Chapter 36 - New Year, New Life (2)
After her part-time job, Xi Qian rushed to the Su Residence to visit her best friend. While other people were celebrating New Year's Day with their families, Xi Qian took advantage of the holidays to work, as most employers were required to double their pay for having their employees work on a holiday.
Since Xi Qian couldn't rely on her divorced parents, she could only work hard to provide for herself. At least being poor didn't stop her from making friends with Su Xiaofei who was one of the richest students in their academy.
Xi Qian's face lit up when she saw Su Xiaofei finally up and was seated on the couch once she entered the household. However, seeing Lu Qingfeng seated beside her best friend, pretending to read a book, her smile faltered.
Still, Lu Qingfeng's presence didn't stop her from striding towards Su Xiaofei to check on her.
"Feifei, how are you feeling? Look, I brought your favorite blueberry cheesecake!" She announced and lifted the box of cake she was holding to show to her best friend.
Su Xiaofei smiled at her and allowed Aunty Liu to take the box of cake Xi Qian brought for her. She gestured to Xi Qian to take a seat across from her.
"You shouldn't have bothered, Qian. I know you are saving money to get admitted to med school." She told her best friend.
Xi Qian shook her head and dismissed Su Xiaofei's worries about her. While it's true that she was poor and was desperately saving up for college, she couldn't resist buying something for her best friend.
"You are worrying too much, Feifei. The aunty at the bakery heard what happened to you and gave me a huge discount when I said I was planning to give you a cake. So yeah, don't worry. I didn't spend a fortune on your cake." She assured Su Xiaofei.
When Yun Qingrong went down that afternoon, finding the three in the living area, she called Lu Qingfeng's attention.
"Xiao Feng, do you think you can invite your grandfather to join us for dinner? Since the incident yesterday, we haven't been able to celebrate properly." She then turned to face Xi Qian.
"Qian'er, stay with us tonight, okay?" She asked her daughter's best friend, knowing that Xi Qian didn't have a family to celebrate New Year's Day with her.
Yun Qingrong's heart ached for Xi Qian when she found out about the teenager's living condition from her daughter some time ago, and had wondered how some parents could be so ruthless to their own flesh and blood. Look at her, even though Feifei wasn't her biological child, she loved her nevertheless.
She didn't think she had the heart to abandon her daughter like what Xi Qian's parents did to her. They were just being irresponsible and selfish, leaving with Xi Qian to live with her grandmother and not sparing her a decent living allowance over the years.
This was why whenever Xi Qian paid them a visit, Yun Qingrong would make sure to feed Xi Qian well. Having Xi Qian fed meant that the young woman would have no need to spend on a meal and she could use her money on other expenses.
She knew that Xi Qian didn't want others to take pity on her, so she never offered her money nor asked her to live with them, although Yun Qingrong wouldn't mind if Xi Qian did. Having Xi Qian in her home meant that she would have another daughter to spoil rotten. However, given her busy schedule, Yun Qingrong thought that she wouldn't be able to truly look after Xi Qian too.
Xi Qian bit her lip and nodded. "Okay, Aunty Qing."
She couldn't possibly decline Yun Qingrong's invitation, although she felt that staying with them for a special dinner would be too much.
And so, that night, Lu Qingfeng's grandfather joined them for dinner. Everyone gathered around and had dinner together, including the servants of the Su household.
They had already done a thorough cleaning the day before, which symbolized sweeping away the bad luck of the preceding year and preparing their homes to receive good luck, which was ironic in Su Xiaofei's opinion. She didn't know if her being reborn before New Year's Day was a coincidence or not, but it does coincide with her goal to make her life better this time.
New Year's Day was meant for families to be together. It has been a long-held tradition for everyone to return home from work or study and to enjoy a reunion dinner with their families on New Year's Eve, even if it requires traveling a long distance.
The dinner was believed to be the most important part of the festival and the most important meal of the year. Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together. Dishes with lucky meanings must be included in the dinner, such as fish, which meant surplus and prosperity, and dumplings, which meant wealth.
After the dinner, the elders would give the young ones red envelopes with money in them. Not surprising that Su Xiaofei, along with Lu Qingfeng and Xi Qian received their red envelopes from Yun Qingrong and Lu Qingfeng's grandfather.
Meanwhile, Su Xiaofei noticed that Chen Li and Chen Hao were both upset that they didn't receive any red envelopes at all. She also noticed that Chen Li was wearing expensive clothes and was casually glancing at Li Qingfeng when he wasn't looking.
Her lips curled up in a sneer. No wonder Chen Li liked dressing herself up using her expensive clothes and things. It turned out that Chen Li had such a huge crush on Lu Qingfeng.
Su Xiaofei briefly remembered a time when Lu Qingfeng made a comment that she looked good in everything she wore in Chen Li's presence.. If this was Chen Li's reason, then she must truly be a pathetic being.f(r)eewebn(o)vel.com
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