Lin Yao came out of his house and felt relaxed when he got into Guan Ze's car. His mother stood at the gate and shouted, "You guys should stay outside tonight. Don't eat gutter oil—"
"Don't worry!" Lin Yao lowered the car window and shouted.
"Guan Ze, go back and try to make the twice-cooked apple pork you told me about. If you don’t know how, call me and ask me—" Mom continued shouting.
"Okay—" Guan Ze shouted towards Lin Yao's car window.
"Speak a little quieter. My ears are going deaf." Lin Yao frowned.
"You howl just as loud as I do," Guan Ze started the car, "Where are we going now?"
"Drive first," Lin Yao was in a good mood. He didn't mind Guan Ze driving him to the Second Ring Road to play in the traffic jam. But after thinking about it, he patted his head and said, "Do you want to go to the welfare home?"
"Well, let's go see my son," Guan Ze drove the car out of the community, "Let's go to the supermarket and buy something for him first."
The supermarket was very busy. The various big sales and promotions before the New Year attracted a lot of people. Lin Yao estimated that his mother would also be out one of these days.
"My mom should be out buying stuff these days," Lin Yao followed Guan Ze around the children's toy section, "Do you want to come along and try it out?"
"Okay," Guan Ze nodded, took a car model and put it in the shopping cart, "I called Mr. Qiu this morning. I won't go back to work until after the Chinese New Year, so I'm free during this period."
"Well, have you felt any discomfort in your wound these two days?" Lin Yao looked at Guan Ze's head and wanted to touch it again, but there were too many people around him, so he finally put his hands in his pockets.
"The wound is fine. The stitches have been removed for more than ten days. How can it be uncomfortable?" Guan Ze paused and added slowly, "It's true that my butt is a little uncomfortable."
Lin Yao was stunned for a moment, then quickly looked around and shouted in a low voice: "Your face is almost as big as the Shaolin Temple cooking pot!"
"Why," Guan Ze curled his lips, "You're done enjoying yourself and you won't let me say I'm uncomfortable."
"My butt hurt at that time, but I didn't complain about it in public. Besides, I didn't do anything to you even though you were cheating." Lin Yao took a few dolls and put them in the shopping cart. There were quite a few little girls in the welfare home.
"I can't bear it, so I'll just cancel the foreplay and not do any preparation..."
"Shut up!" Lin Yao's face turned red and he wanted to bury his face in the pile of dolls.
They bought a lot of food and toys and filled the trunk. When driving to the welfare home, Lin Yao was particularly moved: "I feel like a love ambassador now."
"Yeah." Guan Ze nodded.
"But I'm a little worried. I promised Lu Teng to take him out to play when you're not around," Lin Yao frowned, "but I ran away for a month. Will he think I lied to him?"
"You're going to be mashed garlic in your next life," Guan Ze smiled at him, "a big bowl."
"Get lost! Didn't you also lie to him and say you were on a business trip?"
"I said I would go see him when I got back from my business trip. Now I'm back and I'm going to see him," Guan Ze tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Lin Suan Jia, Lin Suan Ni, if I run into you in the next life, should I eat you or not?"
"Eat! You must eat! If I'm garlic paste in the next life, you'll definitely have to find someone else. You'd better eat me every day and then suffocate whoever you find to death," Lin Yao planned, "Then you'll live out your life alone and die, and start your next life again, and then you'll meet me, how about that."
"Well, that's good, but if you see me, don't act like this in this life. How about just confessing your feelings?" Guan Ze smiled and hooked his face with his hand.
"Okay." Lin Yao nodded seriously.
As soon as the car stopped outside the welfare home, Lin Yao heard Lu Teng's voice. It was time to go home from school. As soon as Lu Teng turned the intersection, he saw Guan Ze's car and ran over while shouting.
"Dad—" Lu Teng shouted excitedly, running quite fast and steadily.
"Just got out of school?" Guan Ze jumped out of the car, squatted down, opened his arms and picked up Lu Teng who jumped into his arms, "Let me see, have you grown taller in a month?"
"It's grown!" Lu Teng's face turned red with excitement, and he hugged Guan Ze's neck tightly, "Aunt Lu measured me yesterday, and it's grown one centimeter!"
