Chapter 85 New Year's Eve: The family debates "Who is my wife?"
On New Year’s Eve, we followed the custom of our hometown and started to stay up all night after having the reunion dinner.
When it was almost ten o'clock, my mother was a little embarrassed and said:
"According to custom, tonight and tomorrow night are called the end and beginning of the new year. Shanhong, you should sleep in your own home."
Except for my father, my sister, my brother-in-law and I didn't understand these old rules. We all asked:
"Why is that?"
My mother said, "What kind of people are those who are not at home at the beginning and end of the year? Tramps, beggars..."
I was a little worried and said, "What if someone takes advantage of the fact that Youranju is deserted and..."
I won’t say more. It’s an important holiday and there are some unlucky words, so I’ll stop here.
My mother seemed to have made a great decision: "Let's make an exception, Master, Master, once a teacher, always a father. That place can also be considered your home."
My brother-in-law chuckled and said leisurely, "It's not really a family, but maybe half a family."
A home, half a home, is not worth discussing in itself. The main point is that my brother-in-law's "snickering" is not normal, there must be something behind it.
My sister asked, "You are laughing so strangely, what does it mean?"
My brother-in-law laughed and said, "Master's wife's niece, Lan Xin, is sixteen years old."
His words immediately surprised the whole family.
The most surprising thing was that my father, my mother, and my sister didn’t even know if there was such a person in the world, not to mention that they knew Lan Xin.
I was also surprised. Master's wife's younger brother did have a daughter named Lan Xin, a very well-behaved girl. But she rarely came to Master's house.
I said, "I haven't even met her a few times, brother-in-law, how do you know her?"
Only then did my brother-in-law tell me the whole story.
He studied painting under Song Youzhi, the president of the city's prose society. Song Youzhi's wife was a dance teacher, and Lan Xin's parents often sent her to Song's house for piano lessons and dance lessons.
My mother suddenly slapped her thigh. With her rich life experience of more than 60 years, she immediately expressed her opinion:
"It's possible. Master always said Shanhong can't get married until she's thirty. So his niece is sixteen now. In six years, she'll be twenty-two."
My mother's discovery is as significant to the whole family as Columbus' discovery of the New World.
Because before Columbus discovered the New World, people didn't know that there was a continent isolated overseas, and no one knew about it.
Similarly, before my mother discovered that "Master's wife's niece will be the perfect age to marry me in six years", the whole family didn't know that there was a young girl in the world, completely beyond their knowledge, waiting to be Wan Shanhong's bride.
Then, my sister slapped her thigh:
"That makes sense. Master's children are all away, and he doesn't want to leave Wuxiang. So, by betrothing his wife's niece to Shanhong, the disciple becomes a true relative, a younger generation. The more you talk about them, the more they resemble each other. No wonder Master wanted to calculate Shanhong's marriage and concluded that Shanhong would marry late, and all the previous discussions would be unsuccessful."
My sister peeled an orange, handed it to my mother, and said, "Old ginger is the spicier. Mom, you are as good as Zhuge Liang."
No one watches the Spring Festival Gala anymore, it has become a form of entertainment for the performers.
The whole family engaged in heated, extensive, and in-depth discussions and arguments to prove the atypical math problem: "Wanshanhong + Lanxin = one family." Even my father joined in.
He asked my brother-in-law, "16 years old, how tall is he? What does he look like?"
My mother immediately interrupted: "Is he smart?"
My sister asked, "Is your personality good?"
My brother-in-law became the director of the information release center. He answered everyone's questions very carefully and introduced Lan Xin based on the principle of "starting from what you see and trying not to mix in too much subjective consciousness."
Currently sixteen years old and about 1.65 meters tall.
For appearance, refer to the master's wife.
Smart, because the Chinese concept of smart refers specifically to academic performance, which I don't understand. But he looks smart.
Personality, I really don't understand.
Now, like a pot of boiling water, it was boiling. "Half the Sky," represented by my mother and my sister, broke the convention of "three women, one play." Their back-and-forth was even more exciting than the skits performed by Uncle Benshan and Song Dandan.
