Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Madam Yan looked at the table to be sure everything was ready. Of course, she had the employees of the resort serve them but had dedicated her time to setting the table because she loved her family and wanted Christmas to be special. Once she saw everything was perfect as she wanted it to be, she smiled and called her husband and son to join her in the table, "Give Suyin a call. Tell her to come immediately." Her mother said to Shen who nodded and did just that. 

"I am going to start eating before she gets here." Shen announced as he went to the dining table. 

"You sound like you always wait for her to come before you start eating. Anyways, I'm starving. Let's eat slowly before she gets here. Hmm?" Madam Yen said before going to take a seat on the dining table.

Their house was large but quite smaller compared to some others since they were only a family of four. They didn't see any need coming with anyone else when they had spent quite a fortune on their trip even though Zhu Liang was her daughter's finacee. Liang had refused to invite them until they invited themselves. The Zhu family didn't even think of paying for their trip so they had to do so themselves. Madam Yan frowned as she remembered. She could only imagine the amount of money the entire Li, Wang and Luo family had spent to get here since they were much. Maybe if they were related to them, they wouldn't have had much of a problem getting herr also. The older woman looked at her son who was eating slowly, 

"Shen?" 

"Hmm?" 

"How is it going with Li Heya? I at least thought you were going to invite her to have dinner with the family after she is done with her family." 

"Who would she want to have dinner twice then?" Father Yan asked as he also began to eat. "He can invite her over tomorrow."

"It's common courtesy to pretend you haven't eaten and force yourself to eat. I don't think she'll have a problem eating twice though —"

"Mother!" Shen glared at her. "What are you implying right now?" 

"Me? What else would I be implying if not my son's happiness?" She asked with a smile. "I know you like her and I am just a little worried since it doesn't seem like she is ready to reciprocate. Maybe... you need a little help?" She asked with a sweet smile. 

"I don't need any push or help. We are just friends. That's it." He said sternly and continued his meal. 

"Oh my! Did she... turn you down already?" She asked with a frown. "You shouldn't let her turn you down!"

"You really want to make me lose my appetite." Shen complained with a sigh. 

"You should listen to your mother. You shouldn't let that girl go. Do you know how many people want to affiliate themselves with that family? The only available people in that family is Li Heya and Li Hoy. If Suyin wasn't head over heels for Zhu Liang, Li Hoy would have been a perfect candidate but I know that girl wouldn't give Liang up so you shouldn't let Li Heya go." His father said as he kept eating slowly.

"What is this?" Shen asked, his face clearly showed how displeased he was as he looked at the two of them. "So this is the reason you have been supporting my advances towards Li Heya? Because you want our families to become one through marriage? Is this the 18th century? Why are you two acting like leeches?" 

"Yan Shen!" His parents called at the same time in a angry tone. 

"This is also for you! You like her—"

"Yes I do! But we just met. I've liked a lot of people in my life but I didn't marry them. Things can change, besides, it's too sudden and— ...I don't even know why I am having this conversation right now. Just count me out of whatever you two are planning. If I am pursuing her, it's for myself and not for any selfish or greedy plans of yours." He slapped his spoon on the table and stood up, making the chair screech loudly.

"Enjoy your dinner." He spat out. 

He ignored their calls and went to the door, when he opened it, Suyin, who was about to open from outside flinched when the door almost hit her. 

"That scared me— Where are you going?" She asked when he walked past her without even sparing her a glance. She didn't need someone to tell her he was angry. 

"What did you do to him?" She asked her parents with a frown as she entered inside and locked the door behind her. "He looks really angry." 

"That stubborn brother of yours!" Madam Yan said trying to control her temper. 

"Come have dinner with us Suyin." 

"So no one is going to tell me what happened?" Suyin asked as she took her seat beside the empty seat Shen had occupied. Her mother was seated at the opposite side but an adjacent angle, while her father took the head of the table. 

"He was just being a brat. We were talking about Li Heya and he got mad, saying we were meddling in his affairs." 

"Because you were. You know he doesn't like it when you tell him what to do. I am surpirsed you even raised the topic in the first place." She said before she began to eat.

"Enough about him. How is it going with you?" 

"Me? I'm... f..ine." She answered with a mouthful of food, some flying out of her mouth, causing her mother to look at her with disgust. 

"Will you eat properly?!" She snapped at her. "It's my fault for not raising my kids properly."

Suyin finished chewing and wiped her mouth clean. 

"So.. any questions for me to answer now?" She asked, placing her hands on her lap and sitting upright like a proper lady. 

"How is it going with Liang?" Her father asked.

"We are both fine." Suyin replied with a smile. "I was hoping we would have the engagement party on New Year's day." 

"New Year's day?" Madam Yan asked. "I was hoping we could have it earlier. Probably in two or three days time." 

"Really? Why?" Suyin looked surprised. 

"We need to have the engagement party as soon as possible. If everyone sees that the Yan and Zhu family are officially merging... think about it, just maybe the Li family would be interested and they'll consider a marriage plan between your brother and their only daughter. And if that happens, your brother would have enough time to court her before this trip ends. Just maybe... we'll be planning a grand wedding in the next couple of weeks. Hahaha!" She laughed excitedly at her brilliant plan. Who would have thought this trip would bring them a lot of goodluck. 

Her husband seemed pleased with the idea but Suyin was skeptical. "Really?"

"Of course! The Zhu family is a bigshot. Our family is also influential. They'll be interested in merging with us." 

Suyin knew her family could not be compared to the Zhu's talk more of the Li or Wang and not to talk of when the Li and Wang were merged together with some other families like the Luo and part of the Song where Changyu came from. They didn't have a chance with them. She didn't care about merging families. All she wanted was to get married to the man she loved. 

"Have you talked to the Zhus about this?" She asked. 

"Not yet. But it won't be a big deal convincing them to move the day forward." Her mother said confidently. 

Suyin knew it wouldn't be that easy. Liang hadn't been interested in anything earlier and a week ago, he wouldn't have mind getting married any day, but suddenly, he was beginning to act rebellious. 

What if he didn't want to anymore? 

She shook the thought out of her head. She was just going to trust both their parents to handle everything. 

"We can go see his family now right?" She asked. 

"We can. Sure! Are you done eating?" Madam Yan asked her husband. 

He nodded and stood up. "We should go see them now. First, I'll call to let them know we are coming over." 

"What's the point of being so formal? We are going to be in-laws." His wife interrupted, earning a giggle from Suyin. She liked the sound of that. 

"Let's just leave already. Their block is quite far from ours so we should wear warm clothes." Suyin suggested before she went to her room to change. 

In less than thirty minutes, they were in the Zhu family's block. 

They were ushered in by the older couple, and Liang was nowhere to be found, much to Suyin's disappointment. 

Madam Yan did not waste time to let them know about her intention for coming. She laid it bare to them and waited for their response. 

The Yan family waited with smiles on their faces but their smiles began to crack when Liang's father spoke, "We are sorry but for now... there will be no engagement party."