In the past, the New Year holidays were very busy for Xu Xilin. At the beginning, for the sake of his fledgling business, he had to bite the bullet and visit many local bosses - although others didn't take him seriously because he was young, he had to get his message across. The New Year holidays were an opportunity to work hard to build relationships.

Later, the "village" gained a foothold, and Song Lianyuan became a "son-in-law". The two brothers successfully became one of the local bosses, and people came to curry favor with them. Xu Xilin treated everyone as a guest and made many friends. Every year, he was the convener of a large number of social events.

However, this year everyone was shocked to find that they could not invite him.

Xu Xilin flew over on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. On New Year's Eve, he gave Brother Song a briefing on the subsidiary's annual performance. He took a few chopsticks and laid out the strategic vision for the coming year on the table. He wanted to run away that night, but was held back by many things. He planned to slip away early on New Year's Day, with a very ridiculous reason - the grey parrot would lose its feathers if it left him for too long.

Song Lianyuan's eyebrows nearly flew out of his face after hearing this excuse: "Why don't you just marry the parrot? You are wasting your talent in business. I'll open a zoo and let you be the director!"

"Uh... there's something else." Xu Xilin racked his brains for a while, and finally his hard work paid off, and he thought of another reason. "I heard that Director Wei is in the hospital for surgery during the New Year. We should at least go over to see him, right?"

Song Lianyuan thought about the considerable dividends he received this year and reluctantly accepted the reason: "Okay, okay, go away."

Xu Xilin packed up and left, with his luggage ready.

Song Lianyuan followed him with a gloomy face, and kept on telling him: "No one will take care of you when you go back, so take care of yourself. Cook some millet porridge when you have nothing to do, and take pity on your rotten stomach... Also, make more young friends, and you don't have to go to all the business events in person, just let the subordinates run errands for you, and don't hang around that broken bird all day long, can it provide you with retirement care?"

The last sentence was an implicit reminder, but unfortunately Xu Xilin, who was in Cao's camp but his heart was with Han, didn't hear it at all. He felt the married man's nagging and ran away without looking back.

Song Lianyuan worriedly called him a bastard, then turned around and saw Gao Lan looking at him and laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Song Lianyuan asked in confusion.

"Your brother must be in love." Gao Lan tapped Song Lianyuan's forehead mysteriously, "You are the only one who can't see it, and you're still nagging, you fool."

After hearing her "good news" and thinking of Xu Xilin's unclear sexual orientation, Song Lianyuan was not happy at all. Instead, he looked even more worried, which made Gao Lan confused: "Who is his mother?"

Xu Xilin was eager to go home, and he booked his flight tickets in a taxi. He might have wanted to go back in time to be reborn, so he booked a flight with a very tight schedule. When he arrived at the airport, the automatic ticket machines were closed, so he dragged his luggage and ran all the way to the manual counter to exchange his ticket. When he finally passed through security check without any trouble, he almost burst his lungs.

I flew all the way back home, and when I landed, I heard the sound of firecrackers that lifted the ban. The streets that were usually jammed like a parking lot were now as open as a private sports car park. I finally got a taxi.

On the way, Xu Xilin, who was still on the move, suddenly had an idea: "Master, can you please see if there is a gift shop nearby for me to stop at?"

The driver looked at him like he was crazy. "Gifts? It's New Year's Day, who's going to open the door? I think you should find a flower bed where no one is watching and cut a few flowers - are you going to your girlfriend's house?"

Xu Xilin smiled brightly: "No, no."

The driver glanced at his face and said, "It's useless to buy anything. I'll give you a suggestion. I'll drop you off at the mall later. Go and buy some bird's nests and sea cucumbers for your mother-in-law. It doesn't matter if the girl has more jewelry and fewer flowers. It's better for you to get your hometown right.

Xu Xilin was embarrassed and waved his hands repeatedly. The romantic feelings floating in the air condensed into rain under the down-to-earth advice of his master and fell on the plain yellow earth.

