Early in the morning the day before New Year’s Eve, He Chuzhou moved the previously packed luggage into the car.

Pei Xi wanted to help. He Chuzhou considered it, then hung a small, exquisite SLR camera around his neck: “You can help by taking pictures of your husband working hard.”

Pei Xi: “……”

Pei Xi raised the camera to capture this person’s inexplicable boasting.

“The temperature in my hometown is actually higher than in the city. I suppose the sweaters will be useless. Wait, they’re fine, they’re fine.”

“Fortunately, there’s snow in Wancheng. Although we won’t be able to see any when we go, we’ll still see wintersweet flowers all over the small hill.”

While He Chuzhou was putting the luggage into the trunk, he chattered to Pei Xi about their trip home.

“The food is pretty much the same as here, but it tastes better. Lots of delicacies from small places are unpalatable when they’re brought to big cities.”

“There are quite a lot of New Year’s customs, which can be a bit troublesome, but you should have fun seeing them for the first time.”

“Oh, right, there’s one more important thing.”

He clapped his hand and turned to Pei Xi, emphasizing: “Several of my uncles are alcoholics. Especially at New Year’s reunions, they won’t leave until they’re drunk. If they try to make you drink, don’t do it, just give it to me. Or we can just run away.”

“Don’t think it’ll be difficult to refuse a toast from an elder. In my family, we don’t have that elders-over-youth thing going on, so don’t even think about having a drink or two to show respect. The wine in my hometown is homebrewed, and the alcohol content is so high that you couldn’t even handle a sip.”

“Well…..if you really want to drink, I’ll be there. I’ll cover your mouth and take you back to the bedroom before you start attacking indiscriminately like last time. Oh, in that case, we’ll have to bring some condoms, otherwise you won’t be able to ravage me—”

Pei Xi pinched his upper and lower lips together, his cool features revealing some shame and anger: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t bring that up?”

What made him despair wasn’t revealing his true colors after getting drunk, or waking up to discover that he didn’t have the habit of forgetting things after drinking, but that there was a person by his side who deserved a beating and repeatedly helped him recall his glorious deeds.

He Chuzhou’s eyes were curved in joy. He said nothing, just raising his hands in surrender. Only then did Pei Xi let him go.

He Chuzhou smacked his lips upon regaining his freedom. He originally didn’t plan to say anything, but when he saw Pei Xi’s red ears, he couldn’t help but comment: “Honey, will there be a next time?”

Pei Xi: “A next time for what?”

He Chuzhou: “Where you just sit on me and move yourself—aiyo!”

Pei Xi went around to the front of the car and got in, leaving He Chuzhou there alone, crying and hugging his leg where it was numb from being kicked.

Father and Mother He were leaving on the same day as them. The amount of luggage Mrs. Chu and He Aiyue had was frightening, so much so that their SUV couldn’t even accommodate three people. He Aiyue had to come over and ride with He Chuzhou.

Her parents left early to refuel, and He Aiyue waited at the door for her brother to pick her up. From a distance, they could see the young girl squatting there like a big red dumpling, frenetically playing on her cell phone.

He Chuzhou stopped the vehicle next to her and honked.

He Aiyue climbed in, not looking up until she finished what she was doing. Holding onto the passenger seat, she tugged on Pei Xi’s arm enthusiastically: “Pei-ge, Pei-ge, why haven’t you joined the group yet? Come on, I’ll pull you in to grab a red envelope!”

Without giving Pei Xi time to react, she pulled him into the [Loving Family] group chat. Pei Xi’s phone began to vibrate wildly.

Red envelopes interspersed with text messages flashed rapidly across the screen in the chat, and the notification of him joining the group was soon visible.

Pei Xi guessed nobody had noticed him. Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the chat was silent for two seconds before a string of exclusive red envelopes appeared. The words on the red envelopes were all warm welcomes to him for joining the group.

Pei Xi’s breathing stagnated as his introvert self was murdered through the screen.

He Aiyue cheerfully patted his shoulder: “You’ve made a fortune! Pei-ge, come and get it! The red envelopes from the uncles and aunties are huge!”

At somewhat of a loss, Pei Xi turned to look at He Chuzhou.

Driver Xiao He looked straight ahead with a smile on his face: “It’s alright, just accept them. If you don’t accept them, people will ask why you didn’t when we get there. Then they’ll turn around and pack an even bigger one with cash and force you to put it in your pocket.”

Pei Xi was frightened by the scene he described. After a moment of silence, he replied with a well-behaved ‘thank you’ and accepted the string of exclusive red envelopes.