"That's great. I haven't grown in ten years." Guan Ze kissed Lu Teng on the face.
"I'm really awesome," Lu Teng smiled proudly, "Brother Xiao Ke said that my penis will grow bigger in the future."
Guan Ze almost didn't understand what he said. He was stunned for a moment before asking, "Jiji? Who said that?"
"Yes, it's Brother Xiao Ke who sleeps in the same room with me, the one in the fourth grade." Lu Teng glanced at the car and suddenly shouted again, "Brother Lin Yao—"
"Come and let your brother hug you." Lin Yao also stretched out his arms.
Guan Ze put Lu Teng on the ground. Lu Teng threw himself on Lin Yao and said a little aggrievedly: "Brother, didn't you say you would take me out to play? You didn't come."
"I..." Lin Yao quickly hugged Lu Teng's body, which was wrapped like a small dumpling. He felt very sorry for asking this question, so he could only glare at Guan Ze fiercely, "I have something urgent to do, and I don't have time to come and tell you. I'm sorry."
"Forget it," Lu Teng leaned his head to his shoulder, patted his back twice, and said comfortingly, "It's okay, I guess you were delayed by something urgent, I'm not angry, anyway, you are here with dad now."
Lin Yao didn't know what to say for a moment after listening to Lu Teng's words. From time to time, this kid would blurt out a sentence or two that he couldn't respond to.
The aunt at the welfare home registered all the toys and clothes they bought and gave them to the children as gifts during the Chinese New Year.
Guan Ze and Lin Yao took Lu Teng to play on the seesaw in the yard. Lin Yao and Lu Teng were on one side. He hadn't played with this thing for a long time. In order to make Lu Teng's feet touch the ground every time, he had to squat all the time, always worried that his crotch would be torn if he did it a few more times.
"Dad," Lu Teng waved his hand, "Aunt Lu said I can go out with you for the New Year, can you take me home?"
"Aren't you spending the New Year in the orphanage this year?" Guan Ze looked at Lin Yao. In previous years, he always went to the orphanage to spend the New Year with Lu Teng. This year, Lin Yao's mother said that she would go back home, and he was still thinking about how to arrange it.
"Would it be okay for us to go to my brother's house with Dad to celebrate the New Year?" Lin Yao lowered his head and asked Lu Teng.
"Is it convenient?" Guan Ze asked.
"My mother loves to be lively, especially likes children. There are always a lot of people at my house during the Chinese New Year," Lin Yao rubbed his nose, "My cousins' children are about this age, running around the house..."
"All the relatives come to your house?" Guan Ze was stunned.
"Well, before, people went to my grandfather's house on New Year's Eve, but there wasn't enough space. Later, they changed the place to our house, which is spacious..." Lin Yao stopped talking halfway and suddenly understood what Guan Ze meant by asking this. If his mother asked Guan Ze to go home for the New Year, it meant that all the relatives would see Guan Ze. How should he introduce them then
"I'll go, Dad, let's go, okay?" Lu Teng was immediately excited when he heard Lin Yao's words, twisting his body to rub against Lin Yao, "Brother, Dad and I will go to your house to celebrate the New Year. I haven't celebrated the New Year at home before."
Lu Teng's words made Lin Yao's nose sour. He hugged Lu Teng and said, "Well, go ahead. There are some kids around your age here. You can celebrate the New Year with them. I'll make dumplings for you."
After coming out of the welfare home, Guan Ze said he wanted to go home and cook. He wanted to try the twice-cooked apple pork that Lin's mother taught him. The two of them bought a bunch of vegetables and took them home without caring whether they could cook or not.
Lin Yao spread out the vegetables he bought on the chopping board. After studying them for a long time, he decided to wash them first. Guan Ze came over and folded his arms and looked at him. For some reason, Lin Yao was not nearsighted, but when he washed things, it was like washing his face. His nose was almost touching the vegetables. The same was true when he washed the dishes. Guan Ze looked at him for a long time before asking, "Can you make dumplings?"
