The town near the Lunar New Year was bustling with noise and excitement. Having just finished cleaning up, Liu Yu sat in the shop with his hands supporting his chin, feeling drowsy as he watched the people coming and going on the street.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, with only three days left until the New Year, the closer it got to the holiday, the more people came to buy breakfast.
Among them were many unfamiliar faces who had worked hard all year, usually living frugally and reluctant to spend money, but now, biting the bullet as the festive season arrived, they brought their families to the shop for a proper meal.
Although the daily revenue was climbing rapidly, seeing everyone else start to wind down made him inevitably lose focus. He simply decided to close the shop early and go back to rest.
He had already prepared his New Year goods, with chicken, duck, fish, and goose all fully stocked. Even though he was spending the New Year alone, the festive rituals still had to be observed.
Liu Yu put up Spring Festival couplets inside and outside the shop, hanging a sign at the entrance stating that the store would be temporarily closed from today until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.
Someone stopped to ask, “Little Boss, your holiday is quite long!”
Liu Yu smiled. “I haven’t been able to rest all year round, so I’ll stay at home for a few extra days during the New Year.”
On his way back, he ran into quite a few villagers, mostly aunts returning from the town with their New Year purchases. Third Aunt Liu, accompanied by two little girls, was mixed among them.
Liu Yu let out a secret sigh of relief. One mountain cannot tolerate two tigers; wherever Third Aunt Liu was, Li Cuihong would never appear within a one-kilometer radius. This was a truth he had summarized, and he certainly didn’t want to get into a verbal dispute with anyone right before the New Year.
Liu Yu obediently greeted them, “Hello, Aunts!”
After Liu Yu walked away, the group began to chatter eagerly.
“Oh, how well-behaved. He’s completely different from those wild monkeys who stay away from home all day and stir up trouble,” a plump aunt wearing a bright red floral cotton-padded jacket said to the others with a face full of envy.
“Indeed, and he’s exceptionally capable. My husband told me the boy opened a breakfast shop in town, and the business is doing wonderfully.”
“I always said that boy had talent. Just a few days ago, Li Cuihong was still telling me that her nephew wasn’t studying properly, spent his days carousing in town, and squandered all the money his parents left behind. I certainly didn’t believe it.”
Third Aunt Liu sneered, “Li Cuihong is full of lies. If you believed her, her Liu Gui would definitely be the most remarkable kid for miles around, while everyone else’s children are just country bumpkins.”
The plump aunt sighed helplessly and persuaded, “Don’t get upset with her. She’s just that kind of person—her ambitions are higher than the sky!”
Then, as if casually mentioning it, she added, “They were all grown on the same vine, so I don’t know why Heqing is so good at making money. If only my son could be like him, I wouldn’t have to worry about his marriage prospects.”
A shrill voice chimed in, “Why don’t you just take your son to learn a thing or two from him? You’re all from the same village; surely he wouldn’t refuse to teach you?”
“That’s right! Count me in when you go. If his shop is short-handed, I’ll swallow my pride and ask him myself.”
With everyone harboring their own thoughts, they quickly settled the matter in a flurry of discussion.
On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people slaughter New Year chickens, visit the grand market, and sweep away the old to welcome the new—this was a folk custom. Early in the morning, Liu Yu could hear the miserable squawks of chickens coming from neighboring households.
Liu Yu didn’t raise chickens, nor did he need to visit the grand market, and he insisted on bathing every day, so he could only sweep his courtyard while watching everyone else hustle and bustle.
In the afternoon, as Liu Yu was dozing off on his bed, a knock at the door woke him.
“Heqing, are you home?”
He got up to open the door and, to his surprise, found several aunts with whom he rarely interacted standing outside.
He asked with a puzzled look, “Aunts, is there something you need?”
The women hurriedly waved their hands. “Nothing much! We just came by to check on you.”
Liu Yu laughed wryly. They usually had no dealings with him, yet they had suddenly arrived as if coordinated, all bringing gifts—it was hardly the picture of having nothing to do.
He invited them inside, brewed a cup of hot tea for each of them, and chuckled, “There’s no reason for a junior to accept New Year gifts from elders; it would make me look terribly impolite. I think you should take the gifts back, Aunts. Why don’t you tell me what’s actually on your mind?”
The women were momentarily speechless, until the plump aunt gritted her teeth and got straight to the point. “I’m not afraid of you laughing at me, but my boy is turning eighteen soon, and after dropping out before finishing fourth grade, he’s had to help around the house with farm work. Now that he’s at an age for matchmaking, girls with decent backgrounds won’t give him a second look. I was wondering if your shop in town is short of help? My son isn’t particularly clever, but he’s very diligent and never lazy.”
So it turned out they were all coming for his shop. He didn’t actually mind this; as the shop grew busier, he really did need a shop assistant to help share the load.
However, he didn’t just hire anyone—he had standards.
After pondering for a moment, he said, “I can indeed hire someone for my shop, but I’m not sure if he knows how to handle accounts.”
The plump aunt hurriedly explained, “He does, he does! He could recite the addition and multiplication tables before fourth grade. He might look a bit plain, but his brain isn’t slow at all.”
Liu Yu replied, “Alright then. The probation salary for my shop is sixteen yuan a month, and if he performs well after a month, it’ll go up to twenty-one. You’d better discuss it with your son; if he’s willing, he can report for work directly on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month.”
“Alright, he’ll definitely be willing!” The plump aunt was overjoyed. For her son to go to town and handle accounts for someone else was a thoroughly respectable thing, and the salary wasn’t low either—if he just scraped a living farming the fields, he couldn’t make two months’ worth of that in a whole year.
