Yu Antong counted the various relatives of the Xing family, and felt comforted in his heart.
He closed off the accounting statement. As a wise man once said: out of sight, out of mind.
“I’m a little hungry,” Yu Antong touched his stomach, and pushed the blame of his hunger onto his unborn child, “Xing Lixuan, your son wanna eat.”
Xing Lixuan replied, “Go down and eat some cookies?”
Yesterday, Yu Antong craved some cookies, so their housemaid made a batch for him. He loved it, so he asked for another batch to eat for today.
A lot of cranberries were specially added to the cookies; the milky taste of the cookies were enhanced by the sweet-tart combination of the berries, which made it especially delicious in Yu Antong’s opinion.
But pregnant people often have wildly oscillating tastes – there’s a chance that what Yu Antong deemed delicious yesterday would disgust him today. And sure enough, Yu Antong raised his face and looked at Xing Lixuan to say, “I want to eat candied haws instead.”
The moment Xing Lixuan heard Yu Antong’s request, he imagined the sourness of the hawthorn, making his teeth ache in reflex. “It’s a bit far away, maybe you can eat them in the afternoon. I’ll ask someone to buy it for you. For now, can you substitute it by eating dried sour plums first?”
“Mm, I can.”
“Good.”
Yu Antong went downstairs to the kitchen lethargically. He looked at the cupboard, his energy was all-time low ever since his pregnancy.
Thankfully, his morning sickness only triggered whenever he smelt something fishy. Otherwise, it wasn’t a big deal.
Xing Lixuan specially made a snack box for him, and Yu Antong happily stuffed his face full like a kindergarten kid. He ate whenever he felt hungry, without a set time.
Yu Antong put the snack box on the coffee table and turned on the TV. Sitting on the sofa, he held a handful of dried fruit in one hand, and adjusted the channel with the remote control in the other.
Xing Lixuan actually followed Yu Antong. He held a kiwi fruit and hold it near Yu Antong’s face while saying, “Honey, do you want to eat this?”
“I don’t eat fresh fruit, I want to eat these,” said Yu Antong as he accepted the kiwi fruit with his hand. Instead of eating it, he held it near Xing Lixuan’s mouth, prying it open. The older man obediently opened his mouth and ate it. Then, he sat down next to him, and accompanied Yu Antong to enjoy his rare leisure time.
Yu Antong stuffed a dried strawberry into his mouth, and said unbridledly, “Eating a fresh fruit will make me full, but I can eat more if I eat dried fruit. Eating all kinds of fruits like this is enough to supplement my vitamins needs.”
“Well, I think that’s reasonable,” Xing Lixuan smiled, raised his wrist to look at his watch and said, “It’s near lunchtime, don’t eat too much.”
“I know, I know,” Yu Antong was like a rebellious child who was being nagged impatiently by his parents.
Xing Lixuan watched TV with him and accepted Yu Antong’s feeding from time to time.
Yu Antong ate a piece of sour plum, the strong sour taste made him squint his eyes in satisfaction. He stuffed two more pieces into his mouth, and glanced at Xing Lixuan.
Secretly observing that Xing Lixuan was distracted by the TV, he pursed his lips into a smirk and took a big dried plum to Xing Lixuan’s mouth.
Xing Lixuan opened his mouth defenselessly, and the next second his handsome face became distorted.
“Hahaha,” The prank succeeded, Yu Antong clapped his hands and laughed.
Xing Lixuan spat the dried plums into the trash can, pinched the culprit’s cheek, and said in a deep voice, “Yu! An! Tong!”
“Hahaha, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Yu Antong laughed and fell into Xing Lixuan’s arms, lying without hesitation.
During lunch, Mrs. Xing said to her son, “Tomorrow will be 30th, Lixuan, you can bring Tongtong’s younger sister over this afternoon, so the celebration will be merrier.”
Yu Antong had called Yu Annan a few days ago and asked her if she wanted to join. Yu Annan probably felt uncomfortable, and said that she would wait until the Chinese New Year.
Xing Lixuan said, “Okay, as for my Aunt her family, when will they arrive?”
Old Lady Fu also had a daughter – Mr. Fu’s younger sister – named Xing Yin. She married an American man and has lived in the USA since then. Yu Antong had only seen her once, during the old lady’s funeral. She was a beautiful woman with a free and casual personality.
Mr. Xing replied, “She just called me half an hour ago, telling me that her plane is delayed and she just got off. I guess she will arrive at 2 or 3 PM.”
Yu Antong put the carrot that Xing Lixuan gave him. He didn’t like it, so he set it aside in a bowl. He asked, “Is Little Judy coming too?”
