Chapter 867

Li Ye and Wen Leyu returned to their home on Fuyoujie with the children. Just as they entered the main gate, the door to the small reception room in the front courtyard's south-facing wing opened.

Grandma Wu Juying stood in the doorway with a gloomy face, pursing her lips at Li Ye to signal him to come inside and talk.

Li Ye's expression tightened. He handed the two children to Wen Leyu and followed his grandmother into the small reception room.

"What's wrong, Grandma? Is there some major matter you need to discuss with me?"

"Hmph, it's not exactly a major matter, but it's not small either,"

Wu Juying let out a cold snort and said, "The decadent, evil winds of the bourgeoisie have blown right into our home. As the head of the household, you need to go over and manage this."

"With Grandpa and you here, what kind of 'head of the household' am I?"

Li Ye found it amusing, but seeing his grandmother's displeased expression, he paused and hurriedly asked earnestly, "Grandma, please don't be angry yet. Tell me, what is this 'evil wind' all about?"

Wu Juying turned her head toward the inner courtyard: "You were kind enough to send Li Ying to study in Hong Kong, but she and her mother didn't learn anything good; instead, they've taken up mahjong. During the New Year, they're actually gathering people at home to gamble.

How is this any different from those landlords and wealthy scoundrels of the old society? What's going on? Is Hu Hansan coming back again?"

Only then did Li Ye focus his attention toward the inner courtyard. Sure enough, he could faintly hear the sound of mahjong tiles hitting the table, along with the sound of his two younger sisters bickering.

"Pong, Three of Dots~"

"Chow, Six of Bamboo~"

"Second Sister, didn't you just play a Six of Bamboo? Why is it a Six of Bamboo again?"

"Right, I just won't let you win~. You've already won two yuan and sixty cents from me; you've won all my New Year's money."

"."

Listening to the bickering between Fu Yiruo and Li Ying, Li Ye smacked his lips and said, "Grandma, playing mahjong isn't necessarily all gambling. In Hong Kong, it's a very normal form of entertainment.

Li Ying and her mother are strangers in a strange land there. Playing mahjong with the neighbors is about the same as the old ladies around here chatting. A little gambling is just for fun; if they're only playing for a dime or two, it's not really a big deal."

Mahjong is indeed very popular in Hong Kong, and many interesting stories related to it have even spread.

For example, there was a wealthy Hong Kong businessman who married three wives and concubines. His home was noisy and restless all day long, and they would constantly call him back from the company to settle disputes, which annoyed the businessman to no end.

Later, the businessman had no choice but to ask a master for advice. The master came up with a brilliant plan—marry a fourth concubine.

The businessman didn't understand, but since he already had "a weakness for women," he immediately married a fourth wife.

Then, the household instantly became peaceful because the four wives formed a mahjong table. All their schemes were used at the table, and even when they argued, they had a sense of proportion; otherwise, the mahjong table would collapse.

But after hearing Li Ye's explanation, Grandma Wu Juying sneered and said, "Does it depend on how much they're playing for? What's this, if it's a dime a round, it doesn't count as money, right?

A bunch of men are getting drunk and sleeping, while a bunch of women are surrounding a table playing cards. Is there any sense of propriety left in this house?"

"No, no, no, there is propriety, there is propriety. I'll go take a look right now! I'll stop it immediately, I'll stop it immediately."

Li Ye couldn't afford to provoke the old guerrilla fighter, so he hurriedly slipped away and ran toward the front courtyard. If he stayed any longer, she might start lecturing him on political principles.

However, when Li Ye pushed open the door to the west wing, he understood why Grandma had discovered the children "gambling" but hadn't put a stop to it with lightning speed.

Because the person acting as the banker at this moment was Fu Guiru, with Han Chunmei, Li Ying, and Fu Yiruo accompanying her, while Aunt Li Mingxiang, Elder Sister Li Yue, Younger Sister Li Juan, and Zhao Meiwen were watching from the side.

