Chapter 20 - Have a lively Spring Festival

Liu Hemei returned home. Her husband was with their two daughters and was muttering discontentedly, complaining that she left the children behind and went back to her parents' home again. Liu Hemei went straight into the room, took her daughter in her arms, and threw the bankbook at her husband. She said, "If you speak ill of my parents' home again in the future, I'll ask my younger brother to break your legs." "I'll support you for the rest of your life." With money now, Liu Hemei's tone of voice had changed. Li Zhantang took the bankbook and opened it. There was a full 100,000 yuan in it. His hand trembled, and the bankbook fell to the ground. Li Zhantang picked up the bankbook and hurriedly asked Liu Hemei what was going on and where so much money had come from. Liu Hemei didn't hide it and said, "This was given by my mother, for building our house." "You've always said that I take things to subsidize my parents' home. Now, this money from my mother is enough to compensate you, right?" Li Zhantang's eyes sparkled now, and he said, "Enough, enough." Li Zhantang expressed his doubt and said, "How could your mother suddenly have so much money?" Liu Hemei replied, "It was given by my younger brother. My younger brother has made a fortune doing business in Guangdong." Li Zhantang was a bit skeptical and said, "Your good-for-nothing younger brother can make a lot of money?" Liu Hemei said, "You should look at a person with new eyes after a short separation. My younger brother has been in Guangdong for two years. Isn't it possible for him to make money? Otherwise, where did this money in your hand come from?" Faced with the undeniable fact, Li Zhantang had nothing more to say. Liu Hemei said, "You must apologize to my mother this year. Otherwise, give the money back to me." How could Li Zhantang be willing to return the money now? He said, "No problem. I'll go and apologize to your mother this year." Liu Hemei knew that her husband was timid, had a foul mouth, and was narrow-minded, but he still had a kind heart. Otherwise, in the past few years, when she took things back to her parents' home, he had just talked about it with his mouth and hadn't actually stopped her. He also loved their two daughters quite a lot. If it weren't for his parents causing trouble in the middle, he wouldn't have said those infuriating words, which made her mother slap him twice. Although her husband had many flaws, Liu Hemei had never thought of getting a divorce. Only the one wearing the shoes knows if they fit or not. If the days really couldn't go on, Liu Hemei wouldn't force it. Money can truly solve all troubles. Even a miser will admit defeat. Liu Hemei also knew that her younger brothers at home called her husband a miser, but there was nothing they could do about it, as life at home wasn't easy either. During the Spring Festival, Xiaojiu's health had almost recovered. He could eat, drink, and run. Xiaojiu had consumed half of the Elixir of the Eternal Stone, which led to this result. However, the injury of the Yang Spirit didn't heal so quickly. Yet, it was a blessing in disguise, as it brought a trace of lightning to his Yang Spirit. From now on, when using thunder and lightning spells, there was no need for incantations. As long as he thought about it, the lightning would directly come down. Those who survive a great disaster will surely have good fortune later. The old saying still holds true. On New Year's Eve, Zeng Wenxiu cooked a big table of dishes. The two brothers pasted up the Spring Festival couplets. After setting off the firecrackers, they began to have the New Year's Eve dinner. Xiaojiu raised his tea cup filled with a beverage and said to his mother, "You've been working hard. I wish you every day as good as today and to be beautiful and charming every year." Zeng Wenxiu happily stroked Xiaojiu's head and said, "Where did you learn these strange words?" Although she said this, she was very happy in her heart. She took out a red envelope for Xiaojiu as the lucky money. Liu Heping also stood up and said, "Mom, I wish you a long life and a happy New Year." Zeng Wenxiu smiled and said, "If I were to live a long life and never grow old, wouldn't I become an old monster?" She said, "Heping, you've grown up, but you're still not married. I'll give you a red envelope too." The two brothers knew that their mother definitely wouldn't give a large amount of money, but they were still quite happy, after all, it was a good omen for the New Year. The three of them had a happy New Year's Eve dinner. After the meal, the two brothers started to set off fireworks. They set off a whole cartload of fireworks, illuminating the entire mountain village. All the people came to their doorsteps to watch the fireworks. They all knew that these fireworks must have cost a lot of money and were envious. They said that they would also buy fireworks to set off if they