LOCAM 27

Chapter 27

There was still half an hour until the New Year.

Mo Xingyuan had been sitting there for a long time. Su Li was a little worried about his health.

“Go to sleep.”

“You talk too much.” Mo Xingyuan did not accept her kindness.

Su Li wrinkled her nose. After sitting for a while longer, she got up and went inside.

When she came back out, she had an extra blanket in her hands and draped it around him from behind.

Her action made Mo Xingyuan turn around warily to look at her.

“I’m afraid you’ll catch a cold.” Su Li sat back down. “It’s the New Year. Don’t get sick.”

Mo Xingyuan didn’t want it.

Su Li glared at him. “You’d better listen to me, or else…”

“What will you do?” Mo Xingyuan narrowed his eyes when he realized she was threatening him.

“Or else I’ll hug you.”

“…”

Mo Xingyuan took the blanket off and tossed it directly onto her.

“Mo Xingyuan, you need to take care of yourself.” Su Li stood up and put the blanket back over him.

“You really talk too much.”

Mo Xingyuan tried to take it off again, but Su Li pressed both hands firmly against his chest, not letting him pull it away.

The two of them silently wrestled, neither willing to give in.

Su Li was standing; Mo Xingyuan tilted his head up at her. “Don’t push your luck.”

“Keep it on,” Su Li frowned. “It’s not like I’m asking you to hug me.”

Mo Xingyuan pressed his lips together, his eyes cool and distant.

“Glare at me all you want, it won’t help,” Su Li said. “Otherwise, go back to your room and sleep.”

In the end, Mo Xingyuan gave in first.

Su Li smiled as she let go, even lightly patting his chest. “That’s more like it.”

Mo Xingyuan remained expressionless.

At midnight, somewhere a clock tower began to chime.

Fireworks burst across the sky, all celebrating the arrival of the New Year.

Su Li gazed at the brilliant fireworks overhead. As she smiled, a faint coolness gathered at the corners of her eyes.

Her phone buzzed with messages.

She glanced at it—WeChat was full of New Year’s blessings.

Mo Xingyuan also took out his phone. A message had come from across the ocean.

[Xingyuan, Happy New Year!]

Mo Xingyuan did not reply.

“Mo Xingyuan, Happy New Year!” Su Li looked at him with a bright smile.

He looked at the woman’s face—radiant and lively, her big eyes curved like crescent moons, sparkling beautifully.

There was a hint of moisture at the corners of her eyes. She hid it carefully, but it still gave her away.

In all these years, this was the first time he had accompanied a woman from the very last second of the old year into the first second of the new one.

A man who never kept vigil on New Year’s Eve was now sitting in front of a small brazier, staying up from last year into this one.

Mo Xingyuan’s gaze shifted from the woman to the fleeting fireworks in the sky.

Because of their beauty, people forget how brief they are.

Because of their brilliance, even though they are short-lived, they still fill people with anticipation and joy.

Happy New Year.

In his heart, Mo Xingyuan silently repeated those four words.

He didn’t know who he was saying them to.

Perhaps… to Su Li.

.

At one in the morning, after the servants had finished cleaning up, they all went back to rest.

Su Li was still sitting in front of the nearly burned-out fire, wide awake—if anything, even more alert.

Once the New Year passed, it would be February.

Mo Xingyuan’s time was running out.

She had gone from not caring, to caring, to now wishing time would slow down.

“Still not sleeping?” Mo Xingyuan asked her.

Su Li paused, then suddenly realized something. Her eyes lit up. “Were you waiting for me?”

Mo Xingyuan stood up without answering.

“Sleep, sleep.” Su Li quickly got up and followed behind him. “I’ll sleep with you.”

“….” Mo Xingyuan clenched his teeth and endured it, choosing not to respond.

Outside the Mo family villa, the lights remained on all night long.