Chapter 94: Chapter 80: New Year Greetings

Song Yanxi took Chen An’an for a bath.

No matter how angry she was, that kid was still her own. Looking at her face covered in cow dung, she scrubbed away without any hesitation.

After the bath, she changed her into a set of clean, new clothes.

Outside, twenty-five-year-old Chen Fan was still calling her to blow up cow dung or even more thrilling, to blow up the toilets.

You can’t kill these little brats.

Chen An’an, having been spanked, could only obediently follow her parents to her grandfather’s house for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

After eating, the whole family returned home to quickly run off and watch TV.

In the evening, it was watching the Spring Festival Gala and waiting for the stroke of midnight’s big fireworks.

New Year’s Eve just passed in such a dull day.

Chen An’an hadn’t even waited for the midnight fireworks show before she couldn’t help but fall asleep.

She regretted it the next day.

On the first day of the New Year, there was a rule in their village that they couldn’t go out.

The whole family had a reunion dinner at home. Not even the garbage could be swept outside. In short, there were various customs to follow.

After playing with firecrackers at home all day, Chen An’an was ready to go visit relatives on the second day of the New Year.

First, it was her maternal grandfather’s house.

Chen Pingsheng had prepared a car full of gifts on his BOSpeed early, as his grandfather had treated him quite well.

Without his support back then, he wouldn’t have been able to marry Song Yanxi so smoothly.

Liu Fen was strongly against it at the time, but grandfather didn’t pamper her at all. When it came to his granddaughter’s matter, it had to be decided by the men.

“With me, the grandfather here, why should a woman fuss about anything?”

This wasn’t the Capital City, where women had no say, and he thus managed to marry Song Yanxi smoothly.

Grandfather was also in his sixties or seventies, not as healthy as his own grandfather.

Various conditions of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia.

The doctor had warned him not to smoke or drink.

Grandmother wanted him to quit, but grandfather’s perennial response was, “If I can’t even drink or smoke, why bother living?”

The old couple also frequently squabbled about this every year.

This time, Chen Pingsheng brought a lot of fine cigarettes and liquor. Getting old indeed made it hard to quit these habits, and living longer with a bad body was also a form of torture.

His grandfather’s place wasn’t too far from his; as soon as Chen Pingsheng’s car arrived, it lined up from the beginning of the village to his grandfather’s house.

Every household was setting off big firecrackers.

This was the whole village welcoming visitors.

He too rolled down his car window to greet people. Upon arriving at his grandfather’s, many relatives were already there.

Song Yanxi took Chen An’an to greet everyone one by one.

In front of her grandfather’s house, there was a particularly wide river, and it was deep too. Small boats often moored by the side, and reeds grew all around.

The village children, including Chen An’an, loved playing there.

Two kids, four or five years older than her, took her along to play.

Meanwhile, Chen Pingsheng chatted with his grandfather.

Grandfather had two sons and one daughter. The eldest, Song Huamin, hadn’t returned this year, but the other two were there on the second day of the New Year.

The cooking was done by Song Yanxi’s aunt, who also helped out.

“Yanxi, when are you guys going to the Capital City this year?”

“We’ll go after the Lantern Festival, no rush this year.”

Indeed, there was no rush. Usually, people who returned would drive out around the seventh or eighth day, but leaving after the Lantern Festival like them, they definitely wouldn’t hit any traffic.

“Your dad in the Capital City, isn’t he still pressed down by my sister-in-law?”

“Well…”

One was her dad, and the other was her mom. Song Yanxi felt it was hard to comment.

However, her aunt said, “To me, it’s your mom who lacks foresight. If it weren’t for my dad insisting that you marry Pingsheng, could you two be this happy now? Your mom, she’s just tainted with the big-city syndrome from Capital City. Just look at her every time she comes back, acting as if she lives in the Imperial Palace, expecting us country bumpkins to bow our heads when we see her.”

Her aunt mimicked Liu Fen perfectly, even curling her fingers elegantly.

“Ah … ‘We in the Capital City are like this and that, the Capital City has so much to offer.’ Everyone knows the Capital City is great, but each time she comes back, she acts as if she’s living in the Forbidden City, almost wishing we country girls would bow down to her.”

