Good Luck in the Year of the Pig

time, the old man was sad and sickly looking.
He asked for directions, got the answer, and casually gave a wad of cash to the old man.
He actually didn’t know how much it was.
He still remembered that the old man was grateful at the time.
After that, he hurriedly went up the mountain and… he went up the mountain?

Pressing his temples, the man closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.
He had met Master Yuan, the national master of Chinese traditional medicine, in the capital, and later went to meet several elders on the recommendation of Master Yuan.
Today, on New Year’s Eve, he hurried back from abroad, having spent the week before that meeting experts in the United States.

Everyone said that he was not mentally ill.
It seemed that he was the only one who thought he might have a disease related to Lu Ying.

Seeing his pale face, the old man hurriedly asked, “Are you not feeling well? You must be freezing, hurry up and sit down to rest, have a sip of hot tea.
Xiaoxia, come, come, you could go to high school and get into the university thanks to this big brother…”

Lu Xiaoxia, a top student who was already working in a big city, was even more shocked than her grandfather.
Damn, why does this man look so much like the certain young businessman introduced in the magazine so-and-so?… Coincidence, it must be a coincidence!

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Nearing twelve o’clock, Qixia Mountain was quiet and peaceful.

Lu Zaizai had already fallen asleep and Qin Xiaotu was watching the Spring Festival Gala in the house with the adults, yawning from time to time in boredom.
They could watch TV on the mountain, but the mobile phone signal was very poor.
Sometimes there was no signal at all, never mind using the mobile phone to access the internet.

Watching the singing and dancing on TV, Qin Xiaotu turned his head and yawned again.
He glanced at Lu Ying next to him who was fiddling with his mobile phone and wondered, “Uncle Lu, can your mobile phone access the internet? How come mine has no signal at all.”

Lu Ying shook his head: “Mine can’t either…” But he received a text message, the time indicating that it was sent at five minutes past seven in the evening.

[Lu Ying, I’ve arrived in Qixia Town, are you at the shop or at home? I’m coming to find you.]

It was almost twelve o’clock and he just saw this text message…

Lu Ying held his phone tightly, staring absentmindedly at the TV.
He didn’t see what was playing on it.

“Woah woah – Happy Year of the Pig!” Qin Xiaotu suddenly let out a cheer, waking Lu Ying up as the clock officially struck twelve.

“Happy Year of the Pig!”

“Happy Year of the Pig!”

“Happy Year of the Pig, Lu Ying!”

“Happy Year of the Pig…”

Everyone cheered together, surrounding Lu Ying in a constant stream of congratulations.

“Happy Year of the Pig!”

Lu Ying was all smiles as he sincerely presented everyone with little hand-made blessing bags, each with a different pattern, corresponding to the twelve Chinese zodiac signs.

Without missing anyone, Lu Ying concluded with a sincere, “I wish everyone a very auspicious Year of the Pig!”

“Thank you, Lu Ying!”

Everyone put away the little blessing bags and smiled with satisfaction.

Elder Xu put away his blessing bag and pointed out the window to the night sky with a wide smile, “Look, guys, it’s snowing outside.”

“Woohoo, what a year!”

“It’s really snowing…”

“I really want to see the white Qixia Mountain when I get up tomorrow, it’ll be even more perfect with the sunrise!”

“I want to take pictures of the snowy scenery of Qixia Mountain…”

The crowd slowly dispersed, and Lu Ying returned to the room where Zaizai was sleeping.
He looked at his son’s chubby face, but his heart was beating wild as he held his phone.

He got up and walked to the window.
Outside, snowflakes were flying, accompanied by the whistling cold wind, and under the dim eaves lights, every snowflake looked like a dancing firefly.
It was beautiful, but also very cold.

Lu Ying looked down and quickly made a call.

Beep beep beep… no signal.

“Where are you going?”

Ji Xiaofeng, the night owl still guarding the TV in the living room, yelled hurriedly as a sprinting shadow scurried out of the bedroom.

“Watch Zaizai for me, I’ll be right back!”

Lu Ying waved his hand and disappeared into the night without looking back.
That man came to Qixia Town at seven o’clock, and the phone couldn’t be reached, so he still might be standing at his door…

Maybe it was a mistake to think so, after all the disappointment.
But… Lu Ying pondered that from their acquaintance to their separation almost a year later, the man had never broken his promise.
Even if it was just a casual promise of small things, he would do as he promised.

If that person had arrived in Qixia Town, Lu Ying felt, he must still be there.
Maybe still at his door…

On New Year’s Eve he didn’t stay at home with his elders but ran to a poor town in the middle of nowhere.
What the hell, no one welcomed him here! He hadn’t come when he should have come, and now when no one expected him, he had come uninvited.

It was already the first day of the year, the first day of the Year of the Pig, and for the sake of the New Year, Lu Ying won’t bother to be angry! You can’t quarrel on the first day of the New Year.
Just find the man, say Happy New Year and count him lucky!

Lu Ying quickly went down the mountain, purposely avoiding the villagers, and headed in the direction of the town.
He checked his mobile phone as he walked, and when he left the mountain, his mobile phone signal was instantly better.
Lu Ying immediately dialled the number, ‘The number you have dialled is switched off…’

“……”

Lu Ying’s galloping footsteps immediately braked.
He stared at the phone for a long time, bewildered.

Where the hell is he? Has he already gone… got onto the plane?

Standing in the dark night in the midst of snowflakes, Lu Ying raised his head and took a deep breath, letting the snowflakes fall on his face, icy cold.
His reason came back.
He should go back to the mountain and accompany his child.
This was much warmer than the illusory snowflakes.

Lu Ying exhaled a mouthful of white mist, tucked his phone into his coat pocket and turned around with a flourish.

……

From far away, obvious at a glance, there was a lonely man walking slowly along the empty muddy road, carrying an umbrella, like a star still twinkling in the darkness of a snowy night.

The snow was still falling as the two figures got closer.

“Happy New Year.”

***

Mini-theatre:

Mr.
Qin: Either I have a brain problem or there are ghosts around me.

Lu Ying: So what?

Mr.
Qin: Science proves that there is nothing wrong with my brain, then there are ghosts around me.

Lu Ying: You suspect me?

Mr.
Qin: You’re not a ghost, you must be a demon sent by God to deal with me!

Lu Ying: (*￣￣) That’s more like it!

Mr.
Qin: …… (What’s wrong?)