Some compliments will make you feel sweet in your heart but hateful on your lips, such as when someone praises your child.
Fang Yixing could hear that the old ancestor liked Fang Yan, but he couldn't follow the old ancestor's words and continue to praise his son. If he did, people would think that he was getting carried away and didn't know what was good for him.
"That's Daoling's favor to Fang Yan. He got into trouble outside, and it was Daoling who helped him out." Fang Yixing said modestly. "I said I would find time to invite Daoling to my house for a drink, but I didn't expect him to go to Yanjing City so quickly. Daoling's position has been promoted, so we have to celebrate it properly."
The old man waved his hand and said, "Stop, stop. I won't listen to these things. What's the point of talking to an old lady like me who is buried up to her neck in the dirt about your affairs? I know you are all busy today and have many families to visit. Yixing can go and do your work, and Fang Yan can stay and play cards with me. Xier is so clumsy that she is not even as good as an old lady like me."
Fang Yixing quickly got up from the ground and said, "Okay. I'll go check out the other houses. There are really a lot of houses I need to visit today, and I have to go to every one of them, otherwise it would be impolite."
He then turned sideways and reminded Fang Yan, saying, "Play cards with the old ancestor well and don't make him angry."
"Dad, I know." Fang Yan said.
Ye Wenrou had been kneeling at the corner of the warm kang, wearing a red cloth-buttoned jacket with gold-rimmed floral decorations, and a soft black cotton skirt. Her long hair was tied up, and her face was rosy. She looked like a pretty young wife.
Fang Yan heard from Ye Fengsheng that Ye Wenrou's mother loved needlework very much. Every Spring Festival, she would personally sew clothes for her children and grandchildren. She was responsible for all the New Year clothes for the elderly and children in the Ye family.
The Fuwa suit that Ye Fengsheng was wearing should have been made by Ye Wenrou's mother. The style of the clothes was nice, but Ye Fengsheng had too much fat on his body, which made the clothes look a little out of place.
The classical style dress that Ye Wenrou was wearing must have been carefully made by her mother for her daughter. The stitches were dense, the patterns were bright, and the red and gold colors complemented each other. The red made the gold dazzling, and the gold made the red noble.
Ye Wenrou looked quite lovely and cheerful in this outfit, which also concealed her cold and aloof personality.
Xier was scolded by the old ancestor for being clumsy, so she pouted and said, "I am stupid, otherwise why can I only be a maid for the old ancestor? If I were smart, I would also follow the young lady to learn kung fu."
The old man stretched out his hand to pull Xier's mouth and said, "You little girl, you are not happy after I say a few words to you---I will tear your mouth off."
Xier giggled and dodged, and said to Fang Yan: "Why don't you take off your shoes and come up? Do you want me to take off your shoes for you? I only serve the old ancestor and the young lady----"
“No, no.” Fang Yan knew that Xi’er was sharp-tongued and loved by the ancestors. She had a high status in the Ye family. It was impossible to ask her to help take off his shoes. Besides, Fang Yan didn’t have the habit of asking others to help take off his shoes. Unless someone put a knife to his neck and forced him to take off his shoes. “I can do it myself.”
Fang Yan took off his cloth boots, climbed onto the heated kang barefoot, sat where Xier had just sat, and said, "Shall we start now? How do we play?"
"It's calculated by the game. The winner takes all, and each loser loses 100 yuan." The old man said. "You didn't forget to bring money?"
"I brought it." Fang Yan said with a smile. "Grandfather, are you still worried that I can't pay the bill?"
"I was afraid you would run away if you lost," said the old ancestor. "Other children wouldn't dare to do that. But you do."
Fang Yan smiled shyly and said, "The ancestors have misunderstood me. I never owe anyone anything."
There was a small square table on the kang, with the old ancestor sitting on the inside, while Fang Yan and Ye Wenrou sat cross-legged on either side, facing each other.
Fang Yan shuffled the cards quickly, and then the game began.
I don’t know whether Fang Yan was lucky or had good calculations, but he won several times in a row.
The old ancestor and Ye Wenrou kept giving him money, and the small drawer in front of him was soon filled with hundred-dollar bills.
Fang Yan's face was full of excitement. He changed to a more comfortable posture and said, "It looks like I'm going to get rich today."
Snapped!
He was kicked in the shin under the table.
Fang Yan then realized that he had stretched his legs in front of Ye Wenrou and asked, "Why did you kick me?"
"My feet stink." Ye Wenrou said expressionlessly.
The old man smiled and said, "It does stink a bit. I can smell it."
Fang Yan was very embarrassed and pulled his feet back, and put them under his butt again. He wanted to change to a prone position. That way, his feet could be hidden far away.
Fang Yan won again.
Ye Wenrou and the old ancestor paid again.
Snapped!
Fang Yan's knee was kicked again.
