Chu Xi"s dimmed eyes lit up when she got a whiff of the fragrant smell and sensed the kindness extended by Lin Chu and the others. The warm indoors softened her further, and she wagged her tail as an experiment.
"It"s wagging its tail!" s.h.i.+ Tou yelled in excitement.
Lin Chu caressed Chu Xi"s head. "Don"t worry. You don"t need to be afraid. You"re hungry, aren"t you? This is for you."
Chu Xi seemed to understand her words. Instead of starting to feed on its food, it approached them and rubbed its head on their feet as a show of closeness before it turned back and licked the plate of milk experimentally. Getting a taste of the fragrant milk, it started to drink ravenously.
Lin Chu got up to prepare dinner. The New Year Eve"s dinner was simple. The old princ.i.p.al had braised beef, tripe, and pig offal in advance, smoked a fish and made pigskin jelly. On her way here, she also bought a roast chicken. These would be ready to serve after cutting and plating. All that was left was to cook some shrimp, steam fish, stir fry some veggies, and toss some ham, cuc.u.mber, and rice noodles together to make a salad — simple but a fan favorite of the children. Lastly, she made a fruit salad.
She and the old princ.i.p.al were the only two a.d.u.l.ts present, and the children tend to not eat a lot. They would already be unable to finish off these few dishes.
Just as she finished cutting up the braised meat, she got a call from w.a.n.g Jinglin.
Lin Chu raised her brow at the call. Cheng Ziming"s parents should have detested her to the core after the fiasco at the wedding. True to that, they had not contacted her at all till this day. This probably was not to wish her a happy new year.
Lin Chu washed her hands and picked up the call. She said coldly, "Aunt."
"Lin Chu, are you not going back for the New Year today?" asked w.a.n.g Jinglin in the phone.
Lin Chu raised her brow and asked, although she had already known the answer, "Going back where?"
"Lin Chu, why have you become like this? You know where I was referring to. You were once kind-hearted, but you are now calculative and scheming for money. You disappoint me." w.a.n.g Jinglin sounded grievous.
Impatience flicked on Lin Chu"s face. She wanted to hang up immediately, but then she heard w.a.n.g Jinglin say, "The Lin family raised you, just for you to ruin Ziming and Yuwen"s wedding, and now you"re not even going back for the New Year! Why have you… why have you become so cold-hearted?"
"Is this any of your business?" sneered Lin Chu. She did not bother to play nice with w.a.n.g Jinglin any longer.
She did not care about p.i.s.sing off w.a.n.g Jinglin. If she continued to treat w.a.n.g Jinglin courteously, the woman would keep on pestering her, subjecting her to those annoying self-centered tirades.
She did not want to know if the couple knew of Cheng Ziming betraying her. Based on her current att.i.tude, it was evident that they had known. Also, Yan Beicheng would not like it if she kept contact with her ex-boyfriend"s family.
Those people were not worth making Yan Beicheng uncomfortable.
"Your family is in-laws with the Lins, but it didn"t extend to meddle in the Lins" family affairs, did it? Whether I return for the New Year, where I choose to spend it, if I"ve let down anyone or not… is all of this any of your business? As you said, I"m so cold-hearted that I"ve cut off all contacts with the Lins. Why do you think I should still listen to your reprimands? What grounds do you have to dictate my qualities?" said Lin Chu unceremoniously.
"You…" w.a.n.g Jinglin trembled with fury. She glanced around her house. The house should be bustling with activity on the New Year"s Eve, but it was now empty.
Her son had married, but he seemed to be doing everything backward, running off to the Lin family home for the New Year instead, leaving her and Cheng Jindong at home. She had prepared an entire table of dishes, but n.o.body returned to eat them.
His son might as well not marry.
Tears were about to fall from w.a.n.g Jinglin"s eyes. She said in a weeping tone, "Lin Chu, are you getting revenge on our family too? You had asked Yan Beicheng to threaten the Lin family so that they wouldn"t annoy you during New Year or call you to return home. Barring the fact that your reputation would be affected when the news spread, you have also made Ziming unable to spend the New Year at home. Mr. and Mrs. Lin are the only ones at home because you didn"t return. Yuwen didn"t have the heart to leave them alone, and so she went home for the New Year with Ziming in tow. Have you thought about our family? There"s only me and your uncle left now. I…"
"How is this any of my business?" asked Lin Chu coldly.
w.a.n.g Jinglin was taken aback. "What?"
