(Old Lai also has to worry about train tickets this year, and has to queue up early tomorrow to buy them.)

As the new year approaches, real estate sales not only don't take holidays but also ramp up with various promotional activities. Young people nowadays are all under the pressure of buying a house. Normally, they don't feel it too much, as there's not much difference among colleagues. But during holidays like New Year, the pressure mounts. When meeting old classmates who have houses and cars, one feels inferior; going to meet a girlfriend's family and being asked if you have a house, it's embarrassing; even staying at home, you'll be compared with neighbors and relatives...

As such, people tend to be more irrational than usual, for marriage or face, and will look for affordable properties as long as they can afford it. Conversely, those who are capable might take this time to buy houses for their parents or themselves to satisfy their girlfriend's family or to make their classmates and relatives envious. Overall, this is by no means a low season.

Li Yan and Yurong agreed, so they dragged along his parents to look at a few properties and bought a fully furnished three-bedroom house.

Li Tang and his wife are sensible people. The housing here is far from that of first-tier cities like S City, and it has been rising over the years with room to grow. The sooner you buy, the better. Although the Zhang Family has money, they didn't want their son to marry into the Zhang Family.

The money Li Yan sent home over the years, his parents saved without touching it. The old couple have been frugal for Li Yan's college fees, which eventually were not needed, and they managed to save quite a bit over the years. Of course, they wanted to use it for his down payment now, but to their surprise, Li Yan paid it off all at once!

The installment payment model, originating from Celestial Continent, became popular nationwide in the late 1990s with the media promoting this Celestial Continent consumption model. A well-known parable goes: a Yun Country old lady sighs, "I saved all my life and finally bought a house today"; a Si Country old lady sighs, "I bought a house and finally paid off the loan today." Spending the same money, the Si Country old lady had lived in her house for half her life.

This buy-now-pay-later model is globally attractive and has spread wide in Yun Country too; it's not just for buying houses, even phones can be bought on installments. But the subprime mortgage crisis in Si Country also proved that this model has drawbacks. The easiest calculation is for a mortgage: a five-year repayment results in about a quarter interest; ten years, nearly half; and for twenty years, it would mean paying the bank double! Even if you can live in the house first, for the next ten to twenty years, you're working for both the developer and the bank. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Renting a house means no ownership but easy accumulating savings; buying a house with a loan means ownership but monthly repayment pressure. Which is better is subjective. For Li Yan, since the housing price here is cheaper, just tens of thousands in full, he can afford it, so there's no need for a mortgage. His parents' savings were for them to use themselves.

However, not knowing what he's been up to all these years, Li Tang and his wife thought the money must be from Zhang Yurong. Nonetheless, it was happy news. The Zhang Family and Zhang Yurong didn't intend for Li Yan to marry into their family; seeing them doing well, they didn't fuss about who paid. Their money was earmarked for furnishing and decorating the house.

Days passed in a joyful atmosphere and the trivialities of buying festive goods. It was New Year's Eve, and the festive atmosphere was thicker, with people setting off firecrackers early in the morning.

In the morning, everyone was making dumplings at home, and Yurong joined in for fun. Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Over the past few days, neighborhood folks who watched Li Yan grow up knew he returned with his wife, warmly visiting him. He was a bit annoyed, but got used to it after a few days. After the New Year, there's family visiting too, given he hadn't returned for so long.

The only one not making dumplings, Li Yan thought it was a neighbor and went to open the door himself. Opening it, he was stunned to see Qianyi standing there.

"Surprised? You didn't answer my calls. Did you think I wouldn't know where you live?" Qiao Huanxuan's clear voice rang out, heard by the three making dumplings inside.

Li Yan felt very awkward at that moment. He deliberately didn't answer Qiao Huanxuan's calls or contact He Zhexia, Bai Jie, or others because he didn't want them to know he was on a visit back home, ultimately to avoid awkward encounters. Yet it seemed that this trick didn't work, as Qiao Huanxuan returned for the New Year and came straight to his door!

"Hi… hello." He didn't know how to respond, so managed a dry greeting, without the courtesy to invite her in.

"Is it Little Qiao? Back for the New Year, come on in!"

Even though Li Yan didn't do the inviting, his mom heard the voice and warmly invited her in. She then explained to Yurong, "Little Qiao is Li Yan's old classmate who lives nearby. She visits each year to see if Li Yan has come home for the New Year."

Zhang Yurong also recognized Qiao Huanxuan's voice, feeling very awkward. The first time she met Qiao Huanxuan was when Yu Xiaodi introduced them, and she didn't really know their relationship. She might know Yu Xiaodi and Li Yan's relationship, including seeing them together on New Year's Eve. Now suddenly appearing here as Li Yan's wife...

