Chapter 200: Chapter 178 New Year’s Red Envelope
On the morning of the first day of the New Year, Gu Yanjing woke up early, freshened up, and went to check the east wing.
When he carried Qiao Yuxian back to the main courtyard last night, the fire in the east wing had already been extinguished.
The 119 fire brigade arrived quickly, and the fire wasn’t too large, so it was controlled swiftly.
However, the house in the east wing needed to be renovated.
Gu Yanjing checked briefly and found some crossbow arrowheads, suggesting that they shot fire-tipped crossbow arrows into the courtyard while fireworks were being set off on the street outside last night.
Afterward, he inspected the areas in the east wing needing repairs.
Noticing it was about time for Qiao Yuxian to wake up, he returned to the main house.
He opened the door and entered the room.
Qiao Yuxian immediately jumped out from the side, directly in front of Gu Yanjing with a "Ha!"
Gu Yanjing looked at her standing before him.
She was wearing a red plush pajama set with a hood. The hood had two long ears hanging down.
Qiao Yuxian’s small face was tucked into the hood.
The red pajama complemented her face, making it appear flushed. Her eyes sparkled brightly, full of life, and she smiled warmly: "Happy New Year!"
Gu Yanjing’s eyes lit up with a smile: "Happy New Year."
"Do I look good?" Qiao Yuxian grabbed the rabbit ears on her hood with both hands, twirling around and then striking poses left and right for Gu Yanjing.
"Mm." Gu Yanjing kept his gaze on her.
Qiao Yuxian laughed: "I didn’t buy new red clothes for the New Year, so I thought I’d wear my new pajamas instead."
Gu Yanjing tugged playfully on the ears of her hood, pulling her closer to him, and kissed her eyelids.
Qiao Yuxian closed her eyes briefly, then raised her hands, looked at Gu Yanjing, and said, "I just wished you a happy New Year, what about my red envelope?"
Pulling her hand, Gu Yanjing led her into the room.
Last night, Gu Yanjing slept here after bringing in his suitcase.
Besides a large suitcase, he also had a smaller one.
Gu Yanjing, holding Qiao Yuxian’s hand, entered the room and opened the smaller suitcase.
Qiao Yuxian stood watching, thinking he had put the red envelope in the suitcase.
When Gu Yanjing opened the suitcase and pushed it towards her, Qiao Yuxian’s eyes widened in surprise.
The red envelopes were indeed in the suitcase.
But...what is this red suitcase about?
Qiao Yuxian stood there dazed, gazing at the suitcase.
Gu Yanjing squatted on the floor and looked up at her, noticing her wide eyes. He pulled her hand, prompting her to squat down.
Qiao Yuxian dumbly squatted, then touched the red envelopes inside the suitcase. They were undeniably there, and she flipped through them.
Despite her disbelief, she had to admit that the entire suitcase was filled with red envelopes.
She opened one, casually counted the money inside.
Judging by the thickness, each seemed to contain five thousand yuan.
She scanned a bit more, and it seemed that all envelopes in the suitcase had a similar thickness.
Qiao Yuxian looked up at Gu Yanjing in astonishment: "Is... all this for me?"
Gu Yanjing nodded slightly.
"You didn’t stuff all the red envelopes I gave you in here, right?" As soon as Qiao Yuxian said this, she immediately dismissed her own assumption. The stack of red envelopes in the suitcase was obviously much larger than what she had given Gu Yanjing.
She continued, "You didn’t think those red envelopes were too few and bought more, did you?"
Gu Yanjing remained silent.
Qiao Yuxian, watching him, knew she had guessed correctly.
After her initial surprise, a contented smile crept up to her lips: "How much is this?"
"Five hundred thousand."
Qiao Yuxian burst out laughing.
Though she was quite wealthy, she still enjoyed receiving money from others.
She sat cross-legged on the floor and began to delight in the red envelopes one by one.
Gu Yanjing saw her sitting on the floor again, got up, moved closer, and sat down cross-legged next to her, pulling her onto his lap.
Qiao Yuxian, engrossed in examining the red envelopes, suddenly found herself pulled onto his lap, holding a red envelope, she turned to look at him.
Gu Yanjing’s hand rested on her abdomen, drawing her closer to his body with his cold eyes gazing at her.
Qiao Yuxian felt her butt go rigid, not daring to sit down fully.
Seeing her reddened face and stiff body, Gu Yanjing remarked, "The floor is cold."
His voice was calm, steady, and straightforward.
Qiao Yuxian felt embarrassed to be shy. It was as if her embarrassment stemmed from the thoughts in her head.
She bit her lip, her voice quivering slightly as she said, "There’s a carpet."
"In weather like this, even the carpet is cold." Gu Yanjing looked at her and thoughtfully asked, "Do you want to get up?"
Qiao Yuxian looked at him, at his serene yet exceedingly handsome facial features, and then shook her head.
The perfectly serious Mr. Gu, with his plan successful, embraced her waist to draw her closer and said, "Take a look."
Sitting entirely on his lap, Qiao Yuxian couldn’t help but feel her heart race, her body grow warm, and her ears burn red.
Thankfully, hidden under the hood, her embarrassment was less visible.
Sitting on his lap, embraced at the waist, with her back against his chest, Qiao Yuxian was stiff for a fair amount of time, her mind distracted from the enjoyment of red envelopes.
Fortunately, money’s allure was greater.
She quickly indulged in the pleasure of money: "I gave you so many red envelopes so that you could give some to others. On the first day of the New Year, you must hand out red envelopes. To the juniors and to Su Qi and the others, why did you give them all to me?"
Joy was unmistakable in Qiao Yuxian’s voice.
Gu Yanjing said, "Su Qi and the others have year-end bonuses."
"Year-end bonuses are year-end bonuses," Qiao Yuxian said, "They worked hard to follow you out of town for the New Year."
"Mm."
"No problem, I will give them later. I’m the hostess," Qiao Yuxian said.
"Mm." Gu Yanjing clasped her waist, listening to her content murmurs and watching her hands.
Actually, since he heard Qiao Yuxian intended to come to Yue City, he planned to head there after sending the elders back to the Gu Mansion on the night of the thirtieth.
In previous years, during the New Year, he never gave red envelopes to the younger members of the Gu Family.
For many years, he hadn’t followed the custom of gifting and receiving red envelopes, and he had all but forgotten about it.
Before leaving the Capital City, she had given him a red envelope.
That was when he remembered this tradition.
A total of fifty red envelopes led him to instruct someone in Yue City to withdraw five hundred thousand in cash beforehand.
Yet, when he arrived last night to pack her given red envelopes, he found them slightly small, too small to fit ten thousand. Thus, he packed only five thousand in each.
He had then had someone purchase some additional red envelopes.
Qiao Yuxian truly looked through each red envelope, becoming happier as she went through them.
Seeing that much money naturally brought joy, the more she saw, the happier she became.
Indeed, cash is much more pleasant than numbers on a phone screen.
"This is the largest red envelope I’ve received in my twenty-three years, almost twenty-four," Qiao Yuxian spoke as she reached the very bottom of the suitcase.
It should have been exactly one hundred red envelopes, but as she reached the bottom, she discovered one extra.
This extra red envelope was larger than the others and had a distinct shape.
"What is this?"
...