New Year’s Eve Night
Celebrating the New Year with respect to the gods and ancestors is a traditional practice in Lin Nan’s area.
In the countryside, people usually perform a simple ancestral worship at home on New Year’s Eve, then on the first day of the New Year, they take offerings from the day before to the village ancestral hall to pray to some peculiar statues.
However, the county town lacks an ancestral hall, leaving only this one ancestral worship on New Year’s Eve.
She sits on the sofa, gazing at the red table in the corner of the living room, which is neatly arranged with nine bowls, two candles lit, and a row of red wine cups filled with rice wine.
Uncle and Aunt light a bundle of incense, mumbling in their dialect, bowing slightly to the offering table, praying for a prosperous year ahead.
The scent of smoke begins to fill the room, an elegant aroma that is not unpleasant, gradually bringing in a bit of a festive atmosphere.
“Chen Yao.” Uncle hands him a stick of incense. “Tell your grandfather your wishes for next year.”
Chen Yao isn’t usually superstitious, but he takes ancestral worship quite seriously. He straightens up from his usual slouch at home, bows his head like his parents, intending to say something like “may you stay healthy,” but suddenly remembers Lin Nan on the sofa.
He lowers his head even more: “I wish Lin Nan a smooth and happy year ahead… Grandpa, she could be your future granddaughter-in-law.”
His voice is so soft even Uncle and Aunt beside him barely catch it.
“Lin Nan, how about you take a turn?” Aunt smiles back at Lin Nan on the sofa.
Lin Nan shakes her head without hesitation. “Forget it, I’m not…”
“No worries!” Aunt pulls Lin Nan’s arm and pushes the lit incense towards her hand. “It wouldn’t hurt to say hello to Chen Yao’s grandparents, right? What if they like you?”
That reasoning feels a bit weird, doesn’t it?
Lin Nan is dragged to the offering table, looking at the incense in her hand, then at Aunt’s eager face.
They really think of me as family, huh?
She bows slightly, imitating Chen Yao’s pose in a soft voice: “I hope Uncle and Aunt, as well as Chen Yao, can stay healthy and safe.”
After her brief prayer, under Aunt’s urging gaze, Lin Nan places the incense into a bottle of cola filled with sand at the front of the table.
“All done! Let’s eat! Chen Yao, go hang up the red lanterns on the balcony.” Aunt gently massages Lin Nan’s thin shoulders, her eyes crinkling with smiles. “You can wait a bit, we’ll heat the dishes up, and the Spring Festival Gala should be starting soon, right? Let’s watch it while having New Year’s dinner together.”
For some reason, after paying respects to Chen Yao’s grandfather, Lin Nan subconsciously stops resisting Aunt’s enthusiasm.
Aunt lights a firecracker and tosses it into the empty hallway.
The offerings definitely shouldn’t go to waste; they’ve been on the table for hours, and now they are served as the New Year dinner after a quick stint in the microwave. Chen Yao’s family and Lin Nan gather around the coffee table sitting on plastic chairs.
The Spring Festival Gala starts on TV, adding to the festive vibe in the room.
Since it’s the New Year, Uncle lets go of his reservations about drinking, pouring a small cup of liquor for his son, while Aunt pours herself a beer, both of them smiling at Lin Nan.
Although Lin Nan doesn’t like drinking, she nods in agreement as she watches Aunt fill her small cup with beer.
Chen Yao and his dad lift their cups, downing them in one go.
“Dad, I can’t drink too much…” Chen Yao puts down his glass with a frown after taking a sip, but sees his father pouring more liquor into his cup, immediately making a bitter face. “You know I don’t like drinking liquor.”
“It’s fine, be happy this year.”
Uncle pats his shoulder, wearing that knowing smile only men understand: “Let’s aim for a grandkid soon.”
“Not so fast, I haven’t even found a partner yet.”
Chen Yao’s face turns a bit red, whether it’s from the liquor or the teasing, he hastily lifts his cup again, clinking it and downing it in one go.
His face turns even redder, choking slightly but then hearing another round of hearty laughter from his uncle.
Fueled by the drink, the father-son duo starts chatting about everything from the pandemic to foreign affairs, reminiscing about how great Spring Festival Galas used to be, even sharing stories about when they’d sneak off to the arcade under Chen Yao’s mom’s watchful eye only to be chased home with a broom.
Their conversation shifts towards women, but Aunt swiftly kicks in, snapping Uncle out of it, hurriedly changing the topic: “Is Zhao Benshan performing at the Spring Festival Gala this year?”
Lin Nan sits in the corner of the coffee table, enviously watching the interaction between the father and son.
While Uncle may seem a little too carefree to Aunt, Lin Nan has never experienced such camaraderie.
“Lin Nan?” Aunt leans in with a smile, whispering near her ear, “How about raising a glass with me?”
“Aunt, I really can’t drink.”
She glances down sorrowfully at her bowl of food, as Uncle and Aunt continue to pile food onto her plate. In just ten minutes, her bowl is overflowing.
And as for the beer? Not even a sip yet.
Though she drank a lot before to unlock magic, beer feels terrible no matter how she tries; she’d rather drink plain water than this stuff.
But she still lifts her cup to clink it with Aunt’s, hastily finishing the drink.
“Girls shouldn’t drink too much, just a little is fine.” Aunt fills Lin Nan’s cup with cola, saying with a smile, “If Chen Yao turns into a drunkard someday, you can teach him a lesson so he knows who’s in charge in the family.”
Chen Yao shivers and rolls his eyes at Aunt.
“If he dares to ignore you, come find me. I’ll give him a good whack.”
“He usually doesn’t drink much anyway,” Lin Nan chuckles awkwardly, knowing she’s not cut out to be the one in charge.
Besides, her relationship with Chen Yao is at best friends and not quite lovers. She doesn’t dare admit her feelings for him, and even if she did, wouldn’t be brave enough to confess.
Who knows if Chen Yao’s kindness toward her is still just a friend thing?
Who knows whether Chen Yao minds that she used to be male?
Uncle keeps persuading Chen Yao to drink, and after just a few shots, he’s already slightly tipsy, starting to regale the room with stories of the odd customers he met last year.
Aunt chats with Lin Nan about old stories from Chen Yao’s life.
From when he was five and still wetting the bed to running around n*ked when he was little, and how he gave her sleepless nights during his rebellious middle school phase. She suggests that Lin Nan should have a daughter someday for a more peaceful life.
It’s Lin Nan’s first time hearing about Chen Yao’s childhood, and she listens attentively, occasionally covering her mouth to giggle.
Chen Yao notices her subconscious reaction and freezes with the cup in hand, seeing Lin Nan cover her mouth and only letting her eyes show as she smiles.
She’s becoming more and more like a girl, and prettier too.
While the four of them at Chen Yao’s home are enjoying themselves, on the quiet streets of the county, a black cat wanders sadly along the sidewalk, ears flooded with the sounds of laughter from every household.
“Lin Nan, where did you run off to…”
“I’m so hungry…”
“I swear, I’ll never be picky again…”
