While you were sleeping[boyxboy]✔️ - 09 Merry Christmas! part 02

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As soon as they entered the Jin house, Yibo went straight to the kitchen to drink a glass of water, as his throat felt really dried for some reason.
“Thank you for inviting me!
It’s my first time celebrating Christmas! And especially in such a big, lovely family!”, Yibo bowed before NaiNai who had already taken control over the Christmas dinner menu.

“We do have quite a busy winter holidays agenda.
We always celebrate Christmas and The New Year according to the Western Calendar at the end of December, but we also celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Oh, let’s not forget about the Reyes Magos, the Three Wise Men which we celebrate especially for Lulu and A-Yuan. Because traditionally there is no Santa Claus in Spain, the presents are usually delivered to children on 6th January by the Reyes Magos.”

“And that way, these two lucky little brats are getting presents on Christmas from Santa, and again, two weeks later from those three dudes.”, LingLing laughed, ruffling A-Yuan’s hair and kissing Lulu’s cheek, who had just barged into the kitchen. All three were planning to steal some from NaiNai’s cookies, but their plan failed miserably, as they were not quick enough to come before the vigilant NaiNai.

“By the way, what religion are you? Not as it matters to us in any way, but I just ask out of curiosity. After all, our family is like a big hotpot of mixed religions, haha!”. NaiNai laughed, stirring in the steamy and aromatic content of the hotpot bowl.

“To be honest, I am far from being a religiously inclined person, but as my parents were one a Christian and one a Buddhist, I could eventually say that I am both a Christian and a Buddhist. In any case, I didn’t cremate my father, but I buried him in the Christian cemetery, even though he was a Buddhist. Because he loved my mother so much that he once expressed his wish to be buried in her tomb. “, Yibo replied, with tears brimming in his eyes.

“I am so sorry for you loss. But I assure you that they are both happy where ever they are and very proud of you!
As I said, religion is a private matter, that’s not as important as love or harmony, to our family. But if you’re curious, I could let you know about the religion of each family member.
Do you think it’s salty enough?”, NaiNai asked, blowing into the spoon of sauce, then giving it to Yibo to taste it.

“Yes, please, do tell me.
It’s deliciously yummy! It’s simply perfect!”, Yibo smiled, licking his lips in delight, to NaiNai’s happiness.

“Well, let’s start with the Spanish branch, then.
Baba XinCheng is a Taoist, and Mama Alexandra is a Christian. They agreed to baptize the twins in the Christian religion, until they would be grown enough to decide on their own what religion to follow.
As for ZhanZhan, he chose to be a Christian, even though he was Taoist while living in China, probably because of his Baba’s religion. He started to learn about the Christian religion’s insides because he needed this knowledge for his wedding planning business, as the majority of his customers are of this religion. And in the end, he chose to join this religion, not because of some strong faith or something, but mostly because it would be more helpful to his business. He is not a religiously inclined person, either, same as you.
Now, let’s see the Chinese branch!
MianMian is a Christian, as you probably already know. Same as her Ma, Jin Sanren.
Me, my son Jin GuangShan and one of my grandchildren, GuangYao, are Buddhists.
And the youngest one, LingLing, is still in search mode. He said that he considers himself an agnostic, for now.
Let’s go back to the dining room, they might wonder what we have been plotting here for such a long time”, NaiNai smiled.

“Meaning that I am a person who believes that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable. Broadly, I am not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of a God or Gods.
Oh, God! This smells so heavenly! Not as I believe or not, in God, or in heaven, but it’s just a saying!
But, NaiNai, you’re the Goddess of food, for sure! And I don’t even lie when saying that I believe in you! You could be my chosen religion!”, LingLing chuckled ,  placing  the bowl of hotpot on the gueridon trolley,  to push it to the dining room, after receiving NaiNai’s usual, endearing slap onto the back of his head.

” I will take these”., Yibo jumped to help NaiNai with the numerous plates of culinary delights that had no more room to be placed on the gueridon trolley.

