My Manor

"What? Are you interested? Sit here and play with me!" Jiang Hai, who had just finished cutting the beef, also came over. After all, he was the boss, so he didn't need to do the rest of the work. Seeing John's shining eyes, Jiang Hai chuckled, patted his shoulder, and pointed to the game console next to Jiang Hai's TV. He said to him with a smile, "Here, let's play."

Hearing Jiang Hai's words, John couldn't help but nod immediately. Seeing his excitement, Jiang Hai also wanted to play, so they moved two small sofas to the TV and set it up. They played the NBA2K series that had just been released this year.

This was the first time Jiang Hai played against someone else since he bought the game console. He usually played in MC mode.

There was no way around it. In this manor, it was just him and the old man. Harriman couldn't play with him. Bell only knew how to study guns and didn't like games. If they played Call of Duty, he might be interested, but Jiang Hai would feel dizzy when playing those types of games, which was a helpless situation.

However, compared to Jiang Hai, John was obviously at the level of a regular player. Although his hardware was not as good as Jiang Hai's, his skills were much better. It was clear that Jiang Hai's reactions and physical fitness weren't particularly outstanding in the game.

Soon, the two played a half-court game. John used a very weak 76ers team but beat Jiang Hai's Warriors team 72-46. If nothing unexpected happened, it would be a bloodbath!

Looking at the score on the screen, Jiang Hai smiled awkwardly. Originally, he had always thought of himself as a master, but he didn't expect to be beaten so badly. Though it was a little embarrassing, he didn't care. If John let him win, he would have been angry. There was nothing to say about being inferior to others. Besides, it seemed to him that it was just for fun.

"Boys, come and help carry it!" But when Jiang Hai was about to continue, he unexpectedly found that the saviors had arrived.

At that moment, the door of the villa opened, and Mrs. Philemon and John and Louis' two girlfriends came over with a lot of things. Jiang Hai took a glance and saw that most of it was desserts. He didn't care about playing at the moment and took the initiative to help. Americans attach great importance to Christmas, so food is naturally indispensable. Christmas, in theory, has four essential foods. The first is turkey. The turkey in America is like dumplings to Chinese people. Of course, we are talking about the north, where it is always made, festival or not.

In the United States, turkey is a staple during New Year and other festivals. This dish is the best choice.

In addition to turkey, there are three other indispensable foods: roast suckling pig, Christmas pudding, and corn porridge.

As for the roast suckling pig, Jiang Hai doesn't eat pig skin, so he only bought a small one this year and didn't want to eat it.

Corn porridge was already had last night, but they had to drink it again today. As for what Mrs. Philemon brought, aside from Christmas pudding, there were many other things to eat!

Christmas pudding is the dessert after the main meal tonight. It is usually made with plums, pudding, and minced meat. Of course, this is the most basic recipe. In Jiang Hai's family, they naturally make it as rich as possible.

So the Christmas pudding made by Mrs. Philemon not only included the basic ingredients but also apples, walnuts, raisins, fudge, cherries, lemons, carrots, oranges, pears, etc. It was extremely rich.

In addition to this pudding, there were many other foods, such as cookies, pumpkin pie, fruit cake, almond cake, apple pie, strawberry pie, and log cake, which can also be seen as a symbol of good luck for the coming year.

After Mrs. Philemon and the others arrived, everyone continued to prepare noisily, but the main figures who were originally preparing—Burke-Daler and Robbins—shifted responsibility to Mrs. Philemon. The two big men were just there to help now.

With two future daughters-in-law in the house, there was no need to give orders blindly.

Perhaps feeling the festive atmosphere, Jiang Hai's four pets were also very happy at this time.

Xiaobai had been running around in the crowd. Xiaohuang, usually a little cold, squatted at Jiang Hai's feet, curiously observing everyone in the room. As for Ban Ya and Jiujiu, they would fight whenever they had the chance.

Jiujiu looked almost the same as when he was picked up, still gray. But he was much stronger than before. In the past, he was the one who usually got beaten in fights with Ban Ya, but now he could occasionally fight back.

