Happy Holidays! To reflect the holiday spirit, here is a special side story to enjoy~ Just like the other side story I have translated, it is not connected to any of the main plot (though timeline-wise, this does occur before S2). This was probably one of the longest things I have ever translated (YBCB seems to constantly break new records with chapter length), but it was a cute and fun story. :)
Translated by: TaffyGirl13
Side Story: Running Around For Christmas
Part 1:
“Ah Yin, how do you plan on spending Christmas Eve this year?”
Yu Yin looked up from the homework he owed his teacher to blankly stare at his bad friend sitting in front of him. “Spending it with my blanket. There’s absolutely no way I will listen to your slander this year and end up going to a three-days-two-nights hangout for a ‘silver-coloured’ Christmas or whatever.”
Ah Guan chuckled as he pushed aside the other person’s homework on the table and pulled out a pamphlet for a fellowship [activity] with a guesthouse included. “Student, don’t be like this. If you continue rejecting fellowship like this, people will start saying you’re trying to become a monk or have strange hobbies, you know. Haven’t you noticed some of the girls giggling weirdly whenever they always see you closer to other people? Hurry up and abandon everything else plus your homework; come attend a normal activity with friends.”
Yu Yin looked at his damned friend that came looking for him every time with ill intentions to have him make up for a lack of people or spend his money. He grabbed his homework back and continued to refuse with a huff, “Like I’d want to. The cold weather has been freezing recently, and I owe too many hours to the professor. The professor said that if I don’t hand over my homework before the start of the new year, he’ll set my grades off with the New Year’s Day fireworks and make me repeat the year.”
Moreover, he had no desire to repeat the tragic silver Christmas from last year.
At this time last year, that damned Ah Guan had also come running to him for a hangout. Yu Yin had agreed, since it wasn’t bad with so many girls too. As a result, he had managed to leave Xiao Yu with Boss Yan and had gone up the mountains to spend Christmas and watch the sunrise there.
In the end, what he had received in return was that while everyone had been gasping in surprise from the sunrise among the flurry of snow, he heard a freaking ghost yelling through it!
Who in the world experienced silver Christmases where ghosts popped out from the snow? It hadn’t even possible to ignore it, as corpses had appeared at the bottom of the mountain too. Before the new year had passed, he had already been hit with misfortune. The first gift he had received during the silver Christmas was a ghost calling him to look for a corpse, along with getting pursued by a murderer to boot—
Yu Yin had hardened his heart this year to not go anywhere at all. He would definitely huddle up in his blankets and roll around until the new year passed. Who knew if going to see fireworks would end up with him seeing ghosts being let out? He wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t do it! Why exactly did the frequency become so high?!
Also, wasn’t it supposed to be Silent Night? It wasn’t silent at all, seriously!
Ah Guan profoundly patted the other’s shoulder. “Friend, homework isn’t anything much. As a good bro, I’ll go find some people to help you with it, and you can finish it today. Just abandon your pointless insistence by obediently sign your autograph here. Then hand over 1600 to help pool together the money for the guesthouse and dinner for the pretty chicks.”
“Hmph…I’d rather die than write on that.”
Yu Yin eyed the list that had Silver Christmas vs. Sunrise on it. Even if he was beaten to death, he refused to repeat the tragic scene from last year.
“Stop resisting, and just quickly seal it—”
When Ah Fang stepped into the noisy classroom, this was the ridiculous sight he faced.
An entire crowd of female classmates were currently circled together outside, whispering to each other while enjoying the show. The subjects of the show, Yu Yin and Ah Guan, had already broken out into a wrestle. Ah Guan, whose face had already been shoved aside to the point where it was deformed, was gripping a wrinkled piece of paper and Yu Yin’s hand. It seemed as though the former was trying to get a sealing handprint or something, with one foot even on Yu Yin’s leg, thus forming a bizarre scene.
Ah Fang contemplatively scratched his face, uncertain of whether or not he should break up the deadlock they were stuck in.
“Yo, it’s rare to see you come to class.” Li Lin Yue noticed the person at the doorway first. She waved her hand in greeting. “Looking for Ah Yin?”
“…Yes, Yi Tai wanted to talk to him about something. What are they doing?” Actually, he was more interested in knowing what the female classmates were giggling about on the side. However, Ah Fang had the feeling that not asking was safer.
“It’s just as you see. One is defending the safety of his wallet, the other is forcing the good-willed civilian to go out.” Li Lin Yue shrugged and casually added in clarification, “The female classmates over there are planning to capture the amazing scene and post it on their blogs to share with everyone.”
“…” Ah Fang let out a cough and went straight over to interrupt the two students still beating each other up. “Ah Yin, come out for a moment.”
Seeing that someone was looking for him, Yu Yin immediately used Yu Xia’s training to throw Ah Guan off to the side. Before his bad friend could even crawl back up to continue the struggle, Yu Yin quickly gathered his bag and fled, dragging Ah Fang with him.
“Why avoid a hangout?” After being hauled outside, Ah Fang looked at Yu Yin in slight amusement. He recalled that Yu Yin had loved going out to play in the past, but this had died down significantly later. After all, he had heard that Yu Yin would always participate in the old karaoke night gang.
Yu Yin rolled his eyes. “I’m saving money.” Moreover, he had long since decided not to play around as hard as before. “You were looking for me for something?”
He scratched his head. He and Ah Fang honestly were never that close to each other; rather, he had later ended up being more familiar with Xiao Hai instead.
“Oh, actually, Yi Tai told me to come.” Ah Fang fiddled with the basketball that he’d been carrying behind his back. He carried out his task of passing on the message by saying, “He said that when you head home later, someone will want to sell you something at the campus entrance, and that it’s best you buy one.”
“What?” Yu Yin was dumbstruck.
“I don’t know either. That’s what he said. He also mentioned something about it being intuition, and that it’s up to you whether you believe it or not. Perhaps there might not be anything at the campus entrance when you leave…doesn’t our school prohibit peddling outside anyways?”
Yu Yin grievously looked at the other person. “Do you think I wouldn’t believe it—wait! What if it ends up being someone selling a columbarium or posthumous contract?!”
Ah Fang considered this for a moment. “It’s OK, it might even be useful. The earlier you buy it, the earlier you’ll be prepared.”
For a second, Yu Yin really wanted to strangle this person, but he restrained his hands. Who knew if actually choking this person would result in Xiao Hai jumping out to beat him?
“I’m joking.” Ah Fang shrugged. “Yi Tai said that it won’t cost much, and that your little brother might like it quite a bit.”
“My little brother…”
“Your little brother seems to have been waiting outside for a while. When we were playing ball just now, we saw him wandering around the drinks shop. I figured I’d let you know.”
Yu Yin hurriedly pulled out his cellphone. After confirming that he hadn’t received any calls, he was a bit puzzled. While Yu would randomly come find him to go home sometimes, he would mostly notify with a call.
“Then I’ll take my leave first.” Having passed on the message, Ah Fang waved good-bye so that he could go and attend the next basketball game he had scheduled. Exercise was the best when it was cold; once they were in game, it was impossible to feel the chilly winds.
Yu Yin waved back, then turned towards a different direction.
***
This was why one sometimes truly could not say they doubted Yi Tai’s words.
Yu Yin was originally going to leave the campus to first call and ask where Xiao Yu was, but as soon as he stepped out of the gates onto the road, he heard someone peddling—
“Does Dàgēgē want to buy a gingerbread house?”
Yu Yin lowered his head to see a few basket-carrying children around ten years old. He had no idea where they had come from, as kids should have still been in class at this time.
It was a group consisting of two young girls and one young boy, all wearing a uniform with another school’s emblem. They beamed up at him. “We’re selling gingerbread houses. We want to make hotpot for the grandmas and grandpas that live alone near us as a Christmas gift for Christmas Eve tomorrow, so we’re selling gingerbread houses today. We made them ourselves too.”
He watched the girl lift her hand up to raise the see-through box that contained a small gingerbread house. It was different from the exquisite ones sold in shops, and it definitely looked like these kids had made them, as they even had some white frosting leaking out. However, it was still quite cute.
“Only a hundred yuan for one.” The other girl earnestly said, “It’s very cheap, and you can give it to your girlfriend.”
Kids these days really are getting more and more precocious…
Yu Yin was silent for two seconds. Then he fished out his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a five hundred-yuan bill. “Then I’ll get four.” There was him, Xiao Yu, his dad, and his uncle, though he had no idea if they could eat it.
The little girl that had just told him to give it to a girlfriend looked up at him. “Adults should act more efficiently. Just buy five, then no change is needed.”
“Adults are very poor. I still need enough to pay for meals.” They’re even bargaining with me!
The girl considered this for a moment. She bent down to pull out a large bag of gingerbread men from her small backpack. “Buy five, and I’ll include these gingerbread men. There are ten; Mommy just bought them for me today. You buy five and you get ten for free; you’re definitely earning from the purchase. Plus, you’ll be doing a good deed.”
“…Fine, five then.” Yu Yin seriously did not know how to respond anymore. In any case, he was sure that this girl would be a very good marketer in the future. Thus, he handed the bill over to them.
The several kids were clearly very happy with having sold so many off at once. The other girl carefully stowed the money away and even said thank you multiple times.
“There’s a certificate of thanks too.” The girl passed a small card over to him. “Teacher said we could give it to people that bought a lot.”
