Lin Han stayed at home for two days before heading back with the children. By the time they returned to the capital, it was already the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month. They went home carrying bags big and small.

Nan Sheng arrived home at three in the afternoon. The two children were thrilled and affectionately pestered her, saying they wanted to go out for roast duck.

Nan Sheng waved her small hand. “Let’s go to a restaurant for authentic Beijing roast duck. You can order whatever you want to eat today.”

Ever since coming to the capital, Nan Sheng felt that time flew by exceptionally fast. A year had passed in the blink of an eye. With Qiqi always by her side, she didn’t feel it much, but she had neglected Sizhe. Taking a sudden look at him now, she realized the boy had grown a lot taller again.

At dinnertime, the restaurant was quite crowded. After ordering, they waited for nearly an hour before they could eat. She specifically asked the staff not to slice the duck legs so the two children could have one each to gnaw on.

A hint of apology appeared on Nan Sheng’s face. “Mom has been too busy this year and hasn’t had much time to spend with you. Once this busy period is over, I’ll definitely take you to see the flag-raising ceremony and climb the Great Wall!”

Qiqi immediately corrected Nan Sheng. “You have to say ‘Mom’. Even my brother has changed how he calls you. Why do you always forget, Mom?”

At first, Nan Sheng really wasn’t used to calling herself “Ma”, but now that she had gotten used to it, switching to the more modern “Mom” actually felt awkward.

“Alright, alright, I’ll try my best to change it, okay?”

Sizhe had already seen the flag-raising ceremony on a school trip, but going with his family would be a completely different experience, so he was really looking forward to it.

Neither Lin Han nor Sizhe were used to the local snacks in the capital, but Qiqi was basically open to anything. Nan Sheng would often bring a portion back for her when she came home from work.

They ordered quite a few dishes today as a reward for the year’s hard work. Even though Lin Han and Sizhe had big appetites, they couldn’t finish everything. Nan Sheng simply asked the waiter to pack up the leftovers for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Once they got home, everyone went back to their own rooms to change and sleep. Qiqi was older now, and even if she wanted to share a room with her brother, Sizhe wouldn’t agree to it.

Nan Sheng could hear her pitifully begging her brother at his door. “Brother, tomorrow is the New Year. Just let me in. I promise I won’t sleep in your room anymore after the New Year.”

Sizhe had locked his bedroom door and didn’t even dare to make a sound, afraid that his sister would cling to him.

“Commander Lin, call Qiqi over to sleep with us. Otherwise, none of us will be able to sleep; she’ll be knocking on that door for half an hour.”

Lin Han was also quite frustrated. He had harbored some romantic intentions for the night, but now those were completely ruined. “This kid. Sleeping in her own bed is so comfortable, why does she insist on having someone with her?”

Nan Sheng smiled without saying a word. In truth, Qiqi was usually very obedient and never made a fuss when Nan Sheng was busy with work. Over the past year, mother and daughter had often slept in the same bed, so Qiqi probably wasn’t used to sleeping in a room by herself yet.

When Lin Han called Qiqi over, she was absolutely thrilled. She consciously squeezed right between her parents and lay down obediently.

“Mom, you have to wake me up when you get up tomorrow. I want to help too.”

“I know, go to sleep now, you little rascal!”

When Nan Sheng woke up, neither her child nor her husband was beside her. She checked the time and saw it was already past eight o’clock.

After going downstairs, she saw one adult and two children busy preparing food. Seeing Nan Sheng come down, Sizhe hurried to the pot to bring out her meal.

While Nan Sheng was eating at the dining table, she saw Gao Feng bring several people over. They were carrying things that looked like a television and a refrigerator.

“Director Nan, the home appliances you applied for earlier have been approved. Here are the TV and the fridge. The washing machine hasn’t arrived yet; I reckon it’ll be a while longer.”

Nan Sheng stood up to tell them where to put the items. “You came at the perfect time. We can watch the Spring Festival Gala tonight!”

Originally, Nan Sheng had planned to spend her own money to buy these things and asked Gao Feng to purchase them for her. However, Gao Feng said that with her current status, she could apply for them from above, and Nan Sheng was more than happy to save the money.

After the TV and fridge were installed, Gao Feng left. She was also rushing home to celebrate the New Year. Ever since Director Nan had arrived at the research institute, she had hardly had any time to rest.

Once everyone had left, the two children immediately circled the TV and fridge in excitement. Seeing their curiosity, Lin Han simply turned on the TV. They found even the news interesting.

“It’s even a color TV, honey. Your perks are countless times better than mine.”

Nan Sheng smiled and said, “Isn’t what’s mine also yours? Besides, the color TV and the fridge belong to the state; we only have the right to use them. If I get transferred to another department, we’ll still have to return them.”

Once the ingredients were mostly prepared, Nan Sheng got to work. First, she stewed the chicken, braised pork, and fish. Then she made spicy boiled pork slices, spicy shrimp, and stir-fried greens. That was enough—exactly six dishes.

There were only four people in the family. Except for the chicken, which was a larger portion, the other dishes were quite small.

In the evening, Nan Sheng prepared the fillings for pickled cabbage and pork dumplings, as well as three-delicacy meat dumplings. While making the dumplings, Qiqi turned on the TV, and they watched as they wrapped.

Nan Sheng didn’t have much interest in the TV, but Lin Han and the kids watched it with great relish—even the commercials.

Early on the morning of Lunar New Year’s Day, Nan Sheng was picked up to work at the research institute. Rubbing her sleep-filled eyes, she had a terrifying intuition that she wouldn’t get a moment of peace this entire year.

Facts proved her guess completely correct. Whenever the project made progress and she thought she could get a brief rest, what greeted her was even crazier exploitation from the head director.

She finally understood how Director Gao got his white hair. No one could stand staying up late every day like this. Her own thick, beautiful black hair had already become dry and frizzy.

“I want to take a leave!”

After months of continuous early mornings and late nights at work, Nan Sheng finally couldn’t take it anymore and ran to the director’s office to protest.

Seeing Nan Sheng looking as if her life force had been sucked dry by a demon, Gao Tu felt somewhat guilty. If nothing else, ever since she came to the institute, Nan Sheng had lost at least twenty pounds; she now weighed just a little over ninety.

Thinking of the project’s progress, Director Gao didn’t want to agree, but he was also afraid that Nan Sheng would just quit on the spot. He could only grit his teeth and agree, “Fine, I’ll let you take tomorrow off, okay?”

One day? Don’t even think about it!

“I want a week off!” Nan Sheng demanded an exorbitant amount.

“A day and a half?”

“Six and a half days!”

“I’ll give you two days off!”

“No, it absolutely cannot be less than six days!”

The two negotiated and finally compromised, setting the vacation at three days. Director Gao was deeply heartbroken, thinking about how much work this would delay.

Nan Sheng wanted the time off because tomorrow was Lin Han’s birthday. She wanted to rush back to the family compound to celebrate with him and take a couple of days to rest.

Since Sizhe couldn’t leave school, Nan Sheng took her daughter back. After more than a year, the small courtyard finally welcomed its mistress back!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep