CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 30: LUNAR NEW YEAR’S EVE (PART 2)

On the evening of New Year’s Eve in River City, it’s almost the coldest time of the year.

The white breath puffed out in the light of the huge red lanterns along the long street, the smoke curling up like a freshly baked white bun being served onto the street.

The enveloping warmth of earthly life makes one feel very secure; this is a feeling called "celebrating the New Year".

Nick Zeller, tall and sturdy, carved a path through the bustling crowd, protecting Gabrielle Winters and Lawrence Winters as they moved forward.

Lawrence Winters felt extremely safe, cheerfully holding Gabrielle Winters’ arm as they entered the main entrance of Yi Dong Tian.

Their private room was on the second floor by the window, where they could not only eat, drink, and have fun, but also watch the fireworks launched by the River City Government at midnight.

In this establishment, there are only three private rooms located like this.

Nick Zeller’s room is the best among the three.

As soon as he got upstairs, the owner and owner’s wife of Yi Dong Tian recognized him, came over to chat with him specially, and even slipped a big red envelope to Lawrence Winters.

Lawrence Winters didn’t expect to receive a big red envelope just for having a meal, and this unexpected joy put a smile on her face all the way until she entered the private room. Her radiant smile lingered, causing everyone inside to pause for a moment.

How did she suddenly become so beautiful???

The relatives in the room simultaneously had this thought flashing through their minds.

When Lawrence Winters walked in and saw the people in the room, her joyful heart, like a peony garden in midsummer, quickly snapped back to reality. She glanced out the window; yes, it was still the ice-bound night of the lunar New Year’s Eve, naturally cooling her heart.

She reined in her smile, nodded lightly, took off her down jacket, and also helped her mother Gabrielle Winters take off her cashmere coat, hanging them together on the coat hooks in the room.

Gabrielle Winters smiled and greeted the people in the room: "Lucy, Martin, Lillian, Connor, you’re all here."

"Chiara, Connor, happy New Year."

She casually glanced around the private room, which was decently decorated.

Especially fitting the occasion, the dark purple wood-carved walls in the room were adorned with upside-down red characters for fortune, and of course, the door wouldn’t be complete without poetic couplets written in flamboyant calligraphy.

As she surveyed the entire private room, the people inside were also observing her.

Gabrielle Winters, already in her early forties, still retained her slender beauty, with not a wrinkle on her face, and her eyes were as clear as a young woman in her twenties, possibly because she had children early.

Lawrence Winters was taller than her mother, not as slender, but her figure was curvaceous. The slightly batwing sleeved, red sweatshirt with black and gold trim enhanced her jade-like fair skin that seemed soft enough to pinch.

The ash-colored tight fleece pants that matched the sweatshirt made her long legs appear straight as arrows.

The fullness that was slightly more than a slim girl’s gracefully accentuated her youthful charm.

Compared to her, the thin, bamboo-like cousin Sun Chiara, wearing a white cashmere turtleneck, looked as pale as a shadow.

In her second aunt Lucy Winters’ mind, she always remembered Lawrence as a slightly chubby girl who always liked to put on a serious face, but now she seemed to have blossomed somehow...

These features, this grace, even surpassed her mother Gabrielle Winters back then.

The old fear of being "dominated" by big sister Gabrielle Winters resurfaced.

She immediately felt uncomfortable.

Lucy Winters snorted disdainfully, fanned her face with a sneer, rolling her eyes halfway up, "Big sis, you’re quite the busy woman, look at the time! We sisters only see each other once a year, and you still made us wait!"

"What time is it? Second Aunt, it’s just past five..." Lawrence Winters glanced at her watch, her voice soft and endearing, charmingly saying, "The New Year’s Eve dinner is supposed to start at five-thirty, were you fasting all day just to enjoy a good meal tonight?"

She laughed softly, with no trace of aggression.

So even if her words made Lucy Winters so angry that she could practically steam at the ears, she couldn’t hop around and scold her.

Like a kettle that’s just started boiling only to be doused with a cup of cold water, all the steam could only be dealt with internally, leaving her face flushed purple.

Moreover, Nick Zeller behind Lawrence eyed them suspiciously; Lucy Winters feared this big brother and dared not go too far in his presence.

She could only suppress her anger, glaring at Lawrence Winters with deep annoyance.

Turning her head, she saw her husband Martin Saunders walking past her with a naive smile to greet Lawrence Winters, and immediately slapped him, exasperatedly saying, "Good dogs don’t block the way! Why are you standing in front of me?!"

Martin Saunders’ face flushed beet red, mumbling unable to speak, both embarrassed and guilty.

Lawrence Winters actually had a good impression of her second aunt’s husband, Martin Saunders, who was a very honest man. She had to help him out, saying, "Second Uncle, Happy New Year to you."

Martin Saunders let out a sigh of relief, handed Lawrence a thin red envelope, and chuckled, "It’s the New Year, here’s some pocket money to buy candy."

