Novel Full Chapter 995 - 45: Xiao Chong Extra 45
Chapter 995: Chapter 45: Xiao Chong Extra 45
On the fifth day of the New Year, the day to welcome the God of Wealth, Xiao Chong drove and brought Lin Wanwan and Grandpa Lin to the temple in the mountains.
Yes, you read that right, some temples in Yongcheng also have the God of Wealth Hall, which opens as needed.
People like to pray to the God of Wealth, so temples following a grassroots route must also satisfy everyone’s wishes.
On the day of welcoming the God of Wealth, the temple was indeed crowded.
Grandpa Lin was quite devout and, after offering incense to the God of Wealth with Lin Wanwan and Xiao Chong, wanted to visit each of the other halls to worship the statues one by one.
Lin Wanwan and Xiao Chong didn’t have such devotion in their hearts, so the two of them wandered around the temple, hand in hand, treating it as tourism.
Today, Hong Yijing and a few others also came. A group of high school classmates met up, played some cards in the temple, and then had a vegetarian meal.
When they were dispersing, a few childhood friends hadn’t had enough fun and made plans with Xiao Chong to go drinking tomorrow night.
Xiao Chong bluntly said he needed to spend time with his girlfriend and had no time, which made Hong Yijing angrily curse him for valuing romance over friendship.
Xiao Chong calmly replied, "Since I value romance over friendship, then give me back my game console."
"Oh! Who was talking just now? It certainly wasn’t me," Hong Yijing looked around exaggeratedly.
This time, Xiao Chong’s auction of the Tang Palace Night Banquet Painting gave a significant boost to his cash flow. He planned to invest a large portion in projects he favored, while a smaller portion was used to purchase real estate in several scenic locations.
Not putting all eggs in one basket has always been Xiao Chong’s philosophy, just like the Lanling Xiao family back then wouldn’t bet all their treasures on the Dynasty.
This winter holiday, it seemed like he was constantly sightseeing, but in reality, he was always purchasing properties and making investments.
He disdains the idea of becoming a merchant reeking of copper, but at any time, one must achieve financial freedom to attain personal freedom.
So, this small task of making money cannot be overlooked either.
Aside from these arrangements, Xiao Chong also bought small gifts such as new cellphones and game consoles for his siblings and childhood friends who had been following him since childhood, winning their hearts.
These didn’t cost him much, but they won over his childhood friends’ and siblings’ hearts completely.
No matter who is older, anyway, Xiao Chong is the leader of his generation.
Just as thousands of years ago in Chang’an, the gallant young Xiao Chong told his playmates to determine roles based on capability.
The concept of giving favors without expecting gratitude doesn’t mean much to Xiao Chong. In terms of manipulating people’s hearts and plotting, no fresh-faced kid could compete with him, it would be good if they weren’t all brainwashed into becoming his fanatics.
*
This semester’s winter holiday lasted a total of thirty-three days, nine days before the New Year, and twenty-four days afterward.
Before the New Year, Xiao Chong spent most of his time out of town, and after the New Year, he either visited relatives or inspected real estate projects.
Although he wanted to be with Lin Wanwan every day, Lin Wanwan had been busy since she returned home for the winter holiday.
She not only found a part-time job at the hotel where she worked during the summer, serving as a front desk greeter for a few days, but also waited tables for a few days, and even managed to tutor her cousin.
Xiao Chong found it difficult to be with her constantly; they could only see each other more during the New Year, under Grandpa Lin’s watchful eye.
It wasn’t until the Lantern Festival that Lin Wanwan ended her winter holiday job, and there were only eight days left until school started.
The modern Lantern Festival is much less exciting compared to the Shangyuan Festival of the Great Tang.
In the Great Tang, the Shangyuan Festival was even more grand than New Year’s Eve, with Chang’an City, which usually enforced a curfew, temporarily lifting the ban to celebrate for three nights.
Xiao Chong had lived in the modern world for over a decade and had grown accustomed to the slightly quieter Lantern Festival.
But this year was slightly different for him because he now had Lin Wanwan by his side—his rightful, true fiancée, unlike a thousand years ago with only a nominal title.
So Xiao Chong meticulously planned the evening of this Lantern Festival.
Over fourteen hundred years ago, on a similar Shangyuan night, he brought Lin Wanwan along, singing, releasing river lanterns, watching stars, and the moon, playing the zither, drinking, and... their first kiss.
That beautiful night sustained the romance of his whole life.
This night, with his beloved girl, he wanted to replace the old memories with new ones.
Lin Wanwan had grown up never knowing that Yongcheng had such a lively Lantern Festival celebration.
Although she grew up in Yongcheng, she was stepping foot on this ancient street, which is considered one of the city’s signatures, for the first time.
The long street was adorned with various bright and beautiful lanterns.
At the entrance of the ancient street was a costume rental shop with booming business, so the long ancient street was filled with people wearing costumes from various dynasties and eras as far as the eye could see.