Gold Heart, Warm Soul

13| Family

I had a really pleasant weekend. My grades were up, I finished all my assignments, and I only had one year left of university before I graduate. I had already got an offer for work at JNC Tech International which is a video games related company that had collaborated with Kace's company. It is one of the most well-known company in the world, famous for their gaming apps on smartphones and video-gaming competition. Since I am studying computer science in university, I could apply for software and web developer in the company. Also, I got an offer from the government to work part time as a computer analyst. Since my future career is in my hands and is secured, I'm happy that I could check off finding a job and be financially stable in my bucket list soon. And very soon, I'll be able to buy my own house with my own savings without the help from my parents. I was pretty proud of myself at this moment. Besides, I didn't need to dirty my hands to get my revenge on Xia Lin as the Lou and Zhang family had already taken care of her.

The Big reunion is coming up next week where five families will come together and celebrate our tradition and give offerings to our ancestors. It will last 5 days and this year, my family, the Lees will be hosting the first day, where families have a huge feast together. It will be held at the main house of the Lees where my grandpa lives. My family and uncles will gather together at the main house to prepare for the reunion one week before. There are many things to set up.

The main house is a traditional house preserve nicely with wooden boards as floors and antiques decorating the interior of the house. The house is simple, yet elegant. The decorating was done by my deceased grandma who is an interior designer that fell in love with traditional houses. She gave the main house a style of its own with pieces of furniture from different parts of the world, so you would see antiques from England and China everywhere in the house. It's a beautiful fusion of two different cultures. In the gallery, you can see family portraits of the Lee family from my grandpa's era to our family currently. I have 2 uncles and only my dad have children. One of my uncles lived overseas to run the Lee family business while the other is an official in the government.

As we reached the main house, I can see the gardens properly taken care of filled with sunflowers and tulips. These flowers were my grandma's favourite. As I got down the car with Kace and my parents, I could see a silhouette waiting for us at the porch. "Grandpa!" I greeted him excitedly as I ran towards him. It's been a long time I've seen him. In my past life, I rarely visited him after I got discharge from the hospital.

He hugged me as soon as I reached him and giving a hearty laugh he said, "Little flower, I'm happy to see you too." He called me little flower since I was small. I used to picked the flowers in the garden and my grandma used to scold me. She would say, "the flowers feel pain whenever you plucked them." And I would then replied, "but they were too beautiful. My hands moved by themselves." At my sentence, both grandma and grandpa would laugh and soon they would call me little flower. I learned later on in life, that I should not pluck the flowers because they are more beautiful growing together in a garden or field than being cut and placed in vases.
"How are you feeling? Grandpa worries for you day and night when you were in the hospital. I even went to temple to pray for you every weekends!" My grandfather said.
"I'm good now, papa. I've been going to university to catch up with life. Sorry for not visiting you sooner." I apologises.
"No, it's okay. You called me every now and then. You shouldn't rush in life. You still got a long way ahead," he said warmly. My heart freezes for a moment as I listened to his words. I may not have long to live I thought inwardly.
"Yes, I know, grandpa."
"Oh look at me. I should have let you in the house. Come on." He beckons me, Kace and my parents into the house.

We had tea with delicious cookies that grandpa's cook made for us. We talked for a very long time and I even played Chinese chess with him.
"Oh, you got me again, papa!" I said as my king got defeated by his soldier piece. "How did you do that?" I asked. "You should be more aware of your surroundings. Even a soldier could defeat a king. A king isn't the strongest individual. Anyone could be a king if they had potential. See here, if my soldier defeated your king, wouldn't the soldier become the king of two nations?" "Grandpa, you're getting off track. But I understand. Every piece is as strong as the king. One's potential cannot be measured by status."
"You've become smarter little flower. Let's play again after we had dinner," grandpa said.

Being surrounded by family is truly a blessing. I've never had that in my previous life. In this life, Im grateful that I focused on myself and my family. It doesn't matter if I don't find my soulmate. The phrase, "happiness lies in family" is the truth. All I need now, is my family.

As dinner progresses, we were all seated together with abundant of Chinese dishes placed in front of us. We said our grace and started our meal. As we had dinner, my parents discussed about the Zhang's family scandal about Xia Lin. "That girl, Xia Lin is really a disgrace to her family," my mother said. My dad nodded in agreement while my brother recount the scandal to grandpa. "She's a gold digger that one," my mother continued rambling. My dad said, "Luckily Titus broke up with her." "Titus? Oh you mean the young lad, Titus Zhang,"grandpa said as he recalls the Zhang family's second son.

"I told you, they wouldn't last long," Kace told me looking smug. "Yeah, fine. You win." As I said this, I remembered about the stone or jade that the Zhang and Lou family had to protect. I decided to ask grandpa about it. "Pa, do you know anything about the jade that the Zhangs and Lous had to protect? Apparently, it was destroyed so they have to find a way to transfer the spirit energy to a new vessel." It was silent for a moment as my grandpa digested what I had said. My dad was surprised I knew about the jade.

"It's a long story that I have to retell. Are you up for it?"