My Demon Friends-Chapter 511 - 490 Santa Claus·Huai Xu

"Back then, I really couldn’t tell Ling Yuwen would turn out so pretty. If I’d known she’d become this beautiful, I would’ve made my move ages ago!" Chang Xiaoxiang said. "Back when she hadn’t had her mole removed!"

"Get real. She wouldn’t have looked your way even if she hadn’t removed that mole."

"Actually, I noticed early on that she had good facial features, and her figure is nice too..."

"Zhou Li, do you eat roast goose and turkey?"

A somewhat discordant voice seemed to interject into the three-way conversation. Zhou Li frowned, looked up at the sound, and saw Huai Xu sitting on the bunk above him. Her legs dangled over his head as she leaned down, propping her hands on the bed’s edge to look at him. Her baozi-like face was tilted inquiringly.

"?"

"Roast goose and turkey. I saw it on the internet; it’s what foreigners eat for Christmas. I went out of my way to get them," Huai Xu explained. "Made by locals in their own homes, so the taste is guaranteed authentic. Do you want some? If you do, I’ll give you a leg. They’re huge, much bigger than regular chicken legs."

"..."

Zhou Li fell silent for a moment, mentally mourning for some unknown family in a far-off country who likely wouldn’t be getting their roast goose and turkey this Christmas.

Even though he wasn’t the thief, he felt an inexplicable sense of guilt.

As if I hadn’t restrained her properly...

If I have to put it that way, Baozi is also to blame. It’s all Baozi’s fault for not ensuring this Old monster ate her fill when she was invited for a meal; otherwise, she wouldn’t have resorted to such actions.

With that thought, Zhou Li felt much better.

At this moment, Huai Xu was still peering down from the upper bunk. Seeing Zhou Li’s prolonged silence, she assumed he was just being shy and said directly, "Then wait a moment, I’ll bring it to you right away. Just tell your roommates you bought it outside."

WHOOSH.

The Old monster in her Little Cousin guise vanished.

「About half a minute later.」

The Old monster reappeared. By this time, two glass containers had materialized on Zhou Li’s desk. Each held a large leg, which the Old monster had even carefully cut into pieces for him, making them easier to eat. The two legs almost completely filled both boxes.

The Old monster’s voice continued, "Eat it while it’s hot. I still have to deliver some to Li Daimao. There were only four legs in total, and you guys have claimed them all. Tuanzi and I only have the bodies to eat."

And Tuanzi...

Zhou Li imagined her and Tuanzi sharing the turkey and roast goose in the unlit living room, similar to how they had shared an apple the night before. The scene he pictured was surprisingly heartwarming.

So, the two of them could actually get along well.

"Thank you..." Zhou Li whispered, so faintly only he could hear. Then he remembered to add, "Don’t tell Brother Nan you stole this."

"Stolen? Who told you I stole it?"

"?"

"I traded for it!"

"?"

"I left them a big bag of face masks!" Huai Xu said, her voice tinged with pride, clearly feeling she had done a good deed. "They’ll be thrilled to get them!"

"..."

"I’m not talking to you anymore! You mute!"

"..."

"UH-UH-UH, I’m a mute!!"

The Old monster, with an adorable wobble of her head, promptly vanished from the dorm room.

Just then, Chen Yang turned his head, sniffing the air. "I think I smell something fragrant..." he said curiously.

Zhou Li pursed his lips and blurted out, "I brought back some turkey and roast goose from outside. Want some?"

"When did you bring that in?"

"Just now."

"But I saw you come back empty-handed just now," Chen Yang said, his eyes wide with puzzlement. He then looked at the others. "Did I see wrong?"

"You saw wrong," Zhou Li calmly replied.

"I forgot," Chang Xiaoxiang said.

"I... don’t think I noticed either," Liu Zhengming said. "But you definitely saw wrong."

"Really..."

Chen Yang tried to recall but quickly shook his head, giving up. He didn’t want to dwell on it, lest he conclude he was "seeing things."

Then, he dragged a stool over to Zhou Li’s seat, its legs scraping against the tiles with a grating noise. "You brought it back earlier? Why didn’t you take it out sooner? It’s probably cold by now."

"I was going to eat it all myself," Zhou Li explained. "Contribute those disposable chopsticks you’ve all been saving up."

"Oh, oh."

The four of them quickly gathered around Zhou Li’s seat to eat.

