NOVPUBOn the fourth day of the new year, Xu Aiguo’s father and mother returned to Lianhua Courtyard in quick succession, followed closely by Wu Lingyu.
The most excited about Wu Lingyu’s return wasn’t Xu Qingfan or Xia Xiaoxiao, but rather Yao Jinping.
She excitedly cradled Wu Lingyu’s face, examining her, "Yu’er, did you miss Auntie? I bought you lots of gifts."
"Happy New Year, Auntie, Brother Fan, Xiao...."
Before the girl could finish, Yao’s mother pulled her to the ground to start choosing from the Tu Clan trinkets.
"This hat looks good on you."
"Mhm." Wu Lingyu looked up embarrassedly at Xu Qingfan, and seeing his smile, she smiled back.
Xia Xiaoxiao bit her lip; despite having already chosen her gifts, Auntie’s enthusiasm for Yu was obviously much greater than for her.
[Should I play less games in the future and spend more time accompanying Auntie with the shopping and cooking?]
"Xiao Xiao, come try on this set of clothes; it’s the traditional clothing of their Tu Clan, specially bought for you!"
"Okay!" Seeing Yao Jinping waving her over, Xia Xiaoxiao nodded and replied with a brilliant smile.
As for Xu Qingfan, he was, of course, forgotten by his mother.
"Son, come here." Just as he watched the two girls frequently changing their lovely head accessories, Yao Jinping suddenly waved for him to come over.
They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and after being apart for a while, Yao Jinping was much nicer to him, at least she didn’t call him "stinky boy" anymore.
"Coming, Mom, what is it?" Xu Qingfan, seeing his mother holding a silver pendant, guessed it was for him, but still asked knowingly.
"This is for you, take it...."
Before Yao Jinping could finish, Xu Qingfan interrupted, "The silver items in the tourist area are all fake, but since it’s bought, it’s fine, my backpack key breaking is just in time."
He pretended to reluctantly reach out to take it, but the next second Yao Jinping slapped his hand and said with the same disdain, "Why would I waste money buying something for you if you never wear the clothes I buy? This is for the little brother; hang it around its neck!"
"???"
"No, hanging a silver pendant on a cat is inappropriate, what if it gets stolen," Xu Qingfan was about to protest, even the cat has a gift, but not him, right?
"You just said it was all fake, not worth much. If it gets stolen, then it gets stolen," Yao Jinping used Xu Qingfan’s earlier words to shut him down, glaring, "Go on, do it. It’s for attracting wealth."
Xu Qingfan, looking sheepish, took the silver sycee pendant engraved with the phrase "attracting wealth and treasures" from his mother’s hand.
"Serves you right!"
Xia Xiaoxiao teased without any mercy on the side, and Wu Lingyu also wanted to laugh, but seeing Xu Qingfan glaring at her, she covered her mouth to hold it back.
One couldn’t totally blame Yao Jinping for not buying him anything; every time she was in a good mood and bought clothes for him, Xu Qingfan would never wear them because he found them ugly. His father couldn’t wear them either, for they didn’t fit, so the money was wasted.
If that were all, it might have been okay, but the worst part was, every time Zhang Chunxue or Wen Wanqing bought him clothes or shoes, the kid was happily all over it. Comparing the two treatments, who could endure that?
But Xu Qingfan had his excuse; the clothes and shoes the two aunties bought for him were either luxury brands or trendy labels, and at the very least, they were from well-known stores like HLA. How could those compare to the clothes and pants his mother picked up from the street stalls for thirty yuan a piece, where haggling could still turn a profit?
"Let’s ignore him, there are Tibetan clothes here." Yao Jiping bent down to open another suitcase.
"Hmm."
On this self-driving trip, Yao Jiping had clearly enjoyed her shopping spree, evident from the three suitcases and two large woven bags full of items on the living room floor.
Despite his vocal complaints, Xu Qingfan was genuinely happy seeing the pure joy on his mother’s face.
At this time in his past life, due to the pressures of life and his father’s passing, Yao Jiping had never smiled like she did now, nor had she appeared so youthful.
They say the first thing you want to do when you’re successful is to turn off your mother’s 6 a.m. alarm clock, and fortunately, Xu Qingfan had managed to do that.
After seeing her son finishing hanging the pendant around the cat’s neck, Yao Jiping waved her hand to beckon him over: "Come here." n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
"What, is there also a gift for me?" Xu Qingfan asked as he walked over with the cat in his arms.
"Take the dirty laundry in there to the washing machine on the balcony, almost forgot." She pointed to a large black plastic bag on the floor.
"Pfft~" Wu Lingyu finally couldn’t hold back her laughter, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
"Hahaha!" Xia Xiaoxiao, looking like a clown, pointed at him and burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright, I did bring you a gift as well." Seeing her son looking embarrassed, Yao Jiping felt she had gone a bit too far and tried to smooth things over.
"Really? What is it, what is it?" Xu Qingfan squatted down and asked curiously.
"Wait a sec…" Yao Jiping thought for a moment, opened one of the woven bags, and quickly rummaged through it to pull out a red plastic bag, which concealed its contents.
"What’s this?" Xu Qingfan took it curiously, finding it rather heavy; he felt a thrill of opening a blind box.
"Why don’t you open it and see for yourself."
Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu were equally curious about what was inside, craning their necks to see.
The plastic bag was tied with a slipknot, which he easily undid. Looking inside, Xu Qingfan uncertainly asked, "Mom, are you sure it’s the right thing, are you sure this is it?"
"Yes, it’s this one." Yao Jiping opened the plastic bag to check and confirmed it was correct.
"A half piece of stone?" Xu Qingfan reached in and pulled out half a stone, holding it up perplexedly for his mother to see.
"That’s the one. Your dad, that spendthrift, saw someone gambling on stones and insisted on joining in. That half stone in your hand is worth 500, no, actually half should be two hundred and fifty." Yao Jiping seriously explained the origin of the stone to the three of them.
"Mom, I feel like you’re insulting someone, keep the ’two hundred and fifty’ for dad." Xu Qingfan grabbed the dirty laundry and stood up, walking away without looking back.
"Hahaha!" The three of them burst into laughter upon hearing Xu Qingfan, instantly catching the double meaning of the stone.
After sorting the luggage in the living room by category, it was nearly five in the afternoon.
Xu Qingfan knew that Wu Lingyu and his parents had returned today, and had bought a lot of premium ingredients early, planning to cook a grand meal to treat everyone, but Yao Jiping claimed the position of head chef, explaining that she was itching to cook after a week off.
In the kitchen, Lin Jing and Yao Jiping, the two mothers, were cooking, with Xia Xiaoxiao staying behind under the pretext of wanting to learn how to cook.
Obviously, because Yao Jiping favored Wu Lingyu over her, or at least that’s what Xia Xiaoxiao thought, the young girl was also determined to put more effort into grocery shopping and cooking.
