Chapter 231: Staying Up for the New Year
Grandpa Gu laughed heartily as he watched his great-grandchildren bowing respectfully on the rug. He took out the thick red envelopes he had prepared and distributed them one by one.
Sheng Wanyan and Gu Tingxiao had both prepared red envelopes as well. In previous years, even though Gu Tingxiao was part of the older generation, he hadn’t been obligated to hand out red envelopes since he wasn’t married. At most, he would simply give the children a little pocket money to celebrate the Spring Festival.
But tonight was entirely different. This wasn’t just casual pocket money—these were official New Year’s red envelopes from a married uncle and aunt!
The family members were exceptionally generous when it came to their own kin. Since the holiday occurred only once a year, everyone had tucked five yuan into each envelope. With Wanyan contributing five yuan and Gu Tingxiao contributing five yuan, it added up to a substantial ten yuan per child.
There were six children in the extended family layout, though one of the second uncle’s grandchildren was still an infant, currently residing along the northwest frontier with his parents.
The weight of a red envelope always depended on the giver’s heart. Although Gu Tinghao was flying solo without his wife this year, he still distributed the exact same amount as previous years to ensure the children didn’t feel a shift.
“Thank you, Great-Grandpa! Thank you, Great-Grandma! Thank you, Grandpas, Grandmas, Uncles, and Aunts!” the children cheered, absolutely thrilled as they clutched their bountiful hauls.
Little Gu Jingjing stared down at the crisp red envelope in her palm, before turning on her heel and running straight to Mother Gu.
In previous years, she had always been forced to surrender her holiday cash to her mother, Wang Chunmei. If Jingjing ever showed a hint of reluctance, Wang Chunmei would deliver a sharp scolding, waiting until the little girl dropped off to sleep before systematically plundering her pockets. By the time Jingjing blinked her eyes open the following morning, her red envelopes would have vanished entirely, leaving her to weep over the loss for hours.
Ever since that initial heartbreak, Mother Gu had personally stepped in every single Lunar New Year to manage Gu Jingjing’s savings. Jingjing placed absolute, unyielding trust in her grandmother, happily surrendering everything she considered a treasure for safekeeping—from her grand holiday red envelopes down to smooth, beautiful pebbles she discovered in the courtyard. Mother Gu always accepted the tokens with a warm, doting smile. It was a profound symbol of her granddaughter’s dependency on her, and she archived every item meticulously.
Since Gu Tingying was still unmarried, her older brothers and sister-in-laws presented her with red envelopes as a token of sisterly affection.
Tingying murmured under her breath, her cheeks flushing as she insisted she was far too old to be accepting holiday money from her siblings. However, her hands didn’t slow down in the slightest as she deftly slid the envelopes straight into her jacket pocket. After all, while she performed with a prestigious art troupe, her baseline salary was remarkably modest. Furthermore, since the second uncle’s branch hadn’t officially split their assets and she remained unmarried, traditional protocol dictated she surrender her wages to the household.
Fortunately, the second uncle was stationed down in Hai City, and terrified that his daughter might face financial embarrassment while living in the capital, he routinely refused to absorb her entire salary. He permitted her to retain half of her earnings as private pocket money. Even so, Tingying wasn’t foolish; she knew that once she wed, these sibling red envelopes would cease entirely, so she happily collected them while she could.
“Come over here, Wanyan,” Mother Gu called out smoothly, extending a fresh, heavy envelope. “This specific token is dedicated to the little sprout growing in your belly.”
The unborn child inside Sheng Wanyan’s womb received a tribute from absolutely everyone—not just the senior patriarchs of the clan, but every married couple at the table. Even the unmarried Gu Tingying stepped forward, presenting a crisp note as a welcoming gift for the nephew or niece she had yet to meet.
Wanyan expressed her deep gratitude on behalf of the baby, offering a beautiful promise to recount everyone’s profound affection to the child once it was old enough to understand. The baby was entering the world surrounded by the absolute adoration and high expectations of an entire clan; there was truly nothing more fulfilling.
The atmosphere through the midnight hours remained vibrant and raucous. The second sister, Gu Tingting, and her husband, Lin Junhu, settled into the guest wing with their children to see the night through. Lin Junhu’s maiden family didn’t reside in the capital; they were rooted far south in Guangzhou. Because of the vast distance, he and the second sister had completed the arduous trek to the Gu estate well in advance of the holidays. Since his active military leave didn’t grant him enough transit days to split between both provinces, spending the entirety of the New Year under the old general’s roof was the most practical choice. The sprawling estate possessed an abundance of guest suites, easily accommodating their stay.
Once the formal holiday greetings concluded, the traditional vigil began. Protocol dictated that the men of the family remain awake through the entire night to guard the transition of the year, while the children and the women retired to their quarters to rest.
Gu Tingxiao escorted Wanyan up to their suite, remaining by her side until her breathing slowed into a deep sleep, before slipping back downstairs to join his brothers in the living room.
As the undisputed eldest grandson and primary heir of the line, Gu Tingye naturally needed to address the sensitive domestic shifts with his younger siblings.
“Tinghao,” he began quietly, turning his gaze toward the fourth brother. “Are you intending to travel over to the Wang estate tomorrow for the second day of the festival?”
Traditional customs dictated that the second day of the Spring Festival was reserved for a husband to pay his formal respects at his wife’s maiden home. Given that Wang Chunmei was heavily pregnant, leaving her marooned at her parents’ house through the core of the holidays looked terrible to outside observers.
