Chapter 181 New Year Greetings

Chapter 181 New Year Greetings

Lin Miao hadn’t experienced such a festive New Year in a long time.

In previous years, every New Year felt like a corporate annual meeting, with the socializing alone enough to exhaust Lin Miao, let alone enjoying the holiday.

This year, the celebration was held at his grandparents’ house, with many relatives Lin Miao had never met attending. However, the Lin family’s harmonious atmosphere meant that elders and youngsters didn’t interfere with each other. Lin Miao, unmarried and still considered a child despite being an adult, was seated at the kids’ table, while his sister had to handle the adult socializing.

At the age of a university graduate, Lin Miao found himself, for the first time, being the oldest “kid.”

Among the children of the many relatives, Lin Miao was among the oldest in age but not in seniority. However, since he was already working, he still had to give red envelopes to those younger and of lower seniority.

Luckily, his sister had prepared plenty of red envelopes, so he handed them out whenever kids came to wish him a happy New Year.

The children of their generation couldn’t distinguish seniority titles, and seeing Lin Miao handing out red envelopes, they all flocked to him regardless of seniority.

Luckily, Lin Tian had prepared enough red envelopes; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been enough.

The little ones, having received their red envelopes, took off before lunch was even finished, off to watch movies or play games.

Lin Miao was just glad that his face wasn’t suitable for public appearances, or else he would have been tasked with taking the kids out for fun.

The home theater, KTV, game room, and card room were all occupied by relatives and children. Lin Miao, not really into any of the activities, found a computer and rewrote the program he’d left unfinished the night before.

His perfectionism wouldn’t let such software go live in his sister’s company.

Lin Miao’s rapid typing soon drew the kids’ attention.

Some kids came over to watch but lost interest and left.

However, a cousin who hadn’t even graduated from elementary school was very interested in programming and stood behind Lin Miao, watching intently for a long time.

Lin Miao had his little shadow grab a chair and sit down. It’s a stereotype that not many girls are into programming, although the world’s first programmer was a woman.

“Do you get it?” Lin Miao asked the little girl gently.

The little girl nodded and said, “I get some of it.”

This surprised Lin Miao, since code isn’t something you can easily pick up as a beginner.

“Did you learn this somewhere?” Lin Miao was curious.

The little girl proudly lifted her chin: “Cousin, you’re selling me short. I’ve won the championship in the youth programming competition!”

This genuinely impressed Lin Miao, though just a little.

Kids born into privilege have access to so much that children from ordinary families might never encounter in their lifetime.

If a child in such a family shows talent in a certain area, the family will go all out to support them.

As the saying goes, dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the sons of mice dig holes. Children from wealthy families who are interested in programming will have tutors and participate in competitions, while parents making three thousand a month will just scold their kids for being online too much.

Clearly, the little cousin was the former, not even having graduated from elementary school but already able to understand program code.

However, Lin Miao didn’t go so far as to say “let me test you,” even though the program he was writing was simple, it wasn’t something he could leisurely explain to the little girl.

So, he just let her find a comfortable spot to sit and watch, continuing with his own work, ready to answer if she had any questions.

It must be said, little girls, especially the young ones, are way better behaved than boys.

The little girl likely knew Lin Miao was working, so she didn’t ask any questions from start to finish, sitting quietly beside him, watching.

It wasn’t that she completely didn’t understand. Programming might seem boring and tedious to most people, but the little girl found it fascinating.

After finishing a segment of code, Lin Miao took a break and chatted with the little girl, answering some of her questions along the way.

His cousin knew quite a lot, and Lin Miao later found out that the little girl was extremely lopsided in her academic performance.

Her programming skills were even comparable to many college students today, but as for other subjects…

She’d even scored single digits before.

Yet, her parents didn’t seem worried at all about her academic imbalance. They had the means to pay for her school choices, allowing her to pursue her interests further without worrying about not getting into a good school due to her academic imbalance.

When the afternoon leisure time ended and it was time to head out for dinner, the little girl was still a bit reluctant to leave.

Lin Miao added her on WeChat, promising she could message him anytime with questions. Only then did the little girl feel satisfied and follow him to dinner.

Others were surprised to see Lin Miao getting along so well with his little cousin. The girl was quite well-known in the family circle.

A single-subject genius, she was unusually quiet and didn’t like playing with kids her age. Seeing her so attached to Lin Miao, even sitting next to him during dinner, some couldn’t resist teasing her.

“Luo Luo, do you like Miao Miao so much? Do you want to grow up and become Miao Miao’s bride?”

Hearing this tasteless “joke” from the relative, Lin Miao frowned. Before he could say anything, the little girl herself scolded the tactless elder.

“Auntie, do you like being a bride so much? Will you be a bride many times in the future?”