【Are you all collectively trying to get on Grandma's bad side?】

If it were just Han Chunmei and Li Ying playing for fun, Wu Juying would have come over and flipped the table long ago. Even if Fu Yiruo were leading the card game, Wu Juying would likely dare to scold them a few times; after all, she possessed "bloodline suppression."

But with Mother Fu Guiru leading... hehehe~

Seeing Li Ye enter, Fu Guiru asked while drawing a tile, "Li Ye, why are you back so early? Isn't your mother-in-law taking care of dinner?"

Li Ye said with a smile, "How could she not take care of dinner! It's just that the two children happened to fall asleep, so we came back. Otherwise, they'd be crying their lungs out in the car, and it would be impossible to drive steadily."

"If they're crying in the car, it's because you didn't feed them well. When I take Xiao Bao'er and Xiao Dou'er out to play, they love riding in the car. Self-drawn, I win~, pay up, pay up, pay up~"

While Fu Guiru was talking to Li Ye, she self-drew an Eight of Bamboo and won the hand.

Fu Yiruo resentfully gave Fu Guiru twenty cents, pouting in great displeasure.

Little Li Ying praised her while paying: "Auntie, you play cards way too well."

As for Han Chunmei, after quickly paying, she stood up: "It's almost four o'clock, I'm going to cook. Brother Xiao Ye, you take my place for a while."

But just as Han Chunmei stood up, Fu Guiru said, "You sit there. Tonight, let the children cook dinner. Mingxiang, you take Xiao Juan's place. Brother Xiao Ye... you go call your grandmother over to take Xiao Ruo's place."

"."

Li Ye blinked his eyes, crying and laughing as he said, "Mom, you want me to call Grandma over to play mahjong?"

Fu Guiru raised her eyelids and said, "That's right! Your grandmother wanted to play just now; if I don't call her, she won't be happy!"

Li Ye: "@￥#@%%……&*%#"

【Mom, are you slandering the character of an old guerrilla fighter?】

"Why aren't you going yet? What, you're so old and you're still waiting for us elders to cook for you?"

"Eh, eh, I'm going right now!"

Li Ye couldn't afford to provoke his mother Fu Guiru, so he had to turn around and find the other person he couldn't afford to provoke: Grandma Wu Juying.

However, Li Ye was, after all, a quick-witted person. In the time it took to walk from the back courtyard to the front, he had already come up with a suitable excuse.

"Grandma, I went over to look, and you really misunderstood my mother and Li Ying and her mother. They were thinking that their relationship with my mother was too awkward, so they're using mahjong as a way to promote harmony in the family relationship!"

"Oh? Did your mother say that, or did you make it up?"

"."

Wu Juying looked at Li Ye calmly, waiting for her eldest grandson's explanation.

Li Ye smiled cheekily: "Grandma, don't worry about who said it for now. You should go over and play a few rounds too, and see if the family relationship has improved."

Wu Juying's gaze turned strange: "You want me to go play mahjong? Are you trying to drag me into the water? Or is this a sugar-coated bullet?"

"Hehe, you help us test the depth of the water! If it really is an evil wind, then mahjong will absolutely not be allowed in our house in the future. If it's beneficial for family harmony, then playing a little bit is perfectly fine!"

Wu Juying's eyes narrowed, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and she stood up and walked outside.

"Fine, I'll go see what kind of things your two mothers have learned and brought back."

"."

Watching his grandmother's brisk footsteps, Li Ye seemed to understand something.

When she told him there was "no sense of propriety left in the house," could it be that she was resentful that her two daughters-in-law were playing cards without her, leaving her, an old woman, to cook by herself?

Thinking of the daughters-in-law in later generations who wouldn't lift a finger to cook and just waited for their mothers-in-law to do the work, Li Ye seemed to have guessed his grandmother's thoughts.

Twenty minutes later, Li Ye, who was busy in the kitchen, heard his grandmother's happy voice.

"I win, Pure One Suit, pay up, pay up!"

"Mom, is it really worth it for just a few cents? I don't have any change here..."

"If you don't have change, I'll break it for you. Is this a matter of money?"

Li Ye couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The Li family's 1988 Spring Festival was much livelier and much warmer than in previous years.