章 92: New Year's Eve (2-in-1)
February 14th was New Year's Eve.
The day before, Ren had gone back to his hometown with his wife Jada and their daughter Yueyue after buying some New Year supplies.
This year was special because, unlike previous years when he went home alone, this time he brought his wife and daughter.
However, this also meant that his parents' love was now divided into two parts—one for his wife Jada and the other for their daughter Yueyue.
As for him? Ha, parents are fickle. Once he had a child, his mission was complete.
Ren lay on the sofa, feeling a bit bored as he played with his phone.
His wife was busy in the kitchen with his mom. Jada, knowing she wasn't good at cooking, was helping with the prep work.
As for his dad? He was playing with Yueyue, occasionally wincing as she pulled out a few of his whiskers.
"Sigh," Ren sighed. He felt unnecessary in this household.
"Woof!"
Just as Ren was pitying himself, a small dog's bark caught his attention.
Looking down, he saw Little White squatting by the sofa, looking up at him with its tongue out.
Since they couldn't always have Claire take care of Little White, they brought it home with them.
Now, looking at it...
Poor Little White was also forgotten.
Ren suddenly covered his face.
A little yellow dog had run up to Little White and was licking its fur.
Right, he forgot that Little White wasn't lonely. It had quickly bonded with the little yellow dog after arriving here.
If the yellow dog weren't a puppy, Ren would have thought it was intentionally showing off in front of him!
"Go, go," Ren lightly kicked Little White with his foot. "Go play somewhere else."
He already felt pitiful enough without having to watch his dog showing off.
Maybe he should give the yellow dog away so Little White would know how cruel the world could be.
Ren maliciously thought as he checked out the comics in his system.
This system was really junk.
The comics refreshed in the past two months weren't great, and some he hadn't even heard of in his past life.
But that was to be expected.
Although he could see many good works on various websites in his past life, it was because of the sheer number of comics.
These good works stood out from countless failures.
Ren's system was just a comic artist system, not a top-quality comic refresh system. It included even the mediocre ones.
Even if they weren't bad, some comics wouldn't be suitable for this world.
For example, this month's refresh included "Fist of the North Star," a famous work in his past life. But in this world? No chance.
It was a good work, but its art style was a problem. Muscle-themed works had loyal fans, but compared to those who disliked it, the number was smaller. Ren didn't need to choose such a niche work for this era.
He would wait for March's refresh.
As Ren was bored and checking the system's comics, Jada and his mom placed the New Year's Eve dinner on the table.
In China, New Year's Eve dinner wouldn't be complete without dumplings. Besides traditional dough-wrapped dumplings, Ren's family also had egg-wrapped dumplings.
The five of them sat around the table, chatting and laughing. Ren and his dad poured themselves large glasses of wine and toasted each other.
Yueyue couldn't drink, so Jada poured her some juice.
Halfway through, Yueyue looked at her parents' large wine glasses and felt unhappy, demanding Jada give her a small wine glass.
Yueyue mimicked her mom, filled the small glass with juice, took a sip, and immediately frowned, "Ugh, this way of drinking is no fun!"
She glanced at her parents, feeling they didn't know how to drink.
Drinking should be done in big gulps to savor the taste, she thought.
"Silly girl!" Jada laughed, ruffling Yueyue's hair.
After dinner, around eight o'clock, the New Year's Eve gala started.
The family sat together, watching the show without much interest.
As in his past life, recent New Year's Eve galas weren't as good as before. This year was worse, with some idols singing and even South Korean stars performing.
Ren found it boring, and so did Yueyue. Influenced by Ren, Yueyue thought these idols were less interesting than her favorite "Cardcaptor Sakura"!
She jumped onto her grandpa's lap, tugging at his beard. "Grandpa, can we watch 'Magical Girl Lilith' instead?"
"It's not on today," Ren said, "The channel showing the gala is the one that airs 'Lilith'. Not today."
Hearing this, Yueyue pouted, "New Year's is so boring! I want to play on my phone!"
"No way!" Jada's voice came right after, "You already used up your three hours today."
Jada strictly controlled Yueyue's screen time, allowing only a few hours a day.
Especially since Yueyue often held the phone too close, which worried Jada even more.
"Ugh!!!"
(＃￣～￣＃)
Hearing this, Yueyue puffed up her cheeks like a pufferfish.
Seeing this, Ren chuckled and poked her cheek, deflating her like a balloon.
Yueyue glared at Ren, "Bad Daddy, bad Mommy!"
"Oh, really?" Ren calmly pulled a bag from under the sofa, "I was going to take you to play with firecrackers, but someone said I'm bad~"
"Eh, heh heh~~" Yueyue's eyes widened, then she looked around, "Who said Daddy is bad? Daddy is the best daddy in the world~~"
Yueyue had rarely played with firecrackers before. Hearing her kindergarten friends talk about it made her envious.
