“Dad! Happy New Year!” Lynn greeted her father Zheng Hui with such a wide grin that he was taken aback as he sleepily opened the door early in the afternoon.
“Lynn…? But you told me you would be busy at work?” Zheng Hui had not expected to see his daughter. It took him a moment to realise that she was not alone and that a short distance away were none other than Jin and Yun.
“I am not dressed well!” Zheng Hui immediately shut the door until only a small slit was left open so.
“Are you really going to leave your daughter and our guests outside in this chilly weather?” Lynn pouted with her arms folded.
“I gave you the key to this place weeks ago! You should have come in to wake me up, so I could change to receive your friends!” Zheng Hui argued in a hushed tone. (Jin and Yun could still hear him, but pretended not to.)
“And risk seeing you possibly naked in your room? No thanks!! Just get changed quickly! I will give you a minute before we come in!” Lynn retorted as she closed the door and faced Jin.
“Erm. At least he is not leaking sludge throughout his entire room?” Jin tried to lighten the mood while they waited… but he failed terribly at it. Lynn and Yun merely sighed at the cold joke, and as he was about to say something else to recover the conversation, Yun stopped him.
“Just don’t talk. It won’t kill you.” Yun chided him as she grabbed her cellphone from her handbag and started to browse on it casually.
Lynn heard a distant slam of a door which she took as a cue for them to go in, to at least have a seat while waiting. When Jin came in, he was surprised to see how much the place had changed compared to the last time he had been at her house.
For a start, there was now proper heating in the rooms, and the walls had a clean coat of paint. The rusty broken windows had been replaced with newer ones, and there were new white tiles in the living room.
“Is this what you’ve been doing with your money?” Jin asked as he noticed the other mini renovations that had been done and most of the old furniture had been replaced with new ones. However, the most prominent part of the room was the lack of alcohol bottles which used to be all over the place.
Now, there was only one lone bottle on the coffee table, and Jin believed there was no way to escape the addiction. But at least Lynn’s father started to be more disciplined as compared to the last time he saw him.
“I figured if I could provide a decent home for my father to stay in, he would be a little more motivated to do something productive,” Lynn explained while she went into the kitchen and got some tea for her friends.
“Sorry, it doesn’t taste as great as the ones back at your home.” Lynn apologised in advance as she placed the cups on the coffee table. She picked up the half-full bottle of alcohol and contemplated throwing it away as she had done with the ones before it, but Lynn had seen that her father was doing his best to keep it together.
Thus, she decided to be lenient for today. She left it in the refrigerator so he could continue drinking for the rest of the new year holidays. “Just this once,” Lynn muttered to herself, choosing to put her trust into her father.
“Hi! Hi! Happy New Year to you guys!” Zheng Hui came out wearing a formal shirt and pants while holding onto something that the group did not expect.
Red Packets.
“Sir! We are just here to pay your a courtesy visit! We can’t possibly accept any red packets.” Jin quickly refused. He had not forgotten about the financial situation of Lynn’s father since it had been part of the reason they had gotten in trouble in the first place.
“Boss Jin, what are you talking about?! You are our benefactor. You gave my daughter a place to work at, you gave me the slap that I needed to wake up and most importantly, you literally saved both of our lives. We shall forever be in your debt for that. So please, I insist that you at least allow me to hand you these red packets as a sign of our gratitude.”
“Jin, just take it. I can always earn back that amount.” Lynn chuckled, and Jin sighed in defeat. He understood that Zheng Hui wanted to earnestly thank him, and the look in his eyes made it clear he would not accept ‘No’ for an answer.
“Happy New Year Uncle Zheng Hui, I wish you great health and everlasting prosperity,” Jin said as he offered the two oranges to Lynn’s father. Zheng Hui placed the red packet at one side and wished Jin the very same thing. (Oranges offered during the exchange of New Year greetings are a symbol of good luck and their bright, vibrant colour is associated with a happy future.)
“I also wish that you may find a good wife- ” He winked at him as he tilted his head a little to point at his daughter. “- as well as a prosperous and ever-expanding business. I saw how your tiny shop turned into the landmark of Shenzhen, and I believe you have more in store. Please continue to surprise us. Perhaps one day, I might end up working for you!” Zheng Hui said as he received the oranges and handed the red packet to Jin.
Zheng Hui then embarrassingly looked towards Yun, but her usual response was to immediately pull her hand out in the open and use just her ‘eye power’ to point at the ring. Lynn’s father was somewhat awestruck by her beauty for a moment. That dark red one-piece slenderly portrayed her figure, and her dominating pose showed confidence and a tinge of arrogance that made any man feel jealous of her extremely lucky spouse. He quickly nodded his head and smiled in return while keeping his other red packet back into his back pocket.
“Thank you for the red packet. Did you mean what you said about wanting to work under me? I plan to expand in the future, and an extra pair of hands wouldn’t hurt.” Jin offered as he kept the red packet.
“It’s okay, I don’t really have any special skills, and besides, I managed to find myself some extra odd jobs that should be able to tide me over the months.” Zheng Hui said embarrassedly. He had not expected that Jin would offer him a job right away, but he also wouldn’t want to be known as a person who got employed through nepotism.
“Why don’t you just accept the Boss’ favour? Or are you too proud to work under someone? Would you prefer to open your own store? I can loan you some money to build one. I believe Jin could provide some discount for his favourite employee’s father.” Lynn suggested as she passed a cup of tea to her father.
“…A store?” Zheng Hui’s mind went blank for a moment as he considered the possibility.
