Both Sides Benefit from Red Envelope Mixing

The spring cleaning had been completed ahead of time. After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, all that was left was preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Shen Nian took on the heavy responsibility of buying drinks and disposable tableware, driving Xia Yanchun to the supermarket in a great hurry.

It was like this every year. No matter how thoroughly they prepared, when New Year's Eve actually arrived, they would always find something missing.

Many relatives arrived one after another.

Second uncle, third uncle, fourth aunt... everyone shared the same great-grandfather and interacted every year. Shen Nian had heard that before Shen Shi made his fortune, these relatives had helped him a lot. When a massive typhoon caused a year of losses, it was also these relatives who lent him money to turn things around.

To the older generation, they might all be close relatives, but to Shen Nian... realistically speaking, apart from a few familiar faces, he didn't even know how to address the rest.

Large and small cars were parked all along the side of the road.

Some relatives went into the kitchen to help slaughter chickens and ducks, while those who couldn't cook sat around the coffee table chatting and eating sunflower seeds. While everyone was enjoying the harmonious atmosphere, Shen Shi pulled Chen Minyue up to the third floor.

There was a very common phenomenon in Cinan.

For young men without girlfriends, their rooms were usually left unrenovated.

Their family wasn't struggling financially, so Shen Nian's room was renovated, but the living room on the third floor was still completely bare. They hadn't even noticed that the ceiling light was broken.

"Shen Nian has found a partner now, let's find some time to renovate the third floor," Shen Shi said mildly.

Logically speaking, people usually only started renovating immediately after finding out their son was bringing a girlfriend home.

Shen Nian was different. Renovated or not, his girlfriend had already been here; after all, she had been coming over since they were kids.

"Is there such a rush? Didn't you say recently that you still need to buy a car for Shen Yue?" Chen Minyue frowned. "Shen Nian and Xiao Chun are just dating, it's not like they're getting married yet."

"...It has to be renovated eventually. Do you think they'll break up?"

"Shoo, shoo, shoo, stop talking nonsense."

The two families were on good terms, and it was great that their children were together. But if a conflict ever arose, even if it was an amicable breakup, the relationship between the two families would become awkward.

She didn't even dare to imagine how their family and the Xia family next door would interact if her son and Xiao Chun broke up.

She wouldn't even know if she should say hello when seeing Xiao Chun in the future.

Please don't let that happen!

"Then there's no problem. Let's put the renovation on the schedule. Once they start the new school semester, I'll call some people over to help and decorate it beautifully."

"Alright then. Buying a car for Shen Yue and doing the renovations... there shouldn't be any other arrangements after that, right?"

"Nope. After the renovation, we can just focus on saving money for our retirement," Shen Shi felt no melancholy in his heart.

His son was very capable, becoming a millionaire at such a young age. His daughter worked in a state-owned enterprise with a monthly salary of over ten thousand yuan, and her career was thriving. As a father, he had nothing left to worry about.

Shen Nian most likely wouldn't inherit his breeding farm. As for Shen Yue, let alone inheriting it, she had barely even visited it a few times and always complained about the smell, making it even more impossible. When he reached retirement age, he planned to liquidate the entire farm and peacefully retire at home to take care of his grandchildren.

Meanwhile, next door.

Shen Nian mingled among a group of people whose identities he didn't know, secretly eating pistachios from the coffee table.

These things were quite expensive, so it would be a loss not to eat them. It was also a good opportunity to show his face; once he married Haji Chun, they would all be relatives.

He couldn't name these people, and they didn't know his name either. Only a few of the Xia family's relatives recognized him.

The people visiting the Xia family weren't just relatives. There were also some town officials and government employees coming to give gifts and red envelopes. As for whether they would stay for dinner, Shen Nian wasn't too sure.

While eating pistachios, he was also eavesdropping on their conversation.

It seemed Uncle Xia was getting promoted and would serve his final term as town mayor. They were all chatting about this.

The only slight imperfection was the mayor of the neighboring town.

Because of systemic rules, a town mayor usually wasn't a local of that town, which helped avoid nepotism.

