Damn it, I'm surrounded by childhood sweethearts

At lunchtime, over a hundred tables were set up, and after the more familiar guests left in the evening, three tables were set up at home for the closest relatives and friends.

Lin Qiaoshan had a nap in the afternoon and was now back to full strength, wanting to continue drinking, but Lin Wanning complained about it.

"Dad, you're not allowed to drink anymore!"

"Haha, Old Yao, did you hear that? Our little princess Wanning wants you not to drink!"

"Listen to my granddaughter; no one is drinking tonight!"

The elders were chattering away in Hakka dialect, which Xu Qingfan and the others couldn't understand, but everyone uniformly put down their wine glasses.

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to my daughter and not drink anymore," Lin Qiaoshan said, replacing the wine in his glass with tea and raising it to demonstrate.

Only then did Lin Wanning smile again and said, "Drinking too much is bad for health, so Grandpa and Uncles shouldn't drink either. Big brother Qingfan hardly drinks!"

Suddenly being called out by Lin Wanning, Xu Qingfan instantly sat up straight.

"Wanning is right, no more drinking, no more drinking."

"Second Uncle listens to Wanning!"

Surprisingly, the elders didn't scold Lin Wanning for being impertinent; instead, they seemed to listen to her a lot.

Xu Qingfan and the four girls were a bit puzzled but didn't think too much about it. Maybe it's because Wanning is cute; as they say, beauty is truth.

Eating with Lin Wanning's family is indeed comfortable. There are no elders with no emotional intelligence coming to ask you endless questions, nor does anyone act condescendingly because they've eaten more rice.

The conversation was about local sights, local snacks, the cultural differences between Lingnan and Minzhong provinces, and occasionally joking about people from their area eating people from Minzhong.

...

After dinner, it was almost eight in the evening.

Rural nightlife here is minimal, and many people started going to bed by eight.

Looking from the balcony, many household lights were already off.

After stamping the seals on the hands of her younger cousins, Lin Wanning quickly sent them away.

The six of them sat on the wool carpet in Lin Wanning's room to digest, using pillows as cushions and covering with small blankets, feeling quite cozy.

It's just a pity that mobile games from 2012 are rather lackluster, otherwise starting a game of Arena of Valor or Chess Rush now would be quite authentic.

Where's My Water, Talking Tom, and Angry Birds were the top games at the time.

In Xu Qingfan's own words: not even dogs would play these!

"It feels like your family really listens to you, Wanning. They're so good to you," Xiao Ruawen suddenly remarked.

"Yes, your uncles and aunts are very warm," Wu Lingyu agreed.

Lin Wanning rested her head on Xu Qingfan's shoulder: "Maybe they feel like they owe my mom and dad, so they're good to me."

Even though the girl might come off as silly, in terms of dealing with people and emotional sensitivity, she was not lacking at all.

"That's really good. Some people think a great favor is like a great enmity; it's nice that they aren't like that," Xu Qingfan patted her on the shoulder.

"Hee hee~ It's their business as elders; I don't care. My job is to be happy and be happy with everyone together!"

"Let's play games!"

Lin Wanning's cheerful optimism was infectious, and everyone smiled in understanding.

"Sure!"

"Let's play!"

...

The next day, there was another moving banquet, at Lin Wanning's grandparents' house next door.

It seemed they hired the same designer; the grandparents' big villa was just as grand, with decorations looking nearly identical.

The bulk of the cost for building the house was likely shouldered by Lin Qiaoshan and Wen Wanqing, with the timing matching up. They started the plan to build the house after making money in 2010, and it would take one or two years to complete it.

But this arrangement worked well, with the couple working outside while the grandparents were cared for by siblings back home, and when family came home for holidays, there was room for everyone to stay.

Additionally, Xu Qingfan thought it was better to exclude these relatives before the company grew much larger, so there wouldn't be so many bothersome issues once the business expanded and strengthened.

It's like laying mines in advance—a win-win-win situation for everyone.

...

After finishing the second moving banquet, they stayed another day at Lin Wanning's grandparents' house.

On the second day of the second month, the eleventh day of the new year, the holiday season was over, and everyone boarded the plane back to Hong Kong.

The plane landed smoothly, and they first stopped by Wu Lingyu's house for a brief visit. Since they had already eaten lunch on the plane, they skipped staying for a meal.

After leaving Lingyu's house, Xu Qingfan and Zhang Yiyi still needed to find Zhang Chunxue, so they split into two groups. The girls took Lin Qiaoshan's car back to Li City, while the two of them caught a taxi.

Once in the taxi, Xu Qingfan naturally held the girl's hand, and Zhang Yiyi laid her head on his shoulder.

"Are you sleepy? I noticed you didn't sleep on the plane," Xu Qingfan turned and sniffed the fragrance in the girl's hair.

Zhang Yiyi shook her head but not convincingly, as she yawned, "Ha~ I'm not sleepy."

Xu Qingfan patted her shoulder, "Take a nap, I'll wake you when we get home."

"Okay," perhaps not expecting herself to yawn uncontrollably, Zhang Yiyi felt a bit embarrassed and obediently closed her eyes.

When Zhang Yiyi isn't at home, Zhang Chunxue typically stays overnight at their home in Hong Kong, and since it was just after 1 p.m., Auntie was probably still napping.

Ten minutes later, the car reached its destination.

After paying and getting off the car, hand in hand, they entered the neighborhood. Since no one else was around, Zhang Yiyi would occasionally glance down at their interlocked fingers.

When they reached the apartment building, the girl regretfully let go, as the bodyguards were keeping an eye on the surveillance, and they didn't want to reveal their relationship yet.

Upon arriving home, a pair of black leather heels that Zhang Chunxue had taken off were casually left by the shoe cabinet, and Xu Qingfan could imagine the scene of her bending over to take them off, casually leaving them there.

Zhang Yiyi bent down to put the high heels back into the shoe cabinet and took out Xu Qingfan's special slippers for him.

"She's still sleeping." Xu Qingfan quietly changed his shoes and pointed to the half-open bedroom door.

Zhang Yiyi nodded, made a shushing gesture, then pointed to her room.

Xu Qingfan followed her into the room, and once the door was securely locked, they resumed speaking in normal volumes.

"Auntie's probably just fallen asleep." Lying on the bed, Xu Qingfan turned to look into the girl's eyes, the message unspoken.

Zhang Yiyi gave him a playful glare, but still obediently moved a little closer.

Since deciding to abstain after that occasion, Xu Qingfan had almost forgotten how many days it had been in this supposed period of abstinence.

So, naturally, in this moment, he was like a lit fuse.

...