Chapter 45 New Year's Eve
On New Year's Eve, an unprecedented heavy snow fell again, and the sky cleared up after noon.
Chu Jianshan, unusually, lingered in bed. He hastily threw on two pieces of clothing and opened the door, only to be pushed back by Cheng Yuan, who was guarding the door. Cheng Yuan then made him put on two more thick clothes before letting him out.
Chu Jianshan tried to resist, but Cheng Yuan coaxed, threatened, and bribed him until he had no choice but to leave, feeling like a doll of misfortune.
He got up too late and didn't have time to eat lunch, so Cheng Yuan set up a small table in a sunny spot in the corridor and reheated the food for him. Chu Jianshan couldn't help but feel that his disciple was very thoughtful.
These past two days, Ji Shi has been clamoring to have a snowball fight, and now is the perfect time.
Chu Jianshan was dressed too warmly, and the warm sun made him even lazier. He didn't want to move at all. Since Chu Jianshan wasn't going, Cheng Yuan naturally wouldn't go either. Ji Shi turned to look at Bai Qianfan, but Bai Qianfan, as always, thought it was a boring activity and waved his hand to decline.
Ji Shi stood there, looking at everyone with disappointment, his head almost touching the ground. Chu Jianshan felt a little sorry for him and was about to get up when he saw Lin Mumu coming over with fruits and snacks from the corner of the corridor.
Ji Shi's eyes lit up, and an idea came to him. He grabbed a snowflake from the ground, rolled it into a ball, and threw it at Lin Mumu.
Sensing something flying towards her, Lin Mumu turned around and kicked the snowball, shattering it. Her movement was so big that the hair ornaments on her head and body jingled, but the pastries on the plate didn't fall apart at all.
Lin Mumu instantly flew into a rage, quickly walked over, put down the snacks, and turned around to yell, "Ji Shi! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Ji Shi scratched his head guiltily: "I'm just bored because nobody wants to play with me. Do you like snowball fights? Come on, let's play together!"
After Ji Shi finished speaking, Lin Mumu's eyes darkened, and after a moment of silence, she said, "I don't like it."
"oh……"
Ji Shi completely lost hope and went to squat in a corner to draw circles.
With a soft thud, a fluffy snowball landed on Ji Shi's back and instantly disintegrated.
Ji Shi turned around and saw Lin Mumu smiling at him. He asked in confusion, "Didn't you say you didn't like it?"
Lin Mumu raised her chin: "Who told this city lord to be so kind? If you beg me, maybe I'll take pity on you and... sigh!"
A snowball hit Lin Mumu's skirt, and Ji Shi was still yelling at her, "Go ahead and hit me back if you dare!"
Lin Mumu gritted her teeth, lifted her skirt, and ran over: "You just wait!"
Lin Mumu was, after all, a young girl, and she always liked to wear bright and colorful clothes. Her water-red dress, set against the white snow, made her look more like a plum blossom in its first bloom, passionate and flamboyant.
Unfortunately, such a beautiful scene could not awaken Ji Shi's competitive spirit. Snowballs rained down on Lin Mumu, who was restricted by her dress and could not move her legs freely. She was hit several times.
Ji Shi finally stopped and burst into laughter: "How about that! Scared now!"
Lin Mumu slowly straightened up, her hair still covered in snowflakes. Her competitive spirit was also brought out. Her eyes were fixed on Ji Shi, who was still showing off in front of her. She gradually condensed spiritual power in her hands and made the snowball under her feet bigger and bigger. In a short while, it was half a person tall.
Ji Shi, unaware of what had happened, was boasting to Chu Jianshan and the others.
Chu Jianshan covered his mouth to suppress a laugh and gestured for Ji Shi to look in that direction. Ji Shi was puzzled, but as soon as he turned around, he saw a huge snowball flying straight towards his face.
Bang--
The snow piled on the branches was shaken off, and Ji Shi was firmly embedded in the trunk, impossible to pry off.
Bai Qianfan continued to make sarcastic remarks from the side: "Serves you right for not being considerate of that girl, now you've gotten beaten up."
Lin Mumu scoffed: "Who needs him to give way to me? This city lord can win by my own ability!"
Ji Shi finally crawled out, panting, and said, "That doesn't count! You used spiritual power!"
Lin Mumu shrugged: "You can use it too! Come on, let's play another round if you're not convinced!"
"Come on, come on!"
Ji Shi struggled to climb out of the snowdrift, and without a word, got straight to work, throwing snowballs back and forth at a speed that was too fast for anyone to see.
Chu Jianshan calmly took a sip of tea and quietly watched them make a fuss, occasionally being fed a snack by Cheng Yuan.
Bai Qianfan glanced at them sideways, a cryptic smile playing on his lips: "What are you all doing here...?"
"Cough cough cough..."
Chu Jianshan nearly choked on his tea, and feeling guilty, avoided looking at him: "What's wrong?"
Even though he wouldn't say it, Bai Qianfan knew perfectly well what was going on. He turned to look at Cheng Yuan, nudged him, and asked, "What exactly happened?"
Cheng Yuan looked straight ahead: "That's exactly what Brother Bai is thinking."
Bai Qianfan opened her mouth wide, but managed to cover it to keep a sound: "Chu Jianshan, you...you agreed?!"
Chu Jianshan remained silent, but his silence was tacit agreement. Bai Qianfan was so shocked that she couldn't speak. It was surprising that someone as eccentric as Chu Jianshan could be won over by Cheng Yuan. It seemed that Cheng Yuan really had some skills. She would have to learn from him if she wanted to find a girl in the future.
