By the time Xiaoyun was back home for the evening, Leyan was already back home cooking dinner.
Nami and Lily were sitting on the sofa, watching anime. He gave a wave before heading upstairs to take a shower.
When he was done, Leyan had just finished cooking dinner, and everyone was already sitting in their seats waiting for him.
"What took you so long? The two of us took a shower faster than you in the other bathroom even though we came home later." Yuqi questioned.
"I was just thinking about something... Anyway, Leyan, how do you want to celebrate the new year?"
"Usually we just clean the house, then buy food and celebrate it at home. Sometimes my parents come over to celebrate with us."
As Leyan answered back, Xiaoyun could notice a hint of sadness in her eyes. He didn't press her any further as he turned her attention to the other three.
"How do you guys want to celebrate it in your mind?"
"I think just celebrating it with food is fine," Yuqi answered, noticing the change in Leyan's face.
"How about we go buy some firecrackers and watch a lion Dance? I heard some of the stores are getting together to make an event themselves." Yueyue suggested next.
"Yeah! Yueyue's idea sounds amazing! So many of the customers I had today were talking about it."
Nami immediately jumped on board with Yueyue's idea, her face full of excitement as they both didn't see the change in their mother's face.
"Lily, do you have any suggestions?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, noticing her sitting in silence the whole time.
"Um... I'm fine with whatev——" Before Lily could finish talking, Nami immediately interrupted her.
"Lily wants to go see it too! Right, Lily?"
"Y-Yeah, of course I do."
Lily quickly changed her answer to Nami's choice as she looked a little threatened by the grin on her face.
"Well then, it's three to two. Unless Xiaoyun, you have an idea?" Yueyue asked as she looked over to him.
"Nope, I'm fine with either." Xiaoyun folded after seeing Leyan just sitting there in complete silence.
"Well then, it looks like we had decided——"
Just as both Yueyue and Nami got excited, Leyan suddenly interrupted their celebration with her own requirement.
"Not so fast, no firecracker. The smoke can be harmful to babies. And no staying up late at night."
"Fine, we still get to see the lion dance at least..." Yueyue murmured as the two of them both looked disappointed.
"So childish..." Yuqi murmured.
---
As the night settled in, the four of them were all cuddling on the bed together with Xiaoyun in the middle.
"Leyan... can the hospital handle childbirth?" Xiaoyun suddenly asked.
"Yeah, of course. Several people that you guys rescued were pregnant and even had to go through a C-section.
Don't worry about it, they did this all without my help. They can deliver all three of us no problem."
Leyan paused for a second, then continued.
"Besides, we still have around two more months. We're still nowhere near close to going into labor."
"I guess."
"Yueyue, what do you want to name your child?" Yuqi suddenly asked as she looked over to her sister.
"Um, I haven't decided yet. Xiaoyun, you got an idea?" Yueyue asked as she looked over to her husband.
"I can't think of one right now," Xiaoyun answered as his brain ran blank after blank with zero ideas.
"Well, mine is Lianrong for a boy and Huarong for a girl... Mom, how about you?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"Yongyi for a boy and Jingxiu for a girl," Leyan replied.
"Hm... how about Qiaolan for a girl and Yueshan for a boy?" Yueyue suggested as she looked down at her own belly.
"Sounds good to me," Xiaoyun answered.
"Anyway, let's go to sleep now. I'm getting tired."
As Leyan yawned and pulled up the blanket, the three of them closed their eyes as she turned off the light.
"Goodnight."
---
Soon more days went by as it was officially the day of Chinese New Year.
All of Xiaoyun's family, including Lily, were walking down to see the lion dance that was advertised all over the town.
It wasn't really that interesting, as it was a lion dance that everyone had seen hundreds of times.
Still, the atmosphere alone was worth it.
After they finished watching it, the six of them decided to head toward the commercial district to go shopping.
"That lion dance was impressive," Yuqi commented.
"Yeah, I can't imagine someone can move that fast at those steps while being behind someone," Yueyue added.
"Oh, there's another one on that side," Leyan murmured as she pointed her finger to the other side of the street.
All six of them headed over to the other lion dance as they watched alongside groups of people surrounding it.
After watching it, they finally got a little bored and tired. So they decided to go inside a nearby restaurant for lunch.
"That one was so playful, it even interacted with me," Nami commented as she thought back to the performer earlier.
"Northerners' lion dances are slightly different than the southerners' one," Xiaoyun answered.
"What do you guys want to order?" Leyan asked as she shared the food menu after picking her own food.
The rest of the five quickly ordered their own food, then waited as the waitress went back into the kitchen.
"What are we doing for the rest of the afternoon?" Nami suddenly asked as she started to get a little impatient.
"Going back home to prepare for New Year dinner," Leyan instantly replied.
"Why don't we just eat outside?"
"Because it's always been a tradition, now stop asking so many questions," Leyan murmured as she patted Nami's head.
