A few minutes later, in the old Lin family house, the young lady holding the Chinchilla cat on the sofa was already beaming with a radiant smile. The TV on the wall was playing variety shows from the New Year period, mixed with her occasional peals of laughter. There was no trace at all of the emotional distress from her earlier crying fit on the second floor.
"Come, come, Xiao Wang, have some fruit!" Wang Xiuzhi brought a plate of cut fruit to the coffee table, warmly entertaining the girl.
"Thank you, Auntie Lin." Wang Jiayi immediately stood up to express her thanks, her face showing a hint of embarrassment. "I visited so suddenly, and I didn't bring any gifts..."
"No need, no need." Mrs. Lin waved her hands repeatedly. "A young girl like you must be lonely spending the New Year here alone. It's just a meal, no need for formalities. Lanlan's teahouse has received plenty of your care lately."
"Miss Wang, please relax and watch TV here," Lin Lan also greeted with a smile. "I'll call Song Xinmin up in a little while too."
Since Wang Jiayi was invited, there was no reason not to invite Comrade Xiao Song. Might as well have them both.
A phone call was made downstairs, but it turned out he had already gone out for some inspiration gathering. However, he promised to come over for dinner.
"Xiao Song isn't coming?" Mrs. Lin, who overheard the call, asked.
"Hmm, not until evening," Lin Lan replied.
"That's perfect," Mrs. Lin said as she headed back into the kitchen. "I'll finish frying all the meatballs, and we'll have a big pot of braised lion's head for dinner tonight. Old man, is the oil hot yet?"
"Hot!" Mr. Lin's voice came from the kitchen. "We've already started frying!"
Accompanied by the sizzling sound of frying, waves of fragrance wafted from the kitchen.
Mrs. Lin had already entered the kitchen. The two people sitting in the living room couldn't see inside, but they could hear her and Mr. Lin's voices: "Why are the meatball fillings you're shaping always one big and one small? Go on, go on, I'll handle this. Go see if Mom needs any help. The old lady mentioned earlier that she wanted you to help her paste the paper cuttings on the balcony, right? Go on."
Mr. Lin, whose skills were being criticized, came out dejectedly, only to be met with his daughter's grinning face: "Dad, failed the challenge again?"
Lin Youyu was instantly indignant. He glanced back at the kitchen and muttered in a very, very low voice: "What does it matter if they're a bit bigger or smaller? They all taste the same after frying, right?"
Unfortunately, he was still heard by the person in the kitchen: "Old man, what did you say?"
"Nothing! I'm going to help Mom paste the window decorations!" The old father hurriedly opened the door and ran off, leaving his daughter standing there covering her mouth with a suppressed laugh.
The air was filled with the aroma of fried meatballs. Wang Jiayi, holding Silver, watched the Lin family's interactions. The ease she had felt from holding the cat was suddenly replaced by the earlier awkwardness of being a guest. Here she was, sitting on someone else's sofa, holding someone else's cat, eating their fruit, watching their TV, and invited to stay for dinner... she really should have prepared something...
"Meow—" (Lanlan, that smells so good, I want some!)
Silver, who had been sitting quietly in Wang Jiayi's arms, couldn't resist the aroma any longer and began to fidget and meow. Seeing that Lin Lan ignored it, Silver turned and pressed its little paws on Wang Jiayi's shoulder, letting out a pleading meow.
"Meow!" (Servant, go get that food for me to eat!)
Giving it lion's head was impossible, and letting it keep meowing was also out of the question.
"Silver seems hungry," Lin Lan said, noticing the kitten's restlessness and, more importantly, sensing the young lady's discomfort at being the only one sitting idle watching TV while everyone else was busy. She made a timely suggestion: "Would you like to come with me to feed the cats and play with them?"
The young lady's eyes immediately lit up: "Can I?"
"Of course. They've all just had baths and are nice and soft and fragrant right now."
The teahouse wasn't open now, yet she could see those cats again—this was like having a cat cafe all to herself! So exciting!
And so, Wang Jiayi happily followed Lin Lan to change locations once more, completely unaware that she was about to be recruited by Shopkeeper Lin to help set out cat food bowls and wash them.
As night gradually fell and Comrade Xiao Song returned from his inspiration gathering, the old Lin family officially began their dinner.
Spending the New Year at someone else's house was an experience Wang Jiayi had never had before. The people here didn't have the crystal-chandeliered dining rooms common in her home, nor the skills of a high-class chef. The dishes on the table were all ordinary home-cooked fare in her eyes, but they were equally delicious and filled her with warmth.
