I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

Bai Xiaoqi blushed and nodded slightly, not wanting to discuss the topic with him anymore. She got off his lap and prepared to go to the kitchen to cook.

"Let's cook less at noon and save some room for our New Year's Eve dinner at my parents' house tonight. If we don't eat enough, they might not even give us red envelopes."

"knew.."

Chapter 214 Special Feature [Two-part chapter canceled, another update at 9 PM tonight]

Night falls.

The family gathered around the table to eat their New Year's Eve dinner. The TV was showing all sorts of random Spring Festival Gala programs. As a family reunion dinner, it was naturally much more lavish than usual, with chicken, duck, fish, meat, sausages, cured meat, dumplings, and spare ribs.

On the table were the fruit wines the two had brought. Wu Yulan found four glasses and poured one for each of them. "It's the New Year, so it's okay to have a little fun. Put your baijiu aside and drink this this year, so you won't smell like alcohol again."

Bai Xiaoqi didn't really want to drink it, but she couldn't refuse. She took the glass and took a small sip. It was actually really delicious, sweet and sour like a beverage. Unfortunately, after drinking it, her head would become dizzy, and then she would do something shameless.

Although she would remember nothing after waking up and could choose not to admit it, the thought of that guy recording her and keeping evidence made her feel a little ashamed and annoyed.

Seeing that she had only taken a small sip and her face was already flushed, Chen Shuo picked up his glass and drank the fruit wine in one gulp. Then he took her glass and poured most of it into his own. "Drink less, so you won't bother me in the middle of the night."

Upon hearing this, the elderly couple's gazes instinctively swept over, paused for two seconds, and then casually looked away. Bai Xiaoqi's face turned even redder, and she was so embarrassed that she didn't know what to say.

"hiss..."

Chen Shuo's lips twitched as he picked up his glass. "Come on, Mom and Dad, Happy New Year, cheers!"

Cheers, Happy New Year!

Outside the window, the night was already lit up with the lights of thousands of homes. Inside, it was warm and cozy. This year seemed no different from last year. There were still four people, a large table of dishes, and they chatted happily. The only difference was that Chen Shuo's leg was a little sore.

After dinner, Chen Shuo helped tidy up the table, putting things in the refrigerator and packing up what needed to be taken away. He then sat on the sofa and started complaining about the Spring Festival Gala. He said that the Gala hadn't been very good in the past two years, and that New Year's Eve in the city was actually quite boring. With firecrackers banned, the New Year felt like nothing special.

At 10 p.m., the two of them carried the New Year's goods they had plundered and prepared to go out.

"Wait a moment before you leave. Come here with me for a second."

Chen Jianwen had drunk quite a bit that night, and his face was flushed. He beckoned to Chen Shuo, inviting him into the study.

"You wait here, I'm going to collect my New Year's money."

Chen Shuo put his things down and followed them inside.

As soon as I entered the door, the old man took out two thick red envelopes from the drawer and handed them over. Although sending red envelopes on WeChat is convenient and quick, red envelopes containing cash still have a sense of ceremony. Compared to that, the other one just felt like a string of numbers.

"Thank you, Dad."

Chen Shuo happily accepted the red envelope, feeling its thickness; it was even thicker than last year's.

"Dad, why are you giving so much this year?"

"It's the last year, so I'll pack you two extra warmly."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo realized that according to local custom, there would be no more lucky money during the Lunar New Year after getting married. He put the red envelope in his pocket with a bit of regret and was about to leave when Chen Jianwen called him back.

"Wait a minute, take this too." The old man took a small box from the drawer and handed it over, saying calmly, "You're not married yet, be careful."

"This..." Chen Shuo wanted to say that he didn't need it yet, but he figured no one would believe him anyway, so he hesitated and took the box and put it in his pocket.

"Okay, let's go back."

Chen Shuo came out of the living room with the box in his hand, picked up the things, and pulled Bai Xiaoqi out the door.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, the air outside was a bit chilly. The two of them slowly walked to the entrance of the residential area, carrying large and small bags. They put their things on the ground and started waiting for a taxi. Chen Shuo glanced at Bai Xiaoqi and saw that her face was rosy and her big eyes were sparkling.

"Are you drunk?"

"No."

"That's good." Chen Shuo adjusted the scarf around her neck. Although her face looked flushed, she shouldn't be drunk from only drinking half a glass of wine.

"Oh right, let's see how much lucky money Mom and Dad gave us." As he spoke, he took the two red envelopes out of his pocket, and then with a soft thud, the small square box was accidentally pulled out and fell to the ground.

