Chapter 19 Are you rich? Or are you crazy?

After the publication of "Feng Yue" came to an end, Gao Xing devoted himself to studying and preparing for the exam.

More than a month had passed, and most companies had finished their graduate recruitment season, but she still hadn't received a single offer. The only company with a chance of making it to the second round of interviews was a private nursing home looking for temporary staff.

Gao Xing knew that the employment situation for college students was grim, but she didn't expect it to be so severe. Even if she had a certificate from a skills competition, she would have no advantage in Jingnan.

She knew clearly that she had no talent in writing and it was impossible for her to make a living from this for a long time. If she couldn't even find a professional job, how would she support herself?

Thinking of this, Gao Xing couldn't help feeling depressed.

On the first floor, Shen Xingjian was sitting in the living room thinking about the next investigation plan.

Seeing Gao Xing coming down from upstairs, still with two obvious dark circles under his eyes and looking listless, he glanced at the clock on the wall which pointed to 3pm and couldn't help asking, "You didn't sleep in until now again, did you?"

After failing to find himself through personal information and bank statements, Shen Xingjian focused his next investigation on interpersonal relationships.

His interpersonal relationships were limited; his parents and relatives had all passed away, and he lived alone. The only person he could actually interact with was Xu Jiakai. After their previous unpleasant parting at Zhongyue, Shen Xingjian realized they could no longer continue their partnership. Without Xu Jiakai's support, he couldn't sustain Zhongyue's operations on his own; disbanding was only a matter of time. Furthermore, Xu Jiakai would become Guanya's president in the future, making it difficult to reach him.

With all the unfavorable factors accumulating, it becomes extremely difficult to find Xu Jiakai ten years later and ask about his whereabouts.

So, he needs someone to help him.

When he was happy and had low energy, he didn't like to talk much. In addition, Shen Xingjian couldn't say anything good, so he ignored him and went straight to the refrigerator to get a bottle of iced black tea that he had stockpiled.

Seeing that she didn’t respond, Shen Xingjian continued: “Reversing day and night will not only cause endocrine disorders and accelerate aging, but also cause the immune system to collapse!”

Gao Xing closed his eyes and gulped down the iced black tea, pretending he didn't hear anything.

After receiving the deposit from publishing and her life becoming a little more comfortable, Gao Xing thought she had calmed down a lot and her aggression towards the world had decreased a lot. She wanted to maintain this tranquility, but she couldn't stand some people who just kept buzzing in her ears.

"If you sleep until three or four in the afternoon, skip breakfast or lunch, and rely on one meal a day to maintain your vital signs, it would be strange if you don't have stomachaches!"

"Staying up late is chronic suicide, eating irregularly is also chronic suicide, and you lie upstairs all day and don't exercise..."

"It's also chronic suicide, right?" This time, Gao Xing learned to answer before he could finish.

She laughed: "So I didn't do anything all day except commit suicide?"

Shen Xingjian choked.

If it weren't for the fact that they lived under the same roof and she might be useful to him in the future, he wouldn't bother to care about her!

Gao Xing ignored him, put down her iced tea, and went to throw away the trash at the door. Mingjing Lake Resort has a dedicated garbage disposal station, not far from the door of Villa No. 1.

After Gao Xing sorted his garbage and threw it in, he originally planned to go back directly, but when he looked up and saw the clear and vast scenery on the lake, his nerves that had been tense for a while relaxed unconsciously, and he walked towards the pavilion by the lake.

The Xijiang River is full of water. When she was a child, she was always wet in the summer and her clothes were never dry.

It wasn't raining, but rather the heat. She had to go out frequently to herd ducks, so she could only cool down by soaking in the lake. Only after the ducks had eaten all the duckweed in the lake could she return home, reeking of duck and water, waiting for the heat to dry her clothes.