The taste wasn’t outstanding, but it was enjoyable as a novelty—it was meat, after all. Roasting is a simple cooking method; as long as it wasn’t burnt, it couldn’t be too bad. Truthfully, though, the meat quality was noticeably inferior to regular chicken.

A mediocre experience.

It would have been better if it hadn’t been stolen...

After finishing the meal and freshening up, it was getting late. Zhou Li lay down on his bed, quietly listening to their gossip while chatting with Brother Nan on his phone, eventually falling asleep without realizing it.

「Another day passed.」

「December 26th.」

「Saturday.」

Zhou Li and Brother Nan, as usual, climbed over the wall to find something delicious. Then they packed up a serving of fish soup with rice and went back home to visit Tuanzi.

For the past few days, Tuanzi had stayed at home. She didn’t want to go to Zhou Li’s dorm, and Brother Nan didn’t want her around either. So, she had no choice but to return home dejectedly and stay with Huai Xu. Although Huai Xu was just as playful and mischievous as Brother Nan, Huai Xu didn’t play with Tuanzi, and Tuanzi didn’t enjoy playing with Huai Xu. So, she was very bored.

Seeing Brother Nan and Zhou Li, she was overjoyed, her happiness evident in every word she spoke.

"Lord Dumpling missed you guys so much~"

"We missed Lord Dumpling too."

"Really, meow?"

"Definitely." Zhou Li pulled out his phone calendar and compared it with the exam schedule Zhou Qianqian had just posted in the group chat. "We don’t have classes for the next two days, so I’ll come back to keep Lord Dumpling company. In a couple of days, we have two minor exams. After those, I’ll come back to keep Lord Dumpling company again. Then it will be New Year’s Day."

"New Year’s Day!"

"That’s right. We’ll have a holiday, and I’ll take Lord Dumpling out for some fun."

"Woah, meow!"

Tuanzi continued to enjoy her fish soup with rice, while Zhou Li kept looking at the calendar, noting the dates for the holidays and the new year.

After New Year’s Day, there would be only three exams left, with the last one on the 7th.

The holiday would begin right after the 7th.

But Spring Festival wouldn’t be until February 11th.

That left over a month in between. Aside from the few days needed for the trip home, there was nearly a full month. For a road trip to Qingjiang, if it wasn’t an in-depth tour, the time should be sufficient.

So Zhou Li turned his head and asked Brother Nan, "Are you sure you don’t want to go with us?"

"Go where?" Brother Nan asked, pausing from his phone.

"Qingjiang."

"It’s busy at home during the holidays; we need all hands on deck."

"Oh."

"I heard Qingjiang has tons of beauties. Every three steps you see a Dilinazha, every ten steps a Malzaha. If it’s really like that when you go, remember to take lots of pictures of them for me," Brother Nan said calmly. "But considering the pandemic, I suggest you stick to looking and minimize any... in-depth interaction."

"Got it."

BOOM!

"Understood." Zhou Li thought for a moment. "Then shall we go out and have some fun for New Year’s Day?"

"This year’s New Year’s Day schedule isn’t great. We have an exam the day before, so we don’t have much time!"

"Got it." Zhou Li looked at the calendar. "Then let’s go to Baozi’s Home for New Year’s Day. It’s the end of the term, so we should visit at least once. It wouldn’t be right not to. After the exams, we’ll head straight back to Yan City."

"That works," Brother Nan agreed.

"Are you scrolling TikTok?" Zhou Li asked.

"Mhm." Brother Nan casually swiped up on his phone, then suddenly paused and turned the screen towards Zhou Li. "This is kind of interesting."

"What is it?"

Zhou Li squinted curiously at the screen. The video had subtitles at the top. He couldn’t help but read them aloud: "Even Santa Claus can’t stand by given the pandemic situation abroad?"

He took the phone and looked closely.

The video cut between scenes inside a European-style house. Several foreign faces flashed on screen, accompanied only by comical voiceovers; the actual content was conveyed through subtitles.

It roughly told the story of a certain country ravaged by the pandemic and facing a mask shortage, where people were stubbornly resistant. However, something strange happened on Christmas Day: one family, who had spent all day baking a turkey, suddenly found it missing. It was supposedly taken by Santa Claus. In exchange, Santa Claus had left them a big bag of masks.

Masks made in China.

The narrator in the video spoke earnestly.

Coincidentally, just half a block from their house, another family experienced something similar.