"Qingqiu, Chu Tian, wake up. We’re ho."
It was unclear when, but both Chu Tian and Xu Qingqiu had fallen asleep in the car; one had drunk a bit too much, and the other was genuinely exhausted.
When they arrived ho, Sister Hua woke them.
"Hmm? Are we here?"
"Yes, we’re ho. Wake up. I’ll have Yiyi prepare so food. After we eat, we can rest."
Looking at the weary Xu Qingqiu, Sister Hua gently touched her face and spoke softly.
At that mont, Chu Tian also woke up. He rubbed his face, feeling the effects of the alcohol significantly dissipating.
"Chu Tian, you don’t need to go back either. Let’s eat together and then rest."
"Okay, Sister Hua. It’s New Year’s today, after all. I wasn’t planning on going back anyway."
"Haha, that’s right! I’ve been so busy I even forgot it’s New Year’s. Alright, you two hurry and get out of the car. Yiyi and I will go inside first."
Sister Hua was still chattering away. Nearby, Yiyi’s mouth was twitching; she felt completely exasperated.
She wanted to say sothing, but seeing Chu Tian and Xu Qingqiu there, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
Just as Sister Hua pulled her toward the house and Yiyi was about to open her mouth, Sister Hua spoke first.
"Huh? Didn’t we turn off the lights when we left? Why are they still on?"
Sister Hua turned back to look at Yiyi, just in ti to see her conflicted expression.
"Yiyi, what’s with that face? What’s wrong? Do you have a canker sore?"
"Um... Sister Hua..."
"Go on, why did you stop talking?"
It wasn’t that she stopped speaking. The parking space was very close, just a few steps from the front door. They reached the entrance before she could finish her sentence.
By this ti, inside the room, a group of people had been busy for a while. The table was laden with a large spread of hot dishes.
"Hey? I think I just heard a car. Is it your sister and the others?" Liang Yuehong asked suddenly, pausing after placing a dish on the table.
"Really? Xiaohan, go take a look. If they have things, help them carry them in."
Before Xu Xiaohan could stand up, Xu Ruyan jumped in.
"I’ll go, I’ll go! Let my brother sit. I can go."
"Alright, you go then," Xu Jiacheng said, not minding who went. It wasn’t a difficult task.
At the door, Yiyi, still mid-sentence, ca face to face with Xu Ruyan, who was opening it. Yiyi trailed off, unable to continue.
"Ruyan? What are you... Oh, look at , I completely forgot you were at the gala tonight too! I was just wondering why the lights were on. No, wait—how did you get back? Why didn’t you co with us?"
When Sister Hua saw Xu Ruyan, she was initially startled, then suddenly rembered Xu Ruyan had also been at the event.
Despite Xu Ruyan’s usually lively nature, her first reaction when facing Sister Hua was guilt. There was no helping it; Sister Hua’s presence was too imposing, too overwhelming. She was inherently afraid of her.
If it were before, she could have made sothing up. But with Mom and Dad right here in the room, there was no point in fabricating anything now. Still, she had no idea how to explain... Might as well let Sister Hua see for herself.
Thankfully, she hadn’t seen her older sister with Chu Tian. So, her plan... seed to be failing. On the other hand, her mom seed to quite like Chu Tian... This was...
Sister Hua had no idea what Xu Ruyan was thinking; she just assud Xu Ruyan was feeling a bit awkward.
"Look at you, child, why so formal? This is your sister’s house, which ans it’s your house too. Relax. It’s New Year’s, and you haven’t gone back ho. How is it, are you missing ho... HICCUP?!"
Just as Sister Hua was chatting and laughing her way into the house, she froze, stunned, upon seeing the roomful of people.
"Oh, Hua is back? Co in, co in! I was just cooking and thought I heard a car. Where’s Qiuqiu? Didn’t she co back?"
Liang Yuehong was overjoyed when she saw Sister Hua and imdiately grabbed her hand.
However, the na ’Hua’ almost made Yiyi, who was following behind, burst out laughing.
It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with calling her ’Hua’. But Yiyi was used to the formidable ’Sister Hua’. Given Sister Hua’s usual powerful, almost ’boss-lady’ aura, suddenly hearing her addressed with such a simple, sowhat diminutive-sounding na like ’Hua’ felt incredibly awkward.
If they considered alternatives: ’Chunhua’ sounded too rustic. Using her full na felt too distant. ’Huahua’ was like calling a pet. And ’Sister Hua’? Liang Yuehong was nearly a full generation older; she couldn’t bring herself to call soone younger ’Sister’.
So, ever since they had t, Liang Yuehong had stuck with ’Hua’.
Sister Hua’s cheeks visibly twitched, but she quickly composed herself.
"Uncle, Aunt, you’re all here? When did you arrive? How co I didn’t know?"
"Oh, we just arrived today. Since Qiuqiu couldn’t co ho for New Year’s, we decided to co straight here. We were even at the gala just now! We thought about saying hello, but Xu insisted it might disturb your work. So, we ca back first to get dinner ready, and it looks like you’re back just in ti to eat."
"Oh, haha! You should have told us! I had no idea at all. We would have co back earlier if we’d known."
"Ah? You didn’t know? It’s alright, it’s alright. You’re here now, so it doesn’t matter when you found out. By the way, where’s Qiuqiu?"
"Um, she..."
Sister Hua was about to say that she and Chu Tian were still in the car when she suddenly rembered sothing. Do Uncle and Aunt know about their relationship?
anwhile, Xu Qingqiu and Chu Tian had also gotten out of the car by then. However, cherishing a rare mont of privacy, they were in no rush to go inside.
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