Volume One: River City Tune - Chapter 58: New Year's Eve (Part One)

Outside, the cold wind howled, but inside, the room was cozy and warm.

Today's dishes on the Li family's table were far more sumptuous than ever before. A large bowl of braised pork knuckles was stewed until meltingly tender, exuding an enticing meaty aroma. Next to it sat a whole braised carp on a platter, and even the spinach soup—usually the most plain and simple dish—was dotted with pieces of cured ham, giving it an extraordinary look.

Five dishes and one soup were arranged on the table like plum blossoms, all prepared personally by Li Ling, leaving Li Yue'er dumbfounded. Although it was New Year's Eve, these dishes were simply too extravagant. The little girl's mouth was practically watering. She waited eagerly until Li Ling brought in a small wine pot before happily taking her seat. "Brother, we can eat now!"

Li Ling poured the freshly warmed Tusu wine into a small cup and smiled, "Today is the New Year, and tomorrow Yue'er will be a year older. After the Lantern Festival, you'll be a young lady."

Yue'er paid no attention to his teasing. With a flick of her chopsticks, she picked up a large piece of meat, hesitated for a moment, and placed it into Li Ling's bowl first. "Brother, you've worked hard. You eat the meat first."

Looking at this sensible younger sister, Li Ling felt a pang in his heart, involuntarily thinking of his parents and sister separated by a thousand years of time and space. As the saying goes, a traveler in a strange land, every festive season doubles one's homesickness. Usually, being busy with other things kept such feelings at bay, but on a day meant for family reunion, he couldn't help yearning for his family from before he transmigrated.

He thought of how, as every New Year approached, he would travel back to his hometown from the bustling metropolis where he worked—exhausted from the journey yet filled with a sense of fulfillment and joy. He remembered the warmth of sleeping in his small bed after his parents had cleaned and tidied his bedroom well in advance. He recalled the awkwardness and resistance when his parents tentatively inquired about his personal life, and his younger sister's playful teasing to smooth things over while demanding gifts...

All of this was now beyond recall. He could never return; he could only live on in this unfamiliar era alongside the little sister before him, doing his best to make a good life together under the identity of Li Ling.

This train of nostalgic holiday emotions was only interrupted when a flurry of firecrackers popped outside. Li Ling realized he had been lost in thought for quite a while, and with a start, he noticed that Yue'er hadn't started eating either. Instead, she sat there in a daze, her eyes turning somewhat red.

"Yue'er, what's wrong? It's the New Year, why are you crying?" Li Ling panicked instantly and hurried to ask.

"Brother, you... I was missing Dad and Elder Sister too. I remember how lively the family used to be during the New Year. Dad would give me New Year's money, and Elder Sister would give me a hairpin she made herself..." Remembering the past, the little girl began to choke back tears.

Li Ling quickly comforted her, "Be a good girl, Yue'er. Today is a happy occasion, don't cry. Dad and Elder Sister are just not by our side right now; maybe we'll all be together for the New Year next year."

"Really?" the little girl asked, sniffing.

"Mm. Think about it, Dad only ran away because of debts. Now that I've paid off the debt long ago, once he gets word, he'll surely come home. As for Elder Sister, even though she's married, she can always visit," Li Ling said quickly. "Besides, if you really miss her, in a few days I'll go with you to Jiangbei County to see her."

"Brother, do you really plan to go see Elder Sister?"

"Of course. When have I ever lied to you? To be honest, ever since Elder Sister got married three years ago, neither of us has been to visit her. It's really quite remiss of us," Li Ling nodded, adding silently in his heart that he also needed to return her hundred taels of silver.

Although Li Tong hadn't asked for repayment when he delivered the silver, Li Ling never intended to keep his sister's hundred taels. Whether the money was her hard-earned savings over the years or taken from her dowry, it was her foundation and sense of security in her husband's household. As a younger brother, borrowing it for a while was one thing, but he would never shamelessly swallow it whole.

Now that the crisis had passed and, thanks to the soaring sales of *The Investiture of the Gods*, Li Ling had plenty of cash on hand, he could naturally return the hundred taels to his sister. Therefore, a trip to Jiangbei County to visit her was something Li Ling had planned all along, depending only on when he had free time after the New Year.

Yue'er finally cheered up, breaking into a tearful smile and nodding repeatedly. "Mm-mm, I want to go see Elder Sister too! I haven't seen her in three years, and I don't know if she's had a baby yet..." True to her childish nature, she had just been weeping, yet now she was smiling broadly again, stuffing a large piece of meat into her mouth and chewing happily with puffed-out cheeks.

Seeing this, Li Ling smiled as well. After draining a full cup of Tusu wine, he felt a warm, soothing glow spreading through his mind and body.

Five dishes and one soup were still a bit much for two people. Yue'er had started out eating voraciously, but after a few pieces of meat and half the fish, she could only rub her belly and declare she was stuffed. Li Ling had also partaken of the food and wine at his leisure, and now he drew a slender silver chain from his tunic and handed it to her. "This is your New Year's gift."

