With three straight days of events ending right before the holiday, he could finally start enjoying the Golden Week break.
Until now, Little Bull had never realized that talking in front of people could be such an exhausting task. Back home, working from dawn to dusk doing farm labor, he had never complained of hardship or tiredness. But now, he desperately wanted to curl up at home and sprawl out for a whole day, even postponing the holiday part-time job he had originally planned to sign up for.
Hanging his few washed changes of clothes brought from school one by one into the nanny room’s wardrobe, Little Bull instantly felt his mood soar. Ever since coming out of the mountains to the present, this felt like the first time he truly formed a connection with this city. A well-paying job, a life-changing Mandarin skill, a foothold—these were all things Mr. Gong had brought him!
Thinking of this, Little Bull couldn’t help feeling happy, wanting to see what Gong Nanxing was up to. If all else failed, he could slice up a plate of fruit as an excuse. So, on tiptoe, he pushed open his bedroom door, only to search the entire apartment and find no trace of Gong Nanxing.
Could Big Brother still have work today?
That shouldn’t be right. Yesterday, when the final event ended and they finished the celebration banquet, Big Brother had explicitly said that the official holiday had started and the whole team could apply for compensatory leave. Since everyone else was on holiday, what on earth was Big Brother still busy with by himself? He had briefly crossed paths with him this morning during breakfast, except Gong Nanxing had been on the phone at the time. Now that he thought about it, his expression back then definitely could not be called pleasant.
Sitting alone in the empty living room, Little Bull couldn’t help falling into memories…
Earlier that morning, he had prepared breakfast as usual, and Gong Nanxing had also appeared promptly at the dining table. Just as the two of them exchanged greetings, Gong Nanxing’s phone rang. At that moment, he was in the kitchen serving dishes, so he couldn’t see the caller ID on the phone. But he clearly remembered that the phone rang for a long time before Gong Nanxing answered it, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he saw an unfamiliar number or simply didn’t want to answer.
Throughout breakfast, Gong Nanxing kept the phone pressed against his ear. Breaking from his usual routine, this time Gong Nanxing didn’t say much during the call, merely offering mechanical and perfunctory agreements. Finishing breakfast in a rush, Gong Nanxing headed back to his bedroom while maintaining the posture of answering the call.
Although Little Bull was curious, he didn’t plan on pressing the matter. It wasn’t that he genuinely wanted to know who Gong Nanxing was talking to on the phone, but he was truly concerned about Gong Nanxing’s expression at the time. Gong Nanxing looked anything but happy.
What should he do? Should he send a message to ask? What if Gong Nanxing was working and sending a message would only disturb him?
Little Bull wrestled with himself until his already curly hair looked even more like a spring. Letting out a deflated sigh, he collapsed onto the sofa, suddenly struck by the dismal realization that he didn’t understand Gong Nanxing at all. Clearly, he had shared everything from his childhood experiences to his hidden dreams in his heart with Gong Nanxing, yet he understood practically nothing about the other person.
Well, not entirely nothing. He only knew that Gong Nanxing had an older brother and an older sister, and as the youngest child in the family, he had never been an older brother to anyone else. So perhaps he was just a terrible younger brother who had never properly cared about Gong Nanxing’s life…
No matter how busy work was, people still needed to eat. Sending him a message when dinner time arrived shouldn’t count as disturbing his work, right?
Lying flat on the sofa like that, Little Bull waited stubbornly. The moment the time on his phone screen ticked to twelve, he sprang up eagerly, tapped open the chat box, and sent Gong Nanxing a message.
“Big Brother, are you coming back for dinner? (Dairy cow greeting.jpg)”
What followed was a long, agonizing ten minutes of sitting on pins and needles. When the notification popped up, Little Bull instantly sprang back to life, only to keel over and die the moment he read the message.
“Not coming back. Eat by yourself. Don’t wait up for me for dinner either.”
By the time Gong Nanxing arrived home later that day, it was already late into the night. Tossing his car keys aside, he walked in from the entryway, only to notice a dim floor lamp glowing softly in the living room. Taking two steps further, he saw Little Bull sprawled face down across three sofa cushions. Hearing the movement, Little Bull first half-raised himself in a daze, then turned his head back—and that face scared Gong Nanxing half a step backward in pure shock.
“What on earth happened to you? Why are your eyes swollen like this?”
The cow’s eyes were already large to begin with, but at the moment they were hanging on his face like two giant walnuts. Before Gong Nanxing could figure it out himself, Little Bull snapped back to his senses and let out a wail, bursting into tears.
“Shh, keep it down, don’t yell! Anyone else hearing this would think I was raising cattle in my house!”
“Big Brother! Where did you go? I had a nightmare today dreaming that you went missing! I went out onto the streets putting up missing persons posters at every single house, but everyone said they had never heard of someone like you. I kept searching and searching, and even when I turned seventy years old I still couldn’t see you coming home!”
Hearing this melodramatic weeping and howling, Gong Nanxing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. With a look of utter disgust, he shoved a tissue into the cow’s hand and said, “If you dare drip snot onto my sofa, I’ll slaughter you.”
Only then did Little Bull remember to be scared, hurriedly running off to the bathroom to clean up his messy face. Fearing that Gong Nanxing might retreat into his bedroom before he could exchange a few more words, he flashed back like lightning even with water still dripping from his face.
“Tsk. Come here.”
Resigned to his fate, Gong Nanxing grabbed a tissue and helped wipe the water droplets off the cow’s face. The force made Little Bull bare his teeth in pain, but for some reason, he didn’t feel sad at all anymore. Slipping out of Gong Nanxing’s clutches, he grinned brightly once more and asked, “Big Brother, do you want to eat some late-night snacks?”
“No. You’re trying to murder me.” This sneaky kid put himself on a strict diet and fitness routine, possessing zero extra fat on his body, yet he dared to lure him into eating a late-night snack—what was his hidden motive? Seizing the opportunity for petty revenge, Gong Nanxing pretended to wipe away water while ruthlessly pinching the cow’s cheek, then dropped the tissue into the trash bin with an air of complete innocence.
“Eat! I wrapped shrimp-filled dumplings today, plus vegetable dumplings, they’re super delicious!”
He hadn’t felt hungry before, but at the cow’s urging, Gong Nanxing actually felt a bit of an appetite. Shaking his head, he went over to sit at the dining table. Like a black whirlwind, Little Bull swept open the refrigerator door, swept away a plate of frozen dumplings, swept out cookware to boil water, and after a brief storm swept through the kitchen, a plate of dumplings was placed right in front of Gong Nanxing.
“What mischief are you plotting anyway? Huh? Confess right now.”
Just as Gong Nanxing blew on a few dumplings to cool them down and popped them into his mouth, he found himself unnerved by the cow’s steady gaze, resting his chin in his hands as he stared unblinkingly at him. Little Bull watched Gong Nanxing’s lips turn slightly red from the heat, and the words hovering on his tip swallowed themselves back down.
Even if he asked, someone as smart as Gong Nanxing would certainly have countless flawless excuses ready to brush him off. Besides, he didn’t seem to have any standing to ask right now anyway. Furthermore, even if he knew, what good would it do? Whatever could trouble Gong Nanxing must be something he couldn’t resolve yet. If even Gong Nanxing couldn’t solve it, telling him wouldn’t mean anything other than dredging up worries all over again.
So Little Bull remained silent for a second or two, then flashed Gong Nanxing another silly, carefree grin revealing a mouthful of pearly white teeth:
“Nothing at all, Big Brother! I just wanted to say…”
“Whenever you want to eat, even for late-night snacks, I will definitely come!”