Auntie (maternal uncle’s wife) smiled sweetly when she saw the seafood Lu Yang brought over, but still said, “Second Sister, you’re too polite. Why bring anything just to have a meal? Lu Nan and Lu Yang are just visiting their uncle’s house—there’s no need to be so courteous!” 

Ms. Huang replied with a smile, “It’s nothing valuable. Hailin City is by the sea, and since Lu Nan has a car, we went to the market to buy some fresh seafood the day we got back. We bought a bit extra to share. And those marinated meats and pastries are Hua’an City specialties. Lu Nan bought them. I tried them, and they taste pretty good.” 

“Really? I heard from mom (Lu Nan’s grandmother) that Lu Nan bought a car, but she couldn’t explain which one, just said it was red and very beautiful.” My aunt, as expected, focused on Ms. Huang’s point and continued the conversation. 

“It’s not a luxury car, just an entry-level model from Mercedes-Benz.” That line… also sounded a bit showy. 

“Mercedes-Benz, that’s really good.” My aunt exclaimed. 

Actually, Ms. Huang could have elaborated more about it, but decided to skip it for today. 

After entering the house, Lu Nan placed the gift bag on the dining table. 

My uncle, being a bit more knowledgeable, saw the label on the gift bag that said “Yuan Chuan Classic Wine, Ten-Year, Boundless Heroic Spirit,” and exclaimed, “I know this wine. It’s not cheap in the supermarket, about 700-800 yuan per bottle.” While speaking, he took out a bottle, looking like he wanted to open it tonight. 

My aunt gave him a side-eye and continued with polite words, “This is too expensive, Second Sister, please take it back later.” 

Ms. Huang casually said, “No one at home drinks wine, and this is from Lu Nan’s company, so it’s at an internal price, not as high as the supermarket price.” She now knew the factory price for these drinks. 

After some back and forth, it was Grandma who spoke up, “Nan Nan brought it for her uncle, what’s the point of saying no?” 

My aunt winked at Lu Nan, “The old lady is fond of her youngest son.” 

Lu Nan smiled, already guessing that in the end, my uncle probably wouldn’t get to drink this wine—my aunt would likely take it to give as a gift. 

So, she had prepared a backup: “Uncle, I’ve also put a crystal display with a mini 20-year aged wine inside. It tastes even smoother.” 

My uncle gave Lu Nan a thumbs-up. 

My aunt had been preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner since the morning. Lu Nan rolled up her sleeves and asked, “Is there anything I can help with?” 

“No, no, go teach Xia (my aunt’s daughter, a junior high school student), she seems to have a lot of trouble with her winter break homework,” my aunt firmly refused to let Lu Nan into the kitchen. 

In the end, Lu Nan could only give her younger brother a signal: “Little brother, keep an eye on things here. If you need to peel garlic or wash green onions, just give a hand.” 

My aunt, who was making meatballs, laughed loudly: “We three here are all cooking experts, do we need Lu Yang to help? Lu Yang, go, go, go watch TV in the living room, or go to the study and ask your uncle to let you use the computer, don’t listen to your sister.” 

Ms. Huang seized the opportunity and added, “Ah, it’s so strange, Lu Yang always listens to his sister, but when I ask him to do something, he won’t do it.” 

Lu Yang helplessly took the blame of being ‘unresponsive sometimes’ from his own mother and went to the living room to watch TV. 

The lunch was relatively casual. My uncle wanted to reach for some wine, but my aunt slapped his hand away: “If you drink now, how will you get any sleep? Who’s going to put up the couplets, stick the window decorations, and hang lanterns later?” 

My uncle, in good spirits, laughed, “Then I’ll drink tonight.” He then turned to Lu Yang and said, “Kid, how about we drink together tonight?” 

As expected, my uncle was reprimanded by Grandma, Ms. Huang, and my aunt all together: “Do you have any sense? Lu Yang is still a kid, how can he drink like that? You’ll be drinking him silly!” 

The three younger people at the table quietly ate their meals. 

In the afternoon, my uncle dutifully went to work, and Lu Yang was called over to help check if the things they pasted on the walls were level and even. 

The two men, thirty years apart in age, surprisingly got together to work while excitedly discussing computer games. 

My aunt couldn’t help but complain to Ms. Huang: “Second Sister, look at this, he’s almost fifty and still acts like a kid.” 

