Chapter 33

  Wu Aunt returned home the day before New Year's Eve, just like last year. Yuan Zhi took He Sheng to walk on the quiet and deserted streets, many shops were closed, and the bleak street scene was in stark contrast to the most festive day of the year. They went to an old alley where there was a small shop selling fireworks.

  Yuan Zhi had been coming here to buy things for a long time. The shopkeeper was an old man who spoke with a very strong rural accent. He didn't buy many big firecrackers, only one, but he bought a lot of small box-packed firecrackers and bundles of sparklers.

  "Just play with something new, it's too big and looks good, can't bring it."

  He Sheng buried half of her face in the scarf, and on her head was a fluffy hat that looked like dandelion. The whole person was wrapped up warmly, she nodded, "Good!"

  Yuan Zhi looked at her silly appearance and wanted to laugh, "If I put you on the ground now, can you get up?"

  He Xiang held a sparkler in his arms and stared at him inexplicably.

  Yuan Zhi smiled wryly and said, "Just kidding, let's go home."

  They took a shortcut home, and on the other side of the alley, at the corner, there was a boutique store that was about to close. Yuan Zhi called out to He Sheng, "Let's go take a look."

  "What do you want to buy?"

  The store is very small and can be seen at a glance.

  "Buy a big doll to sleep with, so you don't have to hug your pillow every day." Yuan Zhi walked to the innermost part and picked out a few large dolls that were placed against the wall.

  "I quite like hugging pillows." He Sheng pulled his hem and whispered, "Don't buy it, we can't carry it later."

  "Carry it on your back and go."

  Yuan Zhi carefully selected a big purple teddy bear in the end, because it was easy to clean and could be hugged for a long time without getting dirty.

  Although not the largest in volume, it is also higher than He Sheng. Holding a bear cub, the line of sight was completely blocked, and only Yuan Zhi could lead the way.

  The speed naturally slowed down, and when they walked halfway, He Song was tripped by a stone again. The whole person fell straight down, with his face buried in the bear's back. Fortunately, there was this plush toy to cushion him, otherwise he would have been seriously injured.

  Yuan Zhi was startled and quickly pulled the person up, anxiously asking: "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

  It's okay, just the palm scraped against the cement floor and broke some skin, nothing else was touched. But that bear had been bought for less than an hour, and its black plastic nose fell off. He Song's heart ached, picked it up and stroked it, muttering softly, "The nose is too brittle."

  "What's it to you whether it's brittle or not!" Yuan Zhi used his arm to hold the sparkler stick and pulled her hand over, furrowed his brow, "When we get home, we need to apply some medicine quickly, this broken skin that doesn't bleed is actually painful."

  He Shuang carelessly pulled out his hand and patted the dusty bear's belly, "Aiya, it's so dusty."

  "Just wipe it clean and don't be so tense."

  "So much money!"

  Yuan Zhi took the burden from Xiong and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll help you carry it."

  "Then I'll help you carry the fireworks." He said, and was about to take the bright red plastic bag hanging from his wrist.

  "It's fine." He shifted his body to avoid it, pulled the plastic bag up to his elbow, and put the bear on his back. He started walking forward with it on his back, not caring how ridiculous he looked, and said to He Song, "Let's go home."

  That winter, the streets were sparse with people. Yuan Zhi carried Hua Sang's first real contact with fireworks and her most precious doll in this life back home. At that time, they were still tender and naive children, and in this chaotic world, they still had the strength to smile a little.

  Later, after the separation, He Sheng no longer had this big teddy bear by his side, and even memories were sharp and painful. But when he turned around, it seemed as if he saw a boy walking towards him on a certain street, with all his senses intact, his delicate features smiling like a riot of colorful flowers. That moment of despair came so suddenly and unexpectedly, thinking of smiling, but couldn't help but want to cry.

  Yuan Zhi would never know how much his daughter had yearned for him to utter a single word, "come home", and by the time he did, she had already given birth to reasons that made it impossible for her to return.

  On New Year's Day, Yuan Zhi said he wanted to make dumplings, so He Sheng squatted on the ground and gave him a face full of flour. Yuan Zhi held a vegetable knife and muttered lines from the TV series "Wulin People" as he chopped the filling.

  The two of them worked together for an entire afternoon. He Song used to make these every year, and his skilled hands moved quickly. The small dumplings were plump and looked very good. On the other hand, Yuan Zhi was a bit awkward. After learning from He Song for a while, he lost patience and started to improvise on his own, ending up with a big pile of messy dough that didn't look appetizing at all. He said they were all going to be offered to He Shou, but it didn't matter if anyone would actually eat them or not.