As soon as the little girl spoke, the person who asked turned pale. Some relatives around couldn’t help but laugh, while others tried to smooth things over, saying the child’s words were innocent and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

This interrupted Lin Miao’s response, and even he couldn’t help but chuckle before saying, “I thought with the times progressing, those strange and outdated customs were gone. I didn’t expect the mindset of romanticizing everything to be so persistent.”

His tone wasn’t very polite, and the already unpleasant expression on the other person’s face turned even uglier.

Lin Miao rarely confronted women, but in a way, her words could be seen as spreading inappropriate rumors, especially about a child.

“Children’s minds are simple. Don’t teach them from a young age that their life goal is to marry someone, becoming someone’s bride or appendage. Did Luo Luo’s parents raise her to be a competition champion just so she could marry someone in the future?”

Because Lin Miao spoke in a serious tone, the previously lively atmosphere quieted down, and everyone turned their attention to them, making the gathering tense.

The relative, perhaps Lin Miao’s cousin or aunt, changed expressions several times before finally saying, “I was just joking with Luo Luo. Do you have to blow it out of proportion? Didn’t we all grow up like this?”

“Just because we all grew up like this doesn’t mean it’s right. Luo Luo has a talent for programming, and I’m also interested in programming. She has common ground with me, can learn something, and enjoys spending time with me. By your logic, can I joke with you that when you see someone you like, you want to marry them, and since you ended up marrying my uncle, it must be true love, right?”

The woman’s expression became even more vivid. Just as she was about to start yelling, a few relatives pulled her away to avoid a scene during the New Year.

“Miao Miao, thank you for standing up for our daughter just now.” Luo Luo’s parents, hearing the commotion, came over and entrusted Luo Luo to Lin Miao’s care before going to settle things privately with the relative who made the “joke.”

Seeing her parents defend her so strongly, even scolding someone without doing it in front of her, Luo Luo puffed out her chest proudly, acting like a little adult.

No wonder she won the junior programming championship before even graduating from elementary school—she knew quite a lot.

In the end, the argument didn’t escalate, or if it did, at least not openly.

After the gathering ended, Luo Luo was especially reluctant to part with Lin Miao, saying she wanted to visit his house someday to learn more about programming.

Lin Miao thought it was just polite talk, but to his surprise, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Luo Luo was left at his place by her parents.

Lin Miao: ?

Of course, it wasn’t just Luo Luo; a few other kids from relatives were also left with Lin Miao to take care of.

Seeing that all the relatives visiting for New Year’s greetings were about to leave their kids with him, Lin Miao quickly made an excuse, saying he also had to go out to visit classmates for New Year’s greetings, and tried to make a quick escape.

Then he was caught by a little shadow.

The little girl had a real talent for catching him in the act, even spotting Lin Miao trying to sneak off.

Lin Miao sternly told Luo Luo that even with relatives, she shouldn’t be alone with just any guy.

Luo Luo nodded obediently, saying she remembered, but her cousin was a good person!

Getting called a “good guy” out of nowhere, Lin Miao: “...”

Before he could continue reasoning with Luo Luo, her eyes started to tear up, saying no one else liked to play with her, and so on...

Lin Miao was genuinely afraid the little girl would cry, so after calling Luo Luo’s parents to inform them, he had no choice but to bring the little shadow along for “New Year’s visits.”

Truth was, he hadn’t made any plans to meet classmates today; his buddies wouldn’t meet up until after finishing their own family visits.

Lin Miao couldn’t really just drag Luo Luo to a café to watch him code, could he?

On New Year’s Day, he didn’t want to be that miserable.

So Lin Miao went to the supermarket to buy some gifts, called Gu Zhao to confirm he was home, and then took the little shadow to visit.

“Happy New Year,” Lin Miao said, handing an armful of gifts to Gu Zhao.

“Happy New Year!” Luo Luo, completely at ease, confidently held onto Lin Miao’s sleeve, standing beside him, greeting clearly and confidently.

“Miao Miao is here,” Gu Zhao’s mom walked over, calling out to Lin Miao, while the family cat came bounding over with a meow, probably thinking the one who feeds it was about to do so.

This fat cat!

Lin Miao began to wonder if coming to Gu Zhao’s house for refuge—well, for New Year’s greetings—was the right choice.

“Oh, who’s this little girl?” Gu Zhao’s mom was surprised to see the little girl beside Lin Miao, who looked a bit like him.

Gu Zhao’s house also had many relatives visiting for New Year’s greetings, and coincidentally, there was a fangirl who knew Lin Miao. Seeing Lin Miao holding this little copycat, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “No way!” before being slapped on the head by her mom.

Lin Miao, looking at her mouth shape, felt the unspoken words were... secret daughter.

He’s only twenty-one! Where would he get such a big secret daughter! Don’t be ridiculous!

Lin Miao’s smile was barely holding on: “A relative’s child, related, within three generations.”

Gu Zhao had already turned his head, almost unable to hold back his laughter.

Lin Miao smiled and stepped on Gu Zhao’s foot.