When Yi Anguo awoke, he was startled to find Li Shanshan's face nearly touching his.

"What are you doing! You scared me!" As he spoke, Yi Anguo took his feet off the desk.

"I was calling you, but you wouldn't wake up. Were you pretending to be asleep? I was the one who got a scare, and you have the nerve to turn it around and say I frightened you," Li Shanshan said indignantly, touching her chest.

She had been genuinely startled when Yi Anguo's eyes suddenly snapped open. Even now, her heart was still pounding.

Thinking back to how she couldn't resist leaning closer to her brother-in-law, tempted to sneak a kiss, Li Shanshan felt a pang of guilt. Thank goodness he woke up just in time. If he had been a moment later, he would have caught me in the act! How embarrassing that would have been.

"Why did you bring dinner so late? Your brother-in-law was starving," Yi Anguo said as he saw the food Li Shanshan had placed on the desk.

"I was too busy today, so I got a bit late," Li Shanshan explained.

"So, when are your parents planning to close the restaurant for the New Year and head back to your hometown?" Yi Anguo asked as he took the food.

"In two or three days, I guess," Li Shanshan said after a moment of thought.

"What about you? Are you and your sister going back for the New Year too?" Yi Anguo asked after taking a sip of the pork rib soup.

"My sister is definitely going. She's driving our parents back. It's hard to get tickets around the New Year, so driving is much more convenient. Plus, having a car there makes visiting relatives easier," said Li Shanshan. "I don't really want to go back. It doesn't matter to me either way."

Yi Anguo chuckled. "Your whole family is going home for the New Year. Why would you stay here all by yourself? The New Year is a time for family to be together."

"Brother-in-law, what about you? Aren't you staying here too?" Li Shanshan retorted.

"You think I don't want to go? I don't have a home to go back to anymore," Yi Anguo said with a helpless, bitter smile. "Home is where your parents are. When they're gone, your home is gone too. I used to think it didn't matter if I went back for the New Year, but now, I regret it more than anything. If I had the choice again, as long as my parents were around, I would go home every year, rain or shine.

"Every year we get older, our parents get older too. The time we have left to spend with them shrinks by a year. So, young people, cherish the time you have with your parents while they're still here, especially during the New Year. A family reunion at New Year's is a kind of happiness that no amount of money can buy."

...

On the twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month, the Chuan Yu Restaurant officially closed for the holidays, and Li Sisi's family began their journey home.

Li Xiao and his wife had earned a lot of money this year, and they planned to transfer their household registrations to Shenzhen. After all, their eldest daughter, Li Sisi, already had her Shenzhen household registration, and their younger daughter's was tied to her enrollment at Shenzhen University. Once the younger one graduated, her registration would be formally transferred to Shenzhen as well. All that was left was to move their own registrations. That way, the whole family could live in Shenzhen and support one another in the future.

Li Xiao had also come to accept Yi Anguo as his son-in-law. He had initially wanted him to come back with them to their hometown in Chuan Yu to meet the relatives and hold a banquet that would serve as a wedding reception for him and Li Sisi. However, Yi Anguo made his excuses, saying he was too busy to get away, so Li Xiao had no choice but to drop the matter. He understood his son-in-law was a man involved in important affairs. It was normal for him to be busy, so he didn't doubt his excuse.

This year, his third sister, her husband, and their child were all in Shenzhen, so they decided to stay and celebrate the New Year there.

His niece, Fu Huanhuan, absolutely had to go home for the New Year. Otherwise, her parents might just show up in Shenzhen, drag her home, and never let her leave again.

Yi Anguo felt sorry for his niece. He believed his eldest sister and her husband were in the wrong, but he didn't dare meddle in their family affairs. Moreover, their perspective had its own logic; you couldn't just say they were completely wrong.

Besides, according to his memories from his past life, Fu Huanhuan would go on to teach in their hometown, get married, raise a family, and lead an ordinary, peaceful life. That's its own kind of happiness, isn't it? At least she wouldn't have to leave home and would always be near her parents, with her children playing at her feet and her husband by her side. Her life wouldn't be one of great wealth, but it wouldn't be one of poverty either. It would be enough. Isn't that the kind of happy life most ordinary people hope for? For that reason, Yi Anguo had no intention of forcibly interfering and changing the course of others' lives.

