Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 169 Ticket
Many relatives and friends who had received the invitations from Lao Dou went to the wrong place and called one by one to ask about the exact location. Kang Qirui and his brothers had to apologize one by one and tell them the exact location. Fortunately, the original start time was relatively early, and the relatives arrived at about 5:30, so the banquet finally started at 6 o'clock, which was still a normal time.

With about ten minutes left before the meal started, Brother Niu came to the main table, handed Xianglan a box, and said, "Xianglan, I made a longevity lock for my little nephew. It's made of 24K gold. Come, put it on him, hahaha."

"Thank you, Brother Niu." Xianglan accepted the gift without any pretense.

At this time, Mrs. Zhu came over and gave each of Xianglan and Ersao a red envelope, and said a few auspicious words in Cantonese. Ersao happily accepted the red envelope and thanked her, but Xianglan's mother didn't understand. She whispered to Xianglan: "What did she mean by this fat piglet?" Mrs. Zhu just praised Tianyou Bai Xuexue for being fat and plump, like a piglet.

Xianglan smiled and said, "She was praising our Tianyoujun."

Xianglan's mother was even more confused. She said directly, "Even if he is handsome, he can't look like Zhu Bajie." Mrs. Zhu didn't know how to explain it. She looked a little embarrassed. Kang Qirui saw his mother-in-law winking at him and explained for her, "Xianglan's mother, what my mother said is the same as what you people in southern Henan say about our son being a leftover dog. Do you understand now?"

"Oh," Xianglan's mother nodded, and she understood. But she still shook her head and said, "I'm not used to it, I'm not used to it."

"Mother-in-law, it's like you calling my grandson Gousheng. We are not used to it either." Dou also laughed.

After chatting for a while, it was time to start the meal. After all the dishes were served, the old man coughed and looked at A Yao, who understood immediately. A Yao walked to the stage and said, "Dear guests and friends, good evening! Now, please welcome Mr. Kang Ershou, the head of our Kang family, to the stage to give a speech."

Everyone in the Kang family was stunned. Didn't they say there was such a process before? They could only applaud and sigh that A Yao was indeed worthy of having worked in the government for so many years, and his ability to flatter was natural.

Old Dou walked onto the stage amid everyone's applause, took the microphone handed to him by A Yao, and said, "Ahem, dear relatives and friends, today is the full-month celebration of my grandson and granddaughter. Thank you very much for coming. On behalf of the Kang family, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you all." When everyone heard Old Dou say this, they naturally applauded again.

The old man slowly took out the speech he had prepared long ago from his pocket. "It looks like the old man is going to start his report." Kang Qirui laughed in the audience, "The old man will definitely talk a lot and the food will be cold by then." The second brother said.

"My grandson Tianyou, with a surname Kang and given name Tianyou, was born at 8 o'clock on September 11, 2002. On the fifth day of the eighth month of the lunar year of Renwu, at the time of Jiachen, with a given name of Zhineng and a nickname of Guilaizi," the old man spoke eloquently for more than ten minutes before he stopped.

"Okay." After the old man finished speaking, everyone applauded immediately. "Come on, cheers." The second brother raised his glass, not wanting to listen to the old man's long speech, and forced himself into the next process. The old man could only drink a glass with everyone and then walked off the stage. The meal was officially started.

When Kang Qirui followed the big brother and the second brother to toast to Brother Niu's table, Brother Niu pulled him aside and asked, "Fifth brother, you are the most educated, can you tell me what the intelligence that the old man talked about means? Intelligence seems to be Zhu Bajie?"

"Brother Niu, Zhu Bajie's name is Wuneng, Zhu Wuneng." Kang Qirui corrected him, and then said, "That's not important, don't worry about it. Just know that your eldest nephew is called Tianyou."

Brother Niu nodded and asked, "What about Guilaizi? He sounds like a turtle son."

"Don't worry about this." Kang Qirui and Brother Niu clinked glasses.

Kang Qirui commented on the name and pseudonym that his father gave to Tianyou: it was neither fish nor fowl and made no sense. Of course, he only dared to complain about it in his heart.

The name and courtesy name should be closely related, for example, Zhuge Liang's courtesy name is Kongming, Liang and Ming; another example is Li Bai's courtesy name is Taibai. The name chosen by my father, Zhineng, which means a master of getting rich, has nothing to do with his real name Tianyou. Guilaizi is even more ridiculous. In my father's own words, it means that God has given me a grandson, so this name should be used by my father himself.

After the full moon banquet, Xianglan's mother prepared to return to her hometown because Xianglan's sister-in-law and her daughter-in-law were about to give birth. A Yao, entrusted by the boss Guangzhi, had already bought her a ticket home. However, Xianglan's mother was still hesitant. She said to the nanny: "Mother-in-law, tell me, which side should I take care of?"

