TF01 84

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

Shi Yi stayed quiet for a moment, then let out a quiet “oh.” The silence that followed was tense.

The truth was, neither of them could use “coming home with you for New Year” as a reason to skip their own family’s reunion dinner. As long as they remained “just friends,” there were certain lines that could not be crossed.

Frustration simmered under Shi Yi’s skin. He ran a hand through his hair. “When are you heading back?”

He knew Ying Ming’s family lived in the southern part of the city. It wasn’t the kind of trip you could make in thirty minutes.

“Probably New Year’s Eve,” Ying Ming said. “What about you?”

“Around the same. If you came with me, I might be able to get back right after the holiday.”

Ying Ming frowned slightly. “You really don’t have to…”

But he didn’t finish the sentence, and Shi Yi acted like he hadn’t heard. The topic shifted without either of them pushing further.

There were only a few days left before the New Year, and both of them were busy. Shi Yi was tied up with social obligations and business dinners, while Ying Ming was rushing through the final stretch of filming. In the end, they didn’t even manage to see each other before heading home.

Ying Ming had planned to swing by and pick up a few things, but Shi Yi had already waited all morning. By noon, he had been called to a banquet by Ou Yang, one he had no choice but to attend, and that ended up costing them the chance to meet.

That evening, when Shi Yi got Ying Ming’s text, he was already seated at the dinner table.

He kept glancing down at his phone, until the uncle next to him gave him a teasing nudge. “You’re back home and still this distracted. What did you mess up this time?”

Shi Yi looked up at him. “You still haven’t brought Rui Rui over this year?”

Rui Rui was his younger cousin, still just a kid. After the divorce, custody had gone to this uncle of his, but since the man had no idea how to raise a child, the boy had ended up living with his grandmother. The family had brought this up countless times, especially Shi Yi’s mother, who had practically wanted to drag him back by force.

Bringing up Rui Rui was clearly an attempt to change the subject, and a transparent one at that, but it worked. His uncle glared at him once and said nothing more. Right then, someone across the table raised a glass for a toast, and their side of the table stood up together to drink.

After all these years, New Year’s Eve to Shi Yi had always meant nothing more than table banter and endless rounds of poker and mahjong.

The same group of people, saying the same things, wearing the same expressions. It felt like a television drama stuck in reruns. Watching them exchange compliments, back and forth, Shi Yi pulled the corner of his mouth into a faint smirk.

“Shi Yi, you’re about at that age, aren’t you? Time to settle down.”

It was the same old conversation being dragged out again. Shi Yi raised an eyebrow and caught the gloating look on his uncle’s face. Like it or not, he had become the focus of the table. He smiled politely and played along. “Work comes first. I’m in no rush.”

“Work doesn’t stop you from settling down,” someone said from across the table. It was his father. He looked at him and said, “You’re already at an age where this is no longer about being uncertain. What you’re showing now is a lack of responsibility. You’re always out, running around, never staying in one place. When do you plan to stop?”

Shi Yi paused, but said nothing. His mother stepped in quickly to ease the tension. “Marriage is important, sure, but he should still find someone he really feels is right. These things can’t be rushed.”

After that, a few people around the table joined in with similarly diplomatic remarks. Shi Yi felt the weight of both his parents’ gazes settling on him. His expression didn’t change, but he frowned slightly.

The conversation soon shifted to familiar territory. Whose son had transferred to which department, whose daughter had received which commendation. As always, once the elders ran out of things to say about themselves, they turned their attention to the younger generation.

Shi Yi had grown up alongside most of the second-generation kids at the table. If Wang Le had not left, he would have been one of them too. But growing up together didn’t mean they all got along. Everyone had their own circle. Since Shi Yi had never pursued a political career, he had little in common with most of them. Plenty of people liked to cozy up to him for the sake of his father, but they all knew each other too well. No one could quite bring themselves to put on a convincing act. Over time, those relationships became nothing more than polite nods in passing.

Ironically, when there was something to be gained, people warmed up quickly.

That thought led him back to Ying Ming again. Absentmindedly, he reached for a cigarette. Someone beside him immediately offered a light. He gave a small smile but didn’t say thank you.

What a dull way to spend the New Year.

Compared to this, Ying Ming’s household felt like being dropped into a crowded market.

There were always people coming and going. Voices overlapped one another constantly. All his aunts and uncles had packed into the not-so-small living room, some watching TV, others chatting, and kids playing on the computer were practically climbing onto the table. Ying Ming, the supposed host, barely had room to stand.

His younger cousin came running up to him with the same line she always used. “Cousin, give me your autograph.”

With a cigarette in his mouth, Ying Ming lazily found something flat to lean on and started signing his name. As a celebrity, he never once felt any real attention or sense of achievement at home.

By the time he finished the stack, the cousin who had just been clinging to him and calling him “cousin” had already vanished.

Feeling like he was going to lose his mind if he stayed in the living room any longer, Ying Ming slipped into the kitchen before the next wave of questions could hit. Compared to the chaos outside, it felt like a pocket of peace.

His mother saw him walk in, frowning, and gave him a look that was half mocking. “You’re a grown man and still can’t handle a few people?”

