Last night, it was already past 7 o’clock when their parents returned home and ate the dinner cooked by Lin Jin. The next day, they . After eating the dinner cooked by Lin Jin, they hurried onto the bus for the countryside the next morning.
His father had a tired face, Lin Chen was still sleepy, and Lin Jin was extremely bored. Only his mother was in high spirits, eagerto see many old friends she hadn't seen in a long time.
Their grandparent’s house has a gathering around the third day of Chinese New Year every year, bringing all of their children and relatives together at home and filling up three large tables.
In the past, a group of married women served as the cooks at the gatheringsthe Spring Festival gatherings were cooked by a group of married women, but in recent years, the venue moved to a place about a kilometer away.
Before long, Lin Jin's family arrived at their grandparent’s house. It was noticeably livelier than their last visit, with three or four kids running around everywhere, a group of middle-aged women sitting at a large round table chatting about life while eating fish balls, and a couple of young adults idly sitting around on their phones.
"Is Wu Juan back?"
At the gathering, people generally didn't speak Mandarin. After all, everyone here were relatives from the same hometown and speaking the local dialect felt more intimate.
The one who spoke was a woman in her thirties with a bob cut. She excitedly ran up, grabbed Lin Jin’s mom's hand, and then her enthusiastic face instantly turned cold.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking maliciously at dad behind mom.
In the eyes of my mother's relatives, my father was a no good gambler. And it was indeed true, so they didn’t like him very much.
"Let's go inside and talk" Mom said, dragging her towards the round table and giving dad a wink.
Seeing that, dad immediately pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and started distributing them to the middle aged men, nodding and bowing, looking exactly like a lackey.
After all, if he were to remarry, he might need the consent of mom's relatives.
Of course, it wasn't that Lin Jin liked referring to these relatives as middle-aged women or men, but the problem was... even if he was a bit familiar with these people, he had no clue what their exact relation to him was.
After exchanging some blank glances, Lin Jin and Lin Chen found chairs to sit down at.
"Lin Chen is here?" Grandma came out from the back house carrying two bowls of fish balls, and upon seeing Lin Chen, she immediately walked over with a smile and handed him the bowl "Eat up, eat up, Lin Jin, you eat too."
"Mhm."
Lin Jin distinctly felt that his grandma wasn't as warm towards him as she had been in previous years.
Was it because he had become more feminine looking? In contrast, Lin Chen's current appearance was particularly pleasing to grandma. To her, a boy should be tall and strong, not androgynous like Lin Jin.
"Wu Juan, are those two Lin Chen and Lin Jin?" The aunt sitting at the other end of the table curiously looked towards Lin Jin, "How did Lin Jin get so strong?"
"That one is Lin Chen" Mom chuckled behind her hand, "The one next to him is Lin Jin."
"No way? Lin Jin's getting more and more handsome?"
Of course, this "handsome" since it's in the dialect, could still mean "beautiful."
Lin Jin's mouth twitched as he lowered his head to continue eating his fish balls, prepared mentally for the relatives' exclamations of surprise.
"My Lin Chen is getting more and more handsome" Mom covered her mouth as she boasted about her child, "If it weren't for him being in his senior year of high school, I bet he would have already brought a beautiful girlfriend home."
"Yeah, Lin Chen used to be short and skinny, even shorter than Lin Jin, but now he must be at least one eighty, right?"
"Not yet, not yet." Mom laughed joyously, when others praised her children, that was perhaps the proudest moment for a mother, "He's only 178 now, not that tall."
"Mine is just a bit over 170."
Lin Jin and Lin Chen didn't particularly enjoy this kind of conversation, simply lowering their heads and trying their best to ignore them.
Soon after, Lin Jin noticed a very tomboyish girl, probably only seventeen years old, walking through the main gate.
"That's our cousin, the daughter of our smallest aunt" Lin Jin whispered to Lin Chen beside him, "Seems like she cut her hair short two or three years ago, now she looks just like a tomboy."
This tomboy cousin used to have a particularly good relationship with Lin Jin when they were children, but later their family moved to another city about an hour's drive away, so they only returned during winter and summer vacations.
Following the cousin was her dad, Lin Jin's uncle-in-law, who had a lean and handsome face. Even though his hair was graying and his face was lined with wrinkles, one could easily imagine how handsome he was when he was young. He appeared skinny, as if a gust of wind could blow him over, but due to long-term carpentry work, his body was strong, if he took off his clothes, he'd probably be all lean muscle.