Yu Yin glanced at it; it basically stated that some third-grade class in a certain school was expressing gratitude for buying the gingerbread houses and such. “Thanks.”
After watching the large group of children go, Yu Yin glanced at the pile of gingerbread houses and silently stuffed them into his bag. They were each around the size of a palm. Buying them from outside would be cheaper, but oh well.
At least it’s better than buying a columbarium.
Once the children were far away, Yu Yin called Yu, only to discover that the latter was unsurprisingly inside a nearby sweets shop that they often ate at. Yu Yin headed straight over with his motorbike in tow.
When he arrived at the place as discussed, he saw someone unexpected with Yu as well. Moreover, it should have technically been unlikely for these two to get together.
“Ah Yin.” Upon seeing him, Xiao Hai immediately waved from her seat next to Yu. “Here, here.”
“Why are you here?” Yu Yin stared blankly for a moment, but he still went over. “If you’re looking for Ah Fang, he should be going into school now.”
“It’s not like I’m here to look for my bro.” Xiao Hai sighed. “When I went to your house today, Mr. Cop said something about having to go investigate a homicide case. In the end, only Xiao Yu was at home, making my trip there in vain. I didn’t have anything to do, so I just wanted to wander around. It just so happened that Xiao Yu said he needed to come find you, so I just brought him over while I was at it.”
If you have nothing to do, you should go sleep instead.
Yu Yin stared at the girl that allegedly worked a night job. He rubbed his nose and sat down on the side. “Thanks.”
“Save the thanks and just buy me a drink later.” Xiao Hai kicked her legs up, and Yu Yin belatedly discovered that she was actually wearing shorts and thigh-stockings. He wondered if she was cold.
“Oh yeah, what case did Dad run out for?” Yu Yin felt freezing just by glancing over at Yu, who was quietly digging out some pudding ice cream.
Yu licked the ice cream twice, then took out his cellphone.
“It’s faster if I just say it. Basically, he got news this morning that people had fought on the streets to the point where heads were bashed, and one died. Mr. Cop #2 didn’t have any time to go over, nor did the others, so Mr. Cop said he would go.” Xiao Hai shrugged. It had been a rare occasion where she had managed to finally ask about Yu Tong’s time off today, yet in the end, it had been lost.
“Heads were bashed?” Yu Yin thought back. He didn’t think he had seen this news.
“Mn, it’s just the kids recently that play video games until they’re broke, then end up stealing on the streets. The target resisted and ended up being beaten until his head was bashed to the point of bleeding. He rushed into a nearby shop in attempt to hide, but those damn brats actually went after him and even destroyed the shop. But while breaking things, one stupid kid slipped and fell onto the glass shards of the window they had shattered, then ended up dying in the arcade from excessive blood loss like that.” Xiao Hai shrugged nonchalantly. “He reaped what he sowed.”
So it doesn’t seem to be any major case, huh. Dad probably just went to support the group.
Yu Yin scratched his face, not thinking it was any big deal either.
“Anyways, I’ve already dropped the little one off, so that’s it for now. I need to go somewhere else.” Xiao Hai stood and picked up a bag next to her to pass over to Yu Yin. “I bought this on the street just now. It’s for Mr. Cop. I’ll be super busy at the shop tomorrow and the day after, damn Christmas Eve and Christmas. I wanted to spend it with Mr. Cop, but nothing can be done about it. If people are just going to show PDA, why not go somewhere else to do it…”
Yu Yin watched the grumbling Xiao Hai leave the shop, then opened the bag. Inside was a box of Christmas chocolates, and there were even small dolls of Santa Claus and reindeer tied around.
He could already imagine his dad’s bitter smile.
Yu continued digging into his ice cream on the side.
“To think you’d order ice [cream] even in this kind of weather.” Yu Yin shuddered again as he watched the scoop get eaten.
Violet eyes blinked twice at him before continuing to scoop the ice for him to see.
“In any case, I wonder how Dad’s case is going. I’ll just secretly ask tonight. Oh right, I just bought a bunch of gingerbread houses. Here’s one for you.” Yu Yin pulled out from his backpack the cookie house that had been sold to him earlier, pushing it over to the person across from him.
Yu took the gingerbread house and carefully turned it around twice, then placed it into his own bag.
“Speaking of which, it’s already Christmas holidays. Might as well go buy Yule log tomorrow.”
As soon as Yu heard the mention of cake, he immediately nodded, then pulled out a ton of pamphlets from his bag to gaze expectantly at the money-owner that would fork over the cash. There had been unlimited opportunities for businesses from the various holidays during the past two years, and a ton sold Christmas cakes and desserts. The atmosphere on the streets was getting stronger too. Moreover, it just happened to coincide with a non-working day this time, so activity was even greater than the previous year.
“…I guess we should just go buy it in a bit then. We can go get a different flavour tomorrow.”
***
“Boss.”
Yu Xia stopped in his tracks to turn around with a dark expression as he looked at a certain forensic investigator run over.
“Tch, Boss, it’s the day before Christmas Eve, you know. It’s almost Christmas Day. Can you not look at me with a terrifying Halloween face?” Yan Si flipped his hair back to show his face that was clearly asking for a beating.
“Are you too idle with nothing to do? And take off your hat!” Seeing the tall, bright red Christmas hat was hurting Yu Xia’s eyes the more he looked at it.
“To be honest, I have a reindeer antlers hat too. I originally wanted to give it to my old roommate, but I was kicked out in the end.” Yan Si reached behind to pull out a Christmas hat with antlers, and said in a somewhat hurt tone, “See, doesn’t it add to the mood? Being alive means relaxing over the holidays. Why reject it? What a shame, I had even spent a long time looking around there for a hat that suited him.”
Yu Xia coldly glared at the antlered red hat with only the urge to punch it.
“But forget it, none of that is important.” Yan Si pulled off his Christmas hat and folded it to place into his pocket. Then he put on the antlers. “The important thing is that I will be taking five days’ leave starting from this afternoon, and won’t come back until next week, hehehe.” It had been very difficult to trick his junior into changing times with him. Now he could happily experience his perfect Christmas break.
“That’s afternoon. It’s still noon. How are things on my brother’s end?” Yu Xia restrained himself from yanking off those deer horns by shifting the topic.
“Oh, those little thieving idiots? It was an accident either way. There were so many witnesses. The victim didn’t touch them, nor did the [shop] owner or the passerbys. Receiving the corpse is his family’s issue now.” He had just submitted his report, so he had nothing to do. Now, he was simply waiting for his vacation. “Ah, but when I chatted with Jiu Shen-xiǎodì just now, he said that the victim’s gold was missing. The victim had originally planned to deposit it today, but was robbed in the end, and it disappeared after the mess. I’m thinking that Tong and the others are probably helping him look for it. Apparently it’s worth several thousands.”
“Several thousands…” Yu Xia crossed his arms. If there was nothing in particular [to do], Yu Tong and the others would likely help search a bit before handing it over to the local police to look into further.
“Oh right, why are you here today, Boss?” It did not seem as if Yu Xia had just returned, nor did it seem he had any plans on going out. Yan Si was a bit curious; he had figured Yu Xia loved staying outside the most.
“Waiting for a criminal suspect to be delivered over. They’ll arrive in a bit.” Yu Xia had spent the morning finishing very old documents and reports he had owed for a long time. He was out right now to grab lunch.
“Sigh, so busy. Who knows if there will be a chance for everyone to go on break to spend Christmas together? Happily taking five days’ leave by myself seems a bit immoral.” Despite saying this, Yan Si began to wave his antlers as he hummed Jingle Bells.
“Shut up.” The worst thing of not being able to take vacation was others that were able to. This was the same as capturing a criminal over Mid-Autumn Festival, only to end up smelling the barbecue fragrance all over the criminal’s body. Yu Xia shot a glare at the horned forensic investigator with the strong desire to kick him.
“Oh yeah, I ordered a huge gingerbread house cake. During vacation tomorrow, I’ll go find your little ones to play.” Yan Si pulled out a flyer as if it was a precious item. On it was a description of the limited time gingerbread house cake that could allow one’s household to feel the softness of a silver Christmas.
“Why don’t you just prepare your own turkey while you’re at it,” Yu Xia retorted back in annoyance.
“Boss, you’re such an expert. I ordered a turkey too. Also Yule log and wine. No need to thank me too much, just remember to go home tomorrow for dinner.” Yan Si happily replied, believing that the more, the merrier.
“…” Yu Xia was speechless.
“Right, so you shouldn’t mind me finding my old roommate to go over with me, right? It’s better if Christmas Eve is livelier. Though everyone might be Buddhist, using an excuse to eat delicious things isn’t bad either.” As an advocate for proper enjoyment, Yan Si looked at one of the house’s owners and patted him on the shoulder. “So that’s it then. I’ve already prepared everything for dinner. We should just play a Christmas gift exchange game tomorrow too.” He hadn’t played it since leaving school, and he missed it a bit.
“Play by yourself.” Yu Xia had no desire to exchange any damned presents. He returned to his senses to throw a punch over at the person that was holding a banquet at his house without any permission. “Also, that’s my home. Aren’t you being too comfortable?!” Even completing preparations for dinner! Don’t tell me you’re even going to plan a Christmas tree, damn it!
“Not at all, you flatter me. Your home is my home~” Yan Si grinned cheekily. “You can come over to my place for hotpot over Chinese New Year, and we’ll be perfectly even.”
