Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May Hualian bless you ;D

"Achoo!!"

"Bless you."

"Heh, thanks, Xie-xiong, but I'm already blessed."

"Oh? By which god?" A humorous tone.

"...Xie-xiong... you don't happen to be religious, are you?"

"Hm, not really," Xie Lian answered, shrugging.

The eight boys (including He Xuan who tagged along) were in Lan Wangji's dorm room.

Lan Wangji seemed to accept the fact (or fate) that his dorm was going to be the boys' hang-out place. The boy held a box of tissues in his lap.

The rain outside really did just start pouring without any warning.

Chaos ensued, and every person outside scrambled over each other to get inside, despite Lan Qiren's repeated message over the microphone to calm down everyone and let us get inside in an orderly manner.

It was quite a mess with everyone in Qingfeng's front lobby. Puddles and mud prints trekked everywhere. Soon, the intercom came on and ordered the students to go back to their dorms.

Before heading to Lan Wangji's dorm, everyone agreed to just meet up there so they could go and get out of their soaked Qingfeng school uniforms. "They should have made these uniforms waterproofed," Wei Wuxian had commented. And then the boy sneezed.

When they reached Lan Wangji's dorm, all were still feeling a bit cold so Lan Wangji brought out his portable heater which they all huddled around as if it was a campfire. (Hurray for the reliable Hanguang Jun!)

Wei Wuxian let out a sniffle. The rain left him with a runny nose. He wrapped the blanket Lan Wangji had given him tighter. "Well, I'll say, that speech that teacher was on about when it started raining sounded like a religious chant."

Shen Qingqiu raised a brow. "Were you even listening?"

"No," Wei Wuxian said. Lan Wangji handed him a tissue and the boy blew his nose. Wei Wuxian groaned. "Why does it have to start pouring? When I imagine myself in Qingfeng, I imagine the weather to be clear and a bit breezy, you know? Like Qingfeng." (Qingfeng means clear wind in chinese.)

"Yeah, and I bet in MengDie, you guys have butterflies flying along with you and everyone tells each other to follow their dreams," Shen Qingqiu said sarcastically. "Or do you guys often think you are butterflies dreaming that you are humans?"

Wei Wuxian tried to stifle a laugh. "Ahaha, no, Shen-xiong, but there was this one time with and oh my god, it was hilarious, so Hua-xiong woke up one day and he started- mmph-!"

Wei Wuxian's eyes grew wide as a dark figure clouded over him and pressed something into his mouth. It was Hua Cheng. The boy gave him a menacing look, telling Wei Wuxian to shut up. Wei Wuxian's mouth was instantly shut. Whatever it is that Hua Cheng had put in his mouth went down his throat with a terrified gulp.

Everyone else only saw Hua Cheng's smiling face when he turned around, saying, "I found some cough drops in my pocket."

Everyone: "..."

Wei Wuxian, who choked a bit on the cough drops, started coughing.

"See, he needed it."

Lan Wangji passed Wei Wuxian a glass of water. Wei Wuxian grabbed the cup and took a few gulps of water with his eyes shut. He then slammed the cup down as if he just completed someone's dare of straight-up chugging down a jar of wine.

Xie Lian leaned forward a bit and asked, "Wei Ying, you good?"

Shi Qingxuan leaned forward a bit and asked, "So what about Hua-xiong?"

Xie Lian was curious as well.

Wei Wuxian: "..." He could feel Hua Cheng's dead stare boring into him.

"Ahaha..." Wei Wuxian turned his head away, sweating. He laughed awkwardly, "What, what about Hua-xiong? I forgot what I was going to say, haha, blame it on my poor memory, ahaha!" Wei Wuxian waved a hand. "But, um, oh! Shen-xiong, we do have a butterfly garden in our school-!"

Everyone: "..."

Shen Qingqiu: "Oh?"

Wei Wuxian nodded vigorously, extremely glad for his life- er, the change of subject, and said, "Yeah! It's a new addition to our school actually, they renovated the indoor glass garden in the center of the school into a home for butterflies! The non-poisonous ones that is. It gave us a whole new meaning to the school's name! It's like a dream inside that butterfly paradise. We call it the Paradise Manor for butterflies!" Wei Wuxian babbled.

"Oh, that must be a beautiful sight, I would love to see them one day!" Xie Lian muttered thoughtfully.

"Right??" Wei Wuxian agreed, "You can always transfer, Xie-ge! And, and, it was Hua-xiong's idea!! Now students from MengDie often spend their breaks there! It's a very beautiful sight!" Wei Wuxian gave Hua Cheng a thumbs up as Xie Lian turned to him in wonder.

"Gege can come visit sometimes," Hua Cheng said, smiling. "I'll sneak you in."

Shen Qingqiu: "..." At this rate, everyone's transferring to MengDie. Shen Qingqiu said, "So they built a butterfly garden just because Hua Cheng over here suggested it?"

"Of course not!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "Why would they?"

Shen Qingqiu: "..."

