The bed is haunted
I work in the fields during the day, help in the kitchen at mealtime, and set off firecrackers with the neighborhood kids when I have nothing to do. Before I knew it, it was New Year's Eve.
Xu Zhiyuan took out the new clothes he bought for Jinnan and forced him to change into them. He also wore new clothes himself and even combed his hair early in the morning.
Grandma hadn't put on makeup in a while, and she looked much better. Chef Xu was still wearing his apron, and the two younger chefs had just enough time to light the fire and add oil when they entered the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen, Xu Zhiyuan seemed more like a young master than Jinnan. There was no other way. He had spent more time studying than working since he was a child. After entering the Jin family, he had no chance to do housework. Everything was taught to him by the old man on the spot.
Jinnan is different. He is proficient in everything from smashing garlic to stir-frying. The meat he cuts is also evenly thick and thin. Even Mr. Xu, who came from the kitchen team, praises him highly.
He thought Jin Nan was a good boy who remembered the good times and never forgot his roots. He kept praising Jin Nan for being sensible. Finally, he simply handed a big dish to Jin Nan and only instructed him on how to make it.
Jinnan was also very good at flipping the pot and turning the spoon. Xu Zhiyuan thought he could not lift such a heavy pot, but Jinnan flipped it with one hand more steadily than holding the steering wheel.
On New Year's Eve, four people shared eight dishes and a soup. The old man prepared five dishes, two of which Jinnan cooked, and Xu Zhiyuan helped by pounding a cucumber, which he barely took credit for.
When they opened the table and started eating, the Spring Festival Gala just started. Xu Zhiyuan came back from setting off firecrackers and found a big duck leg in his bowl. I don't know who picked it for him.
He guessed it must be Jinnan. If grandpa and grandma picked it up, it must be one for each of them.
Although he was neither old nor young, Xu Zhiyuan got the first chicken leg.
Duck tongue, fish cakes, enoki mushrooms with jellyfish, and a dish of fried glutinous rice balls sprinkled with candied winter melon were Grandpa Xu's specialties. Jinnan followed the recipe and made a squirrel mandarin fish, but he wasn't sure how it tasted. Grandma was the first to pick up her chopsticks, took a bite, and gave him a thumbs-up.
Of course, they couldn't finish the food, so they left a whole plate of steamed fish untouched, along with a pile of leftovers on the table. After a simple cleanup, the family sat in front of the TV and watched the boring Spring Festival Gala.
Old people don't sleep much, and Xu Zhiyuan is used to it. It was Jinnan who fell asleep first. As soon as he closed his eyes, Xu Zhiyuan patted his face to wake him up.
Xu Zhiyuan: "You have to stay up on New Year's Eve. Stay up for another hour. After midnight, you can go to bed."
Jin Nan was so sleepy that he couldn't hear a word and was about to slide down the sofa. Xu Zhiyuan grabbed his clothes and held him in his arms to prevent him from sliding to the ground.
Seeing Jinnan so sleepy, grandma couldn't help but laugh and poured some iced drinks for Jinnan to wake him up. Jinnan felt embarrassed and sat up drowsily, but was soon lulled to sleep by the boring skit.
This time it was the ringing of the telephone that woke him.
"Jinnan! The fireworks here will make too much noise, so I'm going to call you first to wish you a happy new year! Ha!"
Lin Jiaze's noisy voice came from the receiver, and behind him was the laughter of his brother, sister-in-law, parents, and the whole family was having a great time.
Partners, old classmates, friends who played together, all kinds of familiar and unfamiliar people called. As midnight passed, the phone calls continued, and even Xu Zhiyuan's side became noisy.
The last call came from You Yi, calling Xu Zhiyuan and sending a quick greeting to Jin Nan. This year, their family was spending the New Year at the Lido. You Yi had taken the two elders to the top floor of the Lido Center and, amidst the raging winter wind, called Xu Zhiyuan.
