The group set off by car to a mountain in the outskirts of town. Perhaps it had something to do with the Yan family’s historical background, that the mountain was called Mount Yan.
There was a driveway that led up Mount Yan which was paid for by the Yan family. The Yan family had also built an ancestral temple on the mountainside that faced the northern sea. It could not be seen from certain angles, but the ancestral temple certainly had a beautiful location, with the mountain behind it and facing the sea.
The ancestral temple was usually locked. Many people often visited the mountain and since it was an ancient temple, it often attracted the tourists’ attention. Therefore, the Yan family had someone hired to keep guard at the ancestral temple. Aside from opening the gates during cleaning, the temple would only be opened on New Year’s for people to offer sacrifices for their ancestors. It was usually off-limits for tourists and outsiders.
At this moment, someone opened the gates for the two elders to enter. According to the seniority of the family, Yu Zi and Yan Huaian entered first followed by Yan Ningbai while Yan Beicheng, Lin Chu, and Yan Zhiqing were the last to enter.
Once they entered the ancestral hall, the two elders stood at the forefront while Yan Huaian and his family, and Yan Beicheng and the others stood behind the two.
The long table before them was full of sacrificial offerings, including a roasted suckling pig in the middle of the table with two plates of fruits on both sides.
Each of them lit up a joss stick and prayed before the ancestral tablet on the table.
When Lin Chu lifted her head, she could see that the ancestral tablet had Yan Beicheng’s father, Yan Huaiyuan’s name on it.
Right then, Old Lady Yan started speaking, “Huaiyuan, it’s your daughter-in-law’s first here, please have a look at her.”
With that, Yan Beicheng took a step forward with Lin Chu on hand and stood next to Old Lady Yan.
At this point, Old Lady Yan’s eyes were filled with tears as she took a deep breath. “Huaiyuan, look, your daughter-in-law is giving birth to your grandson soon. The expected date of birth is just next month, so your grandson will be walking here to see you this time next year.”
“Oh, Huaiyuan,” Old Lady Yan said in a shaky voice, not bothering to hold her tears back any longer. “If only you were still here, how wonderful would that be? We would be happily celebrating New Year’s like a whole family. It’s been so many years since we’ve celebrated New Year’s together. If you were still here, I wonder how you would look like now. You’re becoming a grandfather soon, but I still can’t imagine how your face would look like if you had wrinkles or white hair. In my heart, you will always look the same, young and serious.”
“But I always wish to see how you look like when you grow old. I wish to see you with white hair, and how you’ll constantly dye your hair black at home. No parents would want to see their children grow old because that would mean that their children are finally leaving them. There comes a day when we leave our children as well, and your growth only signifies our old age, it means that you’re leaving the family and you’re not our little babies who can roll around in our arms. You won’t kiss us anymore and you’ll get tired of saying ‘I love you’ to us. You’ll be leaving our small family to start one of your own, and one day, we’ll be completely separated.”
Old Lady Yan’s arm trembled as she raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her face. “But now, I just wish I have the chance to see you grow old because I’ll never have the chance to.”
Old Master Yan inched nearer and wrapped his arm around Old Lady Yan’s shoulder, his eyes scarlet-red as well. “Huaiyuan, your mother and I are well. Huaian and Beicheng are wonderful to us as well, and they’ve found incredible wives too. Huaian and Beicheng are both married now, and Beicheng’s expecting a son soon so it only leaves Zhiqing now. Huaiyuan, you’ve seen everything in Heaven, haven’t you? I’m sorry, it’s our fault we haven’t been taking good care of your daughter.”
“Don’t worry, Zhiqing is under our care from now on and we’ll take good care of her. Huaian and Beicheng have their own families now and their wives are good people, so now we’re just waiting for Zhiqing to start hers and we’ll make sure that this grandson-in-law will treat her well, then only will we be at ease. Still, don’t stop worrying about us because we’re doing fine now. You must come to see us often and think about us, alright? It’s even better if you can come to see us in our dreams now and then,” Old Master Yan said as he bowed his head lower. His shoulders trembled as he wiped away his tears, and though his sobs could not be heard, it was clear that he was crying so much he could no longer speak.