“You just want to get free dinner from my brother, don’t you!”
Part 2:
“Xia.”
It was evening. Having just finished handling the escort of the criminal, he was eating a cracker as he turned and saw his twin brother walk over. The latter even had some dark dirty on their clothes.
“Did you guys find it?” Yu Xia swallowed the cracker and passed the box over.
Yu Tong shook his head. “No, the shops all cooperatively opened up for us to search, but we could not find anything. It’s truly strange.” Since the victim had begged persistently, even calling the unit captain, a few of them had stayed behind at the scene to look around, only returning now.
“What about the victim? Weren’t his injuries pretty heavy?” Yu Xia raised a brow.
To think they had even called the unit captain. He hated these types of guys that relied on connections to utilise public resources.
“Insisted on finding it before leaving, so we could only help him do some simple bandaging on-site.” Yu Tong tugged the scarf off his neck and smoothly rolled it up. “These two days have been quite chilly. It should drop even more in the next two days, I think. It’s a cold wave.”
“Really? It’s not that bad.” Yu Xia did not think it was particularly cold.
“You…had better wear a coat when you go out.” Yu Tong rolled his eyes at his brother that was wearing only a thin long-sleeve. He then stressed, “It is very—cold—outside.” Especially since the temperature had been lowering quickly recently, a moment of carelessness could easily result in cardiovascular disease. Though he suspected his brother wouldn’t have this type of problem at all.
“I do, I do, I have a coat,” Yu Xia hurriedly replied when he saw his brother about to lecture him.
“What? Are you talking about the windbreaker you use in the summer that you wore when you rode the motorcycle here this morning? Is that a coat?! And didn’t you say that you would take the car this morning? You…”
“I suddenly remembered that I need to go find Ah Liu. Oh yeah, Ah Si will come to our place tomorrow night to eat; he’s already prepared the food. That’s it for now.”
Yu Tong helplessly shook his head as he watched his brother bolt off. The latter would not listen no matter what Yu Tong said anyways. Once Yu Xia got sick, he would understand; when that time came, Yu Tong would force Xia to drink ginger soup with oriental medicine while also making him take sick leave as punishment.
“So cold, so cold—”
Yu Tong looked back to see Jiu Shen walk in from outside, shivering under thick layers. “I’m going to die from the cold. The cold wave hit right after eating tangyuan.”
“It starts getting cold after the winter solstice.” Yu Tong was faintly amused as he watched his friend even pull out a heat pack – the exact opposite of Yu Xia just now. Although Yu Tong also felt that it had gotten chillier, he did not react as excessively as Jiu Shen, who had been the same even at the crime scene: a thick overcoat plus mask, with heat packs stuffed inside [his coat] too.
“It’ll stay cold until Chinese New Year’s Eve.” Jiu Shen sniffed his runny nose with a bitter expression. “As expected, it’s better indoors. I really don’t want to go out to the field.”
“Don’t complain, I was supposed to be on vacation today.” Yu Tong had run back on impromptu notice. He chuckled, “Come over to my place tomorrow after work for dinner? Xia just mentioned that Ah Si will drop by tomorrow with dinner all prepared by himself.” According to their understanding of the forensic investigator, choosing this kind of holiday meant there would be an abundant amount [of food]. Which also meant that he would probably only have to prepare some salads, drinks, and fruits.
Yu Tong had originally been planning to prepare hotpot tomorrow, so he was somewhat grateful he had been called back today so that he could not purchase ingredients. Otherwise, it would have been a waste to have to eat them while they were not fresh.
“Ooooooh! Yeah! I’m off tomorrow.” Jiu Shen’s eyes immediately lit up when he heard of the Christmas feast. “Then I’ll go over in the afternoon to help set up the space?”
What space?
Yu Tong was silent for a moment. “Er, you can just come over to eat.”
“It’s rare to be able to have a Christmas banquet, so it feels like it would be better if it was more atmospheric.” This was the first time Jiu Shen had ever been invited to this type of Christmas feast, so he was looking forward to it. “Are we exchanging gifts? Back in school, we would always exchange presents over Christmas. This really brings me back.” In his youth, any holiday had a bigger impression. Thinking back now, a long time had already passed.
“That works too. In that case, I’ll go back and tell Ah Yin and the others.” Yu Tong recalled that his older son had announced not going anywhere this year. After some consideration, Yu Tong figured that they might as well go play. It wasn’t a bad thing to enjoy the fun on occasion. After all, everyone was under quite a bit of pressure at work, and it was rare for them to get a chance to enjoy themselves.
“Great. Oh yeah, for some reason, I feel like that victim from today is a bit weird.” Jiu Shen switched the topic back to work as he brought up what he had felt was fishy today.
“Weird?”
“Yeah…he said he was chased into the shop and found something to stuff the gold into because he was afraid it would get stolen.” Jiu Shen hugged himself as he thought. “Would a person typically toss gold that’s worth several thousands of dollars in a random place in front of a hoodlum? Moreover, it was a shop he did not know at all. This kind of scenario is really uncommon. Most would just safeguard it by keeping it with themselves. Plus, when we asked for the characteristics of the gold, he kept hesitating, only saying that it was a small, gold deer.”
“I noticed that as well. It was indeed a bit unnatural.” Yu Tong pondered this. “His excessive panic was unnatural.”
The case was like this: the victim was a young adult in his thirties. His father was a member of the legislative committee. He did not have any particular job, always just supporting the legislative committee on the side.
According to the victim’s own description, he had wanted to deposit the gold at the bank this morning. When he had left his home, he’d caught the eye of some youths nearby, and had been robbed on the street. He had stubbornly refused to let the other party take it away, but he hadn’t imagined that these kids would be dead-set on not letting him go. They had chased him all the way into a nearby store. In a moment of desperation, he had randomly shoved the gold into a nearby cabinet. Afterwards, the kids had smashed up the shop’s windows. While they were breaking it, the leader had walked out to break up the onlookers, but in the end, he’d stepped on something to fall directly onto the shattered glass sticking out. It had immediately severed his carotid artery and he’d died on the spot from excessive blood loss.
Seeing that someone had died from the commotion, the kids had dispersed in the confusion. The police had already locked onto several people based on the surveillance camera footage and would be able to find them within the next two days.
“So should we try making some specific inquiries?” Jiu Shen could not quite describe the feeling, but it was very unusual.
“Sure. Once all the people appear in court, we can ask them again.” Actually, Yu Tong had also felt that something wasn’t right, so he had planned for this as well.
“I’ll go back to work for now then.”
***
That night, Yu Yin and Yu ate away at a Yule log.
“Weird, why are Dad and Uncle so late tonight?” Yu Yin walked out from the bathroom to enter the living room while drying his hair. He glanced at the living room clock that was already pointing at twelve.
Yu was curled up on the sofa watching a TV show. He shot Yu Yin a look before shifting his attention back onto the TV.
“Didn’t call either.” Yu Yin looked at the cellphone that had remained silent. He considered calling them to ask, but figured it was better not to. In any case, this wasn’t the first such instance. They had probably run out to do some other work that had popped up last minute. Criminals ran around 24/7 without break; there was nothing to be done about that.
In the past, they would even often eat hotpot at the police station over Chinese New Year’s Eve. He wondered if they would have to prepare hotpot over there this year too.
Yu Yin cleaned up the things on the table and yawned. “I’ll be going to sleep first. Xiao Yu, don’t stay up too late watching. Once you’re done with this section, go sleep. Otherwise, Uncle will have my head like always.”
Actually, it should have been a certain forensic investigator’s head being sought, since it wasn’t Yu Yin that had lent the disk to Yu. There was no knowing how many DVDs Yan Si’s home had; it had already been several months, yet Yu was still watching them. And every time they went over, new ones would appear. As a result, Yu Yin suffered non-stop lectures from his dad and uncle, who said things like having to take better care of Yu at home, not to let Xiao Yu watch TV until dawn every day, etc…
Yu, who was cosied up in the sofa and wrapped in a blanket, nodded. He casually waved a hand without even turning his gaze.
“If you don’t fall through with your words, you won’t get cake tomorrow.” As expected, this sentence made Yu turn his face around. Yu Yin grinned evilly as he said, “And I’ll detain the Christmas gift I was going to give you as well.” He had long since learned how to threaten in ways that were well-tried.
Sure enough, Yu reluctantly nodded in response.
This typically meant he would comply. Yu Yin reached out to rub the other’s head. “Sleep earlier.” Now that Yu’s nutrition had improved, he was starting to grow taller and stronger. Hopefully he won’t end up taller than me. I really miss his small and skinny form from before.
Yu swatted his hand away and turned back to the TV show with a gloomy expression.
Seems like he’s been becoming more disobedient lately too…Although Yu was indeed eighteen, Yu Yin suddenly felt as if he had run into a child’s rebellious phase.
It’s starting to feel like everything has its ups and downs…
Yu Yin dejectedly walked up stairs to his quarters. Right as he was about to open his door, he heard a faint noise from inside his own bedroom.
The sound was like something being dragged.
A thief?
That can’t be right. After the house got broken into last time, Dad installed security systems outside. There should have been alarms if a thief got in.
Yu Yin frowned. Before he could enter, he realised that this was the only noise inside the room; there wasn’t any indication of a person moving around.
…
…
Something happens even when I don’t go watch the sunrise?!
