TATLC Chapter 87 — Staying Cozy in Winter

When the third snowfall of winter arrived, Chen Xiaomi finally gave birth to the baby in his belly. “Congratulations, Lin-shao. It’s a little Shuang’er, and such a handsome one too,” the midwife said with a beaming smile.

Lu Lin smiled brightly. “Thank you so much.”

Following custom, Lu Lin wrapped 200 copper coins as a celebration gift for the midwife, who accepted it with satisfaction.

Seeing Lu Lin’s happy expression, the midwife secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Many people didn’t like Shuang’ers. Before this, she had gone to another family where the head of the household heard they’d had a Shuang’er and just walked away with a sour face without even giving the customary gift money. The little Shuang’er cried until he could barely breathe, but no one cared. It was really pitiful to watch.

The midwife looked at Lu Lin’s joyful face and felt that Lu Lin must like Shuang’ers.

Then she thought about the rumors she’d heard and figured Lu Lin probably didn’t dare not like the baby. After all, Chen Xiaomi wasn’t just any ordinary Shuang’er. If Lu Lin didn’t like the baby, he might very well get beaten up.

Chen Xiaomi lay in bed, already dozing off in exhaustion.

Lu Lin blinked as he looked at the tiny baby swaddled in blankets.

The little one had his eyes closed, sleeping very sweetly. All the watchful stares around him didn’t affect him at all. Lu Lin named the baby Chen Yu, with the nickname Yuanbao.

Chen Xiaomai looked at the child wrapped in cloth and said worriedly, “My little nephew looks so ugly!”

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomai and thought helplessly, He really says whatever’s on his mind. But Xiaomai wasn’t wrong either. Newborn babies have wrinkled skin and need a few days to smooth out. Right now he did look a bit ugly. What the midwife said about him being handsome was completely just flattery.

“He’ll look better in a couple days when he fills out,” Lu Lin reassured.

Chen Xiaomai clapped his hands. “That’s great! I was wondering how we’d marry off my little nephew if he looked this ugly.”

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomai. Who would have thought Xiaomai could be so far-sighted? The little one just arrived, and he’s already planning his future marriage.

“Don’t worry, your little nephew will have no trouble finding a match. What kind of person do you want to find for him?” Lu Lin asked.

Chen Xiaomai looked at Lu Lin, puffed out his chest proudly and declared, “I want to find someone like my big brother.”

Lu Lin fell silent. Find someone like Xiaomi? Was Xiaomai thinking of finding another Shuang’er?

Chen Xiaomai looked at Lu Lin with a hint of envy and said, “You were so lucky to find my big brother.”

Lu Lin: “…” Sometimes when he looked at Xiaomai, he didn’t seem simple-minded at all.

With a new baby in the house, Lu Lin and everyone else were very happy. Chen Xiaomai spent all day hovering around, and Granny Shen would occasionally come by to take a look too.

Children grow fast. In just a few days, Yuanbao had filled out and looked much better.

His pair of eyes were crystal clear and bright, making anyone who looked at him feel happy.

“Granny, are you making these clothes for Yuanbao?” Shen Chi asked.

Granny Shen nodded. “Yes. Lu Lin is a good person and really loves Yuanbao.”

Granny Shen also knew about Lu Chengyu’s family having a daughter. She heard that after the child was born, Lu Chengyu ignored her completely. Li Fangyue didn’t have enough milk, so she could only carry the baby out and beg several wet nurses in the village to help feed her. They said the girl was skinny and looked very pitiful.

Granny Shen had been worried that if Chen Xiaomi gave birth to a Shuang’er, it would affect Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi’s relationship. But Yuanbao was a Shuang’er, and Lu Lin didn’t seem to mind at all.

She glanced at Shen Chi. The chances of Shuang’ers being born weren’t high, but Shuang’ers easily gave birth to Shuang’ers. Granny Shen also worried that Shen Chi might give birth to a Shuang’er in the future and be looked down upon. Seeing Lu Lin’s attitude put her mind at ease somewhat.

Shen Chi had no idea about Granny Shen’s “forward thinking.” He just felt that having another child in the house made things much livelier.

The news that Chen Xiaomi had given birth to a little Shuang’er reached Wang’s ears.

When Wang heard that Chen Xiaomi had given birth to a Shuang’er, she couldn’t help gloating, thinking that a money-losing burden like Chen Xiaomi would only give birth to more money-losing burdens.

But then she remembered that Li Fangyue had also given birth to a daughter, and she felt deflated again.

Compared to Lin Xiu’er’s pregnancy, Wang was more concerned about Li Fangyue’s. She’d been hoping for a great-grandson, but it turned out to be just a daughter. After Li Fangyue’s child was born, her status in the family dropped dramatically.

Li Fangyue wasn’t very pretty to begin with, and after giving birth, she looked even worse.

Lu Chengyu always made excuses about needing to study and hid in his study room. He didn’t pay much attention to his newborn daughter either.

The conflicts between the first and fourth branches of the Lu family were getting worse. Before, the old couple favored the first branch, but now that Lin Xiu’er’s belly was promising, the Grandma Lu had recently started showing more favoritism toward the fourth branch.

Lu Chengyu always felt the house was chaotic and very annoying.

In the courtyard.

Lu Lin boiled some goat milk and fed it to Yuanbao, who had already grown chubby in just a few days.

