He missed the dumplings she made.
Chu Zhaoyang put down his chopsticks and said to the two elders: "Grandpa, grandma, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."
Old Mrs. Chu put down her chopsticks and said anxiously: "Where are you going in the middle of the night? What things must be done during the Chinese New Year?"
"I'm very anxious." Chu Zhaoyang looked at Old Mrs. Chu, feeling guilty, "I will apologize to you two elders when I come back."
"Hey, you just ate one dumpling!" Old Mrs. Chu said again.
"As long as the meaning is there." As he said this, Chu Zhaoyang strode out.
He got in the car, opened the navigation, and entered the word "Yucheng" into the navigation.
Gu Nian's grandparents have long since passed away. Gu Licheng had no contact with those relatives at the beginning, otherwise he would not have gone to live in Yucheng with Mu Lanshu later.
Chu Zhaoyang had people investigate before. Mu Lanshu and Gu Nian returned to Yucheng every year for the New Year and had no contact with Gu Licheng's relatives.
***
On the early morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, amid the sound of firecrackers, Gu Nian and Mu Qishan said auspicious New Year greetings to the two elders of the Mu family, and the two elders gave them red envelopes containing lucky money.
Because of the unpleasantness of the New Year's Eve dinner last night, Cui Xinmei was still drooping, without any New Year's joy, and was alone in the corner releasing dark emotions.
Over the years, the two elders also knew that Cui Xinmei's temper could never be changed, and they could not be expected to even have any superficial peace.
So she made a show of face there, and no one tried to persuade her, so she just pretended to be invisible.
They was still peaceful and happy here.
Gu Nian took out her phone and opened WeChat. She received many New Year greeting messages, including those from Chu Tian.
Chu Tian sent her a pink pig emoticon holding Spring Festival couplets, with "Happy Spring Festival" written on the message.
Then, she sent it again in text: "Nian Nian, Happy Chinese New Year!"
Obviously, this was not a mass message.
Gu Nian smiled and replied "Happy Chinese New Year" to her.
Mu Lanshu went to fry the leftover dumplings in the middle of the night. They were golden and crispy and served as breakfast.
After eating, people came one after another to pay New Year greetings.
After lunch, at one o'clock, Old Mrs. Mu's second sister's daughter, who Gu Nian must have called her cousin, brought her son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and son-in-law over to pay New Year's greetings.
The coming of this group of people was quite spectacular, and the living room was filled as soon as they came in.
Gu Nian's cousin's son and daughter both gave birth to children, and they were not very old.
They were both girls, one was five years old and the other was three years old. They were both at the noisy age. After they came in, they ran around in the living room, screaming and laughing, which was a bit disturbing.
It made everyone chat with each other and raised their voices, making the whole room look like a vegetable market.
But her cousin has a loud voice, and she was used to talking at the top of her voice at home.
"Sister, come and play at our house when you have time! Zhigang's family has just bought a new house. It is a two-story duplex. When the decoration is completed, you can go to Wenju." said the cousin.
"Hey, where's the duplex? Zhigang is very capable." Old Mrs. Mu praised her generously, "You two children are all very capable."
Her cousin was happy and her face was bright.
Cui Xinmei's expression turned even uglier on the side. What did they mean? It's ironic that they have no ability, right?
Look at other people's homes, they were both duplex and villa.
And what about her and Mu Dingjie? They didn't even have their own house yet.
This old lady was still in the mood to praise others without feeling embarrassed?
"I don't have anything to worry about now. Zhigang and Juan'er are both married, and their children are so old. They are both capable, and their lives are going well. I spend all my time traveling and having fun , there is nothing to worry about. We don't even have to take care of the children, they hired their own nannies, so I feel relaxed now." Her cousin said while drinking tea slowly.
"Yes, I envy you even if others don't envy you." Old Mrs. Mu agreed.
The cousin looked around Gu Nian again proudly. She took a sip of tea and asked, "How old is Gu Nian this year? If I remember correctly, she is 27, right?"
Gu Nian: "..."
Even she didsn't mind being called so old.
