DLRC – Chapter 27 Life in the New Home, So Refreshing

“Aiya, Auntie Jiang, I was clearly in the right this time! We all work during the day, don’t we? She works night shifts and wants me to keep quiet when she comes back in the early morning — I feel wronged too, you know.”

“Alright, alright, you two figure it out on your own. Just don’t come complaining to me!”

“You’re the landlord. Shouldn’t things like this be your responsibility…” Her voice grew sweeter and more syrupy as she spoke, and Yu Wei couldn’t help but shiver as she listened.

“Enough! Don’t you act all cutesy with me — deal with it yourselves!”

After Jiang Aihua finished speaking, the room fell quiet for a long while. Yu Wei was walking up the stairs with the little one. His legs were short, so every time they climbed stairs, Yu Wei had to hold his hand and walk up slowly with him, one step at a time.

“Hey, are those two new around here?”

The woman finally came out of her apartment. Her voice was sweet and childlike. Yu Wei turned around and caught a blurry glimpse of half her face.

“They just moved in today. They’re your new next-door neighbors,” Jiang Aihua replied from her doorway.

“Wow, new neighbors!” The woman ran over excitedly, practically bounding up the steps to catch up with the mother and son.

“Hi!”

Yu Wei smiled and turned around. “Hello.”

“Hi there!”

The woman grinned as she greeted them, and Yu Wei finally got a good look at her.

She was around 150-something centimeters tall, petite, with delicate features — the kind of sweet, harmless look that gave off a little-sister-next-door vibe.

Her outfit made her look even younger — fashionable for the times, with a chiffon blouse, slim pants, and clear plastic jelly sandals on her feet.

While Yu Wei was sizing her up, the woman was also looking Yu Wei up and down. Then she pointed at Yu Hui and asked with a smile, “Is this your son? He’s so cute!”

“Thank you.” Yu Wei turned to signal to the little one to greet her.

Yu Hui took another step up, barely reaching his mother’s shoulder. He obediently said, “Hello, big sister.”

“Hi!”

The three of them went upstairs together. Their apartments were right next to each other, and their door-opening movements even mirrored one another.

“You moved in this morning? I didn’t hear a thing — I was inside the whole time!” the woman said as she turned her key in the lock. “Oh! I forgot to introduce myself — I’m Chen Caiqian.”

“I’m Yu Wei. Moved in this morning. Looks like we’re neighbors now.” Yu Wei smiled. Yu Hui had already gone into the apartment. “Well, I won’t keep you — I’ll head in first.”

“Okay, bye-bye!”

“Bye-bye.”

By evening, the sky had finally darkened. Outside, crowds of people were out strolling around. The area near the park was the busiest — full of life and noise.

Yu Wei first put the bedsheets and covers in place, then gave the little one a bath, and finally treated herself to a nice hot shower.

To think, she’d been in the 1980s for several days already, but had never worked up the courage to go to the public bathhouse.

As hot water poured over her body, she couldn’t help but sigh softly. It felt so good.

She was done living those stifling, miserable days!

Only after her bath, when she was lying in bed, did Yu Wei finally feel like she had truly settled into this era.

The hot water had washed away all the exhaustion, and the days of frustration had eased along with it. Now, Yu Wei was ready to start planning a future for herself and her son. A happy life was in her own hands.

Yu Hui was currently sitting on the bed playing with his little toys. The room light was a dim, warm yellow. Yu Wei, who was used to bright white lights from the modern era, found this lighting a bit uncomfortable.

She made a mental note to go out and see if she could buy a white lightbulb — preferably a bright one. Cost wasn’t a concern; she just liked a well-lit room.

The little one was clearly tired today. He didn’t play for long before putting away his toys, but his eyes stayed fixed on a particular spot on the floor.

Yu Wei followed his gaze and saw the pair of adorable blue teddy bear sneakers she’d bought for him earlier that day. She held back a laugh and asked softly, “Why are you staring at your shoes?”

