Chapter 116: New Year's Eve
"Dad, Happy New Year!"
After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Shen Yuan extended her hand to her father, the meaning was self-evident.
"Here, take it."
Shen Yuan happily accepted the red envelope, "Thank you, Dad. I wish you good health and a successful career!"
After giving it to his daughter, Shen Yun took out three more red envelopes and said, "Here, Xixi, Yingniang, these are for both of you."
Like Shen Yuan, Shen Xi took the red envelope and said a few auspicious words.
But He Ying was very surprised. She didn't expect that she would get two red envelopes.
"Hurry up and take them. One is for you and the other is for the baby in your belly."
"Dad, then I..." Shen Xu had a look of anticipation on his face. He had just seen his father take out three red envelopes, and he thought there was one for him.
"Yours is indispensable." Shen Yun took out another red envelope and gave it to his son.
"Come here, Grandpa has red envelopes here too." He Jianzhi took out a handful of red envelopes from his wide sleeves. Not only the younger generation like Shen Yuan and Shen Xi got some, but also their father and mother. All the younger generation present got some red envelopes.
He's father never thought that at his age, he would still receive New Year's money from his father.
"I am very happy this year. This little bit of New Year's money is nothing to me."
This year's Spring Festival, He Ying was probably the person who benefited the most. Everyone in her family prepared double red envelopes for her, one for her and one for her child. Even Shen Yuan and Shen Xi prepared red envelopes for the unborn niece or nephew in their sister-in-law's belly.
"Brother, sister-in-law, do you want to give the child a nickname first? That way, you can call him/her by his/her nickname when you talk to him/her."
Every time Shen Yuan greets the children now, she has to say hello twice, once calling them nephew and once calling them niece, to show that she is fair as an aunt.
"Nickname... why don't you choose one, Manman?" He Ying looked at Shen Yuan with a smile, then turned to look at Shen Su, "Husband, you don't have any opinions, right?"
Shen Xu had never expected that, not only was it not his turn to be given a full name, but now he was not even qualified to be given a nickname...
"Of course I have no objection, Manman, take it carefully."
"Of course."
Shen Yuan instantly felt a great sense of responsibility, and wondered in his mind what to call his nephew and niece.
All of a sudden, everyone's eyes were on her, wanting to know what nickname she could give the child.
Shen Yuan was thinking when he heard the sound of firecrackers outside. "We are welcoming the new year on New Year's Eve, why not just call it Sui Sui?"
"Sui Sui...Okay, let's call you Sui Sui." He Ying touched her belly and said softly, "Sui Sui, this is the name your aunt gave you. Do you like it?"
After saying that, He Ying felt her stomach being kicked gently, "Sui Sui is moving! Man Man, it seems that Sui Sui likes this name very much."
Hearing that the baby had moved, Shen Su didn't care that everyone was there, and immediately squatted down and pressed against his wife's belly, listening and talking, "Sui Sui, say hello to daddy!"
He Ying felt a little embarrassed, but no one present laughed at Shen Su. Young people are always like this when they become fathers for the first time.
"Manman is a very good name. Come here, Weng Weng will give you another red envelope."
Shen Yuan took the red envelope and asked doubtfully, "Weng Weng, why do you still have a red envelope?"
"Ah! I counted the wrong number of people and packed one too many."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone laughed.
On New Year's Eve, everyone has to stay up all night according to custom. However, Madam Shen and Old Master He are old and don't have the energy to stay up all night.
Tonight, the Shen family originally wanted to let the three members of the He family stay at the Shen family, but they insisted on going back. After eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, they stayed for more than an hour and then returned to the He family.
After the hour of Hai, Old Madam Shen could no longer bear it and went back to sleep.
Shen Yun then spoke to his daughter-in-law, "Yingniang, don't stay here any longer. You are still pregnant, so you need to rest well. Let Su'er go back with you to sleep."
"Dad, I can go back by myself. Let my husband stay here."
He Ying heard from Shen Su that her father-in-law would talk to her deceased mother-in-law every New Year, and he would always feel a little bad after the conversation. She thought that it would be better if her husband stayed here to accompany her.
On New Year's Eve, when lights are on in every house and families are reunited, Shen Yun does miss his wife more, but after so many years, he has gotten used to it.
After midnight, Shen Si and his wife could no longer hold back and went to sleep, and Shen Xi also went back with her parents.
Now, only Shen Yun and his family of three were left in the room. "Son, Manman, come with daddy to burn some incense for your mother."
The brother and sister quickly stood up and followed their father to the study to burn incense for their mother.
"This painting..."
As soon as Shen Su entered the inner room, he saw the portrait hanging next to his mother's tablet. The mother in the portrait looked the same as he remembered.
“This is full of paintings.”
"Manman, you dreamed about this too?!" Shen Su was very excited.
Shen Yuan nodded, "Yes, I drew it in my dream before. Mom told me that she lives here now. Why did you say that? Could it be...?"
Shen Su nodded excitedly, "I had the same dream. My mother told me to study hard and she prayed to the gods to ensure that I would be admitted to high school."
Shen Su scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly: "I was afraid that it wouldn't work if I said it out loud, so I didn't dare to say it before."
Shen Yun was a little jealous. How come his children could have the dream but he couldn't? It seemed that he had to complain to his wife about it.
"Mom, please stop working so hard. It's not good to pray to other gods every day. What will happen if you use up all the favors from the gods... no, let's say, the favors from the gods? My brother, my father and I will live a good life. We will work hard on our own."
Hearing his sister's words, Shen Yu quickly knelt down, "Yes, mother, I will study hard and live up to your expectations. Also, did you know that your daughter-in-law is pregnant? I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so would you mind telling your son about it in a dream tonight?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Su was patted on the head. "You'll know whether it's a boy or a girl after the baby is born. Your mother must be exhausted from having you dream about her every day."
Shen Yuan continued to talk to the tablet, "Mom, if you want anything, just tell me if you don't have it, and I'll burn it for you. How about storybooks? Dad said you like to read storybooks, and there are a lot of interesting storybooks published in the capital. I'll buy some and burn them for you someday. I'll also burn a set of Pai Gow for you. If you're free, you can play Pai Gow with the gods passing by."
"Look at your sister. She's so sensible."
"Letting your mother play Pai Gow is considered sensible?"
Tired of kneeling, Shen Yuan changed his position, sat down, and took out a red envelope from his arms.
"Dad, Mom, this red envelope was given to me by Master Xiao Xie. It contains 1,200 silver notes! Do you think I can accept so much silver?"
Before Shen Yun could say anything, Shen Su suddenly jumped up.
"I can't accept it! How can I accept so much when I have no relatives or friends?"
Shen Yun pushed his son away and said to his daughter, "Take it. It's not right to return the New Year's money. He is also a junior. Dad will give him a big red envelope someday."
“I don’t agree!!”
"It's no use for you to disagree, Mom has agreed."
"When did mother agree? Shen Manman, you can't talk nonsense."
"Even if I lied to you that I was a puppy, I would agree!"