Chapter 47: New Year’s Gift
Early on New Year’s Eve morning, Fu Rangyi woke up and found that Zhu Zhixi had already left.
A sticky note was pasted to his forehead. It read—
[I have extremely urgent work. It might take me until very late. Go straight to my house later. We’ll meet there!]
There was still a little warmth left in the blankets. Fu Rangyi narrowed his eyes and finished reading the note, then rolled over and lay on the side where Zhu Zhixi had slept, closing his eyes as he breathed in the lingering scent.
Too faint. Far too faint.
Zhu Zhixi was busy every day. Feeling a little irritated, Fu Rangyi got out of bed, washed up, and changed his clothes. Yet when he passed Zhu Zhixi’s room, he seemed to fall under a spell. He knocked on the door, went inside, and crawled into Zhu Zhixi’s tent.
He wanted to mark him.
But Zhu Zhixi just had to be a Beta.
Damn Alpha instincts.
After burying himself in the rabbit nest for a long while, Fu Rangyi went to the study and checked the New Year gifts he had prepared for Zhu Zhixi. One was saved properly, and the other was wrapped.
In the afternoon, he carried downstairs all the New Year gifts the two of them had bought at the supermarket yesterday, loaded them into the car one by one, and drove alone to Zhu Zhixi’s home.
The feeling was very strange. Fu Rangyi felt uneasy, even a little constrained.
He had never had any real sense of the word “home.” He even feared it a little. When he was still in school, Li Qiao had said that home was a place where one could do whatever one wanted. Back then, Fu Rangyi had thought to himself, so he really did not have a home.
He hated round tables, hated holidays, hated every occasion that required a family to gather.
But now, when he thought of home, what came to mind was Zhu Zhixi sitting cross-legged on the sofa in pajamas, eating chocolate egg rolls. Or Zhu Zhixi making a mess of the kitchen, then grinning at him foolishly in embarrassment. Or Zhu Zhixi standing sleepily at the entryway, waiting to hold hands. Or the loud, bright “I’m home!” after the door opened.
When exactly had he started looking forward to “going home”?
Fu Rangyi could not say.
Now he was even going to Zhu Zhixi’s home, to spend New Year with his family. At a red light, he looked at the flashing green pedestrian signal and suddenly realized that he was so nervous his palms were sweating.
Zhu Zhixi’s home was decorated with a festive atmosphere. Red paper window cutouts and ornaments were everywhere, lively and cheerful.
“Rangyi is here?” Father Zhu came out to welcome him with a kind smile. “Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t bring anything? What did I tell you two?”
Fu Rangyi smiled. “Just some New Year goods and supplements.”
He paused for a few seconds, then said, “Dad, you’re busy with work. Please take care of your health.”
It did not seem that difficult. Easier than calling someone Dad when he was a child.
“All right, you two too. Do you know how to make dumplings? I asked the auntie to prepare wrappers and filling. We’ll make them together later!”
“Mm.”
Before dinner, Zhu Zhixi and Zhu Zeran arrived one after another, both late. Originally, Fu Rangyi thought New Year with only four people might feel a little quiet. But the brothers started arguing after only a few words, and no one could stop them. It was livelier than the Spring Festival Gala.
At first, Fu Rangyi quietly ate and drank with Father Zhu. But then he unexpectedly found a little amusement in the brothers’ bickering.
As they ate, Father Zhu asked Zhu Zeran about his recent work. “I heard from Little Zhu that you’ve been working with real estate lately?”
At once, Zhu Zeran looked like he wanted to roll his eyes at Zhu Zhixi. “Snitching again.”
Zhu Zhixi clicked his tongue. “Dad, look at him. He just doesn’t want to tell you!” After saying that, he picked up a piece of fish belly, carefully removed all the scallions on top, and put it into Fu Rangyi’s bowl.
A faint pleasure rose in Fu Rangyi’s heart. But when he looked up, he saw the family-planning committee member dressed like a noble young master pushing his bowl in front of Zhu Zhixi, only to receive a chopstickful of scallion shreds.
