Chapter 37 〇九やきもちを焼く
They are like antonyms. He Shizhao is always clear and definite, while Jiang Song is always vague and ethereal.
"He's receiving presents, why don't you go and wish him a happy birthday?"
He Shizhao asked as he sat down across the square table. It was only then that Xia Cun remembered that she had seen Jiang Song for a long time but had not even said "Happy Birthday" to him.
"What gift did you give him?" she asked He Shizhao, as if she was doing a questionnaire.
He Shizhao responded frankly: "It wasn't given by me."
He also tried to think about what gift he could give Jiang Song, but Jiang Song had everything he needed, and no matter what he was given, it would be of no importance to him. So, in the end, he just prepared a gift according to his father's wishes.
"What about you?" he asked her.
Xia Cun thought for a moment and replied, "This is a very private question."
He didn't realize he was the one who asked the question first.
He Shizhao let out a rare low laugh. He had originally used this answer to Xia Cun's question about what he wanted to do, and now it felt like she had infringed on his rights.
The murmurs of conversation in the courtyard drifted onto the terrace, disturbing its tranquility. A premonition crept in, and He Shizhao felt that if he didn't say something, the tranquility would soon be disturbed. So he spoke, "Actually, I can tell you."
There were just too many people present that day, so he used this excuse to refuse to answer.
Seeing Xia Cun looking at him, He Shizhao remained calm and continued, "Perhaps you won't laugh at me."
Who would laugh at He Shizhao?
Xia Cun put down the cupcake and looked like he was listening attentively. He Shizhao smiled faintly again.
He told her that what he wanted to do was about a choice. He wanted to choose a path of his own, not the one paved for him by the He family. That was why he needed to learn and become strong enough to escape.
"It's confusing, isn't it?"
He asked this, but in his heart he hoped to get understanding from Xia Cun, but the girl nodded after hearing it, and a feeling of loss came over him.
She also thought he was strange.
When did he start thinking this way? Perhaps when he was ten, from the moment his brother took him into that fairytale-like room, from the moment he saw that strange girl—
She is so free and lazy, and doesn't have to obey orders. She is so enviable.
He must have envied her for a long time, until his brother faded out of that fairytale world, and he lost his connection with it. Even then, he didn't stop feeling envious. Instead, this emotion took root and sprouted like a seed, growing wildly.
When he was on the yacht before, he told his brother that he didn't have to sit on the deck where the wind was so strong. In fact, he wanted to not sit in the position of heir to the He family. He didn't have to make all the decisions for the He family like his brother did. He wanted to do free and lazy things and be irresponsible.
He wanted to be like Peter Pan.
"But Xiaolan said that existence is reasonable." Xia Cun said this when He Shizhao was silent.
Actually, this is what Hegel said, but He Shizhao must know it. In fact, she didn't understand how to use this sentence, but it sounded like it could be used now.
After hearing this, He Shizhao raised his eyes again.
At the same time, the camera on the terrace turned slightly.
On the first floor of the villa, in the security room, Jiang Song finally found the missing girl——
He hadn't seen her since the party started; she wasn't with the other girls, nor was she sitting alone in a corner.
Where could she be? Perhaps she was playing in the side hall, or perhaps she was still in his bedroom. He thought about this as he absentmindedly followed his parents in conversation with some important guests. After finally dealing with everyone, he slipped away to the side hall.
The gifts brought by the guests were placed here. The other teenagers followed him and surrounded him and started giving him gifts, but he still didn't see classmate Xia Cun.
She's really going too far.
Jiang Song was in a state of disinterest. After receiving the gifts, he returned to his bedroom on the third floor, but he found nothing there. Why? Had she already left?
So he went to the security room and found the girl who had not disappeared in the surveillance footage.
She and He Shizhao sat on the deserted terrace, at a square table with candles lit, as if they were on a date.
So angry.
…
The light on the terrace suddenly dimmed. The two looked inside and found that the lights in the lounge had dimmed for some reason. On the terrace, the only remaining light was dim and yellow, the candlelight flickered, and the fragrance of the bouquet on the table became more and more prominent.
