484. Before the Wedding 【18/60】
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Weddings in the village usually happen at the ancestral hall.
In the past, the old ancestral hall was deep in the village, and it’s hard to tell whether the villagers were just wealthy without a place to spend it or what, but they built a new ancestral hall at the village entrance.
The ancestral hall has basically monopolized all the village’s activities, from festivals and ancestral worship to performances. When Lin Nan was a kid, she even saw a striptease here… although the dancer kept her underwear on, it was still a massive shock for little Lin Nan.
Lin Qi sat at the front row round table of the ancestral hall, already covered with a layer of red plastic cloth. On the table were some cold dishes, melon seeds, beverages, red wine, and ten packs of Chinese cigarettes lined up for good measure.
He was a bit anxious, glancing at the door now and then but never seeing Lin Nan.
“I heard Lin Nan is back,” the chubby cousin who Lin Nan had met earlier sat beside him, curiosity bubbling over, “What’s the status? Didn’t even come back for New Year’s—his dad was acting like a total lunatic.”
“Had a fight with her dad,” Lin Qi replied, his tone reflecting the drama of it all.
The chubby cousin, known as Second Cousin, held the second position in the family hierarchy after Eldest Cousin. The others were Lin Jin and Lin Chen, while Lin Qi himself was fifth. Lin Nan, being the youngest, was everyone’s little cousin.
“Isn’t that obvious? If they weren’t fighting, he would have come home for New Year’s!” Second Cousin poured himself a beer with the flair of a mad scientist mixing a potion, patting his ample beer belly, “I even went to find his mom, and she didn’t give me a hint—totally like he’s gone missing!”
Back before New Year, they had gone to Lin Nan’s grandfather’s house looking for her, but got nothing. At that time, Lin Nan was living it up at Chen Yao’s, eating and drinking without a care in the world.
After the pandemic restrictions were lifted, they visited most of Lin Nan’s relatives, but still didn’t find any clues. In the end, Second Cousin had to go work out of town, while Lin Qi ended up at Lin Nan’s school… and then got dressed in women’s clothing.
Just then, Second Cousin looked up and saw two stunning girls walking in the door.
One of them had a youthful look, probably around fifteen or sixteen, with light makeup on her face and nervously gripping the arm of the other girl as she looked around, seemingly searching for something.
The other girl was evidently more mature, with curly brown hair and a gentle smile that said “I know I’m gorgeous.” She walked with a confidence that could make anyone’s knees weak.
“Which family do these beauties belong to?” Second Cousin clicked his tongue, his eyes gleaming as he blatantly stared at their chests like a hawk eyeing prey.
Lin Qi blinked, his expression turning slightly awkward as he remained silent.
“The one on the right could use a bit more up front, but those legs are so thin! I’m into the one on the left though—got some meat on her, and that cute baby face!” Second Cousin wore a lewd grin, elbowing Lin Qi, “Girls with chunkier thighs are just more comfortable.”
Half in a daze, Lin Qi nodded along to appease him, “Yeah, chunky thighs feel great.”
“Expert level!” Second Cousin’s eyes lit up at the mere mention of women, chatting away nonstop.
Lin Qi felt utterly awkward, wanting to scream that those two girls were actually his cousins… well, they used to be!
At that moment, Second Cousin noticed that the two girls were striding straight toward them.
He hurriedly closed his mouth, puffing out his chest, sucking in his beer belly to appear as perfect as possible.
Just as he opened his mouth to flirt, he stared in confusion as the girls sat right beside Lin Qi.
This table was reserved for the groom’s direct relatives. If all went as expected, only cousins should be sitting there, while uncles and older folk would share the main table with the groom.
Then he noticed the younger girl was giving him a complex look.
Totally clueless, he didn’t understand what he did to catch her attention.
“Who are you two?” Second Cousin asked Lin Qi.
Lin Qi remained silent, turning to the girls. Lin Jin spoke up first, “I’m Lin Jin, and this is Lin Nan’s girlfriend.”
That last part didn’t stir much attention, but Second Cousin’s focus went right to Lin Jin, “Lin Jin? The one from Uncle’s family?”
“Yup.”
He hesitated for a moment, recalling what Lin Jin looked like.
Wasn’t she a boy, but always dressed up like a girl when they were kids?
Looking back at Lin Jin’s face, he scratched his head, “So you wore girl’s clothes as a kid because you actually are a girl?”
But he recalled seeing Lin Jin pee while standing once…
Lin Jin looked at him with a smile that said, “I’m not answering that.”
Lin Nan, relieved nobody was questioning her identity, casually looked at the others at the table, then stealthily reached for some melon seeds, munching on them like a little hamster, hoarding the seed kernels in front of her, ready to stuff them all in her mouth at once.
Only, she was three short, thanks to Lin Qi and Lin Jin’s sneaky fingers!
Suddenly, Second Cousin snapped back to reality, “Where’s Lin Nan? If his girlfriend’s here, why isn’t he?”
“He suddenly had something come up and can’t make it. So I’m here in his place,” Lin Nan plucked this excuse right out of thin air.
“What’s he busy with? He comes back and doesn’t even say hi?” Second Cousin furrowed his brow.
Lin Nan hesitated, stammering, “He… just busy, you know.”
Then Lin Jin’s brother, Lin Chen, sat down, bringing a few more cousins along.
Eldest Cousin, probably bored out of his mind, popped up out of nowhere, dressed in a suit, and plopped himself right next to Second Cousin.
“Are you seriously slacking off while you’re supposed to be the groom?”
Eldest Cousin was around thirty now, sporting a few wrinkles but still acting like a carefree child when it came to teasing his younger relatives.
Lin Nan tried to shrink her presence, staring at the new arrivals with an eager glance.
Well, she wasn’t too familiar with them, as she never liked hanging out with girls except for Lin Dan because, you know, Lin Dan had a computer.
“Speaking of which, where’s Lin Nan? Who’s Lin Chen and Lin Jin?” Eldest Cousin surveyed the table, noticing some unfamiliar faces.
“Uh, isn’t that Lin Chen?” Lin Qi pointed at the muscular guy next to Lin Jin.
“Not bad, used to be so weak, now he’s built!”
Lin Chen chuckled awkwardly, not replying.
“Where’s his sister?”
“Right next to him,” Second Cousin answered.
Eldest Cousin paused, possibly because of the impression Lin Jin gave them as an all-time cross-dresser; he didn’t seem particularly shocked and switched the topic back to Lin Nan, “What about Lin Nan?”
Lin Qi instinctively glanced over at Lin Nan, who lowered her head even more.
Second Cousin pointed to Lin Nan, “His girlfriend came, pretty cute.”
“His girlfriend’s here and he’s not? He’s getting a bit too full of himself!” Eldest Cousin grumbled, “Back in the day, people would at least take a break to come home for weddings.”
“You don’t know since you didn’t come back for New Year, Lin Nan had a huge fight with his dad and doesn’t want to come back—totally normal. But at least his girlfriend came instead.” Second Cousin filled in the awkward silence with his delusional speculations.
Hearing this, Lin Nan nearly exploded with joy, nodding so fast she looked like a bobblehead.
“Does he think he can just have his girlfriend take his place at my wedding?” Eldest Cousin fumed, snatching up his phone, “I’m calling him over. He’s gotta show up tonight.”
Moments later, Lin Nan’s phone buzzed.
All the eyes at the table fixed on Lin Nan.
She blankly scanned the bewildered expressions of her cousins, her cheeks turning bright red.
Oh no! I forgot to silence it!
What should I do? What do I say in front of all these people? I turned into a girl?!
This is too embarrassing!
