On New Year’s Eve, the Wen and Yan families stayed up together to welcome the new year, laughing heartily as they watched Uncle Ben Shan and Auntie Dandan perform at the Spring Festival Gala.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Xin Dayi came to the Wen family to pay New Year’s respects to the adults, still showing his restless and energetic nature, though simple-minded and pure-hearted. The adults were pleased to see him and also had Yan Xi, Si Wan, and A-Heng return the courtesy by visiting the Xin family.

General Xin was an amusing old man who, despite butting heads with Commander Yan all his life, genuinely liked Yan Xi. Unfortunately, his health wasn’t good now, and he had filed for retirement with the military department at year’s end to spend his remaining years in peace. No longer showing the bearing of a soldier, he looked completely like an ordinary elderly man, making the young ones somewhat wistful.

“Old Yan hasn’t done anything clever his whole life. Even becoming a division commander was achieved through risking his life. When it comes to brains, he’s no match for me.” Grandfather Xin had his guard bring many snacks for the three of them, saying they were what his Dayi liked to eat.

“Grandfather Xin, I’m still surnamed Yan, after all,” Yan Xi smiled, his fair hand resting against his lips.

Old Xin patted the sofa armrest and laughed: “I know you’re surnamed Yan. This is just private talk between us; we just won’t let that old fellow hear about it.”

Yan Xi nodded, smiling faintly in agreement.

“This is A-Heng, right?” Old Xin gazed at the little girl sitting straight beside them and spoke kindly.

A-Heng nodded blankly.

“Good girl! Born with such a fortunate countenance, she’s blessed.” Old Xin seemed to really like A-Heng, looking at her with heartfelt kindness.

A-Heng looked at the old man, and pressed her lips together, feeling somewhat embarrassed as she lowered her head. Since childhood, elderly people often said she had a gentle face and clear bearing, and that she was a blessed child.

“Si Wan, I heard from your grandfather that A-Heng ranked third in the grade for final exams, even surpassing you,” Old Xin remembered something and laughed heartily at Si Wan.

Si Wan pondered, smiling cautiously as he spoke: “A-Heng has always been clever and likable. It’s only right that I, as her brother, fall a bit behind.”

Old Xin frowned: “You’ve had this personality since you were little, always turning hundreds of corners in your mind before speaking. We’re all family, isn’t it exhausting?”

Hearing this, Si Wan’s face reddened and he nodded but didn’t defend himself.

Yan Xi rolled his big eyes, smiling like flowers: “Grandfather Xin, my old man’s subordinates brought some good tea when they came to offer early New Year’s greetings a few days ago. It hasn’t been opened yet.”

“Is it still Tunxi’s Precious Eyebrow tea?” Old Xin’s eyes showed a hint of interest.

“Yes, only three qian in total, they said it was some tribute…” Yan Xi held his smile, his fingertips lightly tapping the sofa, pretending to forget.

“Tribute Xi!” Old Xin clapped his hands, his eyes lighting up.

Yan Xi smiled: “Grandfather specifically asked me to tell you something.”

“What is it? Tell me.” Old Xin’s mouth curved upward, his wrinkles very gentle.

“Old fellow, stop pretending to be sick. Damn it, it’s just a tiny old injury, making a fuss about retiring every day. When you’re better, come to our house, I’ll treat you to tea.” Yan Xi recited, mimicking the tone perfectly.

Old Xin became somewhat melancholic, sighing as he spoke slowly: “That year, when your father was born, Old Yan was so happy he dragged me out drinking all night, and your aunt was angry at the time. But now, in the blink of an eye, your aunt is gone, and your father has gone abroad. We old fellows can’t help but feel lonely.”

But Yan Xi broke into a smile, picking up his teacup: “Grandfather Xin has been free-spirited all his life, why are you feeling down now? Let your grandson toast to you. Those who leave, let them leave. He is a thousand miles from me, and I am also a thousand miles from him.”

During the New Year, day after day was spent eating and drinking, setting off firecrackers when there was nothing else to do, listening to the sounds, days flowing by like rushing water.

