60

New Year’s Eve is the most important night of the year, and it is also a day for family reunion. As the old saying goes, it doesn’t matter where you spend the 364 days of the year, you have to go home on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the New Year. You eat the hot New Year’s dinner, eat salty melon seeds or creamy sunflower seeds, and watch the Spring Festival Gala, which is getting harder and harder to watch every year. You can stay up all night chatting with your family, playing cards, and having fun any way you want. At the stroke of midnight, firecrackers would be heard outside the door, descending like thunder. The smoke is thick enough to minimize visibility on the city’s roads, and it’s not environmentally friendly or healthy, but people still like it. For thousands of years the Chinese have celebrated in this way, festive, lively, noisy, just to go home to reunion.

According to the rules of the New Year’s Eve this day should have to take a vacation, but the supermarket this job is the more to the New Year’s Day, the more busy. Yaxiao is a civilian, but only on time at 5:30 off. Moreover, there is no overtime pay – she hasn’t been regularized yet.

Ya Xiao carried her bag and hurried down the steps, and was about to start jogging. But not far away, a silhouette caught her eye, very stylish posture, very familiar clothes – a high rate of return, and, regardless of gender.

She furrowed her brow and stepped forward with a nonchalant, “What are you doing here.” Attracting butterflies? Or do you want to apply for a job as a security captain in a toilet bowl uniform?

“Picking you up.”

“That’s nice of you.” She grunted, “I haven’t seen anyone for days, and I’m so perverted today.”

He wasn’t annoyed that she called him a pervert, he just pulled her hand through and tucked it into his coat pocket. She started to resist a little, but only symbolically struggled twice and then did not move again, and he slowly walked forward side by side. After walking a short distance, he stopped and looked sideways at her and smiled, “Xiaoxiao, let’s stay here.” She sniffled, not good-naturedly, “That’s fine, you stay here and drink the northwest wind, I’ll go home and drink and eat meat.” This man really thinks of one thing and says crazy things even when he’s walking nicely.

He pursed his lips and smiled, “I mean, let’s stay in this city, I quite like it.”

“Yeah?” She gave him a look, “But I’m homesick.” She hadn’t forgotten that her real home was in another city that was now empty and covered in dust. Even if she had spent New Year’s alone for many years, she would have made that house lively and cozy when the day came. Spend the thirtieth day of the year alone and then get friends to come over on the first day of the year.

His footsteps lagged and he nodded as well, “It’s about time to go back for a visit.”

She did not expect him to answer so dryly, small surprise at the same time also have to feel that her attitude just now is a bit impulsive, can’t help but ease up, “However, I also quite like it here. Small, very quiet, very leisurely. And …… New Year’s Eve is the flavor of New Year’s Eve.” New Year’s Eve in the big city was already more than not considered a family reunion, and most of the young people would go out all night to booze and party with their good friends and loved ones. The lights of the whole city are lit up, and the pits and valleys are full of people who go out to have fun. Hotels, restaurants and even some famous eateries were overcrowded, and the cups and glasses were crisscrossing each other, so it was very lively. How would it be like this place where they are now, the day has just darkened the main road has begun to cold, rubbing shoulders of people are not all hurried steps.

Reunion time is coming soon, so no matter what, you have to go home, back to your family. Thinking so, Ya Xiao couldn’t help but walk a little faster. Unexpectedly, a few tiny shadows sprang out from behind her, running past with a cheeky grin, and with a flourish of their small hands, flying silver sparks exploded at her feet with a sharp popping sound. She screamed and subconsciously snuggled toward safety. He swept her up in his arms and looked up with a low growl, and the little children were not fazed at all, laughing and running away without forgetting to turn around and make faces.

“Little troublemakers.” Resentful, he looked down at her, “Scared?” It was only then that he realized she was shaking uncharacteristically, terrified.

She nodded, her voice quivering a little, “Come on, I hate this.” If she hadn’t been so scared and weak in the knees just now, she would have gone after them and screwed those little bastards in the ass.

She had already prepared most of the ingredients for the New Year’s Eve dinner – this was based on the lesson she had learned from the last New Year’s Eve, and she no longer allowed Shan Yanxiu to intervene and help. This man in the kitchen could only cut and wash, and then bring plates to the table, but she didn’t expect anything else.

When popping chili peppers listening to him constantly sneezing in the back, she couldn’t help but call out, “If you can’t stand it, go out for a bit, I’ll fry this chili pepper and it’ll be fine.” It was also odd that the man would rather sneeze his nose red than go out. She did not care, the obligation to notify did, out or not out is his business.

