"Yaya, why are you sisters crying all of a sudden?" Hu Yuanyuan walked in and was startled to see them in such a state.
Zhu Yanyi quickly grabbed a clean, unused towel from the side to wipe Zhu Yanli’s face. She helped her sister touch up her makeup, then took a deep breath before answering, "We just can’t bear to part."
Hu Yuanyuan laughed heartily. "What is there to be sad about? It’s easy enough to see each other. Besides, you’re holding the banquet here and still living at home. Why cry?"
Zhu Yanyi naturally wouldn’t tell Hu Yuanyuan that the sisters’ reluctance to part wasn’t something that could be ignored just because they were temporarily living together. Still, she smiled. "Sister Yuanyuan, you’re right. We’ve both gone silly. We’re living in the same house, after all."
"Exactly," Hu Yuanyuan said with a grin.
"Sister Anan, I’m here." Zhu Aidi walked in.
Zhu Aidi’s mother was Wu Jinfeng, a close friend of Xie Xinlian from their maiden days. However, it was heard that Wu Jinfeng had been unwell recently.
"Aidi, you’re here?" Zhu Yanli greeted her with a smile. "Is Aunt Jinfeng feeling better?"
"Much better," Zhu Aidi nodded seriously.
Zhu Aidi wasn’t cut out for studying. She had stopped school after junior high and now worked at a private factory, earning about four or five hundred yuan a month, which was a decent income.
Zhu Aidi took out a red envelope and handed it to Zhu Yanli. "My mom asked me to bring this. She’s not well enough to come, so only my dad and I are here today."
"Thank you." Today, all red envelopes were to be accepted without polite refusal. Even if it contained only one yuan, it represented someone’s blessing.
Zhu Yanyi handed a red bag to Zhu Yanli from the side. Zhu Yanli placed the red envelope inside and set the bag on the dressing table.
"Sister Anan, you look so beautiful today," Zhu Aidi said, her face full of envy.
Wedding dresses were becoming popular, but since this was a family banquet, Zhu Yanli wasn’t wearing one. Instead, she wore a bright red Tang-style qipao, designed and rushed out by Xie Xinlian and Xie Xinyan together.
"Brides are always beautiful. You’ll be beautiful when you become a bride too," Zhu Yanli said with a smile.
Zhu Aidi was two years younger than Zhu Yanli and was already twenty-one. Finding a partner and getting married was only a matter of time.
"Yuanyuan, do you have a boyfriend?" Zhu Yanli asked Hu Yuanyuan with concern.
Hu Yuanyuan grinned. "No. I haven’t planned to look for one so early. I work as a saleswoman at the department store now, and my life is very carefree. Finding a partner now would just be asking for trouble."
Zhu Yanli raised an eyebrow slightly. "That’s not necessarily true. If two hearts connect, finding someone early is good."
"Like you, getting married so early. And Ani, she’s only eighteen, yet I heard she’s getting engaged this year. Is that true?" Hu Yuanyuan looked at Zhu Yanyi with curiosity.
Zhu Yanyi didn’t hide anything. She just nodded. "Yes, the engagement is probably in mid-March of the lunar calendar. But since we’ll be in the capital then, we can’t return to Sicheng Town for a banquet."
Engagements usually required a banquet, but given Zhu Yanyi’s situation, returning for the New Year was already a surprise. Returning in March was impossible.
"So Ani is having her engagement banquet in the capital?" Zhu Aidi said with an envious expression. Someone like her probably wouldn’t have the chance to go to the capital in her lifetime, so her envy was understandable.
Zhu Yanyi smiled. "There’s no other way. We’re all quite busy. I only returned to Sicheng Town this time because my sister is having a banquet. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come back."
"Actually, Ani is doing well in the capital. After all, it’s the capital of our China," Hu Yuanyuan said seriously. "By the way, since you’re in the capital, have you seen the Great Wall and the flag-raising ceremony?"
"We have," Zhu Yanli laughed. "We saw them on our first trip to the capital."
"Ani, come here," Xie Xinlian called out.
Zhu Yanyi said goodbye to Zhu Yanli and the others, then went out.
Hu Yuanyuan chatted with Zhu Yanli for a while, then seemed to remember something. "Anan, my brother was supposed to come, but she’s on duty today, so she can’t make it. she asked me to bring this." She took out a red envelope and handed it to Zhu Yanli.
Zhu Yanli didn’t say much, only asking, "Aunt Xiangju already gave a gift. Why is your brother giving a separate red envelope?"
Hu Yuanyuan shrugged. "I don’t know. she asked me to bring it, so I did." She stuffed it into Zhu Yanli’s hand.
Zhu Yanli raised an eyebrow slightly but didn’t think much of it. She put it in the red bag on the side. Opening red envelopes at this moment would be very impolite.
"Anan, are you ready? We need to go down," Taishu Yuanxiang walked in.
Taishu Yuanxiang was also wearing a red Tang suit today. Originally, a Western suit had been planned, but when he learned Zhu Yanli was wearing a Tang-style Hanfu here, he chose a Tang suit too. He said he would wear a Western suit when Zhu Yanli wore a wedding dress in the capital, claiming this showed they were a natural match.
Zhu Yanli didn’t know why she had such a theory, but seeing her willing to do this made her happy.
Taishu Yuanxiang looked at Zhu Yanli in her red outfit, her eyes softening. "Anan, you’re truly beautiful."
"Making it sound like I’m not pretty on ordinary days," Zhu Yanli said with a playful glare.
Taishu Yuanxiang laughed. "You’re naturally pretty on ordinary days, but you’re even prettier today."
"Brother-in-law, I know my sister becomes your wife starting today, but don’t just care about your wife and ignore everyone else," Zhu Yanyi said with a helpless smile as she came up again. "Besides, my sister is so beautiful because of me, the makeup artist. So, Brother-in-law, where’s the red envelope?"
Taishu Yuanxiang glanced at Zhu Yanyi, then took out a stack of red envelopes. She distributed some to Hu Yuanyuan and Zhu Aidi, and stuffed a few into Zhu Yanyi’s hands. "Thanks to the hardworking makeup artist. These are for you."
Zhu Yanyi didn’t hesitate. She took them and said to Zhu Yanli, "Sister, your husband is very extravagant. You need to keep an eye on her in the future."
Zhu Yanli smiled, covering her mouth. Taishu Yuanxiang chuckled. "If you dislike the red envelopes, just give them back to me. Don’t try to sow discord between me and your sister."
Zhu Yanyi made a funny face. "Brother-in-law, you’re too petty. Trying to brush people off with just a few red envelopes? That’s not going to work, right, Doumiao?"
Indeed, standing behind Zhu Yanyi was Zhu Zhibin.