The Three-Life Stone

Workplaces on New Year's Eve generally work the day shift, so workers still have time to eat a meal during their busy evening. Gyms are usually closed or only the people on duty provide free exercise for everyone, and group exercises are all stopped.

Yu Zhaozhao had only one job for a while now. After an early shift, Yu Zhaozhao went to the supermarket to buy hot pot base, meatballs, beef rolls, enoki mushrooms, potatoes, radishes and other miscellaneous meat and vegetables.

The refrigerator is full of vegetables and fruits.

Cooking every day is not very realistic for people who go to work every day. After having her own house, Yu Zhaozhao decorated it according to her own ideas. On her day off, she bought vegetables and cooked several dishes, boiled a big pot of rice, and then put a week's meals together with meat and vegetables in lunch boxes. When eating, she just heated them in the microwave, thus ensuring a certain level of nutrition, and she didn't have to eat takeout, instant noodles, and other fast food all the time.

After buying groceries, Yu Zhaozhao pulled Yu Le up to wash and cut vegetables together. By the time they started cooking, it was already past eight o'clock. Yu Zhaozhao turned on the Spring Festival Gala, and not long after adding the meatballs to the hot pot, the doorbell rang.

Yu Zhaozhao looked at Yu Le: "Your friend?"

Yu Le was also confused as he put the beef roll into the bowl: "Probably not, we are all celebrating the New Year at home. Oh, by the way, Mom, after we finish eating, I will set off fireworks with my classmates."

Yu Zhaozhao went to open the door, wondering who would come, and reminded Yu Le: "Okay, remember to be safe when you set off the fireworks."

“Got it.” Yu Le took the first bite and smacked his lips deliberately, as if he was showing off for having the first bite of food.

Yu Zhaozhao's mind was not entirely on the food. Mainly, all the people she knew nearby were at home. She really didn't know who would visit her during the New Year, so she opened the door after hesitating.

After the door opened, Yu Zhaozhao felt awkward for a moment. The person in front of him looked familiar, but he couldn't remember who he was. It was more embarrassing to have someone come to your door but not know who the other person was than to recognize the wrong person.

Her mind was spinning rapidly, hoping to find the person from her memory, but the memory loading failed and she just couldn't remember. Here, Yu Zhaozhao secretly admired the people of the two generations before her, who were so many relatives that they could greet each other as soon as they met.

"What? You don't welcome me?" The man's bangs were lifted up by hairspray today. He looked handsome and experienced. He was well-dressed and looked polite and considerate.

Yu Zhaozhao was embarrassed to let others know her thoughts, so she started asking the three classic questions. She was secretly delighted with her own reaction: "No, no, no, how come you have time to come here today? Have you eaten? Do you want to eat more?"

The man walked over today as if he didn't feel the scrutiny from Yu's mother and son. He looked at the dishes on the table and said, "Hey, Zhao Zhao cooked hot pot today. It's not good for me to eat for free, right?"

Yu Zhaozhao now had less doubts in her mind. The person in front of her looked familiar and she knew his name. She wondered if he was the nephew of a relative that someone had mentioned before. Yu Zhaozhao had not responded to an invitation to introduce him to a friend. The introducer had given her a photo and Yu Zhaozhao had forgotten about it after looking at it. However, it didn't make sense for the person to come without saying hello during the New Year.

Yu Le asked Yu Zhaozhao in confusion: "Mom, who is this person?"

Yu Zhaozhao didn't know how to introduce him to Yu Le for a moment. She couldn't just say, "Son, your mother doesn't know, so you can just guess."

"Call someone." Yu Zhaozhao looked at Yu Le with a smile, and kept making excuses for himself in his heart: You are a child anyway, so just call them uncles, aunts, or brother. It doesn't matter if you call them the wrong ones. Who cares about this detail now? But if the child is wrong and others point it out, your mother can turn a blind eye to it.

Yu Le looked at Yu Zhaozhao, hey, isn't this the person you know? What should I do if my mother is unreliable? Wait online.

The man didn't mind the atmosphere between the mother and son, and greeted them in a familiar manner: "My eldest nephew is this tall now, almost as tall as your mother."

Yu Le turned his perfunctory gaze to the man: "Haha, hello uncle."

The man nodded with satisfaction.

Yu Zhaozhao planned to take a photo of the person and send it to the family group to ask, but then she thought it would be very awkward if this person was in the group, so she decided to ask her father. Her father should know all the relatives.

Yu Zhaozhao went over what she should do next in her mind. She would first send the photo to her son’s WeChat, and then use her son’s number to ask Yu Zhen. If her father didn’t know, she would then use her son’s number to go to the family group and ask who this uncle was.

