They were two young men.
The first person was very pretty despite being a man, with a handsome face, soft wavy hair that was a little tangled, and a pair of large innocent eyes. At a glance, he looked like a chihuahua.
The other was tall and upright, wore a black tunic, and had a breathtaking temperament even while sitting.
w.a.n.g Dahu squinted, his short and firmly chubby body flew into the arms of the beautiful and graceful man in the blink of an eye. “Uncle, Dahu missed you to death!”
w.a.n.g Yaozu, who was in his early twenties, immediately felt moved to the point that red colored his cheeks.
The people left behind saw the uncle and nephew hugging each other and coincidentally all laughed at the same time.
w.a.n.g Dahu sat in his uncle’s lap, his big wide eyes secretly glanced to the side. Indeed, the other person was frowning. After seeing that, he was even happier, continuing to laugh evilly.
“Cough, cough cough,” the other person lightly coughed. His facial expression was “friendly” as he asked, “So you are the Dahu that Ah Zu* keeps mentioning?!”
*Ah here is another prefix that is used for endearment. Zu is part of w.a.n.g Yaozu’s name.
w.a.n.g Dahu blinked, hugged his uncle’s neck tightly, and asked suspiciously, “Uncle, who are you?”
“This is Uncle Long.” w.a.n.g Youzu was a step quicker and introduced, “He’s a good friend of uncle’s!”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh~” w.a.n.g Dahu elongated the expression, and purposely repeated, “Your good friend, eh!”
Long Yiming slightly squinted his eyes. He didn’t know why, but he felt that this child with a “simple and honest” face was saying, “Don’t lie, I don’t believe you two are really friends.”
“Come hereー” His thoughts changed in the blink of an eye, and Long Yiming immediately took out a red envelope[1].
w.a.n.g Dahu cleverly looked up towards his mother.
“This is what Uncle Long is giving you! Take it!” Not waiting for any one else to speak, w.a.n.g Youzu, who was hugging him, laughed ha ha and rubbed his nephew’s head.
“Thank you Uncle Long. I wish you all the best, that things will go as planned, and that you can obtain what you wish this new year.” He accepted the red envelope and noticed how thick it was. w.a.n.g Dahu hit the jackpot. Because of that, his new years greetings were full of sincerity. His small chubby face was smiling so freshly that flowers bloomed. Of course, it was inevitable that w.a.n.g Dahu’s mother tried to refuse politely a few times. However, if people gave it in good faith, w.a.n.g Dahu could only “reluctantly” accept.
It seems that this generous “good friend” of w.a.n.g Dahu’s uncle had parents that pa.s.sed away early, and he was unmarried. At the time when families reunited, he would inevitably be lonely, so w.a.n.g Youzu stubbornly dragged him here.
The w.a.n.g family was always hospitable, and when they heard about how Long Yiming often helped w.a.n.g Youzu, they treated him even more warmly.
w.a.n.g Dahu sat to one side, sipping soda. He watched his father and Long Yiming pour each other drinks and couldn’t help but think to himself: You guys sure are happy now! If you knew what intentions the other party has, we’ll see if you can keep smiling happily. However, with respect to this envelope in my pocket, this young master temporarily won’t expose your true wolfish ambitions.
Dinner was incredibly lively, they took more than three hours to finish.
w.a.n.g Dahu was too impatient to sit and listen to the grown ups “babble”. He had long since slipped away to his room.
“F*ck~~~As expected of the rich!” Looking at the ten crisp new 100 yuan bills[2] in his hand, w.a.n.g Dahu whistled.
At this point in history, a thousand yuan was more than his parent’s monthly salary.
After chuckling and counting the money over and over again, w.a.n.g Dahu’s eyes swept in a circle. He quickly took out five bills and hid them in the dresser.
As expected, as soon as he finished those actions, Dahu’s mother stepped in. Not waiting for her to say anything, w.a.n.g Dahu obediently surrendered the red envelope. Towards this “sensible” son, Zhang Fang gave a satisfied nod.