As night fell, countless red lanterns were lit up in the Lin residence, illuminating the entire mansion under the night sky. Ji Shi said that Lin Mumu was being wasteful, but Lin Mumu simply sealed his mouth with her spiritual power.
This was the first time she had such a lively New Year's Eve since her parents passed away, so naturally she wanted to make it as grand as possible.
She turned her head and saw that the once empty house was now filled with candles, the light and shadow filling every dark corner. Chu Jianshan and the others were waiting for them inside, chatting and laughing with Bai Qianfan. For the first time, the once lifeless house had come alive.
The servants had already prepared for making dumplings, but it was only sincere if they made the dumplings themselves. At this moment, Chu Jianshan was also struggling with the lump of dough in his hand.
Back in Changjin Mountain, he naturally never had the chance to make dumplings. He would just wait for Cheng Yuan to bring them over to eat. But he didn't realize how difficult it was to make dumplings until he tried it himself.
He tossed and turned the dough and filling in his hands, but they seemed to be at odds, refusing to be wrapped up no matter what he did. Either the filling would leak out, or he would end up with a dumpling. Bai Qianfan teased him from the side, "Chu Jianshan, we're making dumplings, not glutinous rice balls."
This remark infuriated Chu Jianshan so much that he threw the package away, exclaiming, "I'm not taking it anymore! Why is it so difficult?"
Cheng Yuan looked at Chu Jianshan, who was standing next to him with a puffed-up face, and couldn't help but chuckle. He took the dumpling that Chu Jianshan had messed up, changed the dough, and made a perfect dumpling in no time.
"Don't rush, take your time, let's try again, okay?"
Cheng Yuan handed him another mask. Chu Jianshan hesitated before accepting it, but as expected, it was another hideous thing that was so ugly that it was unbearable to look at.
Just then, Ji Shi came in, glanced at the things Chu Jianshan had packed, frowned, as if he hadn't seen them clearly, and looked at them several more times.
Chu Jianshan took a deep breath, suppressing his anger: "Say what you want to say."
Ji Shi remained silent for a long while before slowly squeezing out his guess: "You don't like dumplings?"
Chu Jianshan: "..."
"Hahahahahahahaha..."
Bai Qianfan on the other side was laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight, and her wildly waving hands almost caused her to drop the whole bowl of filling.
Enraged, Chu Jianshan stormed off, yelling, "I'm not taking any more!"
Cheng Yuan suppressed a laugh and pulled Chu Jianshan back, coaxing him, "I think... it's actually quite good-looking, really!"
“No,” Bai Qianfan straightened up, “you can really go back on your word and keep praising this?”
It really is true love!
Chu Jianshan knew perfectly well that Cheng Yuan was just making excuses for him, and he turned away angrily, refusing to look at Cheng Yuan, who tried to pull him away but to no avail.
"Alright, stop fooling around," Lin Mumu stepped in to save the day: "I have a copper coin here, who can wrap it up?"
“Oh right,” Bai Qianfan said seriously, “I almost forgot about that.”
Eating the dumpling containing the copper coin is a very auspicious sign, indicating that the person will have unparalleled good fortune in the coming year.
But upon seeing the copper coin, Ji Shi seemed to remember something, and quietly moved over to Chu Jianshan's side, calling out in a drawn-out voice, "Chu, Jian, Shan—"
Chu Jianshan looked up, confused as to what he wanted: "Is there something you need?"
"When are you going to return my two taels of silver?!"
Chu Jianshan: ? ? ? You still remember this!
Seeing Ji Shi holding out his hand in front of him with a demanding look, Chu Jianshan pretended not to see it, turned around, and smiled at everyone: "Oh dear, there are so many wrapped up, they can be cooked now."
Ji Shi chased after him: "Chu Jianshan, you're pretending to be stupid again..."
Chu Jianshan smiled and ignored him, suddenly feeling that it was really nice for everyone to be noisy and boisterous like this.
At the dinner table, Cheng Yuan contributed the most dishes, followed by Bai Qianfan. Ji Shi helped out, while Chu Jianshan was deprived of his right to use the kitchen by Bai Qianfan because he had set the firewood pile on fire twice.
"cheers--"
Everyone raised their glasses in celebration. It was truly not easy to get together again after so many years. They drank quite a bit of alcohol back and forth.
Ji Shi was still thinking about his dumplings. He was eager to eat them as soon as the servants brought them over, but he felt something was wrong after the first bite. He covered his neck, his face turned purple, and he couldn't speak.
Bai Qianfan was a little tipsy and asked Ji Shi in confusion, "Is it so delicious that you can't bear to swallow it?"
Upon hearing this, the others turned to look at Ji Shi, and after a long pause, someone suddenly shouted in the silence, "No, he's stuck!!"
After a series of scraping sounds as chairs slid across the floor, they all gathered around Ji Shi, busy with their hands and feet, but no one knew what they were doing.
Some stroked his back, some pulled his arms, some were busy prying open Ji Shi's mouth to check the situation, and some even tried to pinch him with their hands.
In the end, Lin Mumu exerted his strength and directly struck the copper coin with a Wuji Palm.
Bai Qianfan finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Ji Shi, who was still in shock, saying, "Looks like you're in for a lot of good luck next year. You almost choked to death."
Ji Shi rolled her eyes at him: "It's all your fault for making dumplings that were too small, I didn't even have time to chew them!"
Bai Qianfan retorted, "How can you blame me for this? Why don't you mention that ugly thing from Chu Jianshan?"
Chu Jianshan gave a forced smile: "This matter must not be mentioned again."
Chu Jianshan was happy tonight, and despite Cheng Yuan's repeated attempts to dissuade him, he still drank quite a bit of wine. He, who was usually sober, was unusually dizzy and saw several shadows of the people in front of him.
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