My Demon Friends

Chapter 749 749: 709

The Little New Year was approaching.

It always felt like the New Year came early this year.

After finishing exams around the tenth of January and staying in Chunming for a few days, I returned to Yan City around mid-January. I stayed at Miss Zheng's for about a week, and by then, it was already past the twentieth of the twelfth lunar month.

Zhou Li got up very early, but when he went downstairs, he found Little Cousin already there. She was sitting on a Taishi Chair, a small blanket draped over her legs, her feet on a warming basket, nibbling on a baked sweet potato of which only half remained. The core of the sweet potato was orange-red, soft and rich in sugar, shimmering from within.

To prevent crumbs from falling on the blanket, she leaned forward, eating with extreme care.

"Morning, Baozi."

"Morning, Zhou Ni…"

"Mixing up your Ls and Ns now?" Zhou Li teased.

"It's hot…" Little Cousin mumbled, her mouth full, still not stopping her careful chewing.

"Why are you up so early?"

"Last night, Little Sister Zheng baked sweet potatoes using the warming basket. I observed and mastered the technique by watching her." Little Cousin took another bite and said to her cousin, "Zhou Li, I have two more baking underneath. Do you want one? They're super tasty, soft and sweet!"

"No, thanks."

"Why not?"

"I'm afraid if I eat one, I'll have to call you 'Older Sister'."

"…"

Little Cousin licked her lips. A bit of sweet potato pulp was on her finger, which she then licked clean before saying to Zhou Li, "The day after tomorrow is the Little New Year."

"What, eager to go home?"

"If you're not in a hurry, I'm fine either way. Celebrating the New Year here isn't bad," Baozi continued while eating. "It's just a bit cold. I need to keep eating snacks, drinking milk tea, and having ice cream to keep warm."

"We'll head back this afternoon," Zhou Li said softly. "If we delay any longer, it'll be hard to buy high-speed train tickets."

"I can take a hard-seat train…"

"I've already bought you a high-speed train ticket for the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month," Zhou Li paused. "If you don't like high-speed trains, you can cancel it and buy your own. But I should remind you, there haven't been hard seats available from Yan City to Chunming for a few years now."

"Cousin, you're so kind…"

Baozi moved her feet, bent down to fiddle with the warming basket at her feet, and picked out the more beautifully shaped one of the two sweet potatoes, handing it to her cousin. "Cousin! It's hot!"

Zhou Li's mouth twitched slightly. "No thanks, I'll pass."

"Quick, take it! Ooh, it's so hot, so hot…"

"…"

Zhou Li turned and walked into the kitchen. What a joke! As a master of fire, if I wanted baked sweet potatoes, couldn't I bake them myself?

After breakfast, they went down the mountain to a market fair.

The little mountain village was secluded from the world, devoid of any festive atmosphere.

Thank goodness for modern technology. Otherwise, if Miss Zheng had lived here alone and never left, she would at most have been aware of the changing seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—without knowing the actual date. Perhaps every time she returned from down the mountain, she would have had to devise ways to record time just to keep track of the calendar.

Therefore, the few of them, disconnected from the world, felt a mild sense of disorientation when they descended the mountain and saw the bustling, festively decorated scene below.

The contrast was too stark.

Seeing street vendors selling lanterns, Zhou Li bought two and hung them by Miss Zheng's front door, plugging in the wires.

They were said to be colorful and to rotate.

Anyway, it wouldn't be visible during the day. Whether it looked good at night, he wouldn't know, as they were leaving in the afternoon.

Knowing Brother Nan's personality, Zhou Li spoke to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, who was riding on Lord Dumpling's back, "The New Year is almost here, and I would like to invite Your Highness to spend it with us in Yan City. Most of the time, Brother Nan's home is empty. Baozi lives there, so it's quite free, and Your Highness won't need to keep avoiding people."

Zhou Li paused, sneaking a glance at her. "I'm not sure if we would have this honor…"

After finishing, he glanced at Tuanzi.

Her Highness grasped Tuanzi's fur. "You're not just trying to be with Tuanzi, afraid she'll run off with me, are you?"

"That's part of it," Zhou Li answered honestly. "I can't live without Lord Dumpling, and Lord Dumpling can't live without you."

"Okay."

"You agree?"

"Yes."

"That's great."

Zhou Li went upstairs to start packing.

Having lost his ability of Instantaneous Movement, Huai Xu still followed closely behind him. After entering the room, Huai Xu lay down on the bed and said to him, "You're overthinking it. Even though Yu Country is gone, as Her Highness, she still has a lot of wealth and properties. Theoretically, everything Hong Ran owns belongs to her... She has plenty of places to go."

