Chapter 489 - 477+478: Zheng Changsheng Arrives

After New Year’s Eve dinner, Sun Jiaming led a few people downstairs to set off firecrackers. It was only then that they realized it had started snowing outside. And it was coming down hard. Pure white snowflakes, like cotton fluff, drifted down, feeling icy and cool on their faces.

Before long, their hats and clothes were covered. Sun Jiaming had them set off a few token firecrackers and fireworks before they all headed back upstairs; otherwise, they would have turned into snowmen.

"Wow, it’s snowing this hard?"

Cao Qiu asked, watching the group pat the snow off their clothes at the entrance.

"Snow is a good thing. A heavy snow means a good harvest next year."

Grandma Sun remarked. As long as it didn’t turn into a blizzard, a heavy snowfall was no big deal.

Gu’er knew this too. Heavy winter snow was a common occurrence around here. In fact, her mall had just hired several more janitors. When shoppers came in from the snow, the floors would be covered in slush, which looked filthy and made it easy for people to slip. This meant the floors needed to be cleaned constantly. Since more staff was required, Gu’er had also given the cleaning crew a raise because their workload had increased so much.

"So, does this mean we aren’t going home tonight?"

Chen Fengjiao asked Lin Shan.

"Don’t go back. Just stay here. There’s plenty of room."

Lin Shuying immediately chimed in, noting that since only Gu’er’s family of three lived in her apartment, there was plenty of room for Lin Shan’s family to stay.

"Li Zhi’s place is empty, too. He said if we run out of room, we’re free to use his apartment. He’s not coming back until the day after tomorrow."

Sun Jiaming dangled the keys in his hand, which Li Zhi had left behind when he went home for the New Year.

"Let’s just stay here tonight. We can watch the gala together and stay up to welcome the New Year."

Lin Shan nodded. He had been swamped lately, busy with one thing after another. For the past several days, he had worked late into the night and only started his holiday today, finally able to reunite with his family.

With everyone agreeing to stay the night, the sense of urgency vanished. The group brought out two large basins filled with frozen pears, persimmons, and crabapples and started snacking.

When it was time for the New Year’s Gala to start, the men gathered around to watch while the women teamed up to make dumplings. There were two types of filling: lamb with cabbage, and pork with pickled cabbage. They even added some fried pork cracklings to the pork filling, which made them smell absolutely incredible.

Even though there were many mouths to feed, there were also many hands to help. The mood was joyous as they all watched the gala, chatted, and made dumplings together.

Right as the gala’s clock struck midnight, steaming-hot dumplings were brought to the table. Everyone cheered that the New Year was here. They ate their dumplings, the men had a couple of glasses of liquor, and then they gave the younger family members their New Year’s money before everyone headed off to bed.

Gu’er was also exhausted. After exchanging a few words with Sun Jiaming and pulling the covers over a sound-asleep Jiji, she passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.

「The second day of the New Year is traditionally the day for a married woman to visit her family.」

As it turned out, Wei Hong didn’t return to the Wei family home with Sun Jiasheng and Tingting this year.

Earlier, Cao Qiu had asked her if she wanted to buy some gifts to take home. Now that Wei Hong had changed for the better, Cao Qiu no longer opposed her visiting her side of the family. After all, everyone has parents who raised them; visiting one’s family was a natural duty. If her family was difficult, she could simply visit less frequently.

But Wei Hong thought for a moment and shook her head. It wasn’t that she was being heartless. A few days prior, her sister-in-law had come to her, claiming their family had no money for the New Year and demanding cash. At the time, Wei Hong had still been a little worried about her own mother and was thinking of giving them a small sum out of courtesy for the holiday. Before she could speak, however, her sister-in-law unleashed a verbal assault that made her snap. Wei Hong told her she had no money, which prompted her sister-in-law to start spewing vile insults. Furious, Wei Hong had thrown her out.

As she left, her sister-in-law had thrown a threat over her shoulder: if Wei Hong ever dared to set foot in the Wei family home again, she’d be beaten and kicked out.

’Since they were so ruthless, why should I go back just to get myself worked up? If I brought my husband and child and they got dragged into it and insulted too, it would be even more humiliating. They told me not to come back, so fine. I won’t.’

And so, Wei Hong decided not to visit her family.

Since her daughter-in-law didn’t want to go, Cao Qiu didn’t push it. In fact, Cao Qiu didn’t visit her own family either. The snow was heavy this year, which would make the trip to her home village difficult. Besides, she had already sent them New Year’s supplies before the holiday, and her family was doing fine, so she had little to worry about.

So, Cao Qiu and her side of the family stayed at the Sun household, while Gu’er, Sun Jiaming, and Lin Shuying’s family all went to the Lin family’s home.

Chen Fengjiao had bought a ton of groceries. Gu’er, Lin Shuying, and Xinghua busied themselves in the kitchen, preparing a huge feast for lunch. After the meal and some conversation, the group headed back. They didn’t stay at the Lin family home for dinner, worried it would get too cold later and the child might catch a chill.