Once in bed, Yu Wei scooped her son into her arms. The little one smiled shyly and looked away, but before snuggling into her embrace, he couldn’t resist sneaking another glance at the shoes. At last, feeling fully content, he nestled into his mother’s arms, ready to sleep.

That little rascal really liked those shoes. Who knew how many times he’d glanced at them throughout the evening. His feelings were written all over his face. If the soles weren’t dirty, Yu Wei figured he might have tried to cuddle them in bed too.

Kids are kids — the things they love are so quirky and adorable.

“Mama,” the little one suddenly called out in his soft, syrupy voice.

“What is it?”

After hesitating for a long moment, he finally looked up at Yu Wei and said seriously and quietly, “Thank you, Mama.”

“Hm?”

Yu Wei was surprised. She lowered her gaze to look at the little one in her arms. Her obedient son’s small face was flushed red. After saying “thank you,” he shut his eyes tightly and pretended to sleep, the corners of his mouth slightly lifted in a smile, as if closing his eyes would make his embarrassment disappear.

Yu Wei was stunned for several seconds before realizing—Huihui was probably thanking her for buying those slippers he liked so much.

A flood of emotions surged through her. The weight in her arms suddenly felt heavier, and her eyes stung with a trace of sourness. Her heart was moved by his soft, simple, little “thank you, Mama.”

She couldn’t help thinking: how could the rest of the Yu family not treat such a sensible little guy kindly…

Thankfully, everything had ended that morning. She and Yu Hui were finally free, and from now on, things would only get better.

Looking at her son’s peaceful sleeping face, Yu Wei couldn’t help but lean down and kiss his tender, white cheek. It was smooth and milky and smelled sweet—it was too kissable, ahh.

Once his eyes were shut, Yu Hui quickly fell asleep within minutes. His small body instinctively curled into a ball, with his tiny hands tucked under his soft cheek like a pillow.

Yu Wei reached out to loosen his posture and gently straightened his little body for a better sleeping position.

The little guy squirmed slightly in response to her movements, rubbed his head against the pillow a few times, then parted his rosy lips and continued sleeping. His soft, mosquito-like breathing echoed quietly in the room.

Yu Wei sat with a palm-leaf fan, gently fanning the two of them while scrolling through her phone. Outside the window were the faint sounds of neighbors talking downstairs. In the small bedroom, only the sound of the fan rustling could be heard.

It was an incredibly warm and cozy scene.

She first checked her remaining balance—97 yuan in total. Not much, but not too little either.

Today, she had gained over a hundred new followers, bringing the total to more than two thousand.

When she opened the community tab, she was surprised to see the comment section had reached over two thousand messages.

Besides people discussing her life in the 1980s and questioning whether she had time-traveled, unexpectedly, she also saw some very unfriendly comments.

【This streamer is so boring. Clearly fake. What kind of set can’t a production team create?】

【It’s obviously a scam for gullible people like you. Maybe there’s a whole team behind her manipulating everything. You fools are watching this like it’s real.】

【Idiots!】

Although some fans were fighting back in the comments on her behalf, the skepticism still made her uncomfortable.

After all, whether time travel was real or not was up for debate—everyone was entitled to their own opinions. Through a screen, she couldn’t stop people from doubting.

But what she hated most was the overly aggressive tone of some netizens.

She could accept rational questioning, but personal attacks and offensive language were genuinely upsetting.

Yu Wei scrolled through the thousands of comments and blocked every user who swore or attacked her personally. Only then did she finally feel a bit of relief.

To avoid ruining her mood before bed, she closed the community tab and went to the redemption store.

She planned to test redeeming a writing-related item first. If it appeared the same way as the cash had—out of thin air—then opening a dessert shop in the future wouldn’t be a problem, as she wouldn’t have to worry about tools.

After browsing through the shop, she got a general understanding. There were more than fifty pages of products, with different items on each page, and every item existed in only one model—no duplicates.

For example, the store only had one model of rice cooker, branded “Guangming,” and only one model of oven called “Good Mama.” However, there were small and large versions of the oven—household and commercial. For a dessert shop, a large commercial oven was essential!

