Chapter 324: (Happy New Year to the big brothers)

This chapter has 5,200 words, 26 starting coins, converted to 0.26 yuan. It is considered that the younger brother sent a red envelope in a group, given to the five or six hundred big brothers

It doesn't cost much; it's the saying that while the money is little, the sentiment is heavy. It's all my sincere heart as a younger brother, just for a bit of good luck.

Thank you, big brothers, for your support over the past year. If possible, I also ask that you continue to support me.

Your younger brother wishes you good health, smooth careers, smooth lives, and an auspicious Year of the Tiger. Most sincerely, I hope everyone gets rich. Most importantly, I hope everyone is truly happy.

That is all; thank you again, big brothers.

The pleasant dinner ended, and they sat down to drink some tea for a while. After chatting for a moment to sober up, they declined Xue Sumei's offer to have Wang Yan send him home. Li Zhaoxian, whose face was still flushed from the small amount of alcohol he had consumed, swayed away slowly on his own. Of course, he didn't take the alcohol that Duan Xifeng felt bad about; he couldn't refuse what Xue Sumei insisted on stuffing into his hands, so he left with a box of nutritional supplements that Wang Yan had bought.

Watching big brother Li get on the elevator and wave goodbye, Xue Sumei, who was a bit tipsy and glowing with health, happily entered the room. With an "Aiyo," she sat on the sofa and summarized everything in one sentence: "Let me tell you all, today, I am truly happy..."

At this moment, Duan Xifeng and Wang Yan, both being observant, had already started clearing the bowls and chopsticks. Hearing Xue Sumei's words, they looked at each other, smiled, and continued their work.

If Wang Yan hadn't come, and if Xue Sumei hadn't been drinking, this work would have been done by Duan Xifeng and her together. If Wang Yan came, whether the mother-in-law had been drinking or not, it was always him and Duan Xifeng doing it together. With two pregnant women and one elder, the two brothers now had the lowest status in the family. If one had to pick the lowest among the low, it was still Duan Xifeng, after all, Wang Yan was the precious son-in-law.

Yang Tao and Su Qing sat on the left and right of Xue Sumei, and hearing this, they laughed out loud. Yang Tao couldn't help but ask with a smile: "Mom, do you have a pretty good feeling about Li Shu?"

Xue Sumei closed her eyes comfortably and lay back: "It's not just 'pretty good,' it's exceptionally good."

Su Qing knew what her big cousin was about to say next, so she reached out to stop her and interrupted, saying to her aunt: "Well, Auntie, now that things are so good at home and there are no worries, in the future, you should interact more with Li Shu. If there's nothing to do, go out for a stroll; it's always better than staying home alone all day. It just so happens that Li Shu is also alone, so you can have a companion."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing. This big brother Li is really a nice person..." After sighing, Xue Sumei got up and said: "Alright, I won't talk to you anymore. I'm a bit dizzy, so I'm going back to lie down. You all chat." After finishing, she swayed back into the bedroom.

Seeing her own mother enter the room, Yang Tao nudged her big cousin and whispered: "Sister, why did you stop me?"

"Were you going to ask if Auntie has any thoughts about getting into a deeper relationship with that Li Shu?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with that?" Su Qing was speechless: "Taozi, your Wang Yan is right; you really have become silly from being pregnant, a real silly girl. You don't even think about how long Auntie has known Li Shu. Can an average person easily talk about a 'twilight romance'? Auntie looks like she has no concerns, but her skin is thinner than anyone's. If you say that, Auntie will be too embarrassed to interact with Li Shu anymore. Aren't you just ruining things?"

"I just didn't think of that, I'm not silly." Yang Tao chuckled and acted spoiled with her big cousin: "Sister, how does your brain turn so fast?"

Su Qing reached out and tapped her big cousin's forehead: "It's you who turns slowly."

The sisters ate their after-dinner fruit together, supplementing vitamins ABCDEFG, watching TV and chatting happily, feeling quite content.

After Wang Yan and Duan Xifeng finished their work, they sat opposite each other in single sofas. Duan Xifeng laughed: "What are you two chatting about, so happily?"

Su Qing shook her head and smiled: "We're talking about Auntie's affairs. Taozi has already talked about the New Year, saying that their family of two, and our family of five, should spend it together to give Auntie a little help."

Duan Xifeng was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly: "I think it's really feasible, this is a good idea, what do you think, Wang Yan?"

