'Screen heartthrobs' and their unique ways of giving lucky money on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Despite being in a period of strong growth with his restaurant chain and new film projects, the actorGo home, my childSpending time with family during the Lunar New Year holiday is still a priority.

For Quoc Truong, the most memorable Tet (Lunar New Year) experience was when he was in elementary school, as a naive and innocent boy. "Back then, just hearing that Tet was only a month away made me happy because I could buy new clothes. In the past, we weren't well-off financially, so we only got to buy new clothes during Tet, which made me even more excited. Now, sometimes we don't even buy new clothes for Tet," the actor recalled.

Time is the most meaningful New Year's gift you can give your parents.

Now that he is successful and financially secure, Quoc Truong believes the most meaningful gift he can give his parents is time. "My parents no longer lack anything. They have a house, and although they don't have a lot of money, it's enough to make them happy. What they need most now is their children's time for the family," the actor confided.

Despite living 200 km away from home and being busy with business and starring in a film, the actor still managed to return to his hometown on the 26th day of the Lunar New Year. "I spent the 24th and 25th of the Lunar New Year in Saigon to meet friends and have a year-end party. Then, around the 26th or 27th, I went back to my hometown to be with my family and stayed until my parents 'kicked me out'," he humorously shared.

Quoc Truong recounted: "When the family is together, we're practically inseparable. When the children go out to eat with friends, their parents go along, or when the parents go out to eat with relatives, my older brother and I go with them. From the 26th of Tet until the 7th-10th day of Tet, the family is always together," he said.

On the 28th and 29th of Tet (Lunar New Year), he usually takes his parents to buy flowers to decorate the house. Quoc Truong's father – a former lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture, Can Tho University – is very knowledgeable about ornamental plants, so the house is always filled with flowers and apricot blossom trees during Tet. "If we're lucky enough to be home on time, the whole family helps to remove the leaves from the apricot blossom trees. Otherwise, around the 29th of Tet, I take my family to buy flowers to decorate the house," Quoc Truong recounted.

The kitchen corner during Tet (Lunar New Year) is full of flavor, and the custom of giving lucky money is unique.

Quoc Truong and his mother are the ones who handle the cooking in the family during Tet (Lunar New Year). He inherited his passion for cooking from his mother: "I can cook almost anything my mother can cook, it's just that it's not as delicious as hers."

Traditional dishes that are indispensable on Quoc Truong's Tet feast table, with their distinctly Western Vietnamese flavors, include braised pork with wine, bitter melon soup, and pickled shallots... "These are dishes that must be present every year and must be cooked every year," the actor shared.

This year, instead of going to Vung Tau like in previous years, Quoc Truong plans to take his family on a spring trip to Dong Thap on the third day of Tet. He explained: "In previous years, we went to Vung Tau, but the traffic was too bad, turning a vacation into an ordeal, so it was quite memorable and scary. My parents are also getting old, so this year I'll take them to Dong Thap for a change of scenery."

In particular, Quoc Truong's family has a unique way of giving lucky money on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. The family consists of six members: four adults and two children. For the younger children, he gives them a specific amount of money. For the four adults, he exchanges a stack of new banknotes, then divides them into four portions for everyone to choose from.

"In these four stacks, the amount of money will vary – some stacks have more, some have a few fewer bills. After choosing and counting, some people are happy to have chosen a stack with more, but others feel a little regretful, not because they have less money, but jokingly saying, 'I should have chosen that other stack!'"

The atmosphere was very lively and joyful. In return, my parents and siblings also gave me lucky money, but only symbolically. For me, that was enough to make me happy."