“Why not?” Lin Yao sighed, then frowned. The water splashed onto the leaves and splashed his face. “Let me tell you, my family makes dumplings every year and I help them. It’s so easy. Just put the stuffing in, fold it in half, and press it. The only flaw is that the dumplings I make can’t stand up and lie flat…”
"You can only make lying dumplings," Guan Ze laughed, "I thought you could do something else."
"The key is that it's not my turn. My brother has been able to make three skins at a time since junior high school, and his speed is first-rate. He can support five or six people making dumplings. Do you think there is anything else I can do besides making dumplings... Can you do it?"
"No," Guan Ze smiled, "I've never made dumplings before."
"Ning Juan's family doesn't eat dumplings during the New Year?" Lin Yao was stunned.
"During the Chinese New Year, the store was busy and we couldn't take care of it. We just bought the dumplings and cooked them right after we were done."
Lin Yao put down the food in his hand, turned off the water, turned around, hugged Guan Ze's waist, and touched his face: "Bald..."
"Your hands are so cold," Guan Ze frowned and held his hand, "Why didn't you use hot water?"
"It's turned the wrong way," Lin Yao looked at the faucet, "I was wondering why it felt a little weird when I was washing, it's bald..."
"Master, please speak." Guan Ze sighed.
“You’ve never made dumplings before?”
"Well, no."
"Have you never eaten handmade dumplings during Chinese New Year?"
"No."
Lin Yao didn't say anything. He hugged Guan Ze tightly and whispered in his ear: "Your husband will love you well in the future, give you dumplings to eat, and won't let you be so pitiful anymore."
"Yeah." Guan Ze held back his laughter and touched his back.
However, although Lin Yao's words were a bit funny, the meaning still made Guan Ze feel very warm.
Lin Yao couldn't bear to watch Guan Ze busy in the kitchen making apple twice-cooked pork. The taste of this dish made by his mother was already amazing, and then she taught it to Guan Ze who didn't know how to cook...
"Wife," Lin Yao sat cross-legged on the sofa and shouted towards the kitchen, "Are you okay? If you don't know, don't be embarrassed to ask your mother-in-law!"
"I was watching your TV. When you called me, I forgot whether I added salt or not." Guan Ze answered in the kitchen.
"Don't be like this, hero," Lin Yao was very depressed, "Try it!"
"I haven't tasted it. Anyway, I put it in again. If it's too salty when it's out of the pot, I'll just add some water."
"Fuck," Lin Yao fell on the sofa, "Is this how you cook noodles?"
"Yes, if it's too salty, add water; if it's too bland, add salt until it's just the right temperature." Guan Ze answered calmly.
"You will definitely find something in common with your mother-in-law..."
When Guan Ze brought out the finished dish, Lin Yao mustered up the courage to take a bite, only to find that it tasted unexpectedly good. He widened his eyes and said, "Oh, this is amazing! Did you make it according to my mom's method?"
"Yeah," Guan Ze also took a bite and tasted it, "It seems delicious?"
"It's delicious! It's strange!" Lin Yao picked up another piece of apple and put it in his mouth. "Hey, the apple tastes good too. This is not normal. If it is made according to my mother's method, it can't taste like this!"
"Eat, you are responsible for serving the rice," Guan Ze handed him his bowl, "This only proves that your mother's cooking skills are not something that ordinary people can surpass."
"Mom." Lin Yao took the bowl and filled it with rice for him.
"Well, this only proves that our mother's cooking skills are beyond the reach of ordinary people."
"Guan Ze, let me put it this way," Lin Yao patted the table, "I'll ask my mom to teach you all the dishes she'll prepare for the New Year, and then you can cook them. I'm not sure how delicious you can cook them, but they will definitely taste normal. How do you do that?"
"Okay, okay." Guan Ze smiled.
After dinner, Lin Yao cleaned up the dishes and went to wash them. Guan Ze stood aside and said, "I remember you are not nearsighted."
"Who told you I'm nearsighted? My eyesight is very good," Lin Yao turned his head and glared at him, "It's at the level of Hawkeye."
"Yes, Hawkeye always uses his nose to smell the dishes when washing them," Guan Ze glanced at Lin Yao's hunched back and waist, "Hawkeye can't tell whether the dishes are clean or not, he has to smell them."