My mother counted on her fingers and said, "As for height, there's no advantage. It's impossible for her to be taller than Shanhong. As for looks, if she were like Master's wife, she would definitely be a beauty.
As for intelligence, being too smart isn't good either. As for personality, if it's like Master's wife, then that's a first-rate personality. This needs to be understood quickly."
After all, my sister is a female entrepreneur, more in line with the times and more knowledgeable. She analyzed:
Looks are fine; girls who study art tend to be good-looking. If they're not particularly good at studying, they won't learn piano or dance. People with a strong main job won't pursue a side hustle.
This somewhat hurt the self-esteem of Gao Xu, the second owner of the rice noodle shop, and my brother-in-law coughed twice to express his protest.
My sister continued, "I'm not wrong. She's learning dance and piano simply because she wants to get into an arts school. A girl with excellent grades wouldn't take those shortcuts. I'm not wrong."
At this time, my father spoke up: "You are all guessing. Shanhong knows more, right? You seem to have forgotten his existence. Let him talk."
Actually, I did believe my mother's analysis a little bit. My master wasn't a god, so could he really predict that I had to be 30 before getting married? Was there really such a meaning behind it?
As for Lan Xin, I really didn't understand her. Later, when I was at my master's house, I rarely saw her once a year.
My mother said, "Your father wants you to speak, but you are just standing there."
I smiled and said, "I've seen her four times at most, not even as often as my brother-in-law. I think everyone should just watch TV, otherwise, the actors wouldn't be acting in vain."
My mother said, "It's okay to discuss it. It would be a great thing if we really became a family."
I laughed and said, "This is called wishful thinking. Even if I like someone, they may not like me. Secondly, Lan Xin is not Master's daughter. Who can make the decision?
Even his daughter, like girls these days, doesn't necessarily listen to their parents. So, I think spending so much time discussing this is a 'false proposition.'"
My father came out and made the final decision: "Let's see. Success has its advantages, and failure has its advantages. Everything is predetermined by fate."
Having said that, it’s not easy for everyone to talk about this topic anymore.
At this time, my mother started handing out red envelopes. She gave one to each of my sister, my brother-in-law, and me. Everyone exchanged polite and auspicious words.
I checked the time and said, "It's almost twelve o'clock. I'm going to go downstairs with my brother-in-law to set off the fireworks. After that, I won't be coming up. Master and his wife told me that Youranju can't lose to its neighbors."
My mother sighed, "Yes. I said you have two homes now, and I was right."
My sister and I went downstairs, arranged the fireworks, and lit them.
Every household was the same. Since it was a suburban area, practically every house had a front yard. They were all setting off fireworks and cannons. Suddenly, a dazzling display of colors erupted, vying for attention.
After setting off the fireworks, I was about to drive the car when my brother-in-law suddenly seemed to remember something and said:
"It's too noisy outside, let's talk about something in your room."
We both entered the "Night Talk Room".
He asked, "How are you going to arrange the Spring Festival?"
I couldn't think of what to do for a moment. If I were in my hometown, I would definitely visit relatives and friends, but I don't have any relatives here.
"No plans. Just a little card game."
"On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, you drive this car and we'll go visit Chairman Song. Fill it up with gas. Also, he asked me to find a secretary-general, and I'm going to recommend you. Do you have any information? For example, any poems or essays you've published."
"Let me be the secretary general?"
"Yes, you meet the requirements."
“I have been collecting the articles I published in journals during high school.”
"This is definitely not a false proposition," he joked.
After saying that, he burst into laughter.
At this moment, the wall clock rang, heralding the arrival of the Chinese New Year.
My brother-in-law and I said Happy New Year to each other and bowed to each other before saying goodbye.
I drove eastward, and cannons on both sides were launched into the sky. I walked through the fireworks and cannons as if welcoming a visiting foreign head of state.
Fireworks rose and fell, lining the streets to welcome them.
"Good sign!" I patted the steering wheel excitedly.
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