"I said, Lin Yuwen bringing Cheng Ziming along for the New Year because she didn"t want her parents to be lonely, leaving the two of you alone at home… How is this any of my business? Lin Yuwen is your daughter-in-law. If you"re dissatisfied, please talk to her. Cheng Ziming"s your son, and if you"re unhappy because he left his parents alone in his efforts to suck up to his in-laws, talk to him. Saying that I"m the one who caused you trouble is hilarious. I refuse to bear the responsibility of causing this because I didn"t want to return to the Lin home. I haven"t gone back last year, and it"s going to be the same this year. The Lins only want me back because of my relations.h.i.+p with Beicheng. Why should I give them the satisfaction? Beicheng did this for me because he didn"t want me to feel down when I"m celebrating New Year, and I"m glad he did. You think that I"m cold-hearted and ruthless. If that"s so, why would I sympathize with you just because you called me?"
"I won"t. Mrs. Cheng, don"t call me in the future. I won"t answer your call even if you did, because apparently, I"m that cold-hearted. It is none of my business regarding your family and the Lin family"s issues. If you want Beicheng to threaten your family and Cheng Ziming"s future, then you"re welcome to call," Lin Chu said unceremoniously.
"You… You…" w.a.n.g Jinglin"s face turned pale at Lin Chu"s threat. Her lips trembled, teeth chattered and her tongue straightened. She was so furious that she found it difficult to speak. "How could you talk to me like that? I"m… I"m your senior!"
"Sorry, I"m hurrying to my New Year"s dinner," said Lin Chu. She hung up without a goodbye so that w.a.n.g Jinglin would not persist on uttering her undecipherable words.
After dinner, when the shows the children disliked were broadcasted, she brought them to the garden for fireworks, which heightened their spirits exponentially. Chu Xi, afraid of the sound of firecrackers, had run to the kitchen in fear with her tail between her legs. The old princ.i.p.al wrapped it in a blanket and comforted it with a hug. Chu Xi, being the clever creature it was, burrowed itself into the princ.i.p.al"s embrace affectionately, delighting her.
As midnight arrived, Lin Chu went to cook the dumplings. Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her jeans. She fished it out while looking over the pot. She was worried that it was another call from the Lin family or w.a.n.g Jinglin, but it was actually from Yan Beicheng. The corners of her mouth pulled up at the sight of his name.
He had not called her for the entire day, and she a.s.sumed that he had forgotten to do so amidst the hustle and bustle.
"Hey." Lin Chu picked up the call. She had wanted to throw a little tantrum and let him know that she was a little annoyed at him for not contacting her for an entire day. For unknown reasons, her voice was gentle when she spoke, so gentle and obedient that it was the furthest thing from being angry.
The sound of firecrackers reduced significantly when it reached the kitchen, but it still hindered her listening to some degree. She barely made out Yan Beicheng chuckling on the other side of the phone.
"It"s nothing. I just wanted to be the first one to wish you a Happy New Year," Yan Beicheng"s magnetic and gravelly voice fell on her ears.
She heard faint echoes of explosions of firecrackers and fireworks on the other side in what she felt was a lively atmosphere.
Hearing his voice and the explosive sounds from the fireworks, her heart was warmed even during the late night.
"Happy New Year! Am I the first one to wish you?" asked Lin Chu.
"Mm. I dashed away to call you before any of them could wish me," Yan Beicheng replied with humor lacing his voice. Lin Chu laughed imagining the scene played out.
Yan Ningbai"s holler pierced through from the other side of the phone. "Elder Nephew, quick, come and eat your dumplings!"
"Go. I"m almost done here too. We"re getting ready to eat." Lin Chu said.
Yan Beicheng hung up.
Lin Chu did not ask about him threatening the Lins. She only thought of him being a little stupid, doing all these without telling her. Who knows what else he had done for her with this intention in mind?
Chu Xi was a little shy at first, but it had the short-term memory which was characteristic of a puppy. After seeing that the people in the house had treated it with kindness for a while, it shed its shyness and started to run around them.
"I ate one with cake filling!" Tiantian said happily, her cheeks squirreled up.
"I ate one with white sugar filling!" s.h.i.+ Tou said, eyes narrowed from the sweetness.
"I ate one with dates!" Mo Jinxi spat the kernel out.