There were even more miscellaneous items—although each category only had one brand, the types were rich and varied: baking ingredients like high-gluten and low-gluten flour, tart shells, granulated sugar, butter, etc.

After wandering around the redemption store, Yu Wei finally selected the flour section. When she clicked on it, it showed one bag weighed one kilogram, and there was no limit to how many could be bought at once. The stock showed 1 followed by eight zeros.

She instinctively did the math in her head—eight zeros? That’s… 10 million jin (roughly 5 million kg)! That was basically unlimited, wasn’t it?

The price was 4 yuan per kilogram—likely calculated based on modern-day prices.

Without hesitation, Yu Wei clicked “Buy Now.” A confirmation screen popped up asking her to confirm the quantity. It showed “1.” After confirming, a “Enter Password” page appeared.

“Buy Now” → “Confirm” → “Enter Password”—this process was all too familiar. But… password?

What password?

She tried entering her ZhifuPay six-digit code, and—“Purchase Successful.”

Hm… so…

Yu Wei stared at the bag that suddenly appeared at the foot of her bed—it was as big as little Yu Hui’s body. Inside was… the 1kg of flour she had just purchased.

It hadn’t even taken a full minute to arrive. Honestly, it was incredible. Completely skipped the courier waiting time—this was a dream come true for any shopaholic.

Yu Wei put on her slippers and got out of bed to inspect the flour bag. It was labeled “high-gluten wheat flour,” and the packaging perfectly matched the style of this era.

A plain white non-woven bag with just a few big characters printed on it—“Red Star Flour.” No other data, no production or expiry date.

Wait, not quite. After flipping it around, Yu Wei finally found a few black characters at the bottom corner. Shelf life… 180 days.

She thought for a moment and decided to assume the 180 days started from today. Six months—definitely enough time to use it all.

Just imagining the bag of flour helping her make breakfast tomorrow made Yu Wei want to wake her little guy up to share the joy.

She had many skills, and cooking was one of them. She could do both Chinese and Western cuisine, but her specialty was making desserts.

Tomorrow morning, she could make plain steamed buns. If she had pork, she’d make dumplings too. But since she hadn’t gone grocery shopping today, something simple would be best for now.

Once the initial wave of joy passed, Yu Wei excitedly picked up her phone and continued shopping. She ordered an oven and all the ingredients needed to make cookies.

Oven: 229, rice cooker: 99, butter: 29, a box of milk: 49… after all the back-and-forth, her remaining balance of 970 was reduced to just 542… which converted to 54.2.

Not bad. Enough to last a few more days.

It seemed clear she couldn’t stop the livestreams in the future. Without the income from her phone, she wouldn’t be able to exchange for items in the mall. Even if she made a name for herself in the 1980s, paper currency couldn’t be converted into digital funds.

The room was already filled with items she had just impulsively bought. After moving everything to the kitchen, Yu Wei plugged in the oven to test it. A few presses confirmed that the interface and functions were identical to the one she had in her villa before time-traveling, so she didn’t even need to look at the manual.

Still, she’d have to go buy a power strip tomorrow—there were too many appliances and not enough outlets.

She got up early to make breakfast. Her son was still asleep.

Looking up at the balcony, she saw golden sunlight spilling over the beams. Sparrows chirped atop the power lines, the sound of bicycle bells rang out below, and there was the faint rustle of voices chatting downstairs.

She sniffed the air. The scent was sweet and comforting. Everything felt just perfect.

The first day in their new home could be summed up in one word: awesome.

The dough was kneaded and had finished rising. She placed it in a pot to steam the buns. After washing her hands, Yu Wei returned to the room and found little Yu Hui sitting on the bed holding his panda plushie, staring around in confusion.

He probably wasn’t fully awake yet, still unaware that he and Mama had moved to a new home.

“When did Hui Hui wake up?”

Hearing Mama’s voice, Yu Hui looked up. He swapped the plushie to his other hand. His complexion looked rosy and healthy. Even though he hadn’t seen Mama the moment he woke up, he hadn’t cried or fussed. He was doing much better than the past few days.

