My Demon Friends

Chapter 750 710 Not Anymore

"Uncle, Auntie, I'm leaving now. Thank you for putting up with me these past few days."

Baozi bowed politely to Aunt Jiang and Old Zhou as she said goodbye, although she had spent most of the past few days at Brother Nan's home.

Old Zhou, who had made a special trip back from the company to have the Little New Year's Eve dinner, stepped forward and calmly appraised the girl with an inner fondness. He liked obedient and well-behaved younger family members like her, but not showing his emotions was his secret to maintaining authority as a family elder. Therefore, he didn't make a display of his affection, simply pulling out an especially thick red envelope and handing it over.

"Happy New Year."

"This... Uncle, there's no need..."

Baozi was embarrassed and hesitated, quickly lowering her head as her face reddened. She used the opportunity to sneak a peek at her cousin—

As expected, her cousin was expressionless.

Old Zhou immediately said in an indisputable tone, "It's customary to give red envelopes for Lunar New Year; you can't refuse them!"

"Then... thank you, Uncle."

After speaking, Baozi paused, then turned and bowed to Aunt Jiang. "And thank you too, Auntie."

"Heh heh, not at all..." Aunt Jiang chuckled, nodding at Old Zhou. "This child is truly well-mannered and polite."

Old Zhou nodded in agreement.

He couldn't help but remember the frustration he'd felt these past few days when he caught only small fish. That wasn't as bad as bearing Zhou Li's remarks, mainly because he couldn't talk back. In such situations, to avoid undermining his parental authority, he had to pretend he hadn't heard or understood, which made it even more distressing.

Old Zhou then glanced lightly at Zhou Li standing nearby and said to Aunt Jiang, "If only a certain child in our family was this polite..."

He sounded casual and unconcerned, seeking Aunt Jiang's agreement.

Aunt Jiang smiled and said, "Our child is good too."

"Hmm..." Old Zhou turned away, pretending not to hear and avoiding Zhou Li's expression.

He didn't need to look to know; the kid must be feeling smug.

The door creaked open.

The wind rushed in.

Upon hearing the sound of luggage being dragged, Old Zhou turned his head to glance and saw Zhou Li helping Little Cousin pull her suitcase out the door, his expression calm and indifferent, without a hint of smugness.

Huh?

Is it that he's completely used to it now? Or is being bested by me so routine for you that it doesn't matter? Or maybe you genuinely believe you are very polite, deep down? Or are you just pretending to be nonchalant to make me angrier?

Old Zhou frowned, his thoughts racing.

By then, Zhou Li had already reached the doorway, standing with Brother Nan, and said, "We're going to take Baozi to the high-speed train station now."

"Be careful on the road."

"Yeah."

Zhou Li closed the door and looked at Little Cousin.

Little Cousin lowered her head, glancing to the side, too shy to meet his gaze.

Seeing this, Zhou Li smiled, "Let's go."

Just like last summer vacation, Baozi had a fruitful winter break in Yan City this year.

「On the twenty-seventh of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Bing arrived in Yan City.」

Since many cities and provinces lifted the ban on fireworks last year, even more joined them this year, allowing fireworks in more places. In this land, the oldest romantic tradition and the flavor of the Lunar New Year were slowly reviving. Setting off fireworks brings some safety risks and pollution, but it also offers something unique. Banning it completely would indeed reduce trouble, but it would also mean losing what it brings. Everything has two sides; it's a matter of weighing which is more important. This trend shows that more and more people are realizing that blanket bans are a lazy approach, and there's an increasing value placed on tradition and spirit. This is a good thing.

Only with a full belly can one think of other things. Only when strong can one confidently tackle troubles.

Unfortunately, Yan City was not part of this trend.

The urban area of Yan City still banned fireworks, but Zhou Li bought some almost every day and would take his younger siblings to the suburban areas to set them off.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, really liked fireworks. So, every day Zhou Li planned to set them off, she would spend the day playing outside with Lord Dumpling, ensuring she returned on time for dinner. In Aunt Jiang's and Old Zhou's eyes, it looked as if Lord Dumpling was out early and back late each day; they didn't know whether to call her too wild or too well-behaved—a contradiction, but very endearing.

「In the blink of an eye, New Year's Eve arrived.」

Zhou Li bought even more fireworks, heading out early to purchase them for fear that the more attractive ones would be sold out by the afternoon or evening.

In the afternoon, he hauled a cart of fireworks to a village at the foot of a small mountain, asking Nainiu Ma and Qinghe to take the fireworks back for Miss Zheng and Lord Xing Hui, Lord Li Bai, and Lord Dao Min to enjoy. The remaining half was for their own delight tonight.

「The sky gradually darkened.」

「In the suburbs of Yan City.」

Zhou Li saw Zhu Shuang holding a large rocket, while His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, spread her arms and legs, hugging the rocket tightly.

Lord Dumpling stood on the ground, looking up intently, unblinkingly watching her Highness.

"MEOW?"

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, turned to Zhou Li and said, "You can tell your brother to light it now."

