-law’s poor relatives as a possible way to approach him.
• Zhou Chenglei rented a stretch of beach and bought lumber to try raising Blue Mussels, while Jiang Dong helped him with the work.
• Zhou Chenglei, Father Zhou, Zhou Chengxin, Yongguo, Zhou Kangping, and Jiang Dong planted two hundred stakes as villagers questioned and criticized the plan.
• Jiang Dong went home for the Lantern Festival, and Jiang Xia planned to share reunion meals with the Jiang Family and the Zhou Family.

Jiang Dong learned that Ye Xian had been telling his classmates she was his girlfriend and planned to correct the rumor. The family also worried that Ye Xian might use a job at Mother Jiang’s factory to cause trouble, while Jiang Dong decided to attend a gathering and set the record straight.

• Jiang Dong told a classmate that Ye Xian was his ex-girlfriend, and Jiang Xia confirmed their breakup.
• Jiang Dong asked whether he should hold another reunion or publish a clarification, while Father Jiang advised him to explain matters to Zhang Fuyan and not let Ye Xian provoke him.
• Ye Xian warned the family that Ye Xian might exploit Jiang Dong’s classmates’ relatives or use Father Jiang’s name to cause trouble at work.
• Mother Jiang revealed she had hired Zhou Chenglei’s maternal cousin, Lei Yuzhen, for a purchasing job, and the family suspected Ye Xian might have tipped her off about the opening.
• Tan Jie invited Jiang Dong to meet their classmates, and Jiang Dong agreed to attend Fuman Restaurant to explain that Ye Xian was not his girlfriend.

Jiang Xia heard how Jiang Dong had recognized a plot against him and secured help from the restaurant owner, then passed her boat and motorcycle driving tests. As the village prepared rice seedbeds in the rain, Zhou Chenglei plowed several families’ fields, while Li Xiuxian learned she still had to haul dung to fertilize them.

• Zhou Chenglei told Jiang Xia that Jiang Dong had passed a note to the Fuman Restaurant owner, who called the police and kept the suspects and evidence under watch.
• Jiang Xia passed her boat license and motorcycle driving tests on her first attempts.
• Zhou Chenglei took the tractor to plow his family’s plots and those of Zhou Chengxin and Zhou Chengsen, then lent it to Zhou Guodong to plow villagers’ fields for a shared profit.
• Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian returned home, and Jiang Xia agreed to watch Yingying while they went to the fields.
• Zhou Chenglei and his family helped level the plowed seedbeds, and Zhou Chengsen went back to fetch dung for fertilizer.
• Li Xiuxian realized she could not avoid loading and carrying dung to the fields.

Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei prepared dinner while Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian hauled manure for the fields. The next morning, Zhou Chenglei took his feverish older brother to the Health Clinic, where the doctor pointed out the contrast with Zhou Chenglei’s earlier rush to bring in someone with only a slight temperature.

• Zhou Chenglei returned muddy and helped Jiang Xia prepare dinner, while Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian came to borrow a Snakeskin Bag for hauling manure.
• Li Xiuxian resented doing the dirty work, but she and Zhou Chengsen spread manure on the fields before returning home.
• Li Xiuxian tried to initiate intimacy that night, but Zhou Chengsen turned her away because his head hurt; she left for town alone the next morning.
• After Zhou Chengsen returned from the fields, Zhou Chenglei noticed his fever and took him to the Health Clinic after breakfast and dropping Zhou Ying at school.
• The old doctor measured Zhou Chengsen’s temperature at 39.8°C and teased Zhou Chenglei for not carrying him in, unlike the previous time when he had rushed in with someone whose temperature was only 37.1°C.

After recovering from a fever, Zhou Chengsen returned to work while Zhou Chenglei took Jiang Xia to admire the flowering fields and began building beehives for her honey cravings. Li Xiuxian returned with Zhou Ying and found Zhou Chengsen healthy and helping Zhou Chenglei, which angered her.

• Zhou Chenglei took his feverish Second Brother, Zhou Chengsen, home to recover, and Zhou Chengsen's fever broke three days later.
• Zhou Chenglei took Jiang Xia for a walk among the blooming Chinese Milk Vetch, photographed her and Aunt Xiang, and heard Aunt Xiang predict she was carrying twin boys.
• Jiang Xia said she craved honey, so Zhou Chenglei built beehives and made her honey water.
• Zhou Chengsen returned to the village after work and helped Zhou Chenglei nail together the beehive boxes.
• Li Xiuxian brought Zhou Ying back to check on Zhou Chengsen, then grew angry when she saw him looking healthy and working.

Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia prepared and installed three Beehive Traps, then Zhou Chenglei gathered his family to head out to sea. Jiang Xia stayed home while Zhou Guodong prepared to meet a prospective match.

• Zhou Ying reunited with Zhou Chengsen, who reassured her that he had recovered, while Li Xiuxian returned angrily to the Old House.
• Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia charred three Beehive Traps, treated them with beeswax and mud, and installed one beneath the Old House’s eaves.
• Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia carried the other two traps to Small Hill and the nearby woods, where they installed them together.
• After returning home, Zhou Chenglei called Father Zhou, Zhou Yongguo, and Zhou Kangping to go out to sea and retrieve the ropes used to collect young Blue Mussels.
• Jiang Xia stayed home to help prepare a meal while Zhou Guodong went to meet a prospective match arranged by Mother Zhou.

Mother Zhou hosted a matchmaking meeting between Zhou Guodong and Xu Ling, and both families approved of the young pair. Jiang Xia also learned that Lei Yuzhen was dating a wealthy man known only as A'Cheng and decided to investigate him.

• Second Wife of Male Cousin brought Xu Ling to visit Mother Zhou, and the guests were astonished to learn Jiang Xia was carrying triplets.
• Zhou Guodong and Xu Ling met, blushed, and went for a walk together at the families' encouragement.
• While preparing lunch, Second Wife of Male Cousin told Jiang Xia that Lei Yuzhen was receiving expensive gifts from a man called A'Cheng but that he had avoided meeting her parents.
• Jiang Xia agreed to look into A'Cheng, while Mother Zhou and Second Wife of Male Cousin prepared the meal with Aunt Dong.
• Zhou Guodong and Xu Ling returned more comfortable with each other, helped prepare lunch, and showed mutual attentiveness that pleased their families.