The amount was indeed too large for New Year’s money, the smallest being 18,888.

He Aiyue had spent the previous night scrambling for red envelopes until midnight, then got up this morning to continue scrambling. She’d achieved less than six hours of sleep in total and was currently feeling sleepy, but she was reluctant to put down her phone. The dragons on the red envelopes turned into double images before her eyes.

The car stopped at a rest area on the way, and He Chuzhou got out to buy milk teas for them. He Aiyue grabbed hers and took a sip, eyes curving briefly as she waited for the next wave of red envelopes to rain down.

Pei Xi took the milk tea, and was about to retract his hand when his wrist was grabbed and pulled closer to the driver’s seat. He could guess what this reckless man intended to do, and with the knowledge that his sister was behind them, he automatically tried to evade.

“It’s okay, the kid fell asleep.”

He Chuzhou held his neck to prevent him from retreating, and kissed him while murmuring soothing words. It wasn’t until Pei Xi’s breathing became disordered that he released him. Tilting his head, he met a pair of sharp black eyes in the back seat.

Pei Xi: “……”

He Chuzhou’s mouth twitched: “Weren’t you asleep?”

“Nope, I’m just waiting for red envelopes.”

He Aiyue shrank her neck and accepted the red envelope that had just woken her up, then closed her eyes and lay back: “Okay, I’ll continue sleeping. Just pretend I don’t exist.”

Pei Xi glared at He Chuzhou, then sat back in the passenger seat and turned to look out the window with a red neck.

He Chuzhou touched his nose in disappointment and drove out of the rest stop, not daring to speak a word.

It was nearly a three-hour drive. His hometown was also in Wancheng, a port town that hadn’t been commercially developed. Built next to the water, the house’s white bricks and blue tiles were very picturesque.

It was located upstream of the river, and the Lantern Festival was held at the temple street downstream. Making use of a traffic jam, He Chuzhou pointed it out to Pei Xi: “See the red lanterns at the Guanyin Temple over there? It’s actually a bit far to walk, but you can take a boat and float straight down.”

Pei Xi rolled down the window and looked out. Layers upon layers blocked his view, and he could only see a little of it.

“It looks so good when it’s lit up at night!”

He Aiyue eagerly introduced it to Pei Xi: “They’re still getting ready today. There’s a stage that’s going to be set up, and it won’t start until the night of New Year’s Eve. We’ll come out and watch after the family reunion tomorrow night. It’ll be fun.”

“But Pei-ge, do you get seasick? I brought a friend before who was really seasick, and she puked from upstream to downstream.”

Pei Xi wasn’t sure. He had never been on a boat.

“If you don’t get motion sickness in a car or airplane, you probably won’t get seasick,” He Chuzhou comforted. “If you do, Grandma has motion sickness medication at home.”

There were a great many young people returning to their hometowns for the New Year. The roads in the town were narrow, and traffic was jammed for over half an hour. Once they arrived and parked in the courtyard, they were forced to offer sacrifices to the car. Grandma urged them many times, saying that the chicken blood was about to clot.

Pei Xi had never known of such customs.

When he was still young, he had followed Pei Yansong’s family to the southern city of Haicheng for the New Year, and only felt that he had changed residences for a short period of time. Other than the taste of the foods, nothing else had changed.

Once he grew up, he was no longer willing to follow them and force himself to fit in. He would rather stay alone in Wancheng, watching the lights of thousands of homes outside and the brilliant fireworks by the shore.

He felt no envy. After all, he had never experienced a normal New Year. It was nothing more than taking a short vacation, eating good things, and watching fireworks from a high location. Nothing special.

But this year was different.

He had a strong intuition that the New Year he spent here would be completely different than the past, something he had never experienced before.

It stood to reason that at his age, having gained so much social experience, it would be difficult for him to be interested in ordinary things. But in fact, he still found everything he saw and heard here very fresh and novel.

They used chicken blood and talisman paper to offer sacrifices to the car, lit candles and burned incense next to the white walls, placed a pig’s tail as an offering in the direction of the river, and let the children pass first when sweeping the dust in front of the door…..

He didn’t voice his curiosity, but the others could see it.

He Chuzhou participated in these rituals passed down by his ancestors, taking Pei Xi with him wherever he went.

A few people didn’t know what some of these things meant, so they took their wives to ask Grandma, who proceeded to talk for a long time. When they couldn’t understand after quite a while, the two of them exchanged glances and silently turned toward the kitchen to help make dumplings.

