After picking up Keshia and Malaya from the airport, they passed by the commercial street in Moses Lake on the way back and got off the car to browse and shop. There were a lot of people before the festival, and the smart shopping carts with purchasing instructions had been taken away by customers.

  Malaya connected her handheld terminal to the smart system of the commercial street, and walked in front with Qin Wenjing, discussing what else needed to be purchased while walking.

  Keshia and Qin Wenjing were not familiar with each other yet, and even Li Haojun found that she was not as comfortable as her sister in socializing, so she walked behind Li Haojun silently.

  Keshia wore the same coat as the last time she went to Nevada, which made Li Haojun recall that memory and appreciate the separation during this period, so he always looked at Keshia from time to time.

  Keshia smiled back every time, smiling without saying anything, which made Li Haojun himself shake his head and smile and sigh to himself, feeling what was wrong with him.

  The commercial street was full of festive atmosphere. The trees in the roadside green belts were hung with flashing lights, and Christmas trees were erected at the gates of every business. The street was bustling with people.

  There was a department store in front. Tan Wenjing and Malaya chatted and chatted, then turned left hand in hand and entered the store without saying hello to the two people behind them. Li Haojun hurriedly took the opportunity to pull Keshia's hand and ran a few steps to keep up with the pace of the two people in front of him, with a fluttering smile through the crowd in winter.

  The first floor of the shopping mall is always so glittering, but what is sold are mass consumer goods made of artificial synthetic materials. The once scarce and luxurious style is no longer there, and there is more of the smell of fireworks in the world.

  Slowly walk through the exhibition hall of the jewelry area, admiring the luster of different materials, various styles of design, and the collision of different cultural heritages.

  At the end of the gallery, Qin Wenjing turned around and looked back at Li Haojun, smiling and asked,

  "Don't you want to buy something for your children?"

  "No need to spend money," said Malaya, pulling Qin Wenjing's arm,

  "Okay," Li Haojun had already found a few ideal ones, and had discussed their preferences with Keshia when browsing just now.

  So the four of them returned together. Li Haojun had already planned to buy Keshia the freshwater pearl necklace she liked later, but he didn't know which one Malaya and Qin Wenjing, who had been walking in front, had just picked.

  There were necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and various other accessories in the gallery. Li Haojun felt that a multi-layered colored gold necklace was very suitable for Malaya's outfit today.

  Seeing that the two of them were hesitant, he emphasized the recommendation before walking to this necklace.

  Sure enough, this design is a very slender multi-layered structure of colored gold. It looks inconspicuous at first glance, but if you look closely, you will find that the gold color of the necklace is gradual, and changes with the angle of light to transition into gold, brown, dark green, indigo, and purple. The necklace is irregularly inlaid with broken diamonds, shining like stars in the night sky, and the inlay density gradually penetrates the necklace layered structure diagonally like the Milky Way.

  Li Haojun carefully looked at the product name, "zanchika2084318836C," and thought, what a messy name this is. He glanced at Malaya, her slender figure, the budding youthful breath, the wise and somewhat quirky little head, and the arrogant high ponytail, giving people a sense of distance that can only be viewed from a distance and not played with, like the stars in the night sky.

  Thinking of this, Li Haojun asked softly,

  "Malaya, what do you think of this model? If I name this product, I will definitely not use this string of cold letters. I would like to call it 'Starry River Shining'. Look at the gradient color of the necklace metal, as if it is from midnight to the deep night sky, and those tiny diamonds are the stars that embellish the night sky,"

  He looked up at Malaya's eyes again, wondering what she thought,

  At this time, Li Haojun noticed in his peripheral vision that he was being watched by Keshia and Qin Wenjing, who were laughing and joking, and was a little embarrassed.

  Qin Wenjing then teased,

  "Hey, look, the arrangement of these diamonds is the Big Dipper, isn't it? Wear it, and you won't get lost when you see it, Maraiya,"

  Li Haojun quickly shook his head and waved his hands and said,

  "Don't make a fuss, don't make a fuss,"

  Kesia said nothing, smiling at her sister,

  After Qin Wenjing finished laughing, she seemed to remember something, looked up at the sky for a moment, turned to Maraiya, stroked her shoulder and said,

  "Good sister, to be honest, every time he went out, you arranged the itinerary, and every time he returned safely, I sincerely thank you."

  "Don't worry, I will bring him back to you safely." Maraiya replied,

  After browsing the jewelry and cosmetics on the first floor and the women's clothing on the second floor, Li Haojun wanted to go upstairs to look at children's toys. That young heart seemed to be still alive.

  "Let's not go," Maraiya unexpectedly rejected his proposal, and then looked at Li Haojun with a very determined look. Although he didn't know what she meant, Li Haojun still followed her advice and the group left the department store.

