Chapter 169 Another Spring Festival

It was the Spring Festival again. Even the sparsely populated southern suburbs would become lively again these days. Men working away from home, children who had moved out after the family split, and other old residents who did not live here permanently for various reasons would all come back to reunite on this day. The usually quiet streets were filled with many faces that were usually unseen but familiar to each other. Everyone greeted each other, exchanged the hard work of the year and the good omens for the coming year. Every household was decorated with lanterns and colors to welcome this grand annual festival.

Hao Ren's big house, which had not had the atmosphere of the New Year for several years, finally became lively again. In the evening, Vivian made a very sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner for everyone. The largest table in the house could not hold it, so Hao Ren had to open a "branch banquet" on the coffee table in the living room. Now, it was really a challenge to get these ten people (not counting the cat and the fish) in the house to eat together, but fortunately, the people in this house were not the kind to be constrained by common etiquette. Everyone was just trying to have fun together. Anyway, it was quite fun to watch Lily running around the house looking for food. The Four Vajras originally planned to challenge wilderness survival behind the house as usual, but Hao Ren dragged them in by force—what a joke, usually letting them roast rabbits in the wild with the northwest wind could be said to be respecting their beliefs, but if they were not allowed into the house during the New Year, then what was that called?

Big Beard and the others couldn't resist, so they had to come in happily to join in the fun with everyone.

Lily ran around the house with a roasted leg of lamb, as excited as... well, no need for metaphors, she's a husky, what else is there to explain? Anyway, this girl was in a state of severe excitement, bowing to everyone she caught, even catching Vivian several times, making the vampire girl laugh and cry. Hao Ren, on the other hand, held a wine glass and made a round of toasts, speaking as the "head of the family": "This year... hey, not even a year, the earliest to come here is Lily, about half a year. Anyway, no matter how long we've known each other, thanks for everyone's support during this time. There are so many of us, from all over the world, all races, it's not easy to get together. Let's get along well in the future and strive to make our gang... uh no, let our team become a world-renowned brand. I'll..."

Vivian kicked him from the side: "Stop swaying, you've been holding that glass of wine for more than ten minutes and haven't drunk it yet, what are you pretending to be drunk for?"

Hao Ren sat down sheepishly: "Actually, I'm not good at drinking... why don't you cooperate with me?"

Dou Dou was lying on the table, and at this time, she curiously propped herself up and poked her head into Hao Ren's glass and licked it twice. Immediately, she made a series of messy gurgling sounds, and then began to flutter on the table, like a fish that couldn't breathe after landing on the shore. Vivian quickly took the cup away: "You two are really father and daughter, this alcohol tolerance..."

At this time, the sound of firecrackers outside had already become a symphony. Lily trotted to Hao Ren, stretching out two oily paws like a child: "Landlord, give me firecrackers, I want to set them off at the door."

Hao Ren was very happy to see this girl's cute appearance, and casually took out the firecrackers he had prepared from his dimensional pocket and walked to the door: "Let's go together!"

The crackling sound of firecrackers rang out, and Lily jumped up and down in the firelight like an overexcited child, piquing the interest of Nangong Wuyue, a steady girl. The two adults ran to the open space in front of the house and lit fireworks and firecrackers in various ways, relying on their superhuman bodies, making the scene look like they were preparing to self-immolate.

Becky and the Four Vajras watched at the door, their faces full of horror. Big Beard tugged Hao Ren's sleeve in astonishment: "Is it like this every year here?"

"Yeah," Hao Ren pinched the half-lit incense stick, "The city doesn't allow setting off firecrackers on the street, but the suburbs don't care much."

Becky looked at Hao Ren with great admiration: "I feel that people in your world are much braver than those in ours. Every year, they regularly ignite a large number of explosives at their doorsteps to celebrate the festival. It really has a bit of the legacy of the legendary berserker..."

The gate behind them was open. When everyone wasn't paying attention, Dou Dou jumped out of the house. The little guy plopped to Hao Ren's feet, but the sound of firecrackers around him made everyone unaware of this small movement.

The little mermaid looked at the loud firelight in the open space with some fear and some excitement, and then curiously picked up an unexploded firecracker from the ground next to her. She held the red stick, which vaguely smelled of food, and examined it for a long time before tearing open the tail of the "red stick" and discovering that some strange black powder was flowing out of it.

