The day before New Year's Eve domestically, C Country held the coronation ceremony for the new king, a historic moment that the whole country celebrated.
With the new king taking over the throne and the fall of the Howard clan, the royal turmoil caused by the dispute over the heir to the throne also settled down, and this battle came to an end.
Lin Cheng had just returned from the conference, exhausted. He bumped into Qiao Ying who took the initiative to approach him. Lin Cheng instantly did not feel tired anymore, unable to hide his smile and full of anticipation.
In the past, Lin Cheng would have definitely put up high alert and thick walls. Things are different now. Knowing that Qiao Ying is his sister, Lin Cheng directly applied a thick layer of "filter" on her.
No matter how he looked, she seemed intimate and cute.
Qiao Ying: "Didn't you say you wouldn't be this king?"
The one who took over as the new king of C Country today was none other than Lin Cheng, who had been under pressure from the whole country, shouting that he would rather leave C Country penniless than be this king.
Lin Cheng: "My darling, are you concerned about me?"
Qiao Ying: "Just to cash in on the promise."
Lin Cheng: "No one forced me. I did it voluntarily."
Qiao Ying: "Did you suddenly realize the good of power, or the good of Karina?"
Lin Cheng: "My only condition to become this king is not to marry Karina. As for power, I guess so. Only with the highest authority can I protect those I want to protect. A mere duke is far from enough."
Qiao Ying looked at him.
Lin Cheng: "I know Mr. Qin is very capable, and I know you are even more capable, completely unnecessary for me to help. But at least I can't drag you down and lend you some face. I can't be a lethal weapon, but I have to be a solid backing."
He thought that with her temperament and ability, even without the shadow, she would not live a plain life in this life. Her children will surely be like her in the future, flamboyant and unbridled.
Lin Cheng felt that he might not be needed, but he couldn’t be useless when they need him.
Qiao Ying: "No need."
Lin Cheng: "If I were asked to be this king before, it would be a sacrifice to me, because I didn't have any pursuits or wants back then. But now I don't feel that way, I even have great motivation. I just want, I just want..."
After thinking for a while, Lin Cheng said with a smile: "I just want Qin Hanyue to have an uncle who is a king. Just listening to it feels oppressive. This is completely my own choice. This is not a sacrifice, so my darling, you don't need to have any pressure."
Qiao Ying turned and left: "You think too much."
Lin Cheng caught up: "My darling, when will you call me brother? We were very close when we were young."
Qiao Ying: "Close? I was only a few months old back then?"
Lin Cheng: "It's true. When you were a baby, the servants and housekeepers held you, you would cry. But as long as you saw me or heard my voice, you would stop crying immediately."
Qiao Ying: "If you were my brother or sister, I could call you and dote on you now. But brother, you can think slowly."
"With your royal family, except for Rafael and Ryan who have some brains, and Rafael is J of Spades in disguise, others..." Qiao Ying was too lazy to complain: "Just looking at them irritates me. Who knows if Qin Hanyue will get caught up in your disputes someday. What's more, Qin Hanyue has more than just the identity of the head of the Qin family. If he becomes this prince, it's unsure who will benefit, not to mention there is Karla coveting his beauty, participating in the annual banquets every year. Humph."
Lin Cheng: "..."
Lin Cheng skipped the topic: "What is your favorite color?"
Qiao Ying glanced at him.
Lin Cheng: "Brother will give you a castle."
This year's New Year's Eve was unexpectedly special. Qiao Ying originally thought she wouldn't celebrate this year, or would celebrate at the Qins'.
Lin Guli bought a bunch of things with elements of the New Year in China. He started decorating the house yesterday, with festive red lanterns, couplets, red envelopes, fu characters for good fortune, and decorative knots.
He was busy with great joy.
The butler and servants of the manor had never experienced such an atmosphere.
Qiao Ying stayed in her room and took two decorative knots to tie on both ears of Sack.
Qin Hanyue brought over some blank couplets and writing brushes and ink. He handed the writing brush to her and asked: "Want to give it a try?"
Qiao Ying: "Where are those two?"
She was asking about Liu Ying and Yue Ying.
