Chapter 14: Happy New Year

This year’s Lunar New Year’s Eve was livelier than ever at the Yu family home. At Yu Huaiyin’s warm invitation, S-77 and the others all came to the Yu residence to experience Earth’s Lunar New Year together.

Yu Xiuqing was genuinely delighted by the arrival of their extraterrestrial guests. Every year, Yu Huaiyin’s grandparents and great-grandparents would be invited out by their disciples to celebrate elsewhere, so it was usually just her, her husband, and her son sharing the reunion dinner and staying up to welcome the new year. With so many more people this year, she was overjoyed. She had even invited Feng Jingyu and Cen Lan, but both had politely declined, regretting that they had other obligations.

Yu Xiuqing understood that the two of them had other responsibilities besides “Interstellar Singer,” and, feeling for them, reminded them to take care of their health in addition to work. She also sent over a batch of dumplings she’d made early that morning.

Feng Jingyu and Cen Lan were both touched by this unexpected gesture. One was an orphan, the other long estranged from her parents; to receive such care from an elder on this special day warmed both their hearts.

·

“Love really is the best seasoning,” Feng Jingyu declared, sprawling on the sofa after finishing the dumplings Yu Xiuqing had sent, looking thoroughly content.

Cen Lan asked the smart housekeeper to put away the remaining dumplings, smiling, “You’ve eaten so much—how are you going to manage the garden fair later?”

“It’s fine, I’ll walk it off at the fair,” Feng Jingyu patted her stomach. “Is everything set up for the event?”

“Mm, everything’s ready.”

“I’ve never joined a garden fair with aliens before. Today’s a first.” Feng Jingyu stood up. “Come on, let’s spend a meaningful New Year’s Eve with our future superstars.”

Cen Lan was surprised. “I’m going too?”

Feng Jingyu looked even more surprised than she was. “You’re the company’s CEO—of course you have to celebrate with everyone.”

Cen Lan still hesitated. “If both of us show up, won’t they feel awkward?”

“No, no, not at all. It’s New Year’s Eve—who cares about bosses or not?” Feng Jingyu pulled Cen Lan toward the door. “Would you really leave me to face all those young people alone? Have a little pity on me.”

Even after all this time together, Cen Lan still found herself both amused and exasperated by Feng Jingyu’s words. “All right, all right, I’ll go. I feel for you.”

“Knew you were the best~”

·

Star Selection Town was decked out in lanterns and streamers, bustling with excitement. Especially in the leisure zone, where all forty contestants had gathered to take part in this unique garden fair.

“I never thought I’d get to experience Earth’s most important festival,” said Pokuang from the Crystal Song System, gazing in wonder at the variously shaped lanterns hanging from the trees. The crystal structures beneath her skin flickered with light, reflecting her excitement.

“These things called lanterns are so cute,” Shuo Ying paused to admire them. The Crystal Song girls were naturally drawn to anything that glowed; Kong Leng and Guang Yi also stopped, using their terminals to record everything they saw.

A staff member hanging lanterns nearby noticed the Crystal Song girls staring intently and handed them several different lanterns. During their days at Star Selection Town, they’d often been “fed” by various Earthlings. At first, they’d felt embarrassed, but after realizing that everyone here liked to do this, they gradually got used to it.

Kong Leng and the others thanked the staff, took the lanterns, lit them as instructed, and happily headed to the next spot.

The leisure zone was already filled with stalls specially set up by Youjian Entertainment: paper cutting, ring toss, sugar painting, pin-the-nose, goldfish scooping, and more. The dazzling array left the alien girls unsure where to start.

The Porlu System girls were the first to arrive and had already tried paper cutting under the guidance of the staff.

These girls, symbiotic with plants and blessed with elfin beauty, seemed to have naturally less nimble fingers and could only manage the simplest designs. Seeing their disappointed expressions, the staff at the paper-cutting stall quickly made silhouette portraits for each of them, capturing their features so well that anyone could tell who was who at a glance.

“Thank you!” Senyu, receiving her own paper cut, hung it on a branch covered in pink flowers on her body. The red paper against the pink blossoms was a perfect match—harmonious and beautiful.

“You’re so clever. I want to do that too,” said Liuguang, following suit. She had a small white flower on her shoulder, and with the red paper as an accent, it looked lovely.

Yingmu and Qiyun, who didn’t have flowers, simply hung theirs on their leaves. All four were delighted with the effect and moved on to the next stall, smiling.

·

At the goldfish scooping stall, Ruby from the Velvetling System was completely absorbed—she was determined to catch a goldfish today. Her Velvetling, sensing her tension, had curled into a tight ball. Each time another paper net broke, its fur would bristle, then droop in defeat.

Shen Qiu from the Wither-Prosper System couldn’t bear to watch any longer and hesitantly asked, “Do you need help?”

