Chapter 151 - 143: Still Not Home
Life at her maternal grandparents’ home was truly delightful. She was doted on by her elders and had cousins her age to play with. The town was full of relatives, and with the New Year approaching, there were many unique local folk activities. Ni Bingyan was so happy that she started slacking on her daily studies, truly finding herself too content to even think of going home.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Ni Guangli finished his last livestream of the year. As he cooled down from the adrenaline rush, he finally realized something was missing at home.
It wasn’t his fault, really. The "Sichuan and Chongqing New Year’s Shopping Festival" he was running was just way, way too popular!
The livestream’s daily revenue topped a hundred million yuan every day. To keep up with supply, their partner manufacturers all started running three shifts. The entire industry was swept up in the competitive frenzy. The bustling scene made the visiting officials smile from ear to ear.
You could say that his personal efforts had given the economies of Sichuan and Chongqing a bit of a boost.
The major manufacturers also used this opportunity to build their brand recognition, which would lead to significant sales increases in the future. This was incredibly beneficial for local development.
For this, the relevant provincial departments held a meeting and publicly commended him. The provincial news station even broadcasted the event that evening, giving him some major face time.
People his age have a strong sense of local pride. Earning recognition from his home province’s government and making a name for himself in front of his fellow countrymen really went to his head!
How formidable is a man experiencing a second spring in his career?
You just had to look at him to know.
He was a man pushing seventy, yet he was full of energy every day, selling products like a madman on his livestreams as if he were a young lad again.
He was so busy he lost track of the days, let alone his daughter who was never home anyway.
Now that his work was done, the house felt a little empty. Feeling a bit sorry for himself and a little angry, he called his daughter.
The moment the call connected, he started yelling, "You silly girl! Are you not coming back for New Year’s again? Do you know what date it is? How come you’re still not home?"
Unfortunately, before he could really get going, he heard his daughter on the other end toss out a quick, "Dad, hang on a sec," and then the phone was passed to an old lion even more ferocious than he was.
"Who are you calling a silly girl? Huh? You tell me, how many times has Bingbing called you these past few days? Every time, it’s ’busy, busy, busy,’ and you hang up before the girl can even finish a sentence! And now you suddenly remember her?! You have the nerve to get angry? It’s a good thing she’s grown up. If she were still a child, she could’ve been kidnapped and you wouldn’t even know! You have the audacity to yell at her? If she’s a silly girl, what does that make you? An old silly goat?"
Not expecting his father-in-law to be right there, Ni Guangli immediately chickened out, his voice dropping an octave.
"Oh! Dad! Don’t always be so protective of her. She’s a grown woman now, isn’t she? She’s still so flighty. I need to have a word with her."
"How is she flighty? The girl only gets a few days off all year, and the moment she’s done with work, she rushes over to keep us old folks company. What’s wrong with that? You think there’s something wrong with her? You want to have a word with her? First, let me have a word with you!"
His father-in-law’s verbal assault was even more intense than his own. Beads of sweat were about to drip from Ni Guangli’s forehead.
"Nothing’s wrong, nothing’s wrong. It’s right for a child to be filial to her maternal grandparents. But it’s almost New Year’s, isn’t it? It doesn’t make sense for her not to come home for the holiday."
He would have been better off not saying anything. The moment he did, the old man got even angrier.
"What about New Year’s? Who says a granddaughter can’t celebrate New Year’s at her grandfather’s house? Last year, didn’t my *dear* son-in-law spend the holiday here? If you can spend it here, why can’t she?"
"That’s not it, Dad..."
A few years ago, Ni Guangli had a falling out with his daughter and was too proud to back down. Besides bundling himself up in disguise to secretly watch her at public events, he would also run over to his father-in-law’s place during holidays, hoping for a chance encounter with his daughter. He never succeeded.
The old man had already gotten the whole story out of him one New Year’s when he was drunk, and his heart ached for his granddaughter! Seeing him start the call by losing his temper, he wasn’t about to stand for it.
"Not what? I’m almost eighty years old. How could I be wrong?"
Seeing that he was about to start arguing for the sake of it, Ni Guangli felt a massive headache coming on and quickly tried to explain.
"Dad! Didn’t Bingbing tell you? She’s going to be on the Chili Channel’s Spring Festival Gala this year. I was afraid that if she didn’t come back soon, she’d miss it..."
Ni Guangli offered meekly, scrambling for an excuse.
What could he do? He was terrified of his father-in-law!
Back in the day, Ni Bingyan’s mother had just been visiting Rongcheng City on a trip when he’d swept her off her feet and made her his wife. His father-in-law only had one son and one daughter and naturally didn’t want his daughter marrying so far away—especially since Ni Guangli was over a decade older than her! Way too old!
At the time, he had beaten his chest and sworn he would treat his wife well, and only then did his father-in-law reluctantly agree.
But not long after, news came that his daughter had died during a difficult childbirth.
The old man charged into Rongcheng City that very day with a dozen or so men from his clan, saying he was taking his daughter back to Guisheng for burial.
Even now, more than twenty years later, Ni Guangli was still thankful he’d had a child to hold in his arms as an Amulet. Otherwise, he probably would have been beaten to death by his father-in-law.
"Oh, you had a real reason. Why didn’t you just say so earlier?"
After one last chiding remark, he handed the phone back to his granddaughter. "Your dad has something to say to you about a gala. You talk to him!"
Ni Bingyan took the phone, first calling out, "Dad." Hearing his tone had softened, she then said with a smile, "The live broadcast is on the twenty-ninth and the rehearsal is on the twenty-eighth. I was planning to come back tomorrow. Don’t worry, Dad, I have it all planned out."
"Sigh... Always have to cut it right to the last minute before coming home..."
Hearing the disappointment in his voice, Ni Bingyan, who had been feeling perfectly content at her grandfather’s house, suddenly felt a pang of guilt. ’I should go home sooner,’ she thought.
Her grandparents had her uncle’s family to dote on them, but her father only had her.
"Oh, Dad! Don’t be like that. I’ll try to leave as early as possible tomorrow."
"You don’t have to rush that much. Just be safe on the road."
Detecting the guilt in his daughter’s voice, Ni Guangli immediately cheered up.
Sometimes, what he wanted really wasn’t that much.
"Is there anything else you want to say to Grandpa?"
Before hanging up, Ni Bingyan asked politely, not expecting that he actually did have something more to say.
Ni Bingyan handed the phone to her grandfather. Because he was a bit hard of hearing, the volume was turned up, and she could hear the voice on the other end from where she stood.
She heard her dad’s low voice. "Bingbing finally has a holiday this year, so she really should be spending New Year’s with you all and keeping you company. But... Bingbing hasn’t been to see her mother in several years. On her birthday this year, she was busy attending an awards ceremony. Now that it’s the New Year, I was thinking... we should take her to pay her respects."
For the sake of his daughter and granddaughter, his son-in-law had never remarried all these years, not even finding a new partner. The old man was very moved by this.
Hearing him say this, the old man’s expression immediately changed.
All Ni Bingyan could think was, ’Well, I’ll be!’
’Is this some kind of family intrigue drama?’
’Who knew the old man, with his kind face, was such a sly schemer?’
’All this because I didn’t come straight home for my vacation? Was all that really necessary?!’