Yu Yin crouched down in front of his door, holding his head in his hands in depression.
While he was internally struggling to decide whether or not to go in, he heard the dragging sound inside cease. Instead, a low coughing replaced it – not the type a young person would make, but more like the kind from an old person.
About two or three coughs later, it stopped.
Yu Yin slowly pushed open the door of his own room and turned on the lights. There was nothing inside, not even a strange shadow or weird footprints. The noise from before had vanished without a trace as well.
“Weird, I don’t think I’ve been in the vicinity of any crime scenes or unusual places in the past few days…” Yu Yin scratched his head in slight bewilderment. He had spent the past week only in school or at home. At most, he had gone to eat sweets with Xiao Yu. He had not visited anywhere else, and these places should not have had any ghosts.
Moreover, the sound just earlier had been for such a short moment, unlike his previous encounters. Plus, it had not left behind any footprints, handprints, or bloodstains and such. He had no idea what it wanted.
When he opened the window, [he saw that] there were no abnormalities on the dark streets either.
Could it be that it just came over here to play around?
Yu Yin could not make heads nor tails of it. He fell back onto his bed and contemplated it for a while, but still failed to find any strange points. Thus, he simply turned off the lights and went to sleep.
There are still tons of things to do tomorrow…
***
When Yu walked down the stairs with a book in hand the next morning, he saw someone already in the living room.
He somewhat doubtfully walked over, only to stare blankly for two seconds. He had not imagined to see Yu Yin sitting in the living room, as the latter often woke up the latest. There was even soy milk and egg crepes on the table that Yu Yin had undoubtedly bought.
Yu rubbed his eyes, then glanced down at his watch to confirm that it was indeed not yet seven.
“No need to look…just come over and eat breakfast.” Yu Yin, who had dark circles around his eyes, yawned as he grievously called for the other person. “Also, Dad and Uncle called to say that they were scouting for information all night yesterday and won’t be home until later.”
Yu went over to his usual place and cocked his head to the side to survey Yu Yin’s appearance. It appeared that the latter had not slept well and now sported a poor complexion too.
“Suffered lack of sleep last night.” Yu Yin yawned once again.
Recalling last night, that ghost had clearly been targeting him. After turning off the lights, every time he had shut his eyes, he would hear the coughing, and it would disappear again as soon as he would open his eyes. When he’d tried to stubbornly sleep through it, the moment he’d slipped into sleep, he would hear the dragging sound. Then, upon opening his eyes, it would vanish too.
Did I really offend some kind of a ghost recently?!
The entire night had been like this – sleeping and waking repeatedly. Yu Yin, who had not gotten proper rest at all, was beyond exhausted. He had gotten out of bed before five and had just gone on a run outside, buying breakfast on the way.
Yu frowned and pointed at the DVDs piled next to the TV.
“As if I spent the night watching your films! Only ghosts would understand those subtitle-less things you watch!” To think I’d be suspected of not sleeping because of secretly watching films! Yu Yin immediately grabbed the other person’s head to grind his knuckle down on it. “Don’t tell me you stay up all night watching movies when you have nothing to do? How many times have you lied to me about going to bed early while not actually doing it? Hurry up and confess!”
“I haven’t…” Yu hurriedly dodged the fists.
“You definitely have. Say it now.”
“Haven’t.”
Yu Yin let go and weakly sat down. “Forget it, I won’t play around with you. Too damn tiring.” He pressed his aching neck and temples. Actually, he really wanted to just go upstairs and make up sleep, but the moment he closed his eyes, he would hear the coughs. It was impossible to sleep.
Seeing that Yu Yin was truly exhausted, Yu obediently turned on the TV and ate his breakfast.
Yu Yin dozed off on the sofa. Perhaps it was because he was not in his bedroom or because Xiao Yu was by his side, but Yu Yin did not hear that noise. In the end, upon waking, he saw that the single person that had been watching the film before had turned into two people.
And the clock in the living room had changed from seven to one.
“Ah Yin’s awake.”
Jiu Shen, who was sitting next to Yu in front of the TV, noticed the movement behind and gave a small push to Yu, who was very engrossed [in the movie].
“Jiu Shen-gē?” Yu Yin yawned and stretched his limbs out before crawling up. He then realised that the blanket from his bedroom was covering him too.
“Hullo, sorry to disturb you. I’m here to set up. Tong said there would be a Christmas dinner tonight, so I came early to help prepare. But since it looked like you were sleeping earlier, I just watched TV with Xiao Yu first.” Jiu Shen pointed at the boxes of food on the table. “We’ve already eaten lunch. I helped bring down the blanket for you. That’s alright, I assume?”
Yu Yin glanced at his own blanket. After thinking about it, he decided it was better if he didn’t tell the other person that his bedroom currently had something unscientific in it, or else Jiu Shen might end up breaking through the door to run out.
“Dad mentioned the matter of dinner in a call this morning. But what are you setting up?” Yu Yin had more energy now after getting some sleep. He went to grab the half-cold takeout box.
“Christmas tree~ I borrowed a large Christmas tree from my friend. Plus, he lent me the star and some lights too. If we work on it now, it’ll be perfect for swapping gifts in the evening.” Jiu Shen pointed outside. When he had entered earlier, he had not moved it in to start on it since he had seen Yu Yin still asleep.
“A bunch of single males playing a game of gift exchange next to a Christmas tree…” Yu Yin silently felt depressed; this type of scene was honestly too sad.
“Better than not playing it at all.” Jiu Shen was also quite sullen. He really did not want to join in on the misery to exchange presents with a bunch of males, but it was better than him eating by himself outside, only to see people showing PDA anywhere he looked. In that case, it was more comforting to find a group that was dying like he was.
“That’s true too…then you can slowly set it up. I’m going out to buy presents and a cake. Xiao Yu, do you want to come along or stay at home?” Yu Yin glanced at Yu with little hope, as the latter was practically stuck in front of the TV.
Yu slowly moved away from the TV, staring at it for another lingering moment before switching it off. He then went to find his backpack.
“Then the two of you take care while you’re out.”
***
“Should’ve told Jiu Shen-gē that there’s a ghost in the room.”
After leaving the house, Yu Yin felt a bit guilty.
However, when he thought about it some more, it seemed that the coughing ghost was targeting him, which meant there likely would not be any issues.
Christmas holidays this year just happened to fall on Saturday and Sunday, so the shopping streets were filled with people. One could see a Santa Claus or snowman displayed on every display window. Some of the glass panes also had white snowflakes painted on with the words “Merry Christmas”. There were seasonal items everywhere.
When they had passed by the Taichung Park, they had not seen any major Christmas decorations. However, despite being there all the time, the area had more people taking photos today.
Taking a look like this, the Christmas atmosphere on the streets was unexpectedly quite powerful.
However, the feeling of treating Christmas like Valentine’s had also strengthened.
Seeing the streets full of couples, Yu Yin felt like he was going to go blind from the brightness. He clicked his tongue and continued selecting gifts.
Yu stared at a Christmas skull from the prank shop next door.
Yu Yin knew that Yu had saved some of his own money. Although Yu did not like outside interactions, he had previously accepted some outsourced translation work with Yu Tong’s help after they had verified his language abilities. The sum of money [he had earned] hadn’t been bad.
But wanting to buy that skull with a Christmas hat is…
Yu Yin felt like he had to stop Yu still.
Fortunately, Yu had just been looking out of intrigue. After standing there for a moment, he looked away and turned towards the bookstore nearby.
Yu Yin let out a sigh of relief and continued scanning around for the things he wanted to buy himself.
As he was considering costs, he seemed to hear that indistinct coughing again. Moreover, it was very obviously not from his surroundings. The old person’s coughs were sounding right next to his ear.
Yu Yin stiffened for two seconds, then immediately whipped around. However, there was nothing to be seen. The people around him were bustling about busily just as before.
Don’t tell me I’m going to have to relive the tragedy of screaming in the snow like last time!
Yu Yin covered his face. He had no idea what shop Yu had wandered off into. As Yu Yin was about to go look for Yu, there was a sudden tug on his backpack. An abnormal weight immediately pressed down on him from behind. Since he had not been mentally prepared, he fell down flat on his face right then and there.
The people strolling along the streets around him cried out in surprise, then backed away to form a circle.
“Be careful, student.” An old gentleman with a walking stick kindly approached to help support Yu Yin up. Only then did the onlookers follow over to help.
Yu Yin was seeing stars from his fall. After a moment of pain and dizziness, he finally returned to his senses. “Thank you.”
Once the young adults around the streets saw that he seemed to be fine, they continued on their own ways.
Yu Yin shook his head and grimaced as he rubbed his leg. Then he belatedly realised that the old man was still standing next to him. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Ābó…”
“Kids should be more careful while walking. It would be dangerous if you accidentally hit your head.” The man that looked to be advanced in his years chuckled and patted Yu Yin’s arm. “My wife passed away from a slip last year, sigh. So you need to watch out.”
“Ah, thank you.” Yu Yin glimpsed Yu running over, so he quickly gave his thanks again and picked up the bag that had been ripped off just now…Oh yeah, what happened just now? A ghost’s prank? Damn them!
Won’t let me sleep, and now it’s trying to trip me to my death. Have the ghosts’ ways of hooking souls changed again?
Yu Yin decided to call Xiao Hai to ask if she wanted to come over and eat Christmas dinner.
