Yang Sui'an looked at his cousin. Hua Zhi seemed to sense his gaze and looked over at him, smiling at him.
Yang Sui'an also smiled and said, "With my cousin helping me, I feel confident. I think most people in the Yang family should be happy that I don't go back. As for my grandfather, I will go to see him when I have time."
"Sui An..."
"Mom, this is good. I would rather owe my cousin than rely on the Yang family to survive."
Hua Xian looked at her son in a daze, then looked at her mother. What should she do
"The eldest girl is more capable of taking on responsibilities than you think, and she is also protective of others. As long as you are her aunt, she will protect you. You don't need to worry about the Hua family. They will never watch you struggle in the fire pit."
Hua Xian's heart beat faster and the words "willing to divorce" kept jumping out of her chest. But in the end, she forced herself to suppress them. She couldn't be impulsive. She had to think about it again.
Hua Zhike didn't expect that her third aunt would mention divorce on New Year's Eve. After dinner, she took the whole family to the decorated flower hall next door to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year.
The room was warm, with six stoves of different sizes, and fruits and snacks placed on them. Hua Zhi helped her mother to sit in the innermost seat, and turned around to say, "Everyone, please feel free to sit."
There is no Spring Festival Gala, no various celebrations, and even no fireworks. But precisely because of the absence of these, no one has to worry about being looked down upon or having no one pay attention to what they say.
It was the first time that Shaoyao had such a humane New Year. She sat next to Huahua, her eyes moving around the tables around the stove, and of course, she never stopped talking.
When she reached for the snacks again, Hua Zhi held her back and said, "Give your stomach some rest, you'll have dumplings later, so save some room."
"I can eat." Although Shaoyao said that, she still stopped. Zhu was pleased to see her well-behaved appearance. She pushed the teacup in front of her and said, "It's a blessing to be able to eat. You can tell from the looks of it that you are a blessed child."
Peony grinned foolishly.
Hua Zhi lazily held her cheek in her hand. Because she had drunk some sweet wine and was now being heated by the stove, her cheeks were red, and her eyes and eyebrows were full of feminine charm. Her tone was also soft when she spoke, "Who did Cao Cao spend the New Year with before?"
"Sometimes it's with the master, and sometimes it's with the people in the mansion." Shaoyao leaned over the table. Brother Yan would spend the New Year with the Queen Mother in the palace every year. She would either spend the New Year casually with her master, or drink and eat meat with a bunch of brothers until dawn. She had never had such a serious New Year celebration in her memory, or maybe it had happened in the years that she didn't remember.
"Is the master not here this year?"
"He went to rescue people. Someone was poisoned. The poison was mixed by him." Thinking of this Shaoyao reminded her of the traitor around her. She wondered if Brother Yan had found him. With Brother Yan's ability, it shouldn't have taken several days for him to find him.
Hua Zhi immediately changed the subject and talked about something else. As they ate and drank, the new year had already arrived.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Yang Sui'an returned to the Yang family to pay New Year's greetings. The younger generation of the Zhu family, brought by Zhu Ziwen, the eldest of the younger generation, came to pay New Year's greetings to his aunt.
Zhu had a headache that day, so she asked someone to call Hua Zhi to come and keep her company, and she went back to lie down.
Hua Zhi's smile froze when she saw Zhu Shan. Her uncle was too impatient while Berlin was still in mourning!
"Cousin." After Zhu Shan finished her greeting, she secretly raised her eyes to look at her cousin who had been talked about so much, her eyes full of curiosity.
Hua Zhi helped her up and took her to sit aside. She looked for Bolin out of the corner of her eye but didn't see him. Just as she was about to ask someone to find him, she saw Hua Bolin rushing to her holding something like a treasure, "Elder sister, this is for you."
Hua Zhi stared at the hairpin in the box in shock, then looked up at her brother.
Hua Bolin rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I secretly brought out a piece of sandalwood at that time. I slowly polished it. It was not done well."
Hua Zhi took the hairpin in her hand and looked at it, then took off the hairpin on her head and inserted this one in place. After touching it, Hua Zhi looked up with a soft smile on her face, "I like it very much."
Hua Bolin blushed, feeling happy and a little embarrassed.
Hua Zhi glanced at Zhu Shan and found that the little girl was looking at Bai Lin again and again. Her heart skipped a beat. Could it be that her uncle had already communicated with her through the telephone
Hua Zhi coughed lightly and said, "Why don't you greet your cousins?"
Hua Bailin then realized that not only his eldest sister was in the room, but several of his brothers were looking at him and laughing. He felt even more embarrassed, but fortunately he had a straightforward personality, and after the shock passed, he greeted them calmly.
"Has my cousin grown taller?" Zhu Ziwen looked him up and down, his eyes flickering between Hua Bailin and his sister.
Hua Zhi was now certain that Zhu Shan didn't know, but her cousin certainly knew. After a little thought, she pretended not to know and took over the conversation, "Cousin, you might as well ask me instead of him. He has grown a little. When I was tailoring clothes before the New Year, the maid said that he is an inch taller than before."
"No wonder, she looks a lot taller. She will be very tall if she continues to grow." Zhu Ziwen thought that his father's idea was not a good one before, but now he understood a little. The one above her is his aunt and the eldest sister who is the head of the family. Both of them are not meddlesome people. There is no way that his younger sister will be bullied if she marries into the family. Anyway, the Zhu family does not rely on his younger sister to arrange marriage, so marrying into the Hua family is not a bad idea.
Thinking of this, Zhu Ziwen said, "I have something to say to my cousin. Berlin, you take your cousins around. This is their first time here."
Hua Bolin looked at Zhu Shan, "Is cousin going?"
Zhu Shan looked at him like an elder brother and nodded.
Hua Zhi did not stop them. Childhood sweethearts are a beautiful thing in themselves. If you don't think about your uncle's plan, such interactions between cousins cannot be considered as crossing the line.
"Uncle, this is too impatient. Does aunt agree?"
"My mother is not a bad person, but she has a limited vision and can only see what is right under her nose. Cousin, please don't bother with her."
Zhu Ziwen smiled in a gentle and elegant manner, looking extremely harmless. However, as the eldest grandson raised by the Zhu family, he could not be simple. Hua Zhi never looked down on others, so she followed suit and said, "My uncle said this, and so did you, cousin. In your eyes, I am so petty. Why are you still holding on to this matter?"
"Cousin, please spare my life. If the old man hears this, he will punish me. Who in the capital dares to say that the eldest daughter of the Hua family is stingy?" Zhu Ziwen laughed after he finished speaking, but this smile was different from the previous ones. It had more warmth, which was only shown when facing his family.
"Cousin, there's no need to think too much. If you're wrong, you're wrong. There's no reason to keep making the same mistake. I also apologize on behalf of my mother." Zhu Ziwen stood up and bowed deeply.
Hua Zhi hurriedly avoided the criticism, "I said this to my uncle, and I also said this to you, cousin. From the perspective of loving her family, my aunt did nothing wrong. It's just that she didn't include the three of us in the family. There's nothing strange about that."
After hearing this, Zhu Ziwen knew that no matter how well her mother did in the future, she would never get Hua Zhi's recognition. But she did not blame her mother as she said.
Zhu Ziwen sighed secretly. She certainly would not blame an insignificant person.
PS: Phew, I finally kept my promise.