Extra: New Year's Wishes in Winter Part 1

"Have you ever thought about what life is made of?"

"The sun and moon rise and set, mountains and rivers gather. Perhaps life is just a series of coincidental encounters."

"To meet someone, you need to be in the same era, arrive in the same city, and at the same moment, appear in the same place, then quietly wait for fate's permutations."

"Those ordinary life paths begin to intertwine, and ordinary days gradually transform into a brilliant, radiant spectacle."

In an office of a certain company, Kevin was typing code on his keyboard with headphones on. Beside his computer was a photo of his girlfriend, Mei. On the upper right corner of the computer screen was a livestream window of Elysia, also a resident of the Golden Courtyard.

"Tomorrow is New Year's Day! Remember to come home early tonight~ It only happens once a year, so of course, you should cherish the time spent together and convey your feelings to each other properly~" Elysia said, making a heart gesture with her hands. "Does everyone have any special plans tonight? Write your comments in the comment section and tell Miss Pink Fairy~"

Suddenly, Kevin's phone screen lit up. He reached out and picked up his phone, looking at the latest message he received. It was from Su, with three messages:

"It's snowing too much, Eden's flight has been delayed. She probably won't be back tonight."

"What's the situation on your end? You're not working overtime again, are you?"

"Come back early. Everyone is waiting for you and Feng. Remember to buy some flour on the way."

"Didn't we just buy a bag yesterday? It's gone that fast?" Kevin muttered to himself, took off his headphones, turned off his computer, and left the company.

Before leaving the company, his phone received another message. He looked down at it. It was from Feng:

"The snow here is too heavy, and my business trip might be extended again. Lilith told me we'll probably have to spend the New Year out of town. Please let everyone at the Golden Courtyard know. I won't be back tonight."

Kevin sighed softly as he read the message. Before he could reply, another message from Feng arrived.

"When I left a few days ago, I used the leftover flour and minced meat from the kitchen to make some dumplings. If you don't mind, you can try them during the New Year's Eve dinner. Lilith taught me, and I've been practicing for a while."

Kevin thought for a moment and replied, "Got it. Take care of yourself too."

That guy is really busy. Ever since he moved into the Golden Courtyard, apart from occasionally going out with everyone, he's mostly been sent on business trips by the company.

Speaking of which, what kind of dumplings did he mean?

Kevin bought a bag of flour on the way and walked back to the Golden Courtyard. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Griseo, bundled up tightly, and Kosma walking out. Griseo blinked at Kevin, who looked down at them, asking with some confusion, "Are you... going out?"

"Yeah." Griseo nodded and walked out the door with Kosma, then turned back to Kevin and said, "Kosma said this is something you can only do at night."

Kosma stiffened, while Kevin tilted his head, looking a bit puzzled.

Griseo slowly raised the fireworks in her hand, imitating Kosma's tone and actions: "The so-called hero must traverse the long night, igniting a ray of... light for the new dawn! — Kosma bought a lot, want to join us?"

Kosma covered his face with his hand, unsure what to say.

Kevin picked up a firework and said hesitantly, "Now?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind blew outside the courtyard, and even Kevin felt a chill.

Kosma took a deep breath and said, "...Never mind."

He didn't care, but Griseo was still young and couldn't catch a cold.

"Huh? Kevin, you're back?" Elysia, dressed in a maid outfit, appeared in the villa's hallway holding a rolling pin and said with a smile, "Everyone has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Yeah, this is the flour you asked me to buy," Kevin said, lifting the bag of flour in his hand. "Also, Feng sent me a message earlier saying his business trip might be extended, so he probably... won't be back."

"Huh? Feng isn't coming back?" Elysia blinked, then put her hand on her chin and muttered to herself, "Why wouldn't Feng tell me about something so important? I wanted Feng to try my cooking this time."

While Elysia was still muttering, Kevin silently walked into the kitchen. If nothing unexpected happened, Feng should be trying Lilith's cooking right now. However, it would be best not to say that out loud in front of Elysia.

