"Alright," Fu Xinci generously stopped.
Xiaobai seized the opportunity to yelp twice and jump into the human's hood, pretending to be dead.
"Why aren't you running on your own anymore?"
Xiaobai: It blinked its small bean-like eyes, but made no sound. With a human carrying it, why would it suffer itself?
Seeing that Xiaobai didn't answer, Fu Xinci secretly chuckled and reminded it, "Stay put, we're going to speed up."
Xiaobai heard the whistling wind, much louder than before, and a thought flashed in its little head: Is this a human?
Fu Xinci, however, paid no mind to what Xiaobai was thinking. With no one else around, she accelerated, and accelerated, and kept accelerating.
Only when her eyes spotted the smoke and cooking smells from the valley did she slow down.
"Squeak squeak squeak." Little Bai was dizzy.
"No way?"
"Squeak squeak squeak."
"I told you to stay in the space, but you insisted on being outside."
"Squeak..."
Seeing that Xiaobai was listless, Fu Xinci didn't ask for its opinion and directly sent it into the space.
At the entrance of the courtyard where her friends lived, two snowmen were piled up on either side, like two guardian gods protecting the peace of the area.
Fu Xinci knew without asking that the snowman on the left was built by Pang Dun'er.
The reason? Because he was fat!
Fu Xinci took a few steps forward and knocked on the closed courtyard gate.
In the main hall, three people were playing "Dou Dizhu" (Fight the Landlord). The captain was doing alright, with only two slips of paper on his face.
The remaining two people had so many slips of paper stuck to their faces that it was hard to tell who was who without looking at their builds.
"Open the door."
A sharp voice called from outside the gate. Xu Jiacan lifted the slips of paper from his face and asked, "Did I just hear Xinci's voice?"
"I think I heard it too."
"It's not 'I think,' it's definitely Xinci who's here," the captain said, putting down his cards and running out to open the door for Xinci.
"Xinci, why are you here in this weather? Was the mountain road easy to travel? Was it dangerous?"
"No danger."
After answering the captain's question, Fu Xinci noticed that the captain had two slips of paper stuck to his left cheek.
"Cap...tain, how many hands did you lose?"
"Heh, I only lost two hands. Go inside and take a look at Xu Jiacan and Pang Dun'er. Their faces are covered in paper, they look like mop heads."
"Really? I need to go in quickly and see." Fu Xinci, afraid they would destroy the evidence, hurried into the main hall.
When she ran in and saw two mop heads, she couldn't help but laugh.
"My goodness, how many hands did you guys lose? You can't even see your original faces."
Seeing Fu Xinci arrive, Xu Jiacan immediately started complaining to her, "Don't even mention it. The captain can always snatch the landlord role, so we've always been laborers."
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"Bad? We're so miserable it's beyond words."
"I'm even more miserable than him. After finally snatching the landlord role, they teamed up and beat me."
"Pfft, you two are too bad. You couldn't even beat the captain together?"
"Xinci, don't doubt it. Even with you joining us, we might not be able to beat him."
Fu Xinci thought about it and agreed. The captain was always the best player, no matter what game he played.
The captain didn't want to make the two mop heads suffer any longer and suggested, "How about we play Mahjong with Xinci?"
Fu Xinci immediately surrendered with both hands, "I don't play Mahjong."
"Why can't you play?"
"I know why Xinci doesn't play Mahjong."
Hearing Xinci's voice, Yang Xinjie and Xiao Ai, and the others, all ran over from their rooms.
"Xinjie, what's the reason?"
"Yeah." All her friends looked at Yang Xinjie, including Uncle Xu and Uncle Sun who had just come out of the kitchen.
"Because Xinci can commit fraudulent wins."
"No way."
"Yes," Fu Xinci admitted herself. "I've done this a few times."
"No way."
"This is very normal for Xinci."
"Back during the summer vacation, we were bored, and they taught me how to play Mahjong."
"And you ended up learning fraudulent wins?"
"Yes, and I owed them a meal of Liangpi."
"Ah, I want to eat Liangpi too." Xiao Ai glanced at Fu Xinci and said plaintively, "It's over, Xinci, you've made me crave it."
"It doesn't matter if you're craving it, Xinjie can make Liangpi."
"Really, Xinjie?"
"More real than pearls, genuinely authentic."
"Ah, Xinjie, my Liangpi depends on you!"
"In this cold weather, you want to eat Liangpi? Are you crazy?"
"No, I just want to eat Liangpi, I've wanted it for years. Xinjie, please make some for us to try, even just a bite would be fine."
Seeing Xiao Ai looking so pitiful, Yang Xinjie understood.
"However, I haven't made it in a long time. If my skills have deteriorated, you can't blame me."
"We won't blame you. As long as you can make it, and make it with lots of chili!"
"I want to eat too." After Xiao Ai finished, Pang Dun'er felt this couldn't happen without him.
"I want to eat too. But I have to go back today, otherwise my grandfather will worry."
Fu Xinci thought about how she couldn't visit for a while after she went back today, and felt extremely depressed.
"It's okay, worst case, I'll make it for you next time."
"That's the only way."
After talking about Liangpi, her friends finally remembered to ask Xinci, "Xinci, why did you come over in this cold weather?"
"We're slaughtering the New Year pig at home. Grandfather asked me to bring half a pig for you."
"Grandpa Meng is the best, still thinking of us as the New Year approaches."
Thinking of the kind Grandpa Meng, everyone genuinely missed him.
"So you should eat more and not let your grandfather down," Fu Xinci said, then went to the pantry. She not only stored all sorts of meat but also replenished the friends' supply of rice, flour, and vegetables.
Uncle Sun looked at the vibrant green rapeseed, the dewy bok choy, and the plump oyster mushrooms, and suggested having hot pot for dinner.
Uncle Sun's suggestion was immediately met with approval from everyone.
Fu Xinci, thinking about her friends' appetites and the frequent guest Xiang Tong, followed Uncle Sun and the others to the kitchen and directly put down a prepared goat.
"Xinci, you don't need to bring so much meat. We still have plenty at home, enough for many days."
"How much meat is one goat? If everyone eats normally, plus any freeloaders, it might not be enough for one meal."
Uncle Xu, thinking that the children quite liked hot pot, and that Xiang Tong's family of three next door might also like it, didn't say anything more.
Once it was decided to have hot pot for dinner, Pang Dun'er, one of the mop heads, started organizing to play Mahjong.
"Captain, I want to make a comeback."
"I'm afraid you'll lose your underwear."
"Not to that extent. I won't take his underwear."
"Captain, it's the New Year. Do you want to make fun of us to death so you can eat more hot pot?"
"Not to that extent. If it's possible to laugh people to death, you guys would be last in line."
Friends: Captain, do you know what "utterly bewildered" means?