Qin Hanyue: "They left."
Hearing that Liu Ying was gone, Qiao Ying felt the air got better.
In the past two days, Liu Ying had been pestering her and insisted on competing with her. Qiao Ying ignored him altogether.
Liu Ying should be fortunate that Qiao Ying had been staying in the room intentionally avoiding Lin Guli, otherwise with his annoying persistence, Qiao Ying would have gone out and beat him up.
Qin Hanyue suddenly recalled, "Can you write with writing brushes?"
Qiao Ying twirled the new brush in her hand. Hearing Qin Hanyue's doubt, she stopped twirling and said, "Not skilled, but I did practice before. It's just that I didn't get a grandmaster's title to wear, otherwise with my brush writing skills, it would be worth a thousand gold per character."
Qin Hanyue smiled. "A thousand gold per character?"
Qiao Ying raised her eyebrows at him. "Looking for a character?"
Qin Hanyue directly took out his wallet and pushed all the cash to Qiao Ying. "Yes, please."
Lin Guli was pasting fu characters for good fortune on the furniture in the first floor hall. Qin Hanyue brought him the written couplets.
Lin Guli took them and looked: "Such beautiful brush writing. I didn't expect you to have such good writing comparable to a grandmaster's, Hanyue. Do you practice a lot usually?"
Qin Hanyue: "Xiao Ying wrote them."
Lin Guli: "My darling wrote them?"
Holding the couplets, he asked Qin Hanyue in pleasant surprise. But when he saw Qin Hanyue's face, Lin Guli was a little confused.
What's with this face? Something seemed odd. Lin Guli stared at Qin Hanyue's unchanged face, but somehow something was not quite right.
Feeling Lin Guli's gaze, Qin Hanyue uncomfortably turned his face away. By turning, the oddness on his face instantly became conspicuous.
Successfully letting Lin Guli see what's going on.
Lin Guli: "Hanyue, what happened to your eyes and ears?" There are black lines at the eye corners? There are also two small black dots on the earlobes.
Qin Hanyue: "Cough, this is..."
Hearing this, Lin Cheng hurried over: "What's the matter, let me see."
Qin Hanyue took a step back.
Lin Cheng moved forward to take a closer look.
After seeing Qin Hanyue's face clearly, Lin Cheng also took a step back, looking at him with complex emotions: "I didn't expect you to have this hobby."
Seeing Qin Hanyue's unfriendly gaze, Lin Cheng held back his laugh and corrected himself: "Today is indeed a good day, but there is no need to dress up so grandly. If you really like it, I'll find a professional makeup artist for you. I'll also get you a pair of real earrings. Yours are a bit unpresentable."
Qin Hanyue sank his breath and explained: "Xiao Ying was just playing a prank and drew them."
Lin Cheng: "I thought so. Who else has such good skills? Look how smooth the eyeliner is drawn. Turns out it was painted by my darling."
Lin Guli laughed with satisfaction. Looking up, he saw Qiao Ying coming downstairs with Sack.
Lin Cheng was going to look at Qiao Ying at first, but got distracted by Sack with two decorative knots hanging on his ears, walking steadily with an arrogant look.
He stared and stared, somewhat unsure if he dared recognize him.
Unsure, he called out: "Sack?"
Sack: "Woof!"
It really was him!
Lin Cheng ignored those two festive Chinese knots, staring at that handsome yet somewhat odd dog face for a moment, asked: “Where are the eyebrows?”
The fourth master had two tufts of brown fur above his eyes respectively, and his ear insides were also brown. Now he was all black.
The fourth master: “Woof!”
It was obvious that the brown fur was painted black by Qiao Ying.
Lin Cheng: “Very handsome.”
The fourth master was also very satisfied with himself: “Woof!”
Qin Hanyue said to Qiao Ying: “I’ll go wash my face and then we can put up the Spring Festival couplets together.” In fact both sentences were questions.
Lin Cheng: “No need, you look much more gentle and soothing this way, better looking than Sack. Besides, the little girl painted them herself.”
Qin Hanyue: “What about the sense of propriety of a Duke?”
