Chapter 62

On the 29th day of the 12th lunar month, the Chinese people, adhering to tradition, have the custom of ancestor worship. Treating the dead as if they were alive is not only a significant sign of filial piety but also a virtue of respecting and honoring the elderly. Those who can go to the graves to pay respects will naturally do so with the whole family. If it is really not possible, they will set up an altar in the center of the hall and offer wine and incense as a family.

This day is also known as the "Little New Year's Eve," when families hold banquets, and people visit each other, which is called "saying goodbye to the old year."

For someone like Cheng Xiaoyu, who is not even allowed to enter the family home, he can only surf the internet and watch TV in a hotel. The cold weather and biting north wind in the capital city in February make him have no desire to go out. Out of boredom, he called Wang Ou, chatted for a while, and hearing the lively sounds on his end, he felt a bit lonely and hung up the phone.

Cheng Xiaoyu then flipped through his contact list and found that there was no one he could chat with. Bored, he sent a text message to Tang Wenqian.

"Sister, on the occasion of the New Year, I send you my New Year's greetings in advance. May you have good luck in the Year of the Tiger, be full of energy, have a tiger-like spirit, and be somewhat careless."

After a long time, Cheng Xiaoyu received a reply: "You're not being sincere at all. I don't want your blessings, give me something practical, like a gift or a red envelope."

Cheng Xiaoyu replied, "Then tell me, what is your New Year's wish? I'm in a good mood today, maybe I'll help you achieve it."

"Plant the request you owe me, and next year, many more will grow."

"Planting it requires watering, giving it sunlight, and fertilizing it, and it might not bear fruit. Are you sure you want to plant it?" Cheng Xiaoyu replied.

"This answer makes me so unhappy. You've ruined my good mood for the day."

"Then I'll tell you a joke. Liu Bei's horse, Dilu, ran towards the cliff, and Zhang Fei shouted anxiously, 'Brother, pull the reins! What do you think Liu Bei said?"

"Leave my sister-in-law to your care?" Tang Wenqian replied with an answer that left Cheng Xiaoyu speechless.

"Liu Bei cursed, 'I'm happy, and you're f***ed.'"

"Ha ha ha, this one really made me laugh."

"Speaking of which, how can your mind be so dirty? Besides, Zhang Fei isn't that kind of person..."

"Isn't it you guys guys who like to tell dirty jokes? Zhang Fei isn't, but you are!"

"But I told you I have a girlish heart! How can you defame me like that?"

"I'm defeated by you. Move aside, let me go vomit for a while." Tang Wenqian followed with several vomiting emojis.

"My girlish heart in my teenage years, are you envious in your menopause?"

"Damn, Cheng Xiaoyu, don't forget you have a handle on me!"

"Oh, then be gentle, it will hurt!" Cheng Xiaoyu replied, lying on the bed, feeling much better.

After a long time, he received a reply from Tang Wenqian: "You dirty bastard."

Cheng Xiaoyu didn't reply after that.

When it was time for dinner, he received a message from Su Yuxi, inviting him to Quanjude.

Cheng Xiaoyu asked what was up.

Su Yuxi didn't say much, just replied, "Dinner."

Cheng Xiaoyu replied, "Oh," put on his clothes, and took a taxi to the Quanjude Peace Store.

On the taxi, he received the private room number from Su Yuxi.

When Cheng Xiaoyu arrived at the private room, he saw that Su Weilan, Su Yuxi, and three others, two boys and a girl, were already seated.

One of the boys was wrapping roast duck in a pancake, and Su Weilan was picking up a piece of Beijing-style shredded pork with soybean sauce. Seeing Cheng Xiaoyu come in, he didn't stand up but called out, "Xiaoyu, come over quickly, we've been waiting for you for a long time."

Cheng Xiaoyu walked over. Because the table was quite large, seating about a dozen people, he moved his chair to a position not close to anyone and sat down. Su Yuxi then picked up her chopsticks, as she had been waiting for him.

Cheng Xiaoyu smiled and said, "Sorry, the road was a bit congested." In fact, the road was smooth, and it didn't take him long to get there.

The boy eating the roast duck said, "It shouldn't be congested today. The capital city is relatively quiet these days."

Cheng Xiaoyu just smiled and said, "Maybe I was unlucky and got stuck."

Su Weilan interrupted the topic, raised his chopsticks, and pointed to the boy eating the roast duck, saying, "This is Uncle Three's son, Hongwen." Then he pointed to the girl next to him, "This is Uncle Three's daughter, Feifei."

Finally, he pointed to the boy closer to Cheng Xiaoyu, "This is my father's secretary's son, Wu Zixuan. You can just call him Zixuan."

Wu Zixuan stood up and shook hands with Cheng Xiaoyu.

Su Weilan just smiled meaningfully.

As for Su Hongwen and Su Feifei, they ignored Cheng Xiaoyu and continued to enjoy their food, clearly more attracted by the delicious food.

Wu Zixuan was fair-skinned, with not very large but very lively eyes, about the same height as Cheng Xiaoyu, and had a delicate and refined appearance. He was probably the type many girls liked.

Su Hongwen, on the other hand, was much less impressive in appearance, slightly overweight, with a round face, small eyes, and a somewhat simple look, but he was quite tall and sturdy.

Su Feifei also had a round face, not very tall, and was a cute and soft girl with a small braid. She was dressed in a very pink and flashy way, clearly a girl who loved to dress up.

Su Yuxi, with her ponytail, wore a thin white high-necked sweater, dark blue jeans, and black boots. Under the sparkling crystal chandelier in the private room, she looked bright and clear, pure and transparent.

