Nocturnal

It gets dark early at night in winter, and it was already dark outside when Xia's family's dinner was served.The red lanterns under the eaves of the corridor lit up, and reflected on the glass windows with steam, there was a warm and happy atmosphere.

Qin Mochi hung two firecrackers on the branch of the fig tree in the yard, and with a look of impatience pushed back the few furry children who were watching the fun around him, he bent down and lit the cigarette between his fingers Firecracker wick.The children on the steps behind them were watched by the nanny, and they all jumped up and laughed, which attracted Qin Mochi's two cousins ​​to come out of the living room to watch the fun.Qin Mochi threw the cigarette butt on the ground and twirled it with his toes, a little annoyed by the sound of firecrackers near and far.

New Year's Eve is not a big or small festival in Huaidong, and there is nothing special about it. Usually, people set off firecrackers and the family gathers for a meal.Of Mr. Xia's children, except for the youngest daughter who married abroad, the other three sons returned to the old house one after another after noon.Qin Mochi didn't like being surrounded by a bunch of elders, and accompanied them to perform half-truths and half-fake dramas of family caring for each other, so he volunteered to spend a long time with a few children in the game room.Qin Mochi felt a little headache when he thought that dinner had already started to be set in the dining room, and he would inevitably be questioned by the elders later.

Someone behind him leaned over and put his arm on his shoulder.Qin Mochi smelled the faint smell of smoke, and knew it was his cousin Xia Zhifei.Xia Zhifei is the youngest son of his uncle's family. He is two years older than Qin Mochi, and like him, he has an exuberant temperament. Since childhood, the two of them have often joined hands to do things that people hate.

The sound of firecrackers was too loud, Qin Mochi couldn't hear what he said clearly, so he raised his voice and asked, "What?" Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

Xia Zhifei pinched the back of his neck, lowered his voice and said, "Third Uncle is waiting to clean you up in front of Grandpa."

Qin Mochi sneered.

Xia Zhifei glanced at the brightly lit hall behind him, and shook his head, "This old bastard is so calm, he didn't complain until today."

"I thought he would hold back until New Year's Eve." Qin Mochi said with a smile: "You think, when grandpa brought a whole family to worship the ancestors, he jumped out to sue, how dramatic it was, and it also seemed that he was being raped." I was so forced into it that I had no choice but to choose such a big day to make a fuss..." Qin Mochi squeezed his throat intentionally, imitating his third uncle's tone and said angrily: "Qin Mochi, that little bastard who has a father but no mother... "

Xia Zhifei turned his head to look at him.Half of Qin Mochi's face was reflected in the red light of the lantern, and the other half was sunk in the shadow of the night, the corners of his slightly raised eyes were cast with a thick shadow, but the bottom of his eyes was full of fine and smooth light, which for no reason brought out a few It is very charming and charming.Xia Zhifei's heart skipped a beat, he stretched out his hand to pinch his chin and turned towards him, looked at him carefully with the help of the light, and smiled half-truthfully, "Your boy looks a little different recently..."

Qin Mochi gave him a blank look.Xia Zhifei was about to speak when he heard someone coughing twice behind him, and when he turned around, he saw his elder brother Xia Zhinian came out at some time, frowning at the two of them messing around.He was nearly ten years older than these two boys, and he always had a straight face, and the younger brothers were a little afraid of him.

Xia Zhifei quickly let go of his hand, and took two steps back with a flattering smile, "Brother?"

Qin Mochi glanced at him lightly, but said nothing.

Xia Zhinian ignored Xia Zhifei, and when he turned to look at Qin Mochi, his expression was slightly impatient, "What the hell did you provoke?"

"It's nothing." Qin Mochi winked at Xia Zhifei, signaling him to bring a few children in first, then turned to look at Xia Zhinian and asked, "Brother, what did you hear? I haven't been out much recently. "

Xia Zhinian raised his eyebrows and looked at him suspiciously, "You really didn't go out?"

Qin Mochi nodded heavily.His eyes are well-born, big and energetic, especially when a pair of black and white pupils are fixed on looking at people, even if Xia Zhinian knows that his little cousin has not been a pure seed since he was a child, he still feels a little bit in his heart Shaken, I thought to myself, could it be that the third uncle was instigated by others, and he believed in some rumors?

The two brothers looked at each other for a while, Xia Zhinian came to his senses, "Where did you offend Third Uncle?"

"Who knows." Qin Mochi didn't care, "That old guy has always looked down on me..."

Xia Zhinian stretched out his hand and slapped him on the head, "You're talking nonsense, the bigger you get, the more unruly you are!"

Seeing Xia Zhifei looking at him from behind the doorpost in the living room, Qin Mochi winked at him to indicate that he was fine, then pulled Xia Zhinian's sleeve and walked in earnestly, "Brother, let me tell you, third uncle The old guy has been holding back his strength to deal with me. My dad must not believe me, you have to stand by me. "

Xia Zhinian's heart softened immediately when he heard these words.Qin Mochi's father is his second uncle, and he usually doesn't like Qin Mochi, the son of the front room. This is a well-known secret in the family.However, Qin Mochi is not just a fuel-efficient lamp.

