Chapter 439: Chapter 439: 257: Shanxi Pei Family, Chang'an Branch Venue Allocation, The Grand Era Re-emerges_3

Lin Wanzhou looked at him with bright eyes, though her face seemed somewhat haggard.

“What’s wrong, didn’t get enough rest this afternoon?” Xu Qingyan asked.

That afternoon, Shen Jinyue and Zhou Lili had gone to find her, so it would have been strange if she could have had a good rest.

“I’m okay.” Lin Wanzhou shook her head.@@novelbin@@

“Don’t force yourself. If you’re tired, you should go back to rest when we’re about done here,” Xu Qingyan said earnestly, “I’ll send you back after I finish up my work. It won’t take too long.”

“Where will you be going tonight?” Lin Wanzhou asked softly.

She glanced at Shen Jinyue and Zhou Lili; the two of them were chattering excitedly while pointing at a celebrity in the distance, paying no attention to their conversation.

“I think I’ll pack my things when I go back, there’re still some luggage left, and then we’ll head back to Qinghe tomorrow?” Xu Qingyan asked, “How long can you stay at the latest? Sister Yun must have told you, right?”

Actually, Xu Qingyan hadn’t understood why Sister Yun had agreed to let Lin Wanzhou accompany him back for the New Year; normally, that’s when singers are busiest.

“Maybe five or six days, or even a bit later.” Lin Wanzhou responded.

“You can stay that long?” Xu Qingyan asked, puzzled.

“Yes.”

…

New Year’s Eve, after eight.

In a small town in Shanxi, in an old three-bedroom flat, the New Year’s Eve dinner was set out.

Children were running around the house, and a dignified middle-aged man sat off to the side, cup of tea in hand, with wisps of steam rising.

The Spring Festival Gala was on the TV, serving as background white noise for the living room.

The living room was bustling. The sisters-in-law were chatting in a room, while the men had started a card game on the other side of the living room.

“The ads right before the Spring Festival Gala begin are where millions are burning every second,” said a man at the card table, grasping his cards as he spoke.

“Baijiu companies are really rich, advertising every year.”

“Exactly, it’s like the Spring Festival Gala is interspersed with ads,” another slim man joined in, “Hey, play your cards, stop dawdling.”

“The Gala ads are kind of an economic weathervane; it used to be all about home appliances and baijiu,” said an older middle-aged man at the table.

“These days, it’s the internet companies fighting for the prime ad spot, stuff like ‘Shake for Red Packets’; ‘Penguin’ went from eight million bank card users straight up to three hundred million just with that gimmick.”

“Internet giants are fighting for territory, spending real money,” the man laughed, “But these days, not many people watch the Spring Festival Gala anymore.”

“Right, our neighboring unit now even requires watching the Gala and sending screenshots to their group chat.”

A woman walked out from the room, glanced at the men at the card table boasting, and her mouth twitched. She then approached the middle-aged man sipping tea on the sofa.

“Dad, why isn’t Muchan coming back for the New Year again? Didn’t she say she was getting her act together?”

“Our family is left with only her without a partner, and the entertainment industry is such a mess.”

“Don’t mention her!” Pei Huaiyi set down his teacup with an ugly expression, “Say two words and off she runs. Everyone else becomes more sensible with age.”

“But she’s the opposite, becoming more rebellious as she grows older, taking off during the New Year.”

The Pei family name is considerable in Shanxi and is also the earliest origin of the Pei lineage. The lineage can be traced back to before the Zhou Dynasty and exploded in prominence from the late Han and Wei-Jin periods up to the end of the Tang Dynasty, taking center stage in history.

This small branch of the family had produced a fierce ancestor a hundred years ago, perpetuating the family tradition of “promoting virtue alongside business.”

Thus to this branch, the blessings still benefited the descendants.

Pei father couldn’t remember which generation he was from, but from his generation onward, this large family of dozens had not a single unworthy member, either entering the system or joining the military.

The older man at the card table was his eldest son, born to his deceased first wife.

After remarrying, he had Pei Muchan, and the woman currently speaking to him was his daughter-in-law. The other people were all cousins who lived upstairs and downstairs in close proximity, accustomed to celebrating the New Year at the Pei house.

“Where did she go?” the eldest son’s wife asked worriedly, “I asked Mom, and she said Muchan went to find someone, apparently a friend.”

“To Chang’an,” Pei father furrowed his brow, “What kind of friends can she have in that entertainment circle? I should never have let her learn singing in the first place.”

“Could it be a romantic friend?” the eldest son’s wife guessed, “Muchan has never run off like this before, and I saw she even participated in some dating reality show.”

“What a mess! If she really found someone from that circle, I’d disown her as my daughter!” Pei father’s complexion reddened, “She should just quit, but she won’t listen.”

“Dad, please calm down, Muchan isn’t a child anymore,” the woman soothed, “It’s good for young people to have their own thoughts. Having a partner doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing.”

“I won’t accept anyone from the entertainment industry. Why not find someone from the system? Much better.” Pei father coughed, “Even if not that, a teacher or doctor would be acceptable to me.”

As he spoke, a lady in her forties emerged from the kitchen, her facial features resembling Pei Muchan’s, with not too many traces of time on her face.

“Why are you always meddling in your children’s affairs?”

“Hmph! Can I even control her?” Pei father snorted, “She never takes my words to heart, it’s like talking to the wind.”

Upon hearing this, Mrs. He rolled her eyes and muttered.

“The older you are, the more stubborn.”

“My ears aren’t deaf!!!”

“They might not be deaf but they will be soon, and yet at your age, you still control your daughter.” Mrs. He gave Pei father a glance, “It was so hard to get Muchan to come back for New Year’s, and now you’ve upset her away again.”

“Am I not allowed to speak about her now?”

“What’s there to say? No wonder your daughter won’t tell you anything!” Mrs. He said, “I think Muchan might be going to…”

Suddenly, a voice came from the TV.

“At this very moment, our four satellite venues are all ready. Let’s cross over to the Chang’an venue, where last night, the Dipper turned toward the north.”

The main venue host recited a couplet with the satellite venue host, and on the other side, a group of festive children stood with the host, promptly replying with a poetic line.

“Today, as the year begins, it rises in the east.”

The meaning was that last night the handle of the Big Dipper turned eastward, marking the beginning of a new year.

The three people on the sofa instinctively turned their heads, suddenly feeling refreshed. It wasn’t the usual cliché New Year wishes, but rather a poem about “the farmer’s New Year.”

“Poetry? That’s interesting,” Pei father stopped bickering with his wife, fixating his gaze on the TV’s large screen, “Ha, a poem by Meng Haoran.”

The next second, an animated scene appeared with Li Bai riding a crane soaring through Chang’an. Horns sounded, countless ladies held up lanterns, singing and dancing, reenacting the prosperous era of the Great Tang.

With a line of poetry, the Eternal Peace Gate abruptly opened.

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