Chapter 237: Someone took the cabbage!
Fireworks were blooming one after another in the sky outside the window. The sound of firecrackers filled the air, and car alarms were going off downstairs.
Li Mu stood by her bedroom window, looking at the sky painted with colorful lights.
It was already midnight. Her mom lit a string of firecrackers from the balcony and threw them down.
Although fireworks were technically not allowed in their small town, the rules weren’t strict. Every year on New Year’s Eve, things would be quiet before midnight, then the whole town would be filled with the smell of smoke and gunpowder.
“When the fireworks stop, go to bed, okay?” her mom said as she stood at Li Mu’s bedroom door.
“Okay, I know,” Li Mu nodded. Then she asked, “Where’s Yu Fan?”
“He’s still drinking with your dad,” her mom replied with a troubled look. “Your little boyfriend can drink even more than your dad. Looks like we’ll have two drinkers in the family in the future.”
“If I tell Yu Fan not to drink, he won’t drink.”
“Oh? Good at keeping your husband in line?” her mom joked. “I’ve been with your dad for years and still can’t control him.”
Li Mu’s face turned a little red. She turned her head, avoiding her mom’s eyes.
Her mom smiled and walked away. Li Mu sat down in front of her computer, trying to watch something to pass the time.
She was starting to feel sleepy, but the fireworks outside just wouldn’t stop. The firecrackers kept going off randomly and made her head hurt.
Finally, about half an hour later, the fireworks began to die down.
Her mom and Yu Fan came in, dragging her completely drunk dad into the bedroom. A moment later, Yu Fan stumbled out again, swaying as he walked.
“I set up the floor bed for you,” Li Mu’s mom said, poking her head out of the bedroom. “If you feel cold, just let me know. Go to sleep early, tomorrow you still have to go home for New Year’s.”
“Okay,” Yu Fan replied, leaning against the wall, eyes half closed. He was clearly drunk.
The sound of her dad snoring came from the bedroom, like a motorcycle engine.
“Really, he can’t handle the alcohol but still insists on drinking,” Li Mu’s mom sighed and gently closed the bedroom door.
Yu Fan then looked toward another bedroom. He quietly tiptoed over and carefully opened the door.
He peeked inside. The room was dark, but he could faintly hear Li Mu breathing.
“She’s asleep?”
A small light turned on in the room, from a phone flashlight.
Xiao Jing sat up in bed, her eyes wide with curiosity. “Brother-in-law, do you need something?”
“......”
Yu Fan looked a bit awkward and stepped back out of the room. “Why are you in here?”
“I always sleep with my sister!”
“But I saw you watching TV just now.”
“When sister falls asleep, I use her phone to watch shows, no ads either!”
“......”
Xiao Jing put down the phone, slowly climbed out of bed, and glanced at the sleeping Li Mu.
“She’s sleeping super deeply! She won’t notice anything you do!”
Yu Fan scratched his head awkwardly. “I just wanted to check if she was asleep.”
I really shouldn’t have come over while tipsy...
“Isn’t it normal for a husband to sleep next to his wife?”
“Uh...”
“I’ll go sleep on the floor!”
Xiao Jing dashed out of the room past Yu Fan.
Yu Fan let out a deep sigh. But even then, his drunk brain couldn’t resist temptation. He tiptoed over to Li Mu’s bed.
With the help of the moonlight and streetlight outside, he could barely see her sleeping face in the dark.
No matter how he looked at her, she looked beautiful.
He sat down on the floor next to the bed, rested his chin on one hand, and leaned his elbow on the bed, staring at Li Mu’s face.
Even while asleep, the corners of her lips were slightly curved upward, as if she were having a sweet dream.
Along the way, Yu Fan had watched her change, from a cold, quiet, even nearly shut-off big girl, to someone more cheerful.
Her cold, expressionless face slowly began to show tiny smiles. Her actions became livelier, and she started to show her feelings on her face.
But back then, Li Mu still lacked a sense of family love.
“You must be really happy now, right?” Yu Fan mumbled, smiling without meaning to. “Even though you’re not used to people caring for you, I can tell you’re really happy.”
“You still wear that cold look on your face, but deep down, your heart is getting warmer.”
For a moment, it felt like time had stopped. Yu Fan just sat there quietly looking at her. All the silly thoughts he had before coming in were already gone.
The alcohol was starting to hit harder now. His brain, numbed by the drinking, was getting slower.
He was still thinking about the moments he’d shared with Li Mu…
But without realizing it, his hand stopped supporting his head, and his chin fell onto the edge of the bed. With his head tilted, he dozed off right there.
“Brother-in-law?” Xiao Jing peeked her head into the room. “Next year I’ll get a baby to play with, right?”
…………………………………
Li Mu’s father stretched and came out of the main bedroom around 7 a.m.
He couldn’t sleep for long after drinking, but luckily, it was expensive alcohol, so he didn’t wake up with a headache.
“Xiao Jing? Why are you sleeping in the living room?”
But when he walked into the living room, he suddenly had a bad feeling.
Xiao Jing slowly opened her eyes, yawning again and again.
“That Yu Fan kid, did he already leave?”
Xiao Jing rolled over and made a sleepy, annoyed sound.
“I’m asking you a question!” her father crouched down, worried, but Xiao Jing didn’t respond.
He looked up at the shoe rack, and suddenly his heart dropped.
That kid was still in the house!
So where could he be?
Not in the living room. Not in the kitchen. The bathroom door was wide open, he wasn’t there either.
That meant only one place was left, Li Mu’s room.
A sharp pain stabbed at his heart.
The son… daughter he had raised for over ten years... was she taken advantage of just like that?
“Alcohol causes trouble! Drinking causes trouble!”
He slapped his head hard a few times, full of regret.
He almost rushed into Li Mu’s room. But then he stopped, what’s done is done. If he barged in now, it might hurt the relationship between Li Mu and her family.
“That little brat!” the father growled, sitting down on the couch with gritted teeth. “He pretends to be harmless, but I knew right away he was a scumbag!”
“Good-looking guys are all bad news!”
Nope, he couldn’t just sit still.
His butt had barely touched the couch before he got back up and started pacing in front of Li Mu’s bedroom.
After a while, he turned and went back to the main bedroom to wake up Li Mu’s mother. After explaining the situation, there were now two people pacing outside Li Mu’s door.
“Maybe we should wait a bit?” the mother asked, clearly anxious.
“Wait for what? You think I can stay calm?”
“But just barging in isn’t good either.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d already be charging in with a knife!”
The father let out a hopeless sigh and walked to the door, reaching out to knock first and test the waters.
But before he could knock, the door opened by itself.
Yu Fan stood there, looking completely worn out. The weird position he’d slept in made his back and waist sore, and he kept rubbing it with his hands like he’d worked way too hard.
“So noisy this early in the morning...” he muttered, then looked up. Only to see the two elders staring at him with pitch-black faces.
“Eh?” He froze for a second, then quickly raised his hands. “I didn’t do anything!”
“Heh...”
Li Mu’s father glanced at Yu Fan’s shaking waist and legs and felt an even deeper pain in his heart.