Who knows! As soon as I returned to the mountains to farm, I encountered a natural disaster.

During the ninth Spring Festival after the ground cracked, all the Feng family members, young and old, came to the meadow to celebrate the New Year.

Except for the old lady and Feng Lixuan, the rest of the people were here for the first time. As soon as Zhao Yeqing got off the plane, he received so much admiration that his ears were callused.

Feng Lixuan had been here many times, and was very familiar with his aunt's house. He didn't even need Zhao Yeqing to lead him. He took the family to introduce it: "This is where the bathroom and toilet are separated. This is the warehouse. There is a vegetable garden in the backyard. There are two basements under the backyard, and there is a big one. When I first came here, I thought my aunt and her family had dug an air-raid shelter..."

Zhao Yeqing and Mu Xi had long planned to have the whole family spend the Spring Festival on Caodi. Unfortunately, the road had not been opened yet, and they did not have enough red bricks and steel bars to build a second floor.

However, due to the construction work in the city this year, a lot of mobile houses were produced, and Mu Xi brought back two houses and assembled them inside the wooden fence.

Mu Xi said with some embarrassment: "We can still use tents in the summer, but it's still too cold in the winter. The wooden houses outside can only be used by the men in the family."

In fact, you can sleep on the floor, but it's not very free. It's better to live comfortably during the New Year. What's more, there is an elderly woman who has just given birth. She can't sleep in a room full of snoring at night.

Zhao Yeqing took care of her second cousin's wife carefully. If the stairs were not too steep, she would have given her room to her second cousin's wife.

The second cousin's wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's okay, my baby is stable this time, it's a quiet baby, it didn't bother me at all."

The weather was cold, and Zhao Yeqing didn't dare to light up her floor heating which had not been used for many years. The air conditioner was also stuffy, so she lit up her fireplace.

Fireplaces are still quite rare in their place. Even the old lady has never used one. She laughed and said that she was surprised that at her age she could still use such foreign gadgets that she had never seen before.

Now the lowest temperature in winter is about minus seven or eight degrees Celsius. This is the advantage of southern cities. Even the high-altitude areas will not be very cold. The temperature in the city is higher and will hardly be below zero degrees.

After the fireplace was lit, the temperature in the room would not be low and could be maintained at a few degrees above zero. Mu Xi made a large foldable round table in advance, which could be used for the New Year's Eve dinner.

This year, there is no need for two people to make a fool of themselves by writing the Spring Festival couplets at home. My eldest cousin’s wife has a beautiful handwriting, and her strokes are so graceful and pleasing to the eye.

Last year we built an earthen kiln to roast chicken, but in the end it all turned into charcoal due to a small accident. This year there are many people, so the chickens can be killed, cleaned, wrapped and put into the kiln in one go. More labor is good, and the women in the family don’t have to do almost anything. They just chat with the old lady and the pregnant woman, and the New Year’s Eve dinner is served before dark.

It is their custom to eat the New Year's Eve dinner early, basically starting around four in the afternoon.

Fireworks were distributed to every household in the city, and the Feng family brought them to the meadow. They waited until dark after dinner, lit the fuses, and scattered flames rushed up to the quiet deep blue night sky and exploded with a bang. The colorful lights dyed the unchanging meadow with magnificent colors.

Except for the baby in my second cousin’s belly, the youngest one in the family is Feng Lixuan.

After breakfast on the first day of the Lunar New Year, he started asking for red envelopes with a licking face.

Old Madam Feng laughed and scolded: "You are in your thirties and you still want red envelopes. Do you have any shame?"

Feng Lixuan said with a playful smile: "I want it, I want it. I am the youngest, the younger generation in the family, and I am not married yet, so of course I have to accept the red envelope."

The custom here is that as long as they are not married, they are still considered children and they must be given red envelopes.

The eldest cousin Feng Ping slapped his son on the back and said, "How dare you say that you can't find a partner at your age!"

"Don't hit children during the New Year!"

Feng Ping was so angry that he laughed: "You told me this when you were seven or eight years old. How dare you still say you are a child now that you are in your thirties! You have been eating your face off for so many years. Get out of here and go help your aunt!"

After saying that, he took out a red envelope from his pocket, threw it into his son's arms, waved his hand and told him to leave quickly.