When the last dish was ready, the Chinese New Year Gala started, and the TV was turned up loud, and it was a hoot and a holler.

She laid out the dishes wall-to-wall before sitting down, “Watch, this side is my dish.” Dots of crispy fried small river fish, jade hairpin shrimp balls, salted eggplant in egg yolk, and sharp pepper popped fat intestines. “Over there is your dish,” Golden mushroom and beef omelet, stir-fried sliced lotus root with wood ear, pumpkin small salted cheese and ice-sugar pork square. “And then, here’s the dish we’ll eat together.” The chopped pieces of chicken and roasted duck laid out in the center, with the chicken’s butt and duck’s butt pointing in his direction.

The man was not happy, glaring at the chicken and duck butts with a death glare, “Why do we have to split yours and mine? Can’t we eat together?”

She firmly shook her head, “New Year’s Eve should have chicken and duck and fish and shrimp and meat and eggs to complete, you can not eat I can eat, you can eat I can eat. Don …… t say that I take advantage of you, it is a problem of your physique.”

The reason is very strong, and, the defense is incompetent.

The man depressedly lowered his head and ate for a while and asked, “No soup?”

She froze, “Crap, forgot to make it.” Soup soup soup do a little quickly, just now start eating lazily, “Why don’t you, drink wine. It just so happens that I have flower carving wine here, do you drink it.” Wine is a hair product, according to reason he can not drink, but she thought that this man can enter the water rubbing, fierce into a live dragon, drink some wine is nothing.

He nodded, handing over the glass while asking how the wine came to be. She smiled, “leftover cooking, roast duck was bought, the chicken was made by myself, plum flower carved chicken. Try it!” Invitingly, she held over a piece, “Taste it and see if it has enough flavor.”

He tried a bite, “Sweet and sour is delicious.”

It was rare that he would say something nice. Her eyes narrowed, “Nonsense, this is a time consuming game. You have to cook the tender chicken and strain out the broth. Then you put plums and rock sugar in the soup, and add a little bit of salt. When the soup cools down, pour the Huadiao wine and soak the young chicken in it. Let a night and then fish up, which can not be eaten Oh, you have to dry the chicken for a while before. I soaked it for more than a day, the flavor is sufficient, the skin of the chicken is crunchy and chewy, right?”

He nodded and raised his hand to pour her flower carving wine, reiterating, “It’s really delicious.”

The flower carving wine was easy on the palate and not too alcoholic. She drank cup after cup, and the man across from her poured cup after cup. Soon the wine jar was empty, but the dishes were still mostly left. She squinted her eyes and smiled widely with her tongue, “Hey, I seem to be a bit drunk.” Her head was dizzy, her cheeks burned, her whole body was limp, and she wanted to sleep, but she wanted to dance around.

The person across the room stood up, also a little wobbly. She bobbed her head and waved her hand, “Don’t you come over here, why come over here, sit across the room. As soon as you come over I …… I can not sit well, ay ay, you move your hands and feet do what do what? You …… you, you do not bully me, you can bully people.” She half hung on him, her eyes reddened, her hands grabbed his collar, “Surname single, do you still remember? You, you shameless. You broke into the women’s restroom you, you played hooligan. You, you also violent maniac. You hit me, do you remember? You hit me here, you hit my face here. I can remember all, you hit me so painful.” Both hands crackled and snapped on his face and slapped him randomly, “I also hit you, I hit you to become a pig’s head …… I’ll see if you next …… next time dare to mess around without flushing… …uh, break …… destroy my acid-base balance ……”

He let her beat her for a good while before pinching her arrogant claws, “Well, isn’t the hand burned, wait until it’s all good and then continue to beat it.”

She laughed, hiccuped, “lie to you, that water temperature is not sixty degrees can be hot to where? I collect fast, just red …… red a little. Hey hey, I …… if I don t scream louder, how to make you go to buy …… uh, buy medicine ah. …… Next time you are not allowed to do it without a condom, or …… uh, confiscate the tools.”

The more you say, the more unlike words, this tool is also you can casually confiscate? The man s face became smelly, holding her to go to the bedroom. A few days have not been close to her side, the opportunity is rare. But the sky is not willing, only walked a few steps she a strong turn, very violently pounced on him on the sofa. Then she giggled and started to play drunk. Said to be crazy, in fact, is the whole person lying on his body rubbing vigorously, and pampered children like grinding ah grinding.

