Monster Paradise

Chapter 196: New Year’s Eve

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Someone on Earth once said that a man’s ultimate goal would be to live in a big house, drive big cars and marry a beautiful woman! Holding the key to his new house, Lin Huang had achieved one of them, which was to live in a big house! The house was 510-meter square and it cost 110 million credit points, which was almost 220,000 credit points per square meter. It was considered a luxurious house and even a rich man would have to think twice about it. However, such a price was nothing for a hunter.

100 million credit points were equivalent to 1,000 years of Life Crystal pieces, which were only 10 complete Life Crystals. A hunter such as Lin Huang could make that money back anytime he wanted. He was worried that the residential permit would not be approved when he purchased the house but it was. He registered the house under Lin Xin’s new identity - Ling Xue.

They moved into the house right away after the payment was done. They did not even return to the hotel as Lin Huang checked-out from the hotel online. He booked the hotel room for three days but they only stayed for a day, the hotel refunded him immediately. On the first floor of the house was a living room, an open kitchen, and two bathrooms. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor. One of the bedrooms was bigger, it was for Lin Huang while the two bedrooms were of the same size. Lin Xin and Lin Xuan each got a room. Lin Xuan finally had a room to himself.

The balcony on the second floor was spacious, it was connected to the three bedrooms. It was Lin Xin’s favorite. On the third floor was a huge study room and two guest rooms with mini balconies. There were also a small storeroom and a bathroom. The floor was empty at the moment. After moving all the stuff out from his storage space, it officially became their new home.

"It'll be New Year’s Eve in two days, let’s clean up the house today and buy the stuff tomorrow morning! Give me a list of what you guys would like to eat and buy or you might forget by tomorrow." Lin Huang said to the both of them.

New Year’s Eve was the biggest festival in this world. There were two calendars in the world, one was the Gregorian calendar which was commonly used, while the other one is the ancient perpetual calendar. The Gregorian calendar was the calendar that was modified after the new era while the perpetual calendar was inherited since the ancient era.

Since the new era, many things were changed in this world. Even the cultivation system was different than before. However, festivities such as the New Year’s Eve remained. The festival was similar to the New Year that was celebrated on Earth. The families would prepare snacks such as dried fruits, candies, as well as meat, fish and other foods. The kids were allowed to not eat vegetables during the festival and they would not be punished by their parents.

Besides that, there would be all sorts of red items sold on the streets including lanterns and knitted goods. The color red represented a brand new year and hoping for new breakthroughs in life. During the New Year’s Eve, the elders would buy gifts for the kids while adults would buy gifts for the elders. It was not a friendly gesture but rather as a form of appreciation. Kids were the happiest during this festival. However, the adults would have to spend…

It was the first New Year’s Eve that Lin Huang would be celebrating ever since he arrived in this world. Although he had fond memories of the festival, it was not the same in this world. At night, after churning out a list of his own and receiving Lin Xin and Lin Xuan’s list, he went to bed.

In the morning, Lin Huang brought them both out shopping. The streets were filled with the ambiance of the festivity where red lanterns were hung on the doorways of shops as well as calligraphy. The calligraphy was similar to the couplets on Earth. However, in this world the calligraphy functions as a decoration with no symbolic meaning

It was the first time for Lin Xin and Lin Xuan to do New Year’s shopping, they were excited. Although it was Lin Huang’s first time shopping in this world too, he was calm since he had done it numerous times on Earth.

"Brother, that lantern is so pretty!"

"Let’s buy that!"

"Brother, that calligraphy is so pretty!"

"Let’s buy that!"

"Brother, that doll is so pretty!"

"Let’s buy that!"

…

For the things that she wanted, Lin Xin would say, "That … is so pretty," whereas Lin Xuan would hint to Lin Huang the things that he wanted, by standing in front of the shops. After shopping for the entire morning, Lin Huang only managed to buy presents for the two. Not much on the list was crossed off. The good thing was, everything could be kept inside the storage space, which made shopping easier.

After lunch, the two were excited and wanted to shop again. Lin Huang shook his head.

"We should buy everything on the list first before we start buying the other stuff. New Year’s Eve would be the day after tomorrow, we have other stuff to do tomorrow."

The two nodded, they knew they could always come back to do more shopping as the shopping streets were just a kilometer away from home.

In the afternoon, Lin Huang spent a couple of hours purchasing all the items on the list. After dinner, Lin Huang accompanied the both of them to shop. They returned home at night after 10. Lin Huang went straight to bed after his shower, he thought shopping for the entire day was even more tiring than fighting monsters in the tower during the Purple Crow training camp.

The next day, Lin Huang woke them both up early in the morning. It was a day before New Year’s Eve. After breakfast, Lin Huang took out all the decorations that they bought yesterday and started decorating their rooms. They managed to finish by noon. Lin Huang placed some snacks and fruits on the living room’s coffee table. They went shopping again in the afternoon. Lin Huang did not want to go initially but he did not want them to go on their own.

A day passed just like that. It was New Year’s Eve. In the morning, Lin Huang made a dinner reservation at a highly recommended hotel nearby. He then placed the gifts for Lin Xin and Lin Xuan at a side in the living room. When they woke up, they neither brush their teeth nor washed their faces. They began opening their presents. These were all the stuff that they had wanted from shopping, there were 50 to 60 items.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang sat on the couch and watched them open the presents. He did not have any siblings on Earth, it was pure bliss for him to be able to do this. With his maturity, they could even be his own children. He was not worried that he might spoil them as he could be strict with them when necessary.

It started snowing as they were opening their presents. Lin Huang got up and lit up the black rock in the furnace. He bought that two days ago, it was similar to charcoal on Earth. As it was pure mineral, it would burn slowly in the fire to release heat and emit a red glow. Seeing that the furnace was fired up, both of them moved their presents in front of the furnace and continued unwrapping. When they were done, they were asked to wash up before breakfast. As they were brushing their teeth, they noticed that the snow was getting stronger.

After breakfast, the both of them played with the snow in the courtyard. As Lin Huang leaned on the door with his cup of tea, Lin Xin threw a snowball at him. Lin Huang smiled and dodged it, Lin Xuan followed Lin Xin as well. They started a snowball fight where Lin Xin and Lin Xuan threw snowballs at him while Lin Huang dodged all of them. Soon, Lin Huang noticed that the snowballs that were tossed by Lin Xuan were getting faster and faster. He seemed to apply the skill he obtained from Gun Master onto the snowballs.

Half an hour later, Lin Xuan’s snowball managed to hit Lin Huang.

"Alright, I surrender. You guys should go in now." Lin Huang raised his hands and got them both back into the house. The both of them sat on the floor before the furnace while eating snacks. Lin Xuan did not want to eat any nuts or fruits, he did not even want to eat candies. Lin Huang prepared dried meat for him.

At night, dinner was served. The three of them sat together on the dining table with a delicious meal to celebrate the end of the year. Snow was falling, the fire was bright in the house. The shiny rock reflected onto the ceiling like a starry night…

"This New Year’s Eve isn’t that bad at all…" Lin Huang smiled as he watched the both of them enjoying their dinner.