In the kitchen, Hua and Su were working together. Hua was rolling the dough into flat circles, while Su was taking the dough wrappers and filling them with chopped minced meat.

Kevin put the flour aside and walked to Hua's side, watching her roll out another piece of dough. "This is..."

"This is called dumplings, a local snack. It symbolizes the passing of the year, reunion, and good fortune. In my hometown, every household makes them during the New Year," Hua said as she introduced the method of making dumplings to Kevin.

Come to think of it, Feng and Hua and Su were all from the same place... So this was the dumpling Feng was talking about. Kevin thought to himself. Hua was at the last step of making dumplings, and both of them looked at Su, who was making dumplings. Su skillfully threaded a thin thread through the dough wrapper, filled it with minced meat, and after the wrapper completely covered the meat, he cut the thread with scissors.

"Um... Su, that's not how we wrap them where I'm from," Hua said, a little speechless.

Su placed the sewn dumpling in his hand and said with a smile, "Perhaps it's a regional difference."

A regional difference? I wonder if Feng's dumplings are also sewn with thread.

Kevin thought as he looked to the other side, "Then what are they in charge of..."

Qianjie was furiously attacking a ball of dough, Apollonia next to him had a dark expression, and Mobius on the other side silently moved away from Qianjie.

Vill-V grabbed the robot Klein and started modifying it with loud banging noises.

"By the way, Kevin, want to join us?" Hua looked at Kevin and asked.

"Uh... I've never made them before," Kevin said honestly.

Elysia placed a box of eggs on the table and walked behind Kevin, pushing him towards the table. "Come on, Kevin. Just because you haven't done it before makes it even more worth trying~"

And so, the current residents of the Golden Courtyard all started making dumplings.

After a while, Griseo took a piece of dough from Kosma and molded it. Soon, it took the shape of a doll. Looking at Griseo's creation, Kevin looked down at his own work and fell into thought.

Kosma gave Griseo a thumbs-up and said, "Very good."

Kevin thought about it, then quietly dumped his misshapen "dumpling" into the trash can and walked out the door.

Meanwhile, Apollonia saw that Sakura seemed to be struggling to chop the minced meat alone, so she stepped forward to help. However... the two of them seemed to be competing in a strange way. Their aura while chopping minced meat was so terrifying that Mobius, who was coiling dough dyed green with reagent into a snake, said speechlessly, "What's wrong with these two?"

At this moment, Vill-V walked up to Mobius and introduced her modified machine, Klein, which could produce dumplings in large quantities. As the machine operated, a large number of dumplings emerged from the oven in the middle of the machine Klein, and one dumpling directly hit Mobius in the face.

Mobius's face darkened as she snapped the flour snake she had just coiled in her hands. Gritting her teeth, she glared at Vill-V and said, "Vill-V—what did you do to my Klein?!"

What followed was a scene typical of the Golden Courtyard: Mobius beating up Vill-V.

Meanwhile.

Feng looked up at the pitch-black sky and the heavy snow outside. He then glanced at Elysia's livestream, which had already ended on his phone, and muttered to himself, "Is life made up of chance encounters… Intentional meetings, in the end, can't connect two people after all."

It was just a fleeting glance in his youth that had drawn the attention of the girl named Elysia. They had spent a short time together, but later Elysia moved to another city, and he got into a different university. After graduation and starting work, many years had passed since their parting.

He just couldn't forget the beautiful memories from that time…

"After all, we've each gone our separate ways in life, haven't we?" Feng thought to himself. Due to work arrangements, he had recently been considering whether to terminate his lease at the Golden Courtyard. After all, he had moved there because of Elysia in the first place, and the rent didn't matter to him.

After a while, he finally made up his mind: "I'll terminate the lease after the New Year. Nahamah has been asking me to stay with him, and it would be more convenient for work."

"Feng, what are you spacing out by the window for?" Lilith's voice sounded from behind him. "Dinner's ready. If you don't come soon, Mostima and Baal will eat it all."

"Okay, I'm coming right now." Feng replied, and suddenly felt his phone vibrate. He looked down at it. "Kevin? Why is he video calling me?"

