Chapter 383 - Lunar New Year's Eve

Chapter 383 Lunar New Year’s EveWhere was that man?

She turned back and looked at the big poster in the shop window. She thought in her mind, “Goddess, if you throw one man to me from the sky. I will, uh, be your loyal fan from now on.”

Wanru sighed and kept walking forward.

Snow drifted down from the sky and landed on her head.

Gee, in the front, the man in the front! Wasn’t, wasn’t he …? Why was he…

Wanru thought for a while and then hurried forward. She just ran towards Zhou Yan.

“Zhou Yan, it’s really you!” She gasped with a smile and said to him.

Zhou Yan was stunned for one or two seconds. He couldn’t believe that she was standing right in front of him completely. He even wondered if he was hallucinating. But, why was he hallucinating on her? There was no reason. If it was not his hallucination, then…

“What a coincidence!” He smiled at her and looked around. He wanted to make sure if she was with her companion.

“Stop looking around. Xiaoyang just left.” Wanru shrugged helplessly.

“I just had a meal. Walking can help digestion.” He stepped forward. And it was just the direction which Wanru just walked over in. Wanru didn’t point out that he moved in the opposite direction. She just followed him.

“In this case, you just got stood up?” He asked.

“Yes. She went back. I want to walk by myself.” She said.

He looked at her with complicated eyes. They walked side by side. But they spontaneously kept a one-man gap between them.

“It’s holiday. Where do you plan to spend your holiday?” She looked at him and asked.

“Spend time with two grandfathers.” Zhou Yan hadn’t felt the atmosphere of the New Year for years. He looked at Wanru. “How about you?”

“I will stay in S city.” Wanru didn’t want to go anywhere and didn’t have anywhere to go to.

“You can go to find Xia Yu and have a chat with her. Just see a movie or do something else.” Zhou Yan said with a smile.

“I’ll think about it. Now she is dating Young Master Yan. Do you want me to be the third wheel?” Wanru smiled. Now that he mentioned Xia Yu, she realized that she hadn’t seen Xia Yu for a few days.

Zhou Yan also smiled. They didn’t seem to have anything more to talk about after a few sentences. They kept walking in silence like this.

Snow was getting heavier and heavier.

“Zhou Yan, don’t be so persistent. Try to fall in love with a girl. You’ll feel better.” Wanru said to him at the fork in the road when they were about to separate.

Zhou Yan looked up at her and smiled. It must be his grandfather who asked her to console him. He saw his grandfather talking to Wanru a few days ago. And they talked for a long time.

Zhou Yan walked in the direction of his home without saying anything. Wanru looked at him and let out a breath. She walked in the opposite direction.

Zhou Yan lay on the couch after he got home. He covered his eyes with his hands.

He heard the voice of grandfather answering the phone in his ear. It sounded like he was talking to a friend and he was very happy. Zhou Yan felt an unspeakable annoy in his heart. He got up and went into his bedroom. Zhou Yi glanced at him and went on talking to his friend on the phone smilingly.

His bedroom was so dark. Zhou Yan only took off his coat and lay on the bed with his eyes closed.

“Did you catch a cold?” Zhou Yi turned on the light and went in.

“No. I just have a little headache.” He said.

“Try to drink less from now on.” Zhou Yi said.

“I have drunk less enough tonight. If I don’t drink at all, what will others think of me?” He sat up and went to the bathroom to wash his face.

He also didn’t like that kind of boring social engagement. But if he really couldn’t evade, he would have to go.

Not long after the bathroom door was closed, Zhou Yi heard the sound of vomiting inside. He didn’t go in. He just took off his coat and went to have a bath in another bathroom.

Zhou Yan smiled helplessly. He was telling the truth. He couldn’t do whatever he wanted. But how many people could? People in Celestial Empire always made friendly contacts with others through the wine table or playing Mahjong.

