Raising You This Small Stuff

Chapter 69.1 Du Du and his mother-in-law!

The first day of the New Year.

Mo Yi Yan, a 5’8″ man, spent the night curled up on a two-person sofa. The heating in the flat wasn’t very good, and the temperature in the living room was noticeably lower at night. The Chinese New Year Gala from the night before was being replayed on TV, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard outside the window from time to time.

His neck was stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. Sitting up, he discovered that half of his body had become numb as a result of the pressure, but was taken aback when a blanket slipped from his body and landed on the floor. He picked it up; it still had his body heat; Chen Jiao must have come out in the middle of the night to put it on him.

A faint smile appeared on Mo Yi Yan’s cold face as he thought of this. Moving his neck, his bones snapped, while the bedroom door creaked open.

Chen Jiao was still wearing yesterday’s clothes, he hadn’t changed into his pajamas, but he looked slightly tired, as if he hadn’t gotten enough rest the night before.

“Good morning.” Mo Yi Yan spoke first, pointing to the bathroom, “Can I go in there and clean up a bit?”

Chen Jiao hesitated for a moment then answered, “Yes.”

“Hmm, I’m not used to eating breakfast without brushing my teeth.” Mo Yi Yan said it in a very natural way, implying that he wanted to have another breakfast here.

Helpless, Chen Jiao had no choice but to go to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. There were still some wrapped dumplings from last night and a lot of vegetables, so a simple warming up would do.

As he moved about busily, looking at the fire on the gas, Chen Jiao suddenly felt… that this New Year didn’t seem to be as sad as it was before.

His parents died when he was young, and he had no relatives in S City. Therefore, every time he spent New Year’s Eve here, it would always be very quiet. He would sit alone in front of the TV watching the Spring Festival Gala, lie on the balcony watching the fireworks in the distance, then seriously wrapped the New Year’s Eve dumplings, cook them well, oversleep and then the New Year would come, and then it was wash rinse and repeat.

Except that this year, Mo Yi Yan suddenly came knocking on the door with a big bag of stuff on the night of New Year’s Eve. Ever since he woke up in hospital, Mo Yi Yan had become a different person and his attacks on Chen Jiao were really overwhelming, but the more he did this, the more frightened he became. Now even on New Year’s Eve, he had left his family behind to come here, and would rather sleep on the sofa than leave.

“New Year’s Day is about reunion. Even if it’s just two people making dumplings seriously, watching the Spring Festival Gala together and waiting for the New Year’s bell to ring, it’s also a source of rare happiness.”

When someone as cold as Mo Yi Yan said such words, Chen Jiao was really surprised to find out that they were so much in agreement.

As the water inside the pot boiled, he came back to his senses and began to put the dumplings into the pot. As he watched them roll around inside the pot like a gold ingot, he was stunned again.

What was he afraid of? Why did Mo Yi Yan’s enthusiasm towards him deter him? This was probably what people called pretentiousness, but his heart was still holding steadfast. His love could be unrequited and hopeless, but he didn’t have to be humble and undignified. If he ended up being just a passing flicker in Mo Yi Yan’s life, then he might as well have never appeared.

Breakfast was ready.

Mo Yi Yan didn’t say a word and helped pick up the dishes.

Just as the two of them finished, there was a knock on the door.

Mo Yi Yan took the initiative to open the door and even said a few words to the person outside.

A little curious, Chen Jiao stood up as well, only to see Mo Yi Yan close the door and carry in two large convenient bags, the items in the black ones not visible from the outside.

Mo Yi Yan lifted them up, “Go and get a large basin.”

“Ah?”

“Go on, this was delivered by a special person only this morning.” Mo Yi Yan laughed.

He was still very surprised, but he did as Mo Yi Yan asked and went to the kitchen to get a large stainless steel basin.

Mo Yi Yan told him to put the basin on the floor, then crouched down and asked him to help open the bags.

The moment he opened it, Chen Jiao froze.

One bag was filled with orange frozen persimmons, and the other was full of frozen autumn pears. Both were popular fruits that northerners liked to eat very much in winter, especially when they visited relatives in the first month of the lunar year. Everyone would use cold water to thaw a big pot, then they would get together to play cards and chat and when they were tired, the frozen autumn pears and the persimmons would have been thawed, and then they would sit around and start enjoying the delicacy.

All this beauty, for Chen Jiao, only remained in his childhood. And that really was his fondest yearning for the New Year. How did Mo Yi Yan know?

Looking at Chen Jiao’s surprised expression, Mo Yi Yan couldn’t help but remember the time when Chen Jiao brought two frozen persimmons back to his rented cubicle, defrosted them carefully, and then the two of them gathered under the quilt to watch the Spring Festival gala. Of course at that time Mo Yi Yan was forced to do so and the frozen persimmon he was given was even very astringent. It took him a lot of patience not to throw it away.

“What are you dazed for? Go and get some water for us to soak them, they’ll taste good when they’re thawed.” Mo Yi Yan urged Chen Jiao.

“How… do you know that I like these?”

Mo Yi Yan was still waiting for the words to follow, but Chen Jiao stopped talking, smiled instead, picked up the basin and went to the kitchen to get water.

After breakfast, Mo Yi Yan received two phone calls, both from his third brother.

Mo Yixu first reported ‘second brother’s heroic coming out’ incident that happened at home last night, then urged him to come home for dinner.

Chapter 69.2 Du Du and his mother-in-law!

“…. Congratulate second brother for me. I won’t be going back for dinner, tell mum I have some things to do over here and will be back tomorrow.”

“Oh, but I’m sure I’ll get scolded for this passing on kind of message. I’ll have to ask for two portions of the New Year’s red envelope, ha ha.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you big brother!”