After the New Year's greetings phone call, Jinnan was completely awakened. Leaning on the sofa pillow, he suddenly realized something.
"Li Hongfang didn't call!"
This is very unusual.
Jinnan and Li Hongfang knew each other from college. After meeting at a party and discovering they were alumni, they began meeting up for drinks frequently. Jinnan had nothing else to do, while Li Hongfang rarely found a drinking buddy who was just right. Often, Jinnan would collapse before he could even finish his drink, or, like him, they were just as prone to alcoholic outbursts.
Jinnan's good drinking capacity was inherited from Jin Licheng. He can drink anything and never makes a fuss even when he's drunk. He can sleep without a headache or a hot face. Even the elders of Li Hongfang's family say that he has a drinking star in his destiny.
Over the years, their friendship naturally extended beyond the drinking party. Li Hongfang was a wealthy artist who specialized in painting, clothing, and sculpture. He would give any extra clothes he made to Jinnan to wear. Jinnan acted like a clothes hanger, letting him take photos as long as his face wasn't shown. Jinnan also loved asking him for help and confiding in him about his troubles.
There are many alcoholics, and Li Hongfang is no exception.
He always calls Jinnan on time every New Year just to say happy birthday. There's no reason why he would suddenly be absent this year.
Jinnan felt something was wrong, so he called back, but the caller said the phone was out of service area.
Out of service area?!
Jin Nan frantically made several calls, and it was only when Xu Zhiyuan reminded him that he remembered to contact the Li family's house in Lido. The housekeeper answered the phone and quickly found the person using the location of his watch.
When the picture was sent to him, even Jinnan was speechless.
Li Hongfang's positioning showed that he was now in an uninhabited area west of Kuqa, and the signal point had not moved for three or four hours.
Jinnan didn't have to worry about what happened next. He went upstairs to take a shower, and after snuggling into bed with Xu Zhiyuan, he still waited with his eyes open until a little after one or two o'clock.
The phone rang, and Li Hongfang's voice came from the unfamiliar number: "Jinnan, Happy New Year."
Li Hongfang kept panting, as if he had just finished an intense exercise, and if you listened carefully you could hear some panting sounds.
Jin Nan was about to ask when he felt something furry moving towards his hand. He looked down and saw that it was Xu Zhiyuan who was pretending to be asleep.
He had no choice but to click on the speaker.
"What were you doing? Looking for the snowy mountains?"
"It was dark and I didn't pay attention to the road. The car broke down in the sand." Li Hongfang sniffed. "Jinnan, you saved my life. Why did you think of me?"
"New Year's greetings," Jinnan said. "You didn't call me, so I called you, but we were out of service."
An arm crossed Jin Nan's waist, holding him tightly. Xu Zhiyuan didn't open his eyes, and it was unclear whether he was really pretending to be asleep. Perhaps he was asleep? When awake, Xu Zhiyuan would not be so inconsiderate.
Not to mention hugging him, even the casual skin contact would make Xu Zhiyuan subconsciously avoid it, as if Jinnan was some kind of dirty thing.
His sense of propriety is also one of the reasons why Jinnan has never been able to confirm whether Xu Zhiyuan likes her.
Li Hongfang was smiling happily on the other end of the phone.
"I'll have to thank you very much when I get back. I'll treat you to a nice meal. Is there anything you need? I'll buy it for you," Li Hongfang said. "If you don't want anything, I'll have to give myself to you."
Jinnan knew he was joking and was about to retort when she felt a hand holding her thigh under the quilt and gently stroking it.
His whole body was stiff, goose bumps appeared on his skin, and he repeatedly checked whether Xu Zhiyuan was asleep.
His eyes were closed, his breathing steady, even his long eyelashes didn't flutter. These days, they slept together, and Xu Zhiyuan would sometimes hug him like a pillow. Jinnan attributed this habit to a lack of love in childhood, or perhaps simply a sleeping habit.
Jinnan was willing to be Xu Zhiyuan's pillow.
