On New Year's Eve, the Thorne and Sinclair families counted down to the new year on the mountain. Asher Keating, a "family member" with zero blood ties, wasn't treated any differently that night.
Mr. and Madam Sinclair, along with Uncle Thorne, were extremely kind to him. He joked around with his sister, and she happily played along without the slightest hint of disdain. In the end, the elders from both sides gave him a massive red envelope, containing an amount identical to his sister's.
The more they treated him this way, the more Asher felt that his own mother was out of line. In the past, the red envelopes she gave him for the New Year were always larger than his brother's. His mother used to say that the older brother should yield to the younger one. Consequently, after his brother started his own business and earned an income, their parents stopped giving red envelopes altogether, and his brother handed them out on their behalf.