So, this year, she insisted on buying a lot of firecrackers.
"Oh? No one?" Ren extended his right cheek, "But Daddy is still sad. I need a kiss to feel better."
"Mua~~" Yueyue quickly kissed him and hugged his neck, "Good Daddy, let's play with firecrackers~~"
-----
In this world, New Year's celebrations still had a strong festive atmosphere. The concern for environmental pollution hadn't stopped people from setting off fireworks and firecrackers during the holiday. Of course, for regular events like weddings, fireworks were still banned.
At this moment, the continuous sound of firecrackers could be heard everywhere. And this wasn't even the peak; the real noise would come at midnight, with firecrackers going off louder than shampoo commercials with special effects.
Though Yueyue said she wanted to set off firecrackers, when it came to actually doing it, she was a bit scared.
She hid behind her mom, gripping her pants tightly, nervously watching Ren, who was squatting and preparing to set off a skyrocket.
She had seen these in videos before, shooting into the sky with a "whoosh."
She couldn't help but worry about what would happen if it fell halfway. What if it fell on her?
Seeing the direction Ren had the skyrocket pointing, seemingly towards her, Yueyue got more anxious and cried out, "Daddy, it's pointing at me!"
Ren looked back at his daughter, noticing her tense face. He raised an eyebrow.
Pretending to light the fuse, he knocked the skyrocket over and made a "whoosh" sound.
It was quite dark, and Yueyue didn't see everything clearly. Already on edge, the sudden sound made her scream and bury her face in Jada's side.
After a while, when she didn't hear the "bang" that usually followed the "whoosh," but instead heard Ren's laughter, she opened her eyes cautiously.
She saw her dad laughing and the skyrocket still in its original position.
Realizing what had happened, Yueyue pouted, pointing at Ren with a wronged expression, "You black-hearted maggot!"
She then ran into the house, pretending to cry, "Grandpa, Daddy bullied me again!"
Soon enough, Ren's dad came out with a feather duster, glaring at Ren, "You dare bully my granddaughter? Come here!"
"Hmph!" Yueyue cheered from the side, "Go, Grandpa!"
A while later, Ren was rubbing his behind. It didn't really hurt, but he was playing it up for Yueyue.
Seeing her dad's act, Yueyue laughed happily.
Then she took out a sparkler.
It was a type of firework that emitted bright lights when lit, which Yueyue loved. She enjoyed drawing shapes in the air with it.
Besides sparklers, she also had snap pops, and she wanted to use them to get back at the big goose that had chased her a few months ago.
As a village tyrant, the goose wasn't scared of a snap pop. Some geese even chased cars!
Before long, Yueyue was running and screaming, with the big goose flapping its wings and chasing her.
"Grandma, help me!"
After some chaos, the family laughed and played together until almost midnight.
Ren's mom pointed at the TV, "It's almost countdown time."
"Five."
"Four."
"…"
"One."
At midnight, the firecracker noise outside was deafening.
Yueyue took the chance to get red envelopes from her grandparents, feeling extremely happy.
She had never received so many red envelopes before! She thought about all the snacks she could buy.
But she ran into some trouble with Ren.
In Ren and Jada's room, Yueyue, who rarely slept with them, suddenly remembered something and looked at Ren, "Daddy, you haven't given me a red envelope!"
"Your mom gave you one. Mine is with hers," Ren said, tapping her nose.
"No way!" Yueyue protested, bumping into Ren, determined not to let him sleep until she got her red envelope.
Ren, seeing no way out, reluctantly took out a bundle of pre-prepared red envelopes from under his pillow and handed them to her, "Alright, alright, here you go."
"Hee hee, thanks, Daddy!" Yueyue happily took the red envelopes.
She had learned early on that you should be sweet to people when you get something from them. Her mouth was as sweet as honey, praising her dad.
She completely forgot how she often complained about him being stingy.
Watching her, Ren suddenly remembered something common to many children.
When kids got their New Year's money, their parents would take it under various pretexts.
For example, "We'll keep it for you until you grow up." Would you dare ask your parents for it later?
Or "We'll keep it safe for you and buy you things when you want." But when you did want something, they'd say, "No, it's not good for you."
Ren's New Year's money had always been taken by his parents this way.
He got an idea.
It was time for Yueyue to learn a life lesson.
"Yueyue, do you want Daddy to keep your money safe for you and give it back when you grow up?" Ren asked gently.
"No way!" Yueyue immediately refused, looking at Ren with disdain, "Don't think I don't know. If I give it to you, it's gone! My classmate Fatty said never to give it to parents. He gave his to his dad and never got to buy anything!"
She then suddenly remembered something, jumping up and taking out the red envelopes from her coat pocket.
Her dad was eyeing her money, so she couldn't keep it here.
But...
She frowned, thinking about where to hide it.
Then she thought of her grandparents and ran off to their room, knowing they loved her dearly.
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