The high beams swept over Liu Chen, then switched to low beams. Only then did Liu Chen clearly see that the approaching car was a white BYD.
As it got closer, Chen Long was in the driver's seat, and his mother was in the passenger seat?
At this moment, the driver's window rolled down, and Chen Long poked his head out and said,
"Chenchen, open the door! Your maternal grandmother and aunt are here."
Liu Chen: ???
After opening the courtyard gate, Liu Chen looked at the four people who got out of the back seat and raised an eyebrow:
"You guys are overloaded..."
Chen Long clenched his fist slightly and brought it to the tip of his nose, clearing his throat softly twice.
"Your Brother Jiang Di happened to be hospitalized at the same place we were getting IV drips. We figured it would be hard to get a taxi on New Year's Eve, so we brought them with his car."
As soon as Chen Long finished speaking, his aunt, Liu Fen, who had just gotten out of the back door, quickly walked over to Liu Chen.
"You child, why are you keeping such a big thing from your mother? The more you hide it from her, the more worried she'll be. Come, let your aunt see, are you not injured anywhere?"
Fine, Liu Chen finally understood why Chen Long had been acting so guilty. It turned out this guy was a big mouth and had blabbed about the car accident. He just didn't know how much he had said.
"It's a society ruled by law now. Believe me, auntie, the mastermind will be caught by the police sooner or later. Let's live our lives well and don't worry too much."
Liu Chen listened to this and quietly looked at Chen Long, who was helping his mother out of the passenger seat. Chen Long tilted his head slightly towards Liu Fang's face, leaving Liu Chen with a view of his well-covered scalp.
Chen老爷子, hearing the commotion, also came out of the house. He looked at the crowd gathered in the courtyard, and an irrepressible smile spread across his face.
"It's good that you're here, it's good that you're here. My dear in-laws, it's rare for us to gather. It's New Year's Eve today, let's get together and play some mahjong. My house hasn't been this lively for New Year's in years!"
"You're celebrating the New Year, and we're intruding..." Liu Fen still felt a bit embarrassed, although she was incredibly worried when she heard her sister had fainted today.
Chen老爷子 quickly said,
"What 'you' and 'us'? Liu Fang is my daughter-in-law now, and Chenchen is my granddaughter. We're a family. Besides, if you all leave, my son will be solely focused on taking care of his wife, and in such a big house, I won't even have anyone to watch the Spring Festival Gala with."
The old man had made himself sound so pathetic that Liu Chen's maternal grandmother, seeing that Liu Fen was about to say more, quickly stopped her and agreed. If they refused too many times, it would seem like they were being forced to stay.
"Then we'll trouble you, father-in-law! Fortunately, it will be very lonely back home, and I can't even find enough people for a game of mahjong!"
Upon hearing this, Chen老爷子 quickly ordered someone to move the automatic mahjong machine in the house to the living room.
Before moving it, he specifically looked at Jiang Di and his father and asked, "Does anyone smoke?"
Aunt Liu Fen quickly replied, "No one smokes. Neither the father nor the son smoke or drink."
There was only one mahjong table. Chen老爷子 and the maternal grandmother would definitely take two spots. That left one spot for Liu Fen. His mother, who had not played cards for years, could now practice her skills since there was a game.
When Liu Fang sat down at the mahjong table, she saw Ren Yu preparing to go out again to change the surveillance cameras, and her eyes narrowed as she asked,
"Ren Yu, it's New Year's Eve today, why are you back? Does Yuan Ying know?"
Chen老爷子 looked towards the doorway, his face beaming, eager to see how this young man would respond.
He remembered how he had to practically beg his mother-in-law back then.
Ren Yu naturally saw the old man's schadenfreude. He turned back to Liu Fang, a gentle smile on his face, and said,
"Grandmother specifically asked me to rush back to replace the surveillance equipment for the family and the factory."
Liu Fang then looked enlightened and relieved. She smiled and said to Jiang Di, who was sitting on the sofa nearby,
"Jiang Di, it's windy outside, you go out and help too. With more people, it will be faster to change."
As Ren Yu, who had just walked out the door, heard this, he stumbled. Liu Chen quickly grabbed his arm. Seeing Ren Yu's embarrassment as he looked up, she couldn't help but turn her face away and let out a quiet chuckle.
Jiang Di, who had just walked out of the door behind them, saw Liu Chen holding Ren Yu's arm and looking all smiles, and he couldn't help but slow his steps.
Although he didn't know why, he had a strong intuition that if he interrupted Ren Yu and Liu Chen at this moment, he would suffer greatly.
"Brother Jiang Di, let's go. We still have a difficult task tonight. Let's work faster and try to finish as soon as possible."
With Jiang Di's help, Ren Yu's speed in changing the cameras suddenly increased. A camera that used to take ten minutes now only took two or three minutes.
With Jiang Di there, Liu Chen no longer had to hold the ladder, only occasionally handing some parts to Ren Yu.
However, sometimes, when Liu Chen handed small parts to Ren Yu, their fingers would accidentally touch. At that moment, it felt like a faint current was flowing between them.
A tingling sensation, like a fine electric current, rushed into their hearts, making their heartbeats involuntarily quicken.
They couldn't help but look up and meet each other's eyes. At this moment, Liu Chen saw herself reflected in Ren Yu's eyes.
"Thump thump! Thump thump!"
The sound of their heartbeats exploded in their ears like thunder.
"Achoo! Ren Yu, are you done?"
Jiang Di wiped his nose with a tissue. His red nose at this moment looked like Santa Claus, and his watery eyes looked at Ren Yu, who was standing on the stairs, and asked.
Liu Chen quickly withdrew her hand, blinked rapidly, and then shifted her gaze to the various corners of the garden, in short, anywhere but Ren Yu.
Seeing this, Ren Yu couldn't suppress the smile on his lips. He looked at Jiang Di, who was still very weak, and said,
"Brother Jiang Di, almost done."
Whether it was Jiang Di's question that prompted it, or if it was already close to finishing, less than an hour after he said this, Ren Yu had replaced all the security surveillance of the old Chen family mansion and successfully debugged it on the computer.
When the three of them returned to the living room, they saw Liu Fang sitting in a chair with a flushed face, shouting,
"Self-drawn, all honors!"
At this moment, Uncle Liu also came from the kitchen with a pot of freshly brewed lemon honey water and poured warm lemon honey water into the cups beside everyone.
Aunt Liu saw Uncle Liu and took a sip of the water he had poured, saying,
"Oh dear, my luck today seems bad. You play next round!"
Uncle Liu looked up at the time on the living room clock, waved his hand, and shook his head.
"There are only a few minutes left until New Year. You play, I'll just watch from the side."
After speaking, Uncle Liu put down the kettle and sat on a plastic stool beside Aunt Liu, concentrating on watching Liu Fen play cards.
Liu Chen took off her jacket, glanced at the living room clock, and then at the program on the Spring Festival Gala.
"The next program is, the song 'Unforgettable Tonight'."
"Phew... looks like we made it."
Liu Chen casually draped her jacket over the back of the sofa, sat down, kicked off her slippers, and curled up her legs on the sofa, focusing intently on "Unforgettable Tonight" on television.
"The New Year countdown begins..."
"Ten..."
"Six..."
"Three..."
"Chenchen, be my girlfriend."