Ever since he was a child, Ying Ming had always dreaded gatherings like this. Even before he became an actor, he would disappear all day and only come home for dinner.

He gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “Their strength is evolving faster than my resistance. I can’t keep up.”

Three women together were enough to tear the house apart. Out there was far more than just three.

The house they were in had been bought by Ying Ming. He had spent a long time persuading his parents to move into the city so they could be closer and look after each other. But they had refused, insisting they were not used to the noise. So instead, he bought them a detached courtyard-style house near their old home. His father, though retired by age, had been rehired because of his skills, and his mother was the kind of person who could never sit still. She was always busy, poking her nose into everything and enjoying it just fine.

With a cigarette between his lips, Ying Ming helped peel potatoes. Before long, he felt a pinch on his back.

“I heard on TV you’ve got something going on with that really pretty actress. Is it true?”

There was a glint of calculation in his mother’s eyes. Ying Ming raised an eyebrow. “You already know the answer, so why pretend you don’t? Weren’t you the one who said Liu Li was pretty last year?”

That was just how his mother was.

Any time a pretty actress showed up on television, she would find some way, directly or indirectly, to steer the conversation in that direction. Her lines never changed. It was always, “If someone like that became my daughter-in-law, I’d be satisfied.”

Still, for all the talk, his family never pressured him too much. They understood that feelings were something he had to sort out for himself.

Ying Ming continued peeling potatoes at his own pace. Once he was done, he handed them off to his mother. He couldn’t take over the cooking, but he was more than capable of helping out. The two of them chatted and worked in quiet rhythm, moving around the kitchen together. By the time the food was ready, someone peeked through the kitchen door and tapped Ying Ming on the shoulder.

“You’re such a good son, always helping your mom in the kitchen. Not like my kid…”

Mid-sentence, the woman turned around and started shouting her own son’s name before disappearing back into the hallway. Ying Ming only shrugged and helped carry the dishes out.

What he couldn’t understand was why they insisted on inviting so many people to crowd into the house every year.

None of them helped with anything. They just showed up to eat, turning the whole place into a mess.

But according to his dad, that was what New Year’s was for. The more noise, the better. A busy house meant good fortune, and all the chaos was part of ushering in a prosperous year.

Of course, it was the kind of thing people said just to say it. Ying Ming didn’t actually believe in any of it.

Dinner left him dizzy with exhaustion. Surrounded by an endless barrage of nosy questions, he finally used the excuse of going for a walk after eating to slip out of the house. This bunch of relatives really should have worked for a tabloid. Their questions were just as sharp and relentless as any entertainment magazine reporter.

What made it worse was that they all zeroed in on exactly the things his parents cared about most. The pressure, even when unspoken, was enough to give him a headache.

Lighting a cigarette, he wandered slowly along the side of the road. At this hour, the streets were eerily quiet. The glow from the streetlamps was dull and lifeless, and there was no sense of warmth anywhere.

After a while, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw a message from Shi Yi.

It was short.

Had you eaten yet?

He replied with a simple “yeah,” the phone’s pale-blue glow casting a hazy reflection across his glasses. Drawing his coat tighter around himself, Ying Ming leaned against a nearby post and typed back a question, asking what Shi Yi was doing.

It didn’t take long for his phone to ring.

Shi Yi never had the patience for long text conversations. The moment anything went over twenty characters, he would just call instead.

When Ying Ming picked up, he noticed how quiet it sounded on the other end.

“Where are you right now?”

“Out having dinner. Sitting with a bunch of boring people.”

“Why’s it so quiet out there?” It seemed even more silent than the empty street he was standing on. Or maybe Shi Yi’s voice was just too clear, so clear it felt like he was standing right beside him. That strange contrast felt unsettling.

Shi Yi let out a soft laugh. “Of course it’s quiet. I stepped out to make this call. I’m standing in their staff corridor.”

From where he stood, he could see the night sky clearly through the open window. The stars were unusually bright tonight. It was one of those rare, cloudless evenings.

Shi Yi walked closer to the window. Off in the distance, someone was setting off fireworks. The popping sounds echoed one after another. He frowned slightly. “Ying Ming, can you see the stars over there?”

“Obviously,” Ying Ming replied with an eye-roll. “I’m not on the other side of the planet. Of course I can see them.”

“The sky looks beautiful tonight.”

There was a touch of sentiment in Shi Yi’s voice. Ying Ming instinctively shivered. “You sound like you’ve been possessed.”

That kind of poetic tone really didn’t suit someone like Shi Yi. Talking about stars and the moon like he was in a tragic drama was more Wang Le’s thing. Thinking of that old friend, who had yet to reach out even once, Ying Ming lowered his gaze. Something complicated flickered in his expression.

Right then, he heard Shi Yi say something clearly through the receiver. “Happy New Year.”

He glanced at his phone. The time had just turned.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile he couldn’t see himself.

“Happy New Year…”

He had never imagined that one day he would be standing on an empty street, holding his phone and smiling like an idiot. Shi Yi picked up on the smile in his voice and asked what he was laughing at, but Ying Ming never gave him an answer.