107 The Four Lucky Treasures
Lin Wan only saw the message when she finished her live stream. She saw some messages but only she and Li Yanchen were left in the family group chat. Lin Wan understood that the children had left the group chat because they were angry at their father for not making it to dinner.
A soft smile appeared on her face. To save him the embarrassment, she typed, “Okay.”
On the way to the West City, Li Yanchen’s phone pinged. He saw her reply. “Off work already?” he typed back.
Lin Wan was pulled away by Xia Mo to talk and could not reply. After waiting for about twenty minutes, Li Yanchen felt a headache coming on as he looked at the silent chat box.
They all ignored him.
After exiting the “What A Big Family!” group chat, Li Zexin had an idea. He created a new, separate group and added Lin Wan and Li Zexuan. He even created an account for Li Zekai. The only person missing was Li Yanchen. He named the group “Four Lucky Treasures”.
Li Zexin sent Red Packet in the group with the words, “This is our family’s Secret Organization.”
Li Zexuan replied with a few question marks.
It was the first time that Li Zekai was using WeChat. Under his brother’s guidance, he learned to send a short voice message. Because he didn’t know how to write too many words, he sent a lot of emojis.
“Brother, WeChat is so fun.” Li Zekai couldn’t stop himself.
“Jiejie, you’ll drown the important news if you keep sending too many emojis.” Li Zekai stopped his younger brother’s hand. Li Zexuan scratched his head as he listened to his phone ping continuously.
“Oh.” Realizing that he was spamming, Li Zekai stopped. “But I don’t know how to send Red Packets. I don’t have money in my account.”
“You don’t have to send Red Packets” Li Zexin turned to Li Zexuan with a cunning smile. “Your big brother has a lot of money.”
Li Zekai’s eyes brightened. He turned to Li Zexuan. “Big brother! Can you send me a few Red Packets? That way I will also have money and I can send you when you need it the most.”
“How can you help me by sending me my own money?”
“Oh, come on!” said Li Zexin. “You have a lot of money. Just do it.”
“Shouldn’t it be Ms. Lin who should send a Red Packet? She’s a parent?” said Li Zexuan.
He typed, “It’s time to give out some Red Packets, Ms. Lin.”
“Ms. Lin is poor. If she had money to give out, why would she be working so hard? She is forcing herself to work even though she is so lazy. You are a Big Star!” said Li Zexin.
Li Zexuan opened the group chat and sent out four Red Packets. Each packet was worth 200 yuan. That was the maximum amount a Red Packet could hold. His two younger brothers already opened theirs. The last two were left for Lin Wan.
She didn’t open the Red Packet for a long time. “Is Ms. Lin embarrassed to take it?” said Li Zexin to his brother.
“Ms. Lin, the celebrity is giving out Red Packets! Grab it fast while you can!” typed Li Zexin. He even tagged her.
In The Sweetheart Inn, Xia Mo and Lin Wan were talking about random things when Lin Wan heard her phone ping continuously. When they had all been in the Lan Village, Lin Wan’s phone hadn’t never been so busy.
“Just take a look,” said Xia Mo with a smile. “Otherwise, the pinging will never stop.”
Lin Wan thought it must be Li Yanchen sending her pictures of some nice scenery. In his last two business trips, he had sent her many pictures of the places he liked along the way. He would even send her the pictures of the hotel rooms he liked.
Lin Wan had not expected to be pulled into another group chat. Even the name sounded strange
She scrolled down. Other than red packets and messages from her stepsons asking her to accept the Red Packets, there were also a ton of emojis sent by Li Zekai.
Lin Wan opened the Red Packets. “Thank you,” she replied.
“You’re welcome, Ms. Lin,” typed Li Zexuan.
Let’s celebrate with another red packet. Li Zexin sent another one worth 100 yuan.
Lin Wan now had 500 yuan in total. It was just a silly game so she distributed the money in three equal amounts and sent three Red Packets back to the children. However, no one opened them.
Lin Wan was speechless.
Li Zexuan sent a message. “Ms. Lin, I saw the review of Ms. Xia’s shop. The cakes there do not come cheap. Even if Ms. Xia gives you a discount for the cakes, it still might cost around half of your salary for the day. In the future, do not buy them. And don’t give out those Red Packets. Please save the money you earn for your retirement.”
The expression on Lin Wan’s face was complicated. The first half of the message was touching but the last part was confusing.
Li Zexin replied, “I agree with my brother on this.”
Li Zekai typed, “I agree with big brother, too. Auntie, is Uncle Qin going to pick you up? Daddy said he would take us out to eat. Grandma Huang thought we weren’t eating at home, so she didn’t cook. Let’s go out to eat somewhere nice. Big Brother will pay for dinner.”
Li Zexuan widened his eyes. “Why me again?”
Li Zekai and Li Zexin shook his hand and thanked him for the treat.
Li Zexuan sighed. He typed, “Ms. Lin, get Uncle Qin to drive you to The Lifetime of Mightiness restaurant at the north gate of Royal Water Bay. I will treat you all to the steak they sell. I will bring Xinxin and Jiejie with me. See you there.”
As far as he could remember, this was the first time his younger brothers had brought up the idea of having a family meal outside.
Lin Wan wanted to refuse. She had been streaming for about three hours. Her feet hurt and she was too tired. She wanted to go home, take a shower and rest.
She typed, “Thank you for understanding how hard it is for me to work. Can’t we just eat at home?”
Li Zexin typed, “My brother is still alive. He will pay. You can call him Little Boss Li.”
Li Zexuan replied, “Ms. Lin, don’t worry about the money. There is no need to be embarrassed. You can ask Mr. Li to reimburse me.”
Since they were being so polite, Lin Wan had no choice but to accept their suggestion. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn’t very far away.
She finished her instant coffee in two gulps. “Well then, I will see you tomorrow.”
“Come early tomorrow.” Xia Mo got up to see Lin Wan off. She wanted to persuade Lin Wan to accept an online interview which she could do without showing her face.
Assistant Qin was already in the parking lot. When he saw Lin Wan walking out of the shop, he got out and opened the car door for her. “Madam, the young master asked me to drive you to a restaurant near the neighborhood.”
“Yes. Thank you.” Lin Wan got into the back seat and massaged her sore waist.
The three arrogant kids had arrived early. They had already reserved a private room.
On the way to the West City, Li Yanchen sent her some pictures. Every time he did, he would mention the name of the place. Li Yanchen wasn’t really sending her scenery to admire. He just wanted to let her know where he was at that moment.
Lin Wan’s reply was often short. She either typed, “Okay”, “Nice”, or “Oh”.
In the restaurant, when Lin Wan arrived at the reserved spot, the children were already at the table. When they saw her, they got up at the same time and said, “Sit here,” in unison, pointing at the chair beside them.
Lin Wan looked at three different seats and took a deep breath.