Chapter 54: New Year Benefits

A man in his fifties arrived, pulling a wooden cart behind him.

Gu Cheng pushed his bicycle into the yard and started unloading the goods from the cart into the kitchen.

Liu Yinyin came out holding Gu Yanyan. Seeing the cart full of items, she twitched her lips and asked Gu Cheng, “Did you buy all this?”

Gu Cheng shook his head. “The factory gave out New Year benefits today.”

Liu Yinyin was surprised. “This much?”

Gu Cheng glanced at her and the child before saying, “Some of it belongs to Third Brother. He asked me to bring it home for our parents.”

Since there was too much to carry, he borrowed a wooden cart to transport everything.

After unloading, Gu Cheng packed two jin of cornmeal for the man who had helped pull the cart. The man accepted it and left with his cart.

Liu Yinyin looked at the piles of bags and boxes in the kitchen with curiosity. Suddenly, she understood why villagers envied city workers so much.

Aside from salaries, the benefits given during holidays included items that rural people couldn’t even buy, making it impossible not to feel jealous.

After washing his hands, Gu Cheng took the baby from Liu Yinyin’s arms and said, “I didn’t check everything in detail. You can go through them and see how to organize them.”

Liu Yinyin: “…”

She was beyond excited!

Happily, she hurried over to sort through the items.

“Twenty jin of flour, twenty jin of rice, ten jin of pork, five jin of rapeseed oil…”

The more she unpacked, the happier she became.

Oh my! Was fortune finally smiling on her?

A box of apples, a box of oranges, a box of frozen prawns, a box of squid…

Liu Yinyin: “…”

Why did this look exactly like the supplies from the state-run supply and marketing cooperative? They must have been sourced from the same place.

She continued unpacking and found a bag of White Rabbit milk candies, six cans of fruit preserves, and a bag of loose oranges.

“Wow~” Liu Yinyin exclaimed. “Your factory’s benefits are amazing! No wonder it’s the top-ranked factory in the county. With all this, we don’t even need to buy New Year supplies.”

After taking stock of everything, Liu Yinyin happily asked Gu Cheng, “By the way… What did my Third Brother get? I’ll ask my mom to come and pick it up.”

Ever since Liu Mingyuan started working as a temporary laborer at the steel factory, he had chosen to live there. Temporary workers like him stayed in large shared dormitories, with over a dozen men in a single room.

The conditions weren’t great.

But Liu Mingyuan refused to come home, saying that as a single man with no wife or family waiting for him, it didn’t matter where he stayed. The dormitory was more convenient for work anyway.

So, on his first day at the factory, he packed his bedding and moved out.

Jiang Cuihua had been furious.

Gu Cheng then told her, “He got two cans of fruit preserves and that bag of loose oranges.”

Liu Yinyin nodded. “And?”

Gu Cheng playfully tickled his son’s chin as he said, “That’s all. Mingyuan is just a temporary worker and hasn’t been there long, so his New Year benefits weren’t much.”

Liu Yinyin: “…”

Wow. So, all the other stuff belonged to Gu Cheng?

The difference was just too big!

There were only two items, so Liu Yinyin didn’t bother calling anyone from the Liu family. She decided she would just deliver them after dinner.

With so many New Year benefits from the factory and Gu Cheng having a day off tomorrow, Liu Yinyin brought up a plan during dinner.

“Let’s divide the supplies tomorrow. We need to send New Year’s gifts to both families,” she suggested.

Gu Cheng, having spent years away in the army, wasn’t too familiar with social customs. He casually said, “You decide, I’ll deliver them tomorrow.”

“Alright then, we’ll give both families the same things,” Liu Yinyin said. She was practically a master at fairness now.

The next day was another sunny one.

With Gu Cheng taking care of the baby, Liu Yinyin allowed herself to sleep in a little longer than usual.

When she woke up, both father and son were not in the room.

Yawning, she slowly got up and dressed.

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Gu Cheng sitting in the courtyard, holding the baby and basking in the sunlight.

The stool was low, making it difficult for the tall man to find a comfortable position for his long legs.

Golden sunlight poured over the father and son…

For a brief moment, a phrase popped into Liu Yinyin’s mind— the peace of time.

A home, and a lovely child.

This kind of slow-paced life was actually quite pleasant.

If only it could always be like this.

Perhaps her gaze was too intense because Gu Cheng turned his head and looked at her. “You’re up. Breakfast is warming in the pot,” he said.

Liu Yinyin smiled. Even after retiring from the military, Gu Cheng maintained his habit of waking up early. Rain or shine, he got up every morning to go for a run before making breakfast.

“I’ll eat later, I’m not hungry yet,” Liu Yinyin said as she walked over and ruffled their son’s hair. “We should give our son a haircut.”

With a good diet and plentiful breastmilk, Gu Yanyan had grown chubby and healthy. His little face was round and plump, and his arms and legs were full of baby fat.

But his hair…

Sparse, thin, and yellowish, it was honestly a bit worrying.

Liu Yinyin had been concerned at first, but Jiang Cuihua reassured her that it was normal for babies.

“Mom said this is his newborn hair. If we trim it often, his new hair will grow in thick and black,” Liu Yinyin said.

Gu Cheng glanced at their son’s head and then told Liu Yinyin, “There’s a razor in my bag. Bring it to me.”

Liu Yinyin was incredulous. “…You know how to cut hair?”

“Yeah, we practiced in the army. Everyone helped cut each other’s hair,” Gu Cheng replied.

Excited, Liu Yinyin ran off to fetch the razor.

Once she brought it back, they switched positions—Liu Yinyin sat on the chair, holding the baby, while Gu Cheng squatted in front of them.

Gu Cheng carefully wiped the razor with a cloth before starting the haircut.

Afraid he might accidentally hurt their son, Liu Yinyin didn’t dare move a muscle.

Fortunately, Gu Cheng was quite skilled.

In just a few minutes, all of Gu Yanyan’s sparse yellow hair fell to the ground, leaving him with a smooth, bald head.

The little one clearly had no idea what had just happened. He simply glanced between his parents, then broke into a wide, toothless grin.

Now that he was bald, he looked even more adorable—round-faced and full of energy. The more Liu Yinyin looked at him, the more she liked it.

“Not bad, right?” Gu Cheng chuckled.

Seeing the look on his face, as if waiting for praise, Liu Yinyin couldn’t resist leaning in and planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “My man is amazing!” she praised.

With skills like this, he could probably make a living as a barber.

Gu Cheng wasn’t about to let that slide. Without hesitation, he reached out, cupped the back of her head, and captured her lips in a kiss…

Outside, the front door had been left open.

Jiang Cuihua had just arrived and was about to step inside when she suddenly caught sight of the young couple kissing in the courtyard…

In a flash, she turned and bolted.

Oh dear, was she going to get a stye from this?

Honestly, Jiang Cuihua was incredibly flustered.

In the countryside, people were conservative—even married couples weren’t in the habit of kissing each other like that in public!