1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 172 Spending the New Year at the Fu Family Home: A Happy and Harmonious Family Reunion
"If you let me guess..."

The uncle found it amusing and chuckled as he chimed in, "It's probably related to feelings. What secrets could young people possibly have? It's nothing more than the woman they like not being accepted by their parents, so they're hiding her away and don't dare bring her home."

Gu Bin: "."

Unexpectedly, my uncle was also a seasoned gossip, and he guessed the truth right away.

"So it really is true?"

When Lin Xiyu saw that he did not deny it, her eyes lit up.

"Cough cough."

Gu Bin, unusually feeling guilty, looked away.

"Does Zheng really have a girlfriend?"

Lin Xiyu was pleasantly surprised: "Your silence means you agree."

Gu Bin sighed helplessly: "Just keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone else."

"Row."

Lin Xiyu agreed readily.

Gu Bin raised an eyebrow, looking at her with some surprise.

It seems to be saying, "You actually managed to hold back and not ask any more questions?"
"Brother Zheng has his reasons for not wanting others to know."

Lin Xiyu understood his meaning and, before he could ask, said, "I understand how he feels. Considering he helped me sell the goods, I won't ask and will let him off the hook, although I really do want to know."

Gu Bin smiled, about to praise her for being so sensible, but upon hearing the last sentence, he almost broke down and burst out laughing on the spot.

-

The uncle dropped the two off at the entrance of the military compound, refusing to accept any money. While the young couple got out of the car, he stepped on the gas pedal, and the taxi roared onto the main road, disappearing from sight in no time.

"Fine, if Uncle doesn't want the money, then we don't need it."

Gu Bin looked away and smiled with relief: "On the second day of the Lunar New Year, when we go to your maternal grandmother's house, I'll bring her two more bottles of good wine."

My uncle wasn't home on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Lin Xiyu smiled and reminded him, "You forgot, he's also someone's son-in-law, and he needs to accompany his aunt back to her parents' home."

"Cough cough."

Gu Bin coughed twice, a rare moment of awkwardness: "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten about it."

"I'm also a little unaccustomed to it."

Lin Xiyu's ears turned red: "I was young before and never thought about these things. My mom told me this morning to tell you that we're going back to my maternal grandparents' house together on the second day of the Lunar New Year. It really feels a bit strange, and I'm not used to this kind of talk."

"You'll get used to it."

Gu Bin held her hand, his eyes gentle: "From now on, I will accompany you back to your parents' home every year on the second day of the Lunar New Year."

“I already live at my parents’ house, I don’t need you to come with me.”

For some reason, when Lin Xiyu heard his words, which sounded like a promise, her heart skipped a beat.

"After we get married."

Gu Bin didn't notice anything unusual about her and said with a smile, "Now that you have a child, can you still stay at your parents' house?"

"Pah, what are you dreaming about now?"

Lin Xiyu, suppressing her inner unease, spat at him, both ashamed and angry: "Who wants to have your child?"

"If you won't have children for me, who do you want to have them for?"

Gu Bin pretended to be angry and leaned down to get close to her face.

"How dare you say such shameless things during the Lunar New Year?"

Lin Xiyu blushed deeply and tried to push him away.

"Let's buy an apartment in Shanghai when school starts next semester."

Looking at her flushed cheeks, Gu Bin's heart fluttered, and he uttered something surprising.

"Why, why?"

Xi Yu was extremely shocked and stammered dramatically.

"I can not wait anymore."

Gu Bin's eyes were deep, with a hint of seduction: "I want to be with you every day, I don't want to be apart again."

"Grandma, Grandma said..."

Lin Xiyu's ears burned: "You can't live together before you're married. You, you promised Grandma back then."

We weren't engaged back then.

Gu Bin's eyes were deep and thoughtful: "Things are different now. We are now engaged and have the approval of our relatives and friends. In the countryside, people our age are already having children."

"That's the countryside."

Lin Xiyu stammered, "We're still in school."

What does going to school have to do with it?

Gu Bin didn't take it seriously: "As long as you apply to the school, you can stay off-campus."

"Won't living outside interfere with your studies?"

Lin Xiyu's eyes showed conflict, and she wanted to argue further.

"With me tutoring you, you'll achieve twice the results with half the effort."

Gu Bin didn't give her a chance to refuse, shutting her down with a single sentence.

"Okay."

Lin Xiyu followed her heart and completely gave up the struggle.

-

The Fu family is large, with the elderly couple having five sons and nine grandsons. During the Spring Festival, the whole family gathers together, making it especially lively.

Gu Bin's father was the third among his brothers. His eldest brother had three sons, his second brother had two, he had two sons, and his fourth brother had two. His youngest brother, who was over forty years old, was still unmarried and was the representative of the rebellious faction in the family, causing his parents a lot of worry.

