Forty minutes later, the two of them drove back to the orphanage.
Following closely behind were two other delivery vendors.
They all arrived almost at the same time.
Upon seeing them, the children at the orphanage chattered and gathered around.
The older ones helped move things.
The younger ones each received a lollipop and watched from the side.
"Why did you buy so much stuff?"
Seeing the fireworks they bought back, Wang Cuiping and Zhao Quanfu were both startled.
"How much did all this cost?"
"It wasn’t much. It’s New Year, let them have some fun," Lin Yi said with a smile.
"You’re spoiling them. If their studies suffer, it’ll be on you."
Lin Yi couldn’t help but smile wryly, "These two things shouldn’t be related, right?"
"Don’t talk back."
Saying so to Lin Yi, Wang Cuiping called out:
"Everyone, come back and eat, or no one gets to play!"
"Got it."
Reluctantly returning indoors, the family began to eat.
To prevent Little Nuonuo from crying, Ji Qingyan put on a cartoon for her for a while.
Like a little statue, she watched the cartoon without moving, and everyone enjoyed a quiet meal.
After dinner, Lin Yi and Wu Feiyue were dragged out by the kids to set off fireworks with them.
Ji Qingyan, caught up in the fun, took Ning Yue to set off fireworks too.
As for the kids, they were left with Wang Cuiping.
Wu Feiyue grabbed a few bottles of beer and went over to Lin Yi.
The two of them, in tacit understanding, opened the beers, clinked bottles, and each took a big gulp.
"By the way, what happened to Brother Chao? It’s been many years since he left the orphanage. Have you been in touch?" Lin Yi asked.
"No."
"No contact? What happened?"
"I only heard recently. He got involved in a fight and was stabbed. He didn’t make it," Wu Feiyue said:
"After leaving the orphanage, everyone had their own lives. Mom also tried to find them to see how they were doing, but each time she couldn’t, and before long their numbers changed, so we lost contact."
"Brother Chao was just like before, quick to act without thinking through the consequences."
"There’s nothing that can be done, maybe it’s just fate," Wu Feiyue said, holding his beer, "Come, have another drink."
The two of them clinked bottles again.
Looking at the fireworks lighting up the sky, their emotions were mixed.
Slowly, as they drank late into the night, they reminisced about everything from their childhood.
Because of Zhang Dan, their hearts were filled with emotion.
Even though they were close friends in their youth, they grew distant after growing up, wanting to escape the label of the orphanage.
To them, no matter how good the orphanage’s environment was, it was never home.
And so, on and off, they drank deep into the night.
Wu Feiyue patted Lin Yi on the shoulder, "Let’s go to sleep, it’s late."
Lin Yi checked the time and saw it was already 2 a.m., so he stretched.
"I’m not sleeping. I’m cooking tomorrow. Let me check the kitchen and get things ready."
"Let’s do it together."
"Go to sleep. You can’t handle staying up as I can, haha..."
"I’m not stopping you then."
A slightly tipsy Wu Feiyue returned to his room, while Lin Yi went to the kitchen to begin preparing for tomorrow’s lunch.
Just after 6 a.m., Wang Cuiping began to rouse all the children one after another.
It’s an orphanage rule to wake up early during the New Year.
It symbolizes a year of early rising and hard work.
Lin Yi’s cooking skills were well-known, so the responsibility naturally fell to him.
The others stood by and helped.