Chapter 1025: New Year

Next door, Ye Chen's family had been preparing their New Year's Eve dinner since noon.

All sorts of ingredients were piled high on the kitchen counter.

Ye Chen was the best cook in the family, so he took on the role of head chef for this New Year's Eve dinner without hesitation.

Ma Lan's legs were not in good shape, so she sat on the floor picking vegetables; Xiao Churan helped Ye Chen wash and chop vegetables and prepare other ingredients; as for Xiao Changkun, he used a kitchen knife to manually mince the dumpling filling.

The family of four was all busy helping out in the kitchen, and the atmosphere was rare, harmonious, and warm.

As the sky gradually darkened, one dish after another was served on the dining table.

Over at Villa A04, Zhang Guifen and the other two had also started getting busy in the kitchen.

The three women were quite practical in their daily lives. Besides preparing the dough and meat filling for dumplings, they had also bought a chicken, a fish, and two jin of pork ribs, making a few home-cooked dishes with a mix of meat and vegetables.

Zhang Guifen felt that having the chance to live in such a nice villa was a stroke of good fortune for the three of them, so she specifically bought an incense burner, a bundle of incense, and a very cheap portrait of Guanyin.

Before eating, Zhang Guifen, along with Dong Yuling and Li Yueqin, knelt before the portrait of the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Zhang Guifen held three sticks of incense in her hands and said with utmost piety, "Merciful and compassionate Bodhisattva Guanyin, thank you for blessing us three miserable sisters, allowing us to live in such a nice big villa in this lifetime and live a good life we never dared to dream of before. Please rest assured, the three of us will definitely work hard to earn money in the future and will never be lazy. Please bear witness! Additionally, your disciple Zhang Guifen also asks you to bless us so that our lives may get better and better!"

On both sides behind her were Dong Yuling and Li Yueqin, respectively.

At this moment, the two of them followed suit, holding three sticks of incense and saying, "Merciful and compassionate Bodhisattva Guanyin, please bless us!"

Afterwards, the three of them kowtowed three times to the Bodhisattva Guanyin together.

After kowtowing, Zhang Guifen stood up and was the first to insert the three sticks of incense into the burner. After the other two sisters also inserted their incense, she said with satisfaction, "Let's go, sisters, time for New Year's Eve dinner!"

The two said in unison, "Alright, Sister Guifen!"

While the three were going to eat, Xiao Weiwei and Old Mrs. Xiao had been hiding at the corner of the stairs, watching.

They had smelled the aroma of the food, which was why they couldn't help but come down to take a look.

Although the old lady had wanted to save the leftovers she brought back yesterday for New Year's Eve dinner, just as it got dark, the four of them couldn't bear the hunger and had divided and finished all those leftovers.

There hadn't been much left to begin with, and it wasn't even enough for each person to be half-full, so all four of them were still in a state of hunger.

Seeing these three women make a table full of home-cooked dishes, Old Mrs. Xiao and Xiao Weiwei were drooling with envy.

Seeing the three of them start eating, Xiao Weiwei whispered to the old lady, "Grandma, do you think they will leave any leftovers or anything?"

Old Mrs. Xiao shook her head while swallowing her saliva, "I don't know either, let's hope so..."

Xiao Weiwei said with great grievance, "It would be great if they could leave two pieces of ribs and a bowl of rice; I'm just afraid they won't leave anything at all..."

After saying this, tears began to roll down.

Old Mrs. Xiao stared at the incense burner in front of the Bodhisattva Guanyin and said seriously, "Weiwei, don't worry. See that incense burner? It's filled with rice! Tonight, after they go back to their rooms to rest, we'll use the rice in there to make porridge!"

At this time, Ye Chen's family was in the living room, eating their New Year's Eve dinner while watching the Spring Festival Gala, the family enjoying the happy atmosphere.

Xiao Changkun and Ma Lan, the old couple who usually couldn't stand each other, were also rarely not bickering or fighting.