He was not very good with words, and for so many years, he’d been giving New Year money with the same line.

Lawrence happily nodded and said loudly, "Thank you, Second Uncle!"

Her younger aunt, Lillian Winters, seeing this, pulled her son, Connor Wells, who had just turned twelve, forward and said to Martin, "Second Brother-in-law, you can’t play favorites! Lawrence is already nineteen and earning money with our big brother, but you still give her New Year money! Our Connor is only twelve and the only boy in the family, so his New Year money shouldn’t be less!"

Connor had always eaten a lot and didn’t like sports, so he was much chubbier than boys his age.

However, the three Winters sisters were all good-looking, and their next generation inherited their looks, still very attractive.

Even though Connor was chubby, his features were upright, and he was a little handsome guy.

He stretched out his chubby hand toward Martin and loudly said, "Second Uncle, Happy New Year! Where’s my New Year money?!"

Of course, Martin was prepared too.

He took out another red envelope and placed it in Connor’s hand, smiling, "Happy New Year, Connor."

Connor casually squeezed it, realizing it was thin, possibly containing only a hundred bucks. He was a bit dissatisfied.

However, with relatives around, especially with big uncle Nick Zeller present, his parents had repeatedly told him to behave well in front of his big uncle, so he held back from mocking Martin for being stingy.

But Lillian wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

She chuckled mockingly, saying, "Second Brother-in-law is still the same, working for three thousand bucks a month, barely enough to live on; been doing it for more than ten years, huh?—Second Sister, you sure know how to pick a husband!"

Back then, Lucy Winters had a big fallout with their parents and secretly registered to marry Martin.

Lilian bringing it up caused quite a stir with the Winters parents, nearly cutting mother-daughter ties.

Thinking of the past, Lucy had regrets, but in front of this younger sister, she had to stand her ground, even if she regretted it.

Her mind spun quickly, and she immediately changed the topic to her daughter, Sun Qianjin, pulling her over with a smile, "Sister, you’re right, I do know how to pick a husband. Otherwise, how could I have such a good daughter?!—Our Qianjin recently got engaged to her boyfriend. You didn’t know, right? Her fiancé has a Mercedes-Benz G-Class!"

Gabrielle Winters was shocked, "Qianjin is only seventeen and a high school sophomore, already engaged?!"

"So what if she’s seventeen? It’s just an engagement, not marriage. Parents’ consent is all it takes." Lucy rolled her eyes again, "Besides, no matter how well a girl studies, she’ll have to get married, right? Everyone knows that marrying well is better than studying well."

She pursed her lips, glancing at Gabrielle, who was alone, finding a strange sense of satisfaction in having a husband.

Lawrence suddenly remembered the man she saw earlier getting out of the "Mercedes-Benz G-Class" and kissing Sun Qianjin, quickly asking, "...Is it the man who brought you here today?"

"You saw? Isn’t his car imposing? It’s even more expensive than my big brother’s Grand Cherokee!" Lucy beamed with pride, finally having something to show off.

Lawrence took out the photo she had taken earlier to show Lucy and Sun Qianjin, "Is this the car?"

Sun Qianjin covered her face with her hands, blushing, but still peeked through her fingers at Lawrence’s phone photo, nodding slightly.

Lucy laughed even more joyously, proudly tilting her chin at Lawrence, "I wasn’t lying, was I? A man who can afford a multimillion-dollar Mercedes G-Class must be at least the second generation of the rich!"

Lawrence hesitated for a moment, glancing several times at the shy-faced Sun Qianjin before finally speaking softly, "Qianjin, are you really engaged to this man? Do you know his family?"

Sun Qianjin, though a bit shy, felt pleased to finally gain the upper hand in front of Lawrence and said with a flushed face, "He’s from out of town, here doing business, I haven’t been to his home yet."

Lawrence’s heart skipped a beat, thinking that this was a textbook scam...

She no longer hesitated and immediately said, "Do you know that the car he drives is not actually a Mercedes G-Class?"

"How could that be?! You think I don’t recognize the Mercedes logo?!" Sun Qianjin was so embarrassed by Lawrence’s claim that she couldn’t help but take out her phone to search for the Mercedes G-Class online, "Look, identical!"

"Look closely, is it really the same?" Lawrence didn’t want Qianjin to be deceived by a man. Although she didn’t like her, she couldn’t just watch her fall for a scammer.

Moreover, as relatives of Little Heavenly Master and Great Heavenly Master, being fooled would be disrespectful to them, right?

Lawrence also took out her phone to search the page, calmly explaining, "Look, this is the Mercedes G-Class, and this is the Bejing Jeep. Don’t they look similar at first glance?"

"Look at the emblem, the real Mercedes G-Class’s emblem is in this position, but your... boyfriend’s car emblem is obviously more forward, welded on by himself."

"If I’m not mistaken, your boyfriend’s car is a Bejing Jeep, costing just tens of thousands of yuan, not even a fraction of the Mercedes G-Class."