“What exactly is the project?” Father Zhu asked.
“Unfinished buildings!” Zhu Zhixi rushed to answer.
“No.” Zhu Zeran immediately explained, “That’s just a stepping stone. The real estate companies behind these projects have all collapsed. This concerns people’s livelihoods, so the higher-ups wanted someone to take over, and I did. It’s basically spending money to help fill the accounts in exchange for military resources. But these accounts are seriously fucking rotten.”
“Who told you to be so ambitious? Now you know it’s troublesome?” Zhu Zhixi said. “This is what they call dying for face and suffering for it—”
The words slipped out, then came to an abrupt halt.
Old Zhu and Big Zhu at the table both stopped eating and looked at him.
Fu Rangyi could not help laughing.
He also looked at Zhu Zhixi and gave him a meaningful glance.
Losing once should be fine, right? It was only one day of being ordered around.
But Zhu Zhixi’s competitive spirit exceeded his imagination.
“Long-life for face and suffer for it.”
“Huh?” Zhu Zeran was baffled. “What nonsense are you saying?”
Father Zhu did not understand either. “Longevity noodles? You want to eat that? I’ll ask the auntie to make you some.”
Seeing Zhu Zhixi’s embarrassed expression, Fu Rangyi smiled and helped him out. “It’s New Year, after all. I told him it’s best not to say unlucky words during the holiday. After discussing it, we decided to replace them with ‘long-life.’”
Zhu Zeran thought about it for a while, then suddenly realized. “Oh, so after all that, you meant I’m dying for face and suffering for it!”
Zhu Zhixi nodded repeatedly. “Yes.”
“That’s pretty interesting,” Father Zhu said with a laugh.
As a result, throughout the meal, Zhu Zeran kept deliberately saying the word “die,” trying to bait Zhu Zhixi into saying it too. Several times, Zhu Zhixi nearly fell for it, only to twist it back at the last second. He was so angry he barely ate any dumplings before dragging Fu Rangyi upstairs.
“I’m so mad I’m long-life. That Zhu Zeran is so long-life annoying. I hate him long-life! How can there be such an irritating person?”
Fu Rangyi was amused by his triple “long-life” combo. “You curse people so auspiciously.”
“You praise people so unpleasantly.”
Zhu Zhixi pulled him into his bedroom, pushed open the door, dragged Fu Rangyi inside, and quickly shut the door.
It was already dark outside. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling window, the night was a quiet, deep blue like the ocean. Zhu Zhixi had only turned on one warm orange sunset lamp, filling the room with soft light. This room was much larger than the guest bedroom at Fu Rangyi’s home, and the decor was still bright and colorful, very much like a house inside a childhood snow globe.
He pressed Fu Rangyi against the door panel. His hand slipped restlessly beneath Fu Rangyi’s coat as he asked softly, sticky and affectionate, “Are you full?”
What a strange question.
Fu Rangyi had not expected Zhu Zhixi’s first question to be this, so he laughed.
“Do you think I didn’t eat enough?” Fu Rangyi lowered his head. The tip of his nose brushed Zhu Zhixi’s hair, making it tickle.
Zhu Zhixi looked up. His hands seemed to have nowhere to go, and instead of hugging him, they rested near the edge of Fu Rangyi’s belt. “I was afraid you wouldn’t be used to eating at my house. You barely picked up any food.”
I was waiting for you to pick some for me.
“Didn’t you put a lot in my bowl?”
“That wasn’t a lot. Even feeding a rabbit would take more than that.” Zhu Zhixi finished, “If you’re hungry, tell me. I’ll tell the auntie to cook more of what you like.”
“Mm.”
“Don’t be nervous.” His hand finally left Fu Rangyi’s belt and moved to his back, stroking him gently. “This is your home too.”
Fu Rangyi nodded and silently stared at him.
