CH 73

Su Huanyi’s heart felt like it had been hit, and his face turned red.

Shit! Su Chi left just to send me a message?

A few meters away, the family members were turning their heads to talk to each other, and there was a lively noise from the TV. He glanced at Su Jitong and Yu Xinyan, but neither of them was looking at him.

He replied secretly: [Big brother, not now.]

The phone vibrated again: [Wait for midnight before kissing.]

“….”

The family must be together at midnight on New Year’s Eve, so it would be even more dangerous!

Before Su Huanyi could decide on whether to say yes or no, there was a noise away from the living room, and Su Chi came out of the bathroom.

He was sitting on the side of the corridor, so he could see the former when he looked over. Su Chi’s deep eyes had a palpitating light.

Su Huanyi’s heart skipped a beat. His big brother was teasing him again!

He slowly stuffed his mobile phone back into the sofa crevice… they’ll just kiss. There will always be a solution as long as he faces it positively and thinks about it.

Su Chi took a few steps from the end of the corridor and came back to the living room.

Su Jitong turned his head to look at him and said, “You’re back?”

“Yeah.” The sofa sank to one side, and Su Chi’s expression had returned to normal.

Su Jitong only glanced at him before turning back. Su Huanyi saw water droplets on Su Chi’s hands and could not help but marvel at his elder brother’s anti-detection ability once again.

Su Chi pulled a piece of tissue to wipe his wet fingers, and then pulled out a mobile phone from the crook of the sofa beside him.

Su Chi looked over and asked, “Why do you need to bury your phone in there? Are you hoarding?

Su Huanyi replied secretively, “It’s to guard our common little secret.”

Su Chi: “….”

Su Chi complimented him, “What a great primitive way of guarding.”

Su Huanyi savored the unspoken praise.

……….

They sat on the sofa for a while. Su Huanyi secretly peeked at Su Chi while eating snacks. He was thinking about how to achieve the “midnight kiss”.

His big brother would rarely take such a risk unless his will was really strong.

Su Huanyi looked over to Su Chi’s side of the table and withdrew his hand from the platter of crispy meat just as Su Chi suddenly leaned forward and reached for a glass of water.

The backs of their hands brushed against each other in the air, and the warmth of their bodies caused a surge of electric current.

Su Huanyi hurriedly withdrew his eyes and lowered his head to chew on the crispy meat.

Just as he finished eating a piece, Su Chi’s voice rang out next to him, “What time is it?”

The program for the Spring Festival Gala had just ended, so the TV sound was turned down. Su Jianchen, who was two seats away, heard him and turned around to say, “Big brother, isn’t it on the bottom right corner of the TV? It’s 11:50. ”

Su Chi answered, “Got it.”

Su Huanyi: ..….Why did it feel like Su Chi is reminding me?

Entrusting such a daunting task to him was a far cry from the old “Leave me alone!” and the current “Leave it to me”.

Thinking about it, it was Su Chi who confessed and chased him. It was also Su Chi who always initiated any kind of intimacy.

Could it be that his big brother’s New Year’s wish is to see him take the initiative?

Hiss! Su Huanyi was suddenly burdened with a heavy sense of mission.

The time was approaching midnight with the end of one program after another.

Yu Xinyan started patting Su Jitong’s thigh again, “Five minutes left to the New Year! Jitong, we have to count down loudly! ”

Su Jitong’s legs shook a few times, “Madam is right.”

The Spring Festival Gala program on TV had come to a close, and the hosts were all standing in the middle of the stage, ready to count down with the people of China.

Su Huanyi moved his fingers and found his mobile phone. While Su Jitong and his wife were happily flirting, Su Huanyi quickly set an alarm for half a minute later.

Su Chi’s eyes looked over and swept away.

After half a minute, the phone dinged on the sofa, and several people in the living room looked at it at the same time.

Su Huanyi picked up the phone and glanced at it, “My friend is calling. He probably wants to send New Year’s greetings, so I’ll go out and answer it! ”

With that, he got up and ran out of the living room with an excited hair on his head.

“Eh….” Su Jitong didn’t have the chance to stop him and said to Yu Xinyan, “Which friend is that who picks this time of New Year’s Eve to call? How important is that friendship that they have to celebrate the New Year together? ”

Yu Xinyan slapped him on the thigh skillfully and naturally, “Little Yi has grown up and has his own social circle. Maybe it’s one of his suitors, ahahaha! ”

Su Jitong was instantly vigilant, “Why are pigs always coming to our family’s cabbage?”