Glutinous rice balls were also being made, and some young children were given small handfuls of glutinous rice dough to play with. But He Chuzhou felt that making them required too few technical skills, and wanted to show off his ability by making dumplings in front of his wife.

Pei Xi naturally didn’t know how to make them, so he could only learn by following He Chuzhou step by step.

“A little flour won’t hurt.”

“Don’t add too much meat filling, otherwise the dumplings will explode in the pan before they’re cooked. And don’t add too little, or you won’t be able to get two bites out of it.”

“From here, go up like this and crimp the lace. See?”

“Right, rub the front two times like so.”

“The back point should be sharper, and the tail should be longer.”

“Add four legs to it and it’s a dinosaur, see? So cool!”

Mrs. Chu was rolling out dumpling wrappers nearby, and the more she listened, the more she felt that something wasn’t right. When she turned around, she saw that there were only a handful of dumplings on the tray. The rest were all strange-looking creatures with eyes and long legs.

He Chuzhou was still holding his dinosaur dumpling proudly in one hand. Pei Xi was seated next to him with a perplexed look on his face, holding a dumpling that looked like a steamed bun in one hand, and two floury legs in the other with no idea where to put them.

He Aiyue and Yun Ji were shrieking in delight and holding the dinosaur dumplings at different angles to take a slew of photos.

Mrs. Chu: “……”

Mrs. Chu: “Boss He, are you looking for death?”

Realizing that something was wrong, He Aiyue and Yun Ji put away their phones and fled.

He Chuzhou also knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay here long, and quickly retreated with Pei Xi: “Mom, we’ll eat what we made later, don’t overcook them for us. I’ll go call those outside to come back for dinner.”

The ones outside were some cousins who were still in primary school. It was rare for everyone to get together, but they’d gone out to have fun before their feet were even warm. They had bought some firecrackers and were throwing them everywhere. A dog bowl was blown away, and they received a scolding from the owner.

When He Chuzhou found them, they were squatting in a circle with their heads touching, studying how to put a small cannon into a pit and turn it into a mine.

They proceeded to chase each other toward the house, laughing and joking. One little brother dropped a small cannon from his unsteady arms, and He Chuzhou picked it up. He weighed it in his hand and planned to give it to Pei Xi.

“Be careful not to blow your hand off.” Pei Xi didn’t like these little safety hazards, always feeling that one would go off accidentally.

“Don’t worry, Gege is an expert.”

He Chuzhou didn’t smoke or carry a lighter, so he lit the firecracker using the blue incense that was still burning at the roadside.

The flying sparks turned out to be bigger than he’d imagined, causing the cannon to fall to the ground. He tried to kick it away, but missed.

A vein pulsed in Pei Xi’s forehead. Before he could do anything, He Chuzhou hastily pulled him away: “Even experts slip up occasionally. Run!”

There was a loud bang behind them. Pei Xi was startled, and his trust in He Chuzhou, the master of fireworks, dropped to zero.

However, he could just barely qualify as a dumpling-making master. Although he’d made a mess of it to show off his skills, none of them were overcooked or had the stuffing exposed, and they tasted pretty good.

The next day was New Year’s Eve. They heard it would be even busier than today and that they had to get up early, so tonight was a no-drinking night. After eating and cleaning up, everyone was sent upstairs to sleep and recharge their energy for tomorrow’s busy day.

One child was full of energy and couldn’t sleep, so he went to the yard to set off the fireworks they hadn’t hadn’t finished firing during the day.

He Chuzhou took Pei Xi back to their bedroom. Seeing as it was still early, he found a photo album in the desk drawer and let him flip through it to pass the time.

There were photos of him when he was very young. At that time, He Chuzhou was still a genuinely naughty brat.

Eight out of ten photos showed him getting smacked, and in two, he was about to be. He was so frightened by Mrs. Chu’s smacks that his neck shrank into his collar, but he still didn’t forget to make the V sign at the camera.

The collected photos went from cover to back, and the person in the photo grew younger as the pages turned. He Aiyue disappeared, and He Chuzhou became a small, bare-butted baby crawling on the floor.

His boyfriend looked very cute with his short arms and legs, and Pei Xi couldn’t help but want to look some more.

He Chuzhou was sitting cross-legged beside him, sending messages in the group. When he turned and saw him looking at just this one page, he quickly covered it with his hand: “Aiyo, give the child a little respect. Just look at these ones, okay?”

“No.” Pei Xi mercilessly pushed his hand away and carefully observed the naked child: “So it turns out you didn’t have a mole on your left butt cheek when you were a kid. Did it grow later?”

