Lauren disagreed, "Your expectations are too high. Wesley is awesome. And Niles is no slouch either. He''s a doctor, and stands to make a ton of cash. Cecelia, you''ve done an amazing job raising your kids."
"Thank you. You''re too kind. You make it sound like I should be on cloud nine because of my kids," Cecelia said with a smile.
"Of course," responded Lauren.
Then she noticed Niles'' bruised face. "Niles, what happened to your face? Did you get in a fight? Did your brother beat you again?" Everyone in the Jiang family knew very well where Niles had gotten those bruises.
Niles gave an embarrassed smile and said, "I messed with my brother again."
"Hahaha, he''s beaten you up ever since you were little boys. Wesley''s pretty hard on you for a brother," Ga''s father remarked as he patted Niles on the head.
Niles sighed and wore a self-effacing smile. "It''s been going on for so long, I''m used to it. Besides, it''s New Year''s. I don''t want to spoil the happy mood, so I''ll let it slide."
His family knew him well. They also knew why Wesley pounded on him this time. Hearing that, they all rolled their eyes at him. The Jiang familyughed out loud.
Then Ga''s parents noticed the girl in the living room who sat quietly eating sunflower seeds. "Who''s this?" asked Lauren.
All of a sudden, all eyes were on ir. Ga hadn''t really noticed, as she was focused on Wesley. But her mother''s words made her notice the girl. Ga had seen her before, but she couldn''t remember where.
ir put down the sunflower seeds in her hand, stood up and straightened her clothes. She was a bit stunned when she saw Ga. This was the woman on the video chat. The one who had threatened her. But she shook it off and remembered her manners. "Nice to meet you. I''m ir Jing," she said.
"ir?" Finally Ga figured out why she was so familiar. The video chat! Of course! ''But I told her to stay away, '' she thought.
With a nod, Laurenmented cordially, "So pretty." Then she turned to Cecelia. "She a rtive? Why haven''t we met bef
rtives always discussed. No one made any bones about it. But if you looked carefully, you''d see that Cecelia''s gaze constantly strayed to ir after the question was raised.
"No," Wesley replied after a moment''s hesitation.
Lauren was happy to hear it. "Wesley, tell me, what kind of girl do you like? I can fix you up. If you get married, your wife can keep your mompany when you''re not around."
Everyone fell silent when they heard that, because they all liked ir and hoped she could marry Wesley. ir tried to make herself smaller, blushing furiously.
"Thanks, Aunt Lauren. But I don''t want a girlfriend. Too busy. You can fix Niles up, though. He has time." She wasn''t surprised to hear that.
Niles was munching on macadamia nuts. Hearing his name mentioned, he lifted his head in confusion and asked, "What? What did I do now?"
Lauren smiled, "Nothing. I was going to find a girlfriend for your brother. But he says he''s too busy. What about you, Niles? Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Don''t need one. I''m fresh out of college and I haven''t had any fun yet. I want some alone time before I find someone to spend time with," Niles announced.
Cecelia got mad at the two brothers'' words. She said to Lauren, "Listen to these two! One is 26 and doesn''t want a girlfriend. The other is in his twenties but acts like a child. This is so infuriating!"