But that didn't mean he was willing to let Xu Zhiyuan touch his thighs while he was sleeping. He could do that, but...if Xu Zhiyuan touched him a few more times, Jin Nan would really come.
If Xu Zhiyuan woke up and saw him standing up, the scene would be so devastating no matter how he thought about it.
Jinnan cautiously tried to pull his leg out of Xu Zhiyuan's grasp. Li Hongfang stopped responding on the phone, still calling, "Jinnan? Xiaonan? Nannan? Where have you been?"
"I'm... fine!" Jin Nan lowered his voice, but to no avail. He could only speak faster to Li Hongfang, "I have something else to contact you tomorrow."
“Beep, beep…”
Li Hongfang looked at the hung up phone with a unhappy expression.
It's almost two o'clock. What's going on? What could it be? Is there something haunting under the covers?
The bed was indeed haunted.
Jinnan tried to pull out the radish for a long time but couldn't get Xu Zhiyuan's hand free. He didn't dare to move too much, so he tried to pry Xu Zhiyuan's hand away carefully, but was touched on the arm again.
Xu Zhiyuan was so unreasonable in his sleep, like an octopus's suction cup, which would stick back again after being pulled out. Jin Nan tried to pull for a long time but could only save his thigh. As a result, he fell completely into Xu Zhiyuan's arms.
He finally understood why he had that dream about being strangled by a snake that night.
"Xu Zhiyuan, Xu Zhiyuan!" Jin Nan called him softly, trying to wake him up.
Xu Zhiyuan naturally did not open his eyes.
He hugged her tighter, and with his hands he lifted up Jin Nan's shirt and placed his hands on his waist. The temperature of his palms was frighteningly high.
Jin Nan didn't dare move, being strangled to the point of being unable to breathe. She could only curse softly: "Xu Zhiyuan, who would dare to marry you if you're like this! I haven't even spent my whole life with you yet... I'll be strangled to death by you! Xu Zhiyuan!"
Xu Zhiyuan was still holding him, but the strength seemed to have loosened a little, and at least Jinnan could breathe.
Jin Nan was exhausted from struggling, so he gave up and fell into Xu Zhiyuan's arms. It must be said that Xu Zhiyuan's muscles were still quite soft. That night, Jin Nan had another dream of being strangled, this time by a sea monster octopus the size of a ship.
Jin Nan woke up early in the morning and woke up alone in bed with black eyes, questioning his life.
On New Year's Day, there was no early wake-up call, but the other three people in the family had already gotten up, unable to sleep. Jinnan was the last one to sit at the table.
Grandpa Xu saw that Jinnan looked unhappy and said jokingly, "You are young and your body is not good. You will feel weak after staying up all night."
Jinnan was not alone because of his night watch last night, but the real reason was inconvenient to say, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger. After a round of inspection, the culprit did not appear.
"Are you looking for Zhiyuan?" Grandpa Xu handed him a braised egg. "He and his grandmother are making red envelopes. Today they have to go door to door to wish everyone a happy new year. Those little kids always wait for him every year."
Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Xu Zhiyuan came out of the first-floor bedroom with two stacks of red envelopes, placing one stack next to the old man and the other in front of Jinnan.
That stack of red envelopes must be as high as Jinnan’s bowl.
"Three hundred for a pack, use it to buy candy," said Xu Zhiyuan.
Old Master Xu couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he took his bowl and left, leaving Jin Nan and Xu Zhiyuan staring at each other.
"Xu Zhiyuan, who pays your salary?" Jinnan asked.
"You." Xu Zhiyuan answered as a matter of course.
"You use my salary to give me a red envelope?" Jin Nan emphasized word by word.
What's wrong with handing in wages? Xu Zhiyuan thought to himself. He looked at Jinnan and smiled, then said after a while, "Is it okay to offer sacrifices to the God of Wealth on the first day of the new year?"
Jinnan: “…Okay.”
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