Apart from his eldest and third sisters, Yi Anguo also had a second and fourth sister. His third sister and her husband had sought him out, so he had helped them since it was convenient. He didn't help his eldest sister and her husband, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know how. His second sister and her husband lived together with their son and daughter. Her husband had a stable job with a decent income. For now, Yi Anguo didn't know how he could help them, so he figured he would wait until their children were older and see what their situation was then.

As for his fourth sister, he was even more stumped. Asking them to move out here was unrealistic. The most he could do was lend them money when they needed it. Giving them money outright, like a few million to each sister? That was impossible. It wasn't about whether he was willing to part with the money, but that there was no fair way to do it. You could offer emergency help, and lending any amount was negotiable, but just handing over millions was different. If he gave everyone the same amount, how would that be fair to those with more children? But if he gave more to those with more children, the ones with fewer would complain. And if he gave less to those who were better off and more to those struggling, that would also cause resentment. They were all his sisters—why should one get more than another?

Because of this, Yi Anguo decided not to think about how to help his sisters for the time being. Unless they ran into trouble and came to him for help, he wouldn't proactively interfere in their lives. Sometimes, forcibly intervening and changing their lives wouldn't necessarily be a good thing for them.

He had been so busy recently that he'd had no time to check on the establishment of the Anjing Trading Company. He had only managed to ask Ding Jing to help Hu Jing with the registration and paperwork in her spare time.

As for his original plan to set up a venture capital firm, he had to shelve it for now. He would see how things stood after the New Year. If it wasn't feasible, delaying it for another two or three years would also work. 2008, for example, would be a great time. By then, he should have plenty of capital. The bull market in the domestic stock market would be ending and the bear market arriving, which would be the perfect time to pull his funds out. Furthermore, a global financial crisis was the best time to enter the venture capital market and pick up bargains, as the valuations of many startups would be severely underestimated. For instance, Niu Qiangdong's company was valued at one hundred and twenty million US dollars at the start of 2008. By October, its valuation had been pushed down to forty million, and some potential investors were even valuing it at a mere thirty million.

Yi Anguo and his daughter, of course, spent the New Year with the Hu sisters.

Even so, Yi Anguo's New Year's Eve was packed. The night before, he had a reunion dinner with the property management employees who were staying on duty through the holiday, making dumplings, drinking, and celebrating with them.

At noon on New Year's Eve, he went to Chen Ting's family home for a meal, where Chen Jianjun inevitably had a long talk with him. Chen Jianjun was again pressing Yi Anguo about starting his job at the company. Yi Anguo had been putting him off, using the excuse that he was too busy. Now that his projects were wrapping up, he was running out of excuses. If he didn't show up for work after the New Year, Chen Jianjun would probably lose his temper. What could Yi Anguo do but nod and agree? He promised for now, figuring he would deal with it after the holiday.

In the evening, he first had New Year's Eve dinner with his third sister and her husband, where they discussed plans to launch a chain of fresh food supermarkets after the holiday. Afterward, his third sister couldn't help but lecture her younger brother, especially about his love life. The gist of it was that he should stop being so fickle, always having his eyes on the next prize while he already had a good thing going. If things were going to work out with Li Sisi, he should get married and settle down. If not, they should part amicably after making everything clear.

Hu Jing was also a good choice. She had a wonderful temperament, was kind to his daughter, and, crucially, had a simple family background with only a twin sister. As for Ding Jing… well, she didn't even want to bring that up with her brother anymore. A sister worries when her brother can't find a girlfriend, but she also worries when he has too many. She was afraid he would be spoiled for choice and end up with nothing, unable to hold on to any of them. But her brother was a grown, capable man now. There were many things a sister simply couldn't manage, even if she wanted to. All she could do was offer advice from the sidelines. Whether he listened was out of her hands.

After having New Year's Eve dinner with his third sister, Yi Anguo took his daughter to the Hu sisters' home. Perhaps this was the most fitting place for a father and daughter to spend the holiday.

Here, his exhaustion melted away. His daughter had a sweet, happy smile constantly on her face as she played with her eternally youthful aunt, Hu Qian. Their joyous laughter filled the entire house.

Yi Anguo and Hu Jing looked at each other and smiled, their faces beaming with a happiness that needed no words. In that moment, everything was understood.

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