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"Your 17th birthday, you idiot, how could you forget that?" Although he was being sarcastic, he hadn't missed any of the preparations.
From birthday gifts to birthday songs, to blowing out candles and making wishes, he did everything for her through video calls, even though he couldn't be there in person. He even piled up birthday balloons in the back of the room, making her happy as if he had a whole football team all to do it.
Xu Changjia felt that having such a brother was quite nice. Even her own brother might not have done this much for her. She wondered what she had done to deserve such a good brother, even though he wasn't by her side and couldn't be with her all the time.
After Yunhe hung up the phone, she neatly stacked the books on the bookshelf. A postcard fell out from it. She picked it up and read: "May Xu Changjia be embraced by the warm sun, tread on auspicious clouds, have a future as vast as the sea, and be surrounded by nebulae."
She opened and flipped through the other books, each containing a postcard with a birthday wish for her, from age one to seventeen. Even though he had given her gifts when she was little, he had given them to her again.
She rummaged through a box under the bookshelf and found an empty photo album. She placed the seventeen postcards inside, and gently stroked each word on them with her fingers, as if they were the seventeen years she had long since lost, speechless with emotion.
The room was quiet, a stark contrast to the noise outside, but soon the commotion came through her door, bringing her a sense of joy.
Together with Aunt Chen, Mrs. Xu decorated the entire house to celebrate her daughter's seventeenth birthday.
Mr. Xu returned just before dinner, carrying a birthday cake and a beautifully packaged cardboard box tied with a pink bow. Xu Changjia was sitting on the sofa when he turned around and had the pink bow stuffed into his hands. Before he could even react, he heard his mother call out, "Dinner's ready, Jiajia."
Listening to her mother gently telling her father about her experiences at school, including her top score in the joint entrance exam, and the happy family reunion, her loneliness seemed to lessen...
The next day, when she returned to school, Xu's husband and mother took her there together. She also put on the pink lamb wool coat that she had received the day before. It was a cold and windy winter day, and it was perfect for keeping her warm. Even Ou Liyao praised her for looking good when she saw her new look.
She wanted to tell her directly that it was her birthday, but several times she couldn't say it, as if she were asking Ou Liyao for a birthday present.
It wasn't until after evening self-study that she was dragged by Ou Liyao to the cafeteria for a late-night snack, only then did she realize that they had already decorated the cafeteria for her and given her a birthday celebration that she had missed for thirty-nine years.
Ou Liyao handed over the complete set of journaling tools that she had painstakingly collected after visiting six or seven bookstores. "Jiajia, happy seventeenth birthday. I've written everything I wanted to say in this letter. Take your time to read it when you get home. Have a happy birthday. I won't say anything too touching."
Zhang Yuning followed suit, giving her a painting he had drawn as a birthday gift. It depicted a scene from "The Republic of China," with three characters on stage—himself, Ou Liyao, and Li Teng—while someone in the audience played the piano, and Xu Changjia was directing the scene with a megaphone.
She really loved the gift; it allowed her to see them standing in the spotlight years later.
After that, she received gifts from other visitors one after another. Even the literary professor, who was not in Junzhou, asked Zhang Yuning to send her a purple scarf.
Since Zheng Ruoqian wasn't there, Ou Liyao took it upon herself to invite Li Teng and a few of his underlings to celebrate her birthday. Although there were no candles that night, the cafeteria aunties helped by turning off the lights on the second floor of the cafeteria, making her remember this special birthday for many years to come.
Xu Changjia dared not savor all the sweetness of his birthday at once. Every day, he would return to his dormitory and read one or two letters and open one or two gifts, saving all this joy until the end of the semester.
During the last week before the final exams, they had a monthly break. Xu Changjia went home for a visit. She thought that since so many people had given her birthday gifts, she would slowly return the favor one by one. She specially picked out an MP3 player for Ou Liyao and brought it to her.
That day, she brought her MP3 player to self-study class and listened to music for the entire class. When Teacher Wang came to patrol and saw her, she quickly pressed the switch button to switch to the college entrance examination English listening test. Teacher Wang nodded and didn't say anything more.
That night, she lay in bed studying her MP3 player all night. She accidentally saw something in it and stared at it all night long. Before she knew it, it was already broad daylight outside.
When Xu Changjia woke up, he called her name. She was still a little disappointed and couldn't continue watching. She was listless on her way to class, which made the usually quiet Xu Changjia take a second look at her. "Yaoyao, did you not sleep well last night?"
Ou Liyao shook her head, not even having any appetite for the steamed buns and soy milk she had just bought. She casually tossed them to Zhang Yuning, who sat behind her in the classroom, and then slept for several classes with her head tilted to the side. The person behind her called her several times, but she would fall asleep again after a short while.
