Chapter 18: New Year Gifts
“Huh?! Are you inviting me to celebrate New Year’s together?” Mu Mu got excited all at once.
“I heard it with my own two ears!”
“You’re not allowed to go back on it!”
Mu Mu immediately picked up his phone and said to the painter, “When I was browsing online before, I saw tons of little decorations for the house. This is my first New Year, I’m going to celebrate it properly!”
Fu Heqing smiled, looked at Mu Mu, and played along. “How proper?”
“Very proper, very proper!”
With a wave of his bony hand, Mu Mu launched into his plans. “I’m going to buy lots and lots of things to decorate our villa—from window paper-cuts and couplets to red lanterns, plus pretty string lights and fireworks!”
“First we’ll do a big clean-up, then decorate. After that we’ll buy New Year’s goods, and new clothes.”
“And finally, New Year’s Eve dinner and fireworks!”
Mu Mu summed it all up, drawing on traditions past and present he’d seen, as well as the classic, time-honored activities everyone online kept recommending—like turning on the TV and letting the Spring Festival Gala play in the background, which instantly makes everything feel livelier.
Fu Heqing looked at Mu Mu’s beaming face and teased on purpose. “Then does this little ghost have money?”
“Of course!” Mu Mu puffed out his chest proudly and said to Fu Heqing.
“I do part-time jobs online. I’ve got plenty of money now.”
“I’m even going to prepare a birthday present for you, Mr. Painter.”
As he spoke, Mu Mu was about to open his payment app to show Fu Heqing, treating him completely like family.
Fu Heqing glanced at it briefly and saw that the incoming payments were all small and scattered—some from customer service work, some that looked like transfers for helping other people grind in games. Most of the transactions were late at night.
Fu Heqing understood immediately.
Back when the little ghost didn’t need to sleep, while everyone else joked about having a person growing out of their liver from overwork, Mu Mu had simply become a “steel liver” incarnate—when others slept, he was online; when others ate, he was online; when others went to the bathroom, he was still online.
The key point was that a little ghost doesn’t eat, drink, or sleep—no sudden death from overwork, no hair loss either. All thanks to racial traits.
This job really was a perfect fit for a little ghost.
“Impressive,” Fu Heqing praised. “Then I’ll take care of buying the decorations, New Year’s goods, and new clothes for Mu Mu?”
“Sure!”
Mu Mu nodded, then placed his tablet into Fu Heqing’s hands. “The payment password is 0321—it’s Mr. Painter’s birthday, so it’s easy to remember.”
Fu Heqing paused slightly in his movements.
Mu Mu, however, didn’t see any issue at all. He looked up at Fu Heqing eagerly. “I’ll be counting on you, Mr. Painter.”
Fu Heqing glanced at the four-digit balance displayed on the tablet and smiled. “Alright.”
…
A few days later, the items the two of them had ordered separately on their phones began arriving at the door one after another. Big boxes and small ones alike were all carried inside by the butler robot.
Fu Heqing brought Mu Mu a small cushion. Mu Mu sat right in the middle of the mountain of packages, holding a tiny box cutter, enjoying the thrill of opening blind boxes.
“Yay, these are my string lights!”
Every time Mu Mu picked up a small box, he had to shake it, make a guess, and only then open it. Not a single step could be skipped—each one carried a strong sense of ceremony.
“Let’s see what this is.”
After finishing all the small packages, Mu Mu’s gaze immediately locked onto the prettiest of the large ones.
It was a cube about half a person tall. Once the outer cardboard was removed, it revealed a wooden display cabinet with glass panels. Inside were ten levels, each holding ten gift boxes.
Mu Mu thought about it for a long time but still couldn’t figure out what exactly this was supposed to be.
The gift boxes were of excellent quality. After opening them, he found that each one was further divided into smaller boxes—five in total: hats, tops, bottoms, shoes, and other small accessories.
There were Western-style formal outfits, round and puffy tiger-head hats with padded winter jackets, adorable sailor suits, little cat overalls… There was even a custom-made rain poncho set, complete with rain boots and an umbrella—specially designed for a little skeleton to go splash in puddles on rainy days.
“Wow!!” Mu Mu was dazzled at once.
“Are these all my new clothes?”
He lifted his head and asked.
Fu Heqing stood to Mu Mu’s side, watching every little movement and every expression on the small skeleton’s face. He smiled—before he could even ask anything, Mu Mu rushed to answer first.
“They’re so pretty, I love them!”
“Mr. Painter really knows how to pick clothes!”
Looking at the row of new outfits in front of him, Mu Mu immediately gave Fu Heqing a big thumbs-up, then pulled one set out of a box and said to him,
“My New Year battle outfit. I’ll put it on once the house is decorated.”
After that, Mu Mu grabbed Fu Heqing and started sticking up window paper-cuts and hanging lanterns.
There was no helping it—after all, the little skeleton was only about as tall as the painter’s calf. Mu Mu stood on top of a cabinet, holding string lights as he decorated the walls.
Mu Mu was determined to make the entire villa look beautiful, but he was too small and the villa was too big. The guest rooms that were rarely used could only be simply covered with all kinds of “fortune” characters.
Even so, the remaining workload was massive, and Mu Mu spent a full two weeks decorating.
The entire villa underwent a complete makeover. Besides the string lights, a large kumquat tree was placed in one corner of the living room, covered in red envelopes and small lanterns.
Scattered across the floor were big and small gold-ingot-shaped throw pillows. Someone had even been hired to bring huge decorative lanterns into the courtyard, lighting up the garden at night in a dazzling blaze of color.