Ruby immediately stepped aside, teary-eyed, “I want that little goldfish.”

“All right.” Shen Qiu took a paper net in one hand and a small glass tank in the other, took a deep breath, and deftly scooped up the goldfish Ruby wanted, depositing it safely into the tank.

“Yay!” Ruby threw her arms around Shen Qiu. “You’re amazing! You’re the goldfish-scooping goddess!”

Her shout drew everyone else over.

“Shen Qiu, can you help me get one too?”

“Shen Qiu, Shen Qiu, help me catch one!”

Shen Qiu had never been in such a situation before and could only nod instinctively. A few sharp-eyed Earth contestants noticed the other Wither-Prosper girls nearby and quickly went to ask for help.

The result was that the four of them scooped up every goldfish at the stall, so that all forty contestants had one each, forcing the goldfish stall staff to close early.

·

At the ring toss stall, the assortment of cute prizes on the ground kept the girls’ eyes glued, but unfortunately, their aim wasn’t great and few could land a ring. Then Lilylu had an idea—she had her Velvetling hold the ring and, with a strong toss, the little fluffball landed perfectly on the target.

The ring toss staff was dumbfounded—he’d never imagined anyone would play like that. With the goldfish experience fresh in their minds, the girls all begged the Velvetling System for help, and soon the stall’s prizes were cleaned out, sending another employee home early.

Pin-the-nose became the Porlu System’s domain. Their plant symbionts could share sensory input, so they hit the mark every time, and soon all the prizes there were gone too, amid laughter.

Among the Earth contestants was an heir to the sugar painting tradition. The staff at that stall didn’t dare show off in front of her and simply gave up the spot. The contestant drew a sugar painting for every alien girl, the process drawing gasps of amazement and prompting everyone to record the performance on their terminals.

The garden fair soon drew to a close, and the arrival of Feng Jingyu and Cen Lan was greeted with cheers from the girls.

A few bold Earth contestants led the crowd in coaxing the two to perform something as the finale for the evening.

Before Cen Lan could answer, Feng Jingyu spoke up.

“Sure, I’ll sing a song for everyone, and Sister Cen Lan can keep time for me. That counts as a duet, right?”

Cen Lan smiled and nodded, and everyone quickly formed a circle, falling silent.

·

Feng Jingyu began to sing, with Cen Lan clapping along to the rhythm. Though there was no accompaniment, the melody was gentle and perfectly suited to this style of storytelling vocal. Watching Feng Jingyu sing with her eyes closed, surrounded by contestants from different star systems, Cen Lan felt a sudden urge to capture the moment. She pulled out her terminal and recorded it.

When the song ended, everyone applauded. Just then, brilliant fireworks blossomed in the sky, instantly drawing all eyes upward.

“A new year, a new beginning. I wish you all a future as bright as the stars, with flowers blooming along your path,” Feng Jingyu offered her New Year’s blessing.

On the way back, Cen Lan listened to Feng Jingyu’s song again and shared it with Yu Huaiyin, adding a note.

[A gentle song.]

Not long after, Yu Huaiyin replied.

[It’s beautiful.]

·

“Huaiyin, what are you doing? Come on, 77 is waiting to sing with you.” Yu Xiuqing came out of the living room and saw Yu Huaiyin in the kitchen, but didn’t ask what he’d been doing.

Yu Huaiyin closed his terminal. “Coming.”

Mother and son returned to the music room together, where An Huai was at the piano with S-77, picking out a song for their duet.

“Is there even a choice? Just sing ‘We’re in Love,’ the one Mrs. Yu wrote for you two. I’ve listened to it so many times and always wanted to hear you both sing it together,” Le Huan blurted out, dropping a bombshell.

Yu Xiuqing beamed and gave Le Huan a thumbs up. She’d brought this up to Yu Huaiyin before, but her son had flatly refused. She hadn’t expected Le Huan to have the same idea.

“Great choice, Le Huan. I’d love to hear it too.” Seeker, still bundled up as always, was clearly delighted, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

Zhaolu and Ming Ke exchanged glances and also voted in favor.

Qing Wu smiled and agreed, saying she wanted to hear the duet as well.

S-77 looked at Yu Huaiyin with bright, eager eyes—he clearly wanted to sing the song too.

Yu Huaiyin could refuse his mother, but faced with S-77’s hopeful gaze, he just couldn’t say no. He glanced helplessly at the camera in the room, already able to imagine what would happen when this episode aired.

Yu Xiuqing exchanged a look with her husband, and An Huai obligingly began to play the introduction. Yu Huaiyin quietly walked over to S-77. Since he couldn’t refuse, he could only join in.

Outside, fireworks continued to light up the sky. The old year had passed; the new year had arrived.