537. Family Reunion【4/30】
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Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Nan had to admit it — she was feeling chicken.
A mix of relatives, some familiar and some not, had gathered at her grandfather’s house for reasons unknown. Sure, she had faced a lot of family during the last New Year’s celebration, but back then they were mostly cousins, uncles, and aunts with closer ties. This time, she couldn’t even remember their names or how to address them!
The car came to a stop, and when Chen Yao noticed Lin Nan wasn’t making any move to exit, he quickly picked up on her hesitation.
“Should I give Grandpa a call?”
“Yeah.”
Lin Nan nodded, biting her lip, and took out her phone. After a minute of conversation, she got the gist of the whole situation.
Turns out, her grandfather’s relatives form one giant family. Normally, after the New Year, they’d gather around the third or fourth day for a big feast at a hotel, reserving three or four tables to chow down together.
But this year, thanks to the pandemic, they had called off the whole shindig.
Now that the local pandemic had passed — apart from some pesky travelers at the airport — life had returned to normal. Aside from mandatory mask-wearing in crowded public areas like buses and subways, most people were strolling the streets mask-free.
After observing for a while, Grandpa decided to throw a family gathering for the Dragon Boat Festival.
Lin Nan’s face paled. Why on earth didn’t Grandpa tell her this earlier? If she’d known, she definitely wouldn’t have chosen to come back for the festival!
“What are we gonna do?” Lin Nan sighed, glancing anxiously out the window.
Chen Yao pondered for a moment, then joked, “Just use magic! Didn’t you have that spell to turn into a girl when you were a boy?”
“So now I should magically turn into a boy?” Lin Nan looked down at her outfit.
She actually could turn into a guy with magic, which she had unlocked during a deep conversation two months ago. Back then, her girl clothes didn’t look much different from boys’. Both were just long pants and short sleeves in dull gray-brown tones with no patterns — pretty much identical garage sale finds.
But now? She was wearing tight capri pants and a roomy white short-sleeve with sequins — unmistakably girl gear…
If she turned into a boy wearing this, she’d look like a confused performer!
“Not like you can borrow a suit from your home and change here, right?”
“My home doesn’t have your boy clothes…” Chen Yao crushed that idea.
She sighed again. Ever since life got tangled up with the Dragon Boat Festival, it felt like she hadn’t had a moment’s peace.
Talk about bad luck.
“How about I go in with you? We can say hi to Grandpa and then sprint upstairs,” Chen Yao proposed.
“Fine…” Lin Nan was secretly more worried about the gathering. There was no way to escape it.
Hearing her reluctant agreement, Chen Yao quickly jumped out of the driver’s seat.
The arrival of an unfamiliar car had already caught the attention of the relatives chatting near the entrance. They were all staring as a handsome young man stepped out, followed by a gorgeous girl who looked somewhat familiar but was also a total stranger.
“Who are you looking for?” a short, plump aunt called out, tilting her head in curiosity.
Lin Nan recognized her! She had seen this aunt every year during the holidays. She must be one of Grandpa’s sisters or maybe a cousin, but the exact relationship? No idea.
She seemed vaguely familiar from the last New Year’s, but her memory was fuzzy.
“Looking for someone,” Chen Yao replied, full of bravado.
Lin Nan took a shy step back, letting Chen Yao block the relatives’ curious glances.
Ignoring Lin Nan’s shy vibes, Chen Yao strode confidently toward the small villa like he owned the place.
Nobody stopped them — even though they didn’t know Chen Yao, his aura screamed, “I mean business!”
With her head down, Lin Nan hurried to keep up with him as they entered the house.
Just as they passed through the side door, Lin Nan spotted her grandfather. She also noticed five or six kids messing around in the room, while a few teenagers were glued to their phones. Uncle Wu Guodong was lounging next to Grandpa, legs crossed with a game console in hand.
Four women, probably in their thirties or forties, were huddled with Lin Nan’s mother playing Mahjong.
These relatives all looked oddly familiar — but just like that one aunt outside, she couldn’t recall their names or who they were to her.
As soon as they stepped inside, their footsteps caught the attention of both Grandpa and her mom. They looked up nearly simultaneously, and their faces practically lit up.
But Grandpa’s smile quickly morphed into a frown: “You lied and said you weren’t coming home for the break! At least Chen Yao is honest!”
Forget it, I’m ready to strangle Chen Yao!
Mom momentarily handed off her Mahjong game to another relative and rushed over to Lin Nan, her face splitting into a huge grin filled with wrinkles. She grasped Lin Nan’s hand and inspected her closely, bursting out, “You look even prettier!”
“Whose girl is this? So stunning!” teased one of Lin Nan’s mom’s friends, laughing as she nudged the others, “Is she your daughter’s girlfriend?”
Chen Yao felt a little awkward. Didn’t they notice Lin Nan had been hiding behind him the whole time? How did this become a scenario where she was his girlfriend?
And what about me? Isn’t I handsome enough?
Mom didn’t care to correct them. Instead, she ruffled Lin Nan’s hair and said, “Why don’t you go upstairs to play with Chen Yao?”
“Um, give me a second.” Lin Nan rummaged through Chen Yao’s backpack and pulled out a bunch of zongzi she had wrapped herself, her voice barely above a whisper. “I brought these for Grandpa.”
“Shall I heat a few for you to eat?”
“Let Grandpa have them…” Lin Nan fretted over her identity being discovered. These relatives might dive into strange discussions at the gathering!
What if someone blabbed? Lin Nan’s reputation would be toast!
Her mom, perhaps sensing something, didn’t respond to the identity queries and quickly slipped past Chen Yao, heading up the stairs.
Chen Yao nodded at Lin Nan’s grandfather and told her would-be future mother-in-law, “I’ll head back now. I have some stuff to take care of.”
“Drive carefully!”
“Got it.”
He glanced back at the staircase, noticing Lin Nan peeking over the stairs, clearly hoping he wouldn’t leave.
But it might not be appropriate for him to stick around at a family gathering with Lin Nan’s relatives, not to mention he had things to do.
He could only smile at her.
“I’ll walk you out,” mom announced as she followed Chen Yao outside.
Lin Nan felt completely defeated. What on earth could be so urgent that Chen Yao couldn’t stick around?