"Fuck," Lin Yao laughed and turned off the water. "Are you dissatisfied with my image as a dishwasher?"
"It's full. I just want to ask why. You wash the vegetables so closely together as if to check for bugs. Aren't you afraid of getting oil splashed all over your face when you wash the dishes?" Guan Ze rubbed his hair. "If the sink were a little shorter, you would have to strain your muscles to wash."
"This is just an inexplicable habit, I don't know why," Lin Yao continued to wash the dishes, thought for a moment and turned to look at Guan Ze, "Am I too polite? Of course, Jiang Yifei and the others all said that I am very polite..."
When Jiang Yifei was mentioned, Lin Yao suddenly stopped talking. He remembered that he and Jiang Yifei were no longer colleagues and he had resigned.
After a while, he sighed: "I still have to find a job after the New Year. My dad might nag me to work for his company, or let me work for my brother."
"Let me open a back door for you." Guan Ze looked at him with a smile.
"How do I open it?"
"I'll make up a reason with Mr. Qiu, and you can go back to work after the New Year."
"What excuse are you making up?" Lin Yao put the bowl back into the bowl cabinet and looked at Guan Ze expectantly. He was really willing to go back to work. His colleagues were all nice and he had already mastered the job.
"Tell me that I seduced you." Guan Ze smiled and kissed him on the mouth, then turned and walked out of the kitchen.
"Depend on!"
There are still two days before the Chinese New Year. Lin Yao and Guan Ze are dragged by their mother to go shopping every day when they have nothing to do. From food to tableware, and finally even quilts, pillows and blankets are left out.
"Mom, we don't need to buy all the quilts together," Lin Yao stuffed the things into the trunk, and the back seat of the car was also piled with things, "It's not like we don't have quilts at home."
"What do you know? Forgot that last year your uncle and aunt came over and played cards late at night and couldn't go back. We didn't have enough quilts to cover ourselves. We have to prepare everything this time," Mom patted the car happily, and looked at Guan Ze who was carrying a bunch of things to put in the car, "Guan Ze, can you play mahjong? Landlord or something like that?"
"Everything." Guan Ze smiled.
"Oh, that's great. You're no wonder you were a gangster," my mother asked excitedly, "How good are you at fighting?"
"Mom, what you said..." Lin Yao sighed.
"Don't worry about it. You're at the table to give money to people. This year you should be responsible for serving tea and food. Last year, your brother gave you 11,000 yuan and you lost it all to Dad in one night." Mom patted Guan Ze's shoulder, "If you are good enough, help me get back the money I lost to your uncle last year!"
"Didn't my dad use all the money he won to buy you clothes?" Lin Yao muttered softly.
"How can that be the same! If Guan Ze helps me win money, I will buy you clothes too!" Mom closed the car door and got into the car while shouting unhappily.
"Yes, yes, it's different. If you win, you can keep it. I don't want the clothes." Lin Yao got into the car helplessly and sat on the passenger seat.
"Then you should be naked." Mom responded quickly.
Lin Yao opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. Guan Ze suppressed his laughter and said, "I don't know how good your uncle is. I'll try my best."
"My dad is really awesome. He is invincible in the whole family. When my brother sees him, he leaves the table and goes to have supper. Only my grandfather and others are willing to sit at the same table with him. He doesn't dare to win." Lin Yao laughed.
Mother Lin talks a lot, and Lin Yao probably takes after his mother's nagging nature sometimes. Her thoughts jump very quickly. In the first sentence she is talking about what dishes to cook for Chinese New Year, and in the next sentence she may jump to the fact that Lin Yao's cousin's child is in love when he is only one grade older.
Guan Ze didn't say much, just listened while driving. He liked this feeling, the feeling of family chatting together without any scruples, without caring about etiquette or image. He once longed to have such a home and family, and now all of this was so real around him.
In the past, the Chinese New Year was the most difficult time for him. From the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, he was less willing to hang out on the streets. He would usually find a deserted place and stay there for the whole day, listening to the sound of firecrackers in the distance and the laughter of other children. The unbearable feeling of loneliness while standing in a crowd once made him hate himself very much.