Xiao Changkun had drunk some white liquor with Ye Chen, which made him incredibly happy.

Xiao Churan had originally wanted to drink some red wine with Ma Lan, but Ma Lan snatched the red wine from her hand, and while pouring it for herself, she said to Xiao Churan very seriously, "Churan, women cannot drink alcohol when preparing for pregnancy; it's bad for the child!"

After saying this, she smiled and said to Ye Chen, "Good son-in-law, you should drink less too. Drinking too much alcohol will affect the quality of a man's little tadpoles! Which in turn affects the quality of the child!"

Xiao Churan was instantly embarrassed, and said with both shame and anger, "Mom... how come you're speaking with less and less restraint!"

Ma Lan said seriously, "I am imparting health advice to you both; this is all what those parenting experts and genetics experts on TV say!"

Xiao Churan said helplessly, "Then you don't have to be so blunt! At least be a bit more tactful!"

Ma Lan felt a bit aggrieved, "Didn't I use 'little tadpoles' as a substitute? Isn't that tactful enough?"

Xiao Changkun's alcohol tolerance was average, and after a few glasses, it had already gone to his head. He looked at Ye Chen, and although he was a bit tipsy, he said very seriously, "Good son-in-law, don't listen to your mom's nonsense. I only conceived Churan when I was dead drunk and completely unconscious. Look at Churan's quality, where is it lacking? Just this daughter of mine, even if you put her across the whole country, she's still in that top tier of quality! She completely inherited my superior genes!"

Ma Lan immediately spat and said, "Have some shame! Churan inherited your superior genes? What superior genes do you have? Churan can grow up so beautiful, that's all thanks to my natural beauty!"

"Bullshit!" Xiao Changkun curled his lips, "With your genes, no one would even pick them up from the sewer, and you call them superior? Superior my ass!"

Ma Lan threw down her chopsticks and shouted angrily, "Xiao Changkun, what are you trying to do? It's the New Year, I don't want to argue with you, don't get too cocky!"

Xiao Changkun shrank his neck and said nervously, "Aiya, I'm just imparting experience to my son-in-law. This is a topic between men, don't you get involved."

After saying this, he patted Ye Chen on the shoulder and instructed, "Ye Chen, you, listen to Dad, don't think about anything, don't prepare anything, just drink some alcohol when you have nothing to do, get happy, and then this matter might just happen naturally!"

Hearing this, Xiao Churan's face turned red with shame. She immediately put down her chopsticks and said, "If you two keep talking about such inappropriate topics, I'm going back to my room to watch TV."

"Aiya, no, no, no!" Xiao Changkun hurriedly waved his hands, "Dad won't talk about it anymore, okay? Tonight is the first time our family of four is spending the New Year alone, and we're living in such a nice big villa, without having to suffer your grandma's bullying, so we must make this New Year complete!"

Ma Lan rarely agreed with Xiao Changkun's point of view and said happily, "That's right! No matter what, we must stay up until twelve o'clock this year!"

Xiao Churan said, "Staying up is fine, but you two must stop talking nonsense..."

"Alright, alright, alright!" Ma Lan laughed, "I know you're thin-skinned, I won't say it anymore, okay?"

Xiao Changkun also hurriedly changed the subject and said to Ye Chen, "Come, good son-in-law, drink!"

Ye Chen nodded, picked up his glass, and clinked it with Xiao Changkun's.

Just after drinking, his phone received two WeChat messages.

Opening them, the one who sent the WeChat was actually Ito Nanako, who was far away in Japan.

She first sent a photo of the courtyard of her old family home in Kyoto; in the photo, the courtyard was covered in snow again.

Afterwards, there was a text message she sent: "Ye Chen-kun, today is the traditional New Year's Eve of your country. Nanako wishes you a Happy New Year here! Additionally, I would like to share some good news with you: it is snowing in Kyoto again tonight..." ===== CHAPTER 1026 =====