Three people were in "Grandpa"'s flower shop. Cai Jing was homeless. Dou Xun politely sent Dou Junliang a New Year's greeting message and considered himself done with his duty. Lao Cheng showed up at home on New Year's Eve the night before and was caught by his aunts and uncles for the annual "beating children" campaign during the New Year. He ran away early from home to be abused.

The flower shop, which was closed to the public, became a gathering place for the three bachelors.

When Xu Xilin rushed in wrapped in snow, Cai Jing was studying how to heat up leftovers in the microwave. Everyone was shocked by his uninvited guest.

The grey parrot finally saw its family, and it abandoned Dou Xun who had been trying to get close to it, and fluttered its wings to fly to Xu Xilin's shoulder. After being silent for several days at Lao Cheng's house, it opened its mouth and said in a flattering way: "Congratulations on your prosperity."

Xu Xilin was standing at the door, laughing like a dog because of his beloved son.

Lao Cheng closed his jaw with difficulty - no wonder there was no news from Xu Xilin after he sent that message. It seemed that Xu Xilin was planning to come back after all this fuss!

Lao Cheng was too embarrassed to watch and asked Xu Xilin, "Why are you coming back during the New Year?"

Xu Xilin entered the house, closed the door, and hugged his beloved son. He looked for Dou Xun first and saw that Dou Xun was sitting in a cramped little space on the second floor of the shop.

The heating in the store was not good. Dou Xun had a blanket covering his legs and a laptop on his knees. He was struggling to maintain his composure and was obviously frightened.

Xu Xilin couldn't help but laugh.

"My brother has only been married for two years and doesn't have any children yet. Why should I be a third wheel?" Xu Xilin said as he glanced at the dinner they prepared and frowned. "It's New Year's Day, and you three are eating leftovers?"

Lao Cheng argued convincingly: "There is a reason for eating leftovers on the first day of the New Year. It represents abundance every year..."

"Yu, you're the one." Xu Xilin stuffed the suitcase and the parrot into Lao Cheng's hands, and casually took off his coat covered with snow and threw it at the door, rolling up his sleeves as he walked, "What about the quality of life? Lao Cai, get out of the way, let me see what else is in the refrigerator?"

Lao Cheng: “…”

He had just spoken to Dou Xun on behalf of the man named Xu the day before, describing him as an empty, lonely and cold workaholic. He also said that all he did all day was eat fast food and socialize everywhere, and that he exuded an air of world-weariness.

As a result, the real owner came back today to slap him in the face!

Lao Cheng angrily mopped the doorway that was covered with muddy footprints from Xu Xilin's steps, thinking, "You bastard, if you keep meddling in your business, I'll be a cuckold!"

Xu Xilin's mind has not been calm since he received the WeChat message from Lao Cheng. He wanted to fully demonstrate the results of his culinary training a few years ago - he just regretted that Lao Cheng's family did not have so many ingredients for him to use.

Although Dou Xun was determined, he was relatively brave when facing birds. However, he was still a little timid when meeting people. He hesitantly went downstairs and poked his head into the kitchen: "What can I do for you?"

Xu Xilin turned around and smiled at him: "Okay, what can you do?"

Dou Xun: “…”

Xu Xilin took off his coat and covered himself with a thin cashmere sweater, as if he was casually draped on a moving clothes hanger, revealing the outline of his shoulders and waist in every detail. At his age, his skeleton has been formed, and his back is full of manliness and uprightness, without the immaturity of a teenager anymore, but the smile he gave back when he turned around was as warm as before.

This smile was so lethal that Dou Xun almost couldn't resist it. After being speechless for a long time, he reluctantly admitted: "...I can make fried rice."

After saying this, Dou Xun felt a little embarrassed because he realized that he had been sticking to his own ways for the past ten years without making any progress, whether it was towards Xu Xilin or in the kitchen.

Xu Xilin was helpless: "Go and wait for the meal, this is too fumesy."

Lao Cheng, who came back to put away the mop, was glanced at by his indulgent eyes. He immediately walked along the wall with his hair standing on end, wishing he could beat the guy named Xu out with the mop.

Dou Xun stared at Xu Xilin for a while, reluctant to leave, but there was so little space in "Grandpa" Flower Shop and he had to take care of the feelings of the other two onlookers, so he had to sit back in the living room reluctantly.