Lin Cheng corrected him: “It’s King.”
Lin Guli walked up, smiling as he asked Qiao Ying: “Is there anything you want to eat, little girl? I’ll have the kitchen make it.”
Qiao Ying was silent for a moment, then opened her mouth: “I want to eat fish.”
Lin Guli: “Alright, I’ll go tell the kitchen to make a few more fish dishes right away, sweet and sour, braised, and steamed.” Having said that, he turned and left, forgetting to put down the Spring Festival couplets in his hand.
Night fell, and the entire castle was decorated with lights.
The majestic yet tranquil castle paired with the large swathes of red made for an extraordinarily unique and absurd scene of ritual destruction and celebration, utterly inappropriate.
But the atmosphere was definitely there.
At the dinner table, the four clinked their glasses, the atmosphere harmonious.
The uncle and nephew hadn’t celebrated New Year’s together for who knows how many years. Eating this reunion New Year’s Eve dinner, they were filled with complex emotions.
After dinner, the group braved the night and cold winds to arrive at the front gates – Qin Hanyue said there would be fireworks.
While waiting, Qiao Ying asked Qin Hanyue who was wrapping a scarf around her: “Prepared for me or prepared for New Year’s?”
Qin Hanyue: “For you.”
Qiao Ying: “Quite good at learning from others.”
Qin Hanyue: “It’s not learning from Uncle. Don’t you remember, back on M Continent I said if there was a chance I’d take you to see some fireworks.”
Qiao Ying: “Wasn’t that just something you said casually?”
Qin Hanyue did not deny it: “Most likely at the time it was.”
Qiao Ying lightly tugged up the corners of her mouth, as if smiling.
The fourth master was exceptionally excited, running around between them.
Accompanied by a whistle-like sound, the fireworks streaked across the night sky. The giant blue fireworks exploded above the castle, illuminating the entire night, silhouetting her fair complexion.
Qiao Ying wore the new clothes Qin Hanyue had specifically purchased for her, pockets holding three big red envelopes, wrist adorned with the fu (blessing) golden chain bracelet gifted by Lin Guli, face upturned watching the one burst after another of colorful, splendid fireworks.
Amidst the explosive booms of the fireworks, she heard him ask: “Miss Qiao, may I propose to you? Right now.”
Qiao Ying did not turn her head, tone nonchalant: “Are you going to get down on one knee and swear oaths and guarantees and all that?”
Detecting Qiao Ying’s disgust and rejection.
Qin Hanyue: “Of course we’ll do as you like.”
Qiao Ying: “What have you prepared?” She glanced at him then looked back to the fireworks.
Qin Hanyue: “A ring.”
Qin Hanyue took out the ring box from his pocket.
Qiao Ying didn’t even glance at it, simply stretching out her hand to him directly.
Qin Hanyue took out her ring, grabbed her hand, and stopped at her slender fair fingertips. He asked: “Sure about just letting me off this easily? Your whole family is here, don’t you want to make things a little difficult for me?”
Qiao Ying: “Our business has nothing to do with anyone else.” Then looking at him: “Do you have masochistic tendencies?”
Qin Hanyue: “Masochistic? This is clearly pleasure.”
He ceremoniously put the ring on for her, settling it properly on her finger. Then grabbing her hand, staring dumbly at the ring on her hand for a good while, unable to restrain the corners of his mouth curling up in happiness, genuinely overjoyed from the bottom of his heart.
After looking his fill for the time being, he finally said a sentence: “The size fits perfectly.”
Qiao Ying raised her hand to look at the style of the ring, quite satisfied.
He then took out his own ring from the box, solemnly handing it to Qiao Ying: “If you would.”
Qiao Ying accepted it and directly put it on his hand with one hand, solemnly responding: “You’re welcome.”
She looked back to the night sky. Under the brilliant fireworks lights, the smile hidden on her face gradually emerged, letting Qin Hanyue hold her hand.
- 1/26/2023, main story complete.
In plain words: The main story is just about wrapped up here! Extras to follow later, writing about Miss Qiao and Third Master’s married life, also filling in some plot holes, and their little ones.