On their way to the dining room, they bumped into Xiao Zhan in the lobby.

“So, NaiNai was the culprit! I was wondering who kidnapped Perrito and where did he vanish, ha, ha.
I was looking for you to ask for your help in arranging the presents under the Christmas tree, as Santa was in such a big hurry that he left them spread all over, in a big mess.”, Xiao Zhan winked at Yibo,  alerting him of the twins’ presence.

“Yeah, yeah! Like me and A-Yuan are not smart enough to know that Santa is not real. We know that our Zhan GeGe is the one buying all the presents, ha, ha!”, Lulu rolled her eyes.

“It’s that so? Woah, I didn’t know that! Then I suppose that we could forget about all those presents, waiting for you in the living room!”,  LingLing laughed when the twins pouted in sync.

“No, no! Lulu was just joking! Of course Santa is a real, nice old man who bought and brought the presents, even if Zhan GeGe gave him the necessary money! Don’t you know that Lulu is a joker?”, A-Yuan jumped to their presents’ rescue, while stepping hard onto his sister’s foot. 

In the dining room all family members who were already gathered around the long table, started applauding at the gueridon trolley’s arrival and cheering at the happy NaiNai.

“Okay, thank you boys, I will take it over from here and help NaiNai with everything.
LingLing and the kids, please take your seats at the table, and you , ZhanZhan, take Yibo with you as we talked before. And don’t worry, we’ll not start the dinner without you two. We’ll wait, the presents’ arrangement shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, I believe!”, Missis Jin Sanren told her son.

“Yes, Ma, don’t worry!”, Xiao Zhan replied, grabbing Yibo’s hand, to his huge surprise, and dragging him out of the room.

“But there is no mess, I see that all the boxes are perfectly arranged under the Christmas tree.”, Yibo said after entering the living room, in a slightly strangled voice, as Xiao Zhan was still holding his hand.
Probably he didn’t even notice that, accustomed to holding his twin siblings.

“I know. Actually they asked me to take you out of the room, as they want to talk about something that you shouldn’t witness.”, Xiao Zhan smiled, finally releasing his hand and walking to the Christmas tree.

“Oh!
I am sorry for bothering your family like this.
I told you before, that your family shouldn’t have invited me,
It’s not like you owe me or something! I feel like an intruder, maybe I should just live.
Tell them, please, that I felt ill and I wanted to go home, and apologize on behalf of me, especially to NaiNai.”

Xiao Zhan silently listened to him for a while, until he startled Yibo by coming in running towards him, then grabbing him by his shoulders and pushing him to sit down on the sofa.
Then he sat next to him and took his hand between his palms:
“Look at me!
What the hell are you blubbering there, Perrito?
Jeez, you’re killing me sometimes!
How could you think something like this?
How could you say that you’re an intruder? You are no less part of this family as I am ,or any other individual sitting at that dining table, for God’s sake!
Okay, I will tell you, even though they made me promise to not ruin the surprise for you!
They wanted to talk about the wedding’s organizing. You know, if it should be a Chinese traditional wedding, or a modern western style, what restaurant to choose for the wedding party…things like these. This would be their wedding present, to relieve you both from the whole headache of a wedding management. And there is some real headache, believe me! I know very well because this is the business I run, about!”

“We…dding?”, was all that Yibo could mumble.

“Yes, you’re MeiMei’s fiance, aren’t you? An engagement is naturally followed by a wedding, duh!
Okay, now please promise that you will not give me away to them that I told you the secret.
I really need your help for something, though. I will climb up on that table to put the Christmas tree topper and you will hold the table still, alright?
Come on, what’s wrong with you? Are you sleepy or something?”, Xiao Zhan stood up and grabbed the table from the window, finally followed by a zombie Yibo, who was in a state of shock mixed with fear, guilt, confusion about what to do and many more feelings.
What the hell should he do now?

“Sit your butt on the table, that way it would be easier to hold it still.”, Xiao Zhan told Yibo, after he managed to climb on.

