Li Xiaoya's home had never been this lively before.
"So many rich people!"
"All of them are wealthy!"
The villagers watched from afar, their eyes turning red with envy.
"I wonder if Li Qingqing will meet so many rich people when she goes to the city to record the show?" They suddenly became curious.
"The village chief has held her back. Those rich people probably don't want to associate with her."
Their tone was somewhat gloating. After all, thinking that even the village chief's granddaughter couldn't enjoy such treatment, they had nothing to be envious or jealous about.
Li Song stood among the crowd, overhearing their entire conversation, and silently gritted his teeth.
What do you know?
Qingqing has already entered the world of the wealthy, naturally surpassing everything!
"Haven't you watched the show?" Li Song interjected.
The villagers turned their heads at the sound, suddenly feeling extremely awkward.
Although the village chief had been arrested, his influence still lingered. Now that they'd been caught badmouthing someone behind their back... they shuddered involuntarily and forced out a smile, saying, "Oh, Brother Song is here. We're sorry, we didn't notice."
"Qingqing must still be very likable, otherwise those rich people would have sent her back already, right?"
"Yes, yes!"
But there were also those who, seeing that the village chief had finally fallen, couldn't stand the arrogant attitude of Li Song's family. So they said sarcastically, "Oh my, we're so poor we can't even afford a TV, of course we haven't seen the show! Who knows what's happening in the show now? Has Qingqing been adopted by some rich person?"
Li Song cursed in his heart, "You opportunistic bastards! Even if you want to kiss Li Xiaoya's feet now, they might not let you!"
Li Song tried to appear nonchalant and said, "Oh, it's nothing major. Remember that young lady who came to our village before? Her father is a professor at Qingbei University, the top university in the country. Her mother is a specially appointed expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences."
"Qingbei University! Chinese Academy of Sciences!" For these villagers, the most impressive things were money and getting into Qingbei!
As for money, they didn't even recognize many luxury brands.
But Qingbei University, that was something everyone knew about!
For this poor mountain village, getting into Qingbei was something worth celebrating even if it meant your ancestors' graves would sprout green smoke and your parents would drop dead on the spot as a sacrifice to the heavens!
Li Song took in their shocked expressions and then continued casually, "Qingqing is only how old? Yet she's fortunate enough to learn from these two academic giants. When they go out for field research, they might even take Qingqing along."
"My goodness! Is that true?"
"Brother Song, you and your wife really know how to raise a child! I've always said Qingqing would have a great future!"
"This must be because your ancestral grave is in a good location! Brother Song, did you hire Old Man Wu from Ten Slopes to calculate the positioning when your grandfather was buried?"
The villagers immediately became eager to please.
After all, trying to curry favor with Li Xiaoya was one thing, and even if they succeeded, Li Xiaoya might not share any benefits with them.
But Li Qingqing was different. If their children could get a bit of the academic star's blessing, wouldn't that be a great thing for their family's future glory?
Li Song felt much better after being flattered like this.
He thought disdainfully, "What does this have to do with ancestral graves? These people are just uncultured, always talking about fortune-telling! What kind of people they are, their children will be the same!"
Li Song didn't show any contempt on his face, and smoothly changed the subject, "With so many rich kids coming from the city, can Li Xiaoya's house accommodate them all?"
The others also realized this and immediately expressed their envy and jealousy to Li Song: "They'll probably stay at your house too, Brother Song."
"That's right, only Brother Song's newly built Western-style house would be comfortable enough. Such great fortune should fall on Brother Song's head!"
"That young lady from before also stayed at Brother Song's house, right? She must have left some nice gifts when she left!"
At the mention of Xu Ruying, Li Song's expression almost cracked.
Nice gifts?
She left nothing!
She left without even giving any money! He didn't get anything good out of it!
Clearly that Sheng Yuxiao was quite generous, so why was this Xu Ruying so stingy?