Bai Xiaoqi looked down at him, then looked up at him again. Chen Shuo met her gaze, picked up the item, and put it in his pocket. "This was given to me by my dad. I don't have a habit of carrying these kinds of things around. Don't misunderstand."

"..." Bai Xiaoqi didn't say anything, her face flushed as she turned her gaze to the side, inwardly blaming herself. If he hadn't said anything about making a fuss during the meal, how could his aunt and uncle have misunderstood him, and how could they have given him something like this?

Blame him!

The night was deep and the wind was biting. Taxis were especially hard to find on New Year's Eve. Chen Shuo looked at the vast night sky. The tall buildings were all lit up, and every household was celebrating the New Year, but he couldn't feel the festive atmosphere at all outside.

Living conditions are getting better year by year, but the atmosphere of the Spring Festival is getting worse year by year.

I remember when I was a child, every New Year's Eve, as soon as it got dark, all kinds of fireworks would be set off outside, and the sound of firecrackers would be endless. The night sky above would be lit up by fireworks, and people would come out to watch. They would also light a few clusters of fireworks they had bought themselves, making the New Year's Eve even more lively.

And now...

Chen Shuo sighed, watching the white mist from his breath dissipate in the cold wind, and said, "Banning fireworks makes it feel like the New Year has lost its flavor."

"I saw on the news that fireworks and firecrackers are banned to prevent fires."

"Ah……"

Chen Shuo chuckled noncommittally, "Maybe, but it just doesn't feel right if we don't set off fireworks and firecrackers during the New Year. Fireworks and firecrackers are a special feature of the New Year; we can't do without them on New Year's Eve, just like the West can't do without Jerusalem..."

“Your uniqueness is your uniqueness,” Bai Xiaoqi suddenly interjected.

"..."

Chen Shuo choked on the word "cold," turned to look at her, and frowned, saying, "Where did you learn all this driving talk from? Was it from that Anya again?"

"Ah."

"I knew it was her. I shouldn't have agreed to let you meet her in person. That woman is so filthy. Look at you, you've become like her. You're practically a little dirty cat now."

As the saying goes, "One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black," and another saying goes, "It takes three days to learn bad habits, but three years to learn good ones."

During the renovation a while ago, Xiao A Miao spent every day with that dirty woman, and it was hard for her not to be influenced by her. Chen Shuo felt that his Xiao A Miao was showing signs of evolving into a dirty little cat.

I know a ton of random nonsense these days, like pushing a cart, sitting on a lotus position, and even buzzing. Can you believe it?

Chen Shuo even suspected that the two girls were hiding together every day watching porn.

"You're even dirtier. You're naturally lewd, and I'm not wrong."

Bai Xiaoqi is becoming more and more energetic. She wants to say ten things back when Chen Shuo says one, and she's no longer as cute as she was when she didn't know anything.

Chapter 215 How Can You Eat Candy Without Unbuttoning Your Clothes?

After taking a taxi home, Chen Shuo took off his coat, crumpled it up, and tossed it aside before collapsing comfortably onto the sofa.

There's no place like your own doghouse; nowhere is as comfortable as your own little home.

Bai Xiaoqi picked up the coat he had thrown aside and hung it on the hanger. She then sorted through the New Year's goods she had brought back, stuffing a large pile of raw dumplings into the freezer, which would probably last for several more days.

Chen Shuo, lying down, spoke without a care in the world, "This afternoon, I was making New Year's Eve dinner at my parents' house. I specifically went into the kitchen to tell you and my mom to make fewer dumplings, but you wouldn't listen and even told me to stay outside. Look, we'll be eating dumplings for every meal for the next few days."

"If you're not going to eat it, I'll eat it myself. Dumplings are delicious."

"Nothing tastes better than dumplings, nothing's more fun than..." Chen Shuo almost blurted out, but stopped himself in time. "Uh, let me tell you, people in the North basically eat dumplings during the New Year, but it's not necessarily the case in the South. They might eat something else instead of dumplings."

Just like how we eat sweet zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival, but in many parts of the south we eat savory zongzi with meat, it's not that they like savory food, but rather it's a difference in diet between the north and south.

Take tofu pudding for example. We're used to eating it savory, not sweet, but they do the opposite, eating it sweet instead. They don't call it tofu pudding, they call it tofu flower, but it's actually the same thing.

Chen Shuo lay on the sofa, rambling on and on. Bai Xiaoqi didn't say a word, just listened quietly to his rambling. She had already discovered that this guy had a problem: whenever he drank, unless he was so drunk that he fell asleep immediately, he would become very talkative. After rambling on for a while, he would come over and take advantage of her, hugging her and kissing her hard, while his hands were also restless.