Zhou Li tugged at the quilt beneath him. "Get up!"

"…"

With a sudden movement, Huai Xu was off the bed.

But this was clearly different from before. Previously, it was Instantaneous Movement; now, it was purely his physical speed being so extraordinarily fast that, over a very short distance, it looked almost the same to an ordinary person.

Zhou Li packed slowly. By the time he came downstairs, Brother Nan had already finished packing and was instructing Miss Zheng, his arm around her shoulder, "Make sure you listen to the doctor, okay? Although the doctor has now moved in with those two demons, you should still bring them food and drinks regularly to maintain a good relationship. We'll come back to see you after the New Year. If everything goes well, your eyes might already be healed by then."

Miss Zheng nodded repeatedly in agreement.

The group descended the mountain.

Big Yellow led the way with Brother Nan on its back. Lord Dumpling was sprawled in front of Brother Nan, while His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, sat cross-legged on the horse's head. Baozi trailed miserably far behind. Huai Xu, trying hard to maintain his Demon King persona, had run off somewhere, pretending he could still use Instantaneous Movement.

Zhou Li held the reins, faring even worse than Baozi.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, said to him, "Now that Yu Country is no more, stop calling me His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu. The names you humans pick are really unpleasant."

Brother Nan, curious, asked, "Then what should we call you?"

"Whatever you want to call me."

"Elm?"

The piebald horse obediently came to a halt.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, was speechless.

After a brief silence, she said, "Just keep calling me Your Highness."

Brother Nan paused, about to ask why, but then he understood. Covering his mouth, he chuckled quietly.

A smile also appeared on Zhou Li's face.

「It was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.」

Zhu Shuang had already returned. He came back yesterday, right after Baozi had left.

After six months of professional training, he had returned reinvigorated. On his very first night back, he booked a venue and dragged his brother to spar for two hours. Now, however, he was deflated again.

As a player slated to participate in the National University Games, whose coach had high hopes for him and who himself was fully confident of winning a medal, he was, by all rights, already exceptionally strong for an amateur athlete of his age. Zhu Shuang, however, really couldn't understand why he always lost to his older brother.

"Sigh…" Zhu Shuang emerged from his room, stretching his limbs. His muscles were only slightly sore, proving that the half-year of intense training had been effective.

His brother was helping their mom clean the house.

That's right—today was dusting day.

Zhu Shuang, despite having just gotten up, quickly joined in the cleaning effort.

Cleaning an apartment was different from a rural house. There were almost no cobwebs, and robot vacuums constantly ran on the floor. However, the dust in tall buildings was heavier, as was the fluff. Zhu Shuang helped clean areas that were hard for the robot vacuums to reach. He wiped down tables, windowsills, and glass, and also cleaned the range hood, washing machine, refrigerator, and air conditioner, among other things. All this cleaning took the entire morning.

He was absolutely exhausted.

"Phew…" Zhu Shuang breathed out. Seeing that his mom had gone to cook, he then went to the bathroom, squeezed past his brother who was washing his hands, picked up his cup to get water, and prepared to brush his teeth, asking, "Where's Lord Dumpling? Why isn't Lord Dumpling at home? I saw him just yesterday."

"Brother Nan caught him."

"Oh…" Zhu Shuang nodded; that was indeed an unforeseeable event. "So when are we bringing Lord Dumpling back for New Year?"

"We'll see."

Zhou Li wasn't sure if they could bring Lord Dumpling back for the New Year. Since returning to Yan City the day before yesterday, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, had been taking Lord Dumpling all over the city to have fun. They had only briefly returned to Brother Nan's home yesterday afternoon to grab something to eat. Hearing there was a badminton match in the evening, Her Highness had specifically come to watch and seemed quite satisfied, staying for the entire two hours.

Zhou Li wasn't sure when he might see Lord Dumpling next – it all depended on the mood of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu.

Zhu Shuang took a sip of water, gargled, spat it out, and looking at Zhou Li, said, "Old Zhou caught a lot of fish for Lord Dumpling."

"They were too small. Lord Dumpling wasn't interested."

"He said he purposefully caught small fish, using different bait and hooks, saying that small fish are more suitable for Lord Dumpling. Big ones are a waste as Lord Dumpling can't finish them." Zhu Shuang paused, holding his toothbrush with toothpaste on it, but took a long time to start brushing. "He seemed quite earnest about it."

"Yeah, his reasoning does make sense."

The brothers exchanged a look, understanding each other without words.