—

Breakfast.

Yuan Suo couldn’t help but gulp as he looked at the wide array of food on the table. He glanced at Mother Mo who was sitting at the head of the table and held back, afraid that a little mistake of his might leave a bad impression.

“Du Du, what do you want to eat? How about these golden fried dumplings, each one has a whole shrimp inside and the taste is very fresh.” Mother was still very perceptive as a person, once she accepted something, she wouldn’t dwell on it too much, something that all three of the Mo sons inherited.

“Thank you, auntie mother.” Yuan Suo accepted the golden fried dumplings that she had picked with her chopsticks respectfully.

“Du Du, how old are you this year?” Mother Mo asked.

Yuan Suo, who had already stuffed the fried dumplings into his mouth and taken a bite spat it out hurriedly, getting scalded by the soup inside it in the process, “I’m… I’m… twenty-two years old!” Previously, Mo Yi Cheng had said that twenty-two years was also the legal age for marriage here.

Seeing Yuan Suo get scalded, Mo Yi Cheng poured a glass of water and brought it to his mouth directly, making Yuan Suo drink two mouthfuls from his own hands.

Looking at the tacit and natural interaction between the two of them, Mother Mo nodded in slight satisfaction, “So what do you do? Is there anyone else in the family?”

“…” This question was one that Yuan Suo really didn’t know how to answer.

After Mo Yi Cheng finished dealing with the episode of Yuan Suo’s mouth getting scalded, he picked up his chopsticks and put a dumpling onto his mother’s plate, “Mom, this is your favorite, it’s stuffed with mushroom and cabbage, try it while it’s hot.”

Seeing her son’s filial piety, the corners of Mother Mo’s mouth rose slightly.

Mo Yi Cheng took advantage of the situation and said, “Du Du’s main job is creating comics. His family died early and all his relatives and friends are abroad, so he has always lived on his own. He left the country suddenly this time because his relatives had an accident, that was why he couldn’t inform everyone. As soon as he was done there, he came back even though he was travel-worn. He just got off the plane last night.”

“So that’s how it is.” The last bit of dissatisfaction Mother Mo had towards Du Du vanished into thin air. Such a lovely young man had such a tragic life, how could she still blame him? “Du Du, it’s okay, don’t be afraid if you encounter any difficulties in the future, you have Yi Cheng behind you. Of course if he bullies you, you can come to auntie, I’ll deal with him for you.”

Touched by her words, Yuan Suo nodded heavily and for a moment he seemed to see his mother’s shadow in her eyes, “Thank you, auntie. But, Mo Yi Cheng has never bullied me.”

This silly child, afraid he wouldn’t even know that he was being bullied! Mother Mo had always felt that, of her three sons, Mo Yi Cheng was the most intelligent, the most reserved and the most difficult for anyone to get close to his inner world. It was a miracle that such a simple boy had been able to break in.

She asked a few more small questions, like how did the two met and how long had they known each other…. Mo Yi Cheng answered all the questions one by one, then kept putting food on Yuan Suo’s plate until it became a mountain.

Mo Yixu looked on from the side jealousy, biting his chopsticks, “Mom, my plate is still empty.”

Mother Mo gave him a sidelong glance, “Then you should find a girlfriend quickly and bring her back home. At this age, you should be thinking about your future…”

Mo Yixu’s words caused an unwarranted disaster, successfully drawing the battle to himself, and there was no way out but to live with the trouble he had caused.

Mo Yi Cheng and Yuan Suo on the side ate happily, looking on in satisfaction.

After they finished eating, they agreed to play mahjong with Mother Mo as it happened that they were four people.

The chess room was arranged in a compartment at the far end of the hall.

It was only after they sat down that they realised that Yuan Suo didn’t know anything about mahjong and couldn’t even recognise the tiles. So Mo Yi Cheng asked him to sit beside him, making one deck of tiles for two people, which left a deck of tiles empty. Mo Yi Cheng had to ask the housekeeper to take over.

Mo Yi Cheng explained the rules to Yuan Suo as he played patiently and tirelessly. Soon, Yuan Suo had a general understanding of the rules and also recognised the cards.

“Du Du, which one do you think I should play?”

“Play….. play this one!” Yuan Suo pointed to an 80,000. This card was the safest in the current situation, so there was no point in keeping it.

“Ah, since Du Du’s want this, then I’ll just play this one!” Mo Yi Cheng placed his finger on the 80,000, then with a steep deflection, he pulled out a seven and played it!

“I won!” Mother Mo pushed down her cards happily, smiling with joy, “A small three yuan! Ha ha ha, today is really a blessing from the god of gambling!”

Mo Yixu took a look at his second brother’s cards and complained immediately, “Second brother, why did you play this card when it’s obviously useful? You intentionally let her win! You’ve really harmed me!”

Mo Yi Cheng looked distressed, but his words were full of pampering, “Du Du chose it, saying that it looks good, so I had no other choice but to play it.”

Mo Yixu said, “Sister-in-law, you’re playing your cards too casually. If this goes on, I’ll lose all my New Year’s money to mum.”

“Uhh…” Yuan Suo rubbed his fingers on the side, he clearly pointed to the 80,000!

Before Mo Yi Cheng could say anything, Mother had already started to scold him, “How can you say that? Du Du is still a novice, moreover he’s very opinionated about the cards he chooses. Your second brother did the right thing. We should let Du Du practice more, this way he will become better.”

Then she took the money quickly and started the next round.

The housekeeper on the side remained stalwart. After all his experience in the world, he, this old man had already seen through everything that was happening on this table….. Even if he lost today, he had to cooperate with Du Du to allow the Madam to win happily and the second young master heating things up wouldn’t treat himself unfairly…