He could smell all sorts of strange pheromones on Zhu Zhixi again. It really smelled awful. He did not like this feeling. But there was nothing Zhu Zhixi could do. He was a Beta, unable to be marked, destined to pick up all kinds of pheromones from different people.
Fu Rangyi could only silently release his own, covering over everyone else’s, like a little dog secretly marking its territory.
“We haven’t done today’s daily task yet.”
Zhu Zhixi’s hand suddenly slid down, seemingly about to hold his, but his phone abruptly vibrated.
Fu Rangyi sensitively noticed that it was not a call notification. It was an alarm.
Why set an alarm at this hour?
Zhu Zhixi quickly turned it off and continued on his own, “I was outside today, and the countdown was jumping so fast. I—”
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Zhu Zhixi? Dad wants you to come over for a bit.” It was Zhu Zeran’s voice.
Fu Rangyi had thought Zhu Zhixi would explode after being interrupted and curse a few “long-lifes,” but instead, he was unusually calm. He only took a deep breath, calmed himself down, called out, “Got it, coming,” and prepared to open the door.
But Fu Rangyi grabbed the doorknob first.
He turned his face slightly, lowered his head, and pressed a very light kiss to Zhu Zhixi’s cheek before turning the handle and opening the door for him.
Zhu Zeran was still standing outside. His gaze moved back and forth between their faces as he held back a laugh.
“Zhu Zhixi, why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?”
“Shut up.” Without another word, Zhu Zhixi stomped down the hallway.
Fu Rangyi watched his back, watched him rub his cheek with the back of his hand and clench his fingers, like a child.
“Let’s go, brother-in-law. We have a task too.” Zhu Zeran raised an eyebrow at him.
“A task?”
“Yeah. Come with me.” Zhu Zeran lifted his chin toward the corridor.
So Fu Rangyi followed him downstairs and into the back garden. In the southwest corner, a patch of lawn had been fenced off with wooden rails. Zhu Zeran walked over, pulled open the little wooden gate, and stepped inside.
The area was truly small. With two Alphas over 1.8 meters tall standing inside, it even felt awkwardly cramped. When the cold wind blew, the awkwardness spread everywhere. Fu Rangyi even had the thought that in the next second, Zhu Zeran would recommend a brand of condoms to him.
Sure enough, Zhu Zeran spoke.
But the content was not quite what Fu Rangyi had imagined.
“Our Old Zhu family has a tradition. Every New Year’s Eve, we have to plant a tree.”
As he spoke, he lifted a large bucket from the corner of the fence. Inside were tools like shovels and spades.
“Plant a tree?” Fu Rangyi found it a little strange. “At night?”
Zhu Zeran was silent for a second. “Mm. It has to be at night.”
Fu Rangyi looked around at the trees in the back garden. “You plant one every year?”
Zhu Zeran kept both hands in his pockets and nodded. “That’s right.”
“But the trees in the yard don’t look like they were planted in different years,” Fu Rangyi began exposing the flaw.
But Zhu Zeran’s mental fortitude was clearly even better than he had imagined. “The ones that grew too tall, too short, or crooked were all pulled up and thrown away. People move to live; trees move to long-life.”
As expected of blood brothers. He had learned and applied it instantly.
“And there are gardeners. With some trimming and maintenance, of course they look tidy. Otherwise, how would they dare take their salaries?”
As he spoke, he picked up a shovel and shoved it straight into Fu Rangyi’s hands, then said on his own, “Hold this. You dig the hole first. I’ll go move the tree.”
“Anywhere?” Fu Rangyi asked.
“Anywhere!” Zhu Zeran did not even turn his head. He only raised a hand and strode forward, as if he really were going to move a tree.
What a baffling family tradition.
After standing there for a moment, Fu Rangyi still began to move. He did not start digging immediately. Instead, he carried the shovel and stepped around the little patch of lawn. The center seemed softer.
Crouching down, Fu Rangyi touched the turf, then reached out, wanting to pull it up.
Unexpectedly, in the next second, he heard his brother-in-law shout from far away, “Hurry up and dig! Quick battle, quick victory!”