“Beicheng, Lin Chu, Zhiqing, come talk to your father. Lin Chu, let your father have a good look at you,” Old Lady Yan said.
Yan Beicheng took Lin Chu’s hand. He moved forward with her and said, “Hey Dad, I’ve brought my wife to see you. Lin Chu is a very sincere and honest person, and she’s been taking good care of me. I pursued her and we fell in love quickly and had gotten married recently. We met a long time ago, just shortly after you passed away. I was having a bad day and flipped over a random wall, and that’s how I met her. Back then, she was seven years old. I never expected that we would meet again, let alone get together when we grow up. Dad, this is fate.”
“There may be obstacles in life and sometimes we do quarrel, but it just pulls us closer to each other. Our bond only strengthens every day and we’ll never leave each other, so don’t worry about me Dad, I’m doing fine. We’re also expecting our first son soon, we’ll bring him here to see you once Lin Chu is done with her confinement period. Our son must be particularly handsome too. Aside from that, I’ve been planning to introduce Lin Chu to you and let her get to know you better. Showing her your pictures isn’t enough, I hope you two get the chance to talk. If only you were still here and you’re able to meet her face to face, I’m sure you’ll love her.”
“And I’m sure you’ll love her, you’ll love anyone who treats your son well with a genuine heart,” Yan Beicheng continued softly as he kept his handheld with Lin Chu’s warm hands, “Dad, I just really want Lin Chu to know how great you are, how amazing a father you were, and how admirable a husband you were despite the circumstances. I’ll show her by action because that’s the most important thing I learned from you, and I’ll show our son how he has parents that love him dearly.”
When Yan Beicheng finished, he looked at Lin Chu. The corner of Lin Chu’s mouth twitched before she started speaking, “Hi, Dad. Wow, I never thought that I’d ever get the chance to call someone dad. I’m your daughter-in-law, Lin Chu. I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Beicheng and my only regret is that I’ll never get to meet you, and I’ll never see your elegance and poise in person. I can already imagine how you are by looking at Beicheng. Thank you for teaching him so well that he grew up to be this amazing person that he is today. It is my utmost privilege to call myself his wife. I’ll take good care of him, and Grandfather and Grandmother as well. I have no other wishes in this life aside from putting my whole heart into taking care of Beicheng, the two elders, and our children.”
When Lin Chu finished, she turned to Yan Zhiqing.
Yan Zhiqing immediately felt uncomfortable. She did not like speaking good things and being sentimental in front of people.
Now that everyone had turned their attention to her, though they were all close family, her face still heated up in embarrassment.
“Dad, I… I used to be a dumb and ignorant kid who mistook the good people around me as bad people. Although I’m still not much smarter now, at least I have Grandpa, Grandma, and Big Brother with me. It’s alright if I’m dumb, at least they’re smart. Anyway, I promise not to do anything stupid in the future anymore so don’t worry.” Not knowing how to place her hands, Yan Zhiqing awkwardly tugged her pants and continued, “I never got the chance to see you in person because you were gone by the time I was born. I’ve seen you in photographs but that’s different. So… Why don’t you come to me in my dreams tonight and we can talk?”
Lin Chu, “…”
Yan Beicheng, “…”
The two elders, “…”
The solemn and sorrowful mood from moments ago suddenly disappeared when Yan Zhiqing finished her small speech.
After that, it was Yan Huaian and Yu Zi’s turn to speak to Yan Huaiyuan.
Although Old Master Yan was Yan Huaian’s elder brother, the age gap between them was big enough for them to be father and son. Yan Huaian had always felt that Yan Huaiyuan was more like his elder brother rather than his nephew.
Yan Huaian did not bring up any sentimental things, only mentioning his usual daily rants and vented how much of a troublemaker his son was. He even constantly brought up his wife’s ex-boyfriend who was still single and unmarried.
Seeing how he was going too far, Yu Zi pinched him at the waist.
