With New Year's Eve only a few days away, Luke decided to take his family on a trip.
This had been his wish for many years.
When he had been poor, he had to calculate even the bus fare to go ho — how could he have dread of traveling? Now that he had money, the first thing he wanted to do was take his parents out to see the world.
At first his father Lu Dashan tried to refuse. "What's the point of traveling? There's so much to do for New Year — killing chickens, buying groceries, cleaning the house. We don't have ti!"
His mother Lanhua chid in, "Exactly. Why waste money on that?"
But Luke was firm.
"Dad, Mom, you've worked hard your whole lives. Now that your son has made sothing of himself, it's ti for you to enjoy life. Besides, we'll just go to so nearby scenic spots in Xiaoping City. We won't even leave the province — it won't take much ti."
In the end the old couple couldn't talk him out of it and got in the car.
The Range Rover led the way, followed by the Porsche Cayenne.
His parents rode with Luke in the Range Rover, while his sister and brother-in-law took the Porsche. The two cars drove out of Xiaoping City toward the nearby scenic areas.
Mulan Province was mountainous. Its karst landscape had created countless strange peaks and rocks, and scenic spots were as nurous as stars in the sky.
There was no need to go far. Just pick any road and drive — the scenery was beautiful all along the way.
"The mountains and rivers are the finest under heaven" — that wasn't an exaggeration!
They visited several places: a listone cave filled with stalactites of every shape and size, lit by colorful lights that made it look like a fairyland; an ancient town with bluestone paths and wooden stilt houses full of ethnic charm; and a reservoir with vast blue waters surrounded by mountains, like an ink-wash painting…
His parents took photos the whole way, exclaiming in wonder.
"This place is really beautiful. Why didn't we co here before?"
"These mountains are so tall, and the water is so clear."
Looking at the smiles on their faces, Luke felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
He had finally fulfilled his lifelong goal of taking his parents on a trip.
On New Year's Eve.
The whole family got up early and drove back to their old village ho to pay respects and burn incense.
Although they had bought an apartnt in the city, the ancestral hall was still in the village. According to local custom, on New Year's Eve they had to return to the old ho to worship their ancestors, burn incense, and make offerings — it was a must.
The highway trip to the town took forty minutes.
A few relatives lived in the town — for example, his maternal grandmother's family. They were poor households from the mountains who had benefited from the relocation policy and moved into governnt-built new houses in town.
But Luke's family didn't stop in town. They drove straight to the old village.
They would visit relatives on the second day of the New Year.
From the town to the old village there was still a stretch of mountain road.
In recent years it had been paved with cent, so they no longer had to walk the old bumpy, muddy dirt path.
But the mountain road twisted and turned — one side was a cliff face, the other a sheer drop. It looked dangerous. These winding cent mountain roads were a characteristic of Mulan Province's rocky mountainous areas.
Fortunately both Luke and his brother-in-law Xie Yingjun were good drivers.
The Range Rover and Cayenne wound their way along the mountain road, making sharp turns and steep climbs, but both cars stayed steady.
His father Lu Dashan sat in the passenger seat, giving directions from ti to ti. "Turn left up ahead… after that bend we'll be there…"
Half an hour later they arrived — "Dragon Hamlet."
It was a "hamlet-level" unit, even smaller than a village.
Luke's old ho was here.
Looking around, only a few households remained in the hamlet.
Most people had either bought apartnts in the city or taken advantage of poverty-relief relocation programs and moved away.
The farmland in the mountains had been contracted out to outsiders. So planted fruit trees, so sugarcane. The original owners had beco landlords collecting rent — only a hundred yuan or so per year.
The Lu family's old house was a three-story cent building.
Back then it had been the first three-story house in the entire hamlet — extrely impressive.
At that ti there had been no cent road. To get out of the mountains you had to walk over an hour on mountain trails to reach the main road, then take a fifty-minute "bus" to town, then transfer to another "bus" for another hour or so to reach the city.
Luke rembered clearly: if he left at seven in the morning and caught every correct bus without any delays, he still wouldn't arrive in the city until noon.
That was why everyone in the mountains had been desperate to escape this place.
Now they had finally left.
His sister Lu Fang stood at the door of the old house, looking around with distaste as she pulled out her phone.
"It's already 2026 and this godforsaken place still doesn't have internet! The poorer the place, the worse the corruption. The cent road into the village is overgrown with weeds and no one even bothers to trim it…"
His father Lu Dashan laughed beside her. "Go up to the third floor or to the pond at the village entrance if you want signal."
His sister rolled her eyes but said nothing.
The family entered the old house, lit incense, set out offerings, and poured wine to pay their respects.
The ancestral hall was in the main hall on the first floor. It wasn't like the TV shows with ancestral tablets — just a simple incense altar.
In any case, they were worshiping the "grandfather generation" — their roots.
Modern people only worshiped the most recent "elders"!
No matter how successful he beca outside, no matter how powerful he was in Westeros, his roots were here.
After the ancestral rites and burning the paper money, they didn't stay long. They imdiately headed back the sa way.
With the roads now paved and the highway available, the round trip between the old house and the city center took only a little over two hours — much more convenient.
Back in Xiaoping City, they first went to the supermarket to buy ingredients, then began preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.
Their local custom was to start preparing the New Year's Eve al in the morning and usually eat around three or four in the afternoon.
The family divided the work — washing vegetables, cutting at, stir-frying — and bustled about busily.
At four o'clock the New Year's Eve dinner was served.
The table was loaded with dishes: chicken, duck, fish, at — everything was there.
His father Lu Dashan opened a good bottle of liquor and poured for everyone. His sister and mother used drinks instead of alcohol.
"Co, cheers!"