Lu Nan overheard this in the kitchen and wanted to say: “Men are boys at heart until they die.” 

But then she thought that they probably wouldn’t understand that reference, and might think she was complimenting my uncle, so she decided not to say anything. 

The New Year’s Eve dinner was served early, around 3 pm. My aunt brought the last dish, steamed bass, to the table. All sixteen hot and cold dishes were ready, and everyone could sit down and eat. 

Before starting the meal, as per custom, everyone made a toast—only my uncle drank. He originally wanted to ask Lu Nan to join him, but Ms. Huang said Lu Nan had to drive later. 

My aunt did try to persuade them to stay at her house, but since there were not enough rooms, and sleeping on the floor wasn’t ideal, my uncle regretfully said, “Then how about later? Maybe the third or fourth day of the new year, when Big Brother’s back—we’ll have a good drink then.” 

Seeing my aunt’s concern that my uncle might casually promise the two bottles of wine, Lu Nan quickly added, “Sure, I’ll cover the wine when that time comes.” 

This topic naturally shifted the conversation to Lu Nan’s work during the meal. 

Ms. Huang, as usual, wanted to show off a little, but didn’t want to go into too much detail in case the relatives misunderstood her daughter’s job, so she started by emphasizing: “She’s been working for more than half a year, got promoted quite quickly. Now she’s managing all of Hua’an City, with more than ten people under her. She arranges all the business operations. It’s tiring, she’s lost a lot of weight in the past six months. The other day, even when we were on break, she was at home making proposals and spreadsheets. I told her, why work so hard, she’s a girl.” 

My aunt was truly shocked: “She’s responsible for an entire city? Hua’an City has several counties underneath it.” 

“Yes, she’s handling contracts worth millions every year, and there are so many channels and goods to distribute. It’s a lot of pressure.” Ms. Huang herself was still only half into it, but it was enough to impress the outsiders. 

My uncle and aunt, being ordinary salaried workers, were stunned when they heard the figure of millions in contracts. They were both amazed and puzzled: “This is the kind of wine that only rich people drink… In one city, they need to sell so much wine every year?” 

Ms. Huang didn’t quite understand the question. 

So, Lu Nan chimed in at the right moment: “Actually, people in our province drink relatively less white liquor. The sales in our province are among the lowest in the country. A million in contracts might sound like a lot in Hua’an City, but in other provinces, it’s really not much. Take the neighboring province for example, their sales last year were more than double ours.” 

“No way, that neighboring province is pretty poor,” they replied. 

Lu Nan smiled: “Our province actually drinks more yellow wine and red wine. Thankfully, both uncle and my little uncle like white liquor, so this gift wasn’t wrong.” 

It was clear Auntie still wanted to ask about Lu Nan’s income. Ms. Huang, predictably, half-boasted and half-downplayed it: “Bonuses depend on hitting targets. But salary and subsidies are decent—probably around 200,000 yuan a year.” 

Auntie sighed, “Fresh out of college and already doing this well. Time to put in some effort and find a boyfriend! Then you’ll have peace of mind, Second Sister.” 

Lu Nan didn’t quite agree with my aunt’s words, but she decided not to argue during the New Year’s celebration. 

Ms. Huang shook her head, “Peace of mind? There’s still the little one—he’s only in his first year of middle school. I’ll be worrying for many more years.” 

The topic naturally shifted to the younger generation, with a discussion about Xia’s and Lu Yang’s grades. 

Xia’s grades were average. Ms. Huang had already bragged about her daughter earlier, so now when talking about her son’s grades, she was much more low-key, but still quite eager to offer suggestions: “Ask your older brother to reach out to his old colleagues and see if there are any good teachers, so Xia can attend some extra lessons. There’s still one semester, let’s focus on getting into a good high school.” 

Ms. Huang’s older brother, Lu Nan’s uncle, was a teacher and had moved away from their hometown due to a work transfer years ago—yes, that uncle who loved to trade stocks. 

Clearly, this remark struck a chord with Aunt, and she even asked Lu Yang, “Do your teachers offer tutoring outside of school?” 

“It seems like their school is very strict, and the teachers wouldn’t dare to do that,” Ms. Huang chimed in. 

The topic of extra classes is really not something children enjoy. 

Lu Nan could see her cousin nearly burying her face in the bowl. 

After the meal, Uncle called on Grandma’s phone, saying that his family of three would return around the second day of the New Year and leave on the sixth day, staying for five days in total. 

