It's New Year's Eve again!
The importance of Lunar New Year's Eve to us Chinese people is self-evident; it is the most important festival for our family.
The same applies to Bai Yu and his family; they also value this festival for family reunion.
As in previous years, on New Year's Eve, Bai Yu's family of five gathered in the living room to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Although the Spring Festival Gala has become less and less entertaining each year, their family still turns on the TV every year. Even if they don't watch it, just hearing the sound is good enough.
As for Bai Yu and his family, they were playing mahjong in the living room.
Apart from Bai Ma, the remaining four people sat down at the mahjong table and began their fierce battle.
To prevent Bai Yu and his wife from feeding each other cards, they were separated and seated opposite each other.
In this card game, there is no room for kinship; the main focus is on who has the better card skills, and whoever does will win more chips.
That's right, the four of them play mahjong for a wager. If it were just for fun, there would be no need to take it so seriously.
Even if it's about money, they don't need to be so serious, but the prize they're betting on isn't money, but something else that's more important.
That's next year's holiday!
Bai Yu and his three companions were all senior executives at Yu Xue Company. The lowest-ranking among them was a vice president, and not just any vice president, but one who could sign contracts on behalf of others.
Bai Yu hadn't had enough fun on his honeymoon, so he planned to ask Li Xue for another month's leave after the New Year to take her on a proper trip.
When he shared this idea with his family, only his mother agreed, while his father and Bai Yue both opposed it.
In their words, they also want to take a long vacation after the New Year. They haven't had much rest this year, and they want to make up for it next year.
Then came this game of mahjong, where Bai Yu and the other three each had 100 days of vacation time, and they decided who would get those vacation days by playing mahjong.
The loser can take over the shift for the winner after the New Year. They can freely go to either Yuxue Company or the processing plant to take the shift.
That's why there was no family affection involved in this card game.
Those present will not slack off in order to secure next year's holiday; they will undoubtedly pull out all the stops.
As for Bai Ma, she was the only spectator. She prepared fruits and drinks for the four of them with a smile and watched them play mahjong.
In order to win more vacation time for himself and Li Xue, they played mahjong until the next morning, and Bai Yu successfully won a seven-day vacation.
On the other hand, Li Xue alone got 84 days of vacation, and the two of them together won 91 days of vacation.
"Ah, Dad, Yueyue, it's already six in the morning. It's getting late. Let's call it a day and get ready for breakfast."
Bai Yu yawned as he suggested ending the game.
Although Bai Yu did not achieve his initial expectations, it didn't matter. He still had his wife. If his wife won, it was the same as him winning.
"I worked hard all night, and all I got was a three-day holiday. Ugh! It feels so unfair!"
Bai Yue, who was standing to the side, also glanced at the time. She was equally dissatisfied with her gains, having only gained three more days.
Since Bai Yu, Li Xue, and Bai Yue all won, who lost in the end?
None of Bai Yu and the other two spoke, but they all turned their gazes to the last person: Bai's father.
As the sole loser of the entire game, whether this poker game ends or not depends on what this loser has to say.
"Sigh! Yueyue, at least you won for three days, but your old man only has six days left. What kind of karma did I create? Four people played mahjong, and I was the only one who lost!"
"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's have breakfast first. We still need to wish your grandparents a Happy New Year early this morning."
After finishing speaking, Mr. Bai stood up and walked towards the kitchen with a sullen expression.
Breakfast today doesn't require much preparation. They had already made a lot of dumplings before playing mahjong last night, so we can just start cooking them this morning.
After losing over ninety days of vacation, Bai's father still had to cook dumplings for Bai Yu and the others. That's truly something else.
"Brother, Dad's having such a tough time. Don't you think it's a bit unfair that we got such a long vacation after beating him?"
Bai Yue looked at her father's back and asked Bai Yu, who was standing beside her.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. Why does Dad need so many holidays normally? Mom hasn’t retired yet. In a couple of years, when Mom retires, we can make up for these holidays and let them travel and see the world.”
Now is the age for hard work, so fewer holidays are fine; we're doing this so Dad can improve himself.
When Bai Yu said these words, she did so without batting an eye, and her father righteously outlined her work priorities for the next two years.
Upon hearing this, Bai Yue realized it was indeed true. Her mother was still working at the school and had two years until retirement, while her father didn't seem to need that many vacation days.
At most, let him rest for a while during the summer and winter vacations, which is also when Bai Ma will be resting.
Bai Yu had already planned to use up the more than ninety days of vacation he and his wife had won during the summer vacation.
This is a wonderful time of year. In China, you can go wherever you want, with tourist attractions all over the country.
They will definitely want to see our beautiful land when the time comes!
After having breakfast, Bai Yu and her family went out.
First, Bai's father took Bai Yu and the other two to their second uncle's house to wish Bai Yu's grandparents and the second uncle's family a Happy New Year.
Then Bai Yu and the others were free to do as they pleased; they could visit whichever family they wanted to pay New Year's greetings to, but Bai's father needed to go home.
There's nothing they can do; quite a few people will be coming to their house to wish them a Happy New Year today, and someone needs to be home.
Paying New Year's visits is always a lively event. This day is also when the village is most complete, and every household greets people with auspicious words.
It was so lively!
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