As soon as the cousin came in, she looked around, trying to find something, but after searching for a few minutes without finding her target, she ran to Lin Jin's mom and asked, "Auntie, where's Lin Jin? Didn't he come?"
"Over there." Mom, engrossed in her conversation, casually pointed towards Lin Jin's location and continued chatting with others.
The cousin looked in the direction Lin Jin’s mom was pointing and only saw two somewhat unfamiliar guys, one with short hair but pretty as a girl, the other sturdy and tall with a buzz cut.
It couldn't possibly be that the muscular guy was her cousin Lin Jin?
The cousin looked bewildered. One must know that Lin Jin was less than 170 and always looked like , knowing that Lin Jin was less than 170 and always looked like a bottom...
So could it be that particularly beautiful one, indistinguishable as male or female?
That's not right either, although Lin Jin looks like a small uke, he's not that pretty, is he? Even without acne, he could only be considered delicate.
Eh?
Just as his cousin was baffled, Lin Jin stretched out his hand to wave at her with a gentle smile.
"Zhao Ruo, come here, come here."
"What the f*ck?" The cousin, named Zhao Ruo, darted over and grabbed Lin Jin's arm, her face repeatedly peering at Lin Jin's cheek, "You're cousin Lin Jin? For real?"
"This one beside me is Lin Chen." Lin Jin sat with one leg crossed, not particularly surprised by the cousin's reaction.
He had long been used to the surprise of others when they found out who he was. Perhaps because his psyche was being twisted more and more by the black cat, at this moment, amidst the awkwardness, Lin Jin actually felt a perverse sense of mischief.
"Cousin Lin Chen?" Although Zhao Ruo looked like a tomboy, her voice was incredibly sweet. She rushed excitedly to Lin Chen's side, "Wow! Cousin Lin Chen used to be short and always bullied by me, but now he's become so strong!"
Lin Chen's face fell with black lines on.
Even though he and Lin Jin were brothers, their personalities were worlds apart. He had always been introverted and non-confrontational from a young age, which made him the target of teasing by many older cousins, though of course, they never went too far.
"Shall we go out to the streets to play after lunch?" This cousin started suggesting plans for the afternoon.
"Anything’s fine." Lin Jin nodded in agreement.
Last night, it was already past 7 o’clock when their parents returned home and ate the dinner cooked by Lin Jin. The next day, they . After eating the dinner cooked by Lin Jin, they hurried onto the bus for the countryside the next morning.
His father had a tired face, Lin Chen was still sleepy, and Lin Jin was extremely bored. Only his mother was in high spirits, eagerto see many old friends she hadn't seen in a long time.
Their grandparent’s house has a gathering around the third day of Chinese New Year every year, bringing all of their children and relatives together at home and filling up three large tables.
In the past, a group of married women served as the cooks at the gatheringsthe Spring Festival gatherings were cooked by a group of married women, but in recent years, the venue moved to a place about a kilometer away.
Before long, Lin Jin's family arrived at their grandparent’s house. It was noticeably livelier than their last visit, with three or four kids running around everywhere, a group of middle-aged women sitting at a large round table chatting about life while eating fish balls, and a couple of young adults idly sitting around on their phones.
"Is Wu Juan back?"
At the gathering, people generally didn't speak Mandarin. After all, everyone here were relatives from the same hometown and speaking the local dialect felt more intimate.
The one who spoke was a woman in her thirties with a bob cut. She excitedly ran up, grabbed Lin Jin’s mom's hand, and then her enthusiastic face instantly turned cold.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking maliciously at dad behind mom.
In the eyes of my mother's relatives, my father was a no good gambler. And it was indeed true, so they didn’t like him very much.
"Let's go inside and talk" Mom said, dragging her towards the round table and giving dad a wink.
Seeing that, dad immediately pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and started distributing them to the middle aged men, nodding and bowing, looking exactly like a lackey.
After all, if he were to remarry, he might need the consent of mom's relatives.
Of course, it wasn't that Lin Jin liked referring to these relatives as middle-aged women or men, but the problem was... even if he was a bit familiar with these people, he had no clue what their exact relation to him was.
After exchanging some blank glances, Lin Jin and Lin Chen found chairs to sit down at.
"Lin Chen is here?" Grandma came out from the back house carrying two bowls of fish balls, and upon seeing Lin Chen, she immediately walked over with a smile and handed him the bowl "Eat up, eat up, Lin Jin, you eat too."
"Mhm."
