My Demon Friends

December 22, Winter Solstice.

Winter Solstice customs vary in content and detail depending on the region. Some coastal areas practice ancestral worship. People in the north usually eat dumplings on this day, while those in the south prefer Tang Yuan. However, there are also those who eat rice cakes, roast meats, and ginger rice. Yi Province and some surrounding areas opt for mutton soup to fend off the cold.

Which one is better?

That's hard to say.

Ask Zhou Li, ask Brother Nan, ask Baozi, and their answers will all be somewhat biased.

Only when you ask Huai Xu do you get a relatively fair response—he's neither from the north nor the south; he's not even human.

He's just a simple, meat-loving, Little Demon who eats anything tasty that comes his way.

For him, the mutton soup has a slight edge.

The shop Brother Nan found was located in Old Chenggong Town, a bit of a distance from the school, and quite out of the way. Zhou Li really couldn't fathom how she'd stumbled upon this place.

The three of them and one demon took their seats and first ordered two pounds of mutton, one pound of offal, and a serving of blood pudding, then began to wait.

Brother Nan looked around curiously.

The business in the shop was decent, with an occupancy rate of about 80%. The table next to them was steaming—it was a hot pot, not a cold pot.

Brother Nan craned her neck to get a good look at the contents of the pot at the next table, then turned back to Zhou Li and said, "It looks rather light, not milky. I reckon it won't be as rich as the ones from our place. Seems to be a different kind of flavor."

Zhou Li just nodded, unable to continue the conversation.

GURGLE GURGLE…

Brother Nan immediately turned around. "Whose stomach is growling?"

She looked at Huai Xu.

Huai Xu stared at Baozi.

Baozi sat expressionless, her fingers tightly clutching her chopsticks, the knuckles turning white from the grip.

Brother Nan said to Zhou Li with a chuckle, "Your little cousin has been having a tough time lately. Every morning, she goes to the cafeteria to buy a few buns, gets a 2.2-yuan rice noodle dish at noon, and at night she either skips dinner or eats the leftover buns from the morning. She even told me she's on a diet… and clearly, she hasn't lost a pound!"

Little Cousin replied nonchalantly, "I am indeed trying to lose weight, but being broke is part of it too."

"It's bad for your stomach," Brother Nan said. "Back in high school, there were girls in my class who would skip dinner to lose weight. It worked, but it was too damaging to the stomach."

"Oh."

"Besides, buns and rice noodles are high in carbs and won't help you lose weight. Just look at your face," Brother Nan casually launched a personal attack.

"Oh."

"You should eat chicken breast, beef shank, or low-calorie vegetables like broccoli if you want to lose weight," Brother Nan added.

"Can't afford it."

"Fair enough."

Brother Nan nodded her head, seeming a bit helpless.

You could say Little Cousin had no money, but then she'd somehow fork out nearly ten thousand yuan for a camera lens—how many college students could produce that kind of cash all at once? Yet, if you said she *was* rich, she was eating dirt every day, and there was no telling how long that would last.

Brother Nan could only occasionally bring her some snacks, share her treats when she had them, and invite her along when Zhou Li and she went out to dine. In return, Little Cousin had no right to complain when Brother Nan pinched her cheeks.

"You could find some part-time work; there are fewer classes lately, and you could earn some money," Zhou Li advised her.

"It's hard to find anything now that finals are here," Baozi said.

"You could take on photography gigs," Brother Nan suggested.

"It's hard to find anything now that finals are here," Baozi repeated, staring at the gas stove in the center of the table. "Freshmen can get by taking ID photos. Next semester, I might take graduation photos for the seniors, but there's not much work usually. Those with money go to the photography studios on the commercial streets, and those without money seek out the photography society for cheap sessions."

"That's rough."

"…"

"I've been looking for someone to do some papers for me, 50 yuan apiece, but I haven't found anyone yet," Brother Nan ventured. "How about it…"

"I can't even be bothered to do my own."

Hearing this, Zhou Li finally understood—his little cousin was both poor and lazy, preferring to eat dirt rather than shake off her salted fish nature.

She was truly... perfectly to his taste!

So, Zhou Li thought for a bit and suggested, "You could substitute in classes for others. Just sit in the classroom for a session and get paid. Liu Zhengming often does that. He's joined a part-time work group that regularly posts such opportunities. He says there's been a high demand for class substitutes lately. It's because nobody dares skip classes towards the end of the term, yet some people still have their own arrangements or emergencies."

