Best friends transmigrate into a book! They marry a high-ranking official! If you run, I run too!

Gu Jin brought over a small bag of peanuts.

Looking at the half-sack of peanuts on the ground, Gu Jinfeng couldn't help but mutter, "Auntie, aren't you being a bit too formal?"

Gu Jin waved her hand, "You don't need to feel bad. It wasn't me who paid for it alone. Each of their families contributed a little. You might as well take it."

Gu Jinfeng glanced outside the kitchen and, seeing that Xu Huaishan hadn't come over, asked, "Auntie, are you and Uncle still living separately?"

Gu Jin straightened her back and nodded. "Of course, do you think I'm just joking?"

"I'm living a carefree life now, so I don't need to get involved with them."

Gu Jinfeng said, "I saw you came with your uncle, so I assumed you two had made up!"

Speaking of this, Gu Jin became embarrassed, "Xu Huaishan, I don't know what's gotten into him now, he follows you wherever you go."

Wen Tang couldn't help but ask, "Is your uncle really afraid that your aunt will date an old man in the city?"

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Gu Jin blushed even more, "At my age, where am I going to find an old man?"

The thought of Xu Huaishan believing this made Gu Jin want to curse him; he was such an idiot.

Wen Tang said, "My aunt is so beautiful, if she really wanted to find someone, I don't know how many good old men would be lining up!"

Chi Yue added, "The line could stretch all the way to France from here."

Wen Tang also said, "Holding hands, we can circle the earth three times."

Gu Jin “…”

She felt even more embarrassed. "These two kids, are they just making fun of me?"

Wen Tang and Chi Yue both shook their heads sincerely. Wen Tang said, "I just want to say that my aunt deserves better."

Chi Yue said, "Your great-uncle may not know how to cherish you, but someone else will."

Xu Huaishan had already approached the kitchen, but upon hearing these two sentences, he hesitated and did not enter the kitchen. Instead, he turned back to the entrance of the main room and continued watching Lin Jingshen write the couplets.

After listening to Wen Tang and Chi Yue's conversation, Gu Jin smiled calmly and said, "Sigh, what's all this talk about cherishing things? We're all buried up to our necks, let's not talk about this anymore."

Leaving that aside, Gu Jinfeng changed the subject, "Auntie, where are you having your New Year's Eve dinner tonight?"

"Will you live together, or will you live with Anming's family, Ansheng's family, or Ancheng's family?"

Gu Jinfeng thought that since Gu Jin and Xu Huaishan hadn't reconciled, she would still have to spend New Year's Eve dinner with her son.

Since we can't celebrate the Lunar New Year, are the elderly still stuck at home eating noodles?

Mentioning this, Gu Jin's expression became even calmer. "I'm not going," she said.

The truth is, even now, with the New Year's Eve dinner tonight, none of the three sons have said a word about letting them go out for the New Year.

It's as if whoever brings it up is at a disadvantage.

Gu Jin then recalled the opera she had listened to in her youth, "The Story of the Wall".

Gu Jin thought that perhaps she was not even as good as the parents in that story, because she had three children and couldn't even ride on the wall.

Seeing Gu Jin's expression and hearing her say "I'm not going," Zhong Meixian said, "Then we'll have dinner here tonight."

Gu Jinfeng also said, "That's right, Aunt, why don't you stay at our house for dinner? It's the first time that your sister-in-law and Xiaoyue are having New Year's Eve dinner at our house. It'll be more lively if you and your uncle stay here."

"Yes, Auntie, we're stewing wild duck for dinner, stir-frying spicy rabbit, and deep-frying crispy fish—lots of delicious food!" Wen Tang added.

Zhong Meixian added, "It's just a matter of adding two pairs of chopsticks for you and your uncle."

“Let’s eat early tonight. After you and Huai Shan finish eating, you can leave before it gets dark.”

Gu Jin didn't refuse, and only asked, "What are the things to do? I'll take care of them."

Gu Jinfeng didn't refuse and started preparing lunch with her.

