Chapter 877: Spring Festival Gala Begins, New Era’s First Appearance (Part 3)

After pushing hard for several months, like a bowstring pulled tight, regardless of how healthy the body may be, one needs to relax a bit.

Spend time drinking tea with Dad and Uncle Qin, go shopping with Mom and Qin Shiqing, or play a few games of chess with the second uncle in the alley. I even took time to have a meal at Huang Panpan’s house because I promised Huang Hongbo and his wife, and I can’t forget about that.

Assistant Mayor Zhao also invited him to a meal, mostly to thank Su Zelin for breaking up his son’s relationship with the girl from Beijing. This was one of his few worries, constantly fretting about it without means to resolve it, but luckily the problem solver had a way.

Three days before the New Year, Lu Haoran and Xiaoyanzi also came back to Jianglan.

They didn’t have to worry about the Spring Festival travel rush. Jianglan isn’t far from Lin’an, taking a bus doesn’t take too long. Moreover, Su Zelin had a bunch of scalpers’ numbers in hand, getting a train sleeper wouldn’t be difficult.

But with such a short journey, there’s no need to buy sleeper tickets from scalpers; just take the bus directly. Bus tickets aren’t in high demand, and you can almost always buy them at the station. Xiaoyanzi isn’t prone to car sickness like Qin Shiqing.

After tutoring for so long during the winter break, with classes held day and night, Xiaoyanzi looks a bit tired but still cheerful and happy. Just from ten or so days of extra winter break tutoring, she earned nearly seven to eight thousand yuan, thanks to offering a few special tutoring sessions.

After the New Year, she’s not planning to stay home too long but intends to return to Lin’an early to earn another seven to eight thousand before the semester starts, bringing her a step closer to buying a house.

On New Year’s Eve, unlike previous years, this year the Su and Qin families ate the New Year’s Eve dinner together.

The kids are dating, their relationship has always been harmonious. Given this situation, becoming in-laws is pretty much a done deal. So, the two families discussed it and simply decided not to avoid each other, to have a New Year’s Eve dinner together, which makes it livelier. After dinner, everyone can watch the Spring Festival Gala together.

Because New Era was sponsoring the Spring Festival Gala, the adults in both families were particularly looking forward to this year’s Gala.

Happily finishing the New Year’s Eve dinner, Su Zelin carried a ladder and pasted new couplets on the doors of both families, old customs for welcoming the new year during the Spring Festival.

After pasting the couplets, he returned to the living room to drink tea with Dad Qin Daqing, while the women opened CCTV, watched TV, cracked sunflower seeds, and chatted. Qin Shiqing sat beside Su Zelin.

Although her romance with her childhood friend hasn’t been publicly declared to the family, the adults already guessed it. Especially last time when Su Zelin had a car accident and the adults went to Lin’an and were arranged to stay in a rented house, all signs showed that she and Su Zelin were living together. So, after returning home, Qin Shiqing no longer avoided the topic.

At eight o’clock, the Spring Festival Gala kicked off on time, and the two families watched with great interest.

Six CCTV hosts, including Zhu, Zhou, Li, Dong, Wen, and Zhang, took to the big stage, first greeting the national people for the New Year, and then starting the program.

This year’s Gala, themed “Grand Celebration,” gathered numerous artists and entertainers from mainland and Hong Kong regions, with over 40 programs across categories like song and dance, skits, opera and art performances, and others.

The Gala was more open-minded in its choice of song and dance programs, deviating from past traditions. CCTV was bold this year in innovating the event, practicing an “open-door” approach to holding the Gala by recruiting programs through various channels nationwide and abroad. Even popular internet songs from 2004 graced the Gala stage, something unimaginable in previous years. This also reflects the country’s gradually opening mindset, increasingly accepting new things.

After a round of songs, dances, dramas, and sketches, it was time for the tenth program, one of the Spring Festival Gala programs most watched by the public.

Uncle Benshan’s skit.

He is a steadfast presence at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, having first appeared in 1990 with “Matchmaking,” and then consecutively until 2011, totaling twenty-one appearances. By the 2005 Gala, he was already a familiar face to the public.

His performance style is unique and down-to-earth, beloved by the people.

The adults, including Zhao Lixia, were energized, not just because they wanted to see Uncle Benshan’s skit.

More importantly, New Era’s advertisement was embedded in this highly popular skit.

The name New Century Digital was also going to make its debut in front of the national public.