"Whatever."
As Nami pushed her mother's hand away, the waitress finally came back with their food, bowls of beef noodles served onto their table.
Just as they started eating, a sudden loud noise came from the outside. Turning around, it was no other than Wuli and Shuli walking by.
"Hey Leyan!"
"Oh, hey Wuli and Shuli, what are you guys doing here?" Leyan waved back as the two walked into the restaurant.
"We're just doing some New Year shopping. A lot of things are getting cheaper, you know." Wuli replied.
"That is a smart idea. I should probably do that later as well..." Leyan murmured as she looked towards the bags in their hand.
"Anyway, not going to bother you guys eating. See ya."
The two of them quickly left the place, restoring peace back to the restaurant as they quickly finished their bowl of noodles.
When everyone finished eating, a decision soon came up to them.
The three of them wanted to go shopping like Wuli and Shuli, overriding Nami's and Lily's wish to go back home.
"I thought we were supposed to prepare for dinner, instead of going shopping." Nami pointed out with a sarcastic tone.
"We can prepare it later, just a change of plan," Leyan answered, her face barely looked bothered by it.
---
After shopping for three hours straight, the six of them finally went back home. It was already five o'clock as they entered the door.
"I don't get why you guys would buy so many clothes that don't fit you," Nami commented as she stared towards the bag in Xiaoyun's hand.
"It will fit later. Besides, we are just stimulating the economy with purchases." Yuqi blushed as she replied.
"Yeah yeah, totally."
"Hey Nami, didn't you buy some clothes too?"
As Yueyue tried to deflect for her sister, Nami blushed before running upstairs with Lily following right behind.
"Hm, what is she hiding?" Yueyue wondered as the sound of the door slamming echoed in the living room.
"Who knows... Yueyue, what did you buy?" Leyan curiously asked as she walked over to check her bags of stuff.
"Just a dress. It looks very nice in the store front, so I brought it," Yueyue answered as she took it out to show.
"Oh my god, it looks so gorgeous!" Yuqi chimed in, her eyes constantly looking up and down at the dress in front of her.
"I'm going to prepare dinner."
Xiaoyun quickly got a little bored looking at the three of them comparing their clothes, heading over to the kitchen by himself.
Two hours later...
All four of them were sitting at the dining table, with Leyan inside the kitchen helping Xiaoyun carry out the New Year Dinner.
"Wow, the roasted goose smells so good!"
Yueyue and Nami immediately picked up their chopstick, only to be met with a knuckle sandwich from Yuqi.
"Wait for all the food to be put down first. Even Lily here has more manners than the two of you," Yuqi warned.
"Okay, okay."
The two obediently put down their chopstick and waited. After a short moment, all the food was finally on the table as Xiaoyun and Leyan sat down.
This time, both Yueyue and Nami waited for Leyan, and Xiaoyun moved their chopstick first, taking the first bite before getting their own.
"Mhm! It's so good!" Yuqi murmured in disbelief.
"Of course it's good. This is a food I learned from a chef who had cooked for twenty years back in high school—"
Just as Xiaoyun flexed his cooking skill in front of his wives, suddenly someone knocked on the door.
"I'll go answer it."
As Xiaoyun walked toward the door and opened it, he was a little surprised to see Kate and Anna standing outside.
"Oh, hey, what's up? You facing a problem?" Xiaoyun asked in English.
"N-no, w-we forgot to buy propane, so our house didn't have any gas to cook food. And when we went to the stores, all of them were already closed early today."
Kate paused for a second, then continued.
"Then we went to restaurants to see if we could eat there, but all of them were full or already reserved."
"Probably because today is Chinese New Year... Here, come in. We got extra seats if you want."
Xiaoyun could see the hesitation on Kate's face, but she eventually turned around to translate the English into German for Anna.
After a short discussion, the two of them both bowed down at the same time in gratitude as they spoke in English.
"Thank you!"
"N-no problem."
Xiaoyun instantly turned his head aside, not wanting to see their exposed chest as he closed the door behind them.
The moment he guided both of them into the kitchen, all four of his wives were staring at him dead in the eyes.
"Um, they forgot to have gas at home to cook, and you know all the places are full, so they don't have anywhere to eat," Xiaoyun explained.
"Uh-huh."
Both Yueyue's and Yuqi's faces were filled with suspicion, except for Leyan, whose face looked surprisingly unbothered as she went over to the back to bring extra chairs.
"Let me go get rice for you. You two can take a seat here... Treat yourself at home."
Leyan quickly headed over to the rice cooker, coming back with two bowls of rice and two pairs of chopsticks.
"I forgot to ask, do you know how to use chopsticks?" Leyan asked in English as she held a smile on her face.
"Yeah, we know," Kate replied.
As she put the bowl of rice and chopsticks in front of them, Xiaoyun could feel the tense atmosphere in the kitchen.