In a few more days, school would start again.

On the evening of the fourteenth, A-Heng received a crucial phone call at home. The voice on the other end was that of a child, tearful, not even asking who had answered the phone, speaking incoherently: “Brother Si Wan, quickly bring people to ‘Flying,’ there’s a crowd, many people, they’re beating up Brother Yan Xi.” Then came the dial tone.

A-Heng was stunned, but her feet didn’t stop. She ran to Si Wan’s room, her Mandarin rising to dolphin pitch: “Si Wan, get people, Flying, save Yan Xi!”

Si Wan’s face instantly reddened as he put on his coat and ran out desperately, shouting as he ran: “A-Heng, don’t tell the adults!”

A-Heng first picked up a stick, then threw it aside and grabbed the first aid kit instead, thinking: I’m so busy, how would I have time to tell on you to the adults! Then, she too rushed out of the house like a gust of wind.

“Flying” was a famous bar that got particularly crowded with pleasure-seekers at night. But it was a mixed crowd, and fights often broke out.

When A-Heng arrived, two groups were fighting furiously in the alley in front of the bar. She couldn’t recognize the others, but she saw three shadows—red, white, and black—moving about quite vigorously and fiercely.

The one in black was Xin Dayi, his eyebrows and hair all standing on end, looking furious with rounded eyes, cursing as he picked up a glass bottle from somewhere and hurled it at the opponent, his feet kicking viciously, looking fierce.

White-clothed Si Wan had bloodshot eyes, the veins on his temples very prominent, no longer his usual gentle self, as he grabbed a tall, sturdy man beside him, clenched his fist, and struck like a gust of wind.

“Damn it, you dare touch my brother, you must be tired of living! I’ll grant your wish today!” Dayi roared, his long legs moving like the wind, kicking people down one by one, two at a time.

“Pah! You pretty boy who’s neither man nor woman, you dare steal my girl! I, Hu Ba, if I don’t finish him off today, I’ll never show my face in these streets again!” A yellow-haired youth who seemed to be the leader, his face full of flesh, eyes fierce and sinister, smiled coldly.

“Then I’ll deal with you first!” Si Wan, having dealt with the group beside him, charged forward in one step, grabbed the man’s collar, and struck him hard.

Several thug-like figures lay around the red-clothed youth. He dusted off his hands and walked over refreshingly: “Auntie, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up!” The youth showed his teeth slightly, tilted his head, and mock-scolded the black-clothed youth.

“Damn! Yan Xi, you’re so unfair! I ran out in slippers to save you, and you’re here making snide remarks!” Xin Dayi panted heavily, lifted his knee, and struck the delinquent youth he was fighting with hard, while the person was clutching his stomach in pain, he delivered a flying kick to end the fight.

A-Heng focused her gaze and saw the yellow tiger-head slippers on Xin Dayi’s feet. Her previously tense face suddenly twisted as she burst out laughing.

“I didn’t ask you to save me, Little Shrimp was being nosy,” Yan Xi glared at the telephone pole nearby.

“Brother Yan Xi, I was just worried you’d get hurt!” A thin, small boy wearing a cap emerged from behind the telephone pole, pouting, looking like a middle school student. “Brother, don’t be angry with me, if you’re angry I won’t play with you anymore!”

“Tch!” Yan Xi ruffled the boy’s capped head, and smiled, helpless against him.

A-Heng observed from afar, knowing this was the child who had made that rescue call.

“Hey, A-Xi, how do you want to handle this person?” Si Wan held onto the fleshy-faced youth who called himself “Hu Ba,” caught in an awkward position.

“What… what are you going to do?” That youth, seeing his underlings beaten to pieces, began sweating nervously.

Yan Xi flexed his wrist, one corner of his lips curving into a smile, a city-toppling beauty, as he walked to the fleshy-faced youth’s side: “What did you say your name was?” Yan Xi asked lazily.

“Hu Ba! You should have asked around about my name, who in these streets doesn’t know it!” That youth thrust out the fat on his belly, putting on a show of false bravado.