"Aiyo," The old princ.i.p.al called in surprise, "I bit on a coin."
This riled the children up. They started to plow through their bowl of dumplings, eyes fixated on the platter in the middle. They wanted to know if the dumplings in their bowls had coins in them, but they also did not want to puncture them with their chopsticks accidentally. They did not want to miss the elation and surprise from biting on a coin.
Their gazes were adorably anxious.
Tian Tian was the youngest, and so she was not as skilled in using chopsticks. She had picked up a dumpling, but then it slipped to the floor. With an exclamation of surprise, Tian Tian got ready to pick it up, but then Chu Xi dashed toward it and s.n.a.t.c.hed it away with its mouth before she could.
It then swallowed the dumpling without chewing, as if it was afraid of someone s.n.a.t.c.hing the treat and ran away quickly with its tail between its legs. Halfway through, it got scalded on the tongue by the hot dumpling and detoured to its water bowl and drank the water in it with all its might. After that, it stretched its tongue and couldn"t stop panting. It gazed towards the dumplings everyone was eating plaintively.
Lin Chu finished her dumplings and caressed its head lightly. "You can"t eat those. They"re not good for you."
The children finished their dumplings with much difficulty. There were still three coins left in the other dumplings. They were all filled up with food, but they were still reluctant to give up.
Their radiant eyes were still fixated at the rest of the dumplings.
Worried that the dumpling skins would stick together when cooled, Lin Chu fished out some plates and separated the dumplings before letting them cool and putting them in the fridge.
"Don"t worry. The dumplings are all refrigerated for you. We"ll grill them tomorrow morning and see who"ll get the coins," a.s.sured Lin Chu.
The children really could not stuff any more food inside their bellies. With this goal in their minds, they nodded fervently and started to antic.i.p.ate the next morning.
Lin Chu looked at the time. It was approaching 1 am, so she sent the children to brush up and sleep.
She hustled all of them to bed and the children fell asleep instantly.
Lin Chu returned to the living room to tidy up. The old princ.i.p.al offered to help, but Lin Chu declined firmly. She almost had to drag the old princ.i.p.al to bed.
Lin Chu tossed the children"s clothes into the was.h.i.+ng machine, tidied up the dining table, and started on the dishes. When she was mopping the floor, Chu Xi suddenly barked at the door. Delicate and high-pitched, the little puppy"s bark was naturally unthreatening, but it barked persistently and with all its might.
Lin Chu listened, and it seemed like there was something outside the door.
It was past midnight, and Lin Chu was made nervous. Everyone here was relatively weak; the only a.d.u.l.ts present in the orphanage were her and the old princ.i.p.al, while the others were all children. If any thieves and burglars knew of the situation and chose to commit a crime during the New Year, they would be in danger.
Lin Chu clutched the mop in her hands while she looked for a torch. She walked towards the door and fastened the safety chain before opening it and extending the torch outside.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in the front yard. When the torchlight illuminated the gates, Lin Chu saw a tall silhouette standing outside. The light was not bright enough, so she could not see its face clearly, only managing to identify it as a man"s.
Lin Chu was so spooked that she almost screamed. She closed the door hastily, retrieved her phone from her jeans pocket with trembling hands, found the first entry in her contacts — Yan Beicheng — and called him.
When Yan Beicheng picked up, Lin Chu stuttered, voice still trembling from fear. "Yan… Yan Beicheng, a man is standing outside… outside the orphanage. I don"t know if he"s a burglar or whoever, I…"
"It"s me." Yan Beicheng said resignedly, expression stoic.
Is he that scary? A burglar? What bad eyesight!
"Ah?" Lin Chu froze. She did not come around for a moment, probably due to the shock she had suffered.
"It"s me at the gate," Yan Beicheng sighed. "I finished eating dumplings at home and wanted to visit you here. The gate was locked, and I wanted to call you, but then your torch shone on me. I a.s.sumed you saw me."
Lin Chu, "…"
Rea.s.sured, Lin Chu unfastened the door chain and grabbed her keys to unlock the gate.
When the door was opened, Chu Xi bolted out too. Fearing that the puppy would get lost in the night, Lin Chu admonished lowly, "Chu Xi, don"t run!"
Chu Xi whimpered in response. It stared at the gate, and then at Lin Chu. It later proceeded to run around Lin Chu"s ankles, nearly tripping her up.