Was there a security camera here, or a telescope?
Fu Rangyi frowned and looked back, glancing around.
Here, then. The soil was looser, so it would be easier.
He dug the shovel in, and the turf flipped up together with the soil. In the cold air, there was suddenly a trace of earthy smell mixed with the fresh scent of plants. It did not smell unpleasant.
Once. Twice.
Suddenly, the metal head of the shovel struck something with a sound.
A stone?
Fu Rangyi narrowed his eyes and half-crouched, reaching out to brush at it. This was clearly moist, fresh soil. The turf had also been newly laid over it.
Identifying soil samples was a basic skill in archaeological surveying. They judged soil layers through texture and structure, thereby identifying traces of underground remains.
He probed farther down, then froze.
He had touched a hard corner.
What was this?
He stood and swung the shovel again, over and over. Then he crouched, pushed aside the soil and turf. Like a little dog, he dug through layer after layer of earth. It was as if he had returned to childhood, beneath the big tree and flowerbed of that welfare home, lonely and holding a small shovel as he dug little holes, bit by bit opening the ground, searching for shiny trash and storing his loneliness underground.
And now, what he dug out was a silver box. It was covered in many embossed patterns and was extremely beautiful.
There was no lock on the box. Fu Rangyi lifted the lid with ease.
At that instant, the entire garden lit up with golden lights. Starry specks, circle after circle, rippled outward like a sea of fireflies.
The star lights on the fence blinked, surrounding Fu Rangyi. He half-crouched in front of the box and raised his head to look around, looking so utterly at a loss.
There was light inside the box too. At this moment, it glowed golden, illuminating everything.
Inside the box was actually full of sand. Stuck diagonally into the very top was a little shovel tied with a bow.
It was an archaeological trowel. Fu Rangyi’s name was engraved on it.
Using that trowel, he dug through the golden sand and found many treasures.
Shiny candy wrappers, a pretty flower branch, a pair of old magnetic dolls, a vinyl record…
Flower specimens, a small towel printed with rabbit patterns, a folded shirt, an exquisite brush…
And a photograph.
In the photo, Zhu Zhixi as a child stood beneath a tree full of grapefruit blossoms, smiling brilliantly. Beside him, a carefully cut-out grayish figure had been pasted on—the little snowman who liked wearing white and did not like to smile.
His vision suddenly blurred.
It turned out a layer of mist had fogged his lenses.
He took off his glasses, wiped the lenses clean, then dug again and found a yellowed piece of paper. Many lines were scribbled on it.
After reading through it, he realized it was a memo, recording things needed for childbirth, from maternity pads to clothes and hats needed when leaving the hospital…
Fu Rangyi was somewhat bewildered. He turned the paper over and froze in place.
It was a handwriting he knew well. One that had signed contracts, and had signed a name on the marriage registration form.
[Nian-nian, hello.
I am Zhu Zhixi from Universe 825523. Congratulations. At the very end of your thirtieth year, you finally, finally dug up this little treasure box that crossed time and space. In this snowy winter, our signal finally connected. Does this count as good news at the start of a new year?
Do you find this completely inexplicable? Let me tell you, then. I am your bravest, warmest, and most headache-inducing friend. You hate how I appear out of nowhere and disrupt your plans, yet you always tolerate my mischief again and again.
The most serious time was when I sneaked into your top conference and dragged you to the atrium garden before your presentation. “Want some candy, Professor?” I asked you. It was the stickiest candy in the world, but the wrapper was shiny and beautiful, so you fell for it. My lips stuck together, so I wanted to laugh but couldn’t. Your teeth stuck together, so you wanted to curse but couldn’t. That day, the garden was full of grapefruit blossoms. Even the air seemed soaked in honey, sweet and sticky. I wanted to hug you under the tree, but you were in a hurry and rushed back to the venue. I picked a small branch and tucked it into the front of my shirt, then ran to listen. I listened to your entire report while smelling fragrant.