"It's the Spring Festival 25th." Gu Nian explained with an awkward smile.
"Then the false age is 27." Her cousin picked up a handful of melon seeds and put them in her hand, cracking them and said, "Hey, you are not young anymore. When will I see you bring your boyfriend back? Don't ask for too much. The key is to be able to live a good life. Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes." Gu Nian said, thinking of Chu Zhaoyang, but she answered with a lack of confidence.
Her cousin blinked, not quite believing it.
"Then why didn't you bring him back to your grandparents? They'll be happy if you let the old people see it." Her cousin threw the melon seed skins into the box and took another sip of tea.
"We have only been together for a short time, and he also wants to spend the New Year with the elders in the family." Gu Nian explained calmly.
"Oh, it's the same thing if you ask him to come over on the fourth, fifth or sixth day of the lunar month. Then it will be convenient for you to go back together." Her cousin said, "Where is he from?"
"Local to City B." Gu Nian answered briefly, with an indifferent expression, obviously not interested in this topic.
But her cousin's expression was not so good. She thought that since there were so many outsiders in City B, the person Gu Nian was looking for would have to be someone who worked hard in City B like her.
"Local? What are his conditions like?" My cousin asked again, "It's not easy to live in City B. House prices there are so expensive. Has his family prepared a house for him? However, even if he is from City B, buying a house is quite expensive."
Gu Nian smiled and said nothing.
"By the way, if you have time in the next few days, come to our house to play, and take a look at Juan'er's house by the way." Her cousin said, "The new villa Juan'er's family bought this year is very spacious, so you can just go there."
Her cousin's daughter, Gu Nian called her Sister Juan.
Gu Nian smiled faintly: "Okay."
"By the way, what does your boyfriend do?" the cousin asked again.
Gu Nian: "..."
Chu Zhaoyang should be involved in a little bit of everything, right?
But she didn't know how to answer. At this time, the doorbell at home suddenly rang.
As if thinking about relief, she quickly got up and ran to the door to open the door.
When she saw the person standing at the door, Gu Nian was stunned.
Standing at the door was Chu Zhaoyang, whom he had not seen since he returned from his business trip.
She thought they would never see each other again.
Or, if she go back to city B after the New Year, she will hear him say that he wanted to break up.
However, he appeared in front of her now.
Shouldn't he be in City B?
Today was the first day of the Lunar New Year. Why did he show up here so early and not celebrate the New Year at home?
Having not seen him for many days, when she saw him again, she felt as if he was a world away.
Gu Nian seemed to not recognize him anymore and looked at him blankly.
One stood outside the door and the other stood inside, and they forgot to invite him in.
Looking at Chu Zhaoyang's face, it looked like he hadn't had a good rest for a long time. He was stained with wind and frost and looked a little haggard.
There was an obvious shadow under the eyelids under both eyes, as if they have lost a lot of weight.
His chin also had a light beard, which did not affect his handsomeness, but it still made him look tired.
It's just, what on earth has he done these days to make himself so thin.
Looking at him, Gu Nian's eye circles gradually turned red.
It turned out that she missed him far more than she thought, and felt aggrieved and sad.
He said nothing and suddenly stopped seeing her, but then he suddenly appeared here without saying a word.
Why?
Could it be that he came all the way from City B to break up with her?
So, he really put in a lot of effort.
She was a little resentful towards him, and the grievance in her heart made her unable to hold back the tears, which overflowed from her eyes.
Seeing her aggrieved look, Chu Zhaoyang suddenly felt that all his struggles in the past few days were a waste of time.
Compared with her, all other things were unimportant.
When he saw her, he felt more at ease than ever before.
Seeing her cry, he regretted and blamed himself.
As long as he treated her well, he really didn't care about anything.
"Don't cry, Nian Nian, it's my fault." Chu Zhaoyang whispered.
After driving all night and most of the day, he drove here by himself for almost 24 hours.
His throat was dry and hoarse now.
Gu Nian was shocked. She cried even harder when she heard him call her "Nian Nian".
"So, you didn't come to break up with me?" Gu Nian asked crying, raising her red eyes.