Han Ting’s eyes were practically popping out.
Why was it that when he had a birthday, even wanting a pair of limited-edition sneakers was difficult?
Was this the disparity of the world?
“Brother, what’s wrong?” Jiang Chenxing noticed his expression looked bad and asked quietly.
“Chenxing, let me ask you, when it was your birthday, what did my dad, second uncle, third uncle, and grandpa give you?”
“Big uncle gave me a computer and a camera before. Second uncle gave LEGO and figurines. Third uncle usually gives branded clothes and bags…”
Little Jiang counted them one by one.
Han Ting: “……”
Although it couldn’t compare with his sister’s treatment, it was still far better than his!
“Chenxing,” Han Ting suddenly became serious, “don’t you think there’s a problem here?”
“Ah? What problem?”
“Your sister’s gifts are much better than ours.”
“That’s because my sister is a girl. Girls should be raised richly, so her gifts should naturally be better than ours.” Little Jiang said this righteously, not even blushing.
Han Ting was a bit stunned after hearing that. “Th-that’s… how it is?”
“Right! It doesn’t matter if us boys suffer a bit. As the saying goes, when Heaven is about to entrust a great responsibility to someone, it must first temper his mind and strain his bones. So being a bit tired and suffering a bit is actually very beneficial. But sister can’t, she’s a girl, she must be given the best. Understand?”
“Oh, oh,” Han Ting nodded like a rookie being taught new knowledge. “What you said… seems very reasonable.”
“Believe me, remove the ‘seems.’ It is reasonable.”
“Mm! Then from now on the best things should all go to sister…”
Thus, Little Tingting, successfully brainwashed by Jiang Chenxing, the ultimate “number one at eating and number one sister-con”, willingly gave up the limited-edition sneakers he had long dreamed of.
Little Brother Jiang had also prepared a gift for Jiang Fuyue.
“Sister, look at mine. Do you like it?”
Jiang Fuyue opened the box and found that it was actually a pair of Vacheron Constantin couple watches.
Among everyone giving gifts, Jiang Chenxing was the only one who had considered Xie Dingyuan as well.
“Thank you, it’s very beautiful.” Jiang Fuyue rubbed his head. Now she had to raise her hand to reach it.
Jiang Chenxing, a tall young man over 1.8 meters, was instantly flushed like sunset clouds when his sister patted his head, becoming a shy little flower that wanted to hide away.
Jiang Fuyue took out the watch and personally put it on Xie Dingyuan’s wrist.
Then she asked him to help put hers on.
Their wrists were placed side by side, perfectly matched.
Han Ting was shocked once again.
He pulled Little Brother Jiang aside. “That watch… you bought it?”
“Yeah! When Uncle Wu went abroad on a business trip, he brought it back for me from the boutique. Doesn’t it look good?”
“It does look good,” Han Ting scratched his head, “but it must be expensive, right?”
Vacheron Constantin, his dad had one too.
Jiang Chenxing: “It’s alright. The two watches together converted to RMB are exactly 660,000. Isn’t that number especially auspicious?”
Han Ting nodded stiffly. “Auspicious… very auspicious… but where did you get so much money? Did aunt and uncle give it to you?”
“No. I didn’t spend my parents’ money. I earned all this from livestreaming and filming advertisements.”
“Holy, th-that much?!”
Han Ting felt struck by a blow.
His sister had people giving her gifts, his cousin could afford giving gifts, and him?
He had neither gifts to receive nor money to buy any.
Jiang Chenxing: “Actually this isn’t much. If I had endorsements, it would be even higher.”
Han Ting looked blank. “……”
Why was the whole family rich to the point of overflowing, while he alone was poor enough to pick at his feet?
Jiang Chenxing said, “Brother, actually if you want to make money, it’s very easy.”
“Me? How?”
“You can play Chinese chess! I heard some competitions give prizes of tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand, even hundreds of thousands for a single win. You’re so good, you’ll definitely win!”
“Really? You can make money playing chess?” Han Ting seemed unable to react.
“Of course!” Jiang Chenxing immediately took out his phone, opened a webpage, and showed him. “These, these, and these… all of them.”
Han Ting felt as though a new world had opened before him.
Who would have thought that the future genius youth Han Ting, who would dominate the Chinese chess world without rivals, had originally stepped onto the path of competitive battles simply because he wanted to make money?
“Oh right, the watch is so expensive. Why did you buy two? Today is sister’s birthday, not Professor Xie’s.”
Little Brother Jiang said, “Sister likes him, so I like him too. Giving him a gift makes sister happier, and that makes me happier as well.”
“Tsk, loving the crow because you love the house, huh?”
