Both children ran off, and Yuan Chun put the leftover food from the morning in the pot, lit a fire to heat it up, and then went to dry the firewood she had collected.

The mother and her two children ate some leftover food to fill their stomachs, and then went up the mountain again. Afraid the two children would get hungry, Yuan Chun asked Ya Ya to bring a few pieces of rice cake so they could eat if they got hungry.

But the two children were very sensible and diligent. After going up the mountain, they kept their heads down collecting firewood and even helped their mother tie it together.

In the evening, Yuan Chun carried a heavy load of firewood down the mountain.

Ya Ya and Sanqiang each carried a small bundle of firewood, following behind her.

They insisted on helping their mother carry it; otherwise, Yuan Chun wouldn’t have wanted them to take any.

In the evening, Yuan Chun made dumplings with chives and eggs, using a mixture of white flour and cornmeal. Although not as tasty as pure white flour, the children ate with relish.

A few days later, Yuan Chun’s front yard was filled with firewood. The children’s training area was also occupied by the firewood, but these days, the children had been helping Yuan Chun with it, so they had no time to practice boxing.

After collecting the firewood, it needed to be dried out first, then split.

Once split, the firewood was tied into small bundles with corn stalk leaves, neatly stacked in the firewood shed, saved for heating the bed in winter.

To conserve firewood, Yuan Chun had the four children sleep on the heated bed in her room when it got cold. By November, the mother and four children stayed at home to keep warm.

At the beginning of December, the village radio at the brigade’s headquarters suddenly broadcasted.

A document from the municipal government had come down, allowing people to set up stalls and open shops for business. When this news spread, the entire Red Star Village was bustling.

No one cared about the cold; everyone rushed to the brigade’s headquarters to find out more.

Yuan Chun went too.

She had waited for this day for a long time, and finally, it had arrived.

She asked the brigade leader, "Will we still need a letter of introduction to go out in the future?"

"No need, it’s been canceled." The brigade leader cheerfully shouted to the villagers again, "From now on, you all don’t need to come to me for a letter of introduction to go out; no matter how far you go, you can leave home freely."

"Oh, that’s great! Now we can go to the city whenever we want, no more letter of introduction needed."

Some villagers worriedly asked, "Without a letter of introduction, will the guesthouses still let us stay?"

"Of course they will! The letter of introduction has been canceled; if they don’t let us stay, then the guesthouse won’t be doing business anymore."

"Exactly, from now on, we can stay at the guesthouses where city people stay if we want. Of course, it requires money; without money, they still won’t let you stay."

"Hahaha... that’s true, you can’t go out without some money."

"Brigade leader, can we go to the county town to do business now without being caught?"

"You won’t be caught. Now the state encourages people to take the road to prosperity; you should seize this opportunity, use any good ideas you have actively, make more money, and get on the road to prosperity."

"It used to be the poorer you were, the more honorable; peasants of eight generations could hold their heads up high. Now they encourage people to become wealthy; what if, when the people really do get rich, they bring back the idea that poverty is honorable again?"

"Yes, what if they emphasize poor peasants again... then won’t those who made money be in trouble?"

"Oh, anyway, we’re just farmers; our family doesn’t know how to do anything other than farming, so let’s just stay honestly in the village and farm."

"Let’s just wait and see for now, just in case."

"Yes, yes, yes, see if anyone doing business gets caught first."