"Xiao Wang, Xiao Song, come on, eat!" The elders urged them to help themselves to the dishes, their eyes filled with gentle kindness.
"Thank you, Grandma Lin!" Seeing the old lady place a chicken drumstick in his bowl, Song Xinmin quickly expressed his thanks.
"Xuehua!" Lin Lan, sitting next to her, was scolding the large white cat under the table. "You've already had plenty of dried fish snacks earlier. You've exceeded your food quota for today. No more begging Grandpa for food!"
The white domestic cat let out a coquettish meow at her and even ran to Lin Lan's feet, rolling over onto its back a few times.
"No use acting cute!" Lin Lan remained unmoved. "Come out. If you steal food again today, I'll give all your tomorrow's snacks to Lanbao and the others!"
Seeing that cuteness was ineffective and might even cost it snacks, the white cat, looking thoroughly deflated, slunk off to the heated pad in the living area and curled up there obediently, appearing quite subdued. The other cats lounging around on the pad all turned to look at it. Although their expressions seemed aloof, there was an inexplicable, faint sense of schadenfreude.
Then Lin Lan looked up at her father: "You too, Dad. Show some willpower. Don't secretly give it food just because it acts cute. You'll be the one suffering if it gets a stomachache."
Mr. Lin, pretending to look around aimlessly, could only give an embarrassed chuckle, earning him simultaneous eye-rolls from his wife on one side and his mother on the other.
Wang Jiayi couldn't help but secretly smile. This warm, heated room was filled with coziness and joy. If Little New Year's Eve was this happy, New Year's Eve tomorrow night would surely be even livelier.
The young lady guessed correctly. The Lin family's New Year's Eve reunion dinner was even more sumptuous—not just for the people, but for the cats as well.
When she arrived at the door on New Year's Eve, she came prepared with ample New Year's gifts before knocking and entering. Of course, that Song Xinmin did too. After the two exchanged New Year's greetings upon entering, Shopkeeper Lin promptly enlisted them to help feed the cats.
Only by feeding these little ones first would they not be distracted by the food on the dining table and unable to resist trying to sneak a pawful.
"Shopkeeper, today's cat meal is so luxurious!" Song Xinmin, helping to feed the cats, identified some intentionally un-mashed meat chunks in the cat food and was surprised by the high quality of the ingredients. "I guess it's the New Year's feast, after all. This would be a luxurious feast even for people!"
"Right, once a year. Let them have a treat," Lin Lan replied.
The young lady didn't know much about cat food: "They all seem to really like it. Is this cat food very good? I've seen many people feed their pets raw meaty bones. Which is better, raw or cooked?"
"Uh, both are possible," Song Xinmin stumbled. "But that's how wealthy people feed them. Those raw meaty bones have to be guaranteed free of parasites and such. It's not suitable for commoners like us."
"Stop staring at them while they eat, come over and sit down, it's time for our dinner!" In the dining area, Wang Xiuzhi called the young people over to eat.
The three responded immediately, taking their seats one after another.
"Wow, what a feast! There's my favorite salted duck!"
"The braised lion's head meatballs smell amazing!"
"The duck leg is mine, nobody try to take it!"
"Look at you, so grown up and still fighting over food!"
During a lull, Lin Youyu, the head of the household, raised his glass and stood up.
"Come on, come on! May all of us gathered here have a thriving and even better new year! Cheers!"
Everyone else stood up in unison: "Cheers—!"
"Cheers! Cheers!" Over on the balcony, the cockatoo locked in its cage flapped its wings and squawked loudly, "Give treats! Give treats!"
Everyone looked back at it and burst into hearty laughter.
On New Year's Eve, outside the house, fireworks lit up the sky like silver flowers. Only a few households in the small building had their lights on. The balcony of the corner unit on the third floor was brightly lit, and the sounds of laughter flowing from inside could be heard even from downstairs.
The people inside the building didn't notice a black sedan quietly pulling up downstairs. Its window rolled down, and it listened to the laughter from above for a long while before finally rolling up again.
"Looks like we worried about that girl for nothing," sighed a noblewoman in the car, a relieved smile on her face.
"Exactly. Yuze heard the child was crying again and was afraid she'd just spend the whole New Year's Eve holed up at home crying nonstop. Now it seems we were just being overly anxious," the middle-aged gentleman beside the noblewoman also chuckled and shook his head. "It really is true that people need a push to make progress. See, she's getting along quite well with others now, isn't she?"