Finally, Zhou Yan spat out all the discomfort in his stomach. He reached out to take a towel and wiped the corners of his mouth. He sat on a chair in silence.

It was Director Cai’s grandson’s birthday party. Since these officials were busy during the day and couldn’t drink during lunch, the party was rescheduled for tonight. He didn’t have to drink at first. But he met an old classmate who was good at drinking tonight. He said they hadn’t seen each other for years. He dragged Zhou Yan to drink with him forcedly. Zhou Yan couldn’t drink as much as him, but his classmate was very enthusiastic. Finally, he got drunk.

Zhou Yan went out of the bathroom after washing his face. He went to the living room to look for some medicine. He felt ill in his stomach and had a headache.

Zhou Yi went to get a bottle of milk after taking a shower. Seeing that Zhou Yan was looking for something in the drawer, he said, “Go to bed early after taking the pill!”

He said “okay” and then drank the medicine.

He had spent the day like this with his grandfather over the years.

Xia Yu hadn’t gone back for years. So, she took a lot of things with her that her parents like. Shen Yan sent her to the airport. He told her to be careful on the road again and again. He asked her to put in a good word for him in front of her parents.

Seeing that he was so serious, Xia Yu couldn’t help laughing. She unexpectedly kissed him in the lobby and then went to the ticket entrance.

After getting off the plane, Xia Yu just went out and saw her parents waiting in the lobby. Her mother didn’t change much. But her father had some white hair.

Xia Yu reached out and held them both in her arms. She couldn’t help crying.

“Silly girl, you’ve grown up. But you still act so girly” Xia Mingde wanted to cry as well. He barely withheld himself. He looked around and asked, “Where is the friend you mentioned?”

“He has something to do at home. He will come over in two days.” Xia Yu wiped her tears off with the back of her hand and managed to put on a smile.

“Xiao Yu, it’s nice that you are back. You don’t know how much my master misses you.” Su Hai who learned cooking from Xia Mingde smiled on the side. He took over Xia Yu’s luggage and said exaggeratively, “Wow! My junior sister apprentice’s boss must give you a big bonus. There are so many gifts.”

Hearing what he said, everyone laughed.

“You are really talkative.” Xia Mingde said with a smile, “You haven’t had a holiday for years as well. Go home and spend some days with your parents.”

Su Hai pretended to sigh and said, “Alas, my junior sister apprentice is back. My master only needs his daughter now. He no longer needs me. Okay. I will disappear voluntarily.”

“Look at you. You just get the cheapness still sell lovely. You don’t want to have a holiday, right? Then stay here.” Xia Mingde pointed at Su Hai and said with a smile.

“No! Master! Absolutely no! I just say so optionally.” Su Hai was scared. He begged in a hurry.

“Xiao Yu, your father has prepared a lot of delicious food for you, which is your favorite.” Her mother, Wu Mei, held the arm of Xia Yu. She couldn’t get enough look of Xia Yu.

“Thanks, dad!” Xia Yu looked at her father and said with a smile.

It was a customary of Shen Family to have a family reunion dinner on Lunar New Year’s Eve. It was requested by Old Madame. Everyone of Shen Family must attend.

However, it was said to be a family reunion dinner. In fact, it was quite depressed. There were only five people in total. Because Qi Guogang took Shen Yang and Shen Qiang’s family to travel overseas. They didn’t make it back.

First Madame wanted to ask Zeng Mina to come over at first. Now Zeng Ziqiang was gone. Zeng Mina was the biggest shareholder of Zeng Group. She knew nothing about business. If Shen Mo could cajole her now, he would become the owner of Zeng Group sooner or later.

But Shen Mo wasn’t on the same page with his mother. He disagreed no matter what his mother said. But since it was New Year, he didn’t want to make his mother angry. He explained that since Zeng Ziqiang just passed away, Zeng Mina should stay at home.

Thinking about it carefully, First Madame found he had a point. So, she just gave up.

