Chapter 4: Surprise

When Grandpa Lin opened the door and saw that his daughter was fine, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. But then his attention was immediately drawn to the bundle in his son-in-law’s arms.

“Ah, this chubby child is so adorable! Little girls are always more charming than the little boys.”

He gently took his granddaughter from his son-in-law’s arms, cradling her, and with a soft motion, weighed her in his arms. His heart swelled with joy.

But he didn’t dare to rub his face against her chubby cheeks, as he was still savoring the sight of her.

“Guodong, take some time these next few days and come up the mountain with me. We need to hunt more meat to celebrate. When our granddaughter turns one month old, we’ll throw a big celebration for her.”

Lin Guodong didn’t argue back this time. Instead, he immediately agreed.

He was just as thrilled as his father about the birth of his niece. He thought about hunting some wild game and maybe even catching a dumb hare or two for the occasion.

“Dad, what did you say? Our granddaughter, Shufen gave birth to a daughter?” Chu Minghai finally processed the information and raised his voice in disbelief.

Grandpa Lin shot him a blank stare. “Of course, you didn’t even know whether your wife gave birth to a son or a daughter? How did you manage to get into university in the first place?”

Then he turned to Lin Shufen, grumbling, “Your husband’s a fool, but now he’s finally figured it out!”

Lin Shufen shook her head with a smile. Her father always liked to tease Chu Minghai, seizing every opportunity to mock him.

Once Chu Minghai realized it was a daughter, he couldn’t contain his joy. He wasn’t bothered at all by his father-in-law calling him foolish. His daughter had just been born, and he’d let his father-in-law say whatever he wanted—he’d even be happy to take a few hits from him every day.

Ever since they married, he and Shufen had always wanted a daughter. However, their first child had been a son. He loved his son dearly and was happy with him, and as an older brother, the boy would be able to take care of his sister.

But the daughter had been a long wait, not coming until their eighth year of marriage, and even then, everyone—from their family to the experienced midwives, including his mother-in-law, Jia Chunhua—was certain that it was going to be another son.

After a while, Chu Minghai had reluctantly accepted the fact, but now… to his surprise, they had a daughter!

He felt that Heaven had been kind to him!

Snatching the little girl from his father-in-law’s arms, he rushed to bring her to his wife.

“Shufen, look, we have a daughter now! Hahaha, I’m so happy, Shufen, I love you, thank you!”

Lin Shufen smiled gently, “What Dad said is true, you really are a fool.”

Chu Minghai didn’t mind at all, chuckling happily.

Lin Guodong, who was watching from the side, couldn’t help but feel a bit sour.

After so many years, he still couldn’t get used to seeing his little sister and her husband act so lovey-dovey. This was the one thing that he and their father agreed on.

When they first got married, his brother-in-law had been a poised and serious intellectual. Who would’ve thought that he’d act like such a fool at home? Who would believe it if they told people about this?

Grandpa Lin hadn’t finished doting on his granddaughter when she was snatched from his arms. His eyebrows shot up in protest.

“Now the son-in-law dares to fight me for the baby? That’s going too far!”

Just as he was about to take action, the door to the room opened.

“You old fool, you’re always running into this room. The young couple is having their moment, why do you always need to be in the way?”

Grandpa Lin retorted, “Can’t I look at my granddaughter? You can’t be this unreasonable.”

“What did you say?” Jia Chunhua shot him a glare.

Grandpa Lin shut up, and Lin Guodong lowered his eyes, trying to avoid drawing his mother’s attention.

“You too, Guodong…”

Just as Jia Chunhua was scolding her husband and son, Chu Linyu woke up.

She was now able to slowly open her eyes.

Although her vision was still blurry and she couldn’t see clearly, she could sense some movement around her.

Both Chu Minghai and Lin Shufen, who had been closely watching their daughter, were elated to see her awake.

She was so cute, her tiny hands lightly clenched against her cheek, her skin soft and translucent, and her eyes were dark and shiny, like black gemstones. Her big, round eyes resembled Lin Shufen’s.

“Wife, the child looks like you, she’s so beautiful!”

Lin Shufen was equally happy. She reached out to tease her daughter’s little chin. The feeling of the chubby little hands was just so wonderful.

Chu Linyu had woken up hungry. As soon as she woke up, she felt something moving on her chin.

She swatted at it with her little hands, but the person who was teasing her just breathed in even more eagerly, obviously having a great time.

Oh dear, the adults were too busy playing with her and forgot to feed her! Her little belly was already growling in hunger.

She whimpered softly, her cry on the verge but not quite there.

Jia Chunhua, who was highly attuned to the sounds her granddaughter made, immediately noticed the whimper. Her attention quickly turned to her daughter.

“Shufen, your daughter is hungry! Why aren’t you feeding her yet? This isn’t your first time being a mother, really!”

She gave a pointed look at her son-in-law.

Lin Shufen, feeling a little guilty, stuck out her tongue and quickly turned away to nurse her daughter, undoing her clothing.

Chu Minghai also felt embarrassed. He scratched his head, realizing that he had forgotten about this detail. Thankfully, his mother-in-law spared him some face.

Jia Chunhua stepped forward a couple of paces, standing in front of Grandpa Lin and Lin Guodong, eyebrows furrowed. “What are you two still standing around for? Don’t you have eyes? Get out of here!”

Both Grandpa Lin and Lin Guodong, looking wronged, retreated to the west room. They hadn’t had enough time to admire the baby! It was all their son-in-law’s fault!

Grandpa Lin, still disgruntled, took a puff from his pipe, making it go “pop pop.”

“Hmph! Just because he’s from the city and has some education, he thinks he’s all that. Look at how he’s got my daughter wrapped around his finger. Was she not the flower of Victory Street back in the day? So many fine young men were chasing after her, but she went and picked this poor little white-faced guy!”

If Lin Shufen knew her father had called Chu Minghai a “little white-faced,” she would have made sure he cleaned his eyes.

This tall and handsome figure, healthy skin, and solid muscles—was this the “little white-faced” he was talking about?

Dad, your reverse filter is too thick!

Lin Shufen, still exhausted after giving birth, allowed herself to relax once the little one had eaten and drifted off to sleep.

She also felt drowsy. With her husband by her side, she felt at peace and soon fell into a light sleep alongside her daughter.

Chu Minghai gently tucked the blanket around his wife before carefully placing their daughter beside her.

He then went to the west room, where Jia Chunhua had already prepared some medicinal herbs for his ankle. The pain in his ankle had become sharper by now.

Outside, snow had started to fall again, thick and heavy. In no time, the path that had been cleared earlier that morning was covered once again.

The Lin family’s house had a warm hearth burning, and no matter how fierce the snowstorm raged outside, it couldn’t touch the warmth inside.

Winter nights arrived early, and with the snow falling, it had already become dark by four o’clock.

Jia Chunhua went to the jar to pull out some sauerkraut, then took a bag of white flour and two bags of cornmeal from the cupboard. She thawed a piece of wild boar meat to make stuffing for dumplings.

Tonight, she planned to treat the family to a nice dinner of dumplings, celebrating her granddaughter’s birth after such a long period of hardship.

Lin Feng, lying on the bed half asleep, was suddenly awakened by the loud sound of chopping.

What’s with all this noise? Is someone chopping meat?

With a flash of realization, he quickly got up and went to the kitchen to investigate.

Sure enough, his mother was energetically chopping away with a kitchen knife, the meat being hammered under her hands.

Lin Feng had never thought his mother could look so appealing while doing such work. The sight of her chopping meat on the chopping block made his mouth water.

“Sluurrp,” he couldn’t help but drool.