“I’ve heard of Noodle Boss, but never Tiger Boss,” Yan Xi smiled without humor.

“A-Xi, how did you get involved with someone like this?” Si Wan frowned.

“Who am I supposed to ask if you’re asking me?” Yan Xi rolled his eyes.

“You, you, you… you stole my Meimei and now say you don’t know me, you’re not worth shit!” Hu Ba’s fleshy nose sniffled angrily.

“Meimei? Who?” Yan Xi raised an eyebrow, completely confused.

“Meimei, my girlfriend, we’ve been together for eight years, and she just ran off with you!” Hu Ba’s cheek flesh trembled as he was on the verge of tears.

“Yan Xi, you great beauty, oh, so you’re doing this kind of thing now? Meimei, oh my, oh my, I can’t take it, laughing myself to death…” Xin Dayi stood to the side, flashing his big white teeth as he burst into laughter.

The boy wearing the cap was also someone who loved to laugh and got excited easily. Looking at Xin Dayi, he couldn’t hold back and was infected by the laughter, the two of them laughing hysterically on the side.

“How could such a good young master like me do such an unconscionable thing!” Yan Xi gave the two laughing idiots a white-eyed look.

“To be honest, young master, you have done it before,” Si Wan remembered something and held his forehead as he spoke.

“When?” Yan Xi frowned, confused.

“The one from Seventh Middle School,” Si Wan said wearily.

“The one who chased after you, called something something Angelbeauty.”

“That’s Meimei!” The fleshy-faced youth beat his chest and stamped his feet, in unbearable pain.

Yan Xi: “Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘oh’?!” That youth, held by Si Wan’s shoulders, jumped on the spot.

“Oh means, I didn’t do anything with her, just kissed once, she was wearing lipstick, it was disgusting, and we split up right after the kiss,” Yan Xi said flatly.

He had always tried to interact intimately with a stranger without barriers, attempting the most intimate behavior, only to find he couldn’t do it at all.

A-Heng remembered the two silhouettes passionately entangled under the streetlight that day.

“You call that nothing? I’ll kill you!” The fleshy-faced youth cried.

“Hey, you there! What’s going on!” A shout came from not far away. Green police uniforms.

Si Wan snapped out of it and loosened his grip.

“I’ll fight you to the death!” Hu Ba seized the opportunity, grabbed a beer bottle from the ground, and suddenly swung it at Yan Xi’s head.

“Brother Yan Xi!” The capped boy screamed out of control.

Yan Xi turned around, caught off guard by the bottle coming at him. His body instinctively leaned left, avoiding his head but getting hit in the shoulder.

The glass bottle didn’t break, but the sharp edges at the bottom cut into the youth’s shoulder. On the red clothing, a patch of bright red bloomed, flower-like in color, bewitching and terrifying. Yan Xi clutched his right shoulder, frowning in pain.

Xin Dayi tackled Hu Ba in one rush, pressed down with his knee, firmly pinned Hu Ba’s hands, and gripped his throat tightly, furious with eyes bulging: “Damn it, believe it or not, I can kill you today and still have the means to avoid jail!”

“Oh, big talk!” The patrol officer wearing a wide-brimmed hat walked over, recognized Yan Xi and the others, and was stunned, “It’s you guys again?”

“Officer Fu, what a coincidence, it’s us again.” Yan Xi, lips pale, grinned cheekily while secretly making a hand signal.

Xin Dayi released his grip and stood up.

“Little Shrimp, have you been stealing again?” That patrol officer was a sturdy, dark-skinned man who, seeing the “bodies” scattered on the ground, twitched his lips and looked at the capped boy.

“I did not!” The child puffed his cheeks.

“Alright, you lot, come with me to the police station. Whatever you need to explain can wait till we get there!” The officer waved his hand, gesturing them to get in the police car, muttering under his breath as they walked, “Damn, our station’s turning into a daycare sooner or later!”

“Stand in line properly!” Officer Fu stood in the duty room, looking at the crowd and feeling dizzy, took off his wide-brimmed hat, knocked on the table, and ordered.