"It's too early to talk about that." Wang Yan crossed his legs and picked up a large orange to peel. Ever since his body was strengthened far beyond ordinary people, he basically just gnawed on fruits with medicinal peels like this, mainly because he was too lazy to peel them. But now, he still had to cover up his "big beast" side to avoid being too different: "It's the end of October now, and the New Year is late this year, it won't be until February. There are still three months in between; who knows what the situation will be then? Let's just wait and see."

Yang Tao pouted: "You're so annoying. It was just being discussed perfectly, and you have to insist on waiting to see the situation."

"Are you that eager for Mom to find a companion?" Wang Yan said with a smile: "Anyway, we are all supportive, but it still depends on fate. A forced melon isn't sweet, and ultimately, it's Mom who has to live with it. If she's really too embarrassed, we can put in some effort to nudge things along, but in normal times, let's not interfere randomly."

Su Qing nodded: "Hey, I think Wang Yan is right. Let's just let nature take its course, we'll just watch. This kind of thing can't be rushed."

Yang Tao thought for a moment and nodded: "That's true, then let's just leave it at that, we'll just watch?"

"Just watch." Duan Xifeng laughed: "We can't replace Auntie in dating Li Shu, otherwise, I don't need you all, I tell you, I, Duan Xifeng, would be the first to step up and guarantee I'd win Li Shu over."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Su Qing looked at her husband, who was giggling foolishly, with annoyance, and turned to look at Yang Tao: "By the way, Taozi, I remember your wedding dress shop has been under renovation for over two months, right? Is it not finished yet?"

"Almost, it should be done in another ten or eight days, right, husband?"

Wang Yan nodded and answered cautiously: "Almost, at most no more than half a month."

Duan Xifeng nodded at Wang Yan: "It's a deal then. We are the first customers, so you have to make a good set for us when the time comes."

Yang Tao showed her little white teeth: "Don't worry, I definitely won't forget you. The wedding dress I designed for my sister is already done, I guarantee you'll be satisfied. And I've already thought it through: when the time comes, I'll seal my sister's wedding dress and put it on display in the shop, and then paste your photos on it, so that customers who come to the shop will know how happy you are."

"Hi, that's so embarrassing." Su Qing waved her hands repeatedly, but her face was beaming with a smile. Although she had been married for more than twelve years, she was clearly still quite yearning for these kinds of useless things.

"What's wrong with that? Mine will be displayed too, and I wore one when I married Wang Yan, and two when we went out for travel photography before, that's three in total. When the time comes, we'll put them all together and show off our love fiercely."

Yang Tao was right; not only were there three wedding dresses, but none of them had been washed, especially the two worn for travel photography, they were so dirty... Wang Yan was in favor of not washing them. In Yang Tao's words, every mud spot on them recorded their crazy and beautiful love, and they were all romantic stories.

Duan Xifeng nodded repeatedly: "It's settled then, I think it's excellent. And let me tell you, you must display ours in a more conspicuous place, so that people see us as soon as they walk in."

Yang Tao laughed out loud: "That's a must, it will definitely be the most conspicuous. You'll see when the time comes."

After a long while of messy chatting, Wang Yan drove the little car and took Yang Tao home happily...

People who are truly compatible don't need messy things, and a few meals back and forth are just icing on the cake. Since returning the invitation to Li Zhaoxian and meeting the younger generation in the family, Xue Sumei had gotten along even better with him. The two of them would go out for strolls when they had nothing to do, enjoy delicious food, and occasionally sit for a while at home. Their conversations could no longer be described as just "happy," it was absolutely top-notch.

And Guo Ran, who had become a little famous and a leader of "fear of marriage," was helplessly arranged by his mother to start one round of blind dates after another. At the same time, he was entangled by his ex-girlfriend Xu Guangmei, who had returned to the country; that guy was annoyed every day. Anyway, Wang Yan and Duan Xifeng drank with him twice more; the more they drank, the more they worried. Worried, very worried, extremely worried.

Wang Yan and Yang Tao's days were of course still going on as usual. Every day they looked at the new house and the renovation of the wedding dress shop. Now that autumn had arrived, the weather was suitable, and during the day they would go to major shopping malls to stroll around, visit maternity and infant stores, home furnishing stores, and of course, they couldn't miss clothing stores. To sum it up, in Wang Yan's words, if they didn't spend some money every day, they would feel itchy.

However, that was just talk, but the two didn't spend too much money. The bulk was on furniture, and as for the rest of the messy things, compared to Wang Yan's ability to earn a six-figure monthly income while "lying flat," it was just small consumption, just pocket money.