Of course, Li Song couldn't say these things out loud. He could only quietly digest them, and again pretended to be indifferent and carefree, turning to say, "Ah, the wind is still a bit cold. I'm going back to warm up by the fire."
"Brother Song, tell us more about Qingqing learning from the Qingbei University professor. Will Qingqing stay in the city and not come back in the future? Will she be able to go to Qingbei too?"
The villagers hurriedly followed him.
Meanwhile, at Li Xiaoya's side, one of the rich kids couldn't help but mutter, "Those villagers are finally gone. They kept staring at us earlier."
"Like we were some kind of rare animals. How did you stand it, Sheng?"
Sheng Yuxiao was puzzled: "They didn't dare look at me."
"..." "Sheng is truly Sheng! When will I learn to be like Sheng, able to repel countless people without saying a word?"
"Stop the nonsense and go make dinner!" Sheng Yuxiao kicked the person.
The person was confused: "Didn't Ning Heng come back and tell us that the kid called Li Xiaoya is really good at cooking?"
Sheng Yuxiao looked at him: "Are you alright? Who's going to eat food cooked by Li Xiaoya?"
The person instinctively said: "We will!" Then, noticing Sheng Yuxiao's death-like glare, he shuddered: "You... you'll eat it, Sheng? We're... not worthy to eat it?"
That must be what he means, he thought.
Sheng Yuxiao said: "I don't even have the heart to eat it."
"Oh, okay, then we'll go figure out how to cook." The rich kids exchanged glances and plunged into the kitchen.
But they had many questions.
"Bro, how do you use this stove?"
"Why can't I lift this pot?... Damn! It's so heavy!"
"Where are the power outlets? Where do I plug in my rice cooker?"
Hearing this, Li Xiaoya was about to get up and help them, but Sheng Yuxiao grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back.
"Why bother with them? Ten cobblers put together should be as good as one Zhuge Liang. If they can't even manage to make a meal today, their parents should start planning to have another child."
Sheng Yuxiao pressed Li Xiaoya down by the fireplace, then went out to hang things on the Christmas tree.
After a while, when he came back.
"Where's the person?"
Sheng Yuxiao looked around and found that Li Xiaoya had been taken away by someone again.
He walked over with a dark face.
That person was explaining something to Li Xiaoya.
"Look, you pull this wire over, connect it like this, then wrap it with tape, and it's insulated..."
Sheng Yuxiao gritted his teeth: "Ling Yu! What are you teaching?"
"I'm teaching her how to steal electricity... no, how to wire electricity," the rich kid called "Ling Yu" said halfway, then stopped abruptly, turned his head, and sheepishly called out, "Sheng."
"Sheng, this isn't my fault. It's mainly because we couldn't find any power outlets here, so we had to figure out how to wire electricity ourselves," Ling Yu quickly explained.
"Then why are you teaching her? Do you know how dangerous this is?" Sheng Yuxiao's tone was icy.
"I... I just wanted to show off in front of the kid, you know?" Ling Yu's voice grew smaller.
"Get lost!"
Another rich kid quietly put away his snowboard.
This skill meant nothing among a group of rich kids. He had also wanted to show off in front of the child, but now he didn't dare.
With so many people, there were bound to be more annoying things.
Li Xiaoya's once peaceful home had turned into something like the Flower Fruit Mountain, with everyone jumping around.
However, thanks to these rich kids' extensive camping and outdoor cooking experience, they still managed to put together a meal.
As evening approached, they set up a door panel as a table.
Candles were lit on the left, several bottles of Romanée-Conti were placed on the right, and the tableware was Christofle, used by European royalty...
The production team was stunned.
The audience was also stunned.
[Such a shabby place, yet so luxurious at the same time]
[Good, good, good! Using a broken door panel as a table, but still insisting on creating an upper-class atmosphere? The contrast is off the charts!]
As the dishes were successively placed on the table, the rich kids were still smacking their lips and sighing: "It feels no different from the summer camp in Australia."