One, two, three, four, five, six? Huh, how’d we get an extra one?

Count again.

One, two, three, four, five… six, still one extra.

Count once more.

One—two—three—four—five—six, why is there still an extra one?

Officer Fu was stunned, scanned the people, looked at their faces, and saw the girl hugging a first aid kit in the corner, and asked: “Miss, who are you?”

A-Heng shook her head, not speaking.

Si Wan and the others had only been focused on Yan Xi’s injury in the car and hadn’t noticed A-Heng following them. Si Wan grew anxious, signaling with his eyes to A-Heng, but she pretended not to see.

“How did she get here?” Xin Dayi muttered softly, glancing sideways at A-Heng who was standing next to Little Shrimp on the right, feeling vaguely unhappy.

Only his brothers could stand beside him, not other irrelevant people, especially those he disliked. This forceful insertion into their ranks was practically sacrilege to his sacred space.

“Go on, get going, little miss, why aren’t you home at this late hour? What are you doing hanging around the police station?” Officer Fu waved to shoo A-Heng away.

“I… don’t understand.” A-Heng shook her head, looking innocent.

“You don’t understand? Not a local?” Officer Fu scratched his head, feeling troubled, “Where’s your home?”

“What you say, don’t understand.” A-Heng continued shaking her head.

“Do you know her?” Officer Fu pointed at A-Heng and asked them.

“Don’t know her.” They answered in unison. They couldn’t create more complications now—if the grandfathers found out the Wen family’s little daughter got involved, they would get scolded.

“Alright, alright, just stay there quietly for now. If you get hungry, speak up, and uncle will buy you something to eat.” Officer Fu was soft-hearted and couldn’t bear to see the weak and downtrodden.

“Now, my heroic gentlemen, tell me what happened today?” Officer Fu turned around, putting on a stern face, “Last time, it was you three too, beating up everyone in the bar, still showing no remorse.”

“How was last time our fault? They were the ones who attacked a kid first,” Xin Dayi protested.

A-Heng quietly shrank back, slowly shuffling left from the shadows.

“Wasn’t that because this Little Shrimp wouldn’t reform and went stealing again?” Officer Fu pointed at the capped boy.

“He’s just a kid, only stole two pieces of bread, yet they had to be so brutal!” Yan Xi sneered.

A few days ago, Yan Xi, Si Wan, and Xin Dayi were playing at the bar when they saw a group of people beating up a child.

The reason was laughable—this child was hungry and stole two pieces of bread from the kitchen, but got caught. Several people started viciously kicking the malnourished, small, and skinny child. The child was retching acid for a long time, but they wouldn’t let up. Yan Xi and the others couldn’t stand watching and ended up fighting with those people. Coincidentally, Officer Fu was the one who handled that situation too.

Officer Fu sighed, knowing the youth spoke the truth.

“I just wanted to eat, that’s why I took it. It has nothing to do with Brother Yan Xi and the others!” Little Shrimp pouted, almost crying.

“Are you a man or not? Why are you crying?” Xin Dayi laughed, using his sleeve to vigorously wipe the child’s tears.

This kid was particularly clingy. Since they saved him, he’d been following them around every day like a little tail. But he was likable, especially matching Yan Xi’s temperament.

While Xin Dayi was unusually patient consoling the child, A-Heng took advantage of everyone’s diverted attention to imperceptibly shuffle left again.

Almost there, almost there, hehe…

“So what happened today?” Officer Fu looked at the fleshy youth, also a familiar face, scratched his head, and said: “Aren’t you that whatever-boss?”

“Noodle Boss,” Yan Xi chimed in smoothly, his wound still throbbing.

“It’s Tiger Boss!” The youth raged.

“Tiger Boss, you explain first!” Officer Fu slapped the table.

I’m moving, I’m moving, bit by bit…

A-Heng breathed a sigh of relief, finally reaching her goal, secretly shedding tears of self-pity. She gently tugged at the sleeve of the youth in front of her.