Three people are eating hot pot together. People who don’t know would think that this is a family, “Dad”, mom and child, “what a warm family”.

Yu Zhaozhao took the opportunity when the man was concentrating on peeling shrimps to take a photo and opened WeChat to send it to his son. Without thinking, he followed his previous train of thought and sent it directly to the family group. Seeing the photo sent to the group of loving family, Yu Zhaozhao took a deep breath and was about to withdraw it. The man picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it in Yu Zhaozhao's bowl: "It's been so long since we last met. Don't keep playing with your phone while eating."

Yu Zhaozhao picked up the chopsticks and started eating like a thief. When she heard her cell phone vibrate, she realized it was too late to withdraw.

If it wasn't a group message of New Year's Eve greetings at this time, it wouldn't suddenly be sent to the work group. It would mean that someone in the family group has seen it. It's New Year's Day and she's at home. She has to ask that question, otherwise others will really misunderstand her meaning.

The man's lips curled up slightly as he heard his phone vibrate. He saw all of Yu Zhaozhao's little moves.

The Spring Festival Gala was playing on TV. Yu Zhaozhao was eating and watching it. He realized that he couldn't explain it clearly at the moment, so he might as well wait until the excitement died down before clarifying it. He should eat and drink well first, and then use his mobile phone to wish everyone a happy new year later.

Yu Zhaozhao, Yu Le and the man were drinking drinks and eating hotpot with different thoughts. During the meal, the man asked Yu Zhaozhao some ordinary questions, thinking it was just casual talk among relatives. Zhaozhao answered without paying attention and asked a few questions casually.

Yu Le's mind was not on the food. He finished eating first and went back to the room to get some pesticide. Yu Le's cursing voice could be heard faintly.

Yu Zhaozhao is troubled by Yu Le's internet addiction. In all aspects, he is OK, not as good as others but better than others, except for this internet addiction...

Yu Zhaozhao was also troubled as the man showed no intention of leaving after eating.

Yu Zhaozhao cleaned up the dishes neatly and said to the man, "Brother, it's very late today."

"It's okay. Everyone has to stay up on New Year's Eve. It's never too late."

"If you don't go back during the New Year, won't your family be worried?" Yu Zhaozhao said as he prayed in his heart, "Please, my meaning is very clear, go back quickly, leave quickly."

"Zhao Zhao, actually I just came home from another city. I heard from my family that you bought a house in Bixi Garden, so I came to see it directly. Besides, I'm already this old, and if I haven't started a family yet, it doesn't matter where I live. If I go back to my hometown so late without a car, not to mention that it would be a waste of money to stay in a hotel, isn't it? I'll just sleep on the floor in the living room or your son's room, is that ok with you?"

Yu Zhaozhao felt sorry for the man but was speechless at the same time. At this time, Yu Le had just finished playing a game of King of Glory and was going to the square to watch the fireworks. Yu Zhaozhao was worried and planned to go with him, but it was only one night, so they decided to talk about it later.

If it weren't for the WeChat video call from her mobile phone, Yu Zhaozhao would have almost forgotten about the photos. There were quite a lot of things happening on this New Year's Eve. Yu Zhaozhao knew what everyone would ask in a while, so she answered the phone after being prepared. Before she could exchange a few words of greeting, the man came over and enthusiastically called "Uncle and Auntie" and said a lot of nice words, blessing her without paying.

Yu Zhaozhao held up her phone and lost her sense of participation. There was no doubt that they were very familiar with each other, so she would just spend one night together. Yu Zhaozhao handed the phone directly to the man and went to the bathroom.

What Yu Zhaozhao didn't know was that when she went to the bathroom, the man quietly revealed that he was pursuing her, but had not succeeded yet. Yu Zhaozhao's family was very optimistic about her. After Yu Zhaozhao came out, the man said like a thief that he would set off fireworks and then die first.

During this time, Yu Zhaozhao checked her phone and saw that two or three relatives had sent her messages asking her to seize the opportunity. Only then did Yu Zhaozhao become convinced of the possibility she had thought of and felt relieved. As for which relatives they were, Yu Zhaozhao couldn't remember, and she didn't add those people as friends.

Yu Zhaozhao's phone rang. The boss in the work group sent out a New Year's red envelope. The unhappiness just now was swept away. After grabbing the red envelope, Yu Zhaozhao found the latest New Year's emoji package and sent it out, saying something like "Happy New Year", "Congratulations on making a fortune", "Making a fortune", "Wishing the boss a fortune". The boss sent out three packages in a row. Yu Zhaozhao calculated that he had grabbed about thirty yuan.

That’s great, I can get a reward of milk tea.