As nite fell, dinner was finally served. A crystal chandelier, a solid wood dining table, and a feast of delicacies. When she sat down, Yi Tongxi's heart jumped fiercely, and she had a very bad premonition.
Although they were not a rigid and conservative family, they still paid attention to some basic traditional etiquette, such as respect for the old and the young, and order. When the family had dinner, the grandfather sat in the upper seat, which was beyond doubt. The third aunt was the host tonight and sat in the first seat on the left, which was also understandable. What was strange was that Qiao Mo actually sat in the first seat on the right side of the grandfather. You know, in the past 20 years, that position was either the grandmother, or the three sisters of the Bai family, or her father. In this formal dinner, it had never been the turn of the younger generation to sit.
So when Yi Tongxi walked into the restaurant and saw Qiao Mo sitting there in a big way, it was no exaggeration to say that her goose bumps stood up. The expressions of the elders were also very subtle. Everyone was stunned, especially the aunt and uncle. They were going to walk to the right, but at this moment they took their feet back and sat next to the third aunt in embarrassment.
This was like tacit consent, and also like swallowing one's anger. They didn't dare to scold Qiao Mo, because they had already treated her as an adult. But if it were Yi Tongxi or Yi Yufei, they would definitely be scolded and then driven away.
Now, the elders are on one side and the younger generation on the other. Yi Yufei sat next to Qiao Mo, and Yi Tongxi sat next to Yi Yufei. She was the youngest and had the lowest status.
The third aunt smiled, rolled up her sleeves, and took the initiative to serve soup for everyone: "Abalone stewed in chicken soup, come, one for each person, I put a little American ginseng, which nourishes yin and replenishes qi, and it will be gone after eating."
Yi Tongxi felt it was a little difficult to eat. It was fine if this thing was cut into patterns and braised, or steamed with garlic, but when it was boiled in soup like this, it was still the same shape, and the color had faded, making it even more difficult to look at.
"Damn it," Yi Yufei said from the side, "Don't give it to me, I won't eat it."
"Why?"
"Xixi won't let me eat it."
The third aunt said to Yi Tongxi with a hint of meaning: "Don't be naughty, you have no respect for your elders and don't know the rules."
Qiao Mo drank the soup and glanced at her third aunt.
Yi Tongxi didn't want to touch it at all. She put the soup bowl aside and picked up her chopsticks to eat other dishes.
For a while, the table was calm. The adults talked about everything under the sun, including current affairs, entertainment, housing prices, and commodity prices. The atmosphere was not natural, but rather deliberate. Everyone knew that something was about to happen, and it was just a matter of who could not hold back first.
Before that, Yi Tongxi found that Yi Yufei had eaten his abalone. After eating it, he looked at her soup bowl and asked, "Are you not going to eat it?"
She mumbled something at random.
He said, "If you don't want it, give it to me. Don't waste it."
"Why should I give it to you? It's mine."
He sneered, "It's not like I haven't eaten it before, I don't care."
Yi Tongxi clenched his fist and immediately chimed in with someone else, saying, "Third aunt, aren't you planning to open a hot pot restaurant? How are the preparations going?"
The third aunt's eyes lit up, revealing a bit of smugness: "We'll start decorating after the New Year, and it should be open for business around April or May."
"If I bring my classmates to eat here in the future, how much of a discount will you give me?"
"What discount? I'll give you a free meal. Eat whatever you want." Auntie San's smiling eyes glanced at Qiao Mo and said, "Mo Mo, if you don't plan to go back to Beijing, you can come to my shop to help out in the future. Anyway, it's our own shop, and I definitely won't treat you unfairly in terms of salary. What do you think?"
The aunt and uncle stopped eating and looked at Qiao Mo at the same time.
Obviously, she was not interested in this proposal. She raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, "No, thanks. I don't want to work in a restaurant."
"What do you want to do then?" Auntie interrupted, "I know you have some money now, but you can't just sit at home and eat your way thru it, can you?"
