Extra 3...

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Wu Xie：

The firecrackers outside were popping sporadically.

The room was well heated.

The last business at the end of the afternoon was unlucky and had ended in a hurry. Mom was putting out melon seeds. I didn’t usually eat them, but we’d always put them out at the end of the year for good luck.

But that didn’t matter to me anymore. I knew for a long time that I could eat without God’s help, but after sending the red envelopes out to my employees yesterday, I still felt a little uncomfortable, because more than a dozen of them didn’t get to receive the envelopes themselves, only their families did. (1)

This industry had become more and more dangerous. In a few years, not only would the Mystic Nine disappear, but our generation would as well.

There was nothing to say during the meal. Dad would occasionally give me food, and I would bow my head and eat it. I had been going home on time every day for a long time, just like when I was in middle school, so I wasn’t in the same state as those kids who finally came home for the New Year after staying away for so long.

I hadn’t made any big moves that would make my parents happy. My business was doing well and I was in high spirits, so it seemed that there was nothing more to talk about.

“It’s next year, isn’t it?” (2) My mother suddenly asked me.

I gave a noncommittal hum.

How much did they know about what was going on with me? The scars on my hands and neck weren’t obvious, but they were my biological parents, after all. It wasn’t like those kinds of changes would make it past their eyes.

They didn’t ask me anything. After dinner, they went to watch the New Year’s party, while I went online and huddled in my old room, waiting for the city outside to roar at midnight.

I fell asleep in my chair, and when I woke up, I saw that a plate of cut apples had been placed beside the computer.

It was my mom’s habit.

The firecrackers outside were what woke me up. When I left my room, I saw that they had fallen asleep in front of the TV. I put a blanket on them, sat down beside them, and ate the apples.

The apples were so sour that every bite made me pause for a long time.

Little Brother:

He had lost his sense of time. There would never be light. He could hear drops of water, which was the only way he could calculate time.

This year was coming to an end.

When he had been with the clan in the past, the New Year’s Festival was also decorated with lights and banners, and there would be an especially festive atmosphere outside the family home. But that had nothing to do with him, nor did the other children in the main family for that matter.

The main family’s gatehouse always looked like a dead building. The obscure lights were surrounded by huge, tentacle-like towers and high walls in a ventilated space, much like the remains of an ancient beast.

It was a very strange experience. Ordinary people were ignorant at first, and then gained knowledge by opening themselves up and perceiving the world. But the clan members endlessly closed themselves off, so all that remained were the memories they had when they came out of the womb.

This was fate. Everything he had to do in his life gradually appeared in his brain. He couldn’t resist it. Any external information would be swallowed up by these original memories that had been determined since birth. If he wanted to keep what he cherished, he would need to experience a great deal of pain.

His clansmen called themselves shepherds, because the memories in their brains made them do things that would change a lot of things. It was as if God was interfering in the development of the world in this way.

His memory of the festival at that time had turned to fragments after being swallowed by countless memories. He seemed to remember a candy, but all he could recall of the person who gave it to him was that they had five fingers of the same length. The candy’s color was so bright, which wasn’t something you could see in the main building unless you were looking at blood.

It would be great if there was some candy now. Amidst the darkness, he heard the voice in his head again, pushing him towards the candy.

Don’t forget, don’t forget those things. Time was running out. He had to remember, even if it was only for a moment.

Black Glasses:

Su Wan used the nut cracker to crack open a walnut, pulled the nut out, and then put it in a small dish.

“How exactly do I explain this to my dad? On New Year’s, an adult friend of mine asked me out to crack walnuts. He must think that I’m being threatened by the underworld.”

Black Glasses smiled, grabbed a walnut, and threw it in his mouth.

Su Wan was surprised when he turned and saw a violin. “Do you know how to play?”

Black Glasses motioned him to bring it over, and Su Wan quickly complied. Black Glasses tuned it a little bit before playing “Erquan Yingyue” (3).

“This is an unlucky song.”

“I’ll make it sound lucky then.” Black Glasses suddenly changed the style, and the music became cheerful. Coupled with the sound of cracking walnuts, it seemed like a crappy duet.

Fatty:

“Are you sure you want to finish eighteen holes?” The caddie was a little girl no taller than one and a half meters, and her pert butt would shake every time her hips moved. Fatty lit a cigarette, squatted in the sandpit, and angrily stabbed his golf club in the sand.

“Golf is a gentleman’s sport. Look at you like this. You look like a farmer squatting down like this. It would only be natural to see you start spreading fertilizer.” The little girl spoke with a Cantonese accent, which was very interesting. “What’s the use of getting angry? The ball won’t come out by itself.”

“Are you done? Are you done?” Fatty asked angrily. “I already said this was my first time playing. Looking down on newcomers… it would only be natural for your family to be born finding holes with poles. I’ll be putting in a complaint about you.”

The little girl pouted, picked up the sand rake, and raked away Fatty’s footprints in the sandpit. She then squatted down beside Fatty and patted him. “Don’t be angry. You can’t deny it. It’s impossible to learn it all at once. I know why you’re really angry, and it’s definitely not because of this.”

“Then why am I angry?” Fatty raised his eyebrows in anger. “You’re an amazing caddie if you can tell what I’m angry about.”

The little girl stopped talking and continued pouting, while using her fingers to play with the sand in front of her.

After a while, Fatty asked, “Why is your place still open on New Year’s Eve? Don’t you go back for the New Year?”