Yan Xi turned around, surprised, saw that no one had noticed, and moved closer to Si Wan on the right, shielding A-Heng’s body: “What’s wrong?” he asked her softly.

“I… brought… first aid kit.” A-Heng’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s.

The youth looked at his shoulder, where the blood had already darkened. Yan Xi was annoyed: “Where were you when we were in the car? Now all the blood’s dried up.”

“I… couldn’t squeeze in,” A-Heng said pitifully.

The group of them had been crowding around Yan Xi, and she couldn’t get through at all. Moreover, if Si Wan knew she had followed them up, he would send her away.

“A-Xi, what are you saying?” Si Wan frowned, thinking Yan Xi was talking to him.

“Talking to your girl, none of your business!” Yan Xi snapped.

Si Wan turned his head and broke into a cold sweat: “Why aren’t you staying put, how dare you move around?” Si Wan’s eyebrows twisted.

“What are you two talking about!” Officer Fu walked over, seeing an obvious extra hand between the two youths, “Move aside!”

The two youths, united in purpose, slapped that extra hand back.

“You think I’m blind?” Officer Fu pushed the two apart and picked up A-Heng like a chicken, “Just now you said you didn’t know her. Tell me, what’s your relationship with them!” Officer Fu glared at A-Heng, trying to scare her, “I’m warning you, if you don’t confess honestly, I’ll lock you in the darkroom!”

He had no ill intentions, he just found it amusing how the little girl had been moving slowly like a turtle earlier, so he wanted to tease her. As for today’s incident, he could roughly guess eight or nine-tenths of it. It was just routine procedure, a chance to lecture these spoiled kids who didn’t know their limits.

“You’re mean, how can you be so mean!” A-Heng sniffled, unhappy, “You’re blind, you’re just blind, Yan Xi is injured and you can’t even see!”

Officer Fu was stunned for a while, then said sheepishly: “This girl’s got quite a temper.”

Yan Xi blinked his big eyes, looking innocent: “She’s the little sister from home, spoiled rotten, doesn’t know any better.”

He said it so convincingly, though no one knew whose little sister she was, or who was spoiled rotten.

Si Wan secretly laughed, finding it truly amusing how Yan Xi was pretending to be grown-up here.

“Uncle, excuse me…” A-Heng squeezed and squeezed, forcefully creating a gap between the bear-like Officer Fu and Yan Xi.

Officer Fu was stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. What kind of weird kids had he run into? None of them were normal!

A-Heng took out iodine and gauze, gently rolling up Yan Xi’s sleeve. Yan Xi, like a cat with ruffled fur, started sucking in cold air, his eyebrows and eyes wrinkled like a walnut: “It hurts, be gentler!”

Si Wan sweated: “A-Heng hasn’t even started applying it yet!”

Xin Dayi curled his lip: “A grown man being such a baby about pain, what a waste of your good looks!”

The first part was naked contempt; the second part was naked jealousy.

Si Wan sweated profusely.

A-Heng giggled: “Close your eyes, don’t look, then it won’t hurt.”

Yan Xi stopped whining, glanced at A-Heng, and then looked desperately at the ceiling.

Si Wan sweated waterfalls.

So while applying the medicine, the youth kept howling non-stop, his voice raised sixteen octaves, making the police station shake.

From then on, rumors spread far and wide that this station used excessive force and had once killed someone. Public security improved greatly, no one would even pick up items on the street, thieves and robbers generally avoided the area, and Officer Fu was named “Model Public Servant” at the end of the year, his reputation passing down through history—but that’s a story for another time.

Everyone covered their ears, but A-Heng seemed not to hear, carefully binding the bandage before finally letting go.

“Brother, let me tell you something, since you already have such a good Meimei, why did you still steal my Meimei?” Hu Ba, his mind full of Meimei, had misheard Yan Xi’s “little sister” as “Meimei,” and in his dazed state, miserably asked Yan Xi with tears in his eyes.

Damn it!

Yan Xi cursed internally.

Your father’s brain would have to be waterlogged for me to steal your damn Meimei!