Even though Yibo was pretty tormented by all kinds of gloomy thoughts, he couldn’t refrain himself from blurting out, while looking up:
” God! You’re beautiful!” 

“Whaaat?!”, Xiao Zhan exclaimed, in a louder voice than he intended, dangerously shaking the table with his legs’ brusque movement.

“I mean, your beautiful…family!” , Yibo quickly fixed his slipped out mistake.
“I simply fell in love with your family, with every single member of it.
I envy you, Xiao Zhan Ge!
I’d wish to be a member of this beautiful family, but I don’t deserve it! Trust me, I know what I’m talking about! I really don’t deserve you! “, he let the tears suppressed for so long, to finally burst out.

Xiao Zhan jumped down from the table and parted Yibo’s thighs, so as to be able to pull him into his arms:
“Shh, shh, don’t cry, my sweet gouzaizai. My sweet, stupid Perrito!
Yeah, you’re stupid, because you say stupid things!
You don’t deserve us? You are my family’s hero, you saved MianMian’s life for God’s sake!
And it’s not only about admiration and gratitude, but it’s about love! Yes, everyone loves you! I love you…ermm…
You envy me? Talking about envy, let me tell you something.
I am lividly envious…I was never envious of my little sister, not even when she was a newborn baby whom they brought her home from the hospital and she captured our parents’ whole attention and love!
But now I hate myself for envying her so badly! I’d want so much to be her!”

“You want to be a comatose patient? No offense MianMian!…And you say that I am the one saying stupid things?”, Yibo cracked a small smile through the little gasps of crying.

“Yes, I envy her! For having you!”, Xiao Zhan blurted out, without his brain’s consent.
“Now, give me one of those smiles that are puffing your adorable cheeks like NaiNai’s leavened doughnuts!”, he cupped Yibo’s face and wiped the tears with his thumb, then rubbed the tips of their noses together.

“Speaking of NaiNai.”, the granny scared the hell out of both of them.
“I hope you finished here, because they sent me to bring you quickly, as they are impatient to start eating, and I didn’t let them without you.
Oh my god!”, NaiNai shouted.

“What, what?
I was just putting this cap onto his head!
And I will wear the reindeer horns, ha, ha!”, Xiao Zhan forced out a fake laugh, grabbing the first item his eyes landed on, a ‘merry christmas’ Santa cap that he crumpled onto Yibo’s head.
Yibo, who couldn’t stop coughing from the moment he got startled at NaiNai’s voice.

They must have looked like they were about to kiss, for heaven’s sake! What will NaiNai think, that they were cheating on a vegetable? Again…no offense MeiMei!

“Come here, Yibo son!”, NaiNai commanded.

“He didn’t do anything! It’s only my fault”, Xiao Zhan desperately tried to find a solution to the weird situation they were caught in by NaiNai.

“I don’t know if it’s your fault or not, but go bring him a thicker sweater from your clothes!
No wonder that he’s coughing, just look how thin his shirt is!
Say Aaaa! Don’t be afraid, I know what I am doing! I might be an old granny now, but I was a nurse my whole life and I didn’t forget my profession!”, NaiNai grabbed Yibo’s head and forced his mouth open.

“So, that’s why you shouted ‘oh my god!’
Okay, then, I’m going to look for the sweater, and we’ll meet in the dining room.”, Xiao Zhan sighed in relief, before leaving the room.

“Come ZhanZhan, there is a free seat, between A-Yuan and Yibo.”, Ba GuanShan told Xiao Zhan, who was just entering the dining room with the woolen sweater in his hands.

“Stop playing, eat everything from your plate or else you will not grow as tall as your ZhanZhan GeGe is!”, Mama Alexandra scolded A-Yuan, who was just drawing circles with the chopsticks in his food.

“Yeah! Do that!
I heard about an old Chinese superstition that says that every grain of rice you do not finish will become a pimple on your future wife’s face. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”, Xiao Zhan pinched his little brother’s cheek.