And with Wang Yan taking the lead, Yang Tao's long-awaited wedding dress shop, after nearly three months of renovation and twelve days after the last meal with Li Zhaoxian, was finally declared complete.

The shop had two floors with a building area of nearly 1,000 square meters. As a wedding dress shop, the scale was quite sufficient. The street-facing side was naturally a clean and tidy large floor-to-ceiling window, displaying several wedding dresses of different styles. Entering the shop, what caught the eye was naturally the wide service desk, and behind the service desk were four wedding dresses arranged in a row, each individually sealed on four sides by glass.

Standing at the hem of each wedding dress were large wedding photos surrounding the dress and perched on flower petals. Three of them featured wedding photos of Wang Yan and Yang Tao, and one featured wedding photos of Duan Xifeng and Su Qing. Duan Xifeng and Su Qing's were taken by Wang Yan a few days ago, and these photos were all carefully selected by the four of them huddling together for half a day.

There was nothing unusual on the two sides; it was a wedding dress shop, so of course, it was all wedding dresses, with only a small portion being men's formal wear. These wedding dresses were all designed by Yang Tao over the years. From an amateur perspective, they were of course good-looking, and from a professional perspective, with such a wide shop space, whether renting or selling, they could certainly command a price.

Of course, it was impossible to produce hundreds of them; that wasn't realistic, as the shelf life of fashion wasn't very long. So there were about a hundred or so, various styles that were similar but different, with various colors and patterns, both Chinese and Western. The wedding dresses were not displayed compactly, leaving large gaps to ensure that the full appearance of each wedding dress could be seen. The rest would require Yang Tao to constantly learn and progress, replacing these wedding dresses bit by bit.

There were also two areas that could be considered rest areas, furnished with genuine leather sofas and solid wood coffee tables. Sitting on them, surrounded by wedding dresses, there were only two words: romantic, and one would want to own them.

The second floor was divided into several rooms with different functions. One was for indoor photography, with fill lights, backgrounds, and everything else complete. Many of the long guns and short cannons piled up at home had been moved here, and there were also storage racks arranged in an orderly and tidy manner. Photography equipment was of course constantly iterating. Wang Yan's equipment was, after all, a "living father" configuration, all of which were the latest models of the time, basically usable for several years, which was quite good.

Because this shop also had a flue, Wang Yan very thoughtfully set up a kitchen connected to the staff break room, which could provide staff with a lunch. It could be considered a benefit, after all, Mr. Wang had always been a good boss.

Besides that, there were other things like restrooms, utility rooms, finance rooms, and other messy things. In general, this renovation was also ordinary, nothing special, basically all the same. They took a long time, partly because the place was large, and partly because they weren't in a hurry, striving for perfection.

If there was anything most innovative, it was that positions were reserved on the walls of the first floor and the stairs as a photo wall. Yang Tao wanted to wait until the shop started taking jobs, and leave a wedding photo of the newlyweds to hang on it. At that time, they would all be newlyweds, and it would definitely look beautiful. Because the whole wall was full of happiness. Now there were only two, one of Wang Yan and Yang Tao, and one of Duan Xifeng and Su Qing, which could be considered a start, a beginning.

Yang Tao stood in the center of the first floor. Although she came to see it every day and had long known what the scene would be like, on this day of formal completion, looking at these things in front of her, her previous wish had been realized, and her eyes were still full of little stars. Of course, even so, she didn't forget to support her lower back with both hands and stick out her belly. Her belly was getting bigger day by day, and although it was still a bit exaggerated, it was understandable.

"Shop Manager Yang, don't you see it every day? Why are you still so excited?"

Yang Tao rolled her eyes with a giggle: "Isn't this my previous wish realized? I'm happy."

"I'm happy too." Wang Yan clapped his hands.

"Perfunctory." Yang Tao pouted, then moved slowly to wander around, looking carefully.

Today happened to be Saturday, and Yang Tao's group of good girlfriends had long agreed to come, and they would have a meal together at noon.

The two didn't arrive early, the reason being that Yang Tao woke up naturally, and for such an important moment today, she had specially dressed up beautifully. So, not long after the two wandered around, the group of people who had agreed to come arrived.

"Where are the people? Taozi? Wang Yan? Come out, someone is here, come out to receive guests!"

The couple, who were wandering on the second floor, heard a shout with extremely strong penetrating power.