Doesn't he have time to video call Mei? Oh, Mei is probably busy…

Then why is he video calling me? Could it be… there's something wrong with the dumplings I made? That shouldn't be it…

Arriving at the dining table, Zhu Yufeng turned on the camera. Just as he was about to ask Kevin why he was video calling him, he saw Elysia appear on the screen.

"Hi~ Feng, are you surprised?" Elysia greeted him with a smile.

Feng was silent for a moment, then asked, "Where's Kevin?"

Hearing this, Elysia seemed to pout slightly and said, "Feng, a beautiful girl is actively video calling you right now, why are you asking about Kevin first?"

Does she still not have as much appeal to him as Kevin does?

"Huh? Is that Elysia?" Lilith leaned over and said.

Elysia's eyes twitched almost imperceptibly as she looked at their heads almost touching. Then she said, "Oh, Lilith, you're here too. Are you guys having dinner?"

Feng moved the phone's camera to the dining table. Baal, who was wolfing down food, had his mouth stuffed with a chicken leg by Abaddon, who was reminding him to mind his image.

Feng glanced at the table, then moved the camera back and said, "Yeah, we've started. What about you guys?"

Elysia showed Feng the various kinds of "dumplings" they had made. Finally, she said, "Feng, the dumplings you made are really good. Unlike Kevin, while everyone else was making dumplings by hand, he went out and bought a bag of frozen dumplings. So, we punished him by making him prepare tonight's dinner for us~"

"Is that so?" Feng nodded. "Kevin's cooking is actually quite decent."

Otherwise, after he married Mei, they would probably only be able to order takeout in the future. He had the fortune to witness Mei's god-slaying culinary skills once, and it was truly…

"Mmm…" Elysia on the screen seemed hesitant.

"Is there anything else, Elysia?" Feng asked.

Elysia seemed to glance at Lilith, then asked hesitantly, "When will your business trip end? Everyone has been waiting for you, and so have I."

Before Feng could speak, Lilith answered for him, "The business trip mission is completed, but the snow is too heavy, so we can't get to the airport. We'll just have to spend the New Year here."

Feng glanced at Lilith, then said to Elysia, "That's the situation. Nahamah has already arranged for people to clear the snow, but with the current progress, it will likely be tomorrow at the earliest. The company's statement is that I can take this opportunity to have a vacation here, so…"

"So, the rest of the time is ours to enjoy~" Lilith said with a smile.

Feng's face darkened as he said, "…Don't say things that can be easily misunderstood… Um, Elysia, is there anything else?"

Elysia on the other end of the screen seemed a bit dejected, but she still smiled and said, "No, nothing else. I just wanted to ask when you can come back."

But I'm planning to terminate my lease when I get back, Feng thought to himself.

Golden Courtyard.

After ending the video call, Elysia placed Kevin's phone on the table and looked at the clock on the wall with some frustration. Feng was on a business trip during Christmas, and again during Valentine's Day. Now, on New Year's Eve, his business trip had been extended. Anyway, on any holiday with significance, he was either on a business trip or on his way to one.

If it were just a business trip, that would be fine. After all, Feng still lived in the Golden Courtyard. The key issue was that Feng was always accompanied by Lilith on his business trips…

Kevin had mentioned that Lilith was apparently Feng's university classmate…

Using Kevin's phone to video call Feng this time was Vill-V's idea. She said it would be a surprise for Feng. She only saw surprise in his eyes, not really any joy…

That guy with negative emotional intelligence barely initiated any conversations with her even after they added each other as friends. Elysia had to hear a lot about him from Kevin…

We used to be good friends, didn't we…

Suddenly, there were a few loud "bangs" from the kitchen, and then the entire Golden Courtyard lost power. Elysia took out her phone to illuminate the area and, along with others, went to the kitchen. They saw a large hole in the wall, as if a door had been broken through, with exposed, broken electrical wires. Kevin stood in the wind and snow, turning his head and saying, "Looks like… dinner won't be happening."