The young man in the passenger seat turned to look at them, his face bearing a fifty percent resemblance to Wang Jiayi's. "Mom, Dad, are you really just going to listen from downstairs? Aren't you going up to see Sister?"
It was the Wang family from the neighboring city. Worried that their pampered daughter might really be in trouble, they had secretly come over on New Year's Eve.
"See her? Why see her?" Seeing that his daughter was perfectly fine and had even managed to join someone else's family reunion dinner, Mr. Wang immediately hardened his heart, putting away that bit of softness. "Confirming she's okay is enough. This girl's temperament was spoiled rotten by all of you when she was little. Now that we finally have a chance to set her straight, I won't allow any of you to mess things up at this critical juncture. If all our efforts go to waste because of you, I won't let it go."
The noblewoman and the young man exchanged a glance, silently mourning for their sister who had always been coddled. Since the family couldn't teach her, Dad was now determined to let society teach her a lesson.
"Drive, let's go back," Mr. Wang ordered. The driver started the car and pulled onto the road. "We should also have a quiet New Year's Eve dinner without the little girl for once."
When the sound of the car engine started, Wang Jiayi, faintly hearing it from the third floor, inexplicably found it somewhat familiar. But when she turned to look through the balcony window, she could only see the occasional vehicle passing on the road.
Must be my imagination. How could my heartless parents possibly come looking for me?
She shook her head, dismissing the thought, and turned back to clink glasses with Lin Lan and Song Xinmin.
After dinner, Miss Wang, knowing her limits, didn't rush to clean the dishes. She only helped put the chairs and table back in place. Afterwards, she went with Lin Lan to the living room, sitting on the heated mat, enjoying the bliss of being surrounded by cats.
They played until midnight, successfully "staying up to see the New Year in." Only then did she and Song Xinmin each head home.
Lin Lan saw them off at the door. Song Xinmin said his goodbyes and left. Wang Jiayi hesitated for a moment. Perhaps from the alcohol or the warmth, the young lady's face was flushed, and her eyes sparkled.
"Lin Lan, can I call you Lanlan?" Wang Jiayi was genuinely happy today. "I want to be friends with you. You can call me Jiayi too."
Hearing her words, Lin Lan suddenly felt a twinge of envy. This girl always wore her likes and dislikes plainly on her face. It was a personality that couldn't be nurtured without an overflowing abundance of love from her family.
"Of course, Jiayi. I'd be happy to be friends with you," she replied with a smile, deliberately joking, "But you can get a discount at the tea house, I won't just give you Silver that easily, you know."
"I'm not trying to be friends with you for that!" the young lady exclaimed indignantly, stamping her foot. "I just think you and your family are good people. Being friends with you makes me happy."
First, Comrade Xiao Song gave her a "good person card" on Little New Year's Eve, and now on New Year's Eve, the young lady bestowed another one.
Lin Lan couldn't help but touch her own face. Do I really have such a good-person look?
"It's very late, you should go back and sleep."
After coaxing the young lady to leave, Lin Lan finally turned back and closed the door. It was midnight. Her parents, unable to stay up any longer, had long gone to bed. In the living room, only a bunch of night owls (the cats) were staring back at her with wide eyes.
"Meow—" The orange cat Gentleman called out just then. (Lanlan, can I go into your room and sleep with you?)
The little kitten didn't understand human holidays, but it instinctively knew that on this day, it could get lots of tasty treats and could also make some requests that would usually be granted.
Lin Lan was just stunned for a second before hearing more meows from the cats.
(Lanlan, I want to sleep with you too!)
(Me too! I want to sleep in your room!)
(I want to too! I want to too!)
"Alright! Alright! I get it!" Quickly stopping their chorus of meows, Lin Lan raised her hands in surrender. "You can come in and sleep, but you mustn't make noise and disturb me, and you absolutely must not mess up the things in my room, understand?"
A series of promises from the feline brigade followed.
So when Lin Lan entered her room, a procession of cats followed behind her.
She was actually feeling a bit of a headache. Usually, the duet of snores from Snowflake and Sapphire when they slept with her was loud enough. Now with over ten cats together... Oh well, she'd just make do tonight and catch up on sleep tomorrow.
The landlord's daughter was immersed in the sweet trouble of being actively volunteered as a sleeping companion by a large group of cats, potentially facing insomnia due to a seventeen-part snoring symphony. Meanwhile, outside the small building, Miss Wei, the programmer working the miserable overnight shift on Spring Festival to maintain servers, was genuinely unable to sleep even if she wanted to.