"This is where Luo-xiong comes in!"

Luo Binghe's ears perked up when he heard his name.

Shen Qingqiu: "What-

Wei Wuxian: "See, Hua-xiong had the idea but it was Luo-xiong that brought the concept to the school head! It's because all the teachers love him! Luo-xiong's daddy often donates to the school! And Luo-xiong is a good student, so the teachers always ask him for help, he's like a teacher's pet-!"

Luo Binghe: "..."

Stop!

Stop talking! Luo Binghe inwardly cried. Stop embarrassing me! Please! Luo Binghe was mortified. Shen Yuan's watching. SHUT UP, WEI YING!

Shen Qingqiu: "..." Luo Binghe had his back turned and Shen Qingqiu could see him trembling. "..." Shen Qingqiu reached out a hand and patted him on the back. He said, "Wow, really? That's amazing, Binghe has so many connections then!"

Luo Binghe: "..."

Shen Qingqiu spun his head around and shot Wei Wuxian a mega glare, telling him to shut up.

Wei Wuxian shut up. Then one second later, Wei Wuxian smiled widely at Shen Qingqiu like a baby hippo and snuggle closer into his blanket.

Shen Qingqiu went back to comforting the little pup and patted Luo Binghe on the head this time and said, "And it's so nice of you to help your friends, I bet everyone really likes you."

Luo Binghe: "..." Luo Binghe looked at Shen Qingqiu. Then do you like me too?

Shi Qingxuan: "..."

Shi Qingxuan: "Ahaha, everyone's all warmed up now right?" The boy hopped up and kicked the portable heater. "...OW! OWWW!" Shi Qingxuan fell over. He cried, "Why did I do that?!"

Everyone: "..."

Shi Qingxuan rolled on the floor, tears in the corner of his eyes. Then he saw He Xuan squatting next to him. "Here," He Xuan said, quietly, handing him a band-aid.

Shi Qingxuan: "..." Shi Qingxuan sat up.

"Thank you..."

He Xuan furrowed his eyebrows. "The heater..."

Shi Qingxuan: "...?"

"We can roast marshmallows with it?"

Shi Qingxuan: "..."

Shi Qingxuan: "Hey, Wangji-xiong, do you have marshmallows?"

What a coincidence, Shi Qingxuan loves marshmallows too.

"We can make s'mores," Shi Qingxuan beamed.

He Xuan: "...Yes." He smiled.

。。。

。。。

。。。(Gimme a vote as a Christmas gift?)

⭐️Special⭐️:

It was after school and a certain boy walked into the Cang Qiong Shopping Mall.

Can you guess who it is?

Alas, it was Jiang Wanyin.

He headed up on the escalator, heading to the very familiar Aunt Luo's Coffee Shop.

The sound of the bell jingled as he opened the door. He was here to see a certain someone.

"Good afternoon sir! How may I help you?" But it wasn't Lan Xichen who greeted him. It was a girl around his age.

"Er, is Lan Huan here?" Jiang Wanyin walked up and asked.

The girl behind the counter tilted her head. "Lan Huan-?"

"Ahem, I meant Lan Xichen," Jiang Wanyin corrected himself.

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed. "You mean Xichen-dage! He's not working today."

Jiang Wanyin's eyebrows furrowed. He frowned. "Oh... Do you know why?" he asked.

The girl replied, "He called in sick, so the manager gave him some days off." The girl looked at Jiang Wanyin, smiled, and said, "But I can take your order! Do you want to order?"

Jiang Wanyin: "..."

Jiang Wanyin: "No thanks, bye."

I already drink too much coffee these days, why would I drink it if Lan Huan's not here? (hmph!)

Jiang Wanyin left the store. The sound of the bell jingled as the door closed.

The boy walked home. There were still sights of yesterday's rain. Jiang Wanyin shivered. It was still a bit cold. Jiang Wanyin tightens the scarf around his neck.

Jiang Wanyin reached home and opened the front door.

"A-jie," he called out as he closed the door behind him.

"Hm, A-cheng?" Jiang Yanli poked her head out from the living room. "Back so soon?"

"Yeah," Jiang Wanyin said, taking off his scarf. "A-jie, can you teach me how to make your lotus pork rib soup?"

"Sure!" Jiang Yanli said. "Wait, just let me check if we have any lotus roots left."

(Spoiler alert: There is.)

...

...

"A-jie, how thin do we slice the roots?"

Jiang Yanli stirred the pot and looked over. "Oh, just the width of your pinkie finger."

Jiang Yanli watched her brother carefully chop the roots, his brows furrowed in concentration. Hm... A-cheng's acting weird these days... Always leaving the house at a certain time and today, out of nowhere, asked to learn how to make lotus soup! Perhaps...

"A-cheng, are you seeing anyone?"

"...!" The blade hit the chopping board with a thud.

"Oh my gosh, A-cheng, your hand!!"

😨

Merry Merry Christmas!

-Wenxin 🐥🎄⭐️