As soon as the food was served, the dissatisfied Lao Cheng forgave Xu Xilin and felt that he could love him for another five hundred years.

Thanks to Dou Xun, the three bachelors who were barely making ends meet finally didn't have to eat the leftovers from takeout on New Year's Eve. Xu Xilin sat down pretentiously and wiped his hands politely with a towel: "We don't have enough time today, so I'll just make something and you can make do with it."

Lao Cheng looked at the flowers carved into the radish beside the vegetable dish and thought that he might need to include the word "casual" in the entry again.

After dinner, Cai Jing automatically got up to clean up, while Dou Xun tentatively sat next to Xu Xilin as if he were approaching a grey parrot. His sitting posture was a bit stiff and rigid at first, but when he found that Xu Xilin didn't seem to mind, he relaxed a little. But he couldn't resist being a little greedy and touched Xu Xilin's hand under the pretext of looking for the TV remote control.

Xu Xilin turned his head to look at him - the first few times they met, Xu Xilin seldom looked him in the eye. At that time, Dou Xun was just a little disappointed, but overall he felt okay. Today, Xu Xilin didn't know what medicine he had taken wrong... Or maybe he gradually got used to it and returned to his old habits - when Dou Xun talked to him, he looked at Dou Xun quietly. The focused gaze and affectionate gaze were actually a bit similar, which could easily make people distracted.

"The parrot hasn't spoken much in the past few days. Is it because it's not used to living here?" Dou Xun was not very good at talking to people, and he had difficulty finding a topic to talk about.

Xu Xilin waved at the grey parrot on the shelf, and the big bird flew over and landed on his arm in a well-trained manner: "It's so poor at home. Maybe it's because it's not familiar with Laocheng here and is a little timid. Come on, son, sing a song."

The grey parrot has the same habits as Mr. Dou when he was young. It is usually spoiled and arrogant, but once Xu Xilin gets angry, or for some reason doesn't keep it around for a while, it becomes extremely uneasy. Once it becomes uneasy, it becomes very well behaved and particularly likable.

At this moment, the grey parrot was afraid that Xu Xilin would not take it away. It was so cute that it sang when asked. It even sang a very festive "Gong Xi Fa Cai"... although it was out of tune in the middle.

Hearing that it was about to turn to the love business again, Xu Xilin hurriedly fed it a peanut to eat.

Dou Xun reached out and touched it. The parrot was very dissatisfied, but because it was being nice, it couldn't attack, so it had to hold its nose and endure it.

Xu Xilin suddenly grabbed Dou Xun's wrist.

Dou Xun actually showed him the scars on his hands on purpose, but when Xu Xilin touched him, he couldn't help but shiver slightly, and his waist, which had just relaxed, stiffened again involuntarily.

Xu Xilin's face turned cold: "Did that little beast bite you?"

The parrot was so frightened that it didn't even bother to eat the peanuts. It flapped its wings and flew to the foot of the table, standing there trembling in fear.

At this time, Cai Jing came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes. Dou Xun immediately remembered that Xu Xilin had been very secretive about their relationship in front of others. When there were outsiders around, Xu Xilin never liked to have physical contact with him, so he immediately broke free from Xu Xilin's hand: "It's okay."

Just when Xu Xilin was feeling half heartbroken, he was unexpectedly "avoided as much as possible", and his heart inevitably sank.

Fortunately, he had suffered a lot of cold stares in his early years, and his mental state adjusted quickly.

Thinking back then, he completely passively accepted Dou Xun's intense and passionate affection. He was always confused and didn't find the right rhythm. In fact, when you think about it, how many men have such luck?

Even male birds know that courtship is not easy, and it is normal to encounter a few setbacks. They just need to adjust their strategies... Fortunately, everyone is at this age now, and even if they are as ruthless as Dou Xun, they are unlikely to anger him in person like they did when they were teenagers. It feels much better anyway.

Thinking of this, Xu Xilin calmed down.

He glared at the parrot that didn't dare to look up: "What did I tell you at home?"

The grey parrot lowered its wings, trembling slightly nervously.