Because we ate our New Year's Eve dinner quite early, we had a simple lunch.

We started preparing the New Year's Eve dinner early in the afternoon.

The salted pork and duck were all put into the pot to stew, and the rabbit was also taken out and chopped up. At three o'clock in the afternoon, smoke began to rise from the Gu family's kitchen.

Smoke was rising from the chimneys of many houses in the village, and everyone was gradually starting to prepare dinner.

Since the Xu family split up, everyone was busy with their own cooking.

Xu Ancheng went to see them several times, but his parents never returned.

Xu Anming asked him, "Have your parents not returned yet?"

"Should we still put up these couplets?"

Wang Ying came out of the kitchen and couldn't help but say, "We've already given you peanuts, we can't not give you a note, can we?"

Xu Ancheng didn't answer this question, but frowned and said, "They should still be at my uncle's house. I'll go check."

He had just stepped out of the courtyard when he saw Xu Huaishan returning with the couplets he had written.

However, he was the only one who came back.

Xu Ancheng took a few steps forward and asked, "Where is Mother?"

As Xu Huaishan handed him the couplet, he said, "It's at your uncle's house!"

“The Chinese New Year is just around the corner,” Xu Ancheng said.

Xu Huaishan nodded, "Okay, we'll stay at your uncle's house for the New Year tonight."

"How can we leave this at my uncle's house?"

"Dad, go tell Mom that you and she should come to my house tonight. Afen has already prepared the dishes."

"Oh, I'm going, but I won't be coming back."

Xu Ancheng "..."

"Hehe, your uncles also invited me to stay for the New Year."

"You've prepared quite a lot of dishes!"

“Your eldest uncle told your eldest sister’s husband that he’ll have a couple of drinks with me tonight,” Xu Huaishan said, raising his hand to urge him, “Hurry up and go in, don’t delay the putting up of the couplets, I’m coming right now.”

"Oh, and please put them on my and your mother's doors too."

As he turned around, he muttered to himself, "We were chatting so enthusiastically over there that we almost forgot about the couplets."

Hearing the commotion, Xu Anming walked over and saw Xu Huaishan's departing figure. Looking at the couplet in Xu Ancheng's hand, he couldn't help but ask, "You brought the couplet back. Where did you go again, Father?"

Xu Ancheng didn't even look up. "Let's go to my uncle's house."

"Going to your maternal uncle's house at this time?"

"Yes, they said they'd have their New Year's Eve dinner there."

Hearing this, Xu Anming didn't say anything more, but simply raised his hand and said, "Hurry up and bring the couplets over. The New Year is almost here, and these couplets haven't been put up yet!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ancheng felt inexplicably unhappy. He wanted to say something, but thinking about the New Year, he held back.

Give Xu Anming's share to him, and also send over Xu Ansheng's. Xu Ancheng took the paste Zhang Fen made and pasted his own, Xu Huaishan's, and Gu Jin's doors with it before sullenly going to help Zhang Fen light the fire.

Seeing his sullen face, Zhang Fen couldn't help but ask, "Did you tell Dad that we should let him spend the New Year with Mom and us?"

Xu Ancheng stuffed a piece of wood into the stove, grunted, and said, "I told you."

"At this point, saying anything is no different than not saying anything at all."

Zhang Fen was displeased by these words. "Are you blaming me for what you just said?"

"How can you blame me for that?"

“You have an older brother and a second older brother. This is the first year of our family division, so it shouldn’t be our turn, right?”

"Aren't we also waiting for their explanation?"

"Didn't you yourself say that you'd like to see if we can live together, or if our parents can go to our older brother's place?"

Xu Ancheng was scolded by Zhang Fen, but after thinking for a moment, he continued to sulk, "I'm not blaming you, I just think that my brother's actions were unfair."

Don't worry about it.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fen pursed her lips and said nothing more.

The Gu family prepared an exceptionally lavish New Year's Eve dinner this year, with a total of eight dishes, something they hadn't done in previous years.