Chapter Fifty

A few seconds later, there was another knock on the door.

It was just a little stronger, making the sound more distinct than before.

You Congxi twitched her fingers, perhaps annoyed by the noise, she clicked her tongue, grabbed a nearby cushion and haphazardly covered her face.

There was no sound from outside the door.

After an unknown amount of time, You Congxi felt that she was barely breathing, so she picked up the pillow that was pressing against her face and threw it aside.

She lay on her back on the sofa, took a few deep breaths, and once her breathing had calmed down, she stared blankly at the chandelier above her head.

A bunch of things came to mind: dumplings, Lidong, You Yuanming, eggs, Jingling, Old David... They ran past like a herd of alpacas, pooping and scattering in her brain, then howling and running off in all directions, leaving only fur and droppings behind.

...The name Shen Yue was immediately shoved away by a frenzy of alpacas as soon as it appeared.

You Congxi sighed and wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Chen Yue, Chen Yue, Chen Yue Chen Yue Chen Yue..." she chanted while clapping her hands, not knowing why, she just suddenly wanted to do it.

The phone, which was pressed under my body, made a "buzzing" sound.

You Congxi's "Song of Chenyue" was interrupted, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. She paused for a few seconds before trying to get her phone out from her side.

As a result, she overestimated her arm length and sensitivity, and underestimated the cunning of the phone. After trying for a long time, she could only manage to touch the edge.

"Tsk," You Congxi exclaimed in fury, "Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk!"

She refused to believe it and tried to reach inward with her folded hand, but still failed.

In a fit of anger, he withdrew his hand, placed his hands together on his lower abdomen, and closed his eyes.

I was so angry that my head felt a little oxygen-deprived, so I decided to lie down peacefully for a while and take a nap wherever I fell down.

A tingling sensation ran down my back, and then my phone vibrated again.

Then I started singing while vibrating.

"...I am like that little bird in the forest! Striving to break free and soar into the embrace of the blue sky! Bravely opening my arms..."

You Congxi sat up abruptly and hung up the phone.

The blasting DJ music echoed through a brain filled with hair and dung, and the vanished alpacas came running back to dance.

She rested her head on her hand, closed her eyes, and calmed herself for a few seconds before standing up, walking over, and opening the door.

"......"

The boy was clearly surprised when the tightly closed door suddenly opened, and he was startled, his hand still hanging in mid-air as if he was about to knock on the door.

You Congxi looked at him without saying anything.

"You scared me," Shen Yue said, putting his hand down and letting out a sigh of relief. "I was worried something had happened. You wouldn't answer the door or the phone when I knocked. I thought you had fainted from low blood sugar again."

"..." You Congxi recalled that embarrassing morning reading session at her grandmother's house, and felt the herd of alpacas stirring in her heart again. She said stiffly, "I'm fine."

"It's good that you're alright," Shen Yue said, his voice still very nasal. He sniffed and smiled at the girl, "Happy Winter Solstice! Come and eat dumplings!"

The lights in the corridor were malfunctioning, flickering intermittently. You Congxi stood in front of the open door, the light behind her casting a faint shadow on the boy. The boy, standing in the darker corridor, softened his cold and stern features, revealing a hint of gentleness.

You Congxi's heart suddenly softened.

She blinked, lowered her eyes slightly, and muttered softly, "...Peace and health on the day of Lidong."

-

I was surprised to find Shenzhou there while I was exploring Congxi.

While Shen Zhou was on the balcony making a phone call, Shen Yue whispered gossip in her ear: "She got dumped and came here to lick her wounds."

You Congxi wasn't interested in Shen Zhou's private affairs, but Shen Yue's eyes lit up when he talked about his brother's gossip, so she listened to him half-heartedly.

These two cousins ​​look about 50% alike, but their overall demeanor is quite different.

Shen Yue appears cold on the surface, but he is actually playful, talkative, and cheerful; Shen Zhou appears approachable, but it is obvious that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Shen Yue said that Shen Zhou's greatest pleasure in life was to show off. He would wear glasses and pretend to be a refined person, but in reality, he was just a refined scoundrel. He was practically a person with a mind of his own.

