New Year's Day was, in its own way, a special day.

For Chu Mingcheng, this morning was certainly memorable—he'd already endured countless eye-rolls.

But faced with these glares, he always responded with a smug smile.

"What are you still sitting there for? Breakfast is ready!" Jiang Luoluo stomped over and gave his calf a playful kick, her tone exasperated.

It wasn't a hard kick—more an expression of her dissatisfaction.

However, seeing her so spirited, it was clear she was still very much a vibrant.

Chu Mingcheng's attempt to capitalize on last night's romantic moment hadn't gotten him very far. The jade pendants and hairpin had been wonderful gestures, but they'd only taken their relationship so far. What a shame!

Even so, Jiang Luoluo was clearly using mock annoyance to cover her shyness around him today.

She was still feeling a bit embarrassed about last night, but a certain someone was too dense to pick up on the signals.

After breakfast, they drove to Chen Wanying's studio for makeup and costume changes, then headed out to film the first dance of 2023.

The location wasn't anything special—just a park with nice scenery.

After the drugging incident, none of them were keen on filming in remote places anymore. Everyone wanted to live long, healthy lives.

Being Chen Wanying's old friend, Chu Mingcheng made himself comfortable on the sofa, picking up a fashion magazine from the coffee table.

Though he was a fisherman, that didn't stop him from trying to upgrade his fashion sense.

However, after flipping through a few pages, Chu Mingcheng was speechless. Were these abstract hairstyles and colors really meant for ordinary people to appreciate?

So this was why their generation had survived the "non-mainstream" phase disaster. Was it all these fashion magazines' fault?

Were they trying to imitate but lacked the skill, thus creating the "non-mainstream" look?

"Chen Wanying, got any magazines normal people can actually appreciate?"

Chen Wanying pointed to a nearby bookshelf. "Yeah, on the shelf. Help yourself. Don't feel bad—even I can't appreciate these. They're for runway shows or competitions. No regular person would actually do this stuff."

No wonder...

Chu Mingcheng surprisingly found some historical costume magazines on the shelf, so he grabbed several to pass time.

The complexity of historical makeup and styling was mainly in hairstyles and accessory matching. If your natural hair wasn't long enough, you needed wigs.

Jiang Luoluo was fine—she had plenty of hair, usually just adding a few extensions for length.

Even so, it took a full two hours to complete her hair and makeup.

When she changed into costume, an ancient swordswoman with heroic bearing appeared.

Today she also had a prop—a replica sword.

Curious, Chu Mingcheng drew the sword. It was light, almost weightless.

He gave it a shake, and the blade swayed back and forth like a soft snake. His expression grew strange. Why did it look so much like...

"Cheng, let's go!"

"Oh, right, okay!"

Chu Mingcheng quickly grabbed the prop and left Chen Wanying's place, heading for the filming location.

Zhang Ruomei and the lighting technician were already there with the scene set up.

Jiang Luoluo handed her overcoat to Chu Mingcheng. A cold wind blew, making her visibly shrink.

Chu Mingcheng frowned. Filming dance videos in cold weather was brutal, especially since the dance costumes were so thin.

But he didn't say anything, just silently went to the car and put on the long down jacket he'd specially brought.

After a short segment, Jiang Luoluo was no longer cold from dancing. She'd wanted to check the playback, but a gust of cold wind immediately stole her body heat.

Chu Mingcheng had warmed up the down jacket in advance so she wouldn't be chilled when putting it on.

He walked over and had just unzipped it when a soft body pressed against him, her arms wrapping around his waist. "Mmm! So warm!"

Chu Mingcheng was charmed by her sweet, naive behavior, then wrapped the down jacket around her.

"Ugh, shameless couple!" Zhang Ruomei said indignantly. Bad enough coming out in this cold to help film a video—now she had to endure public displays of affection too.

But thinking of her own husband at home who'd never done anything like this for her, she couldn't help feeling a little envious.

That morning was spent accompanying Jiang Luoluo's video filming. The afternoon wasn't idle either—they visited Wei Jianguo.

New Year's Day counted as a new year, and since they were leaving tomorrow, it was proper to visit with gifts. After all, Chu Mingcheng had received considerable help from Wei Jianguo since coming to Xiamen.

Back home, Jiang Luoluo calculated Zhang Ruomei's salary, paid her, and gave her an early holiday. Same salary, but the holiday was five days earlier than previous years, which made her quite happy.

Plus, she'd receive a big red envelope for New Year's. Wonderful!

While Jiang Luoluo calculated salary, Chu Mingcheng wasn't idle either. He called housekeeping for a simple tidying.

When they returned, he'd call again for thorough inside-and-out cleaning.

Then he packed all the luggage they needed to take back—three large suitcases total, including Jiang Luoluo's.

But he also needed to bring Mimi and her family back, letting the kittens run wild in his hometown during New Year's.