It’s easy to predict that, once again, they would follow the tradition of having one meal per family to maintain family bonds. 

Grandma’s old mobile was on speakerphone, while Ms. Huang dialed her older sister’s number. 

The four families gathered in a different way, exchanging New Year greetings. Before long, they decided that on the second day of the New Year, they would go to Lu Nan’s aunt’s house for dinner. 

As for the third day… When it came to this point, Ms. Huang paused slightly and then somewhat awkwardly said, “On the third day, Lu Nan will be going with her father to visit her uncle and aunt for the New Year, so she might not be back too early.” 

Everyone expressed understanding, and even Uncle laughed over the phone, “Then we’ll have dinner first. When Lu Nan gets back, we’ll do a late-night meal—grill some barbecue on the stove.” Uncle was the second in seniority. He was originally supposed to host the meal on the third day, but he had moved to another city years ago for work and sold his house here. So every year when he came back, he stayed in Grandma’s old house, which always had an old-style stove burning in winter. 

Lu Nan of course couldn’t let the elders wait for her, the junior, so she said, “Uncle’s suggestion is perfect.” 

This part passed without anyone asking why it was just Lu Nan and her father going to visit relatives and not Lu Yang. 

As for the fourth day, naturally, it was the turn of the third-ranked Ms. Huang to treat. She cleared her throat and said, “This year, I’ve thought it through. Our house doesn’t have a big round table, so every time we gather, it’s too crowded. On the fourth evening, we’ll go to a restaurant to eat!” 

The uncles and aunts naturally said it would be lively and fun to eat together. Lu Nan smiled and said, “Don’t let my mom save money. She’s made a lot of money this year, including some in dollars. The exchange rate is pretty good at the end of the year, and she already said she’d treat everyone to a restaurant.” 

Ms. Huang acted like she was annoyed that Lu Nan said too much, but the joy in her eyes couldn’t be hidden. 

Naturally, her siblings offered a round of concern and congratulations. 

The youngest uncle’s family would treat on the fifth day. 

Once everything was decided, Ms. Huang glanced at the time—it was already past 7—so she said, “Let’s go. We should head home and watch the Spring Festival Gala.” 

Before the gala officially began, CCTV Channel 1 aired one liquor commercial after another, which made Ms. Huang remark, “It just goes to show that your industry is really profitable.” CCTV ads are worth hundreds of millions. 

At this point, Lu Nan noticed her mother said “your industry,” so she smiled and nodded, “The profit margin is indeed high.” 

Late that night, around 11 o’clock, Ms. Huang took out two red envelopes from her room, one for Lu Nan and one for Lu Yang. 

Lu Nan said while taking it, “I’ve graduated, and I still get this?” But she took it without hesitation. 

Ms. Huang was amused by her daughter’s feigned reluctance and jokingly said, “Oh, you’re the city manager now. Shouldn’t it be you honoring me instead?” 

“Honoring you? Of course, I’ll do that. Wait for it,” Lu Nan replied, quickly running back to her room and bringing out a box. 

“What’s this?” Ms. Huang originally thought her daughter was going to give her money, even wondering whether to return it as a gift for her birthday in a couple of days. But it wasn’t money— it was an actual item. 

Lu Nan shook the box in front of Ms. Huang, saying, “Ta-da! A new phone. Our President Huang will need to go on business trips and meet with suppliers next year, so I thought having a powerful phone would be important. Little brother, you’re in charge of teaching mom how to use this new phone.” 

Lu Yang nodded, “Don’t worry, big sis. Mission accepted!” 

“Good. Here’s something for you.” Lu Nan, like a magician, pulled a red envelope from her pocket, this one for her younger brother. “A little red envelope, just a token.” 

“You even gave him a red envelope?” Ms. Huang scolded her daughter before glaring at her son, “You’re taking it without saying thank you?” 

Lu Yang sincerely thanked his older sister. 

Ms. Huang planned to collect her son’s New Year’s money in a few days, so she steered the conversation back to the phone. “It must have been expensive, right?” 

“Expensive? You can’t return it. Electronics lose value the moment they’re sold, and you can’t even sell it for much as a secondhand item. Mom, just use it,” Lu Nan said honestly, without hiding anything. 

In the end, though Ms. Huang couldn’t help but grumble about wasting money, she listened attentively when Lu Yang showed her how to use the phone.