  When they returned to the street, the sun was already setting. On the way back to the pedestrian street, Keshia passed by the barber shop she had walked past before, but she had a new idea and insisted on changing her hairstyle. Women's hearts are really hard to understand.

  Keshia, sitting in the hairdressing chair, actually chose a short hairstyle. Li Haojun stood behind her and asked her through the mirror,

  "Do you really want to cut your long hair?" He knew that it would take a long time for a girl to keep her long hair, so he asked her with concern.

  She smiled and was sure. After setting it through the panel, she clicked OK.

  There were multiple mechanical arms around her, but there were no human tools such as scissors or shears. Instead, they were similar functional tools with built-in blades. First, dry clean the foam, then shape, trim, and finally dry clean to remove hair debris and dry clean foam. Everything was so simple and fast.

  Keshia chose a short haircut that was even with her face, with a large C-shaped arc at the bottom, revealing her neck. The bangs were divided into three-seven parts, swept back to the ear on the left side, and drooped forward along the curve of the jawbone on the side of the face. The bangs on the right side half covered the right face, and the lower edge of the bangs was bent forward, perfectly matching the jawline. In the shadow of the bangs, the blue eyes became deeper. The new short hair and the plush wide collar of the white faux fur top Keshia wore today highlighted the light pink pearl necklace she wore on her neck.

  Walking out of the barber shop, the sun shone on Keshia's smiling face. Her sister smiled at her and surpassed her to catch up with Qin Wenjing in front, leaving two people behind.

  Back at the parking lot, Li Haojun opened the door of the driver's back seat for Keshia, while Qin Wenjing invited Malaya to sit in the passenger seat, and she still sat in the driver's diagonal back seat. Li Haojun's eyes could be seen in the rearview mirror, but there were two girls riding with her today, and she was the one who proposed to invite them.

  There were few cars on the way back, and the setting sun in the sky stretched the dry tree shadows to the road with its dim residual heat. Li Haojun drove along the winding road with gentle driving. The afterglow shone through the car window, sometimes dazzling, and sometimes outlining Malaya's outline. All the people he cared about were around him at this moment, as if it was a dream. The only thing that reminded himself that this was a real scene was that Qin Wenjing smiled slightly in the rearview mirror, looking at him with a proud look that he had never had before.

  She felt very relaxed and comfortable. Li Haojun felt that he had never seen Qin Wenjing in such a state, and he felt relieved.

  When we got home, as planned, the sky was getting dark, with only a hint of purple on the horizon. In the winter night, the brightly lit house seemed even warmer.

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  Malaya took the initiative to go to the kitchen to help Tan Wenjing prepare the Christmas Eve dinner, leaving Keshia and Li Haojun to decorate the Christmas tree in the living room.

  Keshia took off her coat, and she wore a one-shoulder light beige wool sweater inside, and the same blue jeans that showed off her figure, but her exquisite short hair and pearl necklace decorated her pink neck, which was unusually charming today. Li Haojun wanted to give her a hug, but he only had the thought, no action, only a silly smile, and then asked,

  "It's been a long time since we last met. How have you been recently?"

  Kesia did not answer him, but just smiled at him,

  "Come on, let's decorate the Christmas tree."

  She didn't say anything, nor did she reminisce about the past. She just discussed with Li Haojun very seriously, while choosing different eggs, gifts or star beads to hang in different positions. The higher positions even needed a ladder.

  Kesia was very active and always went up by herself. Li Haojun helped her hold the ladder from below. Kesia sometimes asked Li Haojun to check from a distance to see if it was hung crooked.

  When the decorations were almost finished, Keshia looked at the Christmas tree, hesitated for a moment, and said to herself,

  "Why do you only favor this side and neglect the other side?" There was sadness in her tone,

  It turned out that the two had been busy decorating the Christmas tree facing the living room. Only half of the tree was decorated, and it was the side illuminated by the indoor lights, while the back of the tree faced the window, was shrouded in darkness, and had no decorations, which looked particularly bleak.

  As Keshia said this, she took some ornaments and walked behind the tree, and Li Haojun also helped to hold all the remaining ones and followed. When Keshia finished hanging the last decoration, she turned around and looked at Li Haojun. There was no festive joy on her face. She still said softly in the same sad tone as before,

  "In fact, this is my first time spending Christmas in a home,"

  Her eyes and her words made Li Haojun feel sad, and he gently hugged her in his arms, wanting to give her more warmth.

  On the Christmas tree, the shining lights slightly illuminated the shadows behind the tree, and reflected the faint embrace of the two people in the glass window, layered on the dead branches of the courtyard flowerbed, hidden between the refracted cypress branches, and it was unclear whether it was real or fake.