Unfortunately, this uncle is very experienced, has traveled the world, is knowledgeable, and has a humorous way of speaking, making him very popular among the younger generation.

Gu Bin also liked his uncle very much. Every year during the Spring Festival and holidays, when his uncle returned from abroad, he would pester him, just like his other brothers, to tell him about his interesting experiences.

My uncle never disappointed them. Every time he brought back a variety of strange and wonderful gifts, and the stories he told were even more interesting and exciting, perfectly matching their curiosity.

-

Gu Bin brought Lin Xiyu to the Fu family home, where a familiar scene came into view.

My uncle sat in the center of the living room, surrounded by his brothers like a star being the moon, speaking with great emotion and spittle flying everywhere.

"Xi Yu is here!"

Grandma Fu's loud voice, octaves higher than usual, brought a moment of silence to the noisy living room.

My uncle paused, then looked up at the door.

"Grandpa, Grandma, we're here."

Gu Bin held Lin Xiyu's hand, and the two entered the living room side by side.

"Xi Yu, come here quickly, we were just talking about you."

Grandma Fu was overjoyed to see Lin Xiyu and waved her over, gesturing for her to come over and sit down next to her.

"Go."

Gu Bin gave Lin Xiyu a wink, signaling her to come over, while he strode to the center of the living room, greeted his brothers, and, as usual, gathered around his uncle.

"You're something else, kid." Uncle glanced at Lin Xiyu and teased him with a smile, "Your six older brothers haven't found partners yet, and you've beaten them to it."

"Women can be quite troublesome sometimes."

Ignoring the envious and jealous looks from his other brothers, Gu Bin deliberately showed off: "She's been overthinking things and crying all the time since I last saw her, I have to waste my energy comforting her."

"This boy"

The older cousin laughed in exasperation, raised his fist, and punched him on the shoulder: "You're deliberately saying the opposite of what you mean to annoy us."

"If I don't say it this way, how can I say it?"

Gu Bin didn't dodge and took the punch head-on: "Are you saying that having a girlfriend is too beautiful, too considerate, and that you're living like you're in a honey pot every day?"

"Oh my god, the saccharine smell of this romance is practically spraying my face."

His third cousin couldn't stand it anymore and punched him in the chest again.

I knew saying that wouldn't work.

His punch landed a bit too hard; Gu Bin rubbed his chest, wincing in pain.

"okay."

The uncle couldn't stand it anymore and tried to smooth things over with a smile: "Xiao Bin has a girlfriend, that's his achievement. If you guys don't want to be compared to the worst, you should strive to improve yourselves. Otherwise, you'll always be outdone by your younger brother in everything, and then where will you put your face as older brothers?"

"We can't compare to him."

Fifth cousin and Gu Bin are about the same age and took the college entrance exam in the same year: "This kid is too amazing. He can study while playing and still get the top score in the province. Luckily, he lives far away and is not in Hubei or the same province as me. Otherwise, my dad would be grabbing my ear and scolding me every day, complaining that I don't work hard and my grades are not good."

"That's right"

The other two cousins, who were younger than Gu Bin and still in high school, complained with frustrated expressions: "His actions have put too much pressure on us. I originally thought my grades were okay and I only needed to get into a local university in Qingdao. Now, my mom insists that I go to Tsinghua or Peking University, saying that it's all thanks to the Fu family genes. She says that if the third son's child can get the top score in the province, we can too, and we absolutely cannot be worse than him."

"Genes are largely determined by heredity."

Gu Bin smiled jokingly and then delivered another blow to them: "If you can't get into Tsinghua or Peking University, you can only say that you didn't try hard enough, and you can't blame anyone else."

"Did you two hear that?"

Aunt Si listened intently to the younger generation's conversation, and when she heard this, she immediately erupted in anger: "Xiao Bin has already said so, yet you all still slack off and don't study properly. You can't blame anyone else for your poor grades; you can only blame yourselves."

"Brother Bin."

The two younger brothers immediately looked miserable and complained in unison, "We are truly impressed by your ability to provoke hatred."

"Hahaha."

The other brothers were amused by the two men's bitter faces and burst into laughter.

"Alright, you two stop complaining. Look what I brought back for you from abroad this time."

My uncle smiled and smoothed things over, magically producing a few animal teeth from his pocket.

"what is this?"

"Wolf Fang?"

"No, wolf fangs aren't that big; they should be the teeth of a ferocious beast like a lion."

"So handsome."

"Uncle really didn't disappoint us; he even managed to get his hands on such a rare item."

"Africa may not have much else, but it has a lot of lions."