She went inside and took out their pajamas. She sat on the sofa, turned on her computer, checked the online store's news, and started searching for things like why people talk more when they've had too much to drink.

"Let's talk about some other differences between the North and the South, such as tea drinking. The tea culture is more prevalent in the South, while in the North, there are often various drinking parties. What do you think is the reason for this?"

After waiting a while and seeing that she didn't respond, Chen Shuo started his self-questioning mode, "Southerners are good at doing business? Maybe. Look at the south, there are Anhui merchants, Fujian merchants, Zhejiang merchants, but in the north, it seems only Shanxi merchants are relatively famous. That was in the past. Now they're all coal bosses. They need to drink more tea. The more tea they drink, the clearer they become. They also drink tea when discussing business. The more alcohol they drink, the more confused they become. 'Three cups of wine for a lifetime of worldly affairs, a pot of tea for a thousand-year legacy...'"

Bai Xiaoqi listened quietly without saying a word; she had already started surfing the internet.

The internet is really strange. When you search for something, a whole bunch of related answers often pop up, some of which have nothing to do with what you searched for. That's how she learned a lot of random knowledge.

Chen Shuo found it boring to ask and answer his own questions, and he was even a little thirsty. He got up, poured himself a glass of water, drank it all in one gulp, and peeled a tangerine to go over and see what she was doing.

Why are you looking at the desktop?

Bai Xiaoqi felt a little flustered, but she tried her best to remain calm and changed the subject by asking, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"What else is there to say? You're ignoring me, so what's the point of me saying anything?"

Chen Shuo fed her the peeled orange, then peeled one for himself, stuffed it into his mouth, picked up his pajamas, and mumbled, "I'm going to take a shower."

The sound of running water came from the bathroom. Bai Xiaoqi glanced at the bathroom door, then picked up the mouse and reopened the webpage she had just closed.

Then, with a slightly flushed face, she carefully read through the article on sex education. Feeling that Chen Shuo was about to finish his shower and come out, she quietly closed the webpage and opened Bilibili to watch a random video.

Not long after, Chen Shuo, having finished showering, came out in slippers and threw his clothes into the washing machine.

"I'm done washing, you should go now."

"oh...."

Watching Bai Xiaoqi pick up her pajamas and go into the bathroom, Chen Shuo picked up the mouse and opened the website, hoping that she would forget to clear her browsing history. But unfortunately, it was empty. He checked the settings and couldn't help but turn his head to look at the bathroom again.

Wow, Little Meow has evolved to version 2.0! It has already phased out the function of clearing browsing history and now has been updated to offer a more convenient incognito browsing feature.

Tsk tsk, this is incredible. What else can explain this except a guilty conscience? She must be searching for all sorts of random things every day.

Chen Shuo clicked his tongue twice. Sure enough, the Great Wall wasn't built in a day, and the fact that Little A Miao turned into Little Dirty Miao couldn't be entirely blamed on Anya; they had to look for the reasons within themselves.

Bai Xiaoqi came out drying her hair with a towel. Her face was moist from the bath, and her big, bright eyes were full of life. She rolled up the cuffs of her pajamas a little to reveal a section of her fair and tender legs, and then her little feet in slippers.

She leaned over the coffee table

In the middle of the night, the hairdryer was buzzing. Chen Shuo pretended not to know anything and helped her dry her hair, muttering some meaningless things while his eyes were also busy, habitually glancing downwards.

Although her attention was focused on the B-grade scenic area, she could still feel her hands getting a little sore. When she first met her, her hair was long and past her shoulders, but now her snow-white hair had fallen to her waist. It took her half a day to blow-dry her hair, and her hands were sore from the effort.

"After the first month of the lunar calendar, I'll take you to get your hair cut."

After a pause, Chen Shuo added, "I think you looked better with your hair down."

Bai Xiaoqi reached behind her and pulled a strand of hair to look at it, feeling a little reluctant. But after hearing the rest of his sentence, she hesitated and nodded, "Okay, I understand."

"Why didn't you ask me why I waited until after the first month of the lunar calendar to get my hair cut?" Chen Shuo was a little curious. He was usually a very inquisitive person, always asking questions, but he didn't ask any today.

"I know that. Getting a haircut in the first month of the lunar calendar means your uncle will die."

"What do you mean by a dead uncle? That's just a rumor. The actual thing is that it's about remembering the old ways. If it were really about a dead uncle, what if a guy named Zhang San went to get a haircut in the first month of the lunar year and his uncle suddenly died? Would Zhang San then be breaking the law? Do you think that's possible?"

"I think...it's somewhat possible."