"Come in!" Mom already said it, so Li Yan couldn't change it and just had to stiffly let her in.

"I heard you brought a girlfriend home, so I came to see her." Qiao Huanxuan was a clever person, how could she not notice Li Yan's awkwardness? She had also heard the news, which was why she hurried over. She thought the person he brought home was Yu Xiaodi, and although she was disappointed, they knew each other. Meeting her wouldn't be bad, so she openly stated that she wasn't here to stir up trouble.

As she spoke, she came in. Qiao Huanxuan might have really come to Li Yan's house many times to inquire about him, as she knew his parents. "Uncle, Auntie, Happy New Year..."

After greeting the two of them, her gaze fell on another woman in the room, and she was a bit stunned. That face was somewhat familiar, but it wasn't Yu Xiaodi.

"Little Qiao, make yourself comfortable! Li Yan, pour some water for our guest." Li Tang glanced at his son, his eyes filled with a hint of helplessness.

Over the years, Qiao Huanxuan would come to ask about Li Yan. As experienced people, how could his parents not see the hint? Even the best classmates wouldn't keep inquiring about his whereabouts after years of no contact. Her concern for Li Yan left a great impression on both of them. They used to think she was a delicate and graceful girl, and she had matured beautifully over the years. They heard she graduated from a prestigious university and became an architectural designer.

Both Li Tang and Wang Suzhen felt she was an ideal daughter-in-law. A high school classmate, she should be the first love, right? Whether it was considered young love back then or not, for her to care for their son so devotedly for a decade touched them deeply.

But as fate would have it, when his old friend Zhang Tianyi, gravely ill, begged him to take care of his daughter, Li Tang couldn't say no. Zhang Yurong was also very excellent and her filial piety moved them, so they had no choice but to accept this twist of fate.

Because of this, on the night they returned, Li Tang asked if Li Yan blamed him, and the words he hesitated to say toward the end were all because of Qiao Huanxuan.

Li Yan could only awkwardly avoid his father's gaze. If they knew he hadn't consummated the marriage with Yurong but had a thing with Qiao Huanxuan, who knows if they'd kick him out during New Year!

Wang Suzhen started out joyful, eager to tell everyone they knew about their son bringing home a beautiful wife, wanting to share it with Qiao Huanxuan. But as she walked in, she suddenly realized, Little Qiao likes their son!

"Haha, this is Little Qiao, and this is our Yurong." Wang Suzhen introduced awkwardly. Though she admired Qiao Huanxuan and was touched by her concern for her son, Zhang Yurong, after all, was their daughter-in-law now. They had to differentiate where loyalty lay.

"Hello," Yurong stood up and awkwardly tried to shake hands, saying, "We..." but she was making dumplings, with flour on her hands, making a handshake inconvenient.

After recognizing Zhang Yurong, the president of Li Yan's company, Qiao Huanxuan was very surprised and vaguely sensed a story here. With her associations, she figured Yu Xiaodi couldn't come home for New Year with Li Yan, and since Li Yan had told his family he would, perhaps he found someone else to pose instead. But she couldn't imagine it being Zhang Yurong. If it were Wen Qianyi, she thought it would be more fitting.

Now that Yurong acted as if they had just met, she played along. "Hello, hello, I'm Qiao Huanxuan, Li Yan's classmate from before. He hasn't been back in years, and when I heard he was back for the New Year, I came to visit."

"Sit, sit, we're all friends here, no need to be formal!" Wang Suzhen also noticed the awkward atmosphere and interrupted, winking at her son to handle the situation.

Li Yan could only smile wryly to himself. It would be nice if it were truly as his mom said, that everyone here was no stranger.

Li Yan's usually quiet dad suddenly took charge, showing the composure of the family head: "We're all making dumplings, and only this lazy guy Li Yan is sitting around. You classmates haven't met in ages, want to catch up? Little Qiao, stay for lunch. The more, the merrier!"

Catch up! Li Yan smiled wryly. In front of his wife, he's being asked to chat alone with another girl! Here, to chat alone, they'd have to go into a room. Dad, what a lousy idea!

He looked around to seek everyone's opinion. There were five of them, and the minority could be overruled by the majority. But it seemed everyone was in favor, thinking it was the best solution! This left him speechless.

(Thanks to the brothers who tipped in the past few days: dongmin8061, Bai Shui Lao, Yagami Light II, Only Black and White, Poison is Sweet, cokepanda, Top Friend, Cavalry, Cp Pampas, A Thousand Times a Thousand Times, cfs Generator, Li Fanshow, No Name, Illusion Breaker) (To be continued, to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support legitimate reading!)