Uncle Xia's age was about the same as his own father's. After serving one term as mayor, he would probably be transferred or step back into a secondary role, which was pretty good.

In the system's script, Uncle Xia was indeed the mayor. Before long, Uncle Xia would be the mayor in name and reality.

The detestable Haji Chun was actually going to upgrade into the honorable daughter of the mayor. Outrageous.

She hadn't done anything, yet she could automatically level up. Wasn't this too overpowered?

Dragon Ball had Beerus, and Earth had Xia Yanchun. How was anyone supposed to compete with that?

"What are you doing here?" Xia Yanchun came downstairs after changing her clothes, only to see Shen Nian openly sitting among a group of elders eating pistachios, his legs crossed like an emperor.

"Can't you see I'm eating?"

"Who asked you about that," Xia Yanchun pursed her lips.

Seeing Xia Yanchun, several uncles and aunts nearby already had red envelopes in their hands.

"Thank you, Third Uncle! Wishing you prosperity, abundant wealth, and good health! May Tenth Aunt have smooth sailing in the future! Wishing Uncle good health and a happy new year!"

With every red envelope handed to her, Xia Yanchun thanked the relatives or uncles and aunts. There were no unfamiliar faces this time, and addressing everyone correctly was basic operations for her.

Worth mentioning was that they also gave Shen Nian red envelopes.

Shen Nian just followed Xia Yanchun's lead, echoing whatever she called them. His pockets bulged with red envelopes; this was a highly profitable battle.

"Come out," Xia Yanchun pulled Shen Nian out into the yard and softly snorted. "You got a good deal, collecting so many red envelopes."

"What's wrong, isn't a boyfriend considered a relative?" Shen Nian held her hand back and grinned. "Let's go, I'll take you to see my relatives too and score some red envelopes... though some of them should recognize you."

"..."

Xia Yanchun was led into Shen Nian's house.

She was still a bit shy about this sort of thing and hastily shook off Shen Nian's hand.

After a round of mingling, she also harvested quite a few red envelopes. For this kind of thing, as long as they knew you, they would hand one over.

It was just that for the more distant relatives, the amount in the red envelope would be a bit smaller.

By collecting red envelopes on both sides, Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun achieved a win-win situation.

"Your side is really generous." In front of the yard, Shen Nian secretly opened a bulging red envelope. As soon as he saw three hundred yuan inside, he couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth.

"That's considered small, there are even five hundred ones. But since you're an unfamiliar face to them, they probably gave you slightly smaller ones."

"Who cares, as long as it's a red envelope."

"Added all together, it's still not as much as you make from live streaming."

"That's different. Red envelopes are red envelopes, and earnings are earnings. They must be viewed separately," Shen Nian said seriously.

As they were talking, Huang Shengqi trotted over from a short distance away.

"Holy crap, Master Shen! Chef Xia!"

Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun: "?"

Who could understand the feeling of having their online handles called out in real life? Their toes were already curling in second-hand embarrassment.

"My god, I heard from my dad that both you and Xia Yanchun are provincial top scorers? I even came across your live stream while scrolling through videos recently. At first, I just thought you looked familiar, and it took me a long time to realize it was you."

"Uh, did you follow us?" Shen Nian stroked his chin.

"A ten-year veteran fan, seriously."

"Take it out and let me see."

Huang Shengqi stopped smiling and began to hem and haw, refusing to show it no matter what.

I was just being polite, and you actually want to check? If I let you know I didn't follow you, wouldn't I be exposed?

"Ahem, well, can we take a group photo?" Huang Shengqi asked awkwardly.

It suddenly dawned on Shen Nian.

He was already a massive internet celebrity with four million followers now... In the future, he might run into this kind of situation where fans ask for photos more often.

It was quite unexpected, but it felt pretty good.

"Come on, Chef Xia, you join in too." Shen Nian pulled Haji Chun over.

Huang Shengqi smiled, half-squatted in front of the two of them, struck a peace sign under his chin, and snapped the group photo.

Even though he wasn't exactly a fan of Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun, knowing someone who was an internet celebrity made him feel an irresistible urge to take a picture with them; otherwise, it just wouldn't sit right with him.