My whole family is the protagonist, and I am the only cannon fodder!

Soon, Lu Shiqing came over and put his arm around Lu Qingwan's shoulders. He lowered his head and said something to Lu Qingwan. After a while, Lu Qingwan smiled.

It was the kind of smile that seemed to have no clear meaning.

But it was a bit far away and I couldn’t see his face clearly from this angle, so I didn’t know what his expression was.

Lu closed the curtains early and lay on the bed. He had already seen the brilliant fireworks and had no regrets.

After reading for a while, she looked at the time. It was only a dozen minutes until midnight and the new year would begin, so she planned to play with her phone for a while and then send Li Jianan a Happy New Year greeting when the time came.

Li Jianan had returned to her hometown with her parents a week before New Year's Eve. She had a lot of fun playing with a group of children every day and they often sent messages to her to share their daily lives.

Soon, someone knocked on the door.

Lu jumped out of bed early, opened the door, and saw the housekeeper's serious face.

"Butler Li? What's the matter?"

"Mr. Lu wants you to come over."

"Okay." He was still wearing pajamas. He grabbed a thick coat from the closet and put it on. He opened the door again and found that the butler was still waiting at the door.

Lu Zao Zao gathered his clothes and said, "Let's go."

I feel like I haven't been here for a long time. The last time was probably at the end of August, which is almost half a year.

He was even a little dazed when he stepped through the door. At this moment, Lu Zaozao felt like a prisoner who had been exiled and then recalled, waiting to be seen by the emperor.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Lu Aotian and Shen Xingyao sitting on the sofa with serious expressions. Shen Huaijin and Shen Xiyan were sitting at the other end of the living room, separated by a screen of white glass.

Lu Shiqing sat on the edge of the sofa on the other side and glanced at her indifferently.

Lu Qingwan sat on a chair, pruning the branches with great concentration, oblivious to the people around her. There were some tulips, camellias and roses on the table.

They were all very beautiful and pure flowers. Lu Zaozao kept his eyes on them for a moment and looked at them a few more times.

On New Year’s Eve, there were many people and everyone was there.

But precisely because it was New Year's Eve, the atmosphere seemed a little cold and strange, and no one was smiling.

Lu Zaozao inexplicably remembered the video that Li Jianan had sent her a few hours ago. It was a big family, very lively, and there was constant noise and laughter when Li Jianan was talking to her.

Not knowing the purpose of calling her here, Lu thought that she should not have made any mistakes that would bring shame to the Lu family during this period, so she spoke first.

"Excuse me, what's the matter?"

No one spoke, everyone was doing their own thing, in complete silence.

Lu Aotian suddenly stared at her face and asked this question.

"What do you want?"

The old and expensive clock on the wall was still working tirelessly, ticking away, with the hour hand pointing to zero.

Outside, there was a sudden clamor of fireworks and firecrackers. The dark sky was filled with this brilliant light, like clouds rising from the sky, and in an instant it was as bright as day.

The new year has arrived.

Lu Zaozao suddenly felt a little tired. She knew that she was probably a little dull, so she could never guess what everyone in this family was thinking.

In the past, I always tried hard to guess and took the trouble to observe and learn, hoping to win a little bit of favor.

But now that I have died once, I am too lazy to guess.

It's boring and tiring, worrying and tiring.

A message popped up on her phone. Lu Zao Zao lowered her head and took a look. It was a very exaggerated New Year's greeting from Li Jianan, along with some funny but surprisingly appropriate emoticons.

I sent more than a dozen messages in a row.

In this slightly suffocating atmosphere, Li Jianan seemed to pull her out for a moment. Lu lowered her head early and replied one by one.

While still typing, Lu Zao Zao seemed to have remembered something, raised his head and said something casually.

"If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

Before he could turn around, Shen Xingyao immediately said, "Stand up."

His previous habits made Lu Zao Zao stop where he was almost like a conditioned reflex. After watching them for a few seconds, Lu Zao Zao's footsteps gradually approached.

When he was just a few steps away from them, Lu Zaozao could clearly feel that both of them were breathing heavier.

She finally stopped, looked them straight in the face and said, "You probably don't have anything to say to me, so call me over. It's past midnight, so let's just treat it as a New Year's Eve reunion."

The reason why he called her over at this moment was probably for this purpose. It would be too outrageous to leave his daughter alone in another house to spend New Year's Eve. However, if he continued to watch, he might get annoyed and offend others. Lu Zao Zao lowered her head slightly.

"Happy New Year, Mom and Dad. I'm going back now. Bye."

A disdainful snort came from behind the glass door, and then Lu Qingwan cut off the stem of a flower with a crisp "click", and the flower fell to the ground.

Ignore these reactions.

Another thing inexplicably popped up in Lu Zao Zao's mind. She suddenly found it very funny, and suddenly felt it was ironic -

A large family business must establish a good public image and build positive social opinion, and public welfare is indispensable.

The Lu family spends tens of digits on charity every year, including but not limited to building roads and schools, donating various medical and daily necessities, helping poor children and sick women and children, and even offering incense to temples.

The Lu family also set up a charity foundation called "Qian", which is managed by Shen Xingyao, who personally handles all matters, big or small, without regard to the size of the matter.

I seldom see her at home, but I have seen Shen Xingyao's face in newspapers, on TV screens and in various media interviews. Her face is bright and beautiful, and the years have not affected her beauty at all, but have made her more dazzling.

Shen Xingyao also often participates in charity activities, donating clothes and food to left-behind children in the mountains, donating books and stationery to students in poor schools, and holding the hands of children with cancer in the hospital...

Sometimes we smile brightly because of their tenacity and perseverance, and sometimes we shed tears and look sad because of their circumstances.

Most of the time, Shen Xingyao was among a group of children, hugging them, looking very distressed, with eyes full of sincerity and love, and Lu Zaozao could easily tell that these emotions were all true feelings.

Lu Zaozao sometimes stared at the visible photos and videos on her phone in a daze, trying her best to recall all the moments from her childhood to adulthood. Has there ever been such a warm moment for a minute?

No.

Not once.

The care and love that she showed to others so easily was the emptiness and void in all Lu Zaozao's memories.

As he walked and thought, a slight pain spread from his chest. Lu Zao Zao held onto the edge of the door, covered his mouth and coughed rapidly a few times, then quickened his pace and walked away from the place.