When Shen Zhou returned from the balcony after making the call, he could tell from Shen Yue's expression that the kid was definitely talking badly about him.

So he pointed at Shen Yue with his phone: "If you keep talking nonsense, you won't get any dumplings today."

Shen Zhou made a whole table of dumplings with two kinds of fillings, some meat and some vegetarian. Each dumpling had a thin skin and a generous filling, and they were round and plump like little gold ingots. They were very pretty.

Shen Yue whispered in You Congxi's ear: "After being heartbroken, he turned his grief and anger into cooking skills."

Shen Zhou was bringing out the last plate of dumplings. It's unclear whether he heard her, but You Congxi clearly felt the gossiping boy next to her stiffen after being glanced at.

"Brother, I was wrong." Shen Yue knew when to yield. Based on his experience of playing with Shen Zhou for more than ten years since childhood, he knew that Shen Zhou was really capable of kicking him out of his house (even if it was his house) and leaving him hungry and exposed to the cold wind.

Shen Zhou didn't react much. He didn't even spare a glance for his troublesome younger brother. Instead, he turned to the obedient girl, who was as docile as a quail, and said with a smile, "Cong Xi, eat more."

You Congxi nodded cautiously.

She has a bit of social anxiety, is best at bullying her own family, and is most afraid of interacting with elders.

...For some reason, even though they were of the same generation, she subconsciously felt that Shen Zhou was an elder...maybe because his tone of voice was too kind...

The alpacas in my mind cautiously shook their fur and shrank back to where they were.

Shen Yue poured some vinegar into the small bowl in front of You Congxi and asked her if she wanted the Laba garlic soaking in it.

You Congxi shook his head.

“This was made by my brother’s dad on Laba Festival this year,” Shen Yue poured some vinegar for himself before handing the jar to Shen Zhou. He glanced at the somewhat uncomfortable girl and suddenly changed the subject, “Did Yin Zixuan tell you that she took the initiative to add me back to the group chat?”

You Congxi took the bait as expected: "When?"

“Not long after I was kicked out,” Shen Yue smiled smugly as he picked up a dumpling for the girl, “he probably realized that the group couldn’t function without me as their pillar.”

You Congxi was a little speechless: "...Yes, I thought it was a load-bearing column, but it turned out to be just a layer of wall plaster. It would indeed be unsightly if it fell down."

Shen Yue: "......"

"Pfft." Shen Zhou next to him almost burst out laughing. He turned his face and covered his mouth to cough, but he choked on his saliva and laughed and coughed, which annoyed Shen Yue even more.

"Hey!" Shen Yue called out in dissatisfaction.

"Let's eat." Shen Zhou finally took pity on him and stopped mocking him, making a truce gesture.

You Congxi breathed a sigh of relief. After her elders spoke and she had just laughed and enjoyed herself with the people, she was finally less tense and picked up her chopsticks.

It's all because You Yuanming left her with her grandparents when she was little. Those two are both troublemakers, and then there are You Yuanming's weird relatives. I don't know what their reasoning is, or what their obsession with family gatherings is, but now she has psychological trauma from the middle-aged and elderly people who are one, two, or three generations above her... including her ancestors for eighteen generations.

Seeing this, Shen Yue breathed a sigh of relief and picked out all the best-looking dumplings from the plate for You Congxi. He had specially asked Shen Zhou to make carrot-filled dumplings, which would surely delight You Congxi.

"I'm so beautiful, so beautiful, so beautiful, I'm so drunk, so drunk, so drunk..." Shen Yue hummed a song while picking up dumplings.

"One should not speak while eating." Shen Zhou took an elegant bite of a dumpling, chewed slowly, and then looked up and said calmly.

You Congxi immediately closed his mouth, which he had just opened.

