"Come, come, come! Congratulations to our two families’ first children for successfully completing their studies," He Jun said with a smile as he looked at Lin Xu and raised his glass. Pizza? We just took it to the barbecue restaurant—no better place to celebrate something .
"Here’s to them! Next up are Shufan and Zhuzi," Lin Xu said with satisfaction as he looked at the five children at the next table, holding An Zilan’s hand beside him: "You really are my lucky star, learning so much with such effort, all thanks to you."
"Look at them," Huang Yueran said, noticing An Zilan’s blushing face and playfully punched He Jun to lighten the mood.
He Jun, grinning, held Huang Yueran’s hand, "They’re all our kids, so proud."
"Exactly, were you thinking of skimping on the red envelopes?" An Zilan laughed as she poured wine for Huang Yueran beside her, the table filled with joyous atmosphere.
"Congratulations to Brother Jiayou for successfully wrapping up twelve years of hard study and wishing Brother Jiayou a university life exactly as he hopes!" Unlike the adults’ table, the kids’ table was full of joy, Luo Qianqian being the first to raise her juice glass.
"No, no, no, that’s not quite right. You should say, congratulations to Jiayou for escaping the bitter sea of schooling, to achieve such results after just one year of study is indeed wonderful," Bai Yizhu also raised his juice glass, with two underage girls at the table, they naturally wouldn’t drink alcohol, and now there was only Lin Jiayou who was of legal age.
"No, that’s not it either, you should say, ’Brother Jiayou will no longer have to do homework, congratulations, congratulations!’" He Wenyu also chimed in with a laugh, raising his glass.
Lin Jiayou was deeply moved, tears welling up in his eyes: "Yes, no more homework, Luo Shufan is not human." As soon as he said this, the room went quiet, both adults and kids at the tables turned to look at him: "You don’t know how many papers I’ve written this year, the same ones over and over until I could recite them by heart. But Shufan, thank you, without you there wouldn’t be a today for me, and Qianqian, thank you for the papers you contributed." Though at the time he felt like chopping them up and flushing them down the toilet, now that it was over, he was most thankful for these two who had pulled all-nighters with him.
"Definitely not human," Luo Qianqian agreed, then turned to Lin Xu and said, "Uncle, you better reimburse Jiayou’s exam fees for this year and let him have some leisure." Luo Shufan initially wanted to stop his sister from saying anything because though Lin Xu was not stingy towards his son, every month’s allowance was fixed, and he would confirm with Luo Shufan before paying any fees, fearing Lin Jiayou would squander it. This year, the siblings had relied heavily on An Zilan’s generosity to refrain from tapping into their emergency funds.
Hearing Luo Qianqian’s words, Luo Shufan smiled.
"You kids," An Zilan initially wanted to scold Luo Qianqian but ended up laughing after hearing her words: "Definitely will give it, don’t worry."
"And the rewards, things like clothes, phones, computers, all prepared for Brother Jiayou; he’s lost so much weight," Luo Qianqian continued unabashedly.
Lin Xu, quite touched, listened to Luo Qianqian’s words then looked towards his son, puzzled he said, "Lost weight? How come I feel like Xiao Hu has grown taller and stronger? Meanwhile, Xiao Fan and Qianqian have lost quite a bit."
Luo Qianqian guiltily turned away, while He Wenyu, who had been diligently making soup, watched as Lin Jiayou was made to drink it by the siblings every day – no wonder he wasn’t gaining weight.
"Enough, it’s a happy day, why bother with the kids?" He Jun chuckled, "The red envelope for your college welcome party is ready; uncle assures you, it’ll be generous."
Just as Lin Jiayou was about to refuse, Luo Qianqian stopped him, "Godfather is always generous, haha, and once Brother Zhuzi does well in his exams, you can’t be stingy either. But if they don’t do well, then don’t give them anything." She said, her eyes fixed on the two facing their college entrance exams next year.
"When have I ever been stingy? Once you and Xiao Yu finish your middle school exams, godfather will take you both out to have fun, how about that?" He Jun, looking at the two excited girls, was also happy.
"I declare," Luo Qianqian said proudly, "Brother Jiayou is now an adult." Everyone looked at her confused, she smiled and continued, "He can now date and stay out all night!"
"Haha," Bai Yizhu laughed, amusedly watching Luo Qianqian.
"Cough, cough." Lin Xu suddenly coughed twice, drawing the attention of two tables. "I’m not looking to become a grandfather prematurely, take proper safety measures."
Lin Jiayou’s face instantly turned bright red as he glared at Luo Qianqian and nodded silently.
"Oh, right, there’s another thing." Luo Qianqian spoke up again, this time Shufan also started glaring at her.
Luo Qianqian touched her nose in a wronged manner and said nothing.
"What’s up?" Seeing his sister looking aggrieved, Lin Jiayou kindly changed the subject, but his eyes still held a warning.
"The chicken wings are burnt..."
Looking at the blackened chicken wings in front of him, Lin Jiayou, who was in charge of grilling, was speechless.
The adults at the other table continued their chat, ignoring their frivolous antics.
"By the way, I want to tell you guys, during our high school medical checkup, a girl was found to be pregnant," Lin Jiayou mysteriously whispered, occasionally adjusting the flame with his hand to prevent the remaining chicken wings Luo Qianqian wanted from burning again.
"Huh? And then what?" Shufan was quite surprised, "You can find out someone is pregnant in a high school medical checkup? That advanced? Can it tell what you’ve eaten too?"
"Are you kidding? What you’ve eaten, if they dissected you they’d find out..." Lin Jiayou rolled his eyes, "They just took blood, and that’s how they found out. There wasn’t anything special, just like a regular checkup."
"I suddenly remembered something..." Luo Qianqian looked toward He Wenyu, pulled her aside, and whispered, "Your good-for-nothing cousin isn’t..."
"Him?" He Wenyu lowered her head to think, "I remember when mom was talking to Grandma’s house, she mentioned he had already dropped out. There shouldn’t be a chance for him to come this way."
"Sigh, it’s almost ninth grade. It’s fine for Gu Yanzhi and the others, but I don’t know if those guys from our class can get into the experimental school, including you." Luo Qianqian also started to feel melancholy. She had been studying alongside Shufan and Lin Jiayou all year, so the middle school exam wasn’t an issue for her.
He Wenyu, Luo Qianqian’s close friend, had met everyone and also knew about the matters with Sun Xuan and Wang Wei. After thinking for a bit, she said softly, "When school starts, I’ll move in and live with you so we can study together."
"Then I’ll come and live with Xiao Fan too, otherwise I’ll be so lonely on my own." Bai Yizhu also nodded in agreement. He Wenyu’s cooking was fabulous. There’d be good food and drink, and the possibility of getting into university, why wouldn’t she be willing?
"How come before I even leave, you all are planning on throwing me out?" Lin Jiayou, seeing the four discussing with great joy, interjected.
"By then you won’t want to come back, so caught up in the enjoyment there. You might not even want to return because of the housing prices," He Wenyu said bluntly, "the universities are in the same city after all, tsk tsk."
Sometimes, plans never keep up with changes. While their imaginations painted a beautiful picture here, the reality elsewhere was vastly different, entirely unanticipated. The outcomes they got were dissimilar, missed by a mile.