But thinking about it carefully, he felt that he was actually lucky. Uncle Ning helped him when he was about to give up and corrected the trajectory of his life. Although he still wrapped himself up tightly, he began to feel kindness. Now, he looked at Lin Yao, who was smiling and chatting with his mother beside him. This person made him let down all his defenses.
The car stopped in the yard. Lin Zong came out of the house with a cigarette in his mouth. When he saw the open trunk, he was stunned and shouted incoherently: "What the hell is this? The supermarket is giving it away for free today?"
"Help me!" Mom handed the things to him, took the cigarette from his mouth, threw it on the ground and stomped it out, "I told you not to smoke at home! I'm so annoyed why you always smoke at home!"
"I was just smoking on the rooftop! I came down to get my stuff when I saw you guys coming back," Lin Zong carried his stuff into the house, "If I had known, I would have switched with Lin Yao. I would have gone with you to rob the road, while Lin Yao and dad would have stayed home to clean up! I'm so tired from cleaning up all day that I'm smoking a cigarette on the rooftop and I'm still getting scolded!"
"Why don't you hire a part-time worker?" Guan Ze was also holding a pile of things. There were so many rooms in Lin Yao's two-and-a-half-story house, and it was really a bit staggering for Lin Zong and Lin's father to clean them up.
"I never hire one. My mom says that part-time workers won't do a good job if they're not suitable," Lin Yao laughed for a long time. "She also said that you won't know how tiring it is until you clean up the place yourself. I don't dare to do it casually anymore."
"Wow," my mother shouted as she entered the room, "the floor is so shiny, was it waxed?"
Lin Yao followed him into the house and was about to join in the praise when he saw his father standing motionless in the living room.
"Dad, are you mopping the floor?" Lin Yao asked.
Dad half-bent over, holding the mop handle with both hands, as if he was holding a cane, expressionless: "Yes, it hasn't been waxed yet."
"Let me do it." Guan Ze put down his things and walked over to take the mop.
"Don't move." Dad remained in the same posture.
"What's wrong with you?" Mom walked up to him and stood still like a robot. "We are all wooden people."
"Can you two not do this?" Lin Zong took a cigarette and wanted to go to the rooftop, but he had to stop when he saw this scene halfway up the stairs. "Guan Ze is used to looking down on this kind of thing. If he gets scared again, he will think that our house is a part-time shelter for mental patients."
"What's it to you? Go smoke your cigarette." Mom rolled her eyes at him and continued to smile at Dad.
"I sprained my waist." Dad said.
"Ah? What!" Mom yelled in panic.
"My waist is twisted and I can't move." Dad said word by word.
Several people in the family were anxious and gathered around, but no one dared to help as they didn't know how bad the case was.
My father looked at those people anxiously with a stern face for a long time, then suddenly stood up, pushed them away, and walked towards the backyard with a mop in his hand at lightning speed.
“Hey, don’t move…” Mom yelled, then she ran after him for a moment and then screamed, “Brother Lin, your waist is sprained!”
"I'm just teasing you guys," Dad walked into the backyard, "You must have worked hard to grab so many things."
"Ah—" Lin Zong sighed in a long voice, "It's really interesting."
"I've been fooled again," Lin Yao lay down on the sofa and tapped Guan Ze's legs with his toes, "Sit down and take a rest."
"Your dad also plays this." Guan Ze smiled and sat next to him.
"Yeah, most of the time he's very serious, but sometimes he gets crazy," Lin Yao rested his head on his arm and laughed at him, "Just like you, you usually look very serious, with a cold face like a senior executive, but in fact you're a fucking gangster behind the scenes."
"I..." Guan Ze was about to speak when his cell phone rang. He had already changed back to his original number. He took it out and saw that it was Ning Juan's number. He answered the call, "Juan'er?"
"Well, are you busy before the New Year?" Ning Juan asked directly from the other end.
"I'm fine, what's up?"
"Let's go out for dinner someday when you're free, you and Lin Yao."
Guan Ze thought for a while and said, "Do you have someone you want me to meet?"
"It's not in vain that I've called you brother for so many years," Ning Juan smiled.