“Ha, ha! So, that’s why you ate everything from your plate?
But you will never have a wife, didn’t you say that?”, A-Yuan commented with mouth full of rice.

“A-Yuan! What stupid things are you saying there?!
Of course he will have a wife!
Maybe even sooner than we think, with Yibo’s help. Yibo son, don’t forget that you agreed to introduce him to a nice girl!
His blood type is B, just in case the girls would ask about it.”, Ma Jin Sanren jumped up from her chair to kiss her beloved son’s head.

“But Dulce Ge is much younger than Zhan GeGe, and maybe he would know only young girls, the same as Dulce is.
And I remember when NaiNai told once to GuangYao Gege to never marry someone who is older or younger by three or six years.”, Lulu butted in.

“These are just superstitions, not facts!
Speaking of blood types, what blood type are you, Yibo?”, GuangYao asked.
“Blood type B is the most compatible with type B for a love relationship.
Hmm, as far as I remember, MianMian is type 0, the most compatible with blood type A.
Yibo, are you an A by any chance?”

“No. I am AB or B, I’m not even sure.”, Yibo replied, with a trace of guilt in his voice, for no reason. It’s not like he is in a love relationship with MianMian, for real.

“You’re B! I have no doubt about it!
Your compatibility with ZhanZhan GeGe is so obvious that it’s like being displayed on huge banners all over Beijing’s most famous buildings , he-he!”, LingLing chuckled.
“Actually, I think that I might start figuring out what was that thing I couldn’t put my finger on.”

“GuangYao, you said it well, that all these are just superstitions, including the blood types compatibility!
LingLing, you became much more talkative than you were when we met last time!
Did you taste this? It’s out of this world!”, Xiao Zhan cut the teenager’s unwanted blubber, passing in his plate a full spoon of one of the various dishes from the table, knowing very well that LingLing’s major weakness, meaning the food, would shut his mouth up.

“So, Yibo son, do you have any girl in your mind, to introduce her to that handsome, cool, talented, hard-working and rich man, sitting right next to you?
Did you taste this? I made it especially for you. I don’t know how ZhanZhan got this information, that Xiaolongbao is one of your favorite dishes.”, NaiNai giggled while loading Yibo’s plate with the appetizing dumplings.

“I’m so sorry, NaiNai, but for now I don’t have any girl in mind. All my female co-workers are married jiejies and the only unmarried girl I know is the building manager’s daughter, where I live, but…”, Yibo tried to give them a reply as less disappointing as he could.

“Who? ChengXiao?”, Xiao Zhan started laughing.

“Oh, so you already introduced him to a girl?That’s so good to hear!”, Ma Jin Sanren clapped her hands in excitement.

“Stop Ma! Yes, I met ChengXiao, poor girl!
She is mentally deranged, poor her…I’m sorry for laughing, she doesn’t deserve to be laughed at. She is just an unhealthy person, nothing to laugh about.
I was actually laughing at this boy’s adorable embarrassment!
Just leave him alone, all of you for God’s sake! Stop pressuring him with this foolishness to introduce a girl to me!”, Xiao Zhan shouted, but with no anger in his voice. He rather smiled while throwing brief glances to the flustered boy sitting next to him.

“Hmm, I would really like to know MianMian’s opinion about all this!”, LingLing whispered, but both Yibo and Xiao Zhan caught his whisper, as LingLing was sitting next to Yibo.

“Yeah, we can hardly wait for MeiMei’s to wake up!
For MeiMei’s speedy recovery!”, Xiao Zhan stood up, holding up a glass of wine, along with all the others.

After the cheers, Ba GuangShan brought the tripod for taking pictures, as family albums were his dearest hobby.

Pull your chair closer to Yibo, I want to take a picture with you two!
You look so good together! LingLing is right that your compatibility is too obvious! It’s enough to be in the same frame picture and that picture could be on any famous magazine cover!
Hmm, that would be quite an interesting idea! To sell the picture to a magazine with beautiful people!”, Ba GuangShan said, excitedly fixing the phone on the tripod.
“Smileee!”

