The whole thing was too much of a storm to all the people involved at that time. Not to mention the desperate position the Qin Family was held in, and the role the Zhu Family was playing in all of that. Anyway, the unexpected death of Qin Sheng’s mother, Zhu Qinghuan, and Old Master Qin’s taking Qin Sheng away, had altogether jeopardized the relationship between the two families. Maybe it was too much to say that the two families were done with each other forever, but the seniorities of the two nearly had no correspondence since then; only their juniors moved about once in a while.
The only difference was that the Zhu Family kept being very nice to their niece, Qin Ran, as they always did because she was both innocent and pathetic.
Years after that, with the privilege of his own power and the resources handed down from his ancestors, Qin Changan had finally killed his way out and stood at such a high position, towering over Sijiu City. Yet, after achieving so much, Qin Changan still couldn’t receive a decent welcome from the Zhu Family. His great-grandma had never been willing to see him, yet her beloved niece was an exception. Be that as it may, she still helped him out a few times.
At the moment, things between the two families were looking up for the first time in ages, and the turn of events was Qin Sheng’s return. That’s why Zhu Weiguo was willing to come back to the siheyuan for the Spring Festival with his own family.
“Ran Ran, what’s up? You don’t want us here?” Wu Yajun walked slowly towards Ran Ran and said so. She was a well-maintained woman even for her age.
Zhu Weiguo walked in front of Qin Sheng, patted him on the shoulder and said, “Young fellow, you really look much better than days before, huh?”
Qin Sheng didn’t expect to see that the entire family of his uncle would drop by at the siheyuan for the Spring Festival, but he wasn’t as surprised as Qin Ran, who had known for long that the two families were not that close.
“Uncle and Aunt,” Qin Sheng offered his greeting politely.
While Qin Ran came to her senses, she threw herself into Wu Yajun’s arms and said in excitement, “Aunt, what brings you guys here? I really didn’t expect that. Why didn’t you tell me earlier so that I could prepare myself for today?”
Wu Yajun laughed and said, “What’s there for you to prepare? We told your father before. What? He didn’t tell you?”
Qin Ran said in a huff, “He did not tell us at all and the suspense was killing us. I was indeed wondering why the old man looked so weird today. He asked for food to be placed all over our living room desks, and New Year’s Feast to be nicer and heartier than years past. This explains everything. What a different treatment.”
Wu Yajun held Qin Ran’s hands and said, “Hey, don’t say that, girl. I guess your father was just hoping to give you guys a big surprise.”
“All right. All right. It is a surprise. But to be honest, I’m very excited because I haven’t seen a more joyful moment in years,” Qin Ran told her with all her heart.
At the moment, Qin Ran saw her cousins and their wives, together with their little children. She then let go of her aunt, took Qin Sheng in front of them and introduced for him, “Qin Sheng, they are your big cousin and his wife, and they are your second cousin and his wife. And these two kids are your big cousin’s son and daughter called Fei Fei and Nao Nao, while this is your second cousin’s son called Zhe Zhe.”
“Aunt Ran Ran, I don’t like the name Nao Nao. My name is Zhu Siyuan.” Nao Nao, being the youngest kid, shot her an unhappy pout like a cute smart fairy.
Qin Ran picked her up and said, “Ok, Ok. I know you are Zhu Siyuan.”
Though it was their first time meeting each other, Qin Sheng soon got used to the occasion; after all, they were all his relatives. Therefore, he gave his best regards to them, without chickening out.
Qin Sheng’s big cousin was called Zhu Qingyuan, and the second cousin was called Zhu Yuanfeng. Zhu Qingyuan was a few years older than Qin Ran, while Zhu Yuanfeng was just her age. The two cousins were once quite familiar with Qin Sheng back in the old times, when Qin Sheng was always hanging out with them like a little sidekick. Funny how the dearest faces would fade away in a twenty year interval.
“What huge progress you’ve made in the past twenty years. I can barely even recognize you.” Zhu Qingyuan, who had been in politics, was then yearning for the old days. His memory of Qin Sheng was quite a spectacle, for he was already studying in junior high school when Qin Sheng was taken away.
Qin Sheng couldn’t find words to describe his feelings at the moment. Zhu Yuanfeng, who was holding office in the army, then said bitterly to him, “Indeed. I can’t recognize you, either. At that time you were just a lovely little boy, and now you’ve grown into such a handsome young man.”
The two wives greeted Qin Sheng with due politeness, since they hadn’t taken part in his previous life at all. But they did hear from their husbands about the existence of the long missing younger brother, who had returned all of a sudden recently. They also didn’t expect that the whole family would spend the vacation at the siheyuan of the Qin Family.
In order to help Qin Sheng out with that awkwardness, Zhu Weiguo said, “Well, it’s too cold outside, and the kids may catch a cold. Get inside and then you can talk for as long as you wish.”
Qin Sheng sighed with relief. Qin Ran approached and comforted him, “You have to let yourself get used to it. They never forgot about you in all these years. They were very nice to you when you were little, especially your second cousin who fought with you several times.”
At the moment, Qin Changan also came out to greet the guests. Behind him followed Gongsun, the old housekeeper, for he was wise enough to lord over anyone but his sister’s husband, and Zhu Weiguo, who was both his brother-in-law and a high-rank official in the army. All except great-grandma, who would never set her feet on the siheyuan’s ground.
“Brother and sister, we’ve all been waiting for you,” Qin Changan smiled and said. Though he was one of the biggest names in Sijiu City for so many years, Qin Changan had to take it down a notch in front of Zhu Weiguo, the big wig. That was, because he still had a fresh memory of Zhu Weiguo’s earth-shaking wrath after the heartbreaking news of his wife’s death and son’s running-away. He would have taken a hard blow if he hadn’t been protected.
