Wangyue walked out of Liu Susu’s room and saw the chubby young man clumsily sneak back into his own room.
He went to his room.
The chubby young man, seeing him come in, quickly lay down on the bed and covered his head with the thin quilt.
Wangyue approached him and pulled the quilt off his head, "Why aren’t you asleep yet?"
The chubby young man slowly opened his eyes, first looking a bit nervously at his son, and upon noticing that his son wasn’t upset, he immediately got up with a smile.
He held his son’s hand and led him to a cabinet: "Baby, I just overheard you wanting to go out and play with your friend Guang, is that right?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Shushu has no money." The chubby young man hung his head, looking at his son’s little face, trying to think about what he had just overheard, "Not letting baby go."
Wangyue looked at Dad and didn’t say anything.
The chubby young man suddenly revealed a triumphant smile and pulled out a wooden box from the cabinet, stuffing it into his son’s arms: "But I have! I have lots of money, all for baby, so baby can go play with Guang."
Wangyue held the wooden box given by Dad. The box was obviously heavy, but he felt his whole body become lighter.
After a moment, he opened the wooden box, finding it full of red envelopes.
Wangyue knew that each of these red envelopes had been given to Dad by relatives and friends every New Year and holiday. Dad collected gifts every year, saving them up until now, and it was full to the brim with red envelopes.
Wangyue gently picked up two of the topmost red envelopes, then closed the box and handed it back to the chubby young man:
"Thank you, Dad. I’ll just take these two big red envelopes."
"Yeah, take them, take them." The chubby young man was so happy, generously waving his hand, then he put the wooden box back on the cabinet.
At night.
Shi Wangyue turned off his computer. When he went to bed, under the sparse, bright moonlight from the window, he saw the two red envelopes he had placed on the blanket earlier.
The design on the covers of the red envelopes was simple, without too many complex patterns, each bore four simple golden characters:
"Peace and Joy."
"All Wishes Fulfilled."
...
Morning, Xia’s residence.
Xia Xiqing was loading his niece’s and son’s luggage into the car trunk, carefully reminding them:
"... Make sure you stick with the group, and if you have any problems, report to the tour guide and Uncle Xuexi. Don’t go off on your own."
"Got it, Dad. You’ve said it eight hundred times."
In the past two years, Xia Dai, the young boy, has been into basketball and active sports, and he’s grown quickly.
Almost 1.7 meters tall, he looks like a young man when he goes out and almost reaches his dad’s height standing beside him.
"I’m talking about you. Youyou is always well-behaved, and I’m sure she’ll listen carefully. I’m worried about you running around everywhere." Xia Xiqing teased his son.
"I won’t run around. I still have to take good care of my sister." Xia Dai took the snack bag from his sister’s hand.
"That’s good to hear. You must remember to help carry your sister’s bag. Don’t let her get tired. If I hear you didn’t take good care of your sister on the road, just see how I’ll deal with you when I come back." Xia Xiqing waved his fist to make his point clear.
You Guang watched his uncle and cousin bickering, his face full of joyful delight.
Today is the day they set off for a trip to the Arctic.
They are preparing to leave to pick up the kids from the Shi’s place, then they will head to the airport.
In the afternoon, they will fly from Jincheng to the capital, and tomorrow, from the capital to Moscow, starting a 20-day journey around the Arctic.
Xia Dai’s brother originally hadn’t planned to go. But when she and her uncle mentioned wanting to go to the Arctic and had him contact Uncle Xuexi to help arrange the trip, her uncle swiftly handled everything without a second thought and even packed his son off with her to the Arctic.
In fact, she knew her uncle was very uneasy about her going on such a long trip alone so far away.
But she really wanted to go.
Her uncle did everything he could to help her fulfill her wish.
This is the scene we see now.
Once it was decided that his son and niece would go to the Arctic together, Xia Xiqing started the routine of shopping with the two youngsters.
Whether for outdoor sportswear, hiking boots, waterproof backpacks, cameras, medicines, entertainment supplies, ear muffs, eye masks, adapters, and various electronic communication devices, he sought advice from his good friend Zhang Xuexi and personally took the two young ones to the mall for shopping.