She was listless all day, and when she got back to her dorm at night, she hid under the covers and started reading a novel on her MP3 player.
For several days in a row, she was listless during the day and would go back to bed at night, becoming completely engrossed in novels.
When Xu Changjia came to find her for dinner after class again, she saw her fast asleep on the table. She tiptoed in, walked to Zhang Yuning's side, and asked in a low voice, "Has she slept all day again?"
"Um."
"This can't go on, the final exams are in two days."
Zhang Yuning put down her pen, looked up and asked her, "What has she been doing these past two nights instead of sleeping?"
She also found it strange. Yao Yao had been going to bed early these past few days, but she was still listless every day and would fall asleep as soon as she entered class. The final exams were coming up soon, and she couldn't stay like this.
Zhang Yuning waved to her, "We'll do this..."
She smiled and nodded, giving him a thumbs up.
That night, she kept a close eye on Ou Liyao's every move. As soon as Ou Liyao lay down on the bed, said "goodnight" to her three roommates, covered her head with the blanket, and fell asleep, she moved the lamp a little closer to herself. After the other two had turned off their lights, she tiptoed to the opposite bed.
As soon as the blanket was pulled back, Ou Liyao was facing the MP3 player with a big, happy smile on her face.
"Jia, Jiajia, what's wrong?"
Xu Changjia then learned that ever since he gave her the MP3 player that day, she had found hundreds of songs and hundreds of novels that the store had downloaded for her. She would put on her headphones, listen to the songs and read the novels all night long, and she was completely engrossed in it.
She snatched the MP3 player away, saying, "You're not allowed to listen to it anymore. Get some sleep tonight."
Ou Liyao immediately became anxious, grabbed her leg, and demanded to get her MP3 back. "Oh, Jiajia, please give it to me, please give it to me. I'll read one more book, and I won't read any more after I finish this one."
"I won't give it to you, but if I do, you'll keep watching and won't sleep all night."
She kept insisting that Xu Changjia return her MP3 player, but she had already made an agreement with Zhang Yuning to get to the bottom of this and make her focus on her studies. Even if it was because of the final exam, she couldn't let Xu Changjia continue watching it, otherwise what would happen to her final exam the day after tomorrow?
The two girls' playful fight was quite noisy and woke up their roommates in the other two beds. The two girls explained that they had just woken up, had a drink of water, and exchanged a few words.
Xu Changjia took the opportunity to get away from her, grabbed the MP3 player, and went to sleep. Ou Liyao had no choice but to turn over and go to sleep when she saw that the lamp opposite her had gone out.
The next morning, when they went to class, Ou Liyao was still angry with her and refused to talk to her. The two of them entered the classroom of Class 369 one after the other. She put the soy milk and steamed buns on the corner of her desk with a smile, and then took a few more steps and put the MP3 on Zhang Yuning's desk, with a note attached.
He looked up and saw her suggestive look. He opened his eyes, smiled helplessly, and said, "Don't worry, I'll return it to her after the final exams." His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for the people in front to hear.
Ou Liyao was a little annoyed. She snorted and took a big bite out of the bun to vent her dissatisfaction.
Before leaving, Xu Changjia placed his English notes on her desk. "Today is your English morning self-study session. You've been playing around these past two days. Take a good look at them. The English teacher will definitely ask you questions later. Study hard, and remember to return the notebook to me after the exam."
Once she was out of sight, Ou Liyao turned around and held out her hand to him, "Give it to me!"
Zhang Yuning, sitting at the table behind, pretended not to know, "What are you taking?"
"Give me back my MP3 player."
He used his notebook to push her hand back. "You don't need to be angry with Xu Changjia. I'll return the MP3 to you if you do well on your final exams. This is something I discussed with her. You should focus on preparing for your final exams first."
She calmed herself down, but she still felt restless. She couldn't concentrate on reading a single word of the abcd dictionary. After reading the novel for only three or four days, she became addicted and couldn't stop. Even when she was in the exam room, she was thinking about the love stories in the novel. She almost drew little figures on the answer sheet.
As Xu Changjia walked out of the examination hall, she looked at the sunset that had not yet set and felt a sense of peace. She felt pretty good this time. She turned around and met Ou Liyao, who was hanging her head. She quickly walked up to her and said, "Yaoyao, how did you feel? If you do well on the exam, Zhang, the top student, will return your MP3 player to you."
"Jiajia, I don't feel well. Is it because I won't get my MP3 player? It was the first gift you ever gave me!"
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