Yu Wei sat on the edge of the bed, and the little guy slowly crawled into her arms. She wrapped her arms around his tiny body.

She leaned in and gave his soft, pink cheek a big smooch, making him shrink his neck shyly into her chest. His little mouth curved upward—not quite laughing aloud, but the joy in his eyes was clear.

“Alright, time to wash up. Let’s get ready for breakfast.”

She patted his back and helped him into the new clothes she had air-dried yesterday.

Clothes make the man, after all. And Yu Hui, with his delicate features and fair, soft baby face, looked like a child star who had walked straight out of a poster. He looked good in anything.

Especially after days of wearing pale, old, worn-out shirts—now, in this bright new outfit, he looked completely refreshed, full of energy.

He wore a deep blue short jacket on top and a pair of loose, wide-legged blue jeans. The jeans were a bit expensive, but they looked great, so she bought them on impulse.

And thank goodness she did—the little guy looked exactly like a trendy little heartthrob. So cute, you’d want to nibble his cheeks.

Yu Hui was clearly fascinated by his new clothes, touching here and tugging there, his eyes shining with delight. He blinked at Yu Wei with tightly pressed lips.

The clothes seemed to glow. He was almost scared to go out in them. What if he got them dirty? That would be such a shame…

Yu Wei, of course, had no idea what her son was thinking. She had bought him a toothbrush yesterday and was ready to teach him how to brush his teeth today.

The bathroom sink was a little high, so she brought over a small stool for him to stand on. Without shoes, he was just tall enough to reach the faucet. After squeezing a pea-sized amount of toothpaste onto his brush, she demonstrated while instructing him.

Yu Hui watched intently, memorizing Mama’s every movement, his gaze fixed on her fair and smooth face.

He was quite the quick learner, smart and attentive. Imitating her exactly, he placed the toothbrush on his teeth and brushed up-down-left-right-front-back. He brushed so gently and carefully, like he was afraid he might damage his teeth. Yu Wei couldn’t help but laugh.

She pursed her lips to hold back her smile. “Alright, all done! Now we’re going to rinse and spit. Be careful not to swallow the water, just swish it around in your mouth, okay?”

She demonstrated, and Yu Hui solemnly nodded. He took a sip of water, ready to swish it—when somehow the cool water slipped right down his throat.

His face turned pale in fright. Mama had said he mustn’t swallow the water—he was supposed to spit it out. But he had just swallowed it by accident… would he get sick?

What should he do?

“Mama…” Yu Hui’s voice trembled with tears, “I drank it…”

Yu Wei quickly patted his back. “It’s okay, sweetie. Just a little won’t hurt. We’ll be more careful next time, alright?”

The gentle pats soothed him. He blinked away the tears from the corners of his eyes, then took another sip of water.

This time he was ready, moving slowly and cautiously. After swishing it around twice in his mouth, he carefully spat it out into the sink—success!

“Great job, Yu Hui baby! You’re amazing!”

Yu Wei praised him while wiping the foam off his mouth with a tissue. “Let’s go, time for steamed buns!”

The little guy was thrilled. He sat at the dining table with his tiny spoon, quietly waiting for Mama to serve breakfast. When she opened the pot, steam billowed up, fogging their eyes and bringing with it a comforting damp warmth.

Yu Hui loved the steamed buns. They were softer and whiter than the ones Grandma made—and most importantly, they were sweet!

It was his first time eating buns that were both soft and sweet!

Wait, they were also fragrant. So good!

“Do you like it?”

His mouth stuffed with bun, Yu Hui nodded happily. Yu Wei then came out of the kitchen with a strange little box that had a tube sticking out of it. She handed it to him.

“This is milk. Try it.”

The little guy eagerly took it, but the moment he sipped, his expression changed.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like it?”

“Mama… it’s bitter…”

“Bitter?” Yu Wei took the milk and tried it herself. “How could it be bitter? It’s clearly sweet!”