"This should be called a winter camp, right?"
"Ah yes, winter camp."
"Come, come, Sheng, please take the seat of honor."
Sheng Yuxiao walked out and casually scooped up Li Xiaoya, placing her in the main seat.
[He's not surprised at all!]
[Haha, those rich kids are dumbfounded]
They were indeed stunned, pointing at Li Xiaoya and stammering, "This... this..."
Sheng Yuxiao raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem."
"Li Xiaoya has never celebrated Christmas before. Who wants to explain it to her?" Sheng Yuxiao tilted his chin up.
[Damn! That's so considerate. Li Xiaoya doesn't need to worry about being out of her depth at all. So what if she hasn't seen much of the world? So what if she doesn't even know what Christmas is? The rich kids will enthusiastically explain it anyway!]
"Uh, it's like New Year's abroad," the rich kids stammered in explanation.
Because they had never imagined that one day they would need to explain this to someone.
Sheng Yuxiao frowned, "Have you not read enough fairy tales? How can you explain it without any sense of childlike wonder?"
Sheng Yuxiao cleared his throat and began to explain himself, "Legend has it that on Christmas Day, Santa Claus rides on reindeer, puts gifts for the new year in stockings, and secretly hides them at the bedsides of good children..."
[Young Master Sheng is quite ceremonious]
[I suddenly have a premonition]
[What kind of premonition?]
Li Xiaoya quickly finished an extremely lively meal.
Sheng Yuxiao patted Li Xiaoya and urged, "Go wash your face, brush your teeth, and go to bed. Children shouldn't stay up late."
Li Xiaoya asked, "What about you?"
Sheng Yuxiao said, "I'll chat with them for a while."
Li Xiaoya nodded, thinking that Sheng Yuxiao must not have seen his friends for a long time, so she obediently went to wash her face, brush her teeth, and go to bed, leaving ample space for them.
Wei Wenqing and the young people had nothing to say either, so he accompanied Li Xiaoya to bed.
The door closed.
The rich kids asked, "Brother Sheng, say something. Didn't you want to chat with us?"
"What chat? Where are the things I asked you to bring?"
"We brought them, they're in the car."
"Alright, let's go."
Sheng Yuxiao got in the car and fiddled around for about ten minutes, then a "Santa Claus" walked out.
[Oh my!]
[Ah, my premonition came true. I knew he was setting all this up, going to the trouble of telling Li Xiaoya the story, just for this moment!]
[Ah, I'm so jealous! Even my own parents wouldn't go to this extent!]
[He's not only creating childlike wonder for Li Xiaoya, but also personally protecting her innocence! I'm so jealous I could burst!]
Sheng Yuxiao had dressed himself up as Santa Claus, dragging a large sack beside him.
He looked around and said, "We're missing some reindeer."
The rich kids immediately became panicked: "Brother Sheng? You're not going to make me be a reindeer, are you?"
Sheng Yuxiao smiled, "How could it just be you? We need at least two reindeer to make it impressive."
One person dressed as a reindeer might somewhat tarnish a young master's face.
But with two people, it was a different story.
With the mentality of sharing hardships and dying together if need be, treating it as a team-building exercise... two reindeer were soon on duty.
Li Xiaoya lay in bed, turning over. She was still wearing Sheng Yuxiao's hat, which was very big. When she turned over, it slid down and covered her eyes.
Just as Li Xiaoya was about to push up the brim of the hat, the door creaked open.
As they entered, the two reindeer wondered if they might scare her...
But when they stepped inside, they saw the little girl sit up suddenly, her eyes wide.
Her eyes were very beautiful, and when they widened, they looked innocent and adorable.
Sheng Yuxiao, accompanied by the two "reindeer," walked grandly to Li Xiaoya's side in the moonlight.
He patted Li Xiaoya's head, then spoke a sentence in English.