  Although Tan Wenjing was preparing Christmas Eve dinner in the kitchen with the help of Malaya, she did not arrange any substantial work for the child, but only symbolically assigned her some things to do so that she would not be embarrassed to do nothing.

  Tan Wenjing likes her youth. Although modern technology can reverse age, the people and things around her can no longer be found. She envied Malaya's youth and liked to see her by Li Haojun's side, just like seeing herself back then. The wish that could not be fulfilled had to be pinned on others to be realized again.

  At this time, Keshia also came to the kitchen, holding Qin Wenjing's arm,

  "Emily, take a break, let them help you.", and pulled her away, leaving only Li Haojun and Malaya.

  Li Haojun continued to deal with the unfinished ingredients and looked after the turkey in the oven. Malaya watched and laughed on the side, without saying anything,

  Li Haojun felt a little ashamed, wondering if he was seen by this little girl just now. So he took the initiative to find a conversation to break the awkwardness,

  "Thank you two for coming to honor us, in fact, it was Emily who thought of inviting you,"

  "Don't you want to?" Malaya interrupted Li Haojun and said,

  "Oh, I want to too, but I didn't expect her to be so tolerant," Li Haojun felt a little ashamed, looked down at the things in his hands, and said while cleaning the ingredients,

  "To be honest, I don't know myself," said Li Haojun, turning his head to look at Malaya.

  "Forgetting the past does not necessarily mean forgetting who you are. You are still you." Malaya said coldly without a smile,

  Seeing that Li Haojun did not answer and looked a little confused, Malaya explained again,

  "Your inner feelings are still you,"

  "Oh," Li Haojun looked at Malaya and nodded slightly. Then he looked back at Keshia and Qin Wenjing in the bright light of the living room. Looking at Malaya in front of him, she always has a maturity that is older than her, which is elusive for a teenage girl. It seems that she has seen her thoughts and has feelings for them in her heart, but she is unwilling to express it because of Emily's concern.

  "Will you leave Emily for Keshia?"

  "No, I can't do that. She was taking care of me when I was most vulnerable. I can't do that."

  "What about Keshia and me?"

  "Malaya, why do you ask that?"

  "I just ask, curious about how you will answer," Malaya said with a slight smile.

  "I can't do anything to let her down. She has no other relatives besides me, and she is a very emotional person. She has lived with me for so many years, even when I was unconscious. She is reluctant to leave me, a person who can't speak or move, and I don't know if she will wake up. How can I do that?" Li Haojun said, looking at Malaya's expression, and then slowed down his tone and continued, "How can I leave her alive?" "Well, I understand." Li Haojun looked at Malaya and wanted to say, isn't it good for us to live together like a family, but then he thought, am I overestimating myself? The sisters are young and beautiful, why should I occupy their youth? After I settle down here, there will naturally be people pursuing me. I should control my overflowing love. Thinking of this, he asked casually,

  "We haven't seen each other for a few months. What do you do for fun when you are free?" After asking, Li Haojun felt that it was inappropriate. It was inappropriate to ask a girl what she did in her spare time, so he quickly added,

  "What are your hobbies?"

  "Hobbies? Hehe, cooking,"

  Li Haojun was a little surprised and surprised to hear this, and turned his head and asked hurriedly,

  "Isn't your sister taking care of you?"

  "I don't like what she cooks. To be honest, she is not very good at this,"

  Li Haojun recalled Keshia's work and study in the past. It is true that this girl is sometimes a little stupid, but cute. Thinking of this, he smiled and asked Malaya,

  "Then what do you think your sister is good at?"

  "What do you think?" Malaya smiled and asked back, but did not answer. After asking back, Maraya did not make Li Haojun embarrassed, and continued,

  "I usually play some computer games when I have free time,"

  Li Haojun was interested when he heard it, because he also likes some types of computer games, and asked hurriedly,

  "What type?"

  "Racing, Speed ??Grand Prix Collection, but I only have a simple steering wheel without feedback and accelerator brake."

  "Oh, I also have this game," Li Haojun was interested, put down the things in his hands and asked excitedly,

  "Which car and track do you like best?"

  "Well, Maserati 250, Monte Carlo Circuit,"

  Li Haojun raised his thumbs with both hands, and before he could speak, the carrots and potatoes had rolled down and hit his feet. Seeing this, both of them laughed. Li Haojun didn't bother to pick them up and hurriedly added,

  "Tasteful!"

  Malaya pursed her lips and seemed to smile sweetly.

  "I also play that game. I also have driving simulator equipment. Are you interested in trying it?"

