Liu Mang pulled open the front door, only to see Yang Ge standing outside, his arms full of bags and parcels. His face twisted in surprise as he exclaimed, "Why didn’t you come even later? We’re almost ready to start the meal!"
Yang Ge handed over the bags and packages with a chuckle and responded, "Got held up a bit!"
As he followed Liu Mang inside, the elder Shopkeeper, who had been chatting with his in-laws, heard them and came forward leaning on his cane, standing at the door of the main hall and waving his hand, "Since you’re here, why bring all these things? Come and sit down..."
"Congratulations, Shopkeeper!"
With a broad smile, Yang Ge approached with a bow, and finally pulled a red envelope from his chest pocket and stuffed it into Liu Mang’s chest.
Liu Mang handed it right back forcefully, "What’s this? Did you think we invited you to bring this? Does our family lack these few meager things?"
Yang Ge sternly replied, "It’s for my grandnephew, not for you. Who are you showing off for?"
Seeing that the red envelope in Yang Ge’s hand was not thick, the old Shopkeeper didn’t think much of it and nodded with a laugh, "Just accept it, young man, it’s for good luck."
Today was the hundred-day celebration of Liu Mang’s eldest son. Liu Mang had wanted to have a lavish banquet but was persuaded by Yang Ge to scale it down to a small family gathering.
Yang Ge seized the opportunity to tease Liu Mang, "See, the Shopkeeper is more sensible than you!"
Liu Mang glanced at his father and then at Yang Ge, wisely choosing to ignore him.
This pair’s attitude often made him feel like he was adopted, and Yang Ge was the actual biological child of the Liu family...
Yang Ge strode into the main hall, vigorously rubbing his hands on his body, "Where’s my grandnephew, where’s my grandnephew?"
"Uncle, he’s right here!"
Liu Deng’s wife squeezed out of the crowd, cradling the swaddled baby and gently rocking him, "Look, guess who’s here?"
Yang Ge stepped forward, wiped his hands on his chest, then gently teased the baby’s chubby, pink cheeks.
"Shopkeeper, have you decided on a name yet?"
Shopkeeper, squinting his eyes and stroking his beard, said, "His father is from the generation of ’wealth’, brought down to his son as ’light’. I think we should name him Liu Guangzong, as in ’light that illuminates ancestors’."
"This..."
Listenting to this plain and understandable name, Yang Ge, who had prepared the phrase ’good name’, just couldn’t bring himself to say it.
But thinking about it, his father was named ’Wealthy’, and this little one was to be called ’Guangzong’. The old man clearly had much higher expectations for this little one compared to his unreliable father!
Not wanting to criticize the grandfather’s choice of name, Yang Ge pulled out a palm-sized sandalwood box from his chest, extracted a garishly luxurious gold chain with a large Maitreya Buddha pendant, and gently placed it on the baby’s swaddle: "Here, from Uncle, a little trinket..."
Liu Deng’s wife was startled and quickly grabbed the gold chain to give it back to Yang Ge, "Uncle, this really isn’t necessary..."
"What do you mean, not necessary?"
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Yang Ge shook his head, took back the gold chain, and put it again in the baby’s swaddle, "This is from me, his uncle, a token to ensure that our Guangzong grows up healthy and carefree till old age!"
Right then, Liu Mang, who was near the kitchen, unwrapped the red envelope given by Yang Ge and was shocked to find that it contained neither copper coins nor gold but a silver note.
He pulled out the silver note, even more astounded to clearly see it read "Ten Thousand Liang."
He thought of himself as a man who had seen the world.
But looking at the words ’Ten Thousand Liang’, he suddenly realized that he hadn’t really seen the world at all...
"Gulp."
He swallowed hard, and turning his head, he shouted towards the main hall, "Yang Ge, get over here!"