So she hated the mountains, hated the water, hated the feeling of being covered in a fishy stench. She felt that the mountains were not growing on the ground, but pressing down on her, and that the water was not soaking in the lake, but soaking in her flesh and blood.

She desperately wanted to escape, to a world without mountains or water, only steel and concrete. However, after staying in the world of steel and concrete for too long, she realized that seeing mountains and water would also be different.

Gao Xing sat in the pavilion for a while, feeling the afternoon breeze blowing through the treetops and across the lake, bringing a hint of coolness and a hint of lotus fragrance.

"Wow! There are lotus flowers over there!"

Gao Xing was lost in thought when she heard the sound of several people talking behind her. She turned her head and accidentally caught a glimpse of a strange yet familiar figure.

"It's a pity that the sightseeing bus can't stop, otherwise I would like to stop and take a few pictures!" The girl who spoke held up her mobile phone and looked at the lake excitedly.

"Let's go to the villa later and ask your dad to take a picture of you. You look so hot and sweaty." A woman with curly hair next to her helped her hold a small electric fan and said lovingly.

"I can't do that! I don't know how! Your mother is good at taking pictures, you can ask her to take pictures for you!" The middle-aged man in a polo shirt behind the two of them waved his hands quickly.

The three of them sat in the resort's sightseeing bus, driving at a steady speed along the asphalt road next to the pavilion. Their eyes followed them with joy until the red taillights turned a corner and disappeared into the lush green landscape.

Gao Xinyi may not have recognized her, but Gao Xing would never forget her, because the name "Gaoxing" originally belonged to her.

Gao Xing was born in a small mountain village in Xijiang. Unlike Gao Xinyi who was born with the expectations of the whole family, she was not expected from the moment she was born.

When she was little, she didn't understand why her parents didn't like her? Why did they always beat and scold her? Why didn't they give her food? Why did they make her sleep in the duck shed...

It wasn't until she grew up that she understood, because she was a girl.

Gao Xing once had an older sister who said, "Gao Xing means happy, because mom and dad want her to be happy forever." Gao Xing didn't believe it, but she couldn't explain why her name was so different from her sister's.

After she started school, her deskmate Gao Xinyi told her that her original name was Gao Lai'nan, but her father, who worked in the Civil Affairs Bureau, couldn't bear to see her like this, so he gave her his own obsolete name.

The elder sister's name is Wangnan and the younger sister's name is Lainan. At that moment, everything seemed to make sense.

At that time, Gao Xinyi was the person Gao Xing envied the most. She envied her because she could get all the love even though she was a girl.

Her grandfather is the village director, and he would kill chickens and geese and cook soup for her every time she came home; her mother did not work, but never complained about her, but instead brought her the hottest meals in a thermos every day; her father worked in the Civil Affairs Bureau, but gave up his stable job in a small place for her, and resolutely took her to a big city to receive a better education.

Gao Xinyi only went to the second grade in that mountain village primary school. Since then, Gao Xing rarely saw her. He could only talk to her a few words when she came back to visit her relatives during the holidays every year.

Gao Xinyi said her family went to Xianghai. Her father joined a large company, and her mother found a job near the school so she could take care of her. She went to Xianghai's elementary school and saw foreigners and a lot of new things.

She said that the tap water in big cities is hot and can be as warm in winter as in summer. People there often fly and speak English all the time, which is very fashionable.

At that time, the world Gao Xinyi described was abstract and vague in Gao Xing's mind, but her happiness was concrete and real. She didn't understand why Gao Xinyi's parents didn't dislike her and treated her so well despite being a girl.

Only when she grew up did she realize that they were normal, and they were the rare normal people in this confusing world.

After regaining his composure, Gao Xing suddenly felt like drinking, so he went to the resort store and bought a dozen beers.

As she emerged from the shop, she stumbled upon a perfectly intact cake sitting on a trash can outside, along with a large bouquet of flowers. She assumed a couple had a quarrel and had thrown it there, considering the resort's frequent repositories of wealthy individuals' trash. The cake was still steaming, and she figured it would be a waste to throw it away, so she simply picked it up.

