Chapter 539: Chapter 539

At noon, the Sheng Family came to visit, everyone agreeing to spend the New Year together as more people made it merrier.

He Jinxia once again saw Uncle Sheng, and this time the two families were even closer than last year, so she openly sized him up.

The same feeling as before, Sheng Yan resembled Uncle Sheng more. At first glance, their features didn’t seem very similar, but upon closer inspection, many similarities could be found, especially the expression in their noses and eyes.

The group had a lively lunch and then started thinking about what to have for dinner, Mrs. He and Aunt Rui both headed to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients needed for the evening meal.

Uncle Sheng was sitting in the living room talking to Sheng Yan while He Jinxia also sat in the living room, feeling somewhat odd, she stood up intending to help her mother and Aunt Rui in the kitchen.

But as soon as she entered the kitchen, her mother shooed her out, leaving He Jinxia bemused, her mother clearly thinking she would just get in the way!

Helpless, He Jinxia returned to the living room.

By then, Uncle Sheng had finished talking with Sheng Yan and turned his attention to her, his stern expression slightly softened as he asked, "How is work going?"

He Jinxia nodded, "Not bad."

Uncle Sheng also nodded and said gently, "If you have any issues, go to Sheng Yan, don’t be shy."

He Jinxia’s eyes curved slightly as she glanced at the earnest-faced Sheng Yan and briskly agreed, "Yes, Uncle Sheng!"

Sheng Yan slightly lifted his gaze to her, his deep eyes like an unfathomable ocean, inexplicably making He Jinxia feel a bit unnerved.

Uncle Sheng saw the expression on Sheng Yan’s face and couldn’t help but say sternly, "What, you don’t like it?"

He Jinxia couldn’t help but smirk as beside her, Sheng Yan replied expressionlessly, "No."

Uncle Sheng continued, "I heard from Zhang Ming that you were planning to leave the entertainment circle recently?"

He Jinxia lowered her eyes and perked up her ears.

Sheng Yan glanced at her from the corner of his eye and said blandly, "I had that plan before, but not anymore, the timing to leave recently isn’t good."

Uncle Sheng hummed softly, "I won’t meddle with when you leave, but once you do, you’ll not only take over Tonghua Entertainment in full but will also have to take over the pharmaceutical factories I manage. I plan to retire in the next few years."

Uncle Sheng had always been talking about retiring, but even He Jinxia knew that at his level, a rapid exit was impossible; he would need to find someone to take his place first, and now it seemed the person had been found.

Though Sheng Yan had never managed a pharmaceutical factory, his business talents were exceptional, so Uncle Sheng was very comfortable handing the factories over to him.

Sheng Yan hummed a response, unusually not contradicting his father, he agreed, "Okay."

This forthright manner made Mr. Sheng suspicious, he scrutinized Sheng Yan for quite a while, his eyes slightly narrowed, wondering about something.

Unfortunately, he was rarely at home and had no idea about the schemes in his son’s mind.

Uncle Sheng thought for a moment and couldn’t figure it out, so he just let it go and turned to ask He Jinxia about her work.

The questions from elders were always the same few lines: What is your job? How is it going? Do you have a boyfriend? When are you planning to find one... ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveIＦire.net

Once you have a boyfriend, they ask, when are you getting married, when are you planning to have children?

When you have children, they ask, made any school preparations yet, what extracurricular classes have you enrolled them in?

In a nutshell, the concerns of elders for the younger generation are never-ending.

Interestingly enough, young members of the family who used to get irritated being asked questions, would find themselves repeating those same questions to the younger generation once they became elders, showing continuous concern for the next generation.

Fortunately, not all of the afternoon was wasted on questioning. After Mrs. He and Aunt Rui had cleaned up the kitchen, they came out and joined the conversation.

Eventually, Aunt Rui, finding the conversation a bit dull, suggested, "Let’s play a round of the national essence!"

Recently in Hua Country, a crackdown had been enforced on all forms of vice, including gambling. Gathering for gambling was prohibited and any related transactions exceeding one thousand yuan were enough to warrant an official complaint. This year, many casinos had been closed nationwide, and numerous small gambling setups had been exposed.

Therefore, even during the New Year, everyone was wary of mentioning ’playing mahjong’ out loud for fear that someone might overhear and report them.

Naturally, the term "national essence" came into powerful use, becoming a trending hot word on the internet.

Playing mahjong sounded quite crude, but playing ’national essence’ sounded much more refined and upscale!

They weren’t gambling with money but followed the trend and played with stickers instead; whoever lost would get stickers pasted on their face.

After several rounds, Jinxia’s face was covered with so many stickers she became indistinguishable, looking like a "white-haired person" from a distance.

As for the other elders, only sporadic stickers adorned their faces, with Uncle Sheng having none at all.

In the fifth round, He Jinxia still showcased her appalling bad luck, accidentally benefiting others and ending the game within three minutes of starting, losing disastrously.

Seeing the pile of stickers obstructing her vision on He Jinxia’s face, Sheng Yan could no longer just watch; he patted her shoulder and said, "I’ll help you play."

Aunt Rui, while sticking a sticker on Jinxia, upon hearing this, her eyes twinkled and she said, "Sure, you help Jinxia play and also inherit the stickers on her face!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Aunt Rui quickly slapped the sticker she had in hand onto Sheng Yan’s face.

Following behind Aunt Rui, Mrs. He, seeing this, approached with a smile and pasted her sticker on his face too.

Following her was Uncle Sheng, who, equally expressionless, placed a sticker on his face as well.

However, Uncle Sheng’s placement was quite skillful. While Aunt Rui and Mrs. He each placed a sticker on one of his cheeks, Uncle Sheng placed his sticker right between Sheng Yan’s eyebrows.

If the sticker hadn’t been so small, at first glance, it looked as though Sheng Yan had been "sealed".

He Jinxia saw his state and couldn’t help but laugh irresponsibly.

Sheng Yan stared at her solemnly, his hand hidden under the table subtly reached for her leg and gently pinched it.

He Jinxia stuck out her tongue at him, returning the favor by pinching him back on the waist. Only then did they get serious and continued with their game of national essence.

Sheng Yan was excellent at counting cards, following Uncle Sheng’s style, unlike Mrs. He and Aunt Rui who relied purely on luck. Soon, he led them using their terrible hands to turn the game around, winning two consecutive rounds.

But the other three were no pushovers. Subsequently, everyone pulled out all stops, some mentally invoking the God of Wealth, others Guanyin Bodhisattva, and some continued to use their intellectual prowess to analyze the situation...

The intense battle saw all players using various powers to have their share of wins and losses, without anyone losing notably more than others.

By the end, no one had more stickers on their face than He Jinxia.

It must be said, Jinxia’s luck in the first five rounds was incredibly bad╮(╯▽╰)╭