Zhou Li pursed his lips.

To be honest, he was filled with confusion, but he didn't voice it. One reason was that Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing were present, and he didn't want to express his confusion. Another was his growing resistance to such baffling behavior, thanks to Brother Nan's usual antics.

He glanced at Brother Nan—

Of course!

Brother Nan watched His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu on the rocket with intense eyes, as if he wished he could shrink down and ride the rocket into the sky with her.

Withdrawing his gaze, Zhou Li sighed and said to Zhu Shuang, "Go ahead."

Zhu Shuang nodded solemnly, flicked the lighter, and brought the flame close to the fuse.

"SHHH..."

The fuse burned quickly.

The moment the sparks erupted, Zhu Shuang quickly withdrew his hand and turned away, holding the stick loosely to avoid impeding the rocket's flight.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, then adjusted her hold on the rocket, hugging it tighter.

"WHOOSH!!"

The rocket shot into the sky, its piercing sound almost drowning out the cry of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu.

"BANG!"

The deep blue of the night sky burst into a splendidly bright flower of flame.

Lord Dumpling's little head was tilted almost vertically upwards, eyes wide, round, and unblinking, mouth slightly agape. The cat was completely stunned.

After a while, she slightly lowered her head to look at Zhou Li. But since she was standing so close and was so short, Zhou Li's face was hardly distinguishable from the sky to her. She stammered for a long time before managing to utter a complete sentence, "Your... Your... Highness... went BANG!"

"You're the one who went bang!" a voice came from above.

Lord Dumpling looked up again and saw a pitch-black Highness flapping her wings rapidly and descending slowly—it took her a moment to spot her.

Brother Nan asked, "How was it?"

"Fun!"

"Thrilling!"

Her Highness used two words and then added, "Better than I imagined. I thought it would be so-so, but after shrinking and weakening, this speed felt so fast to me, and that bang really gave me a jolt! The fireworks look so big from up there. Yep, deciding to become a Little Demon was definitely the right choice!"

Zhu Shuang, thinking Brother Nan was asking about the fireworks, felt strange that no one immediately answered him and glanced curiously at her brother.

Zhou Li caught on and pursed his lips before saying, "It looked pretty good."

It was an answer that could apply to either.

But Zhu Shuang was still afraid Brother Nan would be displeased, so she added, "They're a bit expensive, though, and you can only set them off once, then they're gone. Compared to that, I still prefer the kind that burns on the ground for a long time. Gatling fireworks are fun too."

"I'll play with the Gatling!" Brother Nan picked up a bundle of small stick fireworks, took a lighter from his pocket, and grinned.

Zhou Li then picked up his phone.

Zhou Li: Did you set off fireworks?

Little Zheng: Not yet.

Little Zheng: Qinghe says it's not completely dark yet and wants to wait a while longer. Lord Xing Hui and the others have already arrived and are sitting in the courtyard drinking tea.

Zhou Li: How are your eyes?

Little Zheng: The treatment started today. Lord Dao Min says it's been much smoother than he expected. Almost no obstacles encountered. He says they might be cured in about half a month. If you're coming for the New Year celebration on the fifteenth, my eyes might already be healed by then.

Little Zheng: Possibly.

Zhou Li smiled upon reading this.

Miss Zheng still preferred voice-to-text over sending voice messages directly, which often led to mistakes. For instance, her voice-to-text sometimes mistook the name 'Qinghe' for a similar-sounding phrase. Also, the People of Yan City had a local pronunciation for 'the first lunar month' that voice recognition often misinterpreted as 'this month.' And it was already the last day of 'this month'—in fact, the last day of the year. Beyond these mistakes, her sentences always ended with a period, sometimes an exclamation mark or a question mark. Some people had this habit when texting, but Zhou Li didn't. Sometimes her voice recognition wasn't perfectly accurate, and the punctuation would be a bit jumbled. But he could understand all of it.

Zhou Li: Is the treatment going smoothly?

Zhou Li: Does it hurt?

Little Zheng: No pain.

Little Zheng: I just have to lie on the chair for a long time without moving. So boring!

Zhou Li: I see.

It seemed Miss Zheng claimed it didn't hurt because Lord Dao Min was nearby. Huai Xu had ridden his motorcycle up the mountain a couple of days ago—treating his retro bike like a KTM again—and had come back saying that during the treatment, one's eyes would get very cold, a stinging cold, like plunging your hands into ice water in winter. After it was over, they would feel very swollen.

Zhou Li: Brother Nan and I have decided to come on the tenth and stay until your eyes are healed. Then we'll pack up and head to Chunming together.

Little Zheng: Ah?

Zhou Li: What's up?

Little Zheng: Nothing.

Little Zheng: Okay.

Zhou Li put down his phone and continued to watch the fireworks.

Fireworks are truly romantic.

It's the last day of the year and the most important festival, so it should be celebrated and concluded this way. Without these rituals, this festival would be no different from any other holiday in the year.

Even though these rituals might seem dispensable, and he used to think they were too, he didn't anymore.