Zhu Weiguo and Qin Changan barely saw each other in a year. They wouldn’t make phone calls often, except for some special occasions like festivals and holidays, when the kids would drop by to pay their respects. And the reason for all the relatives going to the siheyuan for the Spring Festival was to ease the tension between two families. They were making things right for Qin Sheng and Qin Ran only; it had nothing to do with Qin Changan.
Zhu Weiguo patted Qin Changan’s shoulder and said, “Well, come in and we’ll talk. When was the last time we two drank together? We must get good and drunk today.”
Zhu Weiguo, being a wise and refined general, had always possessed an amazing tolerance for booze, and that impressed Qin Changan quite a bit. So he said, “I guess it might be difficult to get you drunk. But I will ensure to have enough drinks to keep you content.”
Both the two powerful men were walking ahead; following behind were Qin Sheng and his aunt, both laughing and chatting together. As for Qin Ran, she was holding Nao Nao in her arms while talking with the two wives. The house seemed to be bustling with laughter and joy.
Except for Zhu Weiguo and Wu Yajun, everyone else was quite familiar with the siheyuan, for they would always go to visit quite a few times every year. Then night came, with festivity floating happily in the air. The whole siheyuan looked extremely beautiful when those big red lanterns and lovely decorations were hanging under the roof. Kids were chitchatting happily over all those novel things that they had never seen. Anyway, they liked spending time there, because they would receive one fat check from that grandpa, and that might be the biggest ever.
Since the family feast had already been prepared, people went to the dining room for dinner as they were all starting to get hungry by then. It was quite a feast. And people started drooling over those delicacies full of color and fragrance, which were cooked by the executive chef from the nearest Waldorf Hotel.
The main guests were the first to be seated. The seat of honor went naturally to Zhu Weiguo. Then both families, respectively led by Qin Changan and Wu Yajun, took their seats along the table, occupying the opposite side. Gong Sun brought forward the wines, and he would be serving at the table in person, together with three servants.
Men took the white spirits, while ladies took the red wine and ordinary drinks. The wives of his two elder cousins were chose soft drinks because they would be driving after dinner that night.
After a few drinks, the atmosphere was getting warmer and warmer. People were drinking, eating and chatting over that familiar year after year song on TV programs, then began to recall all those dribs and drabs from the year that was about to end in a couple of hours. The biggest event for both families was Qin Sheng’s return.
Qin Sheng was drinking quite a lot, like his father, and was bound to make his uncle and cousins drink to their hearts’ desires. Luckily, Qin Sheng had a solid tolerance for booze and was quite good at playing drinking games and making toasts to the seniority. However, by contrast, his two cousins seemed tired of all that.
When dinner was over, everyone made their way to the living room while kids went to play in the courtyard outside. With all those lovely toys Gongsun had bought beforehand, the kids would definitely have a great time that night.
As for the adults, they were playing cards in the living room. At the same time, the Spring Festival Gala began, an essential dessert on everybody’s to-do-list while on the eve of the Lunar New Year, though it was getting all the more boring year after year. Zhu Qingyuan taught the others a popular card game called “who runs faster”, which was brought in from the Jiangsu Province. The rules were both easy and difficult. Players needed to pair up in the game and play their cards in turns; the pair who finished their cards first would be the winner. Those people were smart enough to understand the rules with a simple illustration. Qin Sheng was paired up with Qin Changan, while Zhu Weiguo with Zhu Qingyuan. The two father-son pairs played against each other to see which pair could be the winner.
And the ladies were offering advice and backup when men were excused from the table due to phone calls that couldn’t be avoided. They were as busy as in the usual workdays, with phone calls coming one after another, interrupting the games time and again, except for Qin Sheng.
The card game was dismissed shortly after eleven in the evening, as people needed to make their New Year calls to their seniorities. They were all holding cellphones, making calls or texting messages, except for the small kids. As for Zhu Weiguo and Qin Changan, they had extra work to do, like paying respects to important people.
Qin Sheng excused himself from the crowd with his cellphone and went upstairs. He first video chatted with Xin Xin and Auntie Wang, offering them his best wishes and hung up after a short conversation. He felt somehow uneasy to see them alone at home at a time when others were enjoying their reunions. He then called Hao Lei, who answered his phone quickly after it rang and couldn’t wait to ask Qin Sheng about what it was like to live in Beijing. Qin Sheng told him without holding anything back, saying that it was the best Spring Festival he had ever had, and Hao Lei felt happy for him.
After that, Qin Sheng called Lao Chang to wish him good luck for the next year, but wasn’t lucky enough to reach him because his phone was still off, and there were no clues to his whereabouts. But Qin Sheng had long gotten used to his unpredictability and knew that he would be fine.
Qin Sheng stood by the window, phone in hand, looking at the kids playing in the courtyard as if absorbed in deep thoughts. After seconds of hesitation, he made up his mind at last and dialed Lin Su’s number.
He felt somewhat guilty for not taking the initiative to contact her for so long; after all, she was his actual girlfriend. With all the complex past between him and the Lin Family, Lin Su must be having a very hard time being stuck in the middle.
Qin Sheng was wondering what to say or what to ask to break the ice with Lin Su, but what was waiting for him was the familiar sweet voice telling him that the phone number he was calling was powered off.
It didn’t surprise him to find that Lao Chang was out of reach with a powered-off cellphone, but when it came to Lin Su, Qin Sheng started to feel upset.