Chapter 29

Jiang Zao messaged Lin Yu: Wow, the gathering's been going on for years, and now it's just stopping?

Jiang Zao: Since it's off, I'll go home and spend the holiday with my parents this year. I won't have to bring them here for the new year, either. I'll see if I can take some annual leave.

Jiang Zao was from Xin City. Her parents had done business in Li City in her earlier years, but later the competition in their industry grew too fierce. They were getting older and no longer wanted to compete with the young, so they sold several shops and stalls and returned to their hometown to retire, leaving Jiang Zao to make her way here.

Jiang Zao got almost no time off in her line of work, and Xin City wasn't far away. When she wanted to spend the new year with her parents and eat her mother's signature dishes, she would bring them over a few days beforehand. Reunion was what mattered most at the new year, so it didn't matter where they celebrated. The old couple had only one daughter and were always happy to come, and Jiang Zao could still slip away to the gathering on New Year's Eve.

Now that it was off, she really could go home.

Lin Yu replied: That's nice too.

Jiang Zao: Yeah.

Jiang Yan'an was slow to catch on. It was half an hour before he started wailing in the group chat.

Jiang Yan'an: Brother Lü, Brother Lü, why's it off? Why's it off? How am I supposed to see Yuyu now?

Chen Lüli quickly replied: See her in your dreams.

A few seconds later, he sent another reply: Don't even see her in your dreams.

Jiang Yan'an: ...

Jiang Yan'an: Brother, we can change locations. How about a teahouse? Or I could book a huge plaza. What do you think?

Chen Lüli: No time.

Jiang Yan'an: ...If you don't have time, I'll get Yuyu and the others together myself.

Chen Lüli: Don't you dare.

Jiang Yan'an: ...

Chen Lüli: We're taking a year off. The company's game is launching this year.

Jiang Yan'an: ...That's the real reason, isn't it?

Jiang Yan'an: That's the real reason, isn't it?

Chen Lüli didn't reply.

Jiang Yan wailed in the group chat and looked rather pitiful, but everyone knew he wasn't so easily defeated. No one comforted him, and they quietly accepted the news that this year's New Year's Eve gathering was off.

After handing out new year red envelopes to her employees and having a meal with the shop staff, Lin Yu packed a little luggage around the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month and prepared to go home.

She didn't actually need to pack much, just some pajamas she wore often. If she forgot anything, she could always come back for it. Even so, Lin Yu went to check on Xiao Diu.

She had been feeding Xiao Diu these past few days.

Chen Lüli had been busy these past few days; he hadn't been joking about what he said in the group chat. Lin Yu crouched down and held Xiao Diu, and Tray came pattering over again, tilting its head as it watched.

Beep, beep.

Lin Yu's phone sounded. She took it out and looked.

Chen Lüli: Getting ready to go home?

Lin Yu paused and replied: Mm.

Chen Lüli: Okay.

Chen Lüli: There's a gift box on the table. Don't forget to take it.

Lin Yu: What is it?

Chen Lüli: You'll know when you look.

Lin Yu: Oh.

She played with Xiao Diu for a while, dressed it in its brown sweater and hat, and poured it some milk and cat food. Xiao Diu lay lazily in her arms.

Lin Yu pulled Xiao Diu upright, took a small red envelope and hung it around its neck with a string. Holding its paw, she said, "Happy new year."

Xiao Diu meowed at her twice.

Its golden eyes were beautiful.

Lin Yu kissed Xiao Diu, then put it down and stood up. She spotted the gift box on the cabinet, too. Tray seemed to sense her looking and came over to rub against her leg, gesturing for her to take it.

Seeing Tray suddenly being so obliging, Xiao Diu meowed and kicked it. Tray paid no attention and kept rubbing against her. Lin Yu looked down and saw a line of text appear above Tray's eyes.

-For you.

After the line flashed up, there seemed to be a cute emoticon as well, but it disappeared before Lin Yu could get a clear look. She patted Tray's head and said, "Then thank your owner for me."

She picked up the gift box and turned to leave. At the door, she wished Xiao Diu and Tray a happy new year, then gently closed it.

Carrying the gift box, Lin Yu went downstairs to get her car.

Her parents lived in a villa compound halfway up the hill behind Li University. The area had been desolate in its early days, and only university faculty and staff lived there. Transportation had been inconvenient then, and many people hadn't wanted to live there, but Lin Yu's grandfather had been farsighted. As a faculty member, he had moved his whole family in.

Later, the university allowed people to buy a house if they met the seniority requirement, so Lin Yu's grandfather and grandmother pooled a large sum of money to buy theirs.

Years

had passed since the little house was built. It had originally been in a Western style, and after renovations, it still retained some French touches, though overall it was now very modern.

Lin Yu drove up to her family's front door.

She was still a little nervous. She was afraid of seeing her father's face, especially after what had happened with Li Yin.

She sat in the car for a while, then got out and took her luggage and the gift box from the passenger seat. She used facial recognition to enter, then went through a second door. As soon as she entered, she saw her father, Lin Zhenghe, wearing glasses and reading an old-fashioned newspaper on the sofa. The moment he saw her, he said, "Finally decided to come home?"

He looked at her through his glasses.

Lin Yu's movements unconsciously became more proper. "It's the new year, Dad," she said.