The little mermaid thought for a while and felt that she should bravely explore this world, so she tilted her head back and poured the black powder from the firecracker into her mouth.

A few seconds later, the little guy finally cried out loudly, spitting out gunpowder while crying. At this time, Hao Ren and Vivian noticed the movement under their feet and immediately fell into a panic: "Hey, how did this child get out..." "She ate gunpowder! She ate gunpowder!" "I'll go, she really ate it?" "Quickly get some hot water... Oh no, not for rinsing! Dou Dou is frozen again!" "Wuyue! Wuyue, come and help! Get some hot water to thaw Dou Dou..."

Hao's house was filled with a festive atmosphere—although the way it was lively seemed to be a bit problematic.

Vivian and Nangong Wuyue spent a long time before finally calming Dou Dou down. Of course, it was also possible that the little guy had entered a semi-hibernating state again under the low temperature, so she was easier to coax. Later, seeing that the little guy really wanted to stay outside, Vivian came up with a good idea: she brought out the rice cooker from the house, connected the electricity from the living room to the door with a long extension cord, filled the rice cooker with water, boiled it, and then put Dou Dou in it, so that the little guy could enjoy the outdoor scenery in the icy world. Although she couldn't jump out, Dou Dou was obviously very satisfied, soaking in the hot water bath while watching her dog sister set off firecrackers in the open space in front, giggling non-stop.

Hao Ren thought for a while, took out a piece of red paper from the house and wrote the four characters "Nian Nian You Yu" (May you have abundance every year) and pasted it on the rice cooker, and then deeply admired his creativity.

"It's just the couplets at the door..." Vivian frowned and turned to look at the couplets at the door, "If it weren't for the fact that the goddess wrote them herself, I'd be too embarrassed to put this thing up..."

The couplets personally approved by Raven 12345 were brazenly posted at the door. In addition to the handwriting, the content was also dazzling. Hao Ren was hesitating whether to take a picture of it himself and post it on the Internet before other well-meaning people passed by his door and took pictures of it, which could also be considered as providing some points for the vast number of netizens to complain about this New Year.

But ugly as it was, this couplet seemed to have some effect when it was posted at the door. In Hao Ren's already distorted vision, he could see that a large area around his mansion was shrouded in some kind of mysterious light. As long as he entered the range of the light, a special sense of security would surge into his heart. Perhaps Raven 12345 was right. Just these few pieces of paper could turn an area of two miles into a holy land.

At this time, Becky suddenly found that there was one person missing around her: "Where's Big Guy?"

Only then did Hao Ren notice that Izhaks hadn't come out with everyone. He turned around and went back into the house, and was surprised to find that Izhaks was sitting alone at the table, drinking sullenly, seemingly deaf to the noise outside.

"Old Wang! Izhaks! Old Izzy!" Hao Ren called out a few times at the door but couldn't get the great demon to get up, so he had to run to the other party and knock on the table, "Why are you drinking by yourself? They're setting off firecrackers outside, aren't you going to join in the fun?"

"No," Izhaks said in a muffled voice, with a signature scary smile on his face, "I'm fine drinking some wine here. It's too noisy outside."

Hao Ren immediately felt that the atmosphere was a little wrong. Izhaks was usually a gentle person, but he wasn't someone who hated being lively, and now he obviously had something on his mind: "What's wrong? Something on your mind?"

Izhaks had already drunk two bottles of high-proof liquor, but these man-made alcoholic beverages meant nothing to his special physique. He breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the lights of thousands of homes and fireworks outside the window, his thoughts seemed to drift away a little: "It's a day for family reunion... Your festival is pretty good, we don't have this concept over there... at least not among demons."

Hao Ren looked at the inexplicable loneliness on Izhaks' scary face. He didn't expect that this tough guy would show such an expression. After hesitating for a long time, he opened his mouth: "Well... I know you're a person with a story, if you don't want to say it, I'll just drink with you in silence, if you want to say it... I'll listen. It's the New Year, don't keep things bottled up in your heart. There are so many of us, maybe we can solve it for you."

Izhaks smiled and looked at Hao Ren: "...I'll tell you anyway, if you drink in silence with me with your alcohol tolerance, you'll easily kill yourself."

Hao Ren was stunned, and then he heard Izhaks slowly open his mouth: "Actually, it's nothing, I just miss my daughter..."

(It's the New Year, can you give me some monthly votes as a red envelope?)