A normal man can not resist this kind of torture, either to endure internal injuries to take a cold shower, or have to take advantage of the danger of hooliganism. Single Yan Xiu certainly is not a gentleman, but also is not a scumbag. Just, everything has to look at the situation. To this point he again not ‘willing’ also only have to guest once to take advantage of a person’s danger of the villain to play hooligan, know that this behavior is quite shameful, but do it up but …… very positive.

Just when he pressed her backward under his body to hold her face and kissed single-mindedly, that woman only one sentence to his whole body’s evil fire quenched most of it.

“Ah Yan, tell me about Yin Lian.” She closed her eyes and opened and closed her mouth, her voice was a bit muffled but still audible, “Let’s all be honest tonight, I have questions and you have answers, you have questions and I have answers. Okay?”

His body just hardened and froze, and it took a while before he slowed down. Seeing that her eyes were still closed and her breathing was fine and steady, he assumed she was talking in her sleep. Just as he was about to bend his head to continue that interrupted kiss he saw her eyes suddenly open, watery, “Say it.”

He took a deep breath, the fire in his whole body slowly faded away, and obediently sat down next to her.

He hadn’t thought of Yin Lian for a long time, that woman’s figure had been locked in a special corner of his heart, and the lock on it was slowly glowing a coppery green color, gradually rusting away. Yet all the memories of her were still so distinct, as if they were burned into a certain stage of his life, deep and painful.

“Yin Lian is seven years older than me, she is my master, my superior, my companion, and my most trusted brother …… whom I respect the most. Of course, I have to admit that my admiration for her is mixed with a hint of adoration. But that kind of adoration doesn’t amount to love, it’s just an immature man’s admiration for a woman with a charismatic personality. No, perhaps, more like awe. You can’t imagine the circumstances under which we met. I’d never met my mother, and my father was such a deep alcoholic that he couldn’t recognize anything but a bottle until he died. You can’t imagine the mess I was in when I met her, she picked me up like a stray dog, gave me an identity, taught me the skills to protect myself and recognize right from wrong, she taught me everything so to speak. She was the only one who accompanied me during that stage of my growth, and the two of us came together step by step. When we joined the group we went from having nothing to having status and power, we stepped on our enemies to come up, and you can’t imagine how much we paid. But in the end …… there is really nothing wrong with such an ending. At least I am still alive, and Yinlian, …… in Yinlian s world there is no man, only enemies and rivals, and brothers. Brothers, this is her most weighty affirmation for a person. You know, I have thought many times that Yin Lian as a woman is really a pity.”

“Xiaoxiao, you and Yinlian do have similarities in the way you smoke. I have to admit that at first glance you made my heart flutter,” his hands slowly climbed up to her waist, and little by little he tightened his grip on her, “but that’s not all the reason why I want to force myself to keep you, or it’s still not enough for you to just have that. Remember the first time we met?” A reminiscent smile spreads along the corners of his mouth, “Remember how you treated me? You realize that if you were Yoon Lian – just one tenth of what she is – there would be at least two more holes in me. At that time I was thinking that there are no exactly the same people in this world. Yinlian is unique, and so are you.”

“After that time, I would never think of you as her again. Because that would be an insult both to you and to her.” He had reflected on his ridiculous behavior, knew it was wrong, knew it was wrong, but he just didn’t want to stop. He wanted to keep her around, he wanted something from her he wasn’t sure himself, just knew that with this woman around he might be able to sleep better each night and never again wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare of Yoon Lian’s death. Her real presence and the warmth of her touch would soothe his tortured nerves for a short while, only to have the dependence grow deeper and deeper, while something slipped uncontrollably in an unpredictable direction, until now.

Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t sure if she was listening or sleeping. But when he shook her and said I have a question for you too, she nodded heavily through the vigor of the shaking.

“Tell me about your family.” The information he had on hand had very little on the part of her family, except that her parents were divorced and she lived with her grandmother, and then when she passed away it was just her on her own. Being with her for a long time, he knew very well that she was a big-hearted person on the outside, but in her bones she was very traditional and valued her family. But for a long time he had not seen her contact with her parents, even in her life there was no trace of her parents, not even a photo, which is very unusual.

She still closed her eyes, just nose light and heavy gasping, after a long time before slowly said, “I’m better than you, I know who my parents are, I know where they are, just do not want to contact them. They are separated, each living their own lives, one domestic children, the other abroad as someone else’s stepmother, are quite happy. Both of them are quite responsible and paid my school fees until I was eighteen. Cultivated my ability to make my own food and clothing, which allowed me to support myself until I was this old and didn’t starve to death.” She slowly opened her eyes and sighed, “Do you think I’m being careful, almost three years of carrying on without a single phone call to them. They think I hate them don’t they, I should right? You see I was so small,” she reached up and gestured to a height, “and they split up, but I remember them together, it was nice. But the nice little life ended up being too much, and I couldn’t figure it out. Then they each had their own family, I think they are very asshole, they all have a family and leave me alone and grandma’s family is not a family. What kind of fun is it to have kids and not raise them, so it was necessary for me to hate them!”

