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Chapter 395: Isn\'t It Strange?

Yang Chen wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I finished before the time was up, right?"

A round of applause erupted from the surrounding crowd. The dumpling restaurant owner, initially seeing the contest as a gimmick to attract customers, didn\'t expect anyone to actually eat all eighty-eight dumplings.

But a promise was a promise. The owner knew he had to honor it, or risk damaging his reputation in Zhonghai.

The owner personally handed the dumpling plushie to Yang Chen. The chubby, white dumpling doll with a cute face made many girls in the crowd squeal with delight.

The owner also ordered the kitchen to prepare a dumpling feast, featuring sixteen different kinds of dumplings.

"Are you inviting friends to join you?" the dumpling restaurant owner asked.

Yang Chen shook his head. "Just my wife and me."

Understanding but still obliging, the owner led them to a private room with a large table, as the feast wouldn\'t fit on a small one.

As they walked, Lin Ruoxi glanced at Yang Chen, who was rubbing his stomach, feeling both amused and exasperated. She thought to herself that this man was truly something else, always finding ways to make her worry.

Once inside the private room, Yang Chen handed the cute dumpling doll to Lin Ruoxi with a broad smile. "Here, a New Year\'s gift. I finally won it for you."

Lin Ruoxi was taken aback, her eyes widening with realization. Yang Chen had entered this crazy eating contest to win the doll as a New Year\'s gift for her.

Feeling a mix of embarrassment and pride, Yang Chen explained, "I was just thinking about what kind of gift to give you. I live in your house, eat your food, use your things, drive the car you gave me, and even my salary is paid by you. Now, with the New Year coming, you\'re even buying my new clothes. If I were to buy you a gift, it would still be with your money. So, it wouldn\'t really be a gift from me. This dumpling doll, though, is different. I knew you\'d like it. And this meal is free, so it\'s not bought with your money. Consider it a New Year\'s gift package from me to my dear Ruoxi."

Watching Yang Chen rub his full stomach with one hand while hearing his peculiar reasoning, Lin Ruoxi felt a twinge of emotion.

"Are you an idiot?" she asked.

"Huh?" Yang Chen blinked, thinking he might have misheard.

"I said," Lin Ruoxi took the adorable plushie from Yang Chen, lowering her head to play with it, "I said you\'re an idiot. Only an idiot would think of such a way to give a gift."

Yang Chen laughed awkwardly. "Well, idiot or not, as long as you like it, that\'s what matters."

Lin Ruoxi looked at the smiling dumpling plushie in her hands, her emotions in turmoil. Finally, she nodded. "I like it very much."

"Hehe, your husband is pretty amazing, right? Look at those women outside. Their boyfriends couldn\'t eat eighty-eight dumplings. This is where my advantage comes in," Yang Chen said proudly.

Lin Ruoxi couldn\'t help but laugh. Her eyes, which had been red, were now filled with unshed tears.

After sitting down, the private room grew quiet. Lin Ruoxi, holding the plushie, suddenly spoke softly. "When I was younger, my grandmother would always give me a gift for New Year\'s. Sometimes it was a toy, sometimes a book, sometimes a tasty treat. Whatever it was, I was always happy, though it never felt particularly special because, in our family, we could buy whatever we wanted. But after my grandmother and mother passed away, no one gave me gifts for New Year\'s anymore. That was when I realized not everything can be bought with money."

Yang Chen smiled. "Well, now you have me. Next year, I\'ll eat again and win you another one. I saw a pink one at the counter earlier. This one is white. Next time, I\'ll win you a matching pair."

"You..." Lin Ruoxi smiled gently, like a blooming gardenia. "You\'re like a child. Don\'t do such foolish things again. Even if you can eat, it\'s uncomfortable."

Yang Chen laughed heartily. "As long as it makes you happy, it\'s worth it."

Lin Ruoxi looked at him, her heart warmed by his sincerity. "Thank you, Yang Chen. This is the best New Year\'s gift I\'ve ever received."

"Is this considered a wife\'s concern for her husband?" Yang Chen asked with a blink.

Lin Ruoxi puffed her cheeks but remained silent.

Before long, a dazzling array of dumplings was served. Lin Ruoxi frowned at the table full of dumplings and said, "I can\'t even finish one plate. What are we going to do with all these?"

Yang Chen casually ate two crab meat dumplings and, feeling full, smiled, "You eat some while they\'re hot, and we\'ll pack the rest to take home. These dumplings have good wrappers, so they\'ll still be good reheated."

Half an hour later, Yang Chen walked out of the restaurant with two large bags of packed dumplings. Lin Ruoxi, holding the enviable dumpling plushie, followed him as they headed back to the parking lot.

In the parking lot, Lin Ruoxi suddenly asked, "Can you accompany me to a place?"

Yang Chen was taken aback. "Where?"

Lin Ruoxi looked a bit sad. "I suddenly really want to visit my grandma and mom. Please come with me."

Yang Chen understood. Recently, their home had welcomed a new sister, and he had brought in a new mother-in-law. Today, after many years, they had received New Year\'s gifts. Lin Ruoxi\'s once icy heart was gradually filled with memories of the past, and it was natural for her to think of her grandma and mother.