Qiao Mo picked up some food and said nonchalantly, "Why are you so anxious? I'm not anxious at all. After the New Year, I'll look at some shops and do some small business, selling food or clothes, anything will do."
"Do business? Do you think you can just open a shop and do business? Do you know how many shops are transferred every year on the street downstairs from our house? Some of them closed down and left after only two or three months. Do you have any experience? Do you have any channels for purchasing goods? Beside, do you know how expensive the rent is now? Even the smallest shop can't be opened without tens of thousands of yuan for decoration and transfer."
Qiao Mo sneered, "What is a hundred thousand? I can afford to lose two or three hundred thousand. Only when you are your own boss can you have the drive to work hard. Working for others is out of the question."
The aunt was stunned. She didn't expect that Qiao Mo had more than just a few dollars in her hand. It seemed that she had a lot of money.
"People who have lived in big cities are different. They can talk about hundreds of thousands of yuan so easily." Auntie San said with a smile, "It seems that Momo is doing well in Beijing. Your parents can enjoy a good life in the future."
"Thanks to you, it's really not bad." Qiao Mo's eyes were like torches: "In the final analysis, I have to thank my third aunt. If you hadn't taken care of me in every possible way in Shenzhen, let me see the world, and introduced me to Mr. Feng, I would never have gotten to where I am today."
Auntie's face changed slightly, and she pulled at the corners of her mouth, smiling very awkwardly. "Oh, yes," she said, stiffly changing the subject, "Feifei, I heard you have a girlfriend, a classmate from university? Why don't you bring her back to show us?"
Yi Yufei was slightly stunned and said, "She is not a local of Wangjiang. She has to go back to her hometown for the New Year."
The aunt thot of something and said, "You're living together, right? Young people need to be careful. If you accidentally have a child, it will be troublesome. You haven't graduated yet."
Yi Tongxi suddenly felt a little nauseous and put down her chopsticks. At this time, she heard her grandfather suddenly say, "I have something to discuss with you. Feifei is now grown up and has a boyfriend. I think we should buy a house for her as soon as possible. Anyway, she will have to buy one sooner or later. If we wait another two years, who knows how high the house prices will rise."
Hearing this, Yi Tongxi stared blankly at his grandfather.
"I plan to sell the old house and find a better real estate project to buy a new one. I will pay the monthly payment. When he has a stable job, he will pay the mortgage himself. What do you think?"
The third aunt said, "Dad, it's your own property, you can make your own decision. I have no opinion."
The aunt didn't understand for a moment: "Dad, your old house..."
Grandpa knew what she wanted to say and immediately interrupted her: "The house I live in now was bought by Lifen. After I die, it's up to you how you want to divide it. The old house was bought by me. I can give it to whoever I want. Do you have any objections?"
The aunt and uncle looked at each other and said nothing.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone watched the Spring Festival Gala in the living room. When it was not yet nine o'clock, Yi Tongxi felt tired and said she wanted to go home. Qiao Mo went with her.
Yi Yufei drove Yin Weiyao's car, so he naturally gave them a ride.
On the way, Yi Tongxi sat in the back with her eyes closed, resting in silence, not wanting to say a word.
Seeing her low mood, Qiao Mo joked and asked Yi Yufei, "Xixi has a boyfriend. Have you met him?"
"Yes."
"He must be very handsome. What's his personality like? I heard he's quite arrogant. Is he easy to get along with?"
Yi Yufei said absentmindedly, "It's okay. He's rigid, boring, and doesn't smile. Anyway, I don't know how to deal with this kind of person. He's too boring."
Qiao Mo didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Ah?" She turned her head to look at Yi Tongxi: "I really can't tell, you like this kind of thing?"
Yi Yufei also glanced at her from the rearview mirror: "But that Lu or whatever speaks very directly and is indeed a bit arrogant. She likes people to argue with her, and it's interesting to go back and forth."
Qiao Mo gave an "oh" as if she understood, "So is it interesting or boring?"
Yi Yufei frowned: "I'm not sure. I've only seen him once. He's passive, anyway."