  His hair and clothes were all covered in flour, and he was laughing with a heartless expression. He Yung looked at him speechlessly.

  After the night turned dark, Chen Jia-yin and He Shou-si entered the door one after another. The living room was brightly lit, warm and cozy, and the TV started playing the Spring Festival Gala with drums and cymbals. He Shou-si sat down beside Yuan Zhi and rummaged through his pocket to pull out two decks of poker cards.

  "Come on, come on, let's start a big killing spree!"

  Yuan Zhi directly gave him a back of the head, "Can't you speak with some brains? What kind of nonsense are you spouting on a day like today?"

  "Hmm!" He Shouci glared at him, "When did you start paying attention to this kind of thing?"

  He Sheng and Chen Jia Yin, who were standing on one side, beckoned them over with a smile, saying: "Come come come, the four of us together, what can you two do?"

  He Sheng is not very good at playing cards, and it was a long time ago that He Yong taught her to play a few times because he felt sorry for her having no one to accompany her. Now she has little impression of it.

  Chen Jiayin said anything goes, so the three of them all turned their attention to He Sheng. She was taken aback, shook her head and said "You guys go ahead and play, I won't."

  "That's so boring!" He Shouci shuffled the cards with a whooshing sound, saying "You've never played even once before?"

  "I played one a long time ago, but I forgot."

  "What kind? Roughly what's the trick?"

  He Sheng thought for a moment, then gestured and said a bunch of things, but the three of them didn't understand. He Shouci was incredulous: "You're speaking gibberish, I've never heard anything like it."

  "It doesn't matter, I'll just play along like this anyway."

  "Alright, just play and learn as you go. Double or nothing, loser draws a mustache, best two out of three."

  After shouting, he took out two colored pens from his pocket, and it can be said that he was fully prepared.

  Then he glanced at Yuan Zhi, raised an eyebrow and said: "Brother, I'm with you! Let's have the male lead paired with the male, and the female lead paired with the female!"

  Chen Jiayin disdainfully curled her lip, while Yuan Zhi shook his head. "I want He Song."

  "You're kidding! Xiao He Sheng is a rookie, he's definitely going to lose."

  Yuan Zhi said without any room for negotiation: "I'll take you there, don't worry, I'll make sure you lose miserably."

  He Shou thought this person must have gone mad, but didn't say anything else. With a reluctant look at Chen Jia Yin, who had an equally terrible expression, "Hey, it's just you and me now, why don't you switch places with Xiao He Song!"

  Chen Jiayou raised an eyebrow, "You won't change? Why must I be the one to change?"

  "You don't know you're younger than me?"

  "You didn't know you're still a man?"

  He Shou was choked and couldn't speak, raised his hand to warn her with a finger, and then swapped positions with Yuan Zhi.

  These two people still have some resentment due to their previous unpleasant encounters, and they can't help but argue a few sentences when they meet.

  But today is a special case, especially now that they are still waiting for the cards to be dealt, He Shou Si can only tolerate her with a broad and generous mindset.

  After dealing the cards, it was his turn. He shouted: "I'll go first! Looking at today's situation, I'm going to win this round!"

  "Come on, hit me!"

  He Shouci dealt the cards quickly, Yuan Zhi was his next door neighbor who paid easily, Chen Jiaoyin was also good, He Sheng made mistakes because he was a newcomer, but after listening to the people around him repeating the card rules several times, he learned a little bit and could barely hold on.

  Of course, the price paid for this is not small either. Anyway, He Sheng's face has been ruined almost completely. Yuan Zhi was lucky to have a good foundation, and Chen Jiaoyan was relatively restrained when painting, so it can still pass.

  Yuan Zhi and He Sheng lost miserably in the previous rounds, but later slowly started to get a feel for it, probably with good luck coming their way. Anyway, they got better and better, even getting two doubles in a row, which meant that He Shouguang and Chen Jiayin had to accept two penalties in this round.

  By the time it was all over, the four of them looked like they could go straight to a Halloween party.

  The pot of dumplings in the kitchen has already been put on the stove, and the overflowing meat fragrance will soon float out. A lot of time has passed, and everyone is a bit hungry, so they all throw down their cards and rush to the bathroom to wash their faces.