"We should have visited your grandma and mother-in-law long ago. Although we cleaned the graves during Qingming, we should tell them now that we\'re married," Yang Chen said.

Lin Ruoxi smiled gently and got into Yang Chen\'s car. "Let\'s leave my car here. I\'ll have someone drive it home."

Yang Chen nodded. After getting in the car, he drove out of the city under Lin Ruoxi\'s guidance, heading to a high-end cemetery in the western suburbs.

After nearly forty minutes, the car reached a hilly area surrounded by lush pines and cypresses. The road was silent, occasionally livened up by a few chubby squirrels.

Yang Chen parked the car at the foot of the hill; the cemetery was halfway up and needed to be reached on foot.

As they got out of the car, Yang Chen slapped his thigh. "Oh no, I forgot to bring gifts for your mother and grandma, not even paper money."

Lin Ruoxi, who had felt sad, was momentarily amused and gave Yang Chen a look. "Don\'t worry. I burned a lot during Qingming this year."

"Hehe, that\'s good. I wonder if your mom and grandma have had dumplings," Yang Chen joked.

Lin Ruoxi stifled a laugh, ignoring Yang Chen\'s antics. She knew he was just trying to cheer her up on this gloomy journey.

As they were about to walk up the winding path, Yang Chen noticed a black Audi A8 slowly driving away from the cemetery.

Seeing the car, Yang Chen frowned slightly but then followed Lin Ruoxi up the hill.

After walking for about ten minutes, Lin Ruoxi, slightly out of breath, and Yang Chen arrived at the graves of Lin Ruoxi\'s grandmother and mother.

The gravesite was clean and well-maintained, suggesting frequent visits. It was simple, with just the tombstones and two large Chinese yews providing shade. However, what caught their attention was a fresh bouquet of Bauhinia flowers, a rare variety from the Lingnan region, with particularly large petals, placed in front of Lin Ruoxi\'s mother\'s tombstone.

"It looks like someone has recently visited Mom," Lin Ruoxi remarked, momentarily stunned.

Yang Chen glanced at the tombstone of Lin Ruoxi\'s mother, which bore a small photo of Xue Zijing. Despite being exposed to the elements, the photo was still clear. "Mother-in-law\'s name is \'Xue Zijing.\' The name sounds quite similar to the Bauhinia flower."

"Yes," Lin Ruoxi said, bending down to touch the petals. "Mom loved Bauhinia flowers, and this was her favorite variety. It might be from a friend of hers. I\'ve encountered this once during Qingming, but I never found out who left it."

Yang Chen looked at Xue Zijing\'s photo and smiled. "You do look quite a bit like your mother, but you\'re even more beautiful."

Lin Ruoxi\'s face turned slightly red from the direct compliment, but she still shot Yang Chen a glance. "Don\'t be so frivolous in front of my mom."

Yang Chen laughed awkwardly. Of course, he shouldn\'t tease his wife in front of his mother-in-law\'s grave.

After standing in front of Xue Zijing\'s grave for a while, Lin Ruoxi moved to her grandmother\'s tombstone. This was the first time Yang Chen saw the old matriarch\'s kind face.

Lin Ruoxi had a deep bond with her grandmother. Standing in front of the tombstone, she said to Yang Chen, "Yang Chen, could you step aside for a moment? I want to talk to Grandma."

Yang Chen nodded, bowed in front of the tombstone, and walked away to give Lin Ruoxi some privacy.

For a long time, Lin Ruoxi stood in front of the tombstone, gently touching it. A bittersweet smile appeared on her lips.

"Grandma, it\'s New Year\'s. I didn\'t visit you during previous New Years because every time I came here, I would cry, and you always said crying girls aren\'t pretty. But this year, I had to come. I got married, to a rascal of a man, and I had to tell you and Mom before New Year\'s Eve. His name is Yang Chen.

Grandma, I have such mixed feelings now. I didn\'t know marriage would involve so many things, and being with a man feels so strange. My heart is my own, but now I don\'t even understand myself anymore.

I find Yang Chen really annoying. I don\'t like him. He always calls me with cheesy nicknames, doesn\'t do his job properly, always runs off, hangs out with other women in front of me, doesn\'t come home at night, and stays over at other women\'s places. Now he\'s found my mother, and suddenly I have a mother-in-law who\'s sometimes nice and sometimes not. Today, they teamed up to bully me.

He always does things his own way, often making me angry or scared. He forgets the promises he makes to me, doesn\'t call when he\'s not coming home, and always leaves me waiting like a fool.

But, but, because of him, I feel so happy. And also, because of him, I feel so heartbroken. Grandma, am I strange?"

The cold mountain wind swept across the hillside as Lin Ruoxi\'s monologue drifted into the air, her voice lost to the wind.

Yang Chen stood at the edge of the hill, watching the slender black-clad figure standing by the distant tombstone, feeling a sudden, inexplicable pang of heartache.

"Silly woman, what if one day all your beliefs turn out to be illusions? What if one day all your hopes become mirages? Can you bear it?" Yang Chen murmured to himself, gazing in the direction where the Audi had just departed.