Qiao Mo shook her head and said with a smile, "I understand. You only react when I tease you, right? It's easy to get bored after a long time. I think Xixi should like the kind of proactive and aggressive boys. At least, they should be evenly matched to maintain attraction. What do you think?"
Yi Yufei looked out the window and said nothing.
Yi Tongxi opened her eyes, her face cold. She looked at the rearview mirror, and after a while, she called out to him, "Yi Yufei."
Qiao Mo turned around: "You're awake?"
She looked at his face without moving. "Congratulations, you'll have your own house soon. Your grandfather is so good to you. Anyone who didn't know would think you were his only grandson. 'I can give my house to whoever I want.' Listen to that, so domineering. I bet he'll buy you a car in a couple of years. Anyway, you're the only boy in the family. If he doesn't give it to you, who will he give it to?"
Yi Yufei's face suddenly turned cold: "Are you fucking sick?"
Yi Tongxi sneered: "You are sick. I was wondering why you were so generous and gave me Yi Huailiang's money so easily. You knew that Grandpa was going to buy you a house, right? You wanted to shut me up? Twenty thousand yuan is nothing compared to a house!"
"You can really say that, you think 200,000 is too little, you think you can earn 200,000 after you graduate? You couldn't earn that in 20 years, right?" He casually broke off the rearview mirror, not wanting to look at her: "I heard what Grandpa said for the first time tonight, believe it or not."
Yi Tongxi sat up abruptly: "Don't talk about those useless things. If you ask me, the house left by Mom is now written with both of our names. If you are willing to give up the right of inheritance and transfer it to me, I will return half of Yi Huailiang's money to you. That's fair! We'll go to the real estate bureau for notarization tomorrow. Do you dare to go?!"
"Hey, hey," Qiao Mo reached out to stop them. "What are you doing? It's New Year's Eve today. Are you going to divide up the family property?"
"It should have been made clear long ago!" Yi Tongxi's head was swelling, and she spoke without thinking, "Why is it that when he has a girlfriend, Grandpa buys him a house, but I also have a boyfriend, why doesn't Grandpa buy me a house? Why doesn't he buy you one? Yes, the old man's own property, the younger generation shouldn't say anything, but I just can't stand it, I can't swallow this breath! Just because Yi Yufei is a man, is he more precious than me?!"
"Yi Tongxi, are you done yet? If you're so capable, why don't you yell at Grandpa! You always bring up all this nonsense. It's not like Yi Huailiang and Grandpa didn't want you when your parents divorced. How long are you going to remember something that happened hundreds of years ago? I'm tired of it even if you're not!"
This completely stimulated her. With red eyes, she shouted at the top of her voice, "I'll remember as long as I want to remember. Who do you think you are? It's none of your business! If you think it's tiring, hurry up and divide the property with me! We'll go our separate ways from now on. I'll break off relations with you and we'll never see each other again!"
With a "whoosh", Yi Yufei slammed on the brakes, unbuckled his seatbelt, took a step out of the car, opened the back door, and said coldly, "Get out of the car."
Yi Tongxi's chest heaved up and down. She got out of the car without saying a word and stood in front of him. "What's so great about it? Is this your car? What's so great about driving your girlfriend's car?"
He sneered, "My girlfriend has a car, a studio, is independent enough, can do housework, and can make money. What do you have? A poor boyfriend? What can he do?"
"He can fuck me, I'll let him fuck me as soon as he comes back, until I can't get out of bed!" She suddenly felt that she had never hated a person so much, and her heart and lungs were about to vomit: "I have no money, no car, and I can't do housework... You're great, you found a rich and beautiful woman, so hurry back and fuck your rich and beautiful woman, don't talk nonsense with me here!"
She wrapped her coat around her and turned to leave. Qiao Mo quickly stepped forward and grabbed her: "Xixi!"
She wiped her eyes and turned back to him, saying, "Yi Yufei, you'd better divide the house and money as soon as possible. I don't want to see you again in my life!"
"Good," he nodded. "I couldn't ask for anything better!"
After saying that, she turned around and got into the car, and drove away.