Chapter 605 - 604: Joyful and Festive

However, before the New Year rolled around, Su Li had to face a problem.

’From now on, I’ll never have summer and winter break again—the two happiest times of the year!’

That’s right. They were gone.

After their final exams this year, Su Li and her classmates were, on the surface, still ungraduated seniors. In reality, however, they had already officially entered the workforce.

The remaining six months of the school year were merely a grace period.

Her other classmates, if they weren’t in a rush to start their internships and decided to wait until after the New Year, could still enjoy one last vacation. But for someone like Su Li, who had already officially started working, that was no longer an option.

Many of her classmates were filled with envy and jealousy over the fact that Su Li had landed such an excellent job before even graduating. The one thing that gave them a sliver of satisfaction was knowing that she would no longer have a winter break.

As the old saying goes, you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.

And it was certainly true for summer and winter breaks.

During your student years, you don’t realize just how important summer and winter breaks are. It’s only after you graduate and are stuck in the nine-to-five grind, working overtime and desperately looking forward to a few days off each year, that you truly understand how precious they were.

In the future, countless people would consider teaching a great profession, not for any other reason, but simply because teachers also got summer and winter breaks. Even if those breaks were sometimes cut short, at least they existed!

The morning after her last final, as Su Li dutifully headed to the TV station for work, she huddled inside her coat and scarf and took a moment to properly mourn her dearly departed vacations.

’Even though my past summer and winter breaks were often incredibly busy, spinning like a top, they were still breaks.’

’But from now on, I’ll never have them again!’

Lamenting was one thing, but Su Li still buckled down and got to work.

She had been made a permanent employee earlier, but she was still a student who had to attend classes and finish her homework. For the most part, she had only been working half-days, and her performance was inevitably affected.

This time, when she announced she no longer needed to return to school and could work full-time, her editor-in-chief’s spirits visibly lifted. After their talk, he unsurprisingly assigned her more work.

Su Li was, of course, more than happy to take it on.

Any thoughts of vacation were, by this point, long gone from her mind.

Su Li threw herself wholeheartedly into her work.

Regardless of the difficulties and hardships she faced, and despite the fact that this job involved far more behind-the-scenes toil than the glamour outsiders saw, Su Li remained full of drive and motivation.

’Because this was the job she had wanted most in two lifetimes.’

’She was finally the journalist she had always dreamed of being.’

’She had spent so many years finally reaching this point. How could she not work hard? How could she not cherish it?’

In the days leading up to the New Year, Su Li was busy as a bee. She was incredibly diligent, like a sponge, constantly absorbing new knowledge, improving, and growing.

Hard-working, ambitious people are always well-liked, and their drive can be infectious.

The TV station was already on an upward trend, and everyone’s morale was high. With this added influence, things just kept getting better.

Everyone influenced each other, creating a feedback loop of motivation. As a result, they were all brimming with energy, and their work efficiency shot through the roof.

The station’s management, including the editor-in-chief, were all very pleased. So, when it came time to review the New Year’s holiday schedule, a leader waved his hand and decided they couldn’t let their diligent employees down.

Finally, the holiday schedule was announced.

Aside from the Beijing people or those who lived very close to the Imperial City, everyone from other areas was given vacation time.

Even the Beijing people were put on a rotation, and aside from a small essential crew, the management did their best to let everyone go home for a proper New Year’s celebration.

Even several managers were added to the duty roster.

As for the television programming—well, it was the New Year. Aside from special live broadcasts, they could just air pre-recorded shows or, better yet, just extend the off-air time.

That’s right. Off the air.

This wasn’t the future, where television ran twenty-four hours a day. In this era, many stations would sign off late at night, leaving nothing but a screen full of snow.

If you turned on the TV late at night, all you’d see was a screen of snow. This channel was snow, that channel was snow—no matter how many times you changed the channel, it was all just snow.

Su Li, being used to the future where you could watch TV at any time, felt a complex wave of nostalgia whenever she saw the snow on the screen after coming back to this time.

But by now, Su Li had gotten used to it.

Besides, now that she worked at a TV station herself, she couldn’t help but silently approve of the practice.

’After all, she wanted to celebrate the New Year, too.’

As Su Li and her colleagues waited with bated breath, the holiday notice and duty schedule were finally released. Moments later, the entire station erupted in cheers and laughter.

Su Li couldn’t resist throwing her head back and letting out three whoops of joy.

’Because she got a vacation too! Even though my situation as a news reporter is unique and requires me to remain on call during the New Year period, I still have New Year’s Eve off. And after working on the first two days of the New Year, I’ll get a ten-day vacation straight.’

Su Li was very satisfied with that arrangement.

Since she was right there in the Imperial City, working wouldn’t stop her from celebrating the New Year. Plus, she still got a vacation. Of course, she was thrilled.

This New Year, the celebration was the same as always; he would be spending it with Su Li, Wu Qihua, and Wu Sheng.

Tang Mo had also grown accustomed to spending the New Year with Wu Qihua. At some point, the "Wu" in "Grandma Wu" had slowly faded away, leaving just one word: "Grandma."

That one word, "Grandma," had once been of the utmost importance to him—perhaps the most important thing in his life. Unfortunately, Mrs. Tang later personally ruined that title for him.

Ever since Mrs. Tang had treated Little Tang Mo so horribly, Su Li had been careful to keep them apart. But now, so many years later, she no longer had to be so guarded.

Mrs. Tang was in a sanatorium and couldn’t easily leave. Tang Mo, meanwhile, was busy building a life of his own and was even less likely to ever run into her.

Mrs. Tang faded from Tang Mo’s world. As time went on, the person who had once caused Little Tang Mo so much fear and pain slowly faded from his mind as well.

Tang Mo had grown up. Before he even realized it himself, his fear of Mrs. Tang had quietly dissipated.

The fading of Mrs. Tang’s influence on him became obvious when, without even realizing it, he dropped the "Wu" from his name for Wu Qihua and simply started calling her "Grandma."

Thanks to Wu Qihua, the title "Grandma" finally became a positive one for him again.

He had grown used to spending the New Year with Wu Qihua, used to receiving red envelopes with lucky money from her.

And this year was no different.

"Thank you, Grandma." Tang Mo, who was wearing a bright red sweater that matched Su Li’s, accepted the red envelope with a wide smile, his face free of the cold indifference he usually showed strangers.

After thanking Wu Qihua, Tang Mo turned to Su Li for his next envelope. Once he had it, his eyes immediately sought out Wu Sheng.

Wu Sheng was also wearing a bright red sweater, which, combined with Su Li’s and Tang Mo’s, made them look like a family of three in matching outfits.

Su Li had gone from finding the sight cringeworthy to being able to face it with perfect composure.

She had knitted all three red sweaters herself. The blue sweater Wu Qihua was wearing was also her handiwork—all were New Year’s gifts.

Wu Sheng puffed out his chest proudly and handed Tang Mo the red envelope he had prepared.

"Thank you, Uncle." After thanking him sweetly, Tang Mo blinked and added, "But Uncle, you’re really tan."

Wu Sheng: "..."

’Leave it to the kid to pour salt on the wound.’