"Grandma, of course Xianglan's sister-in-law is more important. At least here we have me and everyone else helping us." The nanny persuaded. Grandma Zhu comes here every day, and there is a nanny at home, so the three children can be taken care of completely.

"One called to say she's about to give birth, and the other has no experience taking care of a child. What should I do?" Xianglan's mother was still worried. As a parent, she always wanted to do everything herself. "Look, the baby is crying again. I'll go in and take a look."

After a while, Xianglan's mother came out and said to Lao Dou's mother a little embarrassedly: "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, I won't leave."

My father was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "Not leaving? But the tickets have been bought." "I'm still worried about Youyou. My daughter has just become a mother and has no experience. She sleeps very soundly at night. I'll leave two days later and wait until she gets used to it, then I'll leave." Xianglan's mother was worried that if she left, Xianglan would sleep too soundly at night and wouldn't be able to take good care of the child.

"Isn't your daughter-in-law Xianglan's sister-in-law about to give birth?" said the nanny.

Xianglan's mother waved her hand and said with a smile, "There's still more than half a month left. It doesn't matter if I go back a few days later."

"It doesn't matter how long grandma stays here, as long as she doesn't interfere with my business." Lao Dou first expressed his attitude, so as to avoid Xianglan's mother misunderstanding that they didn't like her to stay. Then he said, "But this ticket."

"Please trouble his third uncle to refund this ticket for me." Xianglan's mother handed the ticket to her father. She also knew that this would trouble A Yao, so she lowered her head embarrassedly.

The old man waved his hand, walked to A Yao's room, gave the ticket to A Yao and asked him to refund it. A Yao looked helpless, thinking: If I refund it now, won't I have to buy a new one in a few days? What a hassle.

A Yao still thought things were too simple. In the following week, he went to refund the tickets three times and bought tickets three times, but Xianglan's mother still didn't want to leave. This time, A Yao was willing to refund the tickets again no matter what he said. After refunding, he had to buy tickets again, which meant he had to go twice more, and even twice might not work.

"Then isn't this ticket a waste?" My father felt sorry for the money.

"Dad, this is not a ticket office. Including this one, I have already bought four tickets and refunded three. I'm not going. Please be merciful and let me go." A Yao looked hopeless.

My father looked at the ticket in his hand, thought for a moment, and asked, "Zong, do you have time? Want to go to southern Henan?"

A little-known fact is that the real-name system for train tickets was piloted by Guangzhou Railway during the Spring Festival in 2010, and was implemented on high-speed trains on June 2011, 6, and on all passenger trains nationwide from New Year's Day 1. As late as 2012, some people successfully purchased train tickets using aliases, and even changed and refunded their tickets.

So, now in 2002, the ticket in my father's hand can be used by anyone to take the bus.

The second brother rolled his eyes at his father and said helplessly, "Father, my daughter is only a little over a month old and there are so many things going on in the restaurant. How can I go out and have fun? If I go, your daughter-in-law will probably kill me."

"A-Zu, what about you?" Seeing that Er Lao was not going, the old man changed his target and asked, "Is there anyone in your company going to southern Henan on a business trip or for tourism?"

"Dad, do you think my sister-in-law's home is in Shaolin Temple? Can she go traveling just like that?" A-Zu shook his head.

"Forget it, Dad, I'll go and return it myself." After saying this, the big brother was about to take the ticket from his father's hand. He was Xianglan's mother's son-in-law, and he should be the one to go.

A Yao sighed, snatched the ticket and said, "Forget it, I'll go. I know the place well, and we're brothers for life."

"Asan, if you don't want to withdraw, I do have a way, but I don't know if Big Boss and Big Sister-in-law are willing." Kang Qirui thought of a way, and without waiting for them to ask, he continued, "Big Boss and Big Sister-in-law can just take Tianyou back with them, right? Didn't we say when Tianyou was one month old that we would hold a hundred-day banquet on his hundredth day, and wear that hundred-family clothing? It just so happens that we can hold it in Big Sister-in-law's hometown."

"Huh? This is a good idea. A Guang only went to Xianglan's parents' home once when he got married, and he hasn't been there for two years. It would be a good opportunity to take this opportunity to visit relatives. What do you think, A Guang?" Both Lao Dou and the mother thought this was a good idea.

The eldest brother was a little hesitant. "The child is still so young. I don't know if it's okay for him to take such a long train ride. I'll go back and discuss it with Xianglan first."

"Then you guys think about it." Kang Qirui shrugged. He had already thought of a solution, and it didn't matter to him whether he did it or not. Anyway, they weren't going, so it was Ayao who went to get the ticket refunded, hahaha.

(End of this chapter)