Speaking of which, he realised that his bag was still filled with the gingerbread houses that were sold to him yesterday…Since his dad and uncle hadn’t returned, he had completely forgotten about this matter. After some thought, Yu Yin grabbed one of the heftier boxes and passed it to the man. “Ābó, you can have this. Merry Christmas.”
“You kids aren’t bad at all. Some little ones will be cooking hotpot for us today too. Thank you, heh.” The old man accepted the gingerbread house and gave the box an odd look, then placed it into his bag. He pulled out a deer doll and handed it to Yu Yin. “I’ll give this to you. I know that you young people love playing this kind of thing the most…what is it called? Gift exchange and stuff. I’ll trade this for your gingerbread house.”
This deer doll seems to be the doll that I saw in the claw machine outside earlier?
Yu Yin secretly shot a look at the bag filled with dolls the old man was holding. Most of them seemed to be the type inside claw machines. There were multiple of just the deer kind. Looks like he’s a claw machine expert!
Yet he hid it so well! Too formidable!
After getting the doll in exchange from the old man, Yu Yin thanked him once more and the other person left.
Just after the old man walked away, Yu arrived at his side.
“Did you finish buying?” Yu Yin scratched his butt as he noticed the paper bags that had already appeared in Yu’s hands.
Yu nodded then stared at the deer doll.
“This isn’t…the grandpa just now gave it to me…” Before Yu Yin could explain the ghost knocking him down, he heard an argument nearby. Among the countless couples showing off PDA, there was one with the girl currently stamping her feet.
“Just impossible to get!” The boy standing in front weakly tried to coax.
Those two look like they’re in junior high…junior high students are picking up chicks these days, yet I still haven’t. Yu Yin felt faintly depressed about his life.
“But that deer is a limited edition…” The girl blinked with tears in her eyes as she gazed at the claw machine outside the shopping street.
“Already hundreds of dollars played away…” The boy’s tone was a bit helpless. “The slightly bigger ones are naturally harder to grab…”
“If you can’t grab it, it means you don’t love me.”
Yu Yin rubbed the goosebumps that had formed on his arms. Then the young girl turned towards his direction and her eyes locked onto the doll he was holding.
The girl immediately pushed the young boy with her to approach Yu Yin.
“Can you…sell that?” The young boy seemed a bit embarrassed, but he pulled from his pocket a few hundred dollars he had managed to keep, looking at Yu Yin tentatively.
“…You can have it.” Yu Yin took pity on him and placed the doll in the other person’s hands.
He suddenly felt like watching other people show PDA wasn’t a bad thing either. No love because of no doll…so terrifying.
The boy was speechless for a moment. “Um, erm, thank you. Then I’ll give you this.” He shoved the paper bag he was holding towards Yu Yin. “I was originally going to give this to my girlfriend…”
“Child, good luck.” Yu Yin patted the other’s shoulders.
When the girl saw the boy accept the doll, her tears turned into a smile. The two hugged intimately, and Yu Yin wordlessly shifted his gaze away.
They were children after all. The paper bag only contained a box of candy from some unknown shop. It was actually a Christmas-styled cotton candy shaped in a reindeer.
“Let’s go and line up for cake…Yu?” Yu Yin took two steps forwards before noticing that the other was not following. When he turned his head around, he saw Yu’s eyes fixed onto a certain sweets shop. As a result, Yu Yin could only go back and drag Yu away.
As Yu was being pulled away, he regretfully kept looking back at the sweets. He glanced at Yu Yin, and then back at the young couple that had just been on the street. He then decided to immediately use what he had learned and tried his best to raise his voice at his older brother. “If you don’t let me eat it, then…”
“We’re going!” Yu Yin had no desire to hear the frightening threat, and directly dragged Yu away by the collar.
Part 3:
After that, Yu Yin swapped it for a jigsaw puzzle while lining up for cake.
As a result of standing in the line for too long, the child in front was already starting to cry and fuss while also shrieking. Thus, Yu Yin ended up just using the cotton candy to coax the kid. The child’s mother was embarrassed, so she gave the packaged puzzle as a gift to him.
Then, he encountered a family that was fussing because they hadn’t gotten their hands on a puzzle, and he exchanged [the puzzle] for a piggy bank.
With the piggy bank in hand, he encountered a university club that wanted to take care of the elderly, but some person among them had broken one of the gifts. Yu Yin gave the piggy bank to them, and the club gave him several movie tickets with reserved seats. It appeared that they had originally been planning on relaxing after their activity in evening. The person that swapped with him even specifically told him that he could the tickets for their desired showtime at the front counter.
“I suddenly feel like…I’ve changed my way from a rice straw to a house.”
Yu Yin silently glanced at Yu next to him, uncertain how to feel about it.
Yu seemed to find it amusing. He excitedly glanced left and right, as if he still wanted to find an object to initiate an exchange.
Then Yu really did find it. A group of students that had apparently arranged to come out and watch a movie were unhappy because they had not bought their desired tickets due to an issue with the ticket seller.
Thus, Yu happily raced over to trade the items.
Five minutes later, Yu Yin watched Yu unexpectedly return with a huge bag of things…Maybe Yu loves this kind of game?
Yu Yin wondered if he had turned on some type of switch.
He glanced at the time, which was quite late already. Yu Yin stood and just as he was about call back Yu, who was still trading things, he caught sight of a commotion nearby. Shouts along the lines of “Thief, grab him” ensued.
He saw a few youths dash out from the crowd. One of them was even holding another person’s wallet.
They just happened to head over in Yu Yin’s direction. As they ran past, Yu Yin grabbed the person nearest to him and twisted their arm back to knock them down into the ground. He had memorised this move from getting beaten by Yu Xia, and it slightly hurt to think about this as he was seizing this person.
“Fuck!” The captured youth cursed out.
Seeing their companion get restrained, the remaining thieves unexpectedly surrounded them, possibly because of their greater numbers.
“Shit! Let go of me!”
For the time being, Yu Yin could not act to teach them a lesson, with one already in his grip and the new appearance of two more people. However, Yu, who was at a slight distance, had already called the cops. People nearby were running over to help as well…Though despite this, he saw a far from encouraging sight of the other two guys pulling out knives.
Hm…wasn’t there a death while a taxi was being robbed two days ago? With an argument leading to being stabbed? Now it’s possible to get stabbed while helping to catch a thief, too. Discipline is seriously…
“It’s best you don’t show off a blade in this kind of place.”
While Yu Yin was contemplating whether to first guarantee his own life first, a hand stretched out from behind the knife-holding youth to grab their neck. While restraining the youth against the ground, Yi Tai took away the blade as he smiled, “Or else your hand could easily slip on accident.”
The whisked away blade was stabbed into the ground next to the youth’s face with a swish, causing the other person to instantly break out into a cold sweat from fear.
“Ah, yes, knives are better for slicing birds; it would be bad if you accidentally sliced your own.” Yan Si had subdued the other youth, similarly having pushed them down onto the ground. However, he handed the blade over to his former roommate approaching behind him…Honestly, he really wanted to stab these damn kids too, but he couldn’t do anything with his old roommate there.
“…No one would suddenly stab that part of themselves, I think.” Yu Yin shot the forensic investigator an exasperated look. “What are you guys doing here?” Putting Yi Tai aside, what could possibly explain bumping into Yan Si by chance too?!
“I just happened to come window-shopping here with my old roommate. We’re exchanging gifts tonight, aren’t we?” He gave a strong whack to the struggling youth on the ground, directly knocking them out cold on the asphalt. Yan Si shrugged. “So we could only come buy presents together…Don’t you think two single males coming together to buy gifts is depressing? We were getting looks the entire way here.”
“I think it’s more depressing for Li-dàgē.” Yu Yin glanced at Li Zi Hong carrying a paper bag, and then greeted him.
Once the police arrived, the three thieving youths were transferred over to them.
“Oh right, why are you here too?” Yu Yin was somewhat puzzled as he looked over at Yi Tai, who seemed to be alone. He glanced around and confirmed that neither Ah Fang nor anyone else was within sight, which made it even stranger.
“Hm…I was also just passing by.” Yi Tai patted off the dust from himself and picked up his bag from the ground. “A friend I know is bringing some little ones over to help cook hotpot for some elderly that live alone. But it seemed that I arrived late, just missing the gathering time. I’m going to head over by myself now.”
“Ah Fang isn’t going with you?” Having not seen the second person make their appearance yet, Yu Yin was somewhat apprehensive.
“Why would we go together?” An unusual smile appeared on Yi Tai’s face. He eyed the nearby Yu and said, “It was very difficult for me to shake Ah Fang off. I’m sure that he wouldn’t be able to guess that I would go cook hotpot with friends, unless someone told him, right?”
“…Don’t worry, I definitely will not say anything.” For the sake of his own safety, Yu Yin would absolutely never be meddlesome enough to notify Ah Fang, wherever he was.
After all, doing Ah Fang wrong wasn’t as bad as doing Yi Tai wrong.
“I don’t think you would either. That’s all, then.” Yi Tai shrugged, but before he left, he suddenly asked out of the middle of nowhere, “Oh yes, what did you guys trade out?”
Despite having the faint urge to inquire how the other person knew they were trading things, Yu Yin kept himself back from asking and simply glanced at the large bag Yu had brought back. “Um, a quilt? How did you end up getting a quilt? And a lot of candy and crackers too?” He suddenly had the suspicion that if he left Yu behind here, the latter really would end up with getting something like a car or a house from the exchanges. To think he got a quilt…how exactly did he get it?