"It's Snotty Girl, they're all here, let's go down." Yang Tao turned her head to look at the man beside her, unable to help shaking her head and laughing: "This voice is really loud, she can really shout."

Wang Yan nodded and smiled: "It should be that the happiness after marriage hasn't faded yet."

"Let's go, let's go down."

Nodding, Wang Yan supported Yang Tao as they went downstairs.

Downstairs, the loud-voiced Li Hongli, the somewhat soft Jiao Yang, the more prominent Lan Weiwei, and Li Kui, who had been together for a month, were scattered on the first floor looking at the wedding dresses one by one.

Seeing Wang Yan and the other go downstairs, Li Hongli said loudly: "Not bad, Taozi, your wedding dress shop is quite well done."

Yang Tao grinned: "Right, I think it's not bad either."

While speaking, Wang Yan had already supported her to the downstairs.

Jiao Yang's expression was exaggerated: "Taozi, did you design all these wedding dresses yourself?"

"Yeah, is it okay?" Yang Tao smiled like a flower, with a face saying "hurry up and praise me."

"It's too okay. When you and Wang Yan got married before, the one you wore already shocked me. Now this whole room is your work, the impact is too great." Jiao Yang gestured with her thumb: "I knew you liked design before, drawing secretly by yourself, and I didn't feel anything without seeing the finished product. Now I know, it turns out you were hiding your light under a bushel, you're a master."

"Oh my, it's nothing, it's not as exaggerated as you say."

Lan Weiwei stepped forward and took Yang Tao's hand: "Taozi, you must design one for me properly. When I get married, I'll wear a wedding dress made by you."

"Of course, no problem. When you have time, come over, I'll measure you, and I'll definitely design the most beautiful one for you." Yang Tao looked at Li Kui, who was standing on the side: "So... have you two confirmed your relationship?"

Lan Weiwei gave a timely flirtatious look: "Him? It's still early..."

No one present believed this, after all, they had brought him to meet friends, and they didn't believe what was said.

"Currently under testing." Li Kui smiled and reached out his hand: "Hello everyone, my name is Li Kui."

The couple reached out and shook hands with him separately. Yang Tao said with a smile: "We all know you, Li Shu has a good relationship with my mom."

Li Kui looked surprised: "Really? I'm busy with work and rarely go home, so I really didn't know about this."

"They chat from time to time, and their relationship is indeed quite good." Wang Yan said: "Still need to care more about the lives of the elderly."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's indeed my fault as a son for not doing well, I must pay attention. That's perfect, with this relationship, Weiwei and you are still good friends, we must gather more often in the future." Li Kui nodded repeatedly. He didn't put on airs, and he was quite easy to communicate with.

Although many people, most people, are one way to your face and another behind your back, so-called hypocritical, this Li Kui was not bad. Just like in the original drama, Xue Sumei went over in advance to check his background, and after all that tossing, he responded politely. You have to know that for a player with an annual salary of one million, basically, you can see in three sentences that Xue Sumei is not his client, but he still responded patiently, at least his professional quality was very good. Of course, he could basically see that Xue Sumei had a purpose, but he didn't know what the purpose was. So his patience could also be said to be probing.

Now, after just two short sentences, and it being the first time meeting, everyone's impression of him was still quite good, which was a skill. On one hand, the brief contact and conversation were not bad, and on the other hand, the most important thing was that everyone knew before that he earned one million a year, so they had a preconceived notion that this person was not bad...

Just like Mr. Wang's mother-in-law, when mentioning her precious son-in-law's job to outsiders, there were two key words: "nouveau riche" and "lying flat." Most people would think Mr. Wang was not bad. It must be said that the mother-in-law was indeed a straightforward person, never avoiding it, opening her mouth with "nouveau riche" and closing it with "nouveau riche."

Of course, it was mainly because Wang Yan didn't care. Xue Sumei was straightforward, and the first time she called him that, she apologized to him. However, after he gave her a whole set of reasoning about how he recognized and liked this title, Xue Sumei just let nature take its course, and the more she called him that, the more natural it became...

After greeting each other, Wang Yan and Yang Tao enthusiastically took the four of them to look inside and out, upstairs and downstairs, and gave a thorough introduction. They especially emphasized the four wedding dresses behind the service desk at the entrance, and shared the romantic love story of picking out those two mud spots, and then there was the reserved photo wall position. Yang Tao described it vividly, leading everyone to imagine the day when the photo wall was full of wedding photos, how romantic and beautiful it would be.

After looking around, everyone sat on the sofa on the first floor and chatted...