Seeing the five hundred yuan inside, she couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Why did that Uncle Long give so much?”
Giving new years money to a child was a custom, but at most, there would be thirty or forty. These five hundred yuan were really too much.
“Aiya, mom, Uncle Long is rich, this is nothing.” w.a.n.g Dahu displayed a face full of flattering and begging, “Don’t take all of it, leave some for me!”
“You’re a child, why do you need money? This isn’t just for free. In the future, I’ll have to think of a way to repay him.” After Zhang Fang put the money away, she saw her son acting pitiful, with two eyes “flooded with tears” opened wide staring at her, and finally compromised.
“Alright! Here, I’ve already prepared some pocket money for you.”
w.a.n.g Dahu peeked inside. Inside were thirty yuan.
Mosquito legs are also fine pieces of meat, ah! Dahu’s eyes were filled with tears, and he displayed a face as if he had just been exploited by a capitalist.
After the grown ups finished eating, the sky had already turned completely black. Eight large lanterns were hung under the eaves, s.h.i.+ning a red light on the courtyard. Dahu’s father had prepared all sorts of firecrackers and fireworks earlier.
The sound of explosions rang in their ears, the atmosphere was inundated with color. Everyone was full of joy and laughter with the prospect of a peaceful new year, letting go of all their troubles under the night sky filled with fireworks.
On the black and white television, Zhao Zhongxiang and Ni Ping[3] joked around and greeted the new year. w.a.n.g Dahu sat on his uncle’s lap, chewing seeds and leisurely kicking his feet. At the mahjong table, grandma was yelling and hollering, playing until her face was ruddy with excitement. How could she not laugh? Long Yiming just gave her the piece she needed!
“Dahu, do you want to eat tangerines?” w.a.n.g Youzu asked while chuckling.
“Uncle, peel them for me!”
“This child only knows how to suck up to his uncle. Ah Zu, you don’t have to spoil that lazy b.u.m!” Zhang Fang looked up from the mahjong table and glared at her son.
“Our Dahu isn’t a lazy b.u.m!” w.a.n.g Youzu smiled playfully, stuffing the tangerine he just peeled into the mouth that was protesting “wah wah”.
Dahu looked at those delicate white fingertips and started to have bad ideas. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the “magazine cover model” and pouted, aggressively swallowing the entire piece of tangerine.
“Dahu’s most most most most most favorite person is uncle! Uncle, is Dahu your favorite person?”
Seeing his nephew with two s.h.i.+ning puppy dog eyes, w.a.n.g Youzu didn’t hesitate in the slightest as he replied, “Uncle’s favorite person is obviously Dahu!”
“Crash…”
“Oh? Ah Ming, you aren’t paying attention!”
“… My hand slipped.”
“This round doesn’t count!”
w.a.n.g Dahu laughed until his eyes turned into upturned crescent moons. Chew chew chew, he felt that today’s tangerines were really f*cking delicious.
Perhaps because he played too much, after a few hours, w.a.n.g Dahu suddenly felt tired. Seeing the blurry people in front of him, he tucked himself in to go meet the sandman[4].
He sleepily wondered, what was Ran Ran doing right now?
At midnight, w.a.n.g Dahu was called awake to eat dumplings. There were two types of stuffing, meat with celery and leeks with eggs. Today he ate quite a bit, so he wasn’t very hungry right now. He stuffed down five more and called it a day.
After eating, all of the day’s activities were finally over.
It was late, everyone ought to wash up and go to sleep.
w.a.n.g Dahu moved in with grandma and grandpa, while his father and mother slept in his room. Long Yiming was their guest from the city, they worried that he wouldn’t be used to a heated bed, so they gave him another room. That room was actually w.a.n.g Youzu’s when he still lived here, and inside was a bed for one person.
“Uncle, sleep with me!” The little friend w.a.n.g Dahu enthusiastically invited.
“Alright…”
“It’s not alright!” Long Yiming “smiled” as he cut them off, then “smiled” as he said to w.a.n.g Youzu, “With both you and Dahu sleeping there, it seems like it’ll be inconvenient. You might as well room with me for a night!”
