Xiao Yuan walked over to Anning’s side, poked his head to see that both Mr. and Mrs. Gu were busy in the kitchen, completely unaware of him, and then he hugged Anning. For more chapters visit novelꞁire.net
Turning her head and seeing Mr. and Mrs. Gu busy cooking, she glared at Xiao Yuan, "If my parents see this, they’ll surely break your legs."
Xiao Yuan smiled and stood with Anning on the balcony, gazing into the distance.
"Miss Xiao instructed me to empty Mr. Jin’s coffers. What do you think, should I do it?"
Anning chuckled secretly: "Actually, Miss Xiao and Mr. Jin still have feelings for each other, right? She must be worried that Mr. Jin will mess around if he has money, so she made you do this. Mr. Jin must be well aware of it, but he’s willing to be controlled by you and Miss Xiao."
She moved closer to Xiao Yuan, "Hey, tell me the story of Miss Xiao and Mr. Jin."
Xiao Yuan let out a bitter smile, "There’s not much to it, just a story of a respectable lady and a street thug. Back in the days, Mr. Jin was a nobody, just hanging around the streets. He met Miss Xiao and her friend shopping and took a fancy to her at first sight. Since then, he persistently pursued her and finally won her over. Unfortunately, the Xiao family was against it, and Mr. Jin suffered a lot because of that. Miss Xiao, young and believing love was everything, almost broke off relations with her family."
Xiao Yuan paused and rubbed his face, "That passionate love ended in divorce eventually. Ever since, they’ve rarely seen each other. Miss Xiao bitterly resents Mr. Jin, who has to sneak around to look at her. I have no choice but to act as a go-between for them."
"Didn’t their relatives think about letting them remarry?"
Even Anning, who had never met them, could tell there were still lingering feelings between the two, let alone their families.
"I’ve mentioned it," Xiao Yuan supporting himself on the balcony railing and looking into the distance, "I’ve also tried to persuade them, but I think whether they remarry or not doesn’t matter, as long as they’re happy."
"Exactly." Anning nodded. "Marriage is just a formality. As long as they are happy, even not remarrying is fine. What’s scary is that many people in marriages never feel happiness, yet they still struggle fiercely and refuse to part ways."
Anning and Xiao Yuan were very understanding people. After briefly lamenting the relationship of Mr. Jin and Miss Xiao, they started talking about other things.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Gu took a glance out of the kitchen and saw Anning and Xiao Yuan standing on the balcony, talking about something unknown.
They were standing very close, and Xiao Yuan, with a smile, was listening attentively to Anning.
Mrs. Gu felt somewhat awkward watching this scene.
She didn’t know why, but seeing Anning and Xiao Yuan together, she felt they matched well, and the sight was genuinely beautiful.
She vigorously shook her head, reminding herself to remember that Xiao Yuan was much older than Anning, and could even be her uncle.
"What are you looking at?"
Mr. Gu turned and asked.
Mrs. Gu smiled, "Nothing much, just looking at Ningning and Dr. Xiao talking, they seem quite into their conversation."
He waved at Mrs. Gu, "Do you think, could they, might there be something between them?"
Mrs. Gu kicked Mr. Gu lightly, "What nonsense are you talking about? There’s a big age gap between them, how could that be possible? I guess Ningning is just consulting Dr. Xiao on some issues."
Mr. Gu huffed, "Anyway, I feel like that Xiao Yuan kid is up to no good. You need to pay more attention in the future, to prevent him from messing with our Ningning without us knowing. Ningning is young and naive; it’d be too easy for Xiao Yuan to deceive her."
Mrs. Gu ignored Mr. Gu and went back to cooking in the kitchen.
By around seven in the evening, the Gu family of three, along with Xiao Yuan, gathered together for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
After dinner, they started watching the Spring Festival Gala.
It wasn’t long before Mr. and Mrs. Gu became too sleepy to keep their eyes open.
Anning told them, "If you can’t keep awake, go get some sleep."
Mr. and Mrs. Gu really felt quite tired, and since the Gala wasn’t very interesting, they thought it’d be better to go back to their room to sleep.
Seeing that Xiao Yuan was still at home, how could they rest assured?
They went back to sleep, leaving their daughter in the living room with a grown man was not ideal.
Mr. Gu waved his hand: "We still have to stay up late for the New Year vigil."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan quickly got up to say goodbye.
It was only after Xiao Yuan left that Mr. and Mrs. Gu could sleep peacefully.
Anning watched the Spring Festival Gala for a while, tidied up the house, and then went back to her room.
She had just taken a bath and was drying her hair when Xiao Yuan sent her a message: "Going out?"
Anning picked up the phone and replied, "Where to?"
She dried her hair and started picking out clothes to wear.
Thinking it was New Year’s, she chose a red turtleneck long sweater, wore black leggings underneath, and put on a long light gray down jacket.
Before leaving the house, Anning also picked up a hat to wear.
She stepped out of the house and saw Xiao Yuan waiting outside the door.
Anning smiled, "Where are we going?"
Xiao Yuan took her hand and entered the elevator, "Let’s find a place to set off fireworks."
It had been many years since Qingcheng City allowed setting off fireworks, and even during the New Year, the atmosphere was no longer as lively as it used to be.
Hearing about setting off fireworks, Anning was especially happy, "Great."
The two went to the garage, Xiao Yuan drove Anning to the suburbs.
Seeing Xiao Yuan drive into a farmhouse, Anning curiously asked.
Xiao Yuan smiled, "Just bought a farmhouse. It’s not bad for setting off fireworks here."
This place really was great. The farmhouse covered a large area of several hundred acres, with some greenhouses for vegetables and some animals being raised.
While walking, Xiao Yuan introduced the place, "This area is always used for growing rice, that area grows wheat and corn, and over there are vegetables, besides, that hill over there is planted with some fruit trees. Now with this farmhouse, we can have fresh vegetables and don’t have to worry about not finding good meat."
The two walked slowly and soon arrived at a flat cement area.
There were already several fireworks set up there.
Xiao Yuan handed Anning a lighter.
Anning smiled, took it, and ran to the fireworks, lighting them one by one.
Xiao Yuan started lighting from the east side toward the west, and Anning from the west to the east.
Soon the two met at one spot, Xiao Yuan took Anning’s hand and they ran fast.
After running some distance, they started hearing the sounds of the fireworks behind them.
Anning looked up and saw the sky dotted with fireworks of various colors blooming, that moment was stunningly beautiful.
Xiao Yuan embraced Anning from behind and whispered in her ear, "Happy New Year, my girl."