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Same story with no pics/gifs inserted along the text

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As soon as they entered the Jin house, Yibo went straight to the kitchen to drink a glass of water, as his throat felt really dried for some reason.
“Thank you for inviting me!
It’s my first time celebrating Christmas! And especially in such a big, lovely family!”, Yibo bowed before NaiNai who had already taken control over the Christmas dinner menu.

“”We do have quite a busy winter holidays agenda.
We always celebrate Christmas and The New Year according to the Western Calendar at the end of December, but we also celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Oh, let’s not forget about the Reyes Magos, the Three Wise Men which we celebrate especially for Lulu and A-Yuan. Because traditionally there is no Santa Claus in Spain, the presents are usually delivered to children on 6th January by the Reyes Magos.”

“And that way, these two lucky little brats are getting presents on Christmas from Santa, and again, two weeks later from those three dudes.”, LingLing laughed, ruffling A-Yuan’s hair and kissing Lulu’s cheek, who had just barged into the kitchen. All three were planning to steal some from NaiNai’s cookies, but their plan failed miserably, as they were not quick enough to come before the vigilant NaiNai.

“By the way, what religion are you? Not as it matters to us in any way, but I just ask out of curiosity. After all, our family is like a big hotpot of mixed religions, haha!”. NaiNai laughed, stirring in the steamy and aromatic content of the hotpot bowl.

“To be honest, I am far from being a religiously inclined person, but as my parents were one a Christian and one a Buddhist, I could eventually say that I am both a Christian and a Buddhist. In any case, I didn’t cremate my father, but I buried him in the Christian cemetery, even though he was a Buddhist. Because he loved my mother so much that he once expressed his wish to be buried in her tomb. “, Yibo replied, with tears brimming in his eyes.

“I am so sorry for you loss. But I assure you that they are both happy where ever they are and very proud of you!
As I said, religion is a private matter, that’s not as important as love or harmony, to our family. But if you’re curious, I could let you know about the religion of each family member.
Do you think it’s salty enough?”, NaiNai asked, blowing into the spoon of sauce, then giving it to Yibo to taste it.

“Yes, please, do tell me.
It’s deliciously yummy! It’s simply perfect!”, Yibo smiled, licking his lips in delight, to NaiNai’s happiness.

“Well, let’s start with the Spanish branch, then.
Baba XinCheng is a Taoist, and Mama Alexandra is a Christian. They agreed to baptize the twins in the Christian religion, until they would be grown enough to decide on their own what religion to follow.
As for ZhanZhan, he chose to be a Christian, even though he was Taoist while living in China, probably because of his Baba’s religion. He started to learn about the Christian religion’s insides because he needed this knowledge for his wedding planning business, as the majority of his customers are of this religion. And in the end, he chose to join this religion, not because of some strong faith or something, but mostly because it would be more helpful to his business. He is not a religiously inclined person, either, same as you.
Now, let’s see the Chinese branch!
MianMian is a Christian, as you probably already know. Same as her Ma, Jin Sanren.
Me, my son Jin GuangShan and one of my grandchildren, GuangYao, are Buddhists.
And the youngest one, LingLing, is still in search mode. He said that he considers himself an agnostic, for now.
Let’s go back to the dining room, they might wonder what we have been plotting here for such a long time”, NaiNai smiled.

“Meaning that I am a person who believes that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable. Broadly, I am not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of a God or Gods.
Oh, God! This smells so heavenly! Not as I believe or not, in God, or in heaven, but it’s just a saying!
But, NaiNai, you’re the Goddess of food, for sure! And I don’t even lie when saying that I believe in you! You could be my chosen religion!”, LingLing chuckled ,  placing the bowl of hotpot on the gueridon trolley, to  push it to the dining room, after receiving NaiNai’s usual, endearing slap onto the back of his head.

” I will take these”., Yibo jumped to help NaiNai with the numerous plates of culinary delights that had no more room to be placed on the gueridon trolley.

On their way to the dining room, they bumped into Xiao Zhan in the lobby.