He Chuzhou: “……”

Thanks very much. It turned out he had a mole on his left butt cheek and didn’t even know it.

Pei Xi looked at his suddenly quiet boyfriend: “Are you shy?”

He Chuzhou rubbed his face: “It seems I am, a little bit. Look, am I blushing?”

Pei Xi touched his head and smiled: “Don’t be shy. In any case, I’ve seen every part of you.”

“En, that’s true.”

He Chuzhou put down his hand. While Pei Xi wasn’t paying attention, he abruptly turned and pushed him down on the carpet, grinning: “In any case, I’ve also seen every part of you. Oh, not only have I seen it, I’ve also kissed and bitten it. I know that when I bite the root of your thigh, you scream beautifully…..”

“He Chuzhou, stop talking!”

Pei Xi was once again defeated. He had to admit that he stood no chance of winning against this guy when it came to thickness of face.

The child in the yard was calling for assistance. He shouted at the top of his lungs for a long time before finally calling the two big brothers out to the balcony.

The younger brother who had just graduated elementary school waved vigorously at them and threw a box of fireworks upward with force, easily sending it up to their second floor balcony.

It was a box of fairy wands. He Chuzhou was endlessly amused, and leaned over the railing: “He Jiajia, you’re only giving me these?”

He Jiajia giggled and said: “There’s nothing wrong with giving a fairy a fairy wand.”

He Chuzhou: “Come here, I promise not to beat you.”

“I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about Xiao Pei-gege.”

He Jiajia pointed at Pei Xi beside him with a bit of embarrassment and then immediately covered his face with his scarf. This macho man was shy.

He Chuzhou went back to the room and found a lighter. Upon returning to the balcony, he opened the box and lit two fairy sticks, handing one to Pei Xi: “Here’s your award. Take it, Fairy-gege.”

Pei Xi really liked this firework. It was beautiful, safe, and didn’t explode. He gave it a perfect score.

When a breeze blew from the south, he subconsciously shielded it with his hand. He looked at it blankly for a moment before realizing that this kind of firework couldn’t be blown out.

He Chuzhou was struck by his cuteness, and suddenly called out: “Xinxin?”

Pei Xi turned his head, and He Chuzhou quickly pressed the camera button. The young man frozen in the picture looked a bit confused, wind ruffling his hair on one side as the sizzling firework illuminated the other.

How beautiful.

He Chuzhou set it as his new phone wallpaper and admired it with satisfaction.

*

*

Nighttime in the small town was exceptionally quiet. Pei Xi slept very soundly. When he woke up the next morning and opened the door, he was stuffed with red envelopes bearing the names of various unfamiliar elders. In this way, a chaotic day kicked off. 

They ate glutinous rice balls with red peanuts, held white and yellow chrysanthemums to worship the ancestors and the gods, and went home for lunch. Then they moved the fireworks to the yard and waited for the procession worshiping the Dragon God to pass by, gave out red envelopes, and then busied themselves preparing dinner.

The tables and chairs were moved to the courtyard, wine was placed on the tables, and the lively New Year vigil began from there.

The He family didn’t have a drinking tradition, nor did it require every child to hold a cup and toast the elders while offering auspicious words. Even moreso, they didn’t talk about work or urge marriage or childbirth, nor bring up various annoying topics.

Everything was perfect except for one thing: all of the uncles looked like the reincarnations of wine barrels.

He Chuzhou was seized and brought over to the table every year, but this year was different. He had brought someone home, so he had a good excuse to leave the table early and go to the Lantern Festival with his boyfriend and the younger generation.

The stalls in town were all set up at people’s houses, so that they could be open for business while eating New Year’s Eve dinner.

He Chuzhou bought lotus lanterns for everyone. He bought three for his wife, because he took into consideration that they might break when his wife played with them for the first time, so two extra were needed for scrap.

There were stone steps leading beneath an arched bridge to the river, where one could board a boat. One black-sailed boat could hold six people, and there were nine of them, so they required two boats.

He Chuzhou and Pei Xi fell behind and waited for the others to board first. The five little ones took the first boat. He Aiyue and Yun Ji considered themselves adults, and neither of them wanted to ride in the same boat as the chattering little brats, so they simply waited to get on the second boat with them.

After boarding, the two of them were determined not to be lightbulbs and tactfully went to the bow to fold their river lanterns, leaving the stern for the young couple.

It was Pei Xi’s first time riding on this kind of boat, and he felt a little unsteady when he first boarded. He Chuzhou held him and sat down near the water, patiently teaching him step by step how to fold the flat river lantern.

