Rekindling the Youthful Era

Chapter 869 Dating is not as good as reading web novels

The three girls huddled together on the small bed in Li Luo's room and actually fell asleep.

Perhaps because they sleep together every day, the three of them don't really dislike each other in bed; they've gotten used to it.

Looking at the three sleeping faces, Li Luo felt a sense of peace and tranquility. Afraid that the sound of the keyboard would disturb them, he simply took out his phone and started typing.

It was past four in the afternoon when Xu Youyu, having slept soundly, was the first to wake up.

Then Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng also woke up. The three girls stretched on the bed, and Li Luo, who was by the bedside, said, "If you're awake, get up and wash your face. Then we'll go downstairs."

Ying Chanxi rubbed her eyes, obediently responded, and then got out of bed first, heading towards the bathroom opposite the door.

Yan Zhusheng and Xu Youyu followed one after another. After washing their faces, they went downstairs with Li Luo to the second floor.

It was the busiest time in the kitchen, and the three girls, having nothing to do, went into the kitchen to help out. However, Lin Xiuhong quickly chased them out and told them to rest quietly on the sofa.

So Li Luo took the three of them with him, went downstairs, out of the courtyard, and to the small shop of his second grandfather across the street, where he got some fireworks and firecrackers.

At this moment, Li Luo's grandmother was sitting and chatting with several other elderly women in the next courtyard. When she saw her beloved grandson, she called Li Luo over.

Using her memory palace, Li Luo politely greeted each of the elderly women, who responded with smiles.

The three pretty young girls next to them quickly attracted the attention of the old ladies. Ying Chanxi took the lead in greeting them, and Yan Zhusheng and Xu Youyu followed suit.

The old ladies were quite familiar with Ying Chanxi. The girls from the Ying family were quite famous in their area. When Grandpa Ying played chess with others, he would often start by saying "my granddaughter".

Even if he can't beat others at chess, he can still win a game thanks to his excellent granddaughter.

However, Yan Zhusheng and Xu Youyu were slightly unfamiliar with each other.

Only two elderly women living next door to Li Luo and his family had a vague recollection of them; it seemed they had seen the two girls a couple of years ago.

Grandma Li Luo had clearly been informed by Lin Xiuhong, and she didn't explicitly state the relationship between the three girls and her grandson in front of Li Luo, only saying that they were classmates and friends.

But after Li Luo left with the three girls, Grandma couldn't hold back her chatter and started bragging to her old friends in a roundabout way.

The meaning is simple: it's not necessarily a good thing for one's own grandson to be too outstanding, as there are too many tempting women around, making it impossible to choose.

The elderly women nearby agreed verbally, but secretly grimaced, already used to Li Luo's grandmother's greetings.

Anyway, ever since Li Luo achieved success in both his career and studies, his grandparents have become invincible in the surrounding area of ​​the village.

My grandson has finally come back for the New Year, so I have to take the opportunity to show him off a few more times.

Li Luo was unaware of his grandparents' undefeated record. When he returned to the second floor with Ying Chanxi and the other two, the large round table in the living room was already filled with delicacies for ancestral worship.

Two tall candles were lit at the front, and small wine glasses and chopsticks were placed around the table, symbolizing that the ancestors should eat first and that they should be blessed with peace and health in the coming year.

After Li Luo returned, Li Guohong invited him to pay his respects.

As for the three young girls, they are not yet married into the family, so they cannot be worshipped; they can only watch from the sidelines.

Because the Ying family moved from another place years ago, and the old man Ying was too lazy to do these things, the Ying Chanxi family did not have the custom of worshipping ancestors during the New Year.

Xu Youyu's family does hold similar ancestral worship ceremonies, so it's not surprising. It's just that Yan Zhusheng has basically never seen one abroad.

Even though I had seen Li Luo at his house several times in the past few years, I still felt curious every time I saw him again.

After asking why she couldn't go forward to pay her respects, Yan Zhusheng whispered after receiving the answer, "So, once we marry Li Luo, we can pay our respects during the New Year too?"

“That’s how it is in theory,” Ying Chanxi replied softly. “But it’s still early. It’s at least something that will happen after we graduate from university.”

"Why?" Yan Zhusheng asked again, "You can get married in college, right?"

“Theoretically speaking…” Xu Youyu reminded him, “The legal marriage age for men is 22, so Li Luo won’t meet the requirement until his senior year of college.”

