250. New Year’s Eve
Lin Nan recovered from her illness really quickly—it only took two days under Chen Yao’s devoted care.
When she was finally better, her monthly torture, a.k.a. familial obligations, thankfully drifted away with the flu.
She woke up early in the morning, silently staring at the date on her phone.
It was New Year’s Eve.
She vaguely remembered the lively scenes of celebrating the New Year at her grandfather’s house when she was a kid. Then there were the evenings spent at her own home, sitting around the table with her parents, watching the Spring Festival Gala.
Back then, her parents were lost in their own little world. Typically, they would only show up a few days before the New Year, buy a few festive snacks, and on New Year’s Eve, they would pray to the gods and ancestors. Her mother would make a rare appearance in the kitchen to whip up a feast, and then they would all be glued to the TV—her father drinking, her mother watching dramas, and Lin Nan glued to her phone. Each was doing their own thing.
During those times, her parents hardly ever had dinner with her, and only during the New Year would they gather around the tea table, exchanging a few caring words.
So, even though Lin Nan wasn’t fond of the gala or the awkward atmosphere that enveloped their family, she would still stick around the dinner table until midnight, only heading to her room to sleep after the New Year’s bell chimed.
Now, lying dumbly in bed, she felt a wave of melancholy wash over her.
“Awake?” Chen Yao walked into the room with a mop, grinning at Lin Nan on the bed. “My parents are coming home for New Year’s Eve today; the community gave them a break.”
Even though his parents lived in another unit downstairs, Chen Yao still had to pull this fast one on Lin Nan.
“Uh-huh,” Lin Nan stretched her back and rubbed her eyes, “Are you doing a big clean-up?”
“Well, it was supposed to be a big clean-up on Little Year’s Eve, but since they weren’t home then, it got pushed to today.”
Chen Yao began bustling around the innermost part of the bedroom, awkwardly dragging the mop. Cleanup clearly wasn’t his forte.
Lin Nan couldn’t watch him fumble anymore. She strode over, snatched the mop from his hands, and directed, “You get a bucket of water, I’ll handle the inside.”
She had lived alone for a while, and although she was lazy, she was used to dealing with housework weekly and had grown quite adept at it.
Chen Yao filled a bucket with water and set it in the bedroom while he grabbed a rag and newspaper to wipe down the glass.
The massive clean-up went on from the moment Lin Nan woke up until the afternoon, while Auntie and Uncle busied themselves preparing offerings for ancestral worship that night, hardly sparing a glance for the two of them.
Lin Nan had been here for nearly a week. She thought she was done blending into Chen Yao’s family, but when the firecrackers started going off outside, she couldn’t help but start missing her old family.
That family was long shattered, thanks to her parents’ divorce and her father’s rejection of her.
Standing by the living room window, looking out at the desolate community garden, she could hear Auntie scolding Chen Yao nearby, which only deepened her gloom.
This year, the festive spirit seemed to be especially lacking. Kids weren’t playing with fireworks, and joy-filled adults were nowhere in sight—only a lonely banner fluttered in the wind celebrating the New Year.
“Nan Nan, have some fruit first! Dinner isn’t until eight!” Auntie placed a plate of cut fruit on the coffee table.
Lin Nan turned her head, hiding her frustration away as she nodded.
“Just consider this your home for New Year’s,” Auntie clearly noticed Lin Nan’s worries and stepped closer to stand beside her at the window. “Once this pandemic is over, there will be time to be with family again. The New Year’s coming up—try to cheer up!”
“I know,” Lin Nan detected that Auntie’s tone seemed kinder than before.
“Once the pandemic’s over, how about I go back with you?”
“Back together?”
Lin Nan stared blankly at Auntie, who wore a broad smile.
Auntie simply reached up to tidy Lin Nan’s messy hair and switched topics: “When the hair salon opens, how about I take you to get a new hairstyle?”
“A hairstyle…” Lin Nan scrunched her brows in mild protest. “Short?”
“Short? Why? You’ll look like a boy!”
Lin Nan nearly shook her head but suddenly remembered that Auntie didn’t know she had once been a male. A normal woman shouldn’t reject beauty and grooming.
“It’ll probably be expensive…” So, she switched to a new excuse to decline. “I’d rather wait for my hair to grow.”
“Fine, letting it grow for a while before styling also looks nice.”
Auntie hurried off to attend to her tasks, while Lin Nan plopped down on the living room sofa, feeling incredibly bored.
The scariest part was not knowing how much longer they’d be cooped up indoors.
The TV blared the latest pandemic news. The local government had jumped into action with lockdown measures the moment the pandemic hit. With strict controls everywhere, there hadn’t been any new cases reported in the county the last few days.
However, considering a two-week incubation period, even if all went smoothly, they would be waiting at least a month.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed—her mother was video calling her on WeChat.
Startled, Lin Nan quickly answered, and her mother’s tired face appeared on the screen, with her cousin Liu Xinyi curiously peeking beside her.
Before her mother could speak, Liu Xinyi blurted out, “Sister! Did you give up?”
Lin Nan’s expression darkened: “Get lost!”
Her mother, confused, scolded, “Nan Nan! Young ladies shouldn’t use foul language!”
Feeling deflated, Lin Nan gently nodded, though in her mind, she had never considered “get lost” to be a foul word.
Liu Xinyi was distracted by a voice calling from off-screen, while her mother’s expression relaxed, turning gentle as she asked Lin Nan how she’d been doing lately.
Basically just small talk about whether she was eating well and sleeping well.
As a child, Lin Nan was supposed to avoid sharing any distressing news with her mother. However, perhaps due to years of lacking parental care, she unreservedly revealed that she had caught a nasty cold a few days ago, hoping for some extra concern.
Sure enough, her mother became a bundle of worry, fussing over her, and Lin Nan listened attentively, her previously low spirits slowly lifting.
“Are things okay over at Chen Yao’s place? Is anyone giving you a hard time?”
Chen Yao, busy setting up offerings, instinctively turned to listen.
“Hard time?!” Lin Nan caught his reaction and nodded vigorously, intentionally raising her voice, “I’m in deep trouble!”
What? When did I ever make you feel hard done by?!
Chen Yao shot her a silent glare.
“Feeding me every day! I suspect I’ve gained at least three pounds these past few days!” Lin Nan finger-pointed at Chen Yao’s family, listing their ‘crimes’. “And when I was sick, they wouldn’t even let me out of bed! It’s made me lazier!”
Her mother, who had been tense, suddenly found Lin Nan’s accusations devoid of anger and instead resembling a boast, unable to contain her laughter. “You must be blessed from your past life to have met Chen Yao!”
Lin Nan cast a sideways glance at Chen Yao, who was nodding vigorously with a faint blush creeping onto his cheeks. Feeling guilty, she retorted, “It’s clearly a sin from my past life!”