“Hey!” Yan Huaian shrieked, which Yu Zi thought was exaggerated since she did not use much strength after all.
Still, Yan Huaian’s reaction was extremely deliberate and exaggerated as he jumped up.
Yu Zi shot him a glare. “Speak properly and nicely. Stop talking rubbish,” she whispered harshly.
“That’s not rubbish,” Yan Huaian muttered under his breath.
Now that everyone had had their turns, it was time for them to leave as it was getting late so they bid their goodbyes to Yan Huaiyuan.
When they reached the door threshold, Old Lady Yan turned around reluctantly. Every year when they came, Old Lady Yan would do the same thing. She was always reluctant to leave, unwilling to say goodbye.
Old Master Yan wrapped an arm around Old Lady Yan’s shoulder and pat her softly. “Come on, it’s time to go. We’ll come back again soon.”
Old Lady Yan heaved a heavy sigh as she stayed watching the gatekeeper locked the gates before getting into the car.
As they left the ancestral temple, the mournful atmosphere slowly dissipated as well. Old Lady Yan took a little more time to come around, but when she finally remembered what Yan Huaian was saying, she shook off Old Master Yan’s arm and quickened her steps as she rushed forward.
Old Master Yan snorted, his empty arm still dangling in the air awkwardly. “This woman somehow, forever so ungrateful!”
Old Lady Yan completely ignored him as she caught up with Yan Huaian and Yu Zi. “Yu Zi, is your ex-boyfriend still not married?”
“…” Yu Zi studied Old Lady Yan’s expression carefully. She felt awkward discussing this with the old woman.
Besides, what did it have to do with her that her ex-boyfriend was still not married?
“Nope,” Yan Huaian answered for Yu Zi right away, “He’s still haunting us like a ghost too.”
“What do you mean haunting us like a ghost? Don’t let Elder Sister-in-law misunderstand! We just bumped into each other by coincidence twice,” Yu Zi explained immediately, “It was merely coincidental but Huaian just had to act petty and stir something out of nothing.”
“Aiyo, you can’t say that. How old is he now? How can he still not marry? That’s not good, it’s not filial towards his parents too,” Old Lady Yan said as she smacked her thigh lightly. “What does this young man look like? Do you have a photo of him?”
Yu Zi immediately sensed that Old Lady Yan was trying to dig a hole for her.
Obviously, she could not say that she still had a photo of him or Yan Huaian would lose his mind right away. If they had nothing to do with each other anymore, why did she still have a photograph of him?
Still, of course, she did not have any pictures of him at hand anymore. They had already broken up so many years ago, she would easily let her husband misunderstand if she still had pictures of him.
“Of course not,” Yu Zi replied straight away, “I have nothing to do with him anymore. The photos have been gone long ago since we broke up.”
“He’s quite average, just decent looking, but if you compare us together, I’m clearly far better looking,” Yan Huaian added quickly.
Yu Zi sneaked a glare at him. How shameless was this husband of hers exactly?
“Aiyo, send me a picture of him later on, alright? Since he’s still single, I’ll help him keep a lookout for any suitors,” Old Lady Yan suggested, but Yu Zi could detect a hidden meaning under the glance Old Lady Yan shot at Yan Huaian as if she was trying to send a warning to the young man to stay away from her younger brother and sister.
“You’ve seen him once,” Yan Huaian said, “That time when Zhiqing was hospitalized, do you remember the doctor called Qiu Jingchen? He was the doctor on-call that day.”
“Oh, that’s him!” Old Lady Yan exclaimed in shock, and as she finally came to a realization, she continued, “No wonder you were acting so weird that day!”
Yan Huaian, “…”
“You have to admit it though, he’s a handsome lad,” Old Lady Yan added.
When she noticed that Yan Huaian’s expression immediately darkened, she quickly added, “But still, you’re way better looking, of course.”
With that, Yan Huaian nodded with satisfaction. “Elder Sister-in-law, I do think you should help him keep a lookout. Otherwise, a man who’s still single at his age would have plenty of problems sooner or later. Even if he doesn’t face any problems physically, it’ll affect him mentally one day. For the sake of his physical and mental health, you should help him out.”