“All done, all done, now it’s my turn!” Mu Mu looked at the fully decorated villa, took out his New Year battle outfit, and asked Fu Heqing to help him change into it.
In addition to the cute tiger-head hat, there was a red-and-white padded jacket, with fluffy trim along the wide sleeves and collar. The bottoms were roomy pumpkin pants, paired with small red boots, and finished off with a hooded little cape.
The moment Mu Mu finished changing, the New Year atmosphere in the entire villa was instantly maxed out.
“Wow!” Mu Mu spun around in front of the mirror several times, looking left and right, thoroughly satisfied.
“If only I could wear it too,” Mu Mu said, a little tempted.
Hearing that, Fu Heqing thought for a moment—if the little ghost’s soul body were dressed in this outfit, it would probably look like a soft, white little ball.
“If Mu Mu wants to, we could have one made—”
Before Fu Heqing could finish, Mu Mu cut in. “Never mind, never mind. I can’t wear it anyway. I’ll just admire it.”
As he spoke, Mu Mu kept snapping photos of how the villa looked now, sending them all in one go to Li Yiyi.
[Kitty, look at the villa we decorated!]
After that message went out, a flood of photos and short videos followed right after.
[?!!! This is Brother Fu’s villa?]
[You turned it into this?!]
Li Yiyi was completely stunned. She couldn’t believe that Fu Heqing’s place could one day become like this…
Full of warmth and everyday life.
Like glaciers melting, like an immortal descending to the mortal world.
In Li Yiyi’s eyes, Fu Heqing’s house was like an evil dragon’s lair, a beast’s den—anyone who entered would be mercilessly driven out. Let alone turning it upside down with decorations; that was practically the same as marking the dragon’s cave as one’s own territory.
This massive makeover didn’t just shock Li Yiyi. Li Xunyang even came over personally to sneak a look, only to be sent away before he even reached the door—dispatched by Fu Heqing with two big red envelopes, including Li Yiyi’s share.
Mu Mu lay against the window, secretly peeking outside. Seeing that Li Xunyang was also dressed head to toe in festive red, he couldn’t help comparing the two of them.
Anyway, no way he looked better than a little skeleton!
“Did he come to pay us a New Year visit?” Mu Mu poked his head out and asked when Fu Heqing came back.
“Mm.”
“But the New Year isn’t here yet—tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve,” Mu Mu said, looking at the retreating figure with some confusion.
“He’s paying his respects early.”
“Pay respects early? Alright… another one of those words Mu Mu doesn’t quite understand.” After watching Li Xunyang leave, Mu Mu immediately shifted his attention back to his phone and the little checklist in front of him, written in wobbly handwriting.
“Mr. Painter, come take a look—what New Year treats do you still want?” Mu Mu waved his hand and muttered quietly.
“The netizens said they usually buy New Year’s goods with their moms at the market, tasting everything on the spot. But Mu Mu doesn’t have a mom, and Mr. Painter can’t go out either.”
“So we can only buy based on pictures.”
Fu Heqing glanced at the paper by the little skeleton’s side. It was filled with all sorts of trendy online New Year treats that were popular lately—expensive, flashy, but mostly unpleasant.
“We don’t need these,” Fu Heqing said after a moment of silence.
In the entire villa, Fu Heqing was the only living person. Any treats purchased would, without exception, end up in his mouth at Mu Mu’s insistence, and then he would give Mu Mu a full description of the taste.
Two people were benefiting from the eyes of one—only he had to suffer through anything bad.
“But this candy looks so pretty,” Mu Mu argued.
“Doesn’t taste good,” Fu Heqing firmly replied.
“They said it tastes good!” Mu Mu didn’t give in and added it back to the cart.
“All marketing,” Fu Heqing said.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Mu Mu quickly clicked “order” and paid for everything.
After finishing, Mu Mu even comforted Fu Heqing: “I only bought a little bit, okay? I also ordered our New Year’s Eve reunion dinner from a nearby restaurant—it’s a famous private kitchen, recommended by Kitty.”
Netizens might be unreliable, but Li Yiyi was always trustworthy.
The restaurant Li Yiyi recommended was a long-established place under Fu Heqing’s own management, so naturally it knew the boss’s taste better than anyone.
[Then I’ll just wish Mu Mu and Brother Fu a Happy New Year first! You two must have lots of fun! Can’t wait to hear your good news!]
Mu Mu looked at Li Yiyi’s message. Though he didn’t understand the last sentence, he loved the part about “have lots of fun.”
To him, having fun was the best kind of blessing, so he sent the same wish back.
Everything was ready.
Mu Mu glanced around at all the decorations, then sneakily peeked at Fu Heqing, and slipped over to the kumquat bonsai in the living room, checking and double-checking the New Year gift he had prepared.
This gift had nearly emptied all of Mu Mu’s little savings.
“What’s wrong?” Fu Heqing noticed Mu Mu fidgeting and asked.
“Nothing at all,” Mu Mu lied, his heart pounding so hard he thought it might jump out of his chest, afraid Fu Heqing might discover something too early.
Mu Mu suddenly understood why so many people loved secretly preparing gifts.
It was so exciting!
For the first time, Mu Mu felt time drag. He wished tomorrow night would arrive immediately.
After finishing the New Year’s Eve dinner and setting off the fireworks, he would place his carefully prepared gift in front of Mr. Painter, wait until exactly midnight, and then shout loudly:
“Surprise!”