The gist was, "My good child, you will receive the New Year's blessing."
Then he threw the entire sack of gifts at Li Xiaoya's feet.
The whole process was smooth as silk.
Sheng Yuxiao threw the gifts and left, but as they were going out, the two reindeer's bottoms hit the doorframe.
They nearly knocked down the already battered doorframe.
Once outside, they finally dared to catch their breath: "Wait a minute, Brother Sheng, isn't Santa Claus born in Santa Claus Village in Finland? You should have spoken Finnish just now!"
Sheng Yuxiao frowned, "Li Xiaoya didn't pick on it, why are you?"
Inside the room.
Li Xiaoya stared blankly at the sack for a good while before carefully reaching out to open it.
Instantly, numerous colorfully wrapped gifts were revealed.
Wei Wenqing was also awakened by this commotion. He sat up, stared at the sack, and instantly understood everything...
Wei Wenqing was immediately filled with shame.
He had been outdone!
He had never had much contact with children and had never thought about how to coax them.
And now, Sheng Yuxiao acted more like a real uncle than he did!
Wei Wenqing couldn't sleep well that night. The next day, when he got up and the sign language interpreter arrived, he immediately started signing to Li Xiaoya.
The interpreter translated word for word: "I'm sorry, uncle forgot to prepare a gift for you. ... When we get back, can uncle give you the Christmas holiday resort? There's a ski center there, you can soak in hot springs, see the aurora..."
The sign language interpreter became dumbfounded as he translated.
What?
What???
What kind of people are these? How can they just give away holiday resorts so casually?
Li Xiaoya was also stunned.
From her uncle's previous tone, he seemed to have had a miserable time at home and wasn't recognized by her grandfather.
Wei Wenqing continued to sign: "What else do you like? Tell uncle! Uncle will fulfill all your wishes!"
Li Xiaoya couldn't help but tilt her head.
Her uncle's pitiful state seemed... quite different from what she had imagined?
Seeing Li Xiaoya not saying anything for a long time, Wei Wenqing lowered his head dejectedly.
He really wasn't good at coaxing children after all.
Perhaps he should learn from that Sheng Yuxiao?
At this moment, Li Xiaoya hugged him, then took out paper and pen, and wrote on it: Uncle be happy every day.
Then she handed the note to Wei Wenqing and said, "Let me give uncle a gift first!"
She didn't have many things of her own.
She couldn't give away what Sheng Yuxiao had given her. She did have some candy, but if Sheng Yuxiao saw it, he would definitely be very unhappy.
Li Xiaoya felt a bit guilty, thinking, Uncle, I'll be better to you in the future! But I can't share the candy with you.
Wei Wenqing clutched the note, taking a while to come back to his senses.
Then he happily and carefully tucked it into his pocket, signing: "The best gift I've ever received!"
He thought the holiday resort wasn't enough!
Could he transfer a diamond mine to her name?
Li Xiaoya didn't know what he was thinking, but anyway, uncle and niece looked at each other, both very happy.
Only Wei Zhen couldn't be happy.
He called Wei Lin again, opening with: "We can't win Li Xiaoya over anymore."
"Why do you say that?"
"A bunch of rich kids came to celebrate Christmas with her. Having experienced such grandeur, what could move her when she returns home in the future? Sheng Yuxiao treats her just like his own little sister!"
Wei Zhen couldn't help feeling desperate, the scar on his face twitching slightly.
He said hoarsely, "How can someone who has experienced true affection be moved by false pretenses?"
Wei Lin finally realized that the situation had completely spiraled out of control. He said sternly, "I'll personally bring people to bring her back to the Wei family!"
Wei Lin thought for a moment and said, "I'll make an even grander gesture."
"Those rich kids' gesture was grand enough," Wei Zhen reminded him.
Wei Lin thought for a bit and said, "I can do something even grander."
"Even grander?"
"How about overturning the entire Li Family Village?"