Cheng Xiaoyu sat down and said to Su Weilan, "Sorry for the trouble I've caused you these two days, Brother."

Su Weilan shook his head and said, "We're family, no need to be so polite."

Su Hongwen then looked up in surprise and asked, "You're Uncle Two's illegitimate child? How come you don't look like it at all!" It seemed he hadn't noticed there was an extra person at the table.

Cheng Xiaoyu was taken aback by the sudden question. The other person's expression wasn't malicious, just clueless, which made him feel a bit awkward.

Su Feifei clapped her hands and laughed, "Thank goodness you're fatter than me, Brother. Now you're not the ugliest in our family!"

Then everyone laughed, and Su Weilan didn't scold Su Feifei for her rudeness. Cheng Xiaoyu just smiled, not taking it to heart. He just felt a bit concerned about the upbringing in Uncle Three's family.

Only Su Yuxi didn't laugh. She put down her chopsticks and said coldly, "Pursuing external beauty is purely an instinct of beasts (i.e., choosing a mate). Feifei, when will you transcend your primitive nature and see things with your soul?"

Su Feifei, who had always admired Su Yuxi for her wisdom and beauty, couldn't understand the philosophical question and didn't realize that Su Yuxi was actually calling her beastly. She blushed and said, "Sister, I'm sorry, I was just joking! Don't be angry!"

Su Hongwen didn't understand Su Yuxi's indirect insult either, but he wasn't happy to see Su Yuxi defending Cheng Xiaoyu. In his mind, Cheng Xiaoyu was still an outsider, and Su Yuxi should be on their side.

Children always like to divide into simple camps. Su Hongwen was in his first year of university, older than Su Yuxi, and had always been proud of having such an outstanding sister, even feeling closer to her than his own sister.

Although Su Buyun and Su Weilan were of the same generation, they were actually a generation older than the oldest of them, Su Hongwen. So, in terms of age and affection, only Su Hongwen, Su Yuxi, Su Feifei, and Wu Zixuan, who grew up together, were close. Su Hongwen had always had the illusion that the world revolved around him. Now, seeing Cheng Xiaoyu and Su Yuxi on the same side, he felt uncomfortable, as if a key player had defected to the enemy camp.

Cheng Xiaoyu turned to look at Su Yuxi, and at this moment, he found his sister quite cute.

The atmosphere afterward wasn't particularly lively. Su Hongwen kept showing off his high-ranking friends and talking about how well he was doing at Peking University. No one at the table contested his dominance in the conversation, which made Su Hongwen feel more at ease and comfortable.

Su Weilan, of course, was like a parent today, taking his younger siblings out to play. Having been in society for many years, he had little in common with Cheng Xiaoyu and the others, and his interests were in making money and dating. So he didn't participate much in Su Hongwen's topics.

Cheng Xiaoyu found Su Hongwen's childishness laughable but still found it entertaining to listen to him, as if he were performing a solo comedy act.

In Su Yuxi's eyes, Su Hongwen was a single-celled organism with questionable intelligence. Besides, she wasn't much of a talker.

Wu Zixuan, on the other hand, was smarter, probably due to his father's good education as a secretary. He was the only one who kept agreeing with Su Hongwen, preventing his solo comedy act from becoming a cold show.

As for Su Feifei, she was the type who was infatuated with someone, and Cheng Xiaoyu could tell from the way she looked at Wu Zixuan.

The six of them ate for nearly two hours, and Su Hongwen still felt he hadn't said enough. After leaving Quanjude, Su Hongwen suggested going to Tongque Tai KTV to sing, confident in his singing ability.

Su Weilan's task today was to entertain his younger siblings, so he had no objections. The others didn't care, and Su Weilan decided to go singing.

The five of them waited for Su Weilan to move the car. Su Hongwen quickly got into the front passenger seat, leaving no room for the four people in the back because Cheng Xiaoyu was a bit overweight.

Su Weilan first said to Su Hongwen in the front passenger seat, "Hongwen, why don't you sit in the back and hold Feifei to see if you can fit?"

Su Hongwen, however, said nonchalantly, "I'm also quite tall, so it's the same for him to hold Feifei." He didn't remember Cheng Xiaoyu's name and just looked at him.

Su Feifei, however, pouted and said, "No, I won't. He can take a taxi!" She was already in her first year of high school and knew about the boundaries between men and women.

At this moment, Cheng Xiaoyu felt that coming for dinner might have been a mistake. He smiled and said, "It's okay, I'll take a taxi. You guys go ahead." He decided to go back to the hotel directly, as there was no need to join the crowd, and he didn't know any of the songs from this time period.

Su Weilan, of course, had a deeper bond with Su Hongwen. He knew that Su Hongwen and Su Feifei were spoiled, so he didn't criticize Su Hongwen for his lack of grace. He smiled at Cheng Xiaoyu and said, "Alright, we'll go ahead. Come quickly." In fact, if it weren't for Zhou Peipei's reminder, he wouldn't have planned to invite Cheng Xiaoyu today. He didn't care about Cheng Xiaoyu's feelings. However, after the meal, Su Weilan, listening to his words and observing his actions, found that Cheng Xiaoyu wasn't as frivolous as he had imagined and even seemed quite steady. He couldn't understand why Cheng Xiaoyu had done something so irrational the day before. Su Weilan wouldn't think much about a marginal figure, so he put it aside and called the others to get in the car.

Wu Zixuan and Su Feifei got in the car, but Su Yuxi didn't. She adjusted her dark blue down jacket, lowered her head, and said to Su Weilan in the driver's seat, "I'll take a taxi with my brother."

Hearing this, everyone in the car was stunned.