At this time, many young people had escaped from the drinking tables to watch the Lantern Festival, and there were many black-sailed boats along the river.

There were many folded river lanterns with lit wicks placed by the water, along with red lanterns hanging along both sides of the river, casting flickering reflections across the water.

Pei Xi was a slow learner, but he succeeded on his first attempt. When he lit it and was placing it into the water, he heard the sound of a young couple quarreling in the boat behind them.

“How are you so stupid that you can’t even fold a lantern?”

“It’s my first time doing this.”

“It’s lucky my dad isn’t here, or he’d be disgusted with you again.”

“Then don’t tell Uncle, I’ll learn.”

Something touched the palm of his hand. Pei Xi withdrew his gaze and found that there was another folded river lantern placed there.

“My wife is so smart. He learned it right away.”

He Chuzhou happily lit a lantern and told Pei Xi to light another.

Pei Xi bent down close to the water and placed the river lantern. With a gentle push, the lantern slowly floated a short distance and collided with other lanterns.

When the boat passed by the stage, they could hear the sound of singing. The people sitting in the audience were all elderly and wearing the same small, knitted hats. They listened with great enjoyment, nodding their heads.

“Aiya! He Jiajia!”

He Aiyue’s angry voice suddenly came from the bow: “Try that again and see if I don’t beat you to death later.”

Pei Xi looked over to find He Aiyue patting away the droplets of water on her head as He Jiajia made faces at her from the opposite stern: “Do it, do it — ah!”

Before he could finish speaking, Yun Ji splashed water into his face.

Yun Ji: “You got what you asked for.”

He Jiajia: “Enemy attack! You have no morals!”

He Aiyue felt better and made a face back at him: “Didn’t you just attack me? That means you have no morals.”

He Jiajia: “That’s called ‘there’s no limit to deception in war.’”

He Aiyue: “You deceived your sister. Is this how that word is used?”

He Jiajia: “Hmph, I’m going to put out your river lanterns.”

Yun Ji: “Then don’t even think about lighting yours.”

He Jiajia: “Brothers, follow Jia-ge, ah!”

He Aiyue rolled up her sleeves and said: “Get out of the way, Yun Ji! I’m going to soak him like a drowned chicken!”

A baffling water war began. He Chuzhou immediately took Pei Xi and moved a little farther away to avoid being affected.

The boat happened to pass by the white walls of houses. Pei Xi looked over, and his eyes suddenly lit up. Not far away, colorful lights were hung above the streets. Vendors gathered on both sides of the road, people coming and going with a lot of noise and bustle.

With a bang, the first fireworks of the night bloomed above their heads.

The first thing Pei Xi saw was the reflection of the fireworks spreading across the surface of the river. He turned his head to look up at the starry sky. Thousands of tiny sparks disappeared beneath the stars, soon replaced by more that rose into the sky and bloomed, illuminating this section of the river.

It was truly beautiful. Very pretty.

Pei Xi could boast that he’d seen much grander fireworks, but none were as beautiful as tonight’s.

Firelight fell into his heart and turned it molten. This was the first time he intuitively felt that the fireworks were not just fireworks, but contained infinite joy.

“Do you like it?” he heard He Chuzhou ask in his ear.

“En, I like it.” His surging joy didn’t allow him to hide or hesitate at all. He turned his head, eyes sparkling with fire: “Chuzhou, I really like it here.”

He liked the wind here, the water, the people, the lights, and the small boats. He liked the fireworks here, and the quietness, as well as the noise.

Pei Xi: “If it were possible, I’d really want to stay here forever.”

“Forever? That won’t work.”

He Chuzhou rubbed his head: “But it’s definitely okay to come back anytime. Have you decided where to go for the New Year?”

Mrs. Chu had asked them where they wanted to go for the second day of the New Year. Mr. He wanted to go hiking, but He Aiyue and Yun Ji weren’t interested in physical exercise. They would rather go to a northern city to view the ice sculptures.

Pei Xi: “Do you want to hike a mountain or see ice sculptures?”

He Chuzhou: “Only these two options?”

Pei Xi: “Weren’t these the only two mentioned?”

He Chuzhou: “That’s for them. I have a third option – how about it, do you want to go with mine?”

Pei Xi: “What is the option?”

He Chuzhou: “It’s…..”

He Chuzhou waited for the next round of fireworks to burst, then whispered as He Aiyue and Yun Ji were talking loudly: “Instead of going with them, let’s secretly go to northern Europe to see the Northern Lights.”

---

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Chapter 71 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 73