Lin Jin distinctly felt that his grandma wasn't as warm towards him as she had been in previous years.
Was it because he had become more feminine looking? In contrast, Lin Chen's current appearance was particularly pleasing to grandma. To her, a boy should be tall and strong, not androgynous like Lin Jin.
"Wu Juan, are those two Lin Chen and Lin Jin?" The aunt sitting at the other end of the table curiously looked towards Lin Jin, "How did Lin Jin get so strong?"
"That one is Lin Chen" Mom chuckled behind her hand, "The one next to him is Lin Jin."
"No way? Lin Jin's getting more and more handsome?"
Of course, this "handsome" since it's in the dialect, could still mean "beautiful."
Lin Jin's mouth twitched as he lowered his head to continue eating his fish balls, prepared mentally for the relatives' exclamations of surprise.
"My Lin Chen is getting more and more handsome" Mom covered her mouth as she boasted about her child, "If it weren't for him being in his senior year of high school, I bet he would have already brought a beautiful girlfriend home."
"Yeah, Lin Chen used to be short and skinny, even shorter than Lin Jin, but now he must be at least one eighty, right?"
"Not yet, not yet." Mom laughed joyously, when others praised her children, that was perhaps the proudest moment for a mother, "He's only 178 now, not that tall."
"Mine is just a bit over 170."
Lin Jin and Lin Chen didn't particularly enjoy this kind of conversation, simply lowering their heads and trying their best to ignore them.
Soon after, Lin Jin noticed a very tomboyish girl, probably only seventeen years old, walking through the main gate.
"That's our cousin, the daughter of our smallest aunt" Lin Jin whispered to Lin Chen beside him, "Seems like she cut her hair short two or three years ago, now she looks just like a tomboy."
This tomboy cousin used to have a particularly good relationship with Lin Jin when they were children, but later their family moved to another city about an hour's drive away, so they only returned during winter and summer vacations.
Following the cousin was her dad, Lin Jin's uncle-in-law, who had a lean and handsome face. Even though his hair was graying and his face was lined with wrinkles, one could easily imagine how handsome he was when he was young. He appeared skinny, as if a gust of wind could blow him over, but due to long-term carpentry work, his body was strong, if he took off his clothes, he'd probably be all lean muscle.
As soon as the cousin came in, she looked around, trying to find something, but after searching for a few minutes without finding her target, she ran to Lin Jin's mom and asked, "Auntie, where's Lin Jin? Didn't he come?"
"Over there." Mom, engrossed in her conversation, casually pointed towards Lin Jin's location and continued chatting with others.
The cousin looked in the direction Lin Jin’s mom was pointing and only saw two somewhat unfamiliar guys, one with short hair but pretty as a girl, the other sturdy and tall with a buzz cut.
It couldn't possibly be that the muscular guy was her cousin Lin Jin?
The cousin looked bewildered. One must know that Lin Jin was less than 170 and always looked like , knowing that Lin Jin was less than 170 and always looked like a bottom...
So could it be that particularly beautiful one, indistinguishable as male or female?
That's not right either, although Lin Jin looks like a small uke, he's not that pretty, is he? Even without acne, he could only be considered delicate.
Eh?
Just as his cousin was baffled, Lin Jin stretched out his hand to wave at her with a gentle smile.
"Zhao Ruo, come here, come here."
"What the f*ck?" The cousin, named Zhao Ruo, darted over and grabbed Lin Jin's arm, her face repeatedly peering at Lin Jin's cheek, "You're cousin Lin Jin? For real?"
"This one beside me is Lin Chen." Lin Jin sat with one leg crossed, not particularly surprised by the cousin's reaction.
He had long been used to the surprise of others when they found out who he was. Perhaps because his psyche was being twisted more and more by the black cat, at this moment, amidst the awkwardness, Lin Jin actually felt a perverse sense of mischief.
"Cousin Lin Chen?" Although Zhao Ruo looked like a tomboy, her voice was incredibly sweet. She rushed excitedly to Lin Chen's side, "Wow! Cousin Lin Chen used to be short and always bullied by me, but now he's become so strong!"
Lin Chen's face fell with black lines on.
Even though he and Lin Jin were brothers, their personalities were worlds apart. He had always been introverted and non-confrontational from a young age, which made him the target of teasing by many older cousins, though of course, they never went too far.
"Shall we go out to the streets to play after lunch?" This cousin started suggesting plans for the afternoon.
"Anything’s fine." Lin Jin nodded in agreement.