Judy is Xing Yin’s daughter, and she’s three years old. She was very much a mixed-race little cutie, and looked like a beautiful little doll. Yu Antong liked her very much.
Mr. Xing nodded, “Yes she will come. All three members of their family will visit us.”
Naturally, Xing Yin’s American husband’s family didn’t celebrate Chinese New Year, but he followed his wife to celebrate it with her family every year.
After dinner, Xing Lixuan was about to drive to pick up Yu Annan. But before he left, Yu Antong said, “I’ll go with you.”
Xing Lixuan shook his head at his wife, saying, “You rest at home, I’ll be back in less than an hour.”
“Just let me accompany you. I want to go outside and feel the wind,” Yu Antong shook Xing Lixuan’s arm while pouting, “I forgot to buy a New Year’s gift for Judy.”
Xing Lixuan couldn’t shake him off, so he had no choice but to agree. He took Yu Antong’s thick scarf from the hanger at the door and wrapped it around him.
“Let’s go.”
The drive was short, and soon Yu Annan joined in the car. Before coming back to the Xing family’s house, they agreed to go to the mall to buy Judy some gifts – Yu Antong chose to buy her a couple snacks popular with children.
Yu Antong asked her younger sister, “Xiao Nan, what gift do you want for the New Year?”
Yu Annan now has enough pocket money, so she could buy anything she needed. Currently, she really doesn’t have anything she wants. With a smile, she denied her brother, “Ge, as long as you don’t buy me a set of five-year college entrance examination practice collection or three-year worth of tests simulations, everything else is fine.”
“Alright, if your latest test’s grade is bad, I’ll buy you a set of Wang Houxiong1the author of a famous Math exam questions collection, iirc.”
Yu Annan: “…”
“Hahaha,” Yu Antong was amused by his sister’s speechless expression. She looked so lost and betrayed. “I’m not stupid, It’s already halfway through the third semester of high school, so it’s too late to buy now.”
Yu Annan exhaled a long breath. “A classmate of mine really received a set of exam questions for the New Year. She called me yesterday to rant about it, and I think she almost cried at the end.”
–That’s why she was afraid that her brother would also engage in such a nasty operation.
Wandering to the women’s clothing area on the third floor, Yu Annan fell in love with a white down jacket. Naturally, Yu Antong bought it for her as a New Year’s gift.
Half an hour later, Yu Antong was ready to go home. He was contently holding the piggy lantern she bought as an extra present for Judy.
When they arrived at the parking lot, they started the car. Xing Lixuan suddenly remembered something, so he told Yu Antong, “Wait for me in the car, I will come right back.”
He opened the car door and went back to the shopping mall. Not long after, Xing Lixuan hurriedly strode back with a bag of hawthorns he bought from the supermarket on the first floor.
Xing Lixuan got into the car as he said, “After thinking it over again, the candied haws bought outside are not clean. So, I bought the hawthorns and will ask Auntie to make them for you.”
Yu Antong felt sweet as he saw the newly-bought fruits.
Sadly, Yu Annan was here within viewing distance. If not, he would already lean over and make out with Xing Lixuan.
When they got home, Yu Antong heard a little girl’s characteristic high-pitched laughter as soon as he went inside. He immediately knew that Xing Yin’s family had arrived.
“Go slowly,” Xing Lixuan was carrying a lot of things, and he had to pay attention to Yu Antong who was restless.
“I’m not a child.”
Xing Yin heard the commotion from the courtyard, and looked around. Just now, she heard from her older brother and sister-in-law that her nephew was going to pick up his partner’s sister for the New Year. She was quite surprised.
As far as she knew, this marriage was forced by her mother. This was also the reason why she didn’t come back to attend the wedding. Plus, she was too lazy to make fun of it.
The old lady passed away, and when she came back, she saw that the relationship between Lixuan and his spouse was different from what she had imagined. Firstly, they looked very loving towards each other. If she didn’t know about the arranged marriage, she definitely thought they married for love.
Xing Lixuan put down his things, and greeted Xing Yin and her husband, “Aunt, Uncle, your journey must be hard. Welcome.” Yu Antong politely followed suit.
Xing Yin was ten years younger than his Mr. Xing. She was a youthful-looking lady, with long wavy hair, bright lipstick, and luxurious designer clothes. She was sexy and elegant, like a confident queen. She doesn’t look like Xing Lixuan’s aunt, but more like his older sister.
“Lixuan is still so handsome. If you don’t call me Aunt, you will be even more handsome,” Xing Yin stopped her daughter from scribbling on the table with a colored pen. With a sleight of hand, she took out a red envelope from somewhere and handed it to Yu Antong, congratulating him: “Hey, happy newlyweds, welcome to be a part of our family.”
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