Five people sat on four sides of the square table! A lot of dishes were put on a shiny and broad square table. Servants served them, standing on both sides in an imposing manner. But the atmosphere was not so good.

However, the atmosphere of Xia Yu’s family was very nice because of her coming back. Her mother, Wu Mei, had a habit. She would go to every temple on Lingxiu Mountain nearby on Lunar New Year’s Eve every year. Her mother not only went to thank all the Bodhisattvas this year but also prayed to the Bodhisattvas for her daughter to find a great man to get married. Although people should do this kind of thing on their own, talking to the Bodhisattvas about it could be counted as a prayer.

After burning incense, they would stay there until they had vegetarian food the next day morning. It was the first vegetarian food of a new year. Xia Yu had to wait in the temple with her mother and went home after the meal.

There were more than twenty large or small temples on Lingxiu Mountain. Every temple and every road were ablaze with dazzling and brilliant lights at this moment. While her mother was chanting in the temple, she walked out. She walked out of the temple alone and leaned against the stone handrail on the road, looking down at the foot of the mountain.

Cold night… No, it should be described as a cold wind in the morning. She felt a sense of pricking when the cold wind blew her face. But it made her extraordinarily sober.

Oh, right! She just forgot to send a New Year message to Shen Yan.

Xia Yu took out her phone in a hurry. Looking at the dark sky in the distance, the knocking noise on the dharma-vessel came through in her ear.

After writing a New Year message and sending it out, she let out a deep breath. Looking at the dark sky in the distance, she smiled delightfully.

As for Shen Yan, his New Year’s Eve was so normal. Their family just finished the meal.

Then Old Madame went to bed before ten because of her old age. Shen Yan didn’t like watching TV. He just surfed the Internet and read some books alone in his room. He also looked for some TV shows to watch.

He read the comments about a WS TV series about the Baigong which was said to be good on the Internet a few days ago. Since he had nothing to do now and couldn’t fall asleep, he just found it on the Internet and watched it on the couch.

Although the political system was different, he found that this TV series was quite interesting. It had practical significance. No wonder it had a good review. So, he lost the track of time. He barely left the couch except drinking water and going to the bathroom. Hence, when Xia Yu texted him, he was just about to sit down and continued to watch the TV series.

Looking at those two short lines, Shen Yan couldn’t help smiling.

This girl was really thoughtful. But why was she still texting so late?

Therefore, he paused the TV series and called her.

Xia Yu still stood beside the handrail in the cold wind. Her phone just rang.

“It’s me. I just saw your text. Why are you still up?” He asked.

“I’m staying up all night in the temple on the mountain. How about you? What are you doing?” She said with a smile.

“I’m watching a TV series.” He smiled and said, “Are you staying up all night in a temple?”

He seemed to be a little surprised.

“Yes. My mom said that she wanted to pray to the Bodhisattvas for blessing. So, I just accompanied her to come here.” She answered.

Although he couldn’t see the look on her face, Shen Yan could tell that she was a little unwilling. Then he said, “Boring?”

“Uh, a little.” She smiled helplessly. “I have to wait until we have a vegetarian meal. Then we can leave.”

Shen Yan poured himself a cup of water and said, “You still have to bear with it. You are not at home all year round. It’s rare for you to go home. Where is the temple that you went to?”

“On Lingxiu Mountain.” Xia Yu said.

“I have been there. There are a lot of temples on the mountain. A lot of people go there to burn joss sticks.” He said. After saying these words, he smiled and said again, “I feel sorry for you indeed that you should stay there.”

“It’s fine. I only have to wait for two more hours.” She said. Looking at the lamp of the temple in front of her, she suddenly realized what time it was. She said in a hurry, “Ah, I need to go to my mom. Bye!”

“Okay! Bye!” Shen Yan hung up. Looking at the reflection of his face in the window, Shen Yan would go to her in a few hours. He was really looking forward to seeing the stubborn father Xia Yu talked about.