Farewell dinner

After everyone discussed around the table, they finally decided to prepare ten tables of meals the day before Zou Weichen left, to see him off and to celebrate Shan Yun's birthday.

I was on my way back to City A on his birthday, so I didn't celebrate it. Although we met the next day and made love in the room, I considered it as celebrating his birthday.

But Xu Ru said she missed it and insisted on making up for it.

It happened to be the weekend, and several friends rushed back to see us off.

Early in the morning, Shan Yun was still asleep when he vaguely heard the noise downstairs. He turned over, but his hand did not touch the person next to him, and he opened his eyes.

After he washed up, he went downstairs.

It was very lively downstairs. Several neighbor aunties were busy. Jixiang and Zou Weichen were sitting on the bench at the door plucking chicken feathers. Even Xu Ru, who never cooked, was washing vegetables with her sleeves rolled up.

Shan Yun felt embarrassed to see a group of people busying around early in the morning.

He had expected to invite relatives and friends to dinner by ordering ten tables of food and drinks from the hotel and setting up the tables, but he did not expect this scene to happen, and everyone worked together to prepare.

Aunt Ji saw Shan Yun and said in a hoarse voice: "Our little birthday star has woken up. Wait for him. The aunties will make a lot of delicious food for you today."

Shan Yun came to the door, pulled a stool, sat aside and watched the two brothers plucking chicken feathers. He thought it was quite strange that there was actually such a way to celebrate birthdays.

When he was a child, on his birthday, if his parents were free, they would take him out to a restaurant for dinner and invite a few classmates he was close to, their parents, teachers, and their own colleagues. Several tables of people would sit together to eat, talk about the child, talk about work, and watch the child running around. The only happiest thing was when the cake came out and everyone would surround him and sing birthday songs.

At that moment, he felt like he was being held in high esteem by everyone.

After entering junior high school, his parents were no longer free and he didn't want to spend time with adults. His parents gave him money and he would either invite his good friends to go to KFC or McDonald's for a big meal or go to the amusement park for a spin, and they even forgot to give him cake.

Like this, everyone worked together to cook, chatting and laughing. Although they all sat at the table to eat in the end, the lively and warm atmosphere during the process was something he had never experienced before. Everyone was busy cooking, just like when they went to Uncle Zhao's house to celebrate the holidays in the past.

"Why are you here so early?"

Jixiang grabbed the chicken head and tried hard to fight with the short hair on it. "My mother woke me up early in the morning."

Grandma brought a bowl of noodles to Shan Yun, along with two red eggs, and said in a mix of dialect and Mandarin: "Eat, longevity noodles, and red eggs for your birthday."

Jixiang just stood up to get some water.

Shan Yun took the bowl, and Zou Weichen helped translate, "Grandma Xu said that we should eat longevity noodles on our birthdays. The two red eggs symbolize longevity and good luck in pairs. When you eat the noodles later, you must not bite them off, otherwise you will not live longer."

"Is there such a saying?" Shan Yun was surprised. He ate the noodles in big mouthfuls, and his grandmother was pleased to see him, and she went back to her work. Aunt Ji saw Jixiang standing by the faucet playing with his phone, so she scolded him and told him to go to the kitchen to check the fire.

Shan Yun finished a whole bowl of noodles and ate a red egg. He felt like his stomach was about to burst. Seeing that he had left one egg, Zou Weichen urged him, "Eat both of them. Don't leave any."

"I really can't eat any more. Why don't you eat it? There won't be any left anyway."

Zou Weichen shook his hands that were still stained with chicken feathers and said, "Your hands are dirty, eat it yourself." Shan Yun rolled his eyes at him, picked up the egg and peeled it. Only then did Zou Weichen lower his head and continue plucking the chicken feathers.

Shan Yun peeled the egg, looked at Zou Weichen, and put the egg on his lips. Zou Weichen looked up and said with a smile: "Hurry up, it doesn't matter who eats it. Help me eat one, so that grandma can see it later."

Zou Weichen had no choice but to take a bite. Shan Yun just held it and waited for him to finish the first bite before continuing to feed him. When he saw Zou Weichen finish the egg, he said with satisfaction, "I'm sharing my birthday luck with you. Everything will go smoothly for you in the future."

Shan Yun stood up and took the dishes to wash. Zou Weichen stared at his back with a slight smile on his face.

Xu Ru had been watching from the sidelines for a long time. Although she knew and accepted them, and also heard from everyone that Shan Yun had changed a lot because of him, it was only now as a bystander that she truly felt the changes in Shan Yun.

She walked over and sat next to Zou Weichen.

"Aunt."

"I've been hearing about you from Xiaoyun, but we haven't had a proper chat yet." Xu Ru moved a stool and sat down. "Since he went back home for the New Year, I found that he has changed a lot."

Jixiang was lying at the door of the kitchen. When he saw Shan Yun washing the dishes and about to run out, he suddenly said, "Are you full? Come over here and watch the fire with me."

"No, I want to go help Achen." Shan Yun pouted and was about to run out, but was pulled back by Jixiang.

He pointed outside with his chin, "Give the mother-in-law and son-in-law a chance to chat, uh... daughter-in-law, son-in-law, bah, I don't know how to say it."

Shan Yun glanced outside, patted Jixiang's shoulder, and said with a smile: "I understand, I understand."

"The change was his own, and I didn't do anything about it."

"Don't be so modest, I can see it." Xu Ru smiled, "Maybe I'm used to seeing Xiaoyun, and now I feel like I've gained something by having you."

Zou Weichen didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Xu Ru burst into laughter and patted Zou Weichen on the shoulder, "Don't be so reserved, I'm very open-minded."