Feng Lixuan put the red envelope into his pocket with a smile and went to ask Old Lady Feng for it back.

When the fifteenth day of the first lunar month came, Feng Lixuan, who had a huge sum of money, put all the money in a red envelope and stuffed it into the old lady's hand, "I wish you good fortune and a long life!"

These auspicious words were spoken as if they were celebrating a birthday.

The Feng family was leaving the next day, and a small accident happened the night before.

Everyone planned to make something delicious together on the last night of the New Year reunion. Feng Lixuan said he wanted to eat the roast beef and chicken buns that Zhao Yeqing made when he came last time, so they simply lit up the charcoal fire and made a little barbecue.

The fragrance wafted out from the yard. Feng Lixuan took the roasted skewers into the house and delivered them to the old lady and his second cousin who were sitting inside watching TV and couldn't stand the cold wind.

When I turned around and came out again, I saw two unknown wild animals jumping in from outside the yard wall.

The seven-foot-tall man Feng Lixuan let out a shrill scream that sounded like he had seen a ghost, "Run! There's a leopard!"

The Feng family members who were grilling skewers in the yard were suddenly in chaos. Feng Le was so scared that he almost threw the skewers in his hand. When he was about to run away, he did not forget to pull the dazed Zhao Yeqing with him.

The person didn't move, but Zhao Yeqing, who was biting a skewer of meat, stood up with his eyes shining. "Huhu snow cake!"

As soon as the name was called, the two leopards jumped up and threw themselves into Zhao Yeqing's arms and rubbed against him desperately.

Huhu raised his head and tried to reach for the skewer of meat in Zhao Yeqing's hand. She quickly raised the skewer of meat and said, "You can't eat this. It's filled with chili peppers!"

The Feng family members who were halfway through running nearby stopped where they were, looking at Zhao Yeqing clinging to the leopard in bewilderment. Feng Le was closest to Zhao Yeqing, his hand still frozen in mid-air as he tried to pull her. When he saw this scene, his mind suddenly jerked and he blurted out, "Leopard... Leopard girl?"

Zhao Yeqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing that everyone was dumbfounded, he explained, "These are the leopards I raised before. The female leopard died when it was just born. When I picked them up, they hadn't even opened their eyes yet. I guess they've become grandmothers now."

They seldom come back home. When Zhao Yeqing has leftover meat and internal organs, he will call the names of the two at the edge of the forest. Sometimes it is them, and sometimes it is their children.

They haven't come to my house for more than a year. I guess they were tempted by the smell of food. It's just after the New Year and the snow hasn't melted yet, so I'm afraid the stored food has been eaten up.

Zhao Yeqing touched their bellies skillfully and found no bulge, so he asked Mu Xi to take out the thawed but uncut meat from the kitchen. The two cats ate with relish. When they were full, they rubbed against each other. He glanced around the yard at the Feng family members who had returned and sat down but were still a little stiff, then turned around and jumped out of the yard.

After Feng Lixuan shouted in the house, the old lady and the second cousin's wife watched the whole process from the window. The second cousin's wife was amazed. The old lady called Zhao Yeqing in to listen to the whole story. She was worried that the second cousin's wife would be scared, but she didn't expect that Zhao Yeqing was so carefree and said that she wanted to touch him if she had the chance.

Zhao Yeqing couldn't stand separation the most. When Mu Xi was about to see the Feng family off, his eyes and nose couldn't help but feel sore.

Before leaving, the old lady thought of the leopard last night and repeatedly warned her to be careful of the wild animals in the mountains while she was living on the meadow, as all the wild animals that should come out would come out after the snow melted.

She did not feel annoyed and agreed to all of them. After sending the old lady away, she felt that it made sense, so she took out the head of the wolf king that she had killed on a snowy night a few years ago and hung it on the gate of the yard.

The scene of heavy snow falling all over the meadow in those years seemed like a dream. Now in winter, the snow has turned into distinct grains of sand, which are squeezed together and hit people painfully.

At the end of February, the snow began to melt, and the overwintering rapeseed and wheat ended their dormancy and began to grow upwards.

In just one month, they have grown into mature seedlings, and some are producing ears and some are producing flower buds.

When the spring breeze blows, the fresh fragrance of rapeseed flowers fills the entire yard.