Chapter 69

There were quite a few people in the living room too. Her older cousin was sprawled on the bed playing games; a group of younger cousins were gathered in front of the TV watching cartoons. For a moment, the only sound was the television, punctuated now and then by a shout from her cousin.

Yu Nianyi lowered her head and stared intently at the few words on the screen; the corners of her mouth were already curling up out of control.

She glanced around, brought the phone close to her lips, and pressed the voice message button.

“Xi Yu, Happy New Year.”

She let go and sent it.

Beside her, her cousin suddenly cried out, flung her phone down hard, and sat up beside Yu Nianyi with a frown. “I’m so pissed off. My luck is terrible today; I lose every round.”

Yu Nianyi gave an absent-minded mm, the smile still lingering on her face when it caught her cousin’s eye without warning.

Zhang Ning slowly narrowed her eyes and leaned closer and closer. Yu Nianyi instinctively leaned back, guarding her phone. Zhang Ning said, “What’s with you? Smiling so sweetly. I just heard you sneaking messages to someone,” then she suddenly looked toward the kitchen, where her uncle and aunt were busy cooking, and lowered her voice. “Is it your girlfriend?”

Yu Nianyi hadn’t told all the relatives around her about her orientation. Partly because they were all older; partly because many of them were from an older generation, or even older still, whose thinking couldn’t be changed or understood overnight.

Fortunately, the internet was developed now, and there were many young people; most of them knew about this sort of thing.

Yu Nianyi nodded, and Zhang Ning let out a sigh before collapsing back onto the sofa, her gaze fixed on the TV screen straight ahead, where the cartoons were still chattering away.

“I’m actually kind of jealous of you,” she said. “Auntie’s completely stopped pushing you now. Not like me.” She paused, then went on, “I still haven’t fully sorted out my own life or my career, but I’m already being forced to think about things I’d never have considered two or three years ago. It’s like I suddenly have to grow up all at once these past three years.”

The phone in Yu Nianyi’s hand buzzed twice. She didn’t hurry to look; instead, she turned her eyes to Zhang Ning beside her.

Her uncle took the old idea that men should marry and women should wed very seriously; it was said that over the past year alone, Zhang Ning had gone on no fewer than ten blind dates.

Zhang Ning smiled again. Her fair, delicate face still held bright eyes. “To tell the truth, even though I’m twenty-eight now, I still feel like a kid sometimes. There’s still so much that attracts me, so much I want to explore, so much I want to learn. Those things fascinate me even more.”

Yu Nianyi nodded. “Then you..."

Zhang Ning folded her arms and looked over at Yu Nianyi. “Of course I’m not going to muddle through this blindly. This is my own life, after all.”

Yu Nianyi laughed. She naturally knew Zhang Ning was not one to back down, so she didn’t ask any more. Instead, she picked up her phone almost unconsciously and looked down at the screen.

The new message was a very quiet, very clear photo. A gray-blue sky stretched across the frame, dense stars scattered all over it, and the Milky Way spanned the entire heavens, breathtaking in its stillness and brilliance.

Yu Nianyi stared at it for a long time, as if she could feel the dead quiet inside the image; her nose seemed filled with coolness, the atmosphere of a summer night.

After looking for a while, she moved her finger into the input box, but before she could reply, the phone vibrated twice more and the other side sent another message.

It was a short seven-second video.

Yu Nianyi opened it. At first, it was a motionless starry night sky; then the camera slowly shifted. Beneath that silent night, far off at the edge of the horizon, countless brilliant fireworks suddenly burst open, and crackling sounds came through the speaker.

“There are quite a few Chinese people here; they set off fireworks.” In the midst of the overlapping sounds, Xi Yu’s voice suddenly slipped in, calm and clear, each word distinct.

Yu Nianyi blinked. That voice seemed to brush right against her ear, making it itch; a soft, tingling itch spread all the way into the quiet resentment in her heart.

She bit her lip and, almost reflexively, played it again. On the screen, the fireworks bloomed once more.

“...There are quite a few Chinese people here; they set off fireworks.”

—

Yu Nianyi tightened her grip on her phone a little, her mind full of Xi Yu’s face.

She adjusted her mood slightly, then played it a third time.

“...Here..."

Zhang Ning, beside her: “..."

Finally waiting for the third playback to end, she reached out first and held down Yu Nianyi’s phone, looking like she wanted to cry without tears. “Can you spare a thought for the single people? I’ve already been forced to hear it three times. I admit her voice sounds really nice; my suggestion is you can loop it at night while lying under the covers.”

Yu Nianyi burst out laughing. She didn’t feel embarrassed at all and said, “You think so too, right? Actually, I thought Xi Yu’s voice sounded really nice a long time ago.”

Zhang Ning: “Mm-hm, yes, yes.”

They didn’t sit for long before Yu Lan shouted from the kitchen that she couldn’t keep up and told Yu Nianyi to come help. Zhang Ning, very understanding of her cousin’s current state, went into the kitchen quite considerately.

Yu Lan turned her head and glared at Yu Nianyi, who was still playing on her phone in the living room. Yu Nianyi pretended not to see it.

She instinctively reached for the voice message button. Her finger rested on the screen for a few seconds, then she hesitated and let go, switching to typing instead.

After all, she was still in the angry phase; she couldn’t be too eager.

[Yu Nianyi: The night sky is so beautiful. It’s gorgeous.]