“So, NaiNai was the culprit! I was wondering who kidnapped Perrito and where did he vanish, ha, ha.
I was looking for you to ask for your help in arranging the presents under the Christmas tree, as Santa was in such a big hurry that he left them spread all over, in a big mess.”, Xiao Zhan winked at Yibo, alerting him of the twins’ presence.

“Yeah, yeah! Like me and A-Yuan are not smart enough to know that Santa is not real. We know that our Zhan GeGe is the one buying all the presents, ha, ha!”, Lulu rolled her eyes.

“It’s that so? Woah, I didn’t know that! Then I suppose that we could forget about all those presents, waiting for you in the living room!”,  LingLing laughed when the twins pouted in sync.

“No, no! Lulu was just joking! Of course Santa is a real, nice old man who bought and brought the presents, even if Zhan GeGe gave him the necessary money! Don’t you know that Lulu is a joker?”, A-Yuan jumped to their presents’ rescue, while stepping hard onto his sister’s foot. 

In the dining room all family members who were already gathered around the long table, started applauding at the gueridon trolley’s arrival and cheering at the happy NaiNai.

“Okay, thank you boys, I will take it over from here and help NaiNai with everything.
LingLing and the kids, please take your seats at the table, and you , ZhanZhan, take Yibo with you as we talked before. And don’t worry, we’ll not start the dinner without you two. We’ll wait, the presents’ arrangement shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, I believe!”, Missis Jin Sanren told her son.

“Yes, Ma, don’t worry!”, Xiao Zhan replied, grabbing Yibo’s hand, to his huge surprise, and dragging him out of the room.

“But there is no mess, I see that all the boxes are perfectly arranged under the Christmas tree.”, Yibo said after entering the living room, in a slightly strangled voice, as Xiao Zhan was still holding his hand.
Probably he didn’t even notice that, accustomed to holding his twin siblings.

“I know. Actually they asked me to take you out of the room, as they want to talk about something that you shouldn’t witness.”, Xiao Zhan smiled, finally releasing his hand and walking to the Christmas tree.

“Oh!
I am sorry for bothering your family like this.
I told you before, that your family shouldn’t have invited me,
It’s not like you owe me or something! I feel like an intruder, maybe I should just live.
Tell them, please, that I felt ill and I wanted to go home, and apologize on behalf of me, especially to NaiNai.”

Xiao Zhan silently listened to him for a while, until he startled Yibo by coming in running towards him, then grabbing him by his shoulders and pushing him to sit down on the sofa.
Then he sat next to him and took his hand between his palms:
“Look at me!
What the hell are you blubbering there, Perrito?
Jeez, you’re killing me sometimes!
How could you think something like this?
How could you say that you’re an intruder? You are no less part of this family as I am ,or any other individual sitting at that dining table, for God’s sake!
Okay, I will tell you, even though they made me promise to not ruin the surprise for you!
They wanted to talk about the wedding’s organizing. You know, if it should be a Chinese traditional wedding, or a modern western style, what restaurant to choose for the wedding party…things like these. This would be their wedding present, to relieve you both from the whole headache of a wedding management. And there is some real headache, believe me! I know very well because this is the business I run, about!”

“We…dding?”, was all that Yibo could mumble.

“Yes, you’re MeiMei’s fiance, aren’t you? An engagement is naturally followed by a wedding, duh!
Okay, now please promise that you will not give me away to them that I told you the secret.
I really need your help for something, though. I will climb up on that table to put the Christmas tree topper and you will hold the table still, alright?
Come on, what’s wrong with you? Are you sleepy or something?”, Xiao Zhan stood up and grabbed the table from the window, finally followed by a zombie Yibo, who was in a state of shock mixed with fear, guilt, confusion about what to do and many more feelings.
What the hell should he do now?

“Sit your butt on the table, that way it would be easier to hold it still.”, Xiao Zhan told Yibo, after he managed to climb on.