Xu Xilin was reluctant to hit him, but still angry, so he threatened him: "If you bite me again, I will not want you anymore."

The grey parrot understood and was frightened, standing there in a daze.

Although Dou Xun was deliberately making false accusations, when he looked at the bird, he suddenly felt a little sad for the fox because of the rabbit's death.

So he stretched out an arm to the grey parrot. The bird probably knew who it had offended, so it flew to Dou Xun's arm with a dusty face, carefully retracted its claws and didn't scratch him. It glanced at Xu Xilin, and seeing that his expression didn't ease, it had to turn to Dou Xun with displeasure, jumped onto his shoulder, and rubbed his head against him in frustration.

Dou Xun said, "It's okay. It bit me a lot when it was little. It's always like that in a new place. It will be fine after a few days of getting used to it. How about you let me keep it for a few more days?"

After saying this, Dou Xun still felt that he was quite clever. This way, he had a reason to contact Xu Xilin and meet him from time to time.

This was exactly what Xu Xilin, who had evil intentions, wanted, and he sold his son without saying a word.

That night, Xu Xilin was driven away by Lao Cheng on the grounds that "the house is too small to accommodate him."

He left late the previous night, and the next day he came back like a lunatic before daybreak. Xu Xilin drove around the "Grandpa" flower shop, and saw from downstairs that the curtains of several rooms were drawn, so he left reluctantly. He came back in the morning and got a bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables from somewhere.

While Dou Xun was changing the water for the bird, Lao Cheng quietly waved to Xu Xilin, "Come here."

Xu Xilin: "What's the matter?"

Lao Cheng took a bite of the apple with gritted teeth, and saw the "Xiangli" trademark on the back of the fruit basket. He discovered with hatred that the fruit supplied exclusively to the decadent bourgeoisie was indeed expensive for a reason.

Lao Cheng: "Let me discuss something. Can you take your ancestor away? At worst, we can send him back at night. He has to come to visit me every morning and evening. We can't afford to hire someone of your stature as a cook."

Xu Xilin also had the same idea, and asked quietly: "Where are you going?"

As a lifetime member of the "Go Die Die Group", Lao Cheng was stunned by his question. He widened his eyes and said, "You ask me? This is your first day meeting Dou Xun?"

Xu Xilin: “…”

In fact, he had hardly gone out with Dou Xun because he had to take care of Grandma Xu at that time. They would occasionally go out together, probably to attend a class reunion or buy groceries.

He rarely bought any gifts for Dou Xun, and never asked him out.

The ups and downs of that relationship seemed to have no artificial romance or deliberateness at all. Without anyone to maintain it, it could spread all over the garden like weeds and become a disaster.

Now that everything has to start from scratch, he actually feels a little overwhelmed.

Lao Cheng noticed that there was something wrong with his expression: "What's wrong?"

Xu Xilin quickly came to his senses: "It's okay, you are right, I took the person away."

After saying this, he jumped up as if he were recharged with electricity.

Lao Cheng heard Xu Xilin first call someone to help him check the latest art performances, and then asked someone to help book tickets for the evening drama, and then ran to ask Dou Xun if he wanted to go out with him to look at houses - although the real estate agencies might not be open, Xu Xilin claimed that he was familiar with them all, and had a general idea of ​​the traffic conditions and rental prices of each house, so he could take him to see the environment first, and then he could look at houses with a clear mind.

As soon as Lao Cheng heard it, he knew he was talking nonsense - Xu Xilin had been wandering in other places for several years, and when he came back, he couldn't even find his own home. The rent of the rented house had not increased for several years. How could he be familiar with the city's housing rental market?

I don't know how much time I spent looking up maps on the Internet the night before as a last-minute effort to prepare for the exam.

Lao Cheng watched Xu Xilin trick Dou Xun out with just a few words, and hummed a little tune as he approached the grey parrot to annoy him: "Hey, you're staying again?"

Grey parrot makes aggressive gestures.

"Bite, bite," Lao Cheng laughed, "tell your father after you bite him, and he will not want you anymore."

The grey parrot, for the first time, spoke to a stranger and said, "Pooh!"

Humans are not good!