Su Chi’s deep gaze fell on his father’s face.

Three minutes to midnight, the atmosphere inside and outside the show had already heated up. Su Jitong’s eyes kept going towards the door of the living room, and he finally couldn’t help taking it anymore, “Why is Little Yi still on the phone outside? Which one of you is going to…”

He wanted to call out to Su Chi but thought of something when the words came to his lips, and he called on Su Yu instead, “Third, go outside and call your brother to come back for New Year’s Eve.”

Su Chi was looking at the TV, his stern face not showing any objection.

“Okay,” Su Yu stood up. His slender figure walked across the living room, pausing as he passed Su Chi.

Su Chi raised his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong, third brother?”

Su Yu was at the entrance to the living room, facing the corridor of the side hall and the courtyard outside. A slight night breeze leaked in through the unclosed courtyard door, and he said, in a trembling voice, “Ahh… the wind is strong! I’m going to be blown away.”

Su Chi was merciless, “Are you a paper man?”

“Big brother, it seems that you’re not afraid of the cold wind, so you go and call little brother.”

“Fine.” Su Chi calmly stood up and walked past Su Yu towards the corridor.

His tall, steady body disappeared through the doorway of the living room without any trace of deliberate arrangement.

Su Yu went back to his seat with his hand in his pocket.

Tsk… Big brother is really powerful. He looks like he’s just going with the flow when, in fact, he has already stabilized the mentality of the whole family for the sake of his arrangements for New Year’s Eve.

………….

On the lawn outside the house, Su Huanyi was leaning against the wall with his phone in hand.

Behind the wall is the courtyard outside the side hall. The trees in the courtyard were thickly branched, and their huge canopies spilt over the wall and fell at his feet as shadows.

Through the glass door, he could faintly hear the sound of the television program inside. The time on his mobile phone had jumped to 11:58, with less than two minutes to go before the countdown.

Su Huanyi was a little uneasy: his big pigeon wouldn’t fail to coo at him and leave him to celebrate New Year’s Eve alone in the cold of the night?

Then there was a sudden, subtle sound of movement in the courtyard.

Su Huanyi’s heart jumped, and he turned his head to see a handsome figure walking toward the main gate.

The lights at the gate of the courtyard shone from behind him, casting a soft halo in the cold night.

“Big brother!” Su Huanyi called out in a low voice, his heart leaping with a steady, hidden joy as he raised his small wings and fluttered up to him.

Su Chi walked a few steps over and opened his arms to embrace him, wrapping him in a wide hug. He ducked his head and sucked on his neck, “I’m here.”

The hot breath brushed against his ear and swirled around the nape of his neck. Su Huanyi slightly tilted his head and wrapped his arms around Su Chi’s back, letting the red plums in the cold winter fall onto the warm snow one by one.

The two heartbeats seemed to be beating as one, one on the left and one on the right.

The time jumped past 11:59.

Su Chi gasped for air in the darkness of the light, pressing Su Huanyi against the wall.

Behind the wall came the sound of the last-minute countdown.

“Su Huanyi.” He lowered his head again, and their foreheads touched.

Su Huanyi’s breath was slightly chaotic, his eyelashes fluttering as he looked up at Su Chi through the faint light in the distance, “Big brother?”

With half a minute to go, they could already hear the family and the television counting down the seconds.

The tip of Su Chi’s nose touched his, but his lips were half a finger’s distance apart, and the burst of heat in the air was teasing him, “I want to hear what you have to say.”

Su Chi didn’t say what he wanted to hear.

However, Su Huanyi somehow understood the heat in his eyes. This was probably the feeling of having the same heart-you don’t say, I don’t ask, but what I give must be what you want.

He lifted his hands and hugged the broad back a little tighter, and Su Huanyi’s heartbeat was transmitted to Su Chi’s heart.

As if anticipating what was to come, excitement, anticipation, and nervousness poured into their chests.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

Behind the wall came the sound of a neat countdown accompanied by the phrase “why aren’t they back yet?”

Su Huanyi looked into Su Chi’s eyes and saw a heavy feeling of longing in them.

“Three, two, one…”

He lifted his chin and pressed it up. “Big brother, I like you too.”

“Zero…!”