"Auntie, um, thank you." Zou Weichen paused, "Not only did you agree that Shan Yun and I could be together, but also my sister, thank you for taking care of her."

"What are you thanking me for? I'm glad to have a new sister. I'll have someone to go shopping with me in the future. I love buying clothes for others, but Xiaoyun is a boy and doesn't like to go shopping with me. I'm still happy. You can study without worry. Xiaoyue will be taken care of by us." Xu Ru stood up. "Next time you come back, do you want to change your words?"

Zou Weichen smiled and nodded.

The neighbors all came to eat, and after eating they sat and chatted for a while. Gradually they all went home to rest, leaving only Aunt Ji and her friends. In the end, they all sat together at a table to drink and chat.

Aunt Ji also poured fruit wine for Jiang Zhe and the others. Shan Yun stretched out her hand to stop her and said, "Aunt Ji, we can't drink so much. We still have to see you off tomorrow." As she spoke, she did not forget to reach out and grab the hand of the person next to her and hold it in her hand.

Auntie Ji slapped his hand away, "I didn't know you guys were drinking by the bottle outside and acting like kids in front of us. This fruit wine tastes very sweet."

He poured some wine for everyone and said, "Come on, have a drink. You are all little adults now. You can start drinking a little, but don't drink too much."

Everyone raised their glasses and said, "I wish Wei Chen a bright future and Shan Yun a happy birthday."

Everyone was eating and chatting at the table. Aunt Ji was talking to Shan Yun, while Wang Bingyan and Nong Chan were helping everyone clean up.

"Xiao Yun, when you were little you stayed here for a year. Do you remember that you often came to eat with us and fought with Jixiang? Your grandmother couldn't bear to beat you, and I couldn't bear to either, so we beat Jixiang. You came from a big city, you were white and tender, and Aunt Ji couldn't bear to beat you."

The three people who were drinking and chatting in the back all laughed when they heard this. Jixiang put down his glass, pointed at Shan Yun and said, "Remember, when you were a kid, I took the beatings you deserved."

"Are you so miserable?" Zou Weichen said with a smile.

"Not only that, Young Master Yun used to be a crybaby, crying for every little thing..." Zou Weichen suddenly became excited and urged Jixiang to continue.

"When Yun Shao first came, he didn't dare to touch anything and just huddled there. He would cry whenever we approached him or touched him. After a few days when he got familiar with the environment, he was still very angry. My mother asked me to play with him again, and when I touched him, he bit me. You see, there are still bite marks on my arm." Jixiang lifted his sleeves, and there were indeed two tooth marks on his arm.

"So you bite so fiercely?" Zou Weichen held his face with one hand and looked at Shan Yun. His face was flushed due to drinking. Although he asked this, his eyes and expression seemed to be saying: Will you bite me?

Shan Yun tried hard to recall his memories when he was six or seven years old. Did he know Jixiang at that time? He looked at Jixiang. He really didn't remember playing with Jixiang before. He only remembered that the environment here was very bad, the language was not understandable, and he just wanted to go back quickly.

You should remember that time, it must have been wonderful.

"Ah, Aunt Ji has had a few drinks and is talking too much. You youngsters, go have fun. I'm going to rest early since we're not opening the stall tonight." Aunt Ji stood up and before leaving, she reminded them, "You guys can't drink anymore. And Jixiang, you'll be back to school tomorrow, so go back and rest early."

As soon as Aunt Ji left, Jixiang kept pouring wine into the cup. Zou Weichen held half of his face with his hands, his eyes were blurry, and it was unclear whether he was looking at them or in a daze.

Several people were clinking glasses and chatting.

Everyone had already gone to bed. Shan Yun came out after washing up. Jixiang and Zou Weichen were already sitting at the table, looking drowsy.

He walked to Zou Weichen's side and saw Zou Weichen looking up at him, then stretched out his hand and pointed at Jixiang, "Send him back."

"Okay, don't move, I'll take you there." He was worried about Zou Weichen and reminded him, "Be good, either wait for me here or go back to the room and wait for me."

After getting Zou Weichen's nod, Shan Yun helped Jixiang back home. It was just next door, and it would only take a few minutes. But when he came back, Zou Weichen had disappeared.

Shan Yun ran upstairs worriedly. Looking at Zou Weichen's appearance, it seemed that he had drunk a lot, so he told him not to run around.

As a result, there was no one in the room, but the cell phone and the coat I had just put on were hanging on the chair.

"Did you drink too much and go back on your own?" Shan Yun said as he climbed out of the window sill and went to the opposite side. The house had been bought by Xu Ru, and now it was the property of Shan Yun, so Shan Yun could come and go freely.

He was still thinking about doing something tonight, but Zou Weichen was drunk, and he was planning to make a dedication on their last night together.

Shan Yun searched the building opposite up and down but still couldn't find anyone. He was originally planning to complain to him, but now he was just worried.

"Wait until I find you, and see how I'll deal with you. What do you mean by a night of pleasure? You still want someone to find you in the middle of the night..." Shan Yun cursed as he crawled back to his room.

As a result, before he jumped off the windowsill, he saw Zou Weichen wearing pajamas, sitting cross-legged on the bed with wet hair, smiling at him.

Seeing Shan Yun, he got out of bed and walked over.

Shan Yun knelt on the windowsill, "So you went to take a shower, you made me..."

The words were blocked in his mouth, the back of his head was grabbed and pulled down, leaving only his wide-open eyes and the eyes that were close to him.

"What do you mean by a night of passion? Huh?"