“However, the custom in rural areas is generally not to look at the marriage certificate,” Ying Chanxi explained in a low voice. “The main thing is that you have to wait until the wedding banquet is held and all the relatives have witnessed the wedding. Then you are considered a member of the Li family, and you will naturally have to worship the ancestors together during the New Year.”

The three girls sat on the sofa whispering to each other. When Li Luo finished his prayers and returned to sit down, Yan Zhusheng asked impatiently, "Li Luo, when are we going to have our wedding?"

Li Luo: "...?"

……

After everyone had offered their prayers two or three times, Li Guohong brought over a pile of paper money, as well as gold and silver ingots, and Buddhist scriptures that Grandma Li Luo had recited every day.

They put all of these into a large black pot, took it to the balcony, lit it with a lighter, and then the family members gathered around it to silently worship until all the paper money was burned.

It was already past six o'clock in the evening.

Lin Xiuhong and the others got busy again, taking the dishes used for ancestral worship back to the kitchen and reheating them.

The others sat around two round tables. After Grandpa Li poured himself a glass of baijiu, took a small sip, picked up his chopsticks, and took his first bite, the New Year's Eve dinner officially began.

Li Luo sat next to his grandfather and, unusually, poured himself a small glass of baijiu (Chinese liquor).

However, he didn't like the taste; one sip made his throat feel hot. After drinking a small cup with his grandfather, he quickly switched back to his own orange juice with pulp.

The TV in the living room was already on, but it wasn't time for the Spring Festival Gala yet, so everyone ate and chatted.

At this moment, Grandma Li Luo asked everyone, "How long are you all staying this time?"

Logically speaking, when going home for the Chinese New Year, one should stay until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year before leaving.

But everyone in the Li family was very busy.

People like Li Dao and Chen Yonglin could only stay in the countryside for two or three days before having to leave, as there were many things to do at the factory that required their presence.

Chen Sijia will be going back to the company to work overtime on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year so she can earn more overtime pay.

Li Xuemei then said she had to go back with her daughter and also get the card and chess room open as soon as possible.

With so many people free during the Lunar New Year holiday, the card and mahjong parlors are sure to be doing good business. Going there a day earlier means earning an extra day's worth of money.

Lin Xiuhong didn't open the card and mahjong parlor with the intention of making a lot of money. She mainly opened it because the other storefront was just sitting empty.

Therefore, Lin Xiuhong divided the money earned by the chess and card room each month into several portions. As the landlord and owner, she took 50%, and the remaining 50% was split equally between the two sisters, Li Xuefeng and Li Xuemei.

This was just a small sum of money for Lin Xiuhong, but for Li Xuefeng and Li Xuemei, it was much more than what they had earned from their previous jobs.

And it's easy.

It's nothing more than working at the front desk, cleaning, and serving guests. Apart from a few of them, everyone else can basically stay until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.

However, Li Xuexian and Chen Hailin had to visit relatives in Chenjia Village, and that was about it.

As they chatted idly, the New Year's Eve dinner quickly came to an end.

After Ying Chanxi and her friends finished eating at the children's table next door, they sat down on the sofa to watch TV and wait for the Spring Festival Gala to start at 8 p.m.

As for Lin Xiuhong and the others, they immediately went to the mahjong table and happily started playing mahjong.

Li Luo wasn't a big fan of drinking. After drinking with his grandfather for a while, he excused himself, saying he was full, and left the table, letting the group of men continue drinking and bragging. He then went to the sofa and invited Li Xiang and Chen Sijia over to play cards.

Li Xiang, a senior in college who still hasn't found a girlfriend, was playing cards while looking at his three aunts, feeling a mix of emotions.

A few years ago, when he was a freshman in college, he saw these three come to the countryside with Li Luo.

Now, three or four years have passed, and I never expected that my uncle would be so capable, managing to keep the three girls getting along well and accepting each other's presence.

This is even more outrageous than the plot of my uncle's own book, "I'm Really Not a Star".

It can only be said that novels still need a bit of logic to convince readers, whereas in reality, there is absolutely no logic involved.

This made Li Xiang feel a pang of jealousy, wondering why he couldn't meet such a wonderful girl.
So during a break from playing cards, Li Xiang quietly asked Li Luo, who was next to him, for advice.

"Uncle, I'd like to ask you for some advice."

"You said."

How can I find a girl I like?

"What's the point of asking me this... How would I know where the girl you like is?"

"So, how did you find your husband, Uncle?" Li Xiang pressed. "All three of your aunts are so outstanding; they couldn't all have just jumped into your arms on their own, could they?"