Even though Yibo was pretty tormented by all kinds of gloomy thoughts, he couldn’t refrain himself from blurting out, while looking up:
“God! You’re beautiful!” 

“Whaaat?!”, Xiao Zhan exclaimed, in a louder voice than he intended, dangerously shaking the table with his legs’ brusque movement.

“I mean, your beautiful…family!” , Yibo quickly fixed his slipped out mistake.
“I simply fell in love with your family, with every single member of it.
I envy you, Xiao Zhan Ge!
I’d wish to be a member of this beautiful family, but I don’t deserve it! Trust me, I know what I’m talking about! I really don’t deserve you! “, he let the tears suppressed for so long, to finally burst out.

Xiao Zhan jumped down from the table and parted Yibo’s thighs, so as to be able to pull him into his arms:
“Shh, shh, don’t cry, my sweet gouzaizai. My sweet, stupid Perrito!
Yeah, you’re stupid, because you say stupid things!
You don’t deserve us? You are my family’s hero, you saved MianMian’s life for God’s sake!
And it’s not only about admiration and gratitude, but it’s about love! Yes, everyone loves you! I love you…ermm…
You envy me? Talking about envy, let me tell you something.
I am lividly envious…I was never envious of my little sister, not even when she was a newborn baby whom they brought her home from the hospital and she captured our parents’ whole attention and love!
But now I hate myself for envying her so badly! I’d want so much to be her!”

“You want to be a comatose patient? No offense MianMian!…And you say that I am the one saying stupid things?”, Yibo cracked a small smile through the little gasps of crying.

“Yes, I envy her! For having you!”, Xiao Zhan blurted out, without his brain’s consent.
“Now, give me one of those smiles that are puffing your adorable cheeks like NaiNai’s leavened doughnuts!”, he cupped Yibo’s face and wiped the tears with his thumb, then rubbed the tips of their noses together.

“Speaking of NaiNai.”, the granny scared the hell out of both of them.
“I hope you finished here, because they sent me to bring you quickly, as they are impatient to start eating, and I didn’t let them without you.
Oh my god!”, NaiNai shouted.

“What, what?
I was just putting this cap onto his head!
And I will wear the reindeer horns, ha, ha!”, Xiao Zhan forced out a fake laugh, grabbing the first item his eyes landed on, a ‘merry christmas’ Santa cap that he crumpled onto Yibo’s head.
Yibo, who couldn’t stop coughing from the moment he got startled at NaiNai’s voice.

They must have looked like they were about to kiss, for heaven’s sake! What will NaiNai think, that they were cheating on a vegetable? Again…no offense MeiMei!

“Come here, Yibo son!”, NaiNai commanded.

“He didn’t do anything! It’s only my fault”, Xiao Zhan desperately tried to find a solution to the weird situation they were caught in by NaiNai.

“I don’t know if it’s your fault or not, but go bring him a thicker sweater from your clothes!
No wonder that he’s coughing, just look how thin his shirt is!
Say Aaaa! Don’t be afraid, I know what I am doing! I might be an old granny now, but I was a nurse my whole life and I didn’t forget my profession!”, NaiNai grabbed Yibo’s head and forced his mouth open.

“So, that’s why you shouted ‘oh my god!’
Okay, then, I’m going to look for the sweater, and we’ll meet in the dining room.”, Xiao Zhan sighed in relief, before leaving the room.

                                               -000-

“Come ZhanZhan, there is a free seat, between A-Yuan and Yibo.”, Ba GuanShan told Xiao Zhan, who was just entering the dining room with the woolen sweater in his hands.

“Stop playing, eat everything from your plate or else you will not grow as tall as your ZhanZhan GeGe is!”, Mama Alexandra scolded A-Yuan, who was just drawing circles with the chopsticks in his food.

“Yeah! Do that!
I heard about an old Chinese superstition that says that every grain of rice you do not finish will become a pimple on your future wife’s face. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”, Xiao Zhan pinched his little brother’s cheek.