“Come on, Congxi,” Shen Zhou said, pulling out a few bottles of beer from somewhere and placing them on the table. He smiled at You Congxi in a friendly manner. “Just say what you need to say. This rule has only ever applied to Shen Yue since we were little.”

He pulled the tab, pushed it to the girl, and smiled, "Shen Yue was even more talkative when he was younger than he is now. If we let him keep talking, no one will be able to eat."

Shen Yue stretched out his hand and grabbed a bottle of orange juice with pulp.

—Shenzhou banned him from drinking alcohol, citing his cold as the reason.

“Okay, it’s the Beginning of Winter today, so we’ll have some wine and dumplings,” Shen Zhou said, grabbing a can of beer, opening it, and looking at the two of them. “Let’s…”

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

Shen Yue paused for a moment, then followed Shen Zhou's gaze.

You Congxi sat upright, holding a beer can, his eyes fixed on Shen Zhou, yet seemingly looking elsewhere.

This is a unique skill she honed through numerous family gatherings at the You family's residence.

As she expected, Shen Zhou's opening remarks were followed by either summaries and outlooks or winter solstice greetings, and it would take at least ten or twenty minutes to finish.

On the surface, she was listening attentively to Shen Zhou's speech, but her mind had already drifted to the alpaca herd and feeding them grass.

Why is there no sound?

She refocused her gaze, only to be startled by the concerned looks in the eyes of the two people.

“You Xiaoyu,” Shen Yue said, still shaken, “were you… just having an out-of-body experience?”

You Congxi took a sip of beer: "I'm thinking about whether to drink first or eat dumplings first."

After saying that, he stuffed a plump dumpling into his mouth, slowly rested his left hand on his forehead, and pretended that he was concentrating on eating the dumpling.

Shen Zhou glanced at the girl's reddened ear tips and smiled silently.

He glanced again at Shen Yue, who kept piling dumplings onto You Congxi's plate...

Two clowns.

"On the day of Lidong (the beginning of winter), the more dumplings and beer you drink, the better," Shen Zhou said, raising his beer. He then tilted his head back and took a big gulp, wiping his mouth with a hearty gesture. "Eat more!"

The three of them clinked glasses, and You Congxi finally relaxed, freeing himself from the shadow of the family dinner.

Eat dumplings and drink alcohol. Eat dumplings and drink alcohol. Eat dumplings and drink alcohol...

"Am I a pig?" You Congxi finally used her chopsticks to stop Shen Yue from picking up dumplings for the umpteenth time. "I'm about to throw up."

The plates that had been piled high were now empty, and a pile of empty beer bottles lay on the table, some standing and some lying down. You Congxi took a sip of beer and swallowed the last bite of dumplings.

She put down her chopsticks, clutched her stomach, and burped.

She remained calm and composed, making it impossible to tell whether she was drunk or sober, except that her blinking was a little slow.

She was the only one left at the table, and she looked up.

Shen Yue went to find her some digestive pills. Shen Zhou drank a few bottles of wine and went to the balcony to make a phone call. When he came back, his eyes were frighteningly red. Ten minutes earlier, he had left with his phone, making an excuse to go downstairs for a morning run... You Congxi glanced at the thick night outside the window, wondering why she was going for a night run in broad daylight.

Shen Yue returned with a handful of digestive tablets, glanced down at the girl sitting quietly, took three guitar picks into his palm, and handed them to her: "Eat them."

You Congxi didn't move.

After a long pause, she pushed away the large hand in front of her, slowly raised her head, glanced at the cold-faced boy, then lowered her head again, touched the chopsticks lying across the bowl, and said, "I like you."

Shen Yue felt as if all the blood in his body had stopped flowing.

The huge house was silent for a few seconds.

A moment later, he heard his own strained voice say, "...What?"

"I like you..." You Congxi repeated obediently, her voice low.

One sentence that could drive him crazy.

Shen Yue's face turned cold.

because......

You Congxi looked fondly at the remaining carrot filling at the bottom of the bowl and said something he liked.

"......"

That damn You Congxi brat likes carrot dumplings!!!