Old Lady Yan, “…”
‘To be truthful, it has nothing to do with me so why do I need to help him keep a lookout?’
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” Old Lady Yan promised right away with a firm nod. Either way, it was best to just make a promise and see how things would go.
When they returned to the old mansion, Aunt Chen was already gone as she was going home for the holidays. However, she had already prepared everything that was needed for their New Year’s Eve dinner. Since Lin Chu was still pregnant, it was inconvenient for her to cook so Yu Zi took charge of the chef’s duty while Lin Chu stayed beside her to help however possible.
There was not much food to be cooked anyway since most of the dishes were ordered from Sheng Yue. Due to it being New Year’s, most of the chefs and waiters at Sheng Yue were on leave to celebrate New Year’s at home with their families, but Sheng Yue had always had a policy where one chef and a few of the staff had to be on duty so that the restaurant could still be opened for business and customers were able to enjoy their meal at Sheng Yue on New Year’s Eve. Then, the employees would change shifts next year.
Sheng Yue always had good business, so during a festive season like New Year’s where business was even better, they usually cancel their additional door-to-door private chef service.
The Yan family had a tradition of cooking a few of their dishes every year to have a more festive mood.
Yan Ningbai had already rushed to switch on the television, and since the television faced the dining room, everyone could easily watch the television while enjoying their meal.
At that moment, the news was still being broadcast as the Spring Festival Gala Night was only aired at eight o’clock. The adults had no interest in the Spring Festival Gala Night program anymore but it was the one thing Yan Ningbai looked forward to every year.
Old Lady Yan looked at all the young members of the family surrounding her and her eyes were filled with joy and happiness.
The more people, the livelier it would be during New Year’s, and even better if everyone was present.
While the Yan family enjoyed their reunion dinner happily, the Jiang family in Ning City were not so happy.
This was the first time Yan Zhiqing was not at home with the Jiang family for New Year’s, and with one less person at the dining table, the atmosphere felt less lively.
Old Lady Jiang sighed in her heart as she stared at the empty spot.
“Changzai, where’s Changdai?” Old Lady asked, “Has she come out yet?”
“I’ll go check on her,” Jiang Changzai’s son, Jiang Youbin said as he got up from his seat.
“No need,” Jiang Changzai stopped Jiang Youbin right away. “I’ll go. She’s not in a good mood nowadays and if she lashes out on you, you can’t fight back because you’re a generation younger.”
One month ago, Jiang Changzai brought Jiang Changdai back from B City, and before that, Jiang Changdai had been cooped up in an apartment on the outskirts of B City.
At first, although Jiang Changdai was anxious and worried, she did not want to doubt Lu Zhenting and Lu Zhenghang. Hope remained in her heart that they would come to see her soon and they were only delayed because they had too many issues to settle.
However, a month soon passed, and then another, yet the two were still nowhere to be seen at all. As much faith Jiang Changdai had in them, she could not help but sense that something was fishy.
When Lu Zhenghang brought her to the apartment, he did not confiscate her handphone as it was never his intention to keep her there for the rest of her life.
That was why Jiang Changdai was still able to phone Lu Zhenting and Lu Zhenghang. In the beginning, the father and son would still attend to her half-heartedly, but eventually, perhaps they lost patience or maybe it was because Jiang Changdai phoned them too often, both of them got lazy to even bother with her.
On the phone, they would respond coolly and before she could start a steady conversation, they would excuse themselves that they were busy and hang up the phone.
Then, they began to stop picking up her calls. Perhaps they felt inappropriate to keep avoiding her phone calls, but Jiang Changdai was still Lu Zhenghang’s biological mother so they would still pick up her calls now and then.
Finally, Jiang Changdai lost her temper and called Jiang Changzai. Jiang Changzai originally planned to ignore her but after seeing how down and out she was, he could not just leave her alone. She had nobody around her to talk to or to take care of her, and even Yan Zhiqing was not on speaking terms with her anymore. Despite whatever that happened, Jiang Changdai would always be her younger sister, so he brought her home out of a moment of weakness.