Your doctoral dorm was on the first floor, which was simply a blessing for me. I was probably the undergraduate who appeared most often in that highly educated area. Compared to walking in openly, I preferred slipping around to the back wall of your room, picking up a tree branch, and tapping your window with it like a wizard. You must have been so helpless, because you had to sleep at ten. But at most three minutes later, your window would light up, a warm yellow square moon pressed close to the ground, within reach. When you pushed open the window, your hand would stretch out from inside the moon.
Actually, I lied when I said I couldn’t climb in. I just wanted you to fish me inside, like fishing up a lively little fish. In your single room, I committed all kinds of crimes, occupying your private territory, setting up a tent, decorating a Christmas tree, piling my clothes into a little mountain. But every time, I followed the rule of speaking quietly, so whenever we talked, we had to stick close together, like the pair of magnetic dolls at my house.
You don’t like anything except studying, but I insisted on dragging you along to skip class, to music festivals, to record stores, to hunt for damaged records at low prices. When the last song played, it would loop infinitely. We rode bikes to the lakeside. I jumped into the lake and pretended to cramp, scaring you into jumping in too. Then we turned into two water ghosts, passing a lakeside bench at night and coughing beside a couple secretly kissing, startling them before running away.
I dragged you to my house and said I wanted to give you some new clothes my brother had never worn. I changed into the exact same outfit too. Actually, I had bought those as my coming-of-age gifts, one for eighteen-year-old me, and one for twenty-two-year-old me. But I didn’t say that. I only said, “Matching brother outfits are really funny, right?” In the mirror, I laughed a little theatrically, but you couldn’t laugh. You only silently tugged at the hem of the shirt.
Of course, when I was a primary school student, I was also very bad. I pretended to twist my ankle and forced you to carry me to the lakeside. I said I wanted to see the cracks in the spring ice on the lake, and to find the best-blooming canna in the school flowerbed. I plucked the flower and gave you the nectar I had already sucked halfway. You didn’t like to smile even as a child, and you always wore a fuzzy white sweater. I copied you and wore sweaters too.
You could always remember the time of my PE class and come find me, taking off my sweater and stuffing a small towel into my thermal shirt, because I always caught colds. Crackle, crackle. When I took it off, sparks flew all over my head, and you would get zapped by me. But at times like that, you would actually laugh, touch my floating hair, and ask, “Are you a jellyfish? You’re so prickly.”
I heard my birth was very difficult. Looks like I was a bad egg even as a baby, tormenting Mom and frightening my family. Would your heart ache over it? Probably not. You were a little baby then too. My family used my lanugo to make a writing brush, but even as a brush, I was restless. By the second year, all the bristles had frizzed out, turning into a little scrub brush. How about I lend it to you to brush soil? The treasures you dig out of the dust—I’ll help you clean them.
Going even farther back, before I was born, I was a piece of soul, like a jellyfish, drifting between universes. Believe me, this is absolutely not a fairy tale. I accidentally discovered you in another spacetime, trapped in a special utopia, standing with many children in front of a pale green wall. A lonely little snowman. You had just turned four. It was a very cold winter.
Click. The instant the flash lit up, I floated down like snow and leaned against your shoulder. You couldn’t see me. I was transparent. I hugged you and gave you a promise. You definitely didn’t hear it either. But that’s all right. I guessed it long ago. I left these tokens and this letter here. This time, no one will throw away your box. I will help you keep it safe. You said you would dig soil for a lifetime, so sooner or later, you will find me. I even borrowed a magical device from fate. It counts down, you know. Pretty cool, right?
Nian-nian, the moment the countdown paused, you found me.
Happy New Year.
—Your Bad Rabbit Xixi ^^
Written on a beautiful snowy night in Universe 825523, where there were glutinous rice dumplings to eat]
Author’s Note:
This letter is an 825523 parallel universe Little Zhu created based on the childhood “treasures” he buried in the box. In this universe, they grew up together from childhood and were never separated. In other words, it is an IF route written by Little Zhu himself.
