Qiao Yu had to go back to the old Qiao family house on the first day of the lunar year. His father had passed away, but his grandfather was still alive, as well as his second uncle. He had to pay them a visit.
He hadn’t acknowledged Enoch as his son in public, so the boy couldn’t go with him. As for Xia Ning, since she wasn’t married to him yet, she couldn’t go with him either.
Hence, Xia Ning, Gao Wanhua, and Enoch stayed at home.
Xia Ning flipped through all the greetings on her phone.
Zheng Ziming sent her a message before down, but it wasn’t a greeting.
“Remember to call the UK!”
Xia Ning paled. So Wen Yue wasn’t the only one Su Jingcheng had contacted. He had talked to Zheng Ziming too! That guy was very well-connected.
Tapping open the next message, Xia Ning saw that it was from Jin Yan. He had invited her to a movie.
“Agent X”, the film in which he acted the leading role, came out today. They had said earlier that they would watch it together on its premiere day.
Xia Ning glanced at Enoch, who was playing with his building blocks on the floor and hesitated.
Gao Wanhua, who was having some tea, noticed Xia Ning’s glance. She then saw the phone in Xia Ning’s hand and smiled. “Do you need to go out?”
Xia Ning nodded at Gao Wanhua. “Yes, I have some errands to run!”
“Go ahead,” said Gao Wanhua with a smile. “Sitting around on the first day of the new year is kind of boring.”
Rising to her feet, Xia Ning was grateful for the offer. “Mum, thank you for taking care of Enoch.”
“You silly kid. We’re family!” Gao Wanhua smiled, then said to Enoch, who was still on the floor. “Enoch, your mum’s going out today. I’ll keep you company.”
Looking up, Enoch said to Xia Ning. “Mummy, come back early.”
Xia Ning went up to Enoch, crouched down, and kissed him on the cheek. “No problem. I’ll be back before you know it.” After that, she went upstairs to get changed and fetch her bag.
She drove her own car to a villa in the suburbs, where Jin Yan and her had agreed to meet in.
The movie was in the evening and she had come early so that she could make up for the fact that she didn’t spend New Year’s Eve with him.
Jin Yan had no family left, so Xia Ning had promised him that she would try her best to spend the Chinese New Year with him. Her family was still alive, but they might as well be dead to her. To some extent, Jin Yan was her only family.
Xia Ning pressed the doorbell when she got to the villa. The door opened right away.
Jin Yan wore an apron over his woolen sweater. He had some white powder on his face.
“What are you doing?” Xia Ning looked at him in bewilderment.
Jin Yan made way for her, then said with a smile. “I’m making dumplings. Aren’t they your favorite?”
Xia Ning walked in to find two large bowls on the dining table. She went over to find flour in one of them and fillings in the other. The first should be where the dough was kneaded and there were several fillings in the second. Quite a few dumplings were already on the table.
“Have you invited other people over?” Xia Ning asked Jin Yan. She roughly counted the dumplings and saw that there were over a hundred already, yet there were still a lot of dumpling wrappers on the table. If he finished them all, there would be hundreds of dumplings.
“No, it’s just you and me,” said Jin Yan. He then fetched a dumpling wrapper and went on making dumplings.
“Can we finish all these?” Xia Ning put her bag down on the sofa.
Jin Yan made dumplings with his skillful hands, then said with a smile. “I’ve made some extra for you to take back home. You like dumplings. Homemade ones are cleaner than the ones you buy in the stores.”
“So, I get to eat in and take away?” Xia Ning chuckled. “Well, I won’t eat a free lunch. Let me help you.” She then went to the kitchen to wash her hands.