Moreover, it appeared to be the very expensive type of quilt. It was truly a mystery.
“That should be about it.” Yi Tai chuckled. “I wish you both a happy holiday.”
“Wait a second, what do you mean by that should be about it…oi, oi, oi….” Yu Yin called out to Yi Tai a few times, but the latter clearly had no intentions of replying and turned to walk away alone. Thus, Yu Yin could only give up.
“Your friend truly is very strange.” Yan Si came over while stroking his chin.
“Yan Si-dàgē, you’re even stranger. What are you wearing that hat for?” Yu Yin had noticed from the beginning that, since detaining the youth up until now, Yan Si had been wearing a Santa Claus hat with ridiculously tall antlers. Despite having seen these in quite a few shops and on some little girls, it was beyond bizarre to see it on Yan Si!
“It’s not bad, right?” Yan Si proudly patted his hat. “To be honest, I originally prepared it for my old roommate. But I didn’t expect for him to discriminate against reindeer, so I could only wear it myself.”
“No one is discriminating against reindeer,” Li Zi Hong coldly stated.
“Then you wear it.” Yan Si really did pluck the hat off to pass it over.
“Impossible.”
“See, and you say you aren’t [discriminating]. It’s not like I’m telling you to wear those hats of reindeer faces. It’s only two antlers, yet you’re already rejecting. Tsk, as expected, it’s discriminating against reindeer.” Still unable to increase his hat-wearing companions, Yan Si could only put the hat back onto his own head.
“Li-dàgē, it has been tough on you, seriously.” Yu Yin could feel just how bitter Li Zi Hong’s journey here had been.
“It’s alright once you’re used to it.” Li ZI Hong nodded, deciding to continue ignoring the terrible actions of his blabbering friend.
“What do you two mean? To think you guys would agree on the exact same thing…” Yan Si narrowed his eyes and glanced at his watch. “We can’t hang around with you guys any longer. We still need to pick up the roast turkey and cake. See you later.”
“Bye.”
***
“Ah, it’s so late. Let’s hurry up.”
After Yan Si and Li Zi Hong left, Yu Yin belatedly realised that they had delayed for too long. It was already evening – who knew if anything had happened with Jiu Shen, who had been abandoned at home alone.
However, it appeared that the ghost had followed them out, so it was likely fine.
At most, we’ll just see him fainted when we go back…
Yu hugged the large bag as he followed Yu Yin, the two of them quickly running over to the parking lot.
From a distance, Yu Yin spotted multiple kids next to his motorcycle. Moreover, they looked quite familiar…among them were the three imps that had just sold him the gingerbread houses yesterday.
There were five or six of them in a group next to his bike. He had no idea what they were earnestly discussing.
When Yu Yin and Yu approached, all the children turned towards them.
“Ah, the dàgēgē that bought a lot.” The first one to recognise him was the girl that had been very good at selling.
“What are you all doing here?” Yu Yin was slightly taken by surprise. He had not expected to see these kids here.
“We’re pooling money together. Our group wants to use the change to buy a quilt.” The girl representative raised the small wallet in her hand to reveal a few hundred yuan bill and spare change. “We’re going to go cook hotpot in a bit, but we heard that there’s a grandpa there that had his house robbed a few days ago. The robber was super bad and even slashed the quilts and stuff. So we wanted to buy a new quilt for that grandpa.”
A new quilt…
Yu Yin and Yu exchanged a look, then Yu handed the large bag to the kids.
“No need to buy, you can just have this. We only got it by chance anyways. You guys wouldn’t be able to buy anything that good with this money.” Yu Yin couldn’t be bothered to say much, as he was in a rush to go home. Like this, the kids took the quilt.
The girl and her classmates looked at each other and gathered together to discuss something. Afterwards, the little girl spoke on behalf of everyone once more, “We’ll thank the grandpa for you. But Teacher and Mommy said that we can’t just randomly take a stranger’s belongings, so this is for you.” As she spoke, she pulled out a huge cloth bag that contained a stuffed white bear. It was probably around half the size of the kids. “This was supposed to be for Teacher, but we can’t just take the quilt for free, so we’ll trade you for it.”
“It’s really not necessary…” Yu Yin looked at the stuffed bear and refused it.
“Or we can go buy our own quilt.” The little girl was very insistent. “We were the ones that wanted to buy it for the grandpa, so we can’t just take it.”
After some thought, Yu Yin eventually accepted the bag with the stuffed bear.
“Oh yeah, there’s also something in there that we picked up at a bakery yesterday, If Dàgēgē doesn’t want it, you can bring it to the police station.” The was all the girl said before she and her delighted companions ran away with the blanket in hand.
Bring it to the police station?
Yu Yin stared at the bag bulging from the stuffed toy, not seeing anything else there. With a start, Yu Yin realised it was late now, so he shoved the bear towards Yu and hurriedly pulled his bike out. Like a hurricane, he raced straight home.
About half an hour later, Yu Yin and Yu finally arrived at their front door.
At this point, the sky was almost completely black because it was getting late and the sky darkened sooner in the winter.
Yu Yin eyed his watch that was pointing at six. He quickly parked the bike, noticing that Yu Tong’s car was already there. He and Yu quickly rushed into the lit-up house.
As soon as they stepped through the front entrance, they heard some Christmas music. It was evident that Jiu Shen had been busy by himself all afternoon, as he was standing in front of an enormous Christmas tree to place the star up as a final touch.
“Seems pretty nice.” Yu Yin looked at the Christmas tree that was twinkling after being connected to power. It was breathtaking.
“Hehe, not bad, right? Since the Christmas tree hasn’t been used in a year, I had to specially clean it up in the afternoon before I could set it up.” Jiu Shen gazed up at the tree that was taller than him, and very proudly said, “A long time ago, there was one in our station too. I’m not sure what year it was, but there was a Christmas where a criminal trying to escape ended up fighting with Boss. The tree was snapped in half by a kick from Boss, and we never set one up again.”
Jiu Shen felt a twinge of sorrow as he thought about the Christmas tree that had died in the line of duty. That tree had been taller than a person as well, yet in the end, it had unexpectedly been destroyed by a single kick from Yu Xia. After that, they had only hung up decorations.
Although Yu Xia had paid the compensation for destroying public property, everyone had agreed to not have a second Christmas tree die in the line of duty and so they never had one again.
On an additional note, the criminal that had been hiding behind the tree immediately surrendered with hands out waiting to be captured after watching Yu Xia break the tree with his kick.
“Yeah…I can imagine.” Yu Yin completely understood why they never put one up.
As they were staring at the Christmas tree, Yu Tong stuck his head out from the kitchen, where he had been preoccupied for a while. “What are you all doing in front of the Christmas tree? Come help bring the dishes out.”
Yu Yin held his tongue in astonishment when he saw the soups, dishes, salads, etc. that filled the kitchen and he hurriedly helped organise it with Yu and Jiu Shen.
“By the way, what happened to that case in the end, Dad?” As Yu Yin stole a strip of bread from the table to eat, he casually asked, “Wasn’t it an accidental death?”
“Yes, but both Jiu Shen and I found it a bit odd yesterday, so we re-interrogated the related people together with Xia…and the questioning went until late. In the end, we really did find an issue from the interrogation.” Yu Tong passed a plate of salad over to Jiu Shen while telling the colleague that hadn’t gone to work today, “We suspect that the gold does not belong to the victim, since he was unable to give a clear description of the gold. In addition, he stuttered a bit when we were asking him related questions and subconsciously tried to dodge around. When we wanted to inquire further, his father ended up bringing a lawyer.”
“Tch, nothing more can be asked like that.” Jiu Shen shook his head.
“Yes. And without any evidence, we could only let the victim leave.” Yu Tong felt powerless, but he truly could not arrest the person based on conjecture. Thus, the man had been released.
“That’s pretty troublesome.” Yu Yin continued chewing on the bread.
“Indeed. We can only see if there’s any other way to prove it. By the way, if you continue sneaking food like that, Ah Yin, you’ll have to wash all the dishes after everyone eats their fill.” Yu Tong pushed the roasting pan into the oven and evenly dropped this statement. The person being called out immediately swallowed the bread and scrambled to run over and help.
Yu, who had been standing in the kitchen to help cut fruits, wordlessly watched the other’s obsequious actions for a moment before continuing his own work.
Right when they were about done preparing everything, Yu Xia pushed open the front door to stride with later than the planned time. He shook his wrists as he walked over.
“Boss, did you beat someone again today?” Through the corner of his eye, Jiu Shen spotted a few wounds on the person’s fists; they were all fresh, cuts that appeared to be caused by hitting a person.
“Just those thieves. In the evening, the dispatched people notified us that they had caught three, so I ran over to question them. In the end, those damn kids were just asking for a beating, so I hit them.” Yu Xia kicked off his tennis shoes and went to go find some band-aids.
“Caught three?” The number seemed to trigger something in Yu Yin.
“I heard that Ah Si and others captured them. Quite a coincidence.” Yu Xia shot Yu Yin a cold glare. “Oh yes, you were apparently present too, weren’t you.”
“Um…it really is quite a coincidence.” Yu Yin chuckled as he turned his face away. “Everything is simply fate, don’t mind it, don’t mind it.”