"Happy New Year!"
"Good health!"
"Get rich! Get rich!"
Amid the clinking of glasses, the family's laughter filled the room.
After dinner, following custom, they went out for a stroll or to visit a park.
There were several parks nearby with nice environnts. They chose the closest one and walked slowly to aid digestion. The park was decorated with lanterns and red lanterns everywhere, full of people out for a walk.
People in Mulan Province almost never watched the Spring Festival Gala.
It was said the gala's ratings were perennially at the bottom. Locals had their own "special New Year's Eve" — mahjong, card gas, drinking gas — much livelier than the official show.
Around ten at night they returned ho.
His sister organized a barbecue on the balcony, setting up a grill to roast chicken wings, beef, and corn.
The aroma drifted everywhere, making his niece Xie Xinyue drool.
His mother Lanhua ca out of the bedroom holding a stack of red envelopes.
Whether they had money or not, every New Year's Eve she would give everyone in the family a red envelope — it had been that way since they were children.
The envelopes were placed under the pillow, symbolizing peace and safety throughout the year.
In the past, after giving the red envelopes she would take the money back the next day or replace it with twenty-yuan notes. But this year she didn't. Every red envelope contained real hundred-yuan bills.
Luke took his red envelope and felt a warm glow in his heart.
On the second day of the New Year they went to visit his maternal grandmother's family in town.
All of his mother's relatives gathered at his grandmother's house — actually his uncle's house.
The Lan family on his mother's side was not large — only three siblings: Luke's family, his aunt's family, and his uncle's family.
He had six cousins. His aunt's three children had all married and had second children. His uncle's three children, like Luke, were still single.
The mont they walked in, everyone crowded around.
"Oh, Xiao Ke is here!"
"Wow, is that the Range Rover? So impressive!"
"I heard you bought your sister a Porsche too? Incredible!"
Everyone was amazed by Luke's "success."
In the past when he ca ho for New Year, people would always ask, "Do you have a girlfriend yet?" "When are you getting married?" "How's work?"
This year no one asked those questions. It was all admiration and praise.
"The fifth son of the Lu family has finally made it!"
"Fifth son" was his father Lu Dashan's ranking among his brothers.
His aunt grabbed Luke's hand, eyes misty with tears.
"Xiao Ke, you've finally made it. Your parents have finally made it too. They worked so hard for you and your sister for decades — let them enjoy life now."
Luke nodded repeatedly. "I will, don't worry. It's New Year — don't cry, auntie."
His aunt wiped her tears and smiled again. In a joking tone she said:
"You're a big boss now. Hurry up and find a girlfriend, get married, and have kids. Then your parents will be completely satisfied."
Luke smiled and nodded. "Okay, okay, I'll work on it."
He took out a thick stack of red envelopes from his bag.
For his aunt and uncle, and his uncle and aunt — four elders — each got a 1,000-yuan red envelope.
For all the younger cousins, each got a 100-yuan red envelope.
Everyone exclaid again in surprise.
His cousin Lan Zhi, thirty years old and still single, laughed and joked:
"Xiao Ke is a big boss now. You should take care of us cousins. Even if you just let be a security guard at the gate, that's fine."
Everyone laughed.
But Luke looked at him seriously.
"That won't do. Why be a security guard? Cousin Zhi is talented — you should at least be a supervisor or manager."
He looked around at everyone, waiting for the laughter to die down, then spoke with complete seriousness:
"I'm not joking."
Everyone fell silent.
Luke continued, "I have a company in Pengcheng. Cousin Zhi, you can co help manage a warehouse. Start as a supervisor. Five-hour workdays, full social insurance and housing fund, als and accommodation provided, eight thousand per month. Once you're familiar with all the processes, I'll promote you to manager."
He looked at the others.
"My company is short on people right now — every position needs staff. I don't trust outsiders, but we have many brothers and sisters in the family. If any of you are unhappy with your current jobs, just tell . I'll arrange work for you, and the pay will definitely be higher than the industry average."
He looked at the younger cousins who were still in school.
"When the younger sisters graduate from university, co work in the company as managent. I'll hire you at a high salary."
His aunt's husband laughed loudly beside them. "We're not educated. We can't do it — don't let us drag you down."
Luke shook his head. "It's fine. If you want to co, I have suitable work for all of you."
He looked at his cousins and their spouses — all of whom had at least junior-high or high-school education. Being a supervisor was completely within their ability. Once they were familiar with the processes, becoming a manager wasn't impossible.
That was how all those "family businesses" outside operated anyway — keep the benefits within the family!
"I plan to invest in building several factories in Xiaoping City after the New Year," he added. "The wages here won't be as high as in Pengcheng, but they'll definitely be no lower than the local average. And my companies all have weekends off and full social insurance. It's close to ho — once the factories are ready I'll let you know."
He paused, his tone becoming even more serious.
"Auntie and aunt, please stop cutting sugarcane for other people. It's hard and exhausting work, and the money you earn isn't even enough for your dical bills. It's also a burden on us younger generation."
Everyone looked at one another.
So eyes sparkled with hope, so were still hesitant, and so were already calculating.
His cousin Lan Zhi was the first to speak. "Xiao Ke, are you serious?"
"Absolutely."
"Then… then I'll go!"
Luke smiled.
"Good. Contact after the New Year."
He looked at his relatives, at the complicated expressions on their faces, and suddenly felt a wave of emotion.
In the past he had been the most disappointing one in the family. Graduated and imdiately unemployed, unstable jobs, didn't even dare co ho for New Year.
Now he had beco the pillar of the family.
It felt good.
--------------------------
Support us on P@tre0n and gain access to 100 chapters in advance!
[email protected]/inkshield
User Comments
0 comments from readers