Chapter 255: New Year’s Day
The first day of the New Year had Lin Nan feeling on top of the world.
She woke up in the morning to find she’d received three hundred yuan in New Year’s money, spent a bit of time gaming, and then suddenly remembered she needed to wish her mom a Happy New Year. But as soon as she opened WeChat, she was greeted with a five hundred yuan red envelope from her mother.
Not to mention, Wu Guodong had also sent her two hundred yuan.
That added up to a whopping one thousand yuan!
This amount used to be her entire month’s living expenses, and now it was just a breezy pocket change.
When Chen Yao returned to the room after taking a shower and having breakfast, he instantly spotted Lin Nan’s beaming grin.
“What’s got you so happy? Spill it!”
He yawned while sitting cross-legged on the floor. “My mom said if everything goes smoothly, we could be unblocking the roads to the countryside by the tenth. You’ll be heading out, right?”
“Yeah.” Lin Nan’s expression immediately shifted to something more secretive as she shot Chen Yao a side-eye, like she was sizing him up for a suspicious plot.
Chen Yao scratched the back of his sore head, feeling a bit perplexed. “If I did anything to you last night, just say it. No need to give me that look.”
“Too lazy to talk.” Lin Nan huffed, feeling guilty herself for peeking at his privacy.
“Wait, you didn’t sneak up and hit me, did you?” He kept poking at his head, grimacing as he asked. “I’ve never seen you so strong before.”
Well, duh! When you’ve got some guy pinned down and are worried you might get smacked, your strength kicks in!
Lin Nan had hardly slept the night before. First, there were fireworks and firecrackers bombarding her until half past midnight, and then Chen Yao’s snoring kept her up until three. After finally falling asleep, she dreamt that Chen Yao was pinning her down again, waking up in a cold sweat.
She yawned, feeling more sleep-deprived compared to Chen Yao, who’d crashed early.
“Why’s your cat over at my place?” Chen Yao’s head still felt dizzy as he endlessly sipped from his water cup.
“Who knows? When it was in the countryside, it was hanging out with the stray cats. Maybe nobody was feeding it because of the pandemic?” Lin Nan was just as puzzled. “But it could’ve stayed at my grandpa’s place.”
“Maybe it just really likes you?”
Lin Nan remembered how Cola was surrounded by a pack of stray cats. There was no way it came running to her just because it adored her.
Could it be it’s not used to the food at grandpa’s?
She didn’t want to think too much about it. As long as this cat was now at Chen Yao’s place and seemed healthy, that was enough.
Even though deliveries had stopped due to the pandemic, Lin Nan still opened up an online shopping page, planning to buy some summer clothes.
Winter here only lasted about a month or so, and by March, the weather should warm up. Lin Nan had absolutely no summer outfits.
However, as she clicked into the search bar, she spotted some curious terms in her search history.
She nudged Chen Yao teasingly, “What’s with the chocolate search? Planning to buy your girlfriend something for Valentine’s Day?”
“Girlfriend? Where do I find one of those?” Chen Yao scoffed. “Unless you want to be my stand-in?”
“Crazy.” Lin Nan rolled her eyes, but she didn’t take his words to heart. She continued checking the search history out of curiosity.
Nothing too strange jumped out at her, so she shifted back to finding some summer clothes, but Chen Yao leaned closer to make a comment. “How about some short skirts with black stockings? Or maybe two outfits? Though you might look good in white stockings too, right?”
“I don’t like skirts.” Lin Nan huffed. “Besides, why would I buy something just because you like it? You wear the women’s clothes.”
“There’s no girl who doesn’t wear skirts.”
Lin Nan pointed at her own face, “Well, here I am.”
Suddenly, she realized Chen Yao’s gaze had wandered to her chest. She looked down and quickly zipped up her jacket, glaring at him fiercely.
How did she not notice before that Chen Yao was such a creep?
On New Year’s Day, Lin Nan didn’t feel any festive vibes at all. It was just the same old banter with Chen Yao. The only hint that it was the New Year was the colorful lanterns dangling outside when she peeked out the window.
Every now and then, she heard a few firecrackers, but the streets were empty, lacking the usual celebrations.
Uncle and Aunt had left to do their volunteer work. Lin Nan noticed the worry on their faces yesterday during New Year’s Eve. It probably meant that their restaurant would be closed for at least a month, which could be a financial blow to Chen Yao’s family.
Yet, Chen Yao was as chill as ever, lounging back in the chair next to Lin Nan, playing with his phone as though the world didn’t exist.
“My mom plans to start doing deliveries,” he said, looking up. “I’m going to be a delivery person starting tomorrow. She said she’d give me three yuan for each delivery.”
Even though all the restaurants in the small county were shut down, delivery services weren’t banned.
Delivery was the lifeline for all restaurants these days, and Aunt shouldn’t just wait for the pandemic to pass to reopen. Otherwise, she’d still be on the hook for rent and salaries, and even if she had money, she’d still end up broke.
“Can I go too?”
“What for? You can’t even ride an electric bike properly.” Chen Yao shot down Lin Nan’s idea immediately. “You’ll end up doing more harm than good if you break something.”
“I can help with packaging!”
Chen Yao thought for a moment but shook his head. “There won’t be enough orders for four people. We’ll see if you’re needed later.”
As they chatted, Lin Nan ordered a couple of summer outfits she liked.
It was just some short sleeves and long pants. She really couldn’t bring herself to embrace overly feminine clothes, even though the flashy styles intrigued her.
“For summer, why not grab some shorts?” Chen Yao leaned over her computer screen to ask.
Shorts?
Lin Nan casually added a pair of capris and a few knee-length shorts to her cart.
Living in a rental would be different from her school dorm where air conditioning was shared; she’d need to conserve her air conditioning costs, so shorts would definitely help with the heat.
“Yeah, yeah! How about this?” Chen Yao pointed at a pair of denim shorts.
These shorts were practically just a strip of fabric! The model in the picture was flaunting her long legs, making Chen Yao gulp like he’d seen the last slice of pizza.
Lin Nan thought about rejecting it outright, but then she caught a glimpse of Chen Yao’s eager eyes—jealousy flared up in her inexplicable mood, and hit “buy” while acidly commenting about the model, “They’re so skinny, like bamboo sticks. Why’s she even in the ad looking so ugly?”
Her thighs weren’t thick, but compared to someone like that, who probably starved herself down to a hundred pounds at 1.7 meters tall, she still felt inferior.
Chen Yao was momentarily stunned, then immediately complimented, “Yeah, yeah! Your legs are the best looking!”
“If this were the last century, I could easily pin you with a crime for that comment,” Lin Nan shot him a glare.
Seriously, did anything she say make him happy? Complaining about the legs didn’t work, and neither did complimenting!