“You beat up those children?” Yu Tong furrowed his brows. This time, they would not be able to avoid a load of questions and getting targeted by the media.
“Don’t worry, they don’t know I’m the police.” Yu Xia had attacked the moment the other party had mentioned “damn high school student”, immediately beating the death-seeking kids until their faces were bruised and swollen. After than, an officer had recognised him and pulled him away. The struck youths had likely been scared. Before Yu Xia had even reported his identity, they had confessed to the officer, only begging for the police to quickly separate them from the murderous high school student that had come out of nowhere. “Those bastards apparently know the victim. They said that the deceased one used to be really close with the victim. Their attack on the victim this time was instigated by the deceased, but they didn’t know why. The deceased had only told them that if it went well, they would be able to obtain a large sum of money, so they had followed.”
“So it was premeditated, not a spontaneous robbing.” Jiu Shen pondered this. “If we assume that the victim and the deceased had some type of wealth dispute, this would have caused the deceased to decide on making a move while the victim was depositing the gold. In that case, this isn’t a typical case of a youth’s last-minute scheme.”
“Mn…that truly is strange then. Everything the victim told us were clearly lies.”
While they were all deep in thought, the doorbell rang again.
***
“What are you all standing around in the living room for?”
Yan Si had intended on making a cool entrance with the hefty turkey in hand. However, the moment he stepped through the doorway, he noticed the abnormal atmosphere. He did not even get to express his emotions from the sight of the Christmas tree before he voiced this question.
Behind him, Li Zi Hong also frowned. He could sense that the current mood was not as if they were celebrating the holiday, but rather as if they were at work.
“That robbery case…”
Jiu Shen described the general situation to the two that had arrived late.
“That does indeed sound very questionable.” Yan Si placed the turkey and cake down on the table as he joined the conjectures. “In a typical scenario, there would be a high chance that the two likely did something bad and didn’t evenly distribute the ill-earned gains, with one person forsaking the other’s request for money.”
“That’s very possible.” Seeing that everything and everyone had gathered, Yu Tong clapped his hands together with a smile, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. “But it is now dinnertime. We can talk more about work tomorrow.”
“That’s true too. Thinking about work in this kind of moment is too—Whose phone is ringing?” Before Yan Si could echo the thought, they heard a weird noise.
They looked at each other, none of them admitting to it.
Yu Yin glanced at the source of the noise and was the first to act, lifting the bag with the big white bear and handing it to Yu Yin.
The odd noise was undoubtedly from inside [the bag]. Yu Yin pulled the white bear out and found a stranger’s cellphone at the bottom. It was no wonder that the kids had said he could bring it to the police station. “This isn’t ours.”
“Usually in this type of scenario, the bear would explode after the cellphone rings.” Yan Si earnestly took up the role of a background narrator.
“Stop fooling around.” Li Zi Hong coughed and gestured for Yu Yin to pick up the call to see whose cellphone it was. That way, they could find the owner that had lost it.
Under a bunch of gazes, Yu Yin was inexplicably forced to answer it. In the end, there was absolutely no sound. “Hello? Are you a friend of this cellphone’s owner?”
Despite repeating this question twice, there was no noise in response.
Probably a bad signal.
Before Yu Yin could hang up, a light coughing came from the other end, catching him off guard. It was identical to what he had heard through the night that had nearly driven him insane.
Moreover, accompanying it this time was an old woman’s chuckle.
Yu Yin instantly felt goosebumps.
He had received multiple ghost’s calls, but it was never possible to get used to them.
Fortunately, there were many people by his side this time, so he could very calmly end the call, then very calmly wrap it in toilet paper, then very calmly hand it to Jiu Shen next to him.
“What?” Jiu Shen was entirely clueless as he accepted the cellphone, taking the chance to glance at the caller ID. “Huh? Isn’t this number the deceased’s…AHHHHHHH—!”
After a 3-second delay, Jiu Shen threw the cellphone.
“Ah Yin, you’re heartless!” Plotting against me on Christmas Eve?! Jiu Shen instantly fled out of the living room to stand in the furthest possible end of the hallway.
“And I thought that my reaction told everything.” Yu Yin watched Yu Xia flip over a chair and swiftly reach out to catch the flying cellphone. He honestly wanted to give his uncle applause.
“Seems like a cellphone waiting for a resolved injustice.” Yan Si clicked his tongue as he walked over and peered at Yu Xia skillfully opened the received calls and messages.
“You said it was the deceased’s number just now?” Li Zi Hong narrowed his eyes at the investigator that had fled far away.
Yu Tong leaned over and also recognised the number. “It definitely is. I remember the number. However, that cellphone should still be at the station.”
“Wait, these texts…” Yu Xia’s expression changed entirely as he read the messages. Next to him, Yu Tong’s eyes widened as well. Yan Si’s response was instead a whistle.
“Student that was ganged up on, you really hit the jackpot.” Yan Si stroked his chin as he strode over with a grin, swinging his arm around Yu Yin’s shoulders. “Don’t be so ruthless to everyone on Christmas Eve, alright? It was a struggle to trick my old roommate into coming for a meal too. Now we’re all going to have to go back and work overtime.”
“What-what is it?” Yu Yin was dumbstruck.
“The cellphone appears to be the victim’s. I would assume he dropped it at the shop.” Yu Tong took the cellphone and flipped through its contents, noting the cotton candy stuck on it. “This contains all the communication between the victim and the deceased. They had previously planned to go to a nearby residential area to commit a robbery. Someone in that group of youths had supplied intel. Knowing that the elder lived alone with the gold hidden, they had gone to steal one. Since the victim had recently been fired, he probably wanted to squander all the money. I believe that is why he was being chased after by the deceased…There are also messages related to buying drugs. In addition, they seem to be a habitual criminal. There are several texts related to theft from different times, all with that deceased.”
“Where did you get this cellphone from?” Yu Xia asked his older son with a dark expression.
“Um…I traded it from a gingerbread house.” As soon as Yu Yin replied, he was punched. He hurriedly flitted away while clutching his head. “Really! In short, the course of events is really complicated. But a group of kids gave us this stuffed animal and said they picked it up.”
“Kids?” Yu Tong and Li Zi Hong simultaneously looked at Yu Yin.
“Oh, from the elementary school nearby. They said they were going to help cook hotpot for an elder living alone today…I met them when I bought a gingerbread house yesterday.” Yu Yin gave a brief description of the matter regarding the gingerbread house purchase.
“It’s not the elementary school close to your university, is it?” Yu Tong suggested the name.
Yu Yin quickly nodded. “That’s it. Dad, how did you know?”
“We bumped into them when we went to the crime scene yesterday.” Jiu Shen scratched his face. “Our crime scene was a bakery. They said that they were collaborating with the elementary school this year, selling half-completed gingerbread houses for a very cheap price to the school. The semi-completed products had the house structures already set up, so they just needed to squeeze on some frosting and decorations. This was to let them go sell it, then use that money to spend on hotpot…When we arrived at the site, the group of kids had just arrived with their teacher to take the ingredients. Since they were short on time, we just let them take it first.”
So the deceased’s cellphone was picked up by the kids back then?
“In reality, we suspected that the victim’s alleged gold might be in those boxes.” Li ZI Hong slowly said, “But by the time noon arrived, the children had already finished selling everything. The teachers had not heard of anyone picking up gold.”
“That’s too much of a coincidence.” Yu Yin stared at the cellphone he had received from trading out the gingerbread house. He was starting to wonder at what kind of freakish day this was turning out to be.
“In any case, I’ll go to the station for a bit.” Since they had the cellphone, Yu Xia did not want to waste any time. “I’ll return later to eat.”
“I’ll go over too.” Yu Tong, who was likewise responsible for the case, removed his apron. “Ah Yin, you guys eat first.”
“Me too.” Jiu Shen swiftly put everything in his hands down.
“We’ll leave Xiao Yu and the others to you,” Li Zi Hong said to Yan Si, then also left.
Yan Si crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at Yu Yin.
“See, they’re all workaholics.”
Every one of them had run off on Christmas Eve.
***
Yu Yin sighed as he surveyed the empty house.
“Tsk tsk, with so many dishes, how can the three of us possibly eat it?” Yan Si scratched his face as he studied the table full of food, uncertain of where to start clearing from.
Yu looked at Yan Si, then at Yu Yin, before deciding to simply walk back into the living room and watch films.
“Let’s wait until they return to eat.” Yu Yin helplessly moved the bread over to the living room. “I’ll give a call to Yi Tai too.” For some reason he could not explain, he felt the urge to give a call. Perhaps he could ask the other to help inquire if the kids knew of the gold’s whereabouts.
“Ah, that strange classmate of yours that was going to cook hotpot with kids.” Yan Si sat down on the sofa as well, then grabbed some bread to eat. “Apparently, the gold is in the shape of a deer.”
“A deer?”
Yu Yin shrugged and made the call.
“I had the feeling that it was about time for you to call.”
“Um, can you ask if any of those kids picked up a gold deer?” Yu Yin sprawled across half the sofa. So many things had happened today, and with his fatigue added onto that, he was truly exhausted.
“They did.”
“Huh?!” Yu Yin immediately leapt up.
“The group responsible for selling at our school did pick up a piece of gold shaped as a deer. I asked them while they were cooking hotpot.”
Yu Yin had absolutely no idea why Yi Tai would ask them about the gold, but he quickly asked, “Then where is the gold now?”