When Qin Mochi followed Xia Zhinian into the restaurant, the family members were already seated.The uncle of the Xia family, Xia Zhi, was standing beside Mr. Xia chatting with him, while his aunt Lin Tang brought Qin Mochi's stepmother, Liu Xiaowan, to the side to point out the family's helper, Bucai.Qin Mochi's father Xia Hong sat with his third uncle, frowning, not knowing what to say.Beside him are the third aunt, a pair of twin daughters of the third aunt's family, and Qin Mochi's two half-brothers.Qin Mochi had an average relationship with them, and after a quick glance, he sat down with Xia Zhifei.

Qin Mochi's third uncle Xia An snorted when he saw him.

Qin Mochi smiled secretly, but his face was as if nothing had happened. To deal with these old foxes, he had to be more calm than them.

Xia Hong coughed, lowered his voice and asked, "Mochi, are you robbing your third uncle's business again?"

His original intention was to explain the matter quietly before the dinner started, but Xia Zhifei and Xia Zhinian were paying attention to the movement here, seeing him ask Qin Mochi, they looked over in unison, even Xia Zhi, who was talking to Mr. Xia, also paused.

So Xia Hong was embarrassed to find that he had suddenly become the focus of the restaurant, while the other party was indifferent, and was surprised when he heard his question, "What? I robbed the third uncle business? Where does this come from?"

Xia Hong was a little annoyed, his original intention was to speak up in front of the third child, to make this big thing into a small one.Unexpectedly, Qin Mochi didn't appreciate it, with an expression of not understanding what you were talking about.

Xia Hong glanced at his father quickly, and became a little annoyed, "How can your third uncle wrong you?"

"What if he wronged me?" Qin Mochi's eyes turned cold, "Who will make the decision for me? You?"

Xia Hong said angrily: "What's your attitude? I'm..."

Qin Mochi's stepmother, Liu Xiaowan, patted him on the shoulder in a timely manner, and said softly, "Don't yell at the child when it's Chinese New Year. Speak slowly if you have anything to say." He glanced at Qin Mochi with a friendly expression.

Qin Mochi ignored her, just lowered his head as if thinking about something.

"That's enough." Old Master Xia said lightly, "The youngest is really getting more and more promising. Does the business have to be compromised by the younger generation to continue?"

Xia An was sitting on the sidelines watching the fun, when he saw the old man suddenly pointing at him, he quickly explained: "Dad, that's not the case..."

However, Mr. Xia was not interested in listening to his long speech. He turned around and handed the wine bottle in his hand to the eldest son, "This wine is good, let Ah Nian pour it for us."

Xia Zhinian hurried over to take the wine bottle from his father, "Dad, you sit too."

Xia Zhi smiled and sat down next to Mr. Xia.

With such an interruption, it is impossible to bring up the previous topic anyway.Xia An hated her so much that she couldn't say anything.Sulked for a while, and then suspected that Xia Hong deliberately spoke at this time to protect his son—although everyone in the family knew that he didn't like this son very much, but no matter what, the son would always be closer than the younger brother, right?

Qin Mochi completely ignored the very similar biting eyes of his father and his third uncle. What he thought in his heart was: Grandpa seems to be on his side today. Turn a blind eye and close one eye, pretending that you didn't hear anything.

Is it because today is a small year?

Well, that's kind of weird.

In the commercial district of Linhai City, the Xia family is not a famous family, at best it is a small and successful businessman.

The Xia family's ancestral home was in Shaanxi, and there were no relatives who walked around in Qin Mochi's hometown.Back then, Grandpa Xia and his elder brother left their hometowns with their fellow countrymen and went to the jade mines on the China-Myanmar border to make a living.After a long time, I learned a lot of skills in this industry. After saving some money, the two brothers started a jade and jewelry business in partnership.Later, Mr. Xia's elder brother passed away due to illness. Because his sister-in-law and nephew were at odds with him, the family was simply separated, and they took their children to Linhai City to settle down.

Decades passed in a blink of an eye.

Among Mr. Xia's three sons, the eldest son Xia Zhi decided to study medicine since he was a child because of his mother's health. Now he is the director of a private hospital.The Xia family's business is managed by the second eldest Xia Hong and the third eldest Xia An.In Qin Mochi's generation, except for the two youngest sons of Xia Hong's family, no one is worried about inheriting the family business anymore.Xia Zhi's two sons, Xia Zhinian and Xia Zhifei, are both civil servants. Qin Mochi studied jewelry design, but he opened his own studio early on. After a few years, his reputation in the industry is even higher than that of Xia's jewelry store. Gao - Xia An sued Qin Mochi for stealing his business before, and this was also the source of the trouble.Especially in the past two or three years, Xia Hong was still worried about whether Qin Mochi would rob his two half-brothers of the family business. Xia An had intentionally or unintentionally regarded Qin Mochi as a competitor of the Xia family.

Xia Zhifei bumped Qin Mochi with his elbow, and whispered, "Third Uncle is still staring at you."

Qin Mochi pursed his lips, his expression indifferent, "No wonder the Xia family's business is not doing well."

Xia Zhifei lowered his head and smiled sullenly.

Xia Zhinian kicked under the table alone, thinking that these two guys should keep their voices down if they want to whisper, what does it mean for everyone to hear it?Didn't you see that the grandfather who was speaking for Qin Mochi just now started to stare at them?Even the always good-tempered Xia Zhi frowned.

Xia Zhifei managed to hold back his laughter, and said to Qin Mochi, "Let's take you to a fun place later. There's good wine, and beautiful men and women. The entertainers they invited are also good. There's a steel pipe jumper with that figure..."

Xia Zhinian kicked him again.

Qin Mochi smiled casually, "Okay."