“No,” Gu Tinghao gritted out, his expression entirely unyielding. Over the past half-month, while Wang Chunmei had been exiled, Mother Gu had systematically reinforced his boundaries, thoroughly deprogramming his old passivity.
Gu Tingye measured his brother’s rigid posture but refrained from mounting a lecture. He understood perfectly that the crisis had evolved far beyond a simple domestic squall between a husband and wife. The plundered funds comprised the collective, life-earned capital of the entire clan. By siphoning those assets to enrich her own parents, Wang Chunmei had effectively signaled that she harbored zero allegiance to the Gu line.
“Still, she is actively carrying a biological descendant of our house,” the eldest brother noted, his tone professional. “Regardless of where the long-term marriage stands, you are required to march over to their courtyard tomorrow to assess the situation.”
Gu Tingye’s underlying meaning was transparent: Wang Chunmei’s personal exile could continue indefinitely, but the safety and standing of the next generation of the Gu bloodline could never be compromised or ignored.
Sitting nearby, the eldest cousin, Gu Tingyan, listened to the strategy in silent shock. Having spent his career entrenched down in Hai City, he had never anticipated that his uncle’s branch would be plagued by such a volatile, underhanded financial betrayal. If word of this plundering ever leaked into their elite social circles, people would assume Wang Chunmei had lost her mind.
Gu Tinghao offered a definitive nod, accepting the wisdom of his brother’s counsel. The rigorous etiquette and public honor of the Gu family could never be dropped. As long as the legal marital contract between him and Wang Chunmei remained intact, he would execute his institutional duties as a son-in-law flawlessly to deny the Wangs any leverage.
“Understood, Big Brother. I will handle the visit tomorrow.”
Gu Tingye nodded in satisfaction. As for how Gu Tinghao chose to navigate the actual confrontation or what long-term resolution he ultimately selected, that remained strictly within the fourth branch’s jurisdiction. Since the households had officially separated, he lacked the authority to micro-manage their internal affairs. Gu Tinghao possessed the clarity to make the correct play; if he faltered now, he would simply have to swallow the structural consequences alone.
Shifting his focus, Gu Tingye turned his sharp eyes toward Gu Tingxiao. He harbored absolutely zero anxieties regarding the third boy’s tactical execution or personal discipline, save for one critical question.
“When exactly do you intend to initiate your formal transfer back to the high command in the Capital?”
Aside from Gu Tingxiao, the brothers were entirely concentrated within the capital’s executive circles. Tingxiao possessed unparalleled strategic capabilities and immense military prestige, meaning the regional confines of the northern base were actively bottlenecking his institutional advancement.
“I need to wait a little longer…” Gu Tingxiao answered softly, his eyes fixed on the low light.
Every man in the room understood the underlying political reality of his hesitation. The Gu clan occupied an exceptionally prominent, powerful position within the high command, which meant their branch routinely required a member to maintain a low profile in the provinces to deflect the hyper-vigilant scrutiny of rival political factions.
Initially, Gu Tingye had been deemed structurally unsuitable to step away from the capital core, while Gu Tinghao was being explicitly groomed for a trajectory in civil politics. That left the burden of regional service entirely on Gu Tingxiao’s shoulders.
But the calculus had shifted dramatically. With Sheng Wanyan’s monumental national breakthroughs anchoring their standing, even if Gu Tingxiao executed an immediate return to the capital, no rival faction would possess the leverage to challenge his relocation.
Yet such a political pass was entirely unappealing to Gu Tingxiao’s pride. He refused to ride his wife’s coattails back to the center of power. He was determined to accumulate such an unassailable mountain of independent combat merits in the field that his triumphant return to Beijing would be completely irrefutable, leaving his detractors entirely speechless.
He possessed an immense, unyielding soldier’s pride, which was precisely why Old Master Gu treasured and elevated this specific grandson above all others. Tingxiao’s character was absolutely pure. He dedicated his entire being exclusively to the defense of the nation and the preservation of his clan, never wasting a single thought on unearned privileges or schemes that lay outside his duty. He refused to retreat from a challenge, choosing instead to forge his own destiny through sheer capability.
His raw courage and strategic vision completely eclipsed the baseline of both his brothers. Gu Tingye had been rigorously polished to operate as the traditional, bureaucratic heir of the estate, while Gu Tinghao… well, it was best not to dwell on his current shortcomings.
Gu Tingye nodded, fully respecting his brother’s resolve. Yet no one in the capital yearned for Tingxiao’s permanent return more than he did. Once the third boy was anchored back at the high command, he would be able to share the massive administrative pressures of the family legacy, granting Gu Tingye far grander operational freedom to deploy his own capabilities.
Gu Tinghao was still nothing more than a fledgling navigating the lower rungs of diplomacy; his current capacity maxed out at simply trying to manage his own domestic disasters. The Gu family required a powerful, unified front to drive their legacy forward.
The brothers sustained their tactical dialogue through the dark hours, watching the turning of the year until dawn broke over the capital.
When Sheng Wanyan finally blinked her eyes open the following morning, she discovered Gu Tingxiao lying fully dressed beside her. There was no telling what hour of the morning he had finally managed to slip beneath the blankets, and looking at the exhaustion lining his face, she refrained from breaking his rest. She delicately lifted his heavy arm from around her waist, attempting to slide out of bed without disrupting his sleep.
Sensing the subtle movement even through his deep fatigue, Gu Tingxiao tightened his grip slightly before relaxing, his eyes remaining closed as his body finally demanded the rest he had deferred all night.
