"Ding-dong... Ding-dong..."
Jiang Hai and Bernice lay on the sofa, neither moving, simply listening to the doorbell ringing nearby.
After the bell rang three times, Bernice nudged Jiang Hai's side with her foot and gave him a pointed look, signaling him to get up and open the door.
"Why don't you go?" Jiang Hai took a bite of a soft French fry and said lazily, meeting her gaze.
"I'm not wearing a vest—it's too revealing." Bernice replied confidently.
Jiang Hai glanced up and, sure enough, beneath her stretched T-shirt, there were things that probably shouldn't be on display.
"Alright…" he sighed, reluctant but resigned, and stood up.
He walked to the door and peeked outside. A courier boy was waiting. Jiang Hai quickly grabbed the mountain lion fur coat hanging nearby, put it on, and stepped out into the cold wind and snow. Seeing someone emerge from the manor, the courier boy paused, doorbell still in hand.
After a few minutes, Jiang Hai returned riding a four-wheeled motorcycle. Opening the door with a smile, he greeted the courier.
"Mr. Jiang, Merry Christmas! Here's your package." The courier smiled, handing over a large box.
Jiang Hai frowned as he took the rectangular package—he didn't recall ordering anything recently.
He examined the label, which only said "musical instrument." The address was correct, but the sender was a mystery.
"Thanks for your trouble." Jiang Hai checked the package and, satisfied, handed the courier a ten-dollar tip. The courier's face lit up—most people only gave one or two dollars, sometimes five, but ten was generous. Clearly, Jiang Hai was wealthy.
The young courier nodded excitedly before driving off, and Jiang Hai returned to the villa.
Inside, he shook off the snow from his coat, feeling as if he'd been frozen after only a few minutes outside.
He glanced at Bernice still lounging on the sofa and rolled his eyes before hanging up his coat and bringing the package inside. Bernice only gave him a sideways glance.
"You got the package. What is it?" she asked weakly.
"I don't know. It just says 'musical instrument,'" Jiang Hai replied with a shrug.
"Oh, that must be Darlene's," Bernice said with a smile. "I heard one of her instruments broke, so she bought a replacement with her own pocket money. What a good kid."
"You're silly—using your own money to fix your workman's stuff." Jiang Hai rolled his eyes, placed the box beside him on the sofa, patted Bernice's legs, and lazily rested his head there.
Bernice rolled her eyes back at him. "You don't get it—this is called collective responsibility. Besides, it's not like you can't get the money back later."
Jiang Hai disagreed silently, unwilling to admit he might be a bit stingy. He just continued resting on Bernice's legs, watching the TV.
The movie playing was The Martian, a new Hollywood release from this year. It was free of romantic drama, family feuds, or nationalistic hatred—just pure positive energy. It premiered in the U.S. on October 2nd and had done well at the box office. Word was it had also sparked a wave of moviegoers in China.
Many of Jiang Hai's friends had seen it and recommended it. Jiang Hai hadn't gone to the cinema, but now the film was off the big screen and available on a paid channel. With his legendary annual membership card, Jiang Hai could watch without extra cost.
As for Jiang Hai and Bernice's situation, it was a bit complicated. Today was December 20th, only four days before Christmas Eve. They'd been holed up at home for over ten days, just the two of them.
Jiang Hai had been teaching Bernice martial arts—but it was mostly for show. With his brain, it only took him two days to learn her routine, and being stronger, he fought better. The wind from his punches was intimidating, but in actual combat, it was just so-so.
The style was a watered-down, "castrated" national martial art; many deadly moves had disappeared. Its purpose was to strengthen the body, not to fight on battlefields.
After two days of practice, Jiang Hai was done. Bernice had initially chosen to practice dancing, but found it too troublesome and switched to singing instead.
She made the accompaniment, but with Xiaoya, Darlene, and Marianne busy preparing for performances, Jiang Hai and Bernice were left at home.
Bernice and Jiang Hai, both easygoing types, spent their days bickering over food, drinks, toys, even the sofa and TV, but usually ended up just lounging together.
Sometimes Bernice lay in Jiang Hai's arms; other times, Jiang Hai rested on her legs. Their familiarity made the closeness natural and unawkward as they watched movies.
