Raising you this small stuff

Chapter 83.1 Fanwai (2)

2009, Christmas.

Snowflakes falling on the shoulders, Santa stickers on street shop windows, coloured lights twinkling, Christmas trees big and small….

Chen Jiao finished his part-time job at a restaurant near the school and ran back to his dormitory with two hot buns in his arms.

The dormitory was empty. Two of his roommates were out with their girlfriends and the other had met a friend to go out to party.

Chen Jiao’s parents died early hence he spent many holidays alone after becoming a teenager.

He thought he would be alone this Christmas too.

However the little game that suddenly popped up on his phone two months ago changed everything.

Chen Jiao took the carefully protected midnight snack buns out of his coat and put them in front of his nose, smelling them. The aroma of the last two beef Xiao long buns left in the shop assailed the nose with its fragrance.

He took his cell phone out, flipped open the cover and said to the screen, “Tuan Tuan, it’s time for a midnight snack.”

At this moment, it was the ‘Elf Rebirth Program’ game that was displayed on the phone screen.

Inside a modest room, in front of a small desk, sat a well proportioned, Q version figure.

The little man, dressed in black loungewear, with a meticulous haircut and a straight back, was tapping away at a miniature laptop.

The elf who was called Tuan Tuan’s hands paused, then he turned his head, giving Chen Jiao a serious look.

“Er… sorry.” Chen Jiao grinned, “It was a slip of tongue, Tuan¹Tuan means — dumpling….. Mr. Tuan. I’ve brought back a midnight snack. It’s your favorite beef-filled bun. Want one?”

Mo Yi Yan stared at Chen Jiao for a while then sighed uncharacteristically.

The name ‘Tuan Tuan’ was obtained by Chen Jiao, but he could only blame himself for not being able to stop it at that time, moreover he had already clicked the confirmation button, and according to the rules of the system, it couldn’t be changed at will.

Later, Chen Jiao explained that the reason why he first thought of Tuan Tuan was because the first time he saw him, he looked like a serious little rice ball.

A serious, walking little rice ball…..

“It’s Christmas.” Little rice ball….. Mr. Tuan jumped out of his chair.

Chen Jiao nodded, “Yes, so there were a bit too many guests, so I came back late, you were waiting up, right?”

Mo Yi Yan couldn’t help but frown as he watched Chen Jiao take his jacket off hurriedly, because it was so cold outside, but he was sweating.

When Chen Jiao saw this he asked, “Hungry?” Saying that, he transmitted one of the buns in.

Mo Yi Yan had been working on a paper this evening, preparing to take the next semester’s credits early, so he had indeed not eaten anything until now.

Just as the two people started eating.

A message came.

Mo Yi Yan hadn’t actively turn off the ‘read messages’ function, so he could also see the contents of Chen Jiao’s messages.

The person who sent the message was a student that Chen Jiao had helped at the beginning of the school year. His name was Wu Hang with a harmless face, his family was well off and he was quite popular in the school.

Chen Jiao clicked on the message to check it.

[Senior, tomorrow is party night and the club is going out together, why don’t you come too! I’ll pick you up tomorrow!]

“The literary club is going to hang out together tomorrow.” Chen Jiao said to Mo Yi Yan out of habit after reading the message.

Christmas was followed by three consecutive days of party nights, and many KTV entertainment venues around the university were already booked full of private rooms in advance.

Mo Yi Yan didn’t even raise his head, “Tomorrow is my birthday.”

“Huh?” Chen Jiao froze for a moment, “Don’t you share the same birthday with Wu Hang?” He was invited to celebrate Wu Hang’s birthday a month or so ago, but he ended up having to cancel the date because it clashed with Mo Yi Yan’s birthday.

Mo Yi Yan took a bite of the bun, one side of his cheek was round and bulging, “That’s my solar birthday, I have to spend my lunar birthday too.”

“So…. it’s like this.” Chen Jiao felt a little guilty because the Chinese did have to pay a little more attention to their lunar birthdays.

Putting the bun down, Mo Yi Yan jumped down from the chair and although he had short hands and legs, he had a serious deadpan expression on his face, “Cough…. As for the gifts, there’s no need to prepare them, just do your basic player duty and accompany me after dinner and then just wait for twelve o’clock to arrive together.”

In order to make Mr. Tuan happy, Chen Jiao had to refuse Wu Hang’s invitation and stay inside the dormitory; accompanying Mo Yi Yan to ‘celebrate his birthday’.

On the day of Mo Yi Yan’s ‘birthday’.

Chen Jiao packed a few dishes from outside and bought a cupcake for two.

Mo Yi Yan was in a good mood all day, because although both birthdays weren’t proper days, they were happier than any of the previous twenty years’.

Chen Jiao put a candle on top of the cake, “I’ll transmit the cake in.”

Mo Yi Yan stopped him, “Wait, just cut half of it then transmit it in.”

“Huh? That’s not so good, right? How can you blow out candles on half a cake on your birthday?”

“What’s wrong with that? Do I have to do this kind of menial work?” Mo Yi Yan’s tone was hard, but the good thing was that he had a cute and cool little face, making it so that Chen Jiao was unable to help but smile.

Chen Jiao shook his head helplessly, “Okay then, I’ll cut it.”

“Hmph~” Mo Yi Yan inclined his face in a seemingly disdainful manner. Actually, what he was worried about was only that if Chen Jiao transmitted the cake in, he wouldn’t spare any more money to take it out, and then would most likely find an excuse to leave it all to him, saying that he had a toothache or an upset stomach.

Chen Jiao cut the cake then transmitted half of it inside.

The two men each had half a cake on and off the screen, both with candles lit on top of it.

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