What if that's really the case?

"Tell me the truth," Li Xiang said, looking speechless.

“To be honest, it’s all thanks to God.” Li Luo leaned closer to Li Xiang, pointed at Ying Chanxi, and said, “You know Xixi, we’ve been childhood sweethearts.”

"Hmm..." Li Xiang nodded helplessly, "I know that, but I don't have a childhood sweetheart or anything."

“Then let’s look at her.” Li Luo pointed to Xu Youyu again. “My parents bought a school district house from my third grandfather’s family for me to live in. Youyu was renting it at the time.”

"It just so happens that she is also an author who writes online novels, and we got to know each other over time."

"Those who share the same ideals and interests, go to the same school, and live under the same roof will naturally develop feelings over time."

“Hmm…” Li Xiang clicked his tongue, “Well, I can’t go back to high school now, so please ask my dad to rent me a house in a good school district.”

“Then look at her.” Li Luo pointed at Yan Zhusheng. “She was my deskmate in high school. We happened to be in the same class when school started, and she took the initiative to choose the seat next to me. We’ve been deskmates for the past three years.”

"Hmm..." Li Xiang fell into deep thought for a moment, and it was unclear who he was thinking of.

"You have a deskmate too?" Li Luo asked curiously. "Are you starting to have feelings for someone?"

"...My deskmate is a boy."

"Then forget it... Otherwise, Brother Dao will probably try to kill me with a knife, so you'd better not even think about it."

"My sexual orientation is perfectly normal!" Li Xiang said irritably.

"Then what are you pondering?"

“I’m just feeling sad.” Li Xiang sighed deeply, looking quite weary. “I’m graduating from university this year, and I’ve never been in a relationship, not even held a girl’s hand.”

"So what did you do during your four years of college?" Li Luo asked with a puzzled look. "You seem to have a lot of free time."

“Reading online novels, huh?” Li Xiang looked at Li Luo with a resentful expression. “When I have nothing to do, I just lie in my dorm reading online novels. I don’t have time to meet girls.”

"Then that's your own problem." Li Luo wasn't going to take the blame. "Reading online novels is one thing, but going out to socialize occasionally and meeting girls isn't that difficult, is it?"

"The main problem is that the thought of flirting with girls is just too much trouble," Li Xiang sighed. "I'd rather read online novels; at least the heroines in novels are much more wonderful than girls in real life."

"Really?" Li Luo blinked. "I feel that Xi Xi and the others are much better than the heroines I write about."

"Don't say that." Li Xiang was speechless, a little fed up with his uncle's tendency to show off all the time.

Every time he showed off his skills, Li Xiang felt an urge to punch him in the face.

Fortunately, it was already 8 p.m. when the Spring Festival Gala officially began.

As the Spring Festival Gala aired on television, the whole family's attention turned to it.

"Speaking of which, Wanqing will be on the Spring Festival Gala again this year, right?" Old Master Ying couldn't help but mention it as the Gala began.

Ying Zhicheng, who was standing next to her, immediately nodded in agreement: "Yes, Wanqing went to Jingzhao City a couple of days ago. She will be performing around 10 p.m. tonight, and she will be singing a song written by Li Luo."

"Oh?" Grandpa Li Luo's interest was piqued by this, and he asked Li Luo, who was sitting on the sofa, "You've written a new song again?"

“It’s not a new song,” Li Luo replied with a smile. “It’s the song I just released a while ago, ‘Misplaced Time and Space,’ only the lyrics have been rewritten, but the melody is still the same.”

"That's not bad either," Grandpa Li Luo nodded in approval. "When Wanqing comes on stage later, remember to remind her so we can all listen."

"I have to hear it," Li Luo chuckled. "Grandpa, you'll definitely like the lyrics I changed this time."

"Really? Then I'll have to listen carefully."

It was still early before 10 p.m., so it was just mentioned briefly at the dinner table.

They continued drinking and eating, and the mahjong tiles were still being played on the mahjong table. On Li Luo's side, Li Xiang pulled out a board game, and the six of them sat around in a circle and tried it out. Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

When it was 10 p.m., it was finally Yuan Wanqing's turn to appear.

"Mom's going on stage." Yan Zhusheng took out her phone and showed Li Luo a message notification from Yuan Wanqing's current assistant, Xiao Xuan.

So Li Luo immediately stopped playing the board game and said to the others with a smile, "Aunt Yuan is about to make her appearance, come and take a look."

(End of this chapter)