Yuanbao’s food was a big problem. Lu Lin had found a wet nurse for Yuanbao ahead of time, but now that it was winter and the weather was cold, the wet nurse wasn’t very willing to come. They could only make do with goat milk.

Fortunately, Yuanbao wasn’t picky. He’d eat whatever he was given, had a great appetite, and spent each day eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating. He rarely cried or fussed, making him really easy to raise.

Xiaomai was also very interested in goat milk. Lu Lin was afraid his son would run out of food, so he raised three nanny goats at once.

Although Yuanbao had a good appetite, he was still just a small child. With the wet nurse visiting regularly too, there was always plenty of milk left over.

So, during his free time, Lu Lin would make goat milk tea for Xiaomai, Xiaocai, Shen Chi, and others.

Small babies have different tastes from adults. The hundreds-of-yuan-per-can formula milk powder had a very fishy taste when boiled. Yuanbao was perfectly content with boiled goat’s milk sweetened with just a little sugar.

The goat milk tea made for Xiaomai and Xiaocai needed some tea leaves added to remove the fishy smell.

Tea leaves varied greatly in price. Fine teas were very expensive, but the common varieties were much more affordable. Lu Lin was still very thrifty and only bought ordinary tea leaves.

In his opinion, goat milk tea was very nourishing. It might be a bit late for him to drink it, but if Xiaocai and Xiaomai drank some, they might grow a bit taller.

The sweet and fragrant goat milk tea became a favorite of many in the house. Chen Xiaomi initially thought goat milk was just for feeding babies, but seeing Xiaomai and others drinking it happily, he tried some too. Once he tried it, he got a bit addicted. Goat milk tea was also good for the body. Drinking some in winter made the whole body warm and comfortable.

Lu Lin could often see Chen Xiaomi and his two brothers sitting in a row, drinking goat milk together.

During the winter, they relied on stored provisions. Lu Lin had prepared some steamed cakes in advance. These soft, sweet, and sticky cakes were delicious when mixed into porridge.

With a new baby in the house, Chen Xiaomai seemed particularly excited.

Chen Xiaomai was the youngest in the family. As the youngest in the family, Chen Xiaomi had watched everyone older than him start working and supporting the family, which made him a little anxious. However, he often felt he couldn’t help much because he was slower to react, so he could only worry.

Having a little baby in the house made Chen Xiaomai happy and suddenly made him feel more grown-up and responsible.

“Yuanbao, look, look, this is a tiger,” Chen Xiaomai waved a tiger doll, showing it off enthusiastically.

Yuanbao, however, mostly kept his eyes closed, sleeping and blowing spit bubbles. Occasionally when Chen Xiaomai’s noise got too annoying, he’d open his eyes, give Xiaomai a brief, dismissive glance, and then go right back to sleep. Lu Lin thought his son had an air of cool, aloof elegance about him.

Not crying, not fussing, still as a mountain, calm and composed. He could tell right away that his son’s future was limitless! Even though Xiaomai was ignored by Yuanbao, he didn’t get angry and kept persistently trying to promote his tiger doll to Yuanbao.

The entire winter passed peacefully and happily for Lu Lin’s family, and the same was true for everyone else living in the compound.

Outside, the bitter winter wind howled relentlessly, its sound quite frightening.

The Uncle Qin and his two sons gathered around a stove, eating hot porridge with smiles on their faces.

For mountain dwellers, winter was always tough. Food shortages were a problem, and so were hungry wild beasts.

When there was enough food, wild beasts wouldn’t leave their hunting territory, but when food wasn’t enough, that was another story.

“Dad, life down the mountain is still more comfortable!” Qin Ming couldn’t help saying.

Qin Yi nodded. “That’s true.”

Still, if it weren’t for Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi’s help, settling down in the village would have been impossible.

Looking at his two sons, Qin Yi felt a sense of relief. Back when they lived up in the mountains, he always felt he had failed them. Now that they worked in the shop, he finally saw a glimmer of hope.

“The wind outside is so strong, but inside the house, you can barely feel it. This house is really better than a cave,” Qin Ming said.

“It’s also because this house is well-built and doesn’t let wind in.” Most poor villagers didn’t have such good conditions. When it rained heavily, the roof would leak. When it rained hard outside, it would drizzle inside. In harsh winter, people would always freeze to death.

Qin Yi was thinking that if he could save up more over the next few years, maybe one day he’d have a chance to buy a house in the village.

Inside another room, Wan Li watched his wife and son with a gentle smile on his face.

Wan Xiaofan was playing happily with a stuffed toy.

When the shop made many stuffed animals, there would be some defective ones. These defective products usually weren’t sold but kept at home for the children to play with. Wan Xiaofan had received several of them.

The new master was kind. Over these past few months, their family had lived quite well. Wan Xiaofan had become more outgoing, and Wan Li was overjoyed.

Yunniang watched Wan Xiaofan playing on the floor, her heart also full of happiness. The family had two young masters, Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai, but both had good personalities and didn’t use their status to boss people around. If life could continue like this, it would be quite nice. “This year, the boss should have made a lot of money. I wonder how things will be next year.”

“Next year should be good too. Everything in the shop sold so well this year,” Yun Niang said.

Wan Li frowned slightly with worry. “It’s hard to say. There are already imitations of our toys out there.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll just come out with new products,” Yun Niang had great faith in Lu Lin and deeply admired his endless stream of clever ideas.

Wan Li, too, was full of respect for Lu Lin. “Our master isn’t an ordinary person. Next year should be even better.”