After the lively preparation, it was dark in the blink of an eye, and the dinner officially began. As everyone raised their glasses, this year's Christmas dinner started!

"Hey, man, this is awesome!" After a few dishes and some drinks, Louis and John, who were a little reserved at first, gradually relaxed. Especially John, who had played a few games with Jiang Hai in the afternoon, put his arms around Jiang Hai's neck and shouted at him. Hearing his words, Jiang Hai also laughed.

"Of course, this is Paradise, Paradise!" Jiang Hai laughed loudly in response to John.

Looking at Jiang Hai, who was hugging his brother's neck and waist, Louis, who originally didn't understand Jiang Hai's purpose, took a sip of beer. He and Jiang Hai weren't that familiar, but after spending a day together, he realized Jiang Hai didn't seem to have any hidden motives. It seemed he might have overthought things.

After eating and drinking, Jiang Hai felt like he had been drunk again. Though he still kept his wits, after cleaning up what he needed to, he went back to his room and fell asleep.

This was his first Christmas in this world. When he woke up in the morning, he still felt a little lonely, but he didn't feel that way when he fell asleep the night before. It proved that people can live well without love.

After sleeping until dawn, Jiang Hai rubbed his head and sat up in a daze.

The first day after Christmas, according to the Chinese, is a carnival night celebrating Jesus' successful survival, but in the U.S., it seems there's no such thing, at least not in Jiang Hai's manor.

There might be some activities in the town, but not here. When Jiang Hai got up in the morning, he found that Robbins and his friends had already started their work. It had snowed a little last night, which was also part of the festive atmosphere.

But these little snows had to be cleaned up early this morning, or they would freeze. In winter, there is nothing more joyful than a flat road. If the road is frozen, it becomes troublesome.

After Jiang Hai let out some grumpiness, he got out of bed, washed his face, and brushed his teeth before heading out to help Robbins and his friends clean the snow.

Not long after, Philemon came with his two sons to help.

Since they were all around the same age and had played together the day before, they naturally gathered again, with less formality and politeness. Louis's personality may have been inherited from Mrs. Philemon; he didn't talk much but was very organized. John, however, definitely inherited Philemon's chatty nature.

After meeting Jiang Hai, John had been talking non-stop. He also had a wide range of interests, chatting about everything with Jiang Hai.

From the game console yesterday, he moved on to games, then basketball, ice hockey, and rugby. After learning that Jiang Hai had never watched rugby, he despised him a bit. Rugby is now the number one sport in the U.S., so it seemed strange that Jiang Hai had never seen a game.

But unfortunately, his school was a bit far from Jiang Hai's, or he would have taken him to watch a rugby game. According to him, "That is a man's game. After watching one, you'll fall in love with it!"

Hearing this, Jiang Hai just smiled. He didn't know whether he would fall in love with it, but if he had the time, he might go and watch it. It didn't matter. As he thought about it, he realized he didn't have any social activities. It wasn't a good thing to stay home all the time. He even considered getting a season ticket to the nearby Boston Celtics so he could go watch games now and then instead of staying indoors.

"Woof, woof!" Just as Jiang Hai was listening to John's endless chatter and cleaning the snow, a dog barked suddenly. Jiang Hai looked in the direction where Xiaobai was barking.

He noticed a car parked in front of Jiang Hai's gate. Jiang Hai didn't recognize the car; he had never seen it before.

After talking to Robbins nearby, Jiang Hai momentarily left what he was doing and walked toward the gate.

Seeing Jiang Hai approach, the people in the car also saw him and quickly jumped out.

"Huh, it's really cold. Sorry for coming by without calling. I asked John, but he didn't know your contact information, so I had no choice but to come directly. I hope I didn't disturb you!" The person who jumped out of the car smiled at Jiang Hai and spoke to him, a little embarrassed, just like what Mayor Wallis Kirk of Winthrop had said earlier. Americans dislike showing up unannounced. Jiang Hai recognized him—it was Avery Bradley, who had played basketball with him before.