Indeed, every family has relatives like this.

Liu Fen, a native of Capital City, was fine with it, but some people were even more annoyed.

They were clearly from the countryside and even in the city, they only lived in the smallest rental rooms, yet once they returned, they started talking like city folks.

This they couldn’t eat, that they couldn’t drink.

Such people were even more irritating, and ironically, her two sisters-in-law were just like that.

“Look how good your man is, he makes such a big fortune outside, and still, when he comes back, he respects the elders just the same. He can even enjoy playing ‘run fast’ with your grandfather, those fifty cents a play.”

Indeed, Chen Pingsheng was already playing cards with Grandpa.

If you didn’t play cards during the New Year in the countryside, a lot of fun would be missing.

He, after all, could play both big and small games.

“Pingsheng is really good; after all, he had suffered for so many years in the capital before he started to make money, but you can’t compare him to my mom.”

“Speaking of your mom, that really makes me angry.”

The younger aunt chopped down with the cleaver, mincing the large piece of meat to bits.

“Your dad was supposed to come back this year. Your grandfather is already at such an age, who knows how many years he still has left. Don’t you think he would look forward to a family reunion during New Year’s? But your mom just had to make him stay in the Capital.”

“My brother, he married a wife from the capital, and everyone was envious except me and your grandfather. It turned out as expected, bullied by his wife’s family all his life.”

Song Huamin was in the capital, and indeed, he had suffered previously.

After all, the house wasn’t bought by himself, which was common for many villagers who found city wives.

If he could make a lot of money, it would be fine, but if not, no one would want to spend New Year’s at their mother-in-law’s place.

Always having to watch someone’s face, let alone discussing personality.

People in their thirties with car loans, mortgages, and children to send to school, few would dare to have a personality.

This was the type of person some unscrupulous bosses loved to hire because they were easy to exploit and would never easily resign.

It’s hard to work in the city, I’ll stay in the countryside for life.

Song Yanxi’s younger aunt was just like this, saying she would never go to the city to advance her career, as she’d just end up moving bricks.

She was better off staying in the countryside honestly.

A full spread was quickly prepared; gaining ten pounds during a New Year’s visit home was no joke.

Every day was a feast, just like at Grandpa’s house, where he also gave Grandpa one hundred thousand.

When old people reached a certain age, if they had no money, you couldn’t expect their children to show filial piety.

This isn’t an exaggeration but just the way society is.

Everything revolving around money isn’t just a saying.

This was also Chen Pingsheng’s way of ensuring his elders had a happy and secure old age.

In the afternoon right after lunch, many relatives rode their motorcycles home.

Chen Pingsheng then spent time chatting with Grandpa.

The rounds of visiting relatives lasted until the seventh day of the New Year, only ending on that day.

Being married was like that; returning home for New Year meant a lot of things needed tending to.

By the eighth day, Chen Pingsheng accompanied Principal Hu, Teacher Shen Qing, and two officials from the county to visit Wangcai Primary School.

They then chose a new site to build a new school.

He even made the big county news, but without exposing any photos or names.

This was at his own request.

Chen Pingsheng always believed that doing business should avoid excessive media exposure as much as possible. It affected private life and made it too easy to become obsessed with that world.

Just like how nine out of ten businessmen who marry female celebrities end up ruined.

After spending two days in the village to select the new school site, he found a construction team from Sha City.

Only then did he leave Wangcai Village, taking his family to Sha City to buy a more than 600 square meter ground-level villa.

The location was in the suburbs, near a five-star hotel and a golf course.

The environment was naturally very good, and the air was fresh.

In 2014, the average price in Sha City was only about five thousand per square meter, so paying a higher price for this villa was only about four million in full—quite a good deal. Frequently traveling to Sha City, buying a house there obviously made a lot of sense.

After a busy Lantern Festival, Chen Pingsheng decided it was time to head to the Capital City.

He had spent a month at home enjoying himself, had completed his traveling, and had nearly spent all his money.

If he didn’t go out to earn money now, how would he afford to return home and show off next year?