I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 96: Chapter 94: Going Home for the New Year

Qingyou District, Fuxiang Village.

The sun was about to set by the time Su Miaoyi arrived.

The car stopped outside the village, and Cheng Jue came to pick her up.

"Sis." Cheng Jue ran up to her and took the suitcase and the bags she was carrying. "You bought so much stuff again."

"The suitcase is full of things for the kids," Su Miaoyi said. "I only see them once a year, so I have to be thoughtful with my gifts."

Cheng Jue didn’t say anything.

Su Miaoyi looked around.

In Jinghai City, the snow on the roads had mostly been shoveled away; the cleanup was pretty good.

You could only see some snow on the greenbelts.

But the village was a different story.

Because some of the houses were tall and blocked the sun, the snow on the streets hadn’t melted and had been packed down by foot traffic.

Now it was even more slippery.

There were also some families who weren’t coming back for the holiday.

So naturally, their areas hadn’t been cleared either.

The snow was still very thick in many places.

"Did you have a snowball fight with them?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"I’m all grown up. I’m not a kid anymore. Why would I play such a childish game with a bunch of kids..." Just as Cheng Jue finished his sentence, Su Miaoyi tossed a handful of snow at him.

He suddenly stopped.

Su Miaoyi crouched by the roadside with a wicked grin, packing a snowball in her hands as she laughed, getting ready to make an even bigger one.

Seeing the snowball in her hands grow larger and larger, Cheng Jue grabbed the suitcase and bolted.

Su Miaoyi let him get a four or five-meter head start before chasing after him.

By the time the two of them got back, their heads and clothes were covered in snow.

"Goodness, what were you two doing? Did you fall in the snow?" Ge Yu asked, looking at them.

The two of them stood there without saying a word.

Cheng Yong said, "Hurry up and come inside to warm up. Your hands are red from the cold."

They walked into the room.

The room was full of people.

Su Miaoyi went around and greeted everyone one by one.

"Miaomiao is back? Come, come, sit here."

Su Miaoyi smiled. "Second Aunt, I’m fine sitting over here."

Cheng Jue brought over a stool, placed it by the heater for her to sit on, and then sat down next to her.

The two of them warmed their hands.

"Miaomiao, how old are you this year?" Second Aunt asked, pulling up a stool to sit beside them.

"I’m twenty-five," Su Miaoyi said with a smile.

"Oh my, that’s not young anymore. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Not yet," Su Miaoyi said.

"You need to hurry up. The years fly by so fast. In a few years, you’ll be thirty, and it’ll be harder to find someone after that."

"Okay, I’ll hurry," Su Miaoyi said, nodding.

"I have a nephew. Would you like to meet him?" Third Aunt sat down next to them as well. "He’s tall, over six feet, and very handsome. He’ll be thirty right after the New Year. He works in Jinghai City and makes over ten thousand a month."

"Thirty is five years older than my sis," Cheng Jue chimed in from the side.

"What do you know? It’s better for a man to be older; they know how to dote on a woman. Otherwise, if they’re all immature kids like you, is she getting married to a man or raising a child?"

Cheng Jue opened his mouth, looked at Su Miaoyi, and whispered, "Are younger guys no good?"

"How would I know? I’ve never dated," Su Miaoyi whispered back.

"Miaomiao, where are you working now?" her maternal aunt asked, also sitting down with them.

"Ah, I... I’m an editor. A fiction editor." Su Miaoyi didn’t mention that she wrote novels herself, afraid that if she said so, her work would be passed around for everyone to read.

"How much do you make a month?" her maternal aunt asked.

"Ah... not that much," Su Miaoyi said with a smile.

"If you ask me, you should have taken the civil service exam. You went to a teachers’ college, so you could have taken the exam and become a teacher. How great would that be? It’s stable, easy, and you get winter and summer breaks," her maternal aunt said. "And it’s easy for teachers to get married, too."

Su Miaoyi smiled and nodded.

’She knew it was difficult to change a person’s—or rather, an entire generation’s—mindset.’

’Arguing was useless.’

’So, you had to learn to take the initiative, to counter with questions of your own.’

"Did my cousin pass the exam?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Her maternal aunt paused for a moment, then said, "Your cousin is a man. He has to earn money to support a family in the future. He said he wouldn’t earn enough with a government job, so he didn’t take the exam."

"I get it. He didn’t pass," Su Miaoyi stated.

Her maternal aunt’s face darkened for a second.

Since it was the New Year, Su Miaoyi gave her an out. "So many people are taking that exam, it’s really hard to pass. Other jobs are great too. It’s not the only path in life, right, Auntie?"

Her maternal aunt nodded. "Yes, other jobs are just as good."

Su Miaoyi looked at her.

Her maternal aunt looked back, then paused and said, "Your editor job is very good. Very good."

Su Miaoyi gave a sweet, obedient smile.

Cheng Jue lowered his head and chuckled, only to have the line of fire shift to him.

"When do the art school exam results come out?" his maternal aunt asked.

Cheng Jue’s smile vanished. "Sometime in April, I think."

"Senior year is such a critical time. Why waste money learning that? It’s expensive, it’s a waste of time, and it distracts from your studies. It’s not even certain you’ll pass. And even if you do get in, college will cost a fortune, and who knows if you can even find a job after graduation. All this fuss over something useless. If I were your parents, I wouldn’t have allowed it."

Cheng Jue fell silent.

Su Miaoyi gently patted Cheng Jue’s arm. "Don’t you worry, Auntie. Jue has the looks and the talent. This line of work is his calling—he’s a natural. He’ll definitely have no trouble finding work in the future."

"And you don’t need to worry about money, either. He has me, his big sis. If worse comes to worst, there’s always my cousin, right? From what you said, Auntie, my cousin earns a lot of money. If we need it, I’ll ask him for a loan. He makes so much, why wouldn’t he lend it to us?"

"Your cousin’s money is being saved for his future wife," her maternal aunt said.

"But he doesn’t have a wife yet, does he?" Su Miaoyi twisted the knife. "From what I can tell, my cousin has no intention of bringing a girlfriend home in the next two or three years. So relax, Auntie. You’ve still got a few more years of peace and quiet."

The maternal aunt fell silent, then stood up. "I’m going to go see if they need help outside."

The second aunt left as well.

The third aunt said, "Miaomiao, I’ll send you my nephew’s WeChat."

"Uh... well... I..." Su Miaoyi was about to refuse, but her third aunt suddenly got up and left, giving her no chance to say no.

Su Miaoyi: "..."

She and Cheng Jue looked at each other and sighed in unison.

Then they both remembered that you’re not supposed to sigh during the New Year.

Together, they sucked the sighs back in.

And then they both burst out laughing.

"I’ll go hand out the gifts."

"I’ll go too."

After New Year’s Eve dinner, the whole family, nearly twenty people, stayed up to welcome the new year.

Setting off fireworks was banned in the area.

But they still secretly lit a few.

Su Miaoyi took a few pictures of the fireworks and sent them to her group chat.

A little while later, Lu Zhishen also sent a picture of fireworks.

Chu Xingrou sent a picture she found online.

Yan Cheng sent a picture of a pitch-black sky.

Qi Feng only snatched red envelopes and didn’t say anything.

He had just created the group today on a whim.

After a moment, Zhuang Yanzheng sent a message: [Where are you? I’m telling the local police to come arrest you.]

Su Miaoyi was speechless and sent him a "bomb" sticker.

...

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