A Lively Night

Money brought respect. It even made a person's life seem more valuable, and others looked at him differently.

At one in the morning, Long'ao was bustling. Zhang Yang's courtyard was packed. At a word from Old Great-Uncle, nearly all the villagers had come to see them off.

There was little to move, but they couldn't do without a celebration!

When the time came, there were no deafening gongs and drums, but firecrackers went off. Old Great-Uncle had assigned people to carry the customary symbolic items.

As for fire, the custom was to bring a flame to the new home for good fortune.

But times had changed. City dwellers no longer cooked over wood fires, so incense had taken its place.

Most of their friends from the city were waiting at Wolong Villa. Jiao Long had come to Long'ao, and Lin Dongqiang had sent several cars to pick everyone up.

As the firecrackers sounded, more than a dozen cars set out for Gong City, carrying Long'ao's enthusiastic villagers.

The villagers alone would fill five or six tables. There were dozens of them, young and old, men and women, and none could be left out.

Zhang Yang was delighted. After all those years in Long'ao, he had finally made his mother proud.

Liu Mei beamed with joy.

Deep in the night, a long line of headlights made its way toward Gong City, accompanied by suona horns and drums. The villagers had arranged the music themselves. Left to Zhang Yang, the move would have been simple.

Old Great-Uncle could hardly refuse, especially with a luxury car to take him, so he climbed in too.

That night, everyone in Long'ao got out of bed to watch. They had seen people move house before, but many had never witnessed anything like this.

Many reached the