This time Fang Yan's legs were not stretched randomly. It was Ye Wenrou who stretched her foot under the table and kicked him actively.
Fang Yan felt very aggrieved. He looked at Ye Wenrou and said, "Why did you kick me again?"
"My feet stink." Ye Wenrou said.
"--------"
The old ancestor glanced at Ye Wenrou and said, "You kid, even if Fang Yan's feet smell a little, you can't let people cut off their feet and put them at the door of the warm room, and then put them back when he goes out, right?"
Fang Yan laughed and said, "The ancestor is quite humorous."
After playing again, the ancestor won.
Fang Yan paid the money readily, and this time Ye Wenrou did not kick Fang Yan under the table.
Fang Yan sighed in his heart, when you live under someone's roof, you have to lose money.
---------
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Crunch----
A black Mercedes-Benz parked on the flat dojo of Yanziwu, followed by another Mercedes-Benz. The third was also a Mercedes-Benz, the fourth was a stretched Rolls-Royce, and the fifth and sixth were also Mercedes-Benz.
Six black luxury cars formed a majestic black dragon. The Rolls-Royce in the middle surrounded by five Mercedes-Benz cars was naturally the heart of the dragon.
Except for the Rolls-Royce, which did not move, the doors of the other five Mercedes-Benz cars banged open. Then the tall men in black scattered around, looking around with vigilant faces. Another two men in black stood on both sides of the Rolls-Royce's door, and took the initiative to help open the back door.
She wore a white down jacket on top and sky blue jeans on the bottom. Her furry snow boots added a bit of playfulness. She had a plaid scarf tied around her neck, and she looked like a student studying in a different place or a girl next door who worked in a big city and came home to visit her family during the Spring Festival.
The girl stepped on the black soil of the dojo with her small boots and asked in a sweet voice, "Is my outfit good?"
A tall, handsome young man in a well-tailored suit stood behind the girl, looking at the Yanziwu village surrounded by heavy snow, and said, "Very good. It meets your requirements - to be approachable and not oppressive."
The girl laughed softly and said, "When there is a sense of oppression, there will be a sense of distance. This is not good."
"Miss, is this really worth it?" the man couldn't help asking. "You have everything. Wisdom, beauty, kindness, wealth, and power that ordinary people desire all their lives but cannot obtain. You own this world and you have the power to rule it. You should stand proudly above the sky, looking down on the inhabitants of this world. You mix yourself with the grass and let the crystal soles be stained with mud. Isn't this too much to pay?"
"He saved me." Qin Yitian said.
"Many people have saved you." The young man said. He pointed at the men in black around him, then at himself, and said, "They, including me - we are always ready to sacrifice to protect you."
Qin Yitian was silent for a while, then said, "Muying, do you know Zhang Ailing?"
"I know." Mu Ying said.
"She wrote this sentence on the back of Hu Lancheng's photo: I become very low in front of you, as low as the dust. But my heart is happy, and flowers bloom from the dust." Qin Yitian said in a light voice: "I like this sentence very much, and I think it is a true portrayal of me. I know I have a lot, but I am willing to share what I have with him or let him enjoy it alone. I am willing. That's enough, isn't it?"
Mu Ying sighed softly and said, "Although I think what you said makes sense, I still find it hard to accept it for some reason."
"Because you are a man." Qin Yitian said. "And because you don't understand how tragic a woman's most resolute sacrifice is."
"Like taking a bullet for him?"
Qin Yitian nodded and said, "It's like taking a bullet for him."
"He must have saved the galaxy in his past life."
"No, that's what Superman does." Qin Yitian said.
She glanced at the black-clad bodyguards scattered around and said crisply, "I brought you here not to protect me, and no one in Yanziwu will hurt me. Take out all the gifts I brought. Let's go and wish the teacher a happy new year."
So, the group of black-clad bodyguards who had been so majestic and murderous just now became poor porters, carrying a large number of valuable gifts in their hands, shoulders and arms, and walked towards the village of Yanziwu.
Even the handsome boy Mu Ying could not escape. He followed Qin Yitian with a birdcage in one hand.
This group of people paying New Year's greetings was so unique and cool that it attracted a lot of onlookers from Yanziwu.
Some people pointed at them and talked about something in a low voice.
Qin Yitian bowed to an old lady at the entrance of the alley and said, "Sister, Happy New Year. Where is Teacher Fang Yan's home?"
The old woman was so happy to be called "sister" that she pointed to the fish pond in front and said, "Go straight ahead and you will see the fish pond at the end. The family with the courtyard door facing the fish pond is the Fang family."
"Thank you, sister." Qin Yitian said gratefully.
(PS: Congratulations to Xing Ye Xie for becoming the 118th Cute Master of our "Ultimate Teacher", and he has jumped to the Silver Cute Master. What a rocket speed! 118, this is really an auspicious number.) (To be continued)