  "Okay," Maraia said softly, and began to help organize and plate the prepared ingredients. Leaning over her waist, her high ponytail slid down her shoulders to her cheeks. The flash of the necklace through her hair was like the twinkling stars in the night sky - is she a girl brought by the stars? This thought flashed through Li Haojun's mind. When he focused his eyes on her face again, she just calmly did her own thing, plated the prepared ingredients, and then took them away to the dining table. Looking at her back, her slender figure was quite tempting, but Li Haojun didn't dare, nor did he want to have any improper thoughts.

  On Keshia's side, it seemed that Qin Wenjing had almost finished talking to her, so she came to the kitchen to check the progress. The turkey should be roasted for a while, and she turned her head back, her eyes just looking at Li Haojun. Li Haojun just raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said softly,

  "I feel very happy," and then stared at Qin Wenjing's eyes intently.

  Qin Wenjing was stunned for a moment, and didn't react for a while, then gave him a gentle hug, and then accompanied him in the kitchen to continue the unfinished work.

  It was already dark outside the living room window, and the bright lights in the room, coupled with the background music of the Christmas Eve live broadcast, were filled with a warm festive atmosphere. Malaya put the ingredients on the dining table, and turned around to see Keshia winking at her, asking her to look at the couple in the kitchen. Malaya also understood, and didn't go over to disturb her. She sat directly with her sister and stuffed the riddle note into the Christmas tree egg.

  "Do you still want to share him?" Malaya asked Keshia in a very subtle voice,

  "Yeah,"

  "You see he won't leave her,"

  "It's okay, I don't want to monopolize him,"

  "Are you sure it's him?"

  "Yeah, I remember the feeling of being with him,"

  "A lot of memories?"

  "No, it's just a familiar feeling, which seems to be buried deep in my memory, but it is suddenly awakened when I see him or get close to him,"

  "What are your plans for the future?

  "Hehe, do you think it's okay to go on like this? Do you have any good ideas?"

  "Oh, sorry, let's do it this way for now, I haven't thought that far, I haven't..."

  "Hahaha," the two sisters whispered in front of the Christmas tree in the living room.

  After a while, the dinner was ready. Li Haojun brought the steaming turkey to the table, and Qin Wenjing followed with the side dishes.

  "Thank you for preparing such a sumptuous dinner," Keshia thanked her and pulled her sister over.

  "Please take a seat. We all want you to come with us," Qin Wenjing said, glancing at Li Haojun.

  "Please take a seat," Li Haojun said, handing the two girls the sliced ??turkey meat.

  Malaya took the plate with both hands with a smile, and Keshia moved her hips forward on the chair twice, stretched out her hands early, and looked up at Li Haojun.

  Li Haojun handed it to her with a smile, and said nothing, his eyes full of Keshia's smiling face.

  The original small dining table now has four people sitting around it, which seems a bit Crowded, but not deserted. Across from him was Malaya, to the right was Keshia, to the left was Tan Wenjing. Under the table, Li Haojun gently touched Tan Wenjing's thigh with his left hand.

  Tan Wenjing only glanced at him, and then was busy introducing the prepared fruits and vegetables to the two girls, who could add them according to their own tastes.

  Li Haojun cut the meat of different parts of the turkey and distributed it to everyone. Some parts were crispy, and some parts were tender. Being able to give these two children some family warmth under this roof.

  "This is cranberry sauce, and I made the turkey gravy. Try it and see if it suits your taste," Qin Wenjing pushed the seasoning from the table to the other party while talking.

  Malaya said thank you while trying it methodically. Keshia just smiled and nodded. While tasting, her eyes drifted from Qin Wenjing to Li Haojun from time to time.

  After eating a few bites, Li Haojun suddenly remembered something, got up and went to the kitchen to get black pepper, mustard and honey, and said,

  "There are still these seasonings. See if you need anything else? "

  "Okay, no need to bother, these should be enough," Keshia looked at Li Haojun and nodded to Qin Wenjing.

  "Ah, Haojun, the juice in the refrigerator," Qin Wenjing said, turning to Keshia and Malaya and smiling,

  "We won't provide alcoholic beverages to minors,"

  "No, no, we don't drink," Malaya said with a smile,

  "If you want to have a drink, please enjoy it, we can just drink juice," Keshia said the same.

  The pleasant conversation in the restaurant, the live TV channel in the living room broadcasts holiday interviews and people's celebrations in downtown Moses Lake, and the sound of fireworks or firecrackers exploding from time to time in the background, and someone is setting off fireworks to celebrate. In the small courtyard, the bright lights of the living room, together with the beads and shadows of the Christmas tree, are scattered on the snow-covered flower beds and floor tiles.