At the same time, hot and soft lips pressed together.

With eagerness, Su Chi’s kisses were filled with passion and possession, as if to declare that the person in his arms belonged to him at this moment. Su Huanyi’s back trembled lightly against the courtyard wall.

“Hmm ……mm, mmm.”

Across the wall were celebrations of New Year’s Eve in the living room. Outside, they kissed freely under the shadows of the swaying trees.

………

It was three minutes past midnight when their lips slowly parted.

Su Huanyi’s breath had not yet calmed, and he arched his head into the familiar harbour, his strands of hair digging in shyly.

They actually came out to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve!

What a pair of daring villains they were!

A hand caressed his back and patted him gently. Su Chi’s voice was hoarse, magnetic, and sultry. “It’s time to go back.”

Su Huanyi nodded and lifted his head.

They looked at each other in the dim light, and Su Huanyi pluneg himself into his palms: Ah, he confessed….!

Su Chi looked at him, “..Truly a bonsai potted plant.”

Su Huanyi: “…”

He walked back towards the house, showing tangled strands of hair on his head.

Su Chi followed him leisurely, occasionally turning the strands around to show the way when he went off course.

They returned to the house, and the bustling atmosphere came through the brightly lit entrance to the living room.

As soon as Su Huanyi stepped into the living room, several lines of sight turned around at the same time. Su Jitong wondered, “Little Yi, why did you go out for so long?”

Su Huanyi: “……I was on a phone call spending New Year’s Eve with a friend.”

Su Chi happened to step up from behind and he carried the man to the sofa. Su Jitong turned to him, “Why did the eldest stay out for so long too?”

Su Chi: “I reached when it was almost midnight. So I just stayed behind to celebrate New Year’s Eve with him.”

Su Jitong wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Yu Xinyan slapping her fins on the thigh, “It’s okay, as long as you’re not alone for New Year’s Eve!”

Su Huanyi hurriedly stretched out two palms and waved his fins, “Mom is right!”

Su Jitong: “….”

Yu Xinyan turned her head to look at him. “Where do you stand?”

Su Jitong: “Madam… madam is right!”

The living room was filled with a joyful and peaceful atmosphere.

The Spring Festival Gala ended forty minutes later.

It was already late at night and Su Huanyi had gotten sleepy after returning to the living room. His eyes began to squint as soon as the TV was turned off…

Su Chi leaned down and salvaged him, “Go back to sleep.”

Su Huanyi changed back to the shape of a noodle and leaned on Su Chi’s elbow.

Su Yu yawned and walked in front of the two, following Su Jianchen upstairs.

There was still some uneaten food in the living room, so Yu Xinyan said, “Wu Ma has already gone to bed, so I’ll take these plates to the fridge.”

Su Jitong waved his hand to let her put them down, “You go up to bed, I’ll collect them.” He then looked at his two sons opposite him and said, “Little Yi is also sleepy. Madam, you and little Yi first go upstairs. Eldest, you stay here and help me put these away.”

Su Chi said, “Okay.”

Su Huanyi’s dazed eyes opened a little and he looked at Su Chi.

Su Chi lifted him and made him stand straight, “You go back first.”

“Okay ……” Su Huanyi then followed Yu Xinyan upstairs with squinted eyes.

Once the family left, the living room was empty again. Su Jitong rolled up his sleeves and bent over to collect the remnants on the table. The strong and rough arms still showed traces of his early years of hard work, and these were the hands that had brought the Su family to the position it was in today.

Su Jitong looked across the table at his eldest son—he was as tough and determined as he had been in his youth, and with a heart and mind far above the ordinary.

His heart, which had been hesitant for some time, suddenly dropped, “Eldest.”

Su Chi didn’t pause in his tidying up but only raised his head slightly to look at him.

The casual and easy-going look in Su Jitong’s eyes was gone, vaguely showing the majesty of the old days. “Dad will only ask you one question.”

Su Chi swept the pile of peanut skins that Su Huanyi had eaten into the bin and then straightened up.

Father and son looked at each other from a distance of two to three meters, not saying anything, but both had a sense of the conversation that was to follow.

Su Jitong began, “Dad has always respected your wishes and has never asked about your love life all these years. Eldest, I’m now asking you, do you have someone you like? ”

A short silence fell in the living room.

After a long time, Su Chi’s eyelashes drooped: “Yes.”