Her mother, Zhong Lixin, closed her magazine at the kitchen island and said to the housekeeper behind her, "Yuyu's home. Make her some fruit salad."

The housekeeper smiled. "All right."

Zhong Lixin looked at her daughter again. "Why are you standing there? Come in. Your father's gotten over the matter with Li Yin."

Hearing that, Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and hurried inside with her luggage.

Here I am.

P.S. Remember to come on time for tomorrow's chapter.

There are 100 red envelopes again for this chapter. See you tomorrow.

Chapter 29

Zhong Lixin stepped forward to help her daughter with her suitcase, then glanced at the gift box in her hand. "What's that?"

Lin Yu looked at the box and said, "A friend gave it to me."

"A new year's gift?" Zhong Lixin pressed the button for the house elevator, and Lin Yu followed her inside. "I think so," she said softly.

Looking at her gentle, quiet daughter, Zhong Lixin sighed inwardly. When a father was too strict, a child's natural disposition would be suppressed. Back when Lin Yu graduated and wanted to open a shop instead of taking a job, her husband had been vehemently opposed and had even said some particularly harsh things. The gist of it was that if she wanted to open a shop and be her own boss, why had she needed so much education? She could have gone out to work after middle school. He had even insisted on finding her a job and forced her into it. Father and daughter had both been miserable then, but Lin Yu's quiet nature had its advantages.

She had protested and felt dissatisfied inwardly, yet she had still obeyed her father and gone to work every day without a word of complaint. She hadn't even resisted him directly. Lin Yu's friend surnamed Chen had also done some work.

At the time, Li University had happened to be making an animated promotional piece called Applying What You Learn. An old professor had heard that his old friend's son, Chen Lüli, was making games, and, thinking games and animation weren't all that different, had entrusted the public-service promotion to him. Unexpectedly, he had done an excellent job. Its protagonist, however, was a young, cute girl who liked pastries, drinks, and cakes and used the financial knowledge she had learned to establish a bread brand.

When Lin Yu's father saw the animated promotion, he fell into thought.

Later, when he got home, he caught his daughter just as she returned from work, and the two of them had a profound conversation. Perhaps it was because his daughter had responded calmly, and because Zhong Lixin had spoken up for Lin Yu, that her husband had ultimately agreed to let Lin Yu pursue her dream of opening a French bakery, so far removed from her field of study.

After putting her luggage in the bedroom, Lin Yu set down the gift box and followed her mother downstairs. The housekeeper handed her a small dish of fruit salad. Lin Yu took it and carefully sat down not far from her father.

Lin Zhenghe leafed through the newspaper, glancing at his daughter out of the corner of his eye as she lowered her head and ate her fruit in small bites. He turned another page and said, "Your mother misjudged Li Yin this time and introduced him to you. You didn't tell your family what he was like when you spent time with him. If he hadn't come to apologize, would you have kept it from us for him?"

Lin Yu's head snapped up. She looked at her father and shook her head. "I would have told you."

"What would you have said?"

Lin Yu pressed her lips together, lowered her head, and speared another piece of apple.

Seeing her like that, Lin Zhenghe grew a little angry. Li Yin had come right to her doorstep to bully her, yet she hadn't said a single word accusing him. He said, "If your mother hadn't stopped me, I could have sent a report to his company and made it impossible for him to stay there."

With a sigh, Zhong Lixin sat down beside him and said, "I run into his mother all the time. If you reported this and reported that, what would people think of us in the end?"

Lin Zhenghe glanced at his wife without a word, turning the pages of his newspaper with a rustle.

Lin Yu ate her fruit with her head down, saying nothing. If they really forced Li Yin out, her shop would attract a great deal of attention too. Lin Zhenghe sat for a while, then closed the newspaper and got up to go upstairs. "A doting mother raises a spoiled child," he said.

Zhong Lixin: "..."

Lin Yu bit into a piece of orange coated in salad dressing. After her father left, she let out a small breath.

Zhong Lixin glanced at her daughter. "Don't mind him. You need harmony to make money in business. If we really forced Li Yin out, it wouldn't do you any good."

Lin Yu nodded.

She agreed with her mother.

After dinner, Lin Yu returned to her room. She had washed her hands downstairs, and her palms were soft and faintly fragrant. She was about to take a shower when her gaze fell on the gift box on the cabinet.

The box was dark in color but very pretty. Lin Yu stepped forward and opened it.

Inside were another box and a red envelope. Lin Yu was slightly taken aback. She picked up the smaller box and opened it to find a butterfly dance necklace inside.

The necklace had been crafted using the same techniques as Lin Yu's ring.

He found that master craftsman and had this necklace custom-made? When did he order it?

She picked up the red envelope.

There was a sound at the door, and Lin Yu turned to look.

Zhong Lixin stood in the doorway with a glass of juice for her and came inside. She spotted the red envelope in Lin Yu's hand at once. "What friend is this? They even gave you a red envelope for the new year?"

Lin Yu pressed her lips together. She hadn't expected him to give her a red envelope for the new year. She put it back in the box and took the juice her mother handed her. Zhong Lixin glanced at the necklace and recognized its style and craftsmanship. When Lin Yu had sought out the master craftsman, he had already been preparing to leave Li City, and his last commission had been Lin Yu's ring.