made money next year. After setting off the fireworks, the two of them accompanied their mother to watch the Spring Festival Gala. While watching TV, the two brothers started to prepare red envelopes. Because all the children in the village would come to pay New Year's greetings the next morning. In the past, they didn't have much money and only gave one or two cents in each red envelope. Now that they had made money, they put 10 yuan in each red envelope, which was unique in the whole village. Basically, no one dared to give so much. At most, people gave 20 or 50 cents, which was considered a lot. Last year, the red envelope Xiaojiu received from his mother only had 20 cents in it. The past was unbearable to look back on. Unexpectedly, this year they were giving 10 yuan in each red envelope. Now, 10 yuan was nothing to their family. Zeng Wenxiu didn't say anything when she saw this. She just looked at Liu Heping suspiciously and said, "Didn't they confiscate all your money? How do you still have money?" Liu Heping quickly said, "This is several thousand yuan of my private savings, and it's all here." "You always make me bear the reputation of a big boss. If I don't give a little, people will say I'm stingy. So I had to take out all my private savings. Mom, can you reimburse me for the money in these red envelopes?" Zeng Wenxiu glared at Liu Heping and said, "Aren't you rich now? We'll talk about it when you run out of money." Liu Heping had expected this result. Discussing money with his mother was really heart-breaking. Fortunately, this was just to distract his mother and prevent her from getting to the bottom of things. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to keep the remaining money. Otherwise, he wouldn't have any money to play cards during the Spring Festival. If he went out with the reputation of a big boss but had no money on him, that would be really embarrassing. After watching TV for a while, his mother went to bed. She had to get up early the next day to arrange things for worshipping the gods. Only the two brothers were left to keep vigil. Xiaojiu refused and directly went upstairs to sleep. Liu Heping had to call a few of his classmates over to play cards and, by the way, keep vigil on Christmas Eve, which was also a local custom. They played cards until one o'clock in the morning before stopping. Since they had to go to other people's homes to pay New Year's greetings at dawn, everyone went back to sleep for a few hours. Early the next morning, Xiaojiu was dragged up by his mother to worship the gods. Since both of them were cultivators, they had to worship from the first day to the third day of the lunar new year, while other families only worshipped on the first day. The two of them lit the incense and mumbled something. No one knew what they were saying. After they finished speaking, they knelt down and bowed three times. They inserted three sticks of incense into the incense burner, three sticks into the ground in the east direction, and one stick on each side of the main gate. The incense in the east direction was to worship the immortals in the thirty-three heavens. The incense on both sides of the main gate was to worship the door gods. The incense in the incense burner was to worship their ancestors and the gods they enshrined. After inserting the incense, they came back and bowed three more times, and then the ceremony of worshipping the gods was completed. Only then did Zeng Wenxiu ask Xiaojiu to call his elder brother to get up. Because it had snowed during the Spring Festival and the weather was cold. Liu Heping was sleeping soundly under the quilt. Xiaojiu went up and directly lifted the quilt off him. Liu Heping was sleeping in just a pair of underpants and was shivering from the cold. Liu Heping said angrily, "What do you want to do?" Xiaojiu said indifferently, "Mom asked you to get up. If Mom comes to call you, do you believe she'll directly pour cold water on your bed?" Liu Heping had to obediently put on his clothes and go to wash his face and brush his teeth. Liu Heping knew his mother's temper. She really dared to do that, as she had done it before. He just felt that he lived so miserably at home. His mother was a big devil, and his younger brother Xiaojiu was a little devil. He couldn't afford to provoke either of them. If he made his mother unhappy during the Spring Festival, she would directly give him a good beating. If he made Xiaojiu cry, he would be in an even more miserable situation. Not only would his source of money be cut off, but it would also give his mother an excuse to give him an extra scolding. Now Liu Heping's slogan was that he would rather be beaten by his mother than make Xiaojiu cry. Who made Xiaojiu able to make money now? He had become his mother's most precious treasure, the apple of her eye. In his mother's eyes, he himself had become social scum, and his only use was to take the blame for Xiaojiu.