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“Okay,” Jin Ling says, scanning the list and then checking the cart, “I think we have everything Jiujiu asked for.” He checks the cart again. “Oh, except for beer, but I think you should probably handle that.” When Huaisang doesn’t answer, Jin Ling looks behind him. Huaisang is nowhere to be seen. Jin Ling sighs. “Seriously?” He looks over at Jingyi, who is dropping an armful of cookie boxes into the cart. “You couldn’t have told me Uncle wandered off before I started talking to myself like an idiot?”
Jingyi shrugs and stands at the other end of the cart. “I didn’t notice anything different in your behavior,” he smirks.
Jin Ling shoves the cart forward and catches Jingyi in the stomach.
“Hey!”
“Where did he go?”
Jingyi shrugs again. “Dunno. I got distracted by the cookies.”
Zizhen appears with several cases of soda. “I saw him toward the back of the store. There’s a little corner with, like, craft supplies and crappy little knickknacks.”
Jin Ling sighs again. “Alright.” He takes his wallet from his pocket, takes a wad of cash out, and hands it to Zizhen. “Go pay for these. We can get the beer later. I’ll go collect Uncle Huaisang, and then we can meet Sizhui and Uncle Wangji at Cinnabon.”
Zizhen and Jingyi salute Jin Ling. He flips them off and leaves, the sound of their laughter following him down the aisle.
Jin Ling finds Huaisang where Zizhen saw him. His back is to Jin Ling, and when Jin Ling taps his shoulder, he startles and drops the thing that has caught his attention.
“Jin Ling!”
“You wandered off,” Jin Ling says. He bends down and retrieves the item that Huaisang dropped, a flimsy plastic pinwheel. The stick is green and the pinwheel itself is coated in reflective purple paint. “Here.”
“Thank you.” Huaisang takes the pinwheel and flicks it, setting the little wheel spinning. “It’s pretty, right?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s okay. Are you getting them for the babies?”
Huaisang blinks at Jin Ling, and his dreamy expression sharpens. “No, not the babies. I suspect Yanli-jie wouldn’t appreciate bringing something so...cheap to the kiddos. I was going to get it for A-Cheng.” He waves it like a fairy wand, and the dreamy smile returns.
“O-Kay?” Jin Ling is used to his uncles and parents and really, all the adults in his life being sappy fools, but they typically choose gifts that are a little more durable or practical, like the tracking talismans that everyone in his sprawling family has attached to their phones.
Huaisang smiles at Jin Ling. “It’s tacky, I know, but when we were kids, there was this carnival, and … you don’t want to hear this.”
Jin Ling takes a step back, hoping Huaisang will take the hint and follow him to the checkout. When he doesn’t, Jin Ling says, “Why don’t you tell me as we go to the checkout?” He links arms with Huaisang for good measure and leads him along.
“We were about fourteen,” Huaisang begins, taking the bait. “There was a carnival outside Caiyi Town. We were supposed to be heading out for a night hunt, but your uncle Wuxian convinced us to stop at the carnival. We spent about an hour there, playing games and eating snacks. A-Cheng bought me a pinwheel like this.” He waves it again, and the pinwheel makes a half-hearted circuit on a little metal pin. “When we finally got to the area we were supposed to hunt, there was a group of fierce corpses attacking a carful of aunties on their way back from town. We took care of them, but things got hairy, and at some point, I lost my fan, panicked, and stabbed a corpse in the eye with the stick of the pinwheel.”
“Gross!” Jin Ling yelps.
“Yeah,” Huaisang says fondly, “it was super icky. A-Cheng was really proud of my improvisation skills. I was mad because one of the corpses stomped on my fan. It was one of my favorites. Anyway, it’s been almost twenty years, and I still think about that night whenever I see pinwheels.”
“That’s super sweet,” Jin Ling says, rolling his eyes at Jingyi and Zizhen as they come into view, “but unless we get back soon, Mama is going to be upset. The welcome dinner for the conference is in —“ he checks his phone — “three hours, and I’m pretty sure you can’t distract her with something shiny.”
“That’s true,” Huaisang says, tossing the pinwheel onto the pile of groceries being rung up. “It’s her one flaw.”
Jin Ling grins and tosses a few bars of chocolate on the counter as well. “These will help, and if you buy me a cinnamon roll, I’ll help, too.”
Huaisang reaches out and boops Jin Ling’s nose. “Cinnamon rolls are my treat. Two,” he says to Jingyi and Zizhen, “if you carry all these to the car.”
“Yes, sir!”
They make it back in time, placating Yanli with the chocolate and the rest of the adults with extra cinnamon rolls. When they are sufficiently distracted, Huaisang lures Jiang Cheng away to the garage.
“Babe,” Jiang Cheng says when Huaisang closes the door, “we really can’t. We don’t have time and I promised jiejie that I would — oh.”
Huaisang waves the pinwheel, and the plastic wheel clicks as it spins. Jiang Cheng reaches for it, and Huaisang waves it just out of reach. Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and snatches it easily from his husband’s hand. He bops Huaisang on the top of the head.
“Dork,” he says, grinning at Huaisang. “Where did you find this?”
“You remember?”
Jiang Cheng puts an arm around Huaisang’s waist and bops Huaisang again. “I remember you freaking out until I promised to replace your fan. Which was really expensive, by the way! Cost me a month’s allowance.”
Huaisang pecks Jiang Cheng’s cheek. “I’m worth it, though, aren’t I?”
Jiang Cheng wraps his other arm around Huaisang and draws him in for a kiss. “You are,” he says when they break apart. “You definitely are.”