Chapter 58 — It Would Be a Problem Without It

By Chinese tradition, a young couple should spend New Year's Eve at the husband's family home, "keeping vigil" and sharing the reunion dinner with his relatives. Yet as more and more families are formed by only-children, facing four aging parents, the question of whose home to go to on New Year's Eve has become one of the most headache-inducing dilemmas for young couples today.

In the early eighties, with the vigorous implementation of the family planning policy, what had been a campaign for healthier births turned into a rule of one little emperor or princess per household. As these post-eighties and post-nineties children gradually grew up and came of age, reaching the age to marry and have children, the problem arrived.

In the old days, it was nothing much for the wife to spend the New Year at the husband's home—after all, a family had more than one child, so if the daughter left, the son remained. But things were different now. If the daughter left, there was no one left at all.

So Mother Yang was quite worried about this too. The Chen family had only that one daughter; if she weren't home for the New Year, how could that possibly be acceptable?

"Then I'll go ask in a bit." Chen Shutang did feel that abandoning her parents to spend New Year at Yang Juehuan's home was a bit improper, but from another angle, it was also a good thing—at least it proved her standing in the Yang family. It also proved that Yang Juehuan's parents approved of her. So Chen Shutang very much wanted to go.

"All right, I'll stop talking to you and go call Daming for you." Mother Yang smiled as she spoke, deciding to leave the space to the two young people.

"Okay," Chen Shutang said, a little shyly.

"Daming, come answer the phone!" Mother Yang called toward Yang Juehuan's room.

"For me?" Yang Ce came out of his room. "Mom, who's calling?"

"Mengyan. I told her to come to our house as a guest on New Year's Eve. You two talk it over properly and see exactly what to do—I'm afraid her parents won't agree," Mother Yang said.

"Mengyan." Yang Ce was slightly taken aback. Chen Shutang had actually taken the initiative to call him—if she hadn't, he would have called her anyway. After all, they'd been in a cold war for several days, and the New Year was almost here; one way or another he had to wish Uncle Chen a happy New Year.

"Okay, I know." Yang Ce quickly regained his composure, nodded, and picked up the phone. "Hello, wifey."

"Uh—" Chen Shutang was thrown into a bit of embarrassment by Yang Ce. She knew Yang Juehuan's mother must be right beside the phone, and Yang Ce had actually called her "wifey" so shamelessly. Chen Shutang was so flustered her face was about to drip.

"What's wrong?" Yang Hengye said. "Weren't you chatting quite happily with my mom just now?"

"I was not!" Chen Shutang protested.

"Oh? Could it be you chatted unhappily and are very angry?" Yang Ce said deliberately.

"Go on, stop talking nonsense—if your mother hears, she'll get ideas, and aren't you just making trouble for me?" Chen Shutang scolded coquettishly.

"Hehe, my mom's watching TV right now, it's fine." Yang Minlan shot his mother a meaningful glance.

To his surprise, his mother said loudly, "That's right, I'm watching TV!"

"Ah!" Chen Shutang was stunned, badly startled. "Quick, give the phone to your mother—let me explain to her!"

"Haha, I'm joking—how could my mom believe that?" Yang Ce shook his head. "You're so nervous. Why do you care so much about what my mom thinks?"

"Obviously!" Chen Shutang snorted. "You're setting traps to get me in trouble."

"Haha, let's not talk about that. My mom says you're coming to my house for New Year's Eve," Yang Yanchuan said.

"Well, do you want me to come?" Chen Shutang didn't answer, but asked in return.

"Haha, of course I—" Here Yang Ce deliberately paused, and he could hear Chen Shutang's breathing on the other end turn rapid.

"You good-for-nothing child!" Yang Ce was secretly snickering when a slap suddenly landed on the back of his head. He turned around to find his mother glaring at him furiously. "Why do you keep scaring Chen Shutang like that? Do you have nothing better to do?"

Yang Ce broke into a cold sweat—so his mother had been watching his every move the whole time. Especially since the phone receiver at the Yang house had fairly high volume, and his mother wasn't standing far away, she could probably hear everything.

"Hehe." Hearing Mother Yang's voice, Chen Shutang immediately began to giggle.

"Still laughing?" But Yang Ce saw his mother's raised palm and had to hold his tongue for the time being. "Mengyan, how about I go to your house tomorrow, and we talk it over properly with your parents?"

"That works—tomorrow is Little New Year, perfect timing," Chen Shutang said happily. "Then I'll go tell my parents in a bit."

"Haha, not angry anymore?" Yang Ce suddenly asked.

"A-angry about what?" Chen Shutang's tone caught, and she said somewhat awkwardly.

"What do you think?" Yang Hengye said.

"Zhou Yanning came to see me," Chen Shutang said after a moment's hesitation.

"What? She went to see you? What did she want?" Yang Yongjin couldn't help but frown. "She didn't say anything bad about me, did she?"

"Don't worry, Zhou Yanning is a very nice person. She explained that matter to me," Chen Shutang said.

"A very nice person?" Yang Puqi was astonished. He hadn't expected the jealous Chen Shutang to actually praise Zhou Yanning as a very nice person. It seemed this girl had quite some tricks up her sleeve.

"Yes. What do you think of her?" Chen Shutang didn't know why she had suddenly asked such a question.

"Forget it, let's not talk about her." Yang Jiyan had no interest and simply cut the topic off.

"But she—" Chen Shutang seemed about to say something more, but seeing that Yang Puqi had no patience for Zhou Yanning at all, she had to let it drop. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad. "Oh, right, Mengyan, is Uncle Chen there? Put him on, I want to wish him a happy New Year." Yang Yanzhou said.

"Yes, he's here. Hang on," Chen Shutang said.

After a moment, Chen Fei's voice came over the line. "Yang Ce, you were looking for me?"

"Uncle Chen, tomorrow is Little New Year, so I'm wishing you an early happy New Year." Yang Ce repeated what Chen Shutang and his mother had discussed earlier.

"Haha, thank you. Oh, by the way, I'm not very busy these days—come over and sit awhile one of these days," Chen Fei said with a laugh.

"Mengyan and I were just talking about that. Would tomorrow work?" Yang Yanchuan said. "We won't be disturbing your Little New Year celebration, will we?"

"Tomorrow would be wonderful," Chen Fei said. "Tomorrow it is, then—what trouble would you be? Your coming will only liven things up."

"All right, then I'll be there," Yang Hengye said.

"I'll have your aunt fix you something good. What do you feel like eating?" Chen Fei asked.

"I'm not picky—anything's fine," Yang Ce said. "Just go about things as you normally would. Don't mind me."

"Good, I'll have her put something together," Chen Fei said. "Then it's settled. We've made our agreement—don't go backing out on the day, or all my preparations will be for nothing."

"I won't, rest assured, Uncle Chen," Yang Lanxu said. The one who backed out last time seems to have been you, but Yang Ce would never in a thousand years say such a thing aloud—Chen Fei was his elder, after all.

"Then you can talk to Mengyan," Chen Fei said, and handed the phone to Chen Shutang.

"Yang Ce?" Chen Shutang answered the phone.

"Mm, right—are you free tomorrow?" Yang Yanchuan asked.

"I'm free tomorrow. What's up?" Chen Shutang asked.

"Last time I didn't make it to your place. Tomorrow will count as my first formal visit, and besides, it's a holiday—I can't very well show up empty-handed. Let's go out and buy some gifts together," Yang Yanzhou said.

"That works. Let's go out together tomorrow, then," Chen Shutang said with a nod. "But what should we buy?"