“To make money,” The little girl looked at her hands. “Who would have imagined you rich people would rather golf in the middle of the night instead of play mahjong? It takes more money to play golf than it does mahjong. That’s why we aren’t closed. But you’re here playing alone, which is very abnormal. If you’re playing alone on New Year’s Eve, do you not have any family?”

“It’s just me.” Fatty continued smoking, silently noting that the golf course lights were very bleak at night.

The wind blew, and the little girl shuddered. “There are seven more holes. Let’s finish it quickly.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Fatty suddenly asked.

“No, why? You want to introduce me to someone?”

“You don’t? If that’s the case, let’s stop fighting and go. We’ll make a guest appearance. I’ll take you to eat something nice.

“No, I have to work. I’m already miserable enough having to work overtime. I don’t want to be fired, too.”

“Don’t worry, the boss is my friend.” Fatty put the cigarette out and put his hat on the little girl’s head. “I’m telling you, you’re lucky. We can eat as much expensive food as you want, until we can’t eat anymore. Don’t be shy.”

“Why are you being so good to me? You want to chase me?” The little girl smiled cunningly.

“There aren’t many people who need me now. You need me to treat you to a good meal in this cold weather. You’ve been good to me.” Fatty looked at his watch. “Happy New Year.”

Master Hua:

In the shop, Xie Yuchen stroked his beard.

He used to think he would only grow a beard after he was sixty, because his face really wasn’t suitable for it.

Er Ye made it very clear that appearances were meaningless for people who worked underground. In this world, your face was an IOU, and you had to pay back however much you borrowed when you got old.

Of course, Er Ye wouldn’t have said that if he had grown up like Fatty. Fatty’s face could be regarded as a bankruptcy liquidation statement.

He was living above a supermarket and pet shop in this small county with several tenants who hadn’t gone back for the New Year. The owners of the pet shop had been away in Hainan for the winter, so he was helping with their business and checking on the dogs they kept.

Since today was New Year’s Eve, no one would come to the store. He changed to a black, basic cell-phone that was very small and light. He spun it in his hand and made it disappear like magic. He glanced at the aquarium on one side, and saw the many turtles hibernating in it. The little turtles’ lives weren’t cherished, and many of them had retracted into their shells and would die in the following spring.

A faint “thump” came from the roof.

The phone in Xie Yuchen’s hand stopped. He narrowed his eyes and raised his head, alert. Suddenly, the guest sensor at the door rang.

A girl came in and stamped her feet. When he saw her eyes, he could tell that she had been crying.

“I’ll take it back.” The girl said.

Xie Yuchen saw a big black car behind the girl that was idling outside the door.

“Did you have a fight?” Xie Yuchen smiled and asked her to pick it up herself. The girl tugged the hair that was exposed by her hat: “I came back alone, and he left alone.” She handed him the money and left.

Xie Yuchen looked above his head again, put on his coat, ran out, and then got into the passenger seat of the girl’s car. She looked at him and asked, “What are you doing? I’m going home.”

“Give me a ride.” Xie Yuchen looked at the roof in the rearview mirror, but couldn’t see anything.

“That’s all you’d better want. If you dare mess around, I’ll cut you.” As the girl started driving, Xie Yuchen took out his cell-phone chip and threw it out the window.

Xiuxiu:

A lot of Buddhist worshippers had gathered outside Jietai Temple’s New Year’s bell ringing ceremony.

Huo Xiuxiu distributed the incense in the inner room, took out the whole box of incense sticks, put them into red festive paper bags, and then distributed them to the believers.

Laba porridge was being cooked in the kitchen, and you could see the heat wafting out of the windows on one side.

In times past, it was the old lady who presided over these things. There actually weren’t many people in the family who were interested in doing it, so when the old lady was gone, she learned the rules and came to the temple.

“Here’s your porridge.” The little novice monk outside pushed the door open and came in. He had put it in a small bowl because he knew Xiuxiu couldn’t eat too much.

The little novice monk was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and seemed to be from the Buddhist College. He put the porridge down and sat beside Xiuxiu, looking at her with a glassy stare.

“What are you looking at?” Xiuxiu wondered.

“You’re so beautiful.” The little novice monk said.

Xiuxiu gave a slight smile. “That’s a worldly desire.”

“Beauty is beauty. It has nothing to do with the desire.” The little monk said: “Perceiving beauty is completely different from wanting to possess beauty.”

With that said, he suddenly remembered something, and took a tiny turtle out of his pocket. It appeared to already be hibernating.

“For you, a New Year’s present.”

“Where did you learn to gift a girl a turtle?” Xiuxiu was amused.

“It’s not from me.” The little novice monk helped to distribute the incense. “A brother asked me to give it to you.”

Xiuxiu looked out the window and silently took the turtle. It slept like a log and she didn’t know when it would wake up.

“When it wakes up, he’ll come back.” The little novice monk said.

Xiuxiu put the turtle down, and heard the sound of bells outside. As she was tidying up her clothes and putting her hair in a bun, she found that it was snowing again.

<Extra 2.31> <Table of Contents><Extra 3.1>

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TN Notes:

(1) Those who didn’t get the red envelopes themselves were dead because the industry is so dangerous

(2) For Poker-face to come out of the bronze door

(3) Can be translated as “The Moon’s Reflection on The Second Spring”. Here’s a link on youtube if you’re interested in listening (it’s pretty soothing lol). The composer is Abing, and his info is here

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Just wanted to warn you that this is a standalone extra, but it was put with the 2015 New Years Special so that’s why I made it Chapter 3.0. After this, the rest of the New Year Special is a Xiao Hua and Wu Xie extra. And per our new normal, here are Tiffany’s extras:

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