He thought that since Jiang Changdai’s reputation was now completely rotten and that she was crippled, she would not have the face to go out and cause trouble. He figured as long as she stayed at home obediently, it would not harm him to take care of her.
To his surprise, Jiang Changdai still did not stop her stupid antics. The first moment she got back, she ordered the driver to take her to Xing Chuang, and then the Lu family’s house, but no matter where she went, Lu Zhenting refused to see her.
Lu Zhenghang, on the other hand, met her once and explained to her that Xing Chuang was currently in a bad position. Many of their artists had left the company and those who stayed were artists who were not well-known, and merely because they were unable to terminate their contracts. As for those who just recently rose to fame had already contacted new agencies to sign conditional contracts so they could borrow money to break off their contracts with Xing Chuang to save whatever that was left for their future.
As for the theatres under Xing Chuang, none of them were showing any popular movies. Although they still had international films, domestic films refused to sign with Xing Chuang to give permission to release their films. However, international films were seasonal and the big films would only come out during the summer breakout period. In addition to the domestic strict verification, most of the good films were not permitted to be released in the country. The only movies that passed through verification checking were unable to be released on the same date as the international timing too, so by the time they were released, they were no longer in-demand.
Still, Xing Chuang’s theatres could not rely on these international films to survive since the most popular films in the country were still domestic films. However, none of the domestic films were willing to sign with Xing Chuang, and since they could not just show their international films all the time, Xing Chuang had a serious problem with limited sources. With that, there were fewer choices and showtimes, and eventually, fewer people would go to the theatres under Xing Chuang. The only customers who would come were split into different times of the day too, so the theatres still had to play the shows several times in one day for a small group of people every time.
As a result, the cost was exceeding the income and they could not make ends meet every day.
With no other choice, Xing Chuang had to close one or two theatres in every city and their territory immediately contracted within a short amount of time.
After that, Jiang Changdai never saw Lu Zhenghang and Lu Zhenting anymore.
As her mood worsened, the tempers she threw worsened. Whenever she was unhappy at any small matter at home, she would lash out at the person present. If someone said something wrong unintentionally that everyone else could easily overlook, Jiang Changdai would find it intolerable and start an argument right away.
Old Lady Jiang was helpless and did not know what to know, but since she could not just throw her daughter out of the house, she endured it silently.
However, it was New Year’s Eve tonight and nobody wanted to feel uneasy and uncomfortable on such a joyous occasion. Everyone just wanted to celebrate the night together happily.
Jiang Changzai got up and headed to Jiang Changdai’s bedroom to call her out, but just as he was halfway there, Jiang Changdai limped out of her room.
The doctors had confirmed that her legs were incurable so she would remain a cripple for the rest of her life. Now that her ankles have deformed, the sight was quite terrifying. Fortunately, it was wintertime so Jiang Changdai was wearing layers of clothing that completely hid the defective part of her legs. However, her limp was still evident when she walked.
Hence, Jiang Changdai hated it when people stared at her legs.
“I’m going out,” Jiang Changdai said casually as she passed by the dining room without stopping for a second.
“It’s New Year’s eve, where are you going?” Jiang Changzai quickly caught up and stopped her. “It’s dinner time now.”
Jiang Changdai bit her lip as Jiang Changzai frowned, his eyes closing in on the iPad in her hands.
“I’m going to see Lu Zhenting!” Jiang Changdai slammed the iPad onto Jiang Changzai’s hand. “I’ve been back for so long and he hasn’t agreed to come to see me. I’ve always put it off as he’s too busy, but it turns out he’s just too busy getting married!” She sneered.
Jiang Changzai raised his eyebrow in response. He already knew about it since Lu Zhenting’s marriage was no secret. In fact, they made it into quite an event. Everyone in the business industry had already lost their respect for Lu Zhenting, commenting on how he was living off a woman now.