"Even a lion needs the right opportunity. Who would dare to pull a tooth from a lion's mouth when it's full of life and energy?"

"That's the advantage of animal protection organizations; they deal with animals all day long and encounter all sorts of rare and endangered species."

"I don't like lions, I like tigers. Do you have tiger penis? I want to get two so my dad can make tiger penis wine."

"You're kidding me! What did you learn about world geography? There are no tigers in Africa."

The younger generation was drawn to Huya's teeth and chatted and laughed around their uncle, having a great time. The elders watched with pleasure and smiled lovingly.

The family was enjoying a happy and harmonious time together. The only variable was Gu Bin's mother.

-

"Grandma, you are so lucky. Your grandson is so promising and has found you such a wonderful granddaughter-in-law."

On the sofa, the wives surrounded Grandma Fu, chatting about everyday things and deliberately praising Lin Xiyu to make her happy.

"I'm so envious! When will my Fu Lei finally get it?"

The eldest daughter-in-law was envious from the bottom of her heart and had a lot of resentment towards her eldest son: "He's almost 30 years old and doesn't even have a girlfriend. All he does all day is do some research in the lab. When you ask him what he's researched, he won't say. If you press him, he'll say, 'Just pretend you never had a son like me.' His words are so harsh that they can make you angry to death."

"That's because their company has a rule that they have to keep it confidential."

Grandma Fu couldn't stand hearing a single bad word said about her grandson, and even her daughter-in-law couldn't say anything: "Da Lei knows what he's doing, so you, as his mother, don't worry about it."

"I'm his mother, can't I even say a few words?"

The eldest daughter-in-law muttered under her breath, somewhat unconvinced.

"Sister-in-law, stop complaining."

The second daughter-in-law smiled and tried to mediate: "My husband didn't do research, and he hasn't found a partner yet. It's all about fate. Otherwise, why would Xiaobin get engaged right after starting college? It's just that fate has brought them together. We can't help but envy him."

"That's the truth."

Grandma Fu found it agreeable and gave her second daughter-in-law an approving look.

They say sons resemble their mothers.

The fourth daughter-in-law continued to praise: "Xi Yu is beautiful and has fair skin. Her future children will also be good-looking, just like Xiao Bin, handsome and promising."

That statement is incorrect.

The second daughter-in-law bickered with her: "If you have two sons, the first one will look like the mother and the second like the father. Xiao Bin's appearance doesn't look like his third sister-in-law, it looks like his third brother. His third brother looks like our mother. So, if you think about it this way, Xiao Bin actually looks like his grandmother, which is why he is so handsome."

“I love hearing that.”

Grandma Fu was delighted to hear this, and wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes as she smiled.

"You've really hit the nail on the head with what Mom said."

The eldest daughter-in-law chuckled and teased, "No wonder Mom likes you the most out of the four daughters-in-law. You're so good with words, you could talk the dead back to life."

"I'm just a low-educated, grassroots worker; I wouldn't dare compare myself to my third brother and sister-in-law."

The second daughter-in-law, being shrewd, noticed the other sisters-in-law casting envious and jealous glances at her. She quickly shifted the focus away from them, saying, "Our mother's favorite daughter-in-law has to be our third sister-in-law! She's so capable; she's already a deputy director-level official, and I heard she went to another prefecture-level city to become a deputy mayor. That's incredibly impressive; it's a unique honor in our entire Fu family."

"The third son's wife is undoubtedly capable, but she's a bit too stubborn."

Grandma Fu had mixed feelings about her third daughter-in-law.

She was the one who initially chose him and asked the Gu family to arrange the marriage. Her son and daughter-in-law didn't get along, and at first, she sided with her daughter-in-law and criticized her son.

However, as time went on, the daughter-in-law focused on her career, and as her position rose, the relationship between the two became increasingly distant. She felt sorry for her son, who was like an ascetic with no one to care for him, and she developed unspeakable resentment towards her daughter-in-law.

When people get old, they don't care about anything else but harmony and happiness for their family.

Having a daughter-in-law with whom she has a strained relationship is like having a sharp thorn stuck in her heart. She wants to vent but can't, which makes her feel very uncomfortable.

-

"If I could have a daughter-in-law like that, I'd accept her stubbornness."

Unfortunately, her eldest daughter-in-law was oblivious and kept poking at her heartstrings.

"Ugh."

Grandma Fu didn't want to lose her temper during the New Year and upset everyone, so she could only sigh deeply and forcibly suppress her resentment.

"Why hasn't my third sister-in-law arrived yet?"

The second daughter-in-law was a shrewd woman. Sensing something was amiss, she smiled and changed the subject: "They should be back from Y City by now, right? If they don't come soon, lunch will be delayed."