The film ended, and Bernice sat up, stretching after being still for more than two hours.
"Oh, another movie done. What now? I'm so bored." She crossed her legs and looked at Jiang Hai helplessly.
Jiang Hai was equally bored. "Yeah… but what else is there to do?" He stared at the ceiling, genuinely out of ideas.
"Want to play Three Kingdoms?" Bernice asked seriously.
"Three Kingdoms? Sure…" Jiang Hai agreed, though he wasn't confident in his luck.
Bernice went upstairs to fetch the game, then they sat together in the living room to play the duel mode, also called KOF mode. Each player got five cards and chose three to play. They took turns until one side had no cards left and lost.
They'd played before. As Jiang Hai shuffled, Bernice picked her generals.
Xiaoya's set had a complete collection, including Wind, Fire, Mountain, Forest, Special, Tiangang, Disha, SR, and even god generals—though god generals were irrelevant in duel mode. The whole deck had over a hundred generals.
Jiang Hai frowned at his hand—his heroes were disappointing.
Shu Guanyu was a red card killer, considered the weakest character. Shu Liu Bei could give cards to anyone and restore a little health if the cards exceeded two, but that was useless in a duel. Wei Xuchu drew an extra card during the draw phase and dealt double damage, but again, weak in solo combat. Huang Gai and Taishi Ci were also weak.
He sighed and picked three heroes anyway. Then his opponent's first hero appeared: Zhen Ji, a notorious bug general who could draw unlimited cards at the start.
Today, Jiang Hai's bad luck hit a new low. On the first turn, his opponent drew 23 cards, including Zhuge Liannu in the starting hand.
A barrage of arrows followed. By the end of the turn, Jiang Hai's third hero had only one drop of health left.
The opponent drew eight more cards, and the game was over—sometimes it was just that simple.
Jiang Hai lost the first round, tried again, lost the second, third, and fifth rounds too. After the fifth loss, he threw his cards onto the table, speechless.
"Hahaha, you've got stinky hands! Try again!" Bernice laughed happily.
"Come on! Are you afraid of me?" Jiang Hai shouted, frustrated but still trying.
"This is pointless. Let's gamble something instead." Bernice smiled mischievously.
"Gamble what?" Jiang Hai's eyes narrowed. He was cautious by nature—gambling was never his thing. At Atlantic City's casino, he'd played carefully.
"How about… strip poker? Loser removes a piece of clothing!" Bernice suggested, thinking it'd spice things up. She wasn't as rich as Jiang Hai, but losing clothes was a small price to pay. She felt a little nervous at the thought.
"You can afford to lose? You only have two pieces of clothing!" Jiang Hai grinned.
"I have three pieces—you only get one piece then," Bernice said defiantly. Jiang Hai bristled but accepted the bet.
They shuffled and dealt again. Jiang Hai stared at his cards, speechless—he lost before he even saw the opponent's third hero.
"Take it off, take it off!" Bernice cheered. Jiang Hai hesitated, then removed his outer shorts, luckily large enough to still cover him modestly. Bernice gave a thumbs-up, and the game continued.
But luck didn't improve. Jiang Hai lost again miserably without seeing Bernice's cards and had to remove another piece of clothing.
Now he was down to just his boxers. Seeing Bernice's smug expression, Jiang Hai frowned.
"I need a plan, or I'll end up naked..." He stared at his cards, suddenly alert.
Maybe this could work… As he focused, the cards seemed to slow down in his hands.
He recalled the order of every card clearly. The over one hundred commander cards were etched in his mind.
As he cut the deck, Jiang Hai smiled, confident.
This time, he was dealt Pang De—the god of single combat, Huang Zhong—the god of point killing, Xiao Qiao—the god of counter-injury, Zhao Yun—the god of rogues, and Huang Yueying—the wooden ox and flowing horse. He knew victory was in sight.
Bernice frowned, clearly unhappy with her hand.
"Let's start!" Jiang Hai smiled and picked up his cards. With the bravery of these commanders, his luck turned. He used Zhao Yun to finish the game.
"Yeah! I won!" Jiang Hai cheered loudly.
"Ah, stop showing off! You just won one round. So annoying!" Bernice shouted, standing and biting her lip. Then, right in front of Jiang Hai, she took off her pants…
(To be continued)