“They did come back to see me after Grandma died, didn’t stay more than a few days and then left. I was already an adult, picking at their pants leg bawling thing I can not do, collected them a little money and sent them away. Then I didn’t see them again,…… I don’t make a mess, I don’t toss, I just so silent ambush here, I wait for them to remember me. Waiting for them to remember me and come to see me. If I’m doing well, I’ll fantasize about them crying and begging me to forgive them and give them the benefit of the doubt. If I’m having a bad time, I fantasize about them regretting it and coming eyeball to eyeball to make it up to me. But I thought about it for so long and they didn’t come once. I never called, I was thinking of saying they could call first. Consider me still wilful when I’m so grown up, and just call for me once first, just once would be fine.” She didn’t have a crying or laughing expression on her face, just some chagrin, “You see, I have both parents, just no destiny. You have a tougher life than I do, both your parents are dead, and you’ve been alone for half your life. Well, how can I say that I’m still a bit stronger than you.”

He silently wrapped her hand in his palm, the first time he held it he could feel the thin sweat seeping out of her palm as well as the thin calluses, thin white fingers, but more powerful than he imagined.

“Ayan …… I want to talk to you about that, that decrepit bitchy guy.” Her head bobbed to lean on his shoulder, “That one that deserves a thousand knives.”

He pursed his lips, “I know all about that, including what you did to him before, I know that too.” Forehead against hers, “Don’t mention it again if you want to feel bad, I know all about it.”

She hiccuped, “…… So, when are you going to give me back my Y picture, huh? We’ve been like that, you …… uh, you still can’t get enough? You’re a peeping …… fetishist.”

He couldn’t help but nibble on her ear and laugh lowly, “All burned, no lie, all burned, not a single one left.”

“…… How could you do something so unethical at that time. You followed that thousand cutter’s back and threatened me, you, you and that Y fire burning bitch man are no different.” She closed her eyes and continued to hum, half drunk and half dreamy, “You’re still a cheapskate, you don’t even pay …… for the package.”

“In the future, all my money will be given to you, is this okay?”

She suddenly sighed long and hard, half squinted her eyes to look at him, and closed them again disheveledly, “If I had known it was like this, I wouldn’t have done that. Cough, Ah Yan, let me tell you something. You, don’t get angry when you hear this, you can’t get angry, and you can’t hit me out of anger.” She had to say it, if she didn’t say it, she would suffocate the bird ~ alive!

He nodded, “I won’t get angry.”

“Swear!”

“I swear.”

She swallowed her saliva, a bony climbed up half kneeling on the sofa, very serious look, “that, that, that day we are not to withdraw money it, you give me a card, I try the password to try the wrong money can not come out. In fact, the first time I pressed the wrong button, I deliberately pressed the wrong button. I was thinking that if you took the money, you might just leave me and run away, or you might just bully me the same way as before. My grandma said, a woman is pregnant before she dares to back up, a man can back up anytime as long as he has money, so ……. But that, that back two times is I accidentally pressed the wrong, absolutely accidental. I swear …… Ayan, I am sorry, I let you become a poor man. I’m so sorry, I’m sorry for you ……” she muttered and lowered her head and softened her body, chagrined and bereft, guilty and embarrassed. At a later stage, the mumbling voice became smaller and smaller, and the whole person softened onto him, as if she had completely fallen asleep.

Shan Yanxiu’s body was a little hard at this time, and even his neck was a little stiff. The lively sound of the TV and her gentle snoring seemed to fill up the entire room.

After a long time his body finally trembled slightly, his tightly pursed lips twisting out a bizarre arc. Fingers just curled around her hair, all the way to the tips. “Dawn, if you’re awake right now, you’ll have to swear you’re not angry too. And I’m only going to say this once.” He shook his shoulders and the head against his shoulder slid onto the couch in a flash. A small, pointed chin peeked out of the long, disheveled hair, and the lips of the reddish color wriggled slightly as he leaned in for another restrained kiss, the secret disappearing between lips that fit tightly together, and

“In fact, in that card, there is no money.”

Why is he not betting, betting that she will not leave him behind, betting that she will be by his side, never leaving.