  Two people were squeezed in the bathtub, two were squeezed in front of the washbasin. After a while, they both became dizzy. Yuan Zhi scolded loudly: "Where did you get this broken pen? I'm ruined."

  After washing for so long, it still hasn't faded away, only the color has lightened up a bit. Those few strands from my eyebrows that twist upwards like butterfly antennae look stupid no matter how I look at them.

  He Guanshi was stunned, rubbing his dark chin hard, and the skin on the side was also rubbed red. That disgusting black lump was still there, and he cried out in despair: "Has it been too long since I used it, has it evolved?"

  This water pen is different from the one used in the office, it's purely for playing pranks. Its effect is similar to that of chalk, when you wipe it on someone's body, the color becomes more obvious. To get rid of it, just rinse with water. Some people who don't know what's going on will be scared, and that's where the fun lies.

  Never thought there would be a day when it couldn't be washed away!

  Chen Jiayin kicked him directly and angrily said: "How can I go out? How can I get home?"

  He Shou Si's tone also couldn't go up at this time. After all, holidays are the time to visit relatives and friends, how can he see people with such a face?

  After trying all the other bath products with little effect, He Shouci smashed the jar and said, "Forget it, who cares? Maybe it'll be gone by tomorrow morning." He rubbed his belly, "I'm hungry, let's go eat first."

  Others had no choice but to give up, after all, Yuan Zhi and He Shou Si were men, and they didn't care much about their appearance. They wiped their faces and went out with a shrug.

  Chen Jiayin was standing in front of the washbasin, staring at the mirror and rubbing her face gently. He Sheng stood beside her, accompanying her, when his gaze suddenly shifted and he saw a large bruise on her neck.

  "Paused for a moment, 'good news'."

  "Huh?"

  "What's wrong with your neck?"

  Chen Jiayin glanced at He Sheng in the mirror and smiled, "It's nothing, I bumped into the bedpost when I was sleeping two days ago."

  He Sheng blinked, the two blood-red marks on his cheekbones looked quite strange. "You can sleep and still manage to bump into things so forcefully?" She pointed at the black mark on his neck, "It's quite severe."

  "When I fell asleep, I didn't know anything, and when my body tilted over, the whole person went over too, so it's a bit more serious. It's okay, it'll be fine in a few days."

  Chen Jiayin washed off all the foam on her face, pulled up her collar, and then lifted her hand to hang it on He Song's body as they walked out. "What fillings did you put in your dumplings?"

  He Sheng was passively pushed by her and looked at Chen Jiayin with a still somewhat puzzled gaze, saying "Bai Cai Rou Mo".

  "Ah, I love this filling so much, isn't it wrapped too many times? In case there's not enough for us to eat later."

  "Enough, two more people can eat."

  Turned off the fire and steamed for a few more minutes before serving the dumplings. The quantity was indeed quite astonishing.

  He Shouci pointed at one of the smiling ones, holding his belly with laughter, "Haha, what kind of ghost thing is this? It looks like a cucumber blooming, do you plan to gnaw on it like a lollipop?"

  Yuan Zhi Bai put that white and chubby thing into his bowl, "Haha, made it for you with my own hands, eat your flower!"

  He Shouci picked up his chopsticks and stirred them around, "Has it been stuffed yet? Don't tell me it's just a ball of dough."

  "Let go."

  "Alright, since you're cooking yourself, I'll give you some applause." After saying that, she picked up the dish with the mustache-like flower petal-shaped food and took a big bite.

  With a mouthful of doughy lumps, bland and tasteless, He Shouci furrowed his brow, forcing it down, "You're sure there's filling."

  "It's really good." Yuan Zhi dipped a dumpling in vinegar and stuffed it into his mouth, chuckling with a bulging cheek: "You have some more."

  He Guanshu took a bite, and when he was about to reach the middle, there was a sudden "crack" sound. He was stunned, then suddenly covered his mouth, and his eyes were instantly filled with tears.

  He Sheng and Chen Jiayin both stopped in their tracks, looking at him curiously, while Yuan Zhi burst out laughing with a completely carefree expression.

  He Shouci was furious for a long time, and then he threw the remaining half of the mantou into the plate, spat out what was in his mouth, and scolded: "Damn it, you little bastard is too damn ruthless! Even if you put sugar, you should put a piece of soft candy, my tooth is chipped!"

  Yuan Zhi's body tilted to one side, and with that strange face, he fell onto He Song's body laughing.