Jiang Chenxing nodded. “Yes.”
He looked rather proud of it.
After Jiang Fuyue’s birthday gifts were finished, next came Xie Dingyuan’s turn.
He had prepared gifts for every elder and junior.
What he gave Han Qishan and Qin Yuancheng were two pieces of excellent golden nanmu wood. With the QR code provided, they could go directly to the timber yard to pick them up.
After seeing the photos, the two old gentlemen smiled in great satisfaction.
What he gave Shi Qingzhi and Han Yunru happened to also be jade, but not necklaces. Instead, it was a pair of mother-and-daughter bracelets.
Han Yunru, who originally wasn’t very fond of jade jewelry, was extremely satisfied with this bracelet.
“Mom, does it look good?” As she spoke, a trace of girlish coquettishness appeared without her even noticing.
Shi Qingzhi’s heart warmed instantly.
After twenty years of separation, the estrangement between mother and daughter could not disappear overnight, nor could the regrets that had already happened be easily repaired.
Sometimes Shi Qingzhi didn’t even know how to interact with the daughter she had regained, as if the intimate scenes from her childhood had turned into faded photographs hanging dull and lifeless on the walls of their memories.
Wasn’t Han Yunru the same? Whenever she spent time with her mother, she would feel shy, helpless, unable to relax.
Time had stolen their past warmth, turning them into strangers who shared the closest blood ties.
But with the gift of these bracelets from Xie Dingyuan, the mother and daughter put them on for each other. Their hands placed together, the bracelets chiming lightly, laughter and cheerful voices…
The distance between them seemed to shorten infinitely.
Shi Qingzhi said, “Ah Yuan has put his heart into this.”
Han Yunru looked at her future son-in-law, ah, the more she looked, the more satisfied she felt.
“Ahem!” Jiang Da coughed heavily, hinting for his wife to be more reserved and not be bought over so easily!
But Han Yunru completely ignored him.
Jiang Da: “……”
“Uncle, this set of Liuchuan knives is for you. A good knife suits a good chef.” Xie Dingyuan smiled at him while presenting the gift.
Jiang Da tried his best not to let his gaze fall on it, but the moment he heard the words “Liuchuan knives,” his heartbeat had already become chaotic.
Liuchuan knives?
That custom knife brand that was almost impossible to obtain?
Seeing him still standing there stunned, Han Yunru quickly nudged Jiang Da with her elbow and whispered, “What are you doing? He’s being so polite and you’re still putting on airs, that’s too much!”
Jiang Da swallowed.
You’re the one telling me to accept it, don’t blame me for not resisting the temptation!
Thinking this, his mind immediately relaxed, and all his burdens disappeared.
Jiang Da took it, placed it on the table, blew warm air into his palms, rubbed his hands together, and only then lifted the velvet cloth covering the top.
A row of more than ten knives, sharp and gleaming, were arranged from large to small, slicing knife, bone-chopping knife, cleaver, fruit knife…
On every handle, the two characters “Liuchuan” were written in golden regular script.
Th-this… was simply Jiang Da’s dream set of knives!
When he was young, he could only watch his master use one, just a single kitchen knife, not even a full set, and it was already treated like a treasure.
Later, after he started his own business selling pancakes, he rarely used knives, so he didn’t even dare think about it.
Now that he was making money and his pockets were full, that old thought of Jiang Da’s could no longer be controlled, it began stirring again.
Unfortunately, Liuchuan knives were purely handmade custom pieces. There was a market but no fixed price. Not to mention the high cost, just booking an order meant waiting three or four years, and even then you might not get one!
Jiang Da had almost given up.
But who would have thought, Xie Dingyuan had actually given him a complete set!
“So beautiful! Just looking at the steel blade, you can tell it’s different from other knives. Listen to this sound…”
Zheng!
Jiang Da lovingly stroked each knife, the expression in his eyes the same as when looking at his wife and children.
Full of emotion.
“Thank you! This set of knives… I, I’ve wanted it for a long time. How did you manage to buy it?” A man as poor with words as Jiang Da had actually taken the initiative to speak to Xie Dingyuan.
Rare! Extremely rare!
“I know the young owner of Liuchuan knives. He happened to have an appointment slot from three years ago, but the person who booked it canceled at the last minute…”
So Xie Dingyuan took that slot.
Even so, this set of knives still took a full two months to finally arrive.
Seeing Jiang Da’s excited look, Han Yunru couldn’t help but click her tongue.
Shi Qingzhi stood beside her daughter and whispered quietly, “It seems Yueyue’s boyfriend really does have quite a few tricks up his sleeve…”
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