When she returned to the villa, it was dinner time. As she entered the yard, she smelled the rich aroma of food.

Shen Xingjian was about to eat when he saw her come back. He was about to ask her where she had been and why she came back so late when he suddenly caught a glimpse of her holding a box of cakes. It felt like the sun was rising from the west.

"Are you rich?" he asked in surprise. "Or are you crazy?"

I'm so happy that Yan Jingsheng, who is so stingy, is willing to spend money on a cake? And a brand name cake?

Happy:"……"

Sometimes I really want to replace his mouth with one that can’t speak.

Gao Xing rolled her eyes in her heart, ignored him, and put the cake and the dozen beers on the dining table.

Shen Xingjian saw her unpacking the cake box, and drove his wheelchair over. When he saw a chocolate stand with "Happy Birthday" written on it on the clear blue cake, he suddenly fell silent.

"How did you know... today is my birthday?" His voice was slightly low.

Gao Xing paused: "......?"

For a moment, she didn't know whether she should continue to unravel the cake.

Gao Xing hesitated for a moment, thinking that she couldn't finish it all by herself anyway, so she handed him the colorful spiral candles and golden birthday crown next to the cake box: "Then... happy birthday to you."

With a calm tone and an expression without much emotion, without any preparation or exaggeration, she just stood there and said "Happy Birthday" calmly.

But such a simple sentence stirred up a storm in Shen Xingjian's heart. If Gao Xing hadn't bought the cake, he would have almost forgotten that today was his birthday.

Looking at the colorful candles and the extremely childish cardboard crown in his hand, Shen Xingjian suddenly felt dazed. How long had it been since he had celebrated his birthday?

Three years?

It seems like a short time, yet it also seems like a long time.

As a child, Shen Xingjian felt like the happiest child in the world. His elders were kind, his parents were loving, and his family and friends were kind. That was until he was ten years old, when his parents died fighting the epidemic, leaving only his grandfather behind.

Grandpa loved him very much, very much. Although he was also suffering from the pain of losing his son, he encouraged him to cheer up and move forward together with his cheerfulness and optimism.

He was a kind and humorous old man who had taught at Jingnan University all his life. His favorite saying was, "You little bastard, if you keep making trouble this year, grandpa won't buy you a birthday present!"

He said this, but he never missed Shen Xingjian's birthday. He would always hide the cake and gifts on his birthday, and then take them out mysteriously when Shen Xingjian couldn't find them and was about to cry. Even when he broke his leg, his grandfather would put the cake and gifts at the bedside for him to find.

In this world, Shen Xingjian loves his grandfather the most, but he no longer has a grandfather.

As I lowered my head and looked at the words "Happy Birthday" on the cake, a tear fell silently.

Shen Xingjian took a deep breath, adjusted his mood, and took the candle and crown.

It’s his birthday, so he should be happy. His family in heaven must also want him to be happy.

"Thanks."

Shen Xingjian's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and the sound he made with difficulty was like a rusty gear, with some difficulty.

Twenty-two candles lit up, illuminating the thin and lonely outline of the person before them.

Seeing him like this, Gao Xing was also slightly touched.

In fact, she knew that during their time together, Shen Xingjian had taken care of her. On the surface, she worked in exchange for three meals a day, but in reality, the poor hygiene of the public areas was not enough to support such a good diet every day. Last time she had a stomachache, he did not ignore it and even made sure that there was no water stain at the bathroom door. He was happy to see all of this.

He just has a bad mouth, but he actually has a soft heart.

"Make a wish." Gao Xing looked at him and said.

"I hope that one day, I can stand up and be a normal person like before..."

After he finished speaking, he did not rush to blow out the candle, but stared at the flame and fell into a long silence.

"Happy, have I ever told you how my leg was broken..."