“They said that after taking it from the box, they thought it was some special ornament and they placed it in one of the gingerbread houses to be sold as a special edition. It was sold afterwards, but they don’t know where it was sold off to.”
“Damn…no way…” Yu Yin was flabbergasted.
“By the way, I saw another deer.”
“Another one?”
“A few days ago, there was a case of theft here. That elderly gentlemen lost a golden deer. Apparently, it was his deceased wife’s most treasured item. While she was still alive, she would play with it almost every day. It was originally a pair, and these were the most valuable items in his house. When the thief broke in, they stole one of the deer. The other deer just happened to have dropped in between the boards of the bed, so the thief didn’t notice.” There was some commotion in Yi Tai’s background, mixed with the laughter of many children. However, the background noise gradually dropped as the distance from the source seemed to grow. “The elderly wife was said to have loved deer. I went over and took a look just now; his house is filled with deer-shaped items, including many dolls…Oh right, I’ve heard that Ābó is a claw machine expert that specialises in capturing deer dolls.”
Yu Yin dragged his hand across his face. “Don’t tell me that he just happens to have a gingerbread house at home? The kind that the kids were selling.” Why does the description sound so familiar?
“Yes. And what’s even more coincidental is that when it was opened just now, they found that the stolen deer was inside the house. Truly a Christmas miracle.”
With the cellphone in hand, Yu Yin raised his head to stare at the ceiling, his mind going blank for a few seconds. “Let me ask something else. Is there a chance that the elderly wife coughs a lot?” No wonder it stopped following after giving the gingerbread house away! And just called instead!
“That’s right. The deceased did not have a very good physical condition, so she would cough from time to time.”
“…I got it, thank you.” Yu Yin felt that this was truly beyond him.
“Quite interesting, isn’t it.”
“It’s very interesting.” Yu Yin just wanted to ask why Yi Tai had not personally bought this gingerbread house that had stolen away sleep.
“I don’t think you need to feel too disappointed. Tonight will be better than you think. Good night.”
The call ended, just like that.
Yu Yin was speechless for several seconds as he stared at the call the other party had one-sidedly cut.
“What’s wrong, student that was ganged up on?” Yan Si curiously leaned over after hearing the strange conversation just now.
“Nothing, I’m just suddenly feeling the fickleness of life.” With his strength drained, Yu Yin opened his address book to call Yu Xia’s group, who had just departed not long ago.
They had even found the stolen item. What the hell is going on with tonight?!
Before the call even connected, the closed front door was slammed open.
Yu Tong and the others, who had left earlier, now entered in a straight line.
“Seriously, there’s a huge traffic jam outside. We’ll just have to leave later.” Yu Xia took off the jacket he had been forced to wear, then kicked off his shoes before returning to the living room.
“Huge traffic jam? Wasn’t it fine when we came earlier?” Yan Si asked his former roommate near the back.
“It’s not clear, but it seems that there was some traffic accident that blocked off all the major roads, making it impossible for the traffic to flow.” Li Zi Hong removed his scarf and overcoat. “It appeared as though it would be blocked for a while, so we returned first.”
“Looks like punishment from the heavens for abandoning dinner to go back to work on Christmas Eve.” Yu Tong smiled as he shut the front door. “Since the prosecutor is here, we don’t need to worry about falsification of evidence. Anyways, let’s just continue our interrupted dinner.”
“Ooooh, didn’t I tell you? Running off to work at this kind of time is seriously unacceptable. See, even Santa Claus and God are both telling you to obediently finish eating before leaving.” Yan Si pulled out a knife from who knew where. “As a result, the person that is most skilled at dismembering will cut the turkey for everyone tonight. I will definitely make the most of my personal expertise and introduce each part as I slice it. I’ve even looked into what the source of this bird’s death was…”
Li ZI Hong swiped the cutting knife-turned-weapon away from the forensic investigator and passed it over to Yu Tong next to him. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Alright, everyone please sit. Fortunately, the dishes are still warm.” Yu Tong smiled at Yan Si before the latter could lunge over. When his smile deepened, it forced Yan Si to take two steps back as the idea of seizing the knife back was shot down.
Yu Yin glanced at the house full of people and dragged Yu over too.
“Absolutely terrible. When we get giant spare ribs for Chinese New Year’s, it must be my turn to cut it up.” Yan Si held back tears in his eyes as he reluctantly gave up, making sure to guarantee his spot to use the knife next time.
“Wait a minute! Don’t just go ahead and decide by yourself what we’ll be eating for Chinese New Year’s!” Yu Xia protested. “Who asked you to order food in front of my brother?”
“Ah, hotpot is better for Chinese New Year’s,” Jiu Shen quickly suggested as he divided the salad amongst them.
“No, Jiu Shen-xiǎodì, I just decided. For Chinese New Year’s, we have to eat roast suckling pig.” That way, it’ll be plenty large enough to cut up. Yan Si curled his hands into fists as he began to think of putting in an advance order with a trader.
With a thunk, the turkey’s head fell as it was chopped off.
With knife in hand, Yu Tong grinned. “I believe that regardless of whether it is spare ribs or suckling pig, I am competent enough to cut up the food and arrange it on a plate. However, I will definitely cook hotpot over the Chinese New Year.” Only hotpot can represent a family reunion dinner.
Yan Si rubbed his neck and shrank back, as he now seemed to feel the pain the turkey was feeling.
“Eating hotpot is only proper over Chinese New Year, right, Li-dàgē?” Yu Yin hurriedly picked up a plate to accept the split-up chicken.
“Hotpot.” Li ZI Hong nodded to join the hotpot club as well.
“You guys-you guys are all part of the uncreative conservative faction—” Seeing that there was literally no one willing to put even one foot on his side, Yan Si lamented, “None of you are willing to try new things? Conservatists ahhhh—”
“The conservative faction says that if you don’t like it, then don’t join the gift exchange later.” Yu Xia threw a fatal blow down on the head of the reindeer hat-wearing person. In order to cooperate with the damned gift exchange, he had even made the time to run over and buy some from a nearby store.
Yan Si clutched his chest and dropped out of his chair, dying in battle.
“Right, right, there’s gifts still.” Jiu Shen chewed on the meat as his eyes lit up. He had been looking forward to this the most, since it had been many years since he had last played this kind of game. It was like returning to his university days.
Yu Yin bit down on the fragrant turkey meat. He heard the indistinct sound of laughter combined with a cough, which then slowly left his home.
He gazed outside to see a black figure vanish on the streets.
In the end, it wasn’t all bad.
Everyone gathering together on this type of holiday was the best.
Mhm, this is perfect.
Surprisingly, no extravagant demands were necessary. As long as they could all gather around like this to laugh and talk over a meal, it was amazing.
“Ah, since you’re going to have to go back later, might as well just head over tomorrow.” Yan Si pulled himself up from the ground and began to offer suggestions. “After exchanging gifts, we should just charge over to enjoy the Christmas sunrise together on top of a mountain!” They wouldn’t necessarily have vacation on the eve of New Year’s or Chinese New Year’s. Hehehe, we can only take this chance now find a place and race to the top.
“No!”
“Ah Yin, why do you instantly refuse!”
“Absolutely not!”
I’d rather die than compromise this time!
~Taffy Translations~ 
This side story was hilarious😂. I was smiling from beginning to end.
Yan Si cracks me up to much🤣.
And the fact that Yu Yin is to afraid to cross Yi Tai is also so funny.
It was nice to see almost all the main characters in the same chapter😄.
Thx for the chapter!!!! Have a merry Christmas🥰🥳!
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Hehe, if you think Yan Si is hilarious here, look forward to the other side stories~
Yi Tai is too OP, Yu Yin is smart to recognise that xD
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Thank you for the chapter Taffy~!
The gift exchange tag Made me grin like idiot all the way untill the end. 🤣
Aaah, this one quite warm one shot. I love it! Happy holiday Taffy! 🎉🎉🎉
Oh, and i already make an account but my laptop just happen to broke that day and somehow the page cannot be loaded on my phone. So, i can only wait untill my laptop back.
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This is hilarious and incredibly long lol. Ah Yin’s Christmas journey truly is amusing. It must be hard being him. He even be nagged by ghosts during Christmas holidays.
I really love the fact that the author tried to include almost everyone in this side story. It’s heart warming to see all of them celebrating Christmas together. Yi Tai and Yan si’s appearance caught me off guard. I re-read that part around three times to make sure that I didn’t misread it. These two are unlikely to be in the same scene lol. Yi Tai is as OP as always. He should start making money by being a psychic. Honourable mentioned to Yan Si too! He is as light-hearted and hilarious as always. If there is anyone who is very suitable to festive seasons, it must be him. The reindeer/antler scene made me smile so much. My cheeks hurt.
Last but not least, merry belated Christmas, Taffy! Thank you very much for this extremely long Christmas present. Much appreciated. Sorry for being late too (cause unfortunately I had to work on Christmas day just like half of the crew in this chap).
Happy Holidays <3
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Christmas Miracle! OMG.
I LOVE the Chain of event!!!
And good for Ah Yin listening to Yi Tai’s advice. So all chain of event lead to best Family and Friend gathering!!!
I’m ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Come on now. We need to check out Yi Tai’s ancestor. Maybe he really is the descendant of a clairvoyance 😂😂
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I think he’s just born with sharp instincts, like how animals can sense danger before it’s there.
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