Gu Miao still didn’t look up. After yanking off the tab, she threw her head back and took a few gulps of beer. She then wiped her mouth and sat down, staring at the food on the table.
“Er-Miao?” Gu Fei spoke up. Gu Miao lifted her head. He looked at her. “Uncle’s giving you lucky money. You should take it and thank him.”
Gu Miao finally turned around to look at Ponytail. She stood up, bowed, then took the red envelope and put it into her pocket.
“Here.” Ponytail reached his hand into his pocket again. “Feifei…”
“That’s okay.” Gu Fei froze for a second, then awkwardly waved his hand. “It’s really not necessary.”
“You don’t need to give him any.” Gu Fei’s mom stopped Ponytail. “He’s grown now—not a child anymore.”
After a few rounds of extremely awkward back-and-forth, Ponytail eventually put the red envelope away. Raising her glass, Gu Fei’s mom said, “Come on, everyone. Here’s a toast to my son’s prosperity, my little girl’s health, and Jiang Cheng getting into an elite university…”
“What about me?” Ponytail asked.
Shocked at the note of flirtation in his voice, Jiang Cheng shot a glance in Gu Fei’s direction. Gu Fei was holding his glass, his expression a swiftly changing enigma.
“Oh, you?” Gu Fei’s mom giggled and leaned closer to Ponytail. “May all your dreams come true.” Her tone was also cloyingly cute.
Jiang Cheng was still holding his glass, his face practically dripping with sweat. Meanwhile, Gu Fei had already turned away in embarrassment. Gu Miao, meanwhile, was still acting completely normal, staring blankly at the feast in front of them.
After this exchange, Gu Fei’s mom and Ponytail suddenly activated a kind of clingy, romantic mode like they were the only ones at the table. Still holding their glasses, they began to blatantly flirt with each other, as if they’d completely forgotten where they were.
Gu Fei gently clinked his glass against Jiang Cheng’s. “May Cheng-ge be ever triumphant this year.”
“And may everything go as you wish…” Out of the corner of his eye, Jiang Cheng noticed that the other pair was still off in their own world, so he added in a low voice to Gu Fei, “Boyfriend.”
Gu Fei chuckled and took a sip of his alcohol, then reached over and knocked his glass against Gu Miao’s beer can. “May Er-Miao grow up quickly.”
Jiang Cheng also knocked against her beer can. “May Er-Miao make progress every day.”
It wasn’t until they had started eating that Gu Fei’s mom and Ponytail Guy finally came back to earth. They’d had already forgotten about the New Year’s toast, though, and so they simply joined them in digging into the food.
Gu Fei and Jiang Cheng didn’t talk very much as they ate, but there was no awkward silence because the doting couple continued to flirt with each other throughout the meal. Whenever they weren’t flirting, Gu Fei’s mom was resting her chin in her hand, listening to Ponytail boast about his accomplishments.
At least his boasting was more or less constrained to one subject: He was hoping to take over his boss’s business this year. Jiang Cheng kept wanting to ask him whether he’d asked his boss if he even wanted to sell the business…but the pair was so engrossed in their conversation that no one else could get a word in edgewise.
Ponytail’s cooking wasn’t bad at all; it tasted just as good as it smelled. Gu Miao was having a whale of a time. Her chopsticks flashed out again and again as she gorged herself on meat and beer until she was full and satisfied.
The lovers across the table likely hadn’t eaten their fill, though. Jiang Cheng hardly saw them touch the food.
“We’re gonna go out for a spin. Get a taste of the New Year’s atmosphere.”
“Okay,” Gu Fei answered.
“Have fun,” said Jiang Cheng.
“Thank you,” Gu Fei’s mom said as she dragged Ponytail Guy out. Soon they heard the roar of a motorcycle speeding off.
Jiang Cheng leaned back in the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him, watching Gu Miao work away at the food.
Gu Fei lit up a cigarette beside him. “Want one?”
“In a bit,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m just gonna have a few more bites.”
“The food’s not too bad,” said Gu Fei.
“Mm.” Jiang Cheng ladled another bowl of soup for himself. “How does this guy…compare with the other ones from before?”
“Dunno.” Gu Fei frowned. “There were guys who looked even more reliable than him, but it all ended the same way.”
“Then…” Jiang Cheng looked at him, hesitating.
“As long as he doesn’t touch the money in the store,” Gu Fei said as he leaned back in his seat, “I can’t be bothered to interfere anymore. She’s an adult.”
“Yeah.” Jiang Cheng picked up the bottle of baijiu and swung it lightly, thinking out loud as he filled Gu Fei’s glass. “He’s drinking and driving, isn’t he?”
“Huh?” Gu Fei laughed. “Honestly, Cheng-ge… He probably had one shot at most.”
“If you guys drink when Li Yan and the others get here, you should probably just take your bicycles if you’re going out later,” said Jiang Cheng. “You’ve definitely had more than one shot.”
“We won’t go out. There’s nowhere to go,” Gu Fei assured him. “We tend to just stick around here, watch TV, and shoot the shit. Occasionally we play some cards.”
“Old people life…”
“Mm.” Gu Fei nodded. “I’ve already lived out my young life in bed with you.”
Jiang Cheng shot a glance at him. “Watch it.”
“In bed, in bed, in bed, in bed,” Gu Fei said. “Bed’im bed’im bed’im bed’im.”
“Maybe you should go to bed,” said Jiang Cheng.