"Oh, it's so pretty!" The silver chain, glittering in the candlelight, made Yue'er's eyes sparkle. Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. "Thank you, Brother! I love it so much."

Li Ling smiled too. This was a bracelet he had put a lot of thought into, having the city's silversmith hammer it out piece by piece. The labor cost alone had been a full five taels of silver. He chuckled, "As long as you like it. I told you, once we have money, I'll definitely get you better jewelry. Here, let me put it on for you." With that, he took the chain back from her hand and looped it around her slender wrist.

Her fair skin paired with the tiny, shimmering silver chain looked truly lovely. However, it made the brass bangle on her other wrist look somewhat crude by comparison, so Li Ling suggested, "You should take off that bangle; it doesn't look very nice."

"No, I like it," Yue'er protested, shaking her head.

"Why? The two of them together really don't match well."

"Because this is the first gift you ever gave me, Brother. I love it the most," Yue'er insisted stubbornly. She then deliberately placed both hands together, displaying the copper bangle and the silver chain side by side, looking at them from left to right. "It's not ugly at all. They look quite nice together."

"Uh, alright. As long as you like it," Li Ling said with a helpless shrug, dropping the subject.

After they finished washing the bowls, chopsticks, cups, and dishes and returned to the main hall, they found themselves somewhat at a loss for what to do next. On New Year's Eve, propriety dictated that one should stay up late, only sleeping after midnight. Yet right now, there were no other forms of entertainment—not even a Spring Festival Gala to mock—and with only the two siblings in the house, it naturally felt rather dull.

In the end, Li Ling simply pulled Yue'er over to read and practice calligraphy together... For a brother and sister to study and write on New Year's Eve—if word of this got out, it would undoubtedly be praised as a heartwarming tale of diligence and love for learning.

...

Families like the Li household, with sparse numbers and only two siblings spending a lonely New Year, were after all in the minority. In the vast majority of households, merely eating dinner at night took several hours, followed by juniors continuously kowtowing to wish their elders a Happy New Year, with the more formal ones even receiving lectures and instructions. In this manner, the entire evening slipped away effortlessly.

At this very moment, deep within the grand mansion of the Wan clan in Hengzhou Prefecture, just such a scene was unfolding. Since midday, when all four branches of the family had gathered, the entire estate had been buzzing with excitement. By the time of the New Year's feast, dozens of the Wan clan's male members were congregated together, exchanging toasts and drinking freely. It truly looked prosperous, thriving, and full of harmonious joy.

However, by around the second watch, after the New Year's dinner concluded, the heads of the various branches followed the venerable patriarch to the study, and the previous warmth instantly dissipated.

This was an old habit the Wan clan had cultivated over decades. Every year at this time, the managing members of each branch would report to the patriarch on the specific gains and losses of the current year, as well as their plans for the next. The head of the family would then deliver a final judgment, bestowing rewards or criticisms.

As in previous years, when the first and second branches reported their harvests for the year, they wore smug expressions, and the patriarch smiled benignly. But when Wan Mang of the third branch spoke about the situation regarding their bookstores, the atmosphere shifted. "The bookstores under our third branch have had some gains this year. For instance, we've already opened three bookstores here in the prefecture city and plan to open three more next year, which should force several other bookstores out of business. Furthermore, places like Jiangbei County and Jiangyuan County have also yielded great harvests..."

"Then how much silver did you actually make this year?" a member of the first branch suddenly asked with a smile.

"Hmph, if your people from the first branch hadn't suddenly meddled and forced us to set up a bookstore in Jiangcheng County as well, we could have easily made several thousand taels of silver. But as it stands, we lost about three thousand taels this year," Wan Mang said with an unpleasant expression, casting a fierce glare at the member of the first branch who had spoken.

"What kind of talk is that? What do you mean our first branch meddled? It's just that you people in the third branch are incompetent! You insisted on running off to Jiangcheng to make fools of yourselves, and not only did you lose face for the Wan family, but you also lost money!" The other man refused to yield, snapping right back.

"Would things have ended up like this if you hadn't suddenly lent money to that Gu family bookstore? We aren't even demanding an explanation from you, yet you dare to make such sarcastic remarks—truly preposterous! I ask the venerable patriarch to uphold justice for our third branch!" Wan Mang flared up in anger, rising to his feet and bowing deeply to the elderly man seated at the head of the room.

His plea was met only with a scoff from a somewhat frivolous-looking young man. "Lacking ability yourself and yet blaming our first branch—no wonder your third branch has amounted to nothing these past few years! Now you've even failed at opening a bookstore in some tiny backwater..."

"You—" Wan Mang was utterly enraged and on the verge of retort when he saw the patriarch—who had been squinting as if dozing off—suddenly open his eyes and slowly utter, "Enough! You are all family, and it's the New Year. Let's not damage harmony."

At the patriarch's command, no one dared to say another word. Wan Mang could only look disgruntled and murmur assent, then cast a hopeful glance at the old man, waiting for him to deliver justice.