Seeing the puppy"s adorable actions, Lin Chu"s initial fears dissipated. She pointed towards the house and said sternly, "Go back in! Quick!"
Chu Xi whimpered again, pawing at Lin Chu"s legs before returning inside the house, head bowed and tail wagging.
Lin Chu closed the door before she ran out to the gate to unlock it. It was indeed Yan Beicheng at the gate, smiling tenderly at her. In the back, far away, fireworks were set off. They shot skyward and erupted in the jet-black night sky. They continued to blossom, one after another.
Multi-colored streams of light rained on Yan Beicheng, accentuating his chiseled facial features.
Lin Chu raised her fist and thumped his chest. "You scared me! I thought you were a criminal! Just give me a call if you"ve arrived. What were you doing, loitering around at the door?"
Yan Beicheng knew she was spooked when she sounded almost in tears. There were only her and the old princ.i.p.al in the orphanage together with a couple of children. It was no wonder that she was frightened.
"I"m sorry, I was careless." Yan Beicheng held her fist and pulled her into his embrace. He lowered and kissed the sweet-smelling top of her head. "I won"t scare you like that in the future. I"m sorry."
"It… It"s me who overreacted." Lin Chu felt sorry after she had hit him.
He had been busy for the whole day, only driving here after he had counted down together with his family. It was two in the morning, he still radiated chillness from his time outside, and yet she greeted him with her fist.
That punch was not for show, either; she did not rein in her strength.
She could not help but knead the spot that she had hit. "Did it hurt?"
"No," Yan Beicheng replied without any thoughts. His firm palm covered the back of her head and ma.s.saged it lightly.
"Why didn"t you rest well, coming to visit me when it"s so late into the night? You have to visit your relatives tomorrow, don"t you?" Lin Chu rested her cheek on his suit, cool to the touch, and looked up.
She was not released from his embrace, so she promptly looped her arms around his waist.
She had opened the door for him in a hurry, forgetting to wear a coat and she was only wearing a sweater. The breeze blew through her sweater and she felt cold, so she stuck her hands into his coat.
Seeing that, Yan Beicheng opened his coat up and wrapped her in it so that both of them shared a coat.
"We finished eating dumplings and everyone was preparing to settle for the day, but I returned to my room and the bed was cold. I couldn"t sleep because I missed you, so I came." The feeling culminated when Yan Huaian had walked up with his wife right to his face, telling him about how he would feel warm in this cold day with his wife in his arms.
Yan Beicheng lowered his head. The firecrackers were still loud from far away, so he whispered in her ear. His lips, initially cool from the wind, started to heat up after the friction with her ear.
Lin Chu"s body was also heating up in the warmth of his coat.
Yan Beichen looked at her thin body completely engulfed by his coat. Her exquisite face was right in front of his line of sight, her clear face under the moonlight of the frigid winter.
His breath fanned on her ear, and he saw it flare up and twitch involuntarily, as skittish as a rabbit"s. His heated gaze slowly moved from her ear to her cheek, her exquisite skin flushed prettily.
As he moved closer, Lin Chu felt shy and burrowed herself further into his chest. "I might think that you"re here just because you want me to warm your bed up."
"Mm. I would like you to do that every day," Yan Beicheng said with a smile. The wind tousled her hair, concealing her pretty, fair ears. His elegant, slender fingertips caressed the long hairs beside her ear and tucked them behind it, revealing her flushed ears and a small part of her face.
He lowered his head, lips perching on the root of her ear, and kissed upwards until they stopped at her partially uncovered face. His lips caressed her delicate skin lightly, the refres.h.i.+ng taste causing him to tighten his arms even more.
"It"s cold outside. Let"s go in first," Lin Chu said. She was heated up after being subjected to his unending light kisses, and her scalp tingled. Her voice trembled, and it entered his ears, processed by the wind.
Yan Beicheng chuckled soundlessly. Lin Chu could feel the scalding arch of his lips perching on her cheeks, and she could feel the air exhaled from his nostrils.
Yan Beicheng released her from his arms. Leaving his embrace without his coat to keep her warm, it was so cold that Lin Chu s.h.i.+vered a little. It felt even colder than before.
Yan Beicheng took off his coat and covered her with it. Seeing the thin light blue sweater that he was wearing inside, Lin Chu wanted to return the coat to him. "Why did you take it off for me? The house is just two paces away."