Beaming with delight, the plump aunt said, “Well then, I won’t disturb you any longer, Auntie needs to rush back and tell him the good news. These dried mushrooms in the basket aren’t worth much, so just keep them!”
With that, she hurried off like a gust of wind, leaving the remaining old friends sitting awkwardly in place, staring at each other in dismay.
“Uhm, do the rest of you aunts have anything else?” Liu Yu asked awkwardly.
“Heqing! Is your shop still looking for people? My Bangzi could do it too.”
Seeing someone take the lead, the others quickly rushed to follow up.
Liu Yu couldn’t help but rub his forehead. He ran a breakfast shop, not a giant department store; how many square meters was the place anyway? Why would he need to hire so many people?
Liu Yu said, “I’m sorry, I currently only need one person. There might be other places hiring in town after the New Year, so you can keep an eye out—they might even offer better benefits than mine.”
The group laughed awkwardly. There weren’t that many places hiring in town, and even if there were, priority would go to local town residents.
If they had known he was so easy to talk to, they would have spoken up first. But there was no turning back once the bow was drawn; even if they thumped their chests in regret, there was nothing they could do. Right now, they felt an overwhelming mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred toward the plump aunt.
In the end, Liu Yu couldn’t bear the stiff atmosphere any longer and handed each of them an apple, finally managing to send them away.
As soon as they left, he firmly shut the door and let out a heavy breath. Dealing with unfamiliar elders was truly an exhausting ordeal.
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people ferment the dough. In his past life, Liu Yu’s grandfather had told him this folk saying. His grandfather had served as a soldier in the North for a long time and retained many northern customs upon returning.
Presumably, the author of this novel was also a northerner; although their skill in writing about food was practically nonexistent, many folk customs of the North were reflected in this world.
For example, today the whole village was busy making wheaten foods, but Liu Yu had observed before that they never used yeast when making them; the result was dense steamed buns mixed with brown sugar and dates that required a lot of water just to swallow down.
Liu Yu and Zhou Yu had searched for a long time in the past without finding yeast, but they had eventually found baking soda as a substitute.
The steamed buns made with it were equally fluffy and chewy, and Zhou Yu loved eating them paired with chopped chili sauce.
However, no one in town used baking soda, and the stock available for purchase was pitifully small, which completely squashed any thoughts he had of developing new products.
With nothing to do today, he rarely remembered to make mini milk buns. Over half a jar of the powdered milk sent by Zhou Yu remained, so Liu Yu didn’t hold back, directly scooping out more than ten spoonfuls to mix into the flour.
Before the dough had even finished rising, Liu Wensheng sneaked over to his house again to visit. Having never heard of milk-flavored steamed buns before, Liu Wensheng was drooling and stubbornly refused to leave, insisting on staying to tend the fire for him.
In the end, Liu Yu gave him about twenty or thirty small buns and called Erni over from playing in the dirt along the field ridge to give her some as well.
Liu Yu hadn’t added any sugar to these buns; they tasted purely and strongly of rich milk flavor. True to being good powdered milk, using it to make buns produced something far more delicious than ordinary milk buns.
He had the buns for dinner, eating a dozen of them plain before stopping with a lingering sense of satisfaction.
The village chief’s family next door was also having dinner, and a plate of plump, white, adorable mini milk buns sat prominently on their table.
The village chief glared fiercely at Liu Wensheng beside him and scolded, “You really are something else. The thirtieth of the lunar month hasn’t even arrived yet, and you’re already running off to other people’s houses to beg for food.”
Liu Wensheng shrank back in fright and stammered, “I didn’t beg for it! I helped Big Brother Heqing tend the fire, and these were his reward to me.”
“You even demanded a reward?” The village chief swung his heavy palm, ready to smack the back of his youngest son’s head. “Heqing makes his living all alone, and his days are hard enough. You help him with some chores and then ask him for a reward—is that how I taught you every day?”
Liu Wensheng lowered his head in silence, utterly terrified of his father’s merciless iron palm. At that moment, he envied Liu Yu immensely; everyone said Liu Yu’s life was difficult, but in his eyes, not having parents to restrict you and being able to make a fortune in town was simply the most wonderful life imaginable.
Zhang Guifang, sitting beside him, hurriedly grabbed her husband’s hand. “It’s the New Year, why are you throwing your weight around with our son? I know Heqing best; he understands propriety and hates taking advantage of people. If we didn’t accept his things, he would never agree to let you help him again next time.”
She then used her eyes to signal Liu Wenyu to say a word for his younger brother.
Liu Wenyu had enjoyed the show enough and, catching his mother’s signal, understood immediately.
“Ahem, Dad, you know how it is. Wensheng is just a bit greedy, he doesn’t have bad intentions. Interactions between people have always been about give and take to keep relations warm. We can send him some things in return next time, and Heqing surely won’t refuse.”
“Hmph, eat your meal!” The village chief cast a cool glance at him and withdrew his hand.
Seeing that his anger had mostly subsided, Zhang Guifang distributed the milk buns from the plate.
Zhang Guifang took a bite of a bun and exclaimed in admiration, “These buns are so delicious! I wonder how they’re made—they’re so soft and sweet! I’ll have to learn how to make them another day.”
Liu Wenyu nodded in praise, “Heqing’s culinary skills are truly top-notch.”
Though the village chief kept quiet, judging by the fact that his mouth didn’t stop moving for a second, he was extremely satisfied with the buns as well.
A slightly bumpy dinner ultimately concluded on a harmonious note as everyone tasted the mini milk buns together.