[Yu Nianyi: The fireworks are beautiful too.]

She lifted her eyes toward the window. At this moment, Lincheng’s night sky only had a few scattered bursts of firecrackers; compared to that, it seemed a little desolate.

Yu Nianyi walked to the window and raised her phone. In the glass, her loose hair was reflected; behind her reflection, the younger cousins were still watching TV. Just then, fireworks exploded over them in the reflection and turned into specks of starlight.

She tapped send. [It hasn’t officially started here yet.]

A minute later, a reply came back.

[Xi Yu: It’s shot very well; it captures that moment perfectly.]

[Xi Yu: Your home looks very lively.]

[Yu Nianyi: Yes. My older cousin, younger cousins, Uncle, and Aunt all came this year. They’re in the kitchen cooking right now.]

[Xi Yu: What are you going to do later?]

[Yu Nianyi: Eat, watch TV, play cards, set off firecrackers and things like that.]

[Xi Yu: And tomorrow?]

[Yu Nianyi: Tomorrow, we’ll be waiting for relatives to come by and pay New Year’s greetings; the elders are all staying home this year.]

[Xi Yu: Okay. You should get busy first.]

Yu Nianyi lowered her eyes and looked at those few words from Xi Yu for a while, then raised her head to the sky again. Someone was setting off fireworks at just the right moment; beneath the black night, a burst of purple light suddenly bloomed.

By now, it should already be past midnight in New Zealand. She vaguely remembered that Xi Yu didn’t have the habit of staying up late.

With so many people this year, the New Year’s Eve dinner had to be even more abundant. Thanks to the whole family pitching in, the dishes were basically finished in no time. By the time they came out, they could just sit down and watch TV.

This was family time; everyone sat together, chatted casually, ate casually, made a bit of noise casually, and felt the atmosphere of home. That was what made it feel like New Year.

Quite a few people in the family had learned cooking tricks from Yu Lan; almost everything they made was good enough to earn a thumbs-up.

By the time the meal was over, nearly every plate had been cleaned. The children had eaten a lot and still felt it wasn’t enough even after the adults had left the table.

Only when the clock struck the hour did things outside gradually become lively, crackling nonstop. Fireworks piled layer upon layer, their colors dazzling, the air thick with the smell of gunpowder.

The children ran out like they’d been let off the leash, shouting and screaming with excitement.

Zhang Ning stood in front of them like a little ringleader; she was the first to light the fireworks, then beckoned the children to stand back before peeking over to look.

Two meters away, a string of golden fireworks suddenly burst upward from the ground with crackling pops, rising higher and higher into the air, shooting straight up to three meters before spraying out in all directions.

The children shouted excitedly, staring fixedly without blinking, smiles unconsciously appearing at the corners of their mouths.

“It’s a new year; I’m a new me again,” Zhang Ning said.

Yu Nianyi mm’ed softly, her hand still in her coat pocket. She took out her phone and unlocked the screen, her gaze falling on the chat interface with Xi Yu.

After being apart for these few days, looking back on it, it seemed unnecessary.

Xi Yu had already said that because of work, she inevitably had to come into contact with Chen Shuo; everything was for the company.

Caring too much would only make her seem too childish. She ought to know what mattered more and what mattered less.

-

She had gone to bed very late yesterday, but the next day she was still forced to get up early.

The family’s New Year traditions still had to be observed. Yu Nianyi hurriedly washed up and got herself together. When she came back out, she saw a new message on her phone.

[Xi Yu: What’s your home address?]

Yu Nianyi was puzzled, but she still sent the location first. [Yu Nianyi: What’s up, Xi Yu?]

Buzz.

[Xi Yu: I bought some things; I’ll send them over.]

Yu Nianyi nodded. She wasn’t surprised by Xi Yu’s way of doing things and smiled. [Yu Nianyi: You’re being too polite, Xi Yu. The last time you bought those local specialties, my mom really liked them and kept saying she’d invite you over for a meal.]

[Xi Yu: I’m glad Auntie likes them; I’ll bring some more next time.]

Yu Nianyi snickered. [Yu Nianyi: It’d be even better if you came next time too.]

The other side was quiet for a while, then sent another message.

[Xi Yu: Okay.]

When everything was finally taken care of and the elders had been sent back, there were a few vehicles parked sparsely at the entrance to the neighborhood; people were coming and going, making it look especially crowded.

This neighborhood in Lincheng generally did not allow outside vehicles to enter; they could only stop for a short time and had to leave immediately once they were done.

Yu Nianyi hadn’t really paid attention at first. She only glanced over, and her gaze suddenly froze on the roadside.

In the first parking space by the entrance, a very familiar black Maybach was parked there. The shape of the car and its faint aura gave Yu Nianyi an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Her heart gave a jolt; she straightened unconsciously and placed a hand on the window edge to look outside.

“Hey, Nian Nian,” Yu Lan called. “Sit properly; if you lean like that, Mom can’t see the rearview mirror. It’s dangerous. Sit properly, quickly..."

Yu Nianyi gave an mm and obeyed, but her gaze still hadn’t left the black car.

Once they reached a safe spot, Yu Nianyi asked to get out first. Zhang Ning in the car, along with her younger cousins, found it strange and leaned out to look as well.

Yu Nianyi pushed through the bustling crowd and strode toward the black car.

Someone got out of the car; that person looked precisely in Yu Nianyi’s direction, and their eyes met.