As if he were very “scared” of the other’s actions, w.a.n.g Youzu’s dog ears immediately folded down.
“Then I won’t go any more!” He lowered his head, his facial expression was one of oppression and misery.
Seeing his uncle’s uncool expression, w.a.n.g Dahu roared in his heart, “It’s because you’re like this that your whole life that bushy tailed wolf pushed you down so hard that you can’t even turn around. There’s nothing resembling a Chihuahua anymore.”
Holding back his indignation and an indescribable mood, w.a.n.g Dahu huffed twice and returned to his room. In his eyes, it seemed 80% likely that those two had already gotten together.
Indeed, early the next day, w.a.n.g Dahu could clearly see a large “strawberry” on his uncle’s fair white neck.
Tsk tsk! He rubbed his chin in thought, it seemed yesterday an intense fight had taken place.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, w.a.n.g Dahu’s aunt brought her husband and child to greet the new year.
His aunt was called w.a.n.g Jinfeng, her husband was Qin Wanyou. Their child was two years older than w.a.n.g Dahu, a girl named Qin Lan, who often forced Dahu to call her older sister.
Dahu’s aunt, w.a.n.g Jinfeng, was a tall woman. Compared to pretty boys, her facial features were completely backwards. She was a burly woman, her two eyebrows were rough and her face was square and serious, just like a modern day Mulan. Standing in a group of men, there definitely wouldn’t be anyone who could point out that she was female. Her voice was also rather interesting. How do you say it, it was especially like a dogma, usually used to preach. w.a.n.g Dahu sat next to her, listening to his aunt discuss politics and party slogans, talking endlessly. He helplessly gave her a thumbs up in his heart. This here is a political genius, no wonder in ten years she went from the Village Women’s Union Chairwoman to the Provincial Women’s Union!
Today was the day w.a.n.g Shoumin’s family had fully gathered, another rowdy dinner couldn’t be avoided.
When the night sky was inky black, Dahu’s aunt’s family finally returned.
The next day, w.a.n.g Youzu also wanted to leave.
His uncle just graduated college, and was a literature teacher at a high school in the city.
When he hesitatingly said, “The high school has a problem, so I have to go back early,” w.a.n.g Dahu stood to the side and huffed twice.
The days pa.s.sed by in the blink of an eye and it was soon the 8th.
Dahu’s family also needed to return.
Translator’s Notes:
[1]In the off chance you don’t know what this is, for lunar new year, children/young people can receive pocket money that is traditionally put in a red envelope. Red is the color of celebration. You would also wear red at weddings for example. I THINK you can get pocket money as long as there’s someone in a “higher” position willing to give you some. For example, my sister in college might get some from her college professor. Usually parents will have an iron grasp on their children’s red envelope money until they open their own bank account. It’s also usually pocket money (although it adds up pretty fast if you have a big family like me), no one’s as wasteful as Long Yiming, trying to win over a child with money, sigh.
[2]As I noted in an earlier chapter, I think this may have taken place in the ’80s. I think it might be the early ’80s, so I was curious, and I looked up the exchange value. It’s… kind of iffy, but that seems to be about… $2000 right there.
[3]Two famous news anchors or comedians or something, I don’t really know.
[4]Long story, “going to meet Zhou Gong (周公)” means going to sleep.
w.a.n.g Dahu is so smug lmao. I know that feeling of counting money… but in my case it’s more “Am I going to have enough to eat tomorrow?” My family makes fun of me for it, but hey, I’m poor… I literally gathered exactly ten US dollars in spare change and exchanged it last week. Does anyone want to donate? Hahaha… see note 4 below.
Seeing my work being posted without credit was depressing so I slowed down a lot. But I realized…
You know what? I realized I started all this because I wanted to share BL. It’s frustrating that people don’t want to credit me for some reason, but I guess in the end, more BL for everyone… I just don’t want other people to profit off my hard work because