“Ha, ha! So, that’s why you ate everything from your plate?
But you will never have a wife, didn’t you say that?”, A-Yuan commented with mouth full of rice.

“A-Yuan! What stupid things are you saying there?!
Of course he will have a wife!
Maybe even sooner than we think, with Yibo’s help. Yibo son, don’t forget that you agreed to introduce him to a nice girl!
His blood type is B, just in case the girls would ask about it.”, Ma Jin Sanren jumped up from her chair to kiss her beloved son’s head.

“But Dulce Ge is much younger than Zhan GeGe, and maybe he would know only young girls, the same as Dulce is.
And I remember when NaiNai told once to GuangYao Gege to never marry someone who is older or younger by three or six years.”, Lulu butted in.

“These are just superstitions, not facts!
Speaking of blood types, what blood type are you, Yibo?”, GuangYao asked.
“Blood type B is the most compatible with type B for a love relationship.
Hmm, as far as I remember, MianMian is type 0, the most compatible with blood type A.
Yibo, are you an A by any chance?”

“No. I am AB or B, I’m not even sure.”, Yibo replied, with a trace of guilt in his voice, for no reason. It’s not like he is in a love relationship with MianMian, for real.

“You’re B! I have no doubt about it!
Your compatibility with ZhanZhan GeGe is so obvious that it’s like being displayed on huge banners all over Beijing’s most famous buildings , he-he!”, LingLing chuckled.
“Actually, I think that I might start figuring out what was that thing I couldn’t put my finger on.”

“GuangYao, you said it well, that all these are just superstitions, including the blood types compatibility!
LingLing, you became much more talkative than you were when we met last time!
Did you taste this? It’s out of this world!”, Xiao Zhan cut the teenager’s unwanted blubber, passing in his plate a full spoon of one of the various dishes from the table, knowing very well that LingLing’s major weakness, meaning the food, would shut his mouth up.

“So, Yibo son, do you have any girl in your mind, to introduce her to that handsome, cool, talented, hard-working and rich man, sitting right next to you?
Did you taste this? I made it especially for you. I don’t know how ZhanZhan got this information, that Xiaolongbao is one of your favorite dishes.”, NaiNai giggled while loading Yibo’s plate with the appetizing dumplings.

“I’m so sorry, NaiNai, but for now I don’t have any girl in mind. All my female co-workers are married jiejies and the only unmarried girl I know is the building manager’s daughter, where I live, but…”, Yibo tried to give them a reply as less disappointing as he could.

“Who? ChengXiao?”, Xiao Zhan started laughing.

“Oh, so you already introduced him to a girl?That’s so good to hear!”, Ma Jin Sanren clapped her hands in excitement.

“Stop Ma! Yes, I met ChengXiao, poor girl!
She is mentally deranged, poor her…I’m sorry for laughing, she doesn’t deserve to be laughed at. She is just an unhealthy person, nothing to laugh about.
I was actually laughing at this boy’s adorable embarrassment!
Just leave him alone, all of you for God’s sake! Stop pressuring him with this foolishness to introduce a girl to me!”, Xiao Zhan shouted, but with no anger in his voice. He rather smiled while throwing brief glances to the flustered boy sitting next to him.

“Hmm, I would really like to know MianMian’s opinion about all this!”, LingLing whispered, but both Yibo and Xiao Zhan caught his whisper, as LingLing was sitting next to Yibo.

“Yeah, we can hardly wait for MeiMei’s to wake up!
For MeiMei’s speedy recovery!”, Xiao Zhan stood up, holding up a glass of wine, along with all the others.

After the cheers, Ba GuangShan brought the tripod for taking pictures, as family albums were his dearest hobby.

Pull your chair closer to Yibo, I want to take a picture with you two!
You look so good together! LingLing is right that your compatibility is too obvious! It’s enough to be in the same frame picture and that picture could be on any famous magazine cover!
Hmm, that would be quite an interesting idea! To sell the picture to a magazine with beautiful people!”, Ba GuangShan said, excitedly fixing the phone on the tripod.
“Smileee!”

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