Once everything was ready, they locked up and exchanged smiles.

Chu Mingcheng pulled two suitcases and wore a pet backpack.

The three kittens were inside, while Mimi lay quietly on the suitcase Chu Mingcheng pulled with his left hand, looking very comfortable.

Jiang Luoluo pulled the other suitcase and carried the cat bed. As for the automatic feeder, they left it behind.

The kittens had grown up—in the future, they could often take them out to sea for fun.

They loaded all luggage into the car. Today they were driving Chu Mingcheng's car.

The car would stay parked at the pier. Fortunately, parking there was free.

But as Chu Mingcheng passed a tobacco and liquor shop, he bought two cartons of premium cigarettes. When they reached the pier, he found the security guard, explained his situation, and asked him to occasionally check on his car.

If a car sat outside for extended periods, it might get dinged. They'd be back in a month, so it was better having someone keep an eye on it.

After moving all luggage onto the boat, Chu Mingcheng had Jiang Luoluo wait aboard while the fuel truck came.

He went to buy bait, crushed ice, and some ingredients and seasonings.

Driving the boat back this time wasn't just about going home.

He planned to catch some premium stuff for Jiang Luoluo to take back—getting on his future in-laws' good side in advance.

Once all necessities were purchased and the fuel truck had just left, Chu Mingcheng returned to the pier.

Back on the boat, the three kittens were running around energetically, clearly curious about their new environment.

Mimi strolled around unhurriedly, as if inspecting her territory.

Chu Mingcheng didn't bother with them. He closed the small gate, went to the cockpit, and started the fishing boat.

"Luoluo, I'm taking you to meet a new friend today."

"A new friend?" Seeing the boat leave the pier and move away from shore, Jiang Luoluo felt curious. "This direction doesn't look like you're heading to another city. This new friend you mentioned... isn't human?"

"You'll see when we get there."

A non-human friend sounded strange, but Chu Mingcheng really couldn't argue, because the new friend he meant truly wasn't human.

Of course, it wasn't a ghost either.

However, it was already evening when they left the pier. The boat hadn't even reached halfway before the sky turned completely dark.

So Chu Mingcheng stopped to make dinner first, fed the cats, then set off again.

Jiang Luoluo couldn't see far in the darkness. When the boat stopped before a deserted island's beach, she finally understood. "Why did you come here? Don't tell me there are people on this island?"

"No people, but I saved a little guy when I was spearfishing with Yang and Wei before." Chu Mingcheng pressed the horn, and the fishing boat immediately let out a long blast. The sound carried far across the sea.

Then he locked the three kittens in the cockpit and pulled Jiang Luoluo to the deck, opening the small rear gate.

Jiang Luoluo waited briefly, feeling puzzled, when a sea lion suddenly popped out of the water and jumped up, startling her. "Is that... a seal?"

"Not a seal—it's a sea lion." Chu Mingcheng smiled and went forward to rub the sea lion's wet head.

"So this is the little guy you saved!" Seeing the sea lion was very gentle, Jiang Luoluo grew bolder, moving closer and tentatively reaching out to touch it.

However, a sea lion didn't feel as nice as an orca, which disappointed her a little.

But the two, focused on the sea lion, didn't notice a cat behind them staring intently at the sea lion.

Just as they got up, preparing to fish here for the night, a piercing cat's meow suddenly startled them.

It turned out the sea lion following behind had triggered Mimi's warning.

The little sea lion also noticed Mimi. It had never seen such a creature and immediately moved closer curiously.

Chu Mingcheng had originally thought Mimi would be scared and run away. After all, though the sea lion wasn't adult-sized, it was much larger than Mimi. A normal cat would probably flee.

Who knew Mimi was like a female warrior! A flurry of cat punches directly stunned the little sea lion.

The sea lion reacted and let out a bark, its head moving forward, but was met with several more slaps to the face.

It retreated with its hind legs but didn't want to leave.

This boat was already very familiar to it—like its second home.

But Mimi meowed again, her voice very low, as if issuing a warning.

The sea lion perhaps knew it couldn't beat the other party, so it simply lay down and exposed its belly.

In the animal world, exposing one's belly generally meant surrendering and showing submission. Seeing the sea lion expose its belly, Mimi immediately relaxed and turned back toward the cockpit door, touching the glass.

At the door, three kittens were peeking out, which made both humans understand that Mimi's bravery came entirely from maternal instinct to protect her children.

Jiang Luoluo had actually wanted to stop Mimi just now, but Chu Mingcheng had held her back.

He knew bringing the sea lion over would make Mimi wary, but he also wanted to see if Mimi and the sea lion could get along.

If they couldn't, then in the future he'd separate them and not let them meet.

But now things were clearly developing in a positive direction. After the sea lion admitted defeat, Mimi no longer bothered with it.