Baozi thought it over seriously. "I'll check it out when I get back."

Zhou Li added, "You could also sell postcards made from the photos you've taken. Your shots are quite good. When promoting them, you could say that all these photos were taken by you, which is more competitive than random internet pictures. Set up a stall somewhere, and if the student council or security bothers you, just go to Brother Nan."

Baozi nodded. "That's not a bad idea."

After a brief pause, she suddenly turned to look at Brother Nan. "I'll take that paper-writing job. Three papers."

"I thought you weren't interested?"

"Changed my mind."

"Alrighty."

"Delete the message you posted online so no one else comes looking for you," Baozi said, pausing for a moment. "Do it now."

"Okay then."

While the mutton soup hadn't arrived yet, Brother Nan took out her phone.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Baozi also picking up her phone.

Brother Nan wasn't very familiar with the app. After some effort, she found and deleted her post. Then she returned to the main screen, where she instinctively refreshed the page, only to see a new post that had just been made—

Looking for someone to ghostwrite an essay, about 1,000 words, 40 yuan each.

Brother Nan looked up, stunned, just in time to see Baozi putting down her phone, still with that unreadable poker-face expression.

The mutton soup arrived.

Brother Nan blinked twice and looked at the other three. "Do you drink alcohol?"

"No..."

Baozi hesitated for a moment, then suddenly changed her mind. "Let's try a bit."

"Then I'll drink too!" Huai Xu declared.

Ignoring Zhou Li, Brother Nan looked at the bottom of the wall menu and told the owner, "Bring us a jin of loose alcohol."

The alcohol was served quickly.

Brother Nan poured herself more than half a glass and took a sip. She immediately TSKED and squinted her eyes. "This liquor is quite spicy," she said, passing the bottle to Baozi. "Do you want me to get you a bottle of beer instead?"

"No need."

Baozi poured a tiny bit, barely wetting the bottom of her glass.

Huai Xu, on the other hand, filled his glass to the brim.

When it was Zhou Li's turn, he didn't usually drink and was averse to alcohol, but he made an exception and poured just a tiny bit today. After taking a sip, the bitter taste made him frown.

Brother Nan laughed out loud and handed him a soup spoon. "If you don't like it, don't drink it. The mutton soup's delicious!"

"Okay."

Zhou Li put down his glass and started ladling soup.

He casually served some for Brother Nan too.

Brother Nan loved drinking, simply loved it.

She didn't clink glasses with anyone else and continued to chat with everyone about topics unrelated to alcohol, eating meat and drinking soup as usual. But during this process, she occasionally took a small sip from her glass. Although it seemed like she was drinking slowly, her glass quickly emptied.

She refilled her glass and continued drinking.

This scene reminded Zhou Li of how his grandfather used to drink by himself at home, content and unconcerned with anyone else. Drinking as much or as little as he pleased. Not afraid to drink more for fear of getting drunk, because it was just family around. And if he wanted to drink less, no one would urge him, and certainly no one would laugh. It was very comfortable.

By the end of the mutton soup meal, Brother Nan had actually drunk more than she usually did at gatherings with classmates, ending up quite drunk. She seemed to walk normally, her face wasn't red, and her expression was still normal, but if you asked her a question, her responses were slow.

And she insisted on going to an internet cafe to stay up all night—

"It's fine, I'm very sober!" Brother Nan insisted. "If you're not going, then go back. I'll just find a nearby internet cafe."

"There isn't an internet cafe around here," Zhou Li said.

"What should I do then?" Brother Nan was stunned.

"Let's go back to the dorm."

"I don't want to! I want to play games! I'm going for the Godlike streak!" Brother Nan passionately protested.

Zhou Li tried to pull her, but couldn't budge her.

Baozi watched from the side and suddenly suggested, "This is easy. Just go play games at Zhou Li's house. Didn't you spend all night playing there the day before yesterday?"

Brother Nan thought about it. "That's true!"

So she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Zhou Li's neck, and hung half her weight on him. "Let's go, I'll go play games at your house tonight! How about that?"

"Hey! Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Oh, oh, sure."

Zhou Li was seldom so close to Brother Nan. He could smell the faint scent of alcohol on her breath and the fragrance of her laundry detergent. He even felt that a slight turn of his head would bring his face into close contact with hers, which flustered him a little.

Thankfully, there weren't many people around to see.

With a glance from the corner of his eye, he saw Baozi standing in front of them, holding up her phone with a focused expression.