Xia Cun stared into the lounge, her cat-like eyes blinking. She saw a figure approaching in the darkness. Because it was dressed in white, it was surprisingly clear in the night.
The lounge connected to the terrace, separated only by an automatic glass door. Before the white figure even approached, the door gently opened. Jiang Song walked onto the terrace, but without greeting the two, he sat down at another open-air square table, oblivious to them.
About three seconds after sitting down, he stood up and dragged his chair to sit on the other side of the square table, as if his eyes were actually on the back of his head. After standing with his back to them for a while, he realized that there was someone else there.
He sat between two people, one on his left and one on his right, with his hands supporting his cheeks. For some reason, his hair, which had been meticulously groomed, was now much messier, with a few strands hanging down, making him look even more casual and handsome.
Moreover, when he came back from the study in the afternoon, there was inexplicably a Band-Aid on his face, just like the facial decoration he wore in the game. Because of this, his sour face made him look even more difficult to deal with.
Feeling that Xia Zun was looking at him, he finally couldn't help but asked in a tone that seemed to be just a casual question: "何してるの?" (What are you doing?)
He deliberately asked the question in Japanese, but unfortunately He Shizhao could understand it too, and he was the one who answered him: "It's obvious that we are just chatting."
"What's the matter?"
He asked again what they were talking about, and this time it was Xia Cun who finally answered him: "お天生日おめでとう."
Happy birthday.
Because I kept forgetting to say it, I’ll say it now.
Jiang Song was immediately speechless. He looked at the girl, then stood up after a moment and stretched out his hand towards her: "Come with me."
Xia Cun looked up at him, then lowered her head to look at He Shizhao who was sitting opposite her. However, Jiang Song took her hand without saying anything and turned to walk into the lounge.
The automatic door slid open and closed softly.
There was only one young man sitting alone on the terrace. He turned his head to look at the night outside the terrace, thinking about the conversation between Jiang Song and the girl before he arrived.
"So you think I can do this?"
"Um."
"Do you think I'm ridiculous?"
"Why?"
"They enjoy everything that comes with their birth, but they evade the obligations that come with their rights."
She remained silent, seemingly confused, and he continued, "I'm sorry, I seem to be saying something you don't understand again."
"I understand." She objected seriously.
"Okay, I'm self-righteous again." He admitted his mistake and accepted the advice readily.
She remained silent again, and he stopped speculating and just waited. After a long moment, he heard her ask, "So, do you want to be a reliable person, He Shizhao?"
Then, the light on the terrace suddenly dimmed.
An unreliable guy shows up and takes the girl away.
What about him?
Does he want to be a reliable person?
-
They held hands all the way, and the temperature of their hands gradually increased. Even the sudden appearance of human voices could not make their hands loosen.
The two of them went all the way to the third floor, but did not return to Jiang Song's room. Instead, they stopped outside a door not far from his room.
The corridor lights were dim. Xia Cun looked at the boy who had remained silent all the way and asked him, "Why are you here?"
Jiang Song didn't want to talk, he just opened the door with his free hand, brought the girl in, and closed the door again.
All sounds were blocked out by the heavy door. The lights were off, but it wasn't completely dark. A faint blue light shone faintly behind the partition.
The two of them stopped behind the door without moving. Xia Cun first stared at the faint light, blinking before turning her head. Her eyes gradually adjusted to the light, and soon she could clearly make out Jiang Song's outline in the dark space. His eyes were bright, like the glowing pupils of a cat.
While thinking about the cat, she also recalled a conversation she had with Ms. Tanaka in the afternoon.
Ms. Tanaka said, "Xiao Song likes cats very much, but we never keep cats at home. Do you know why?"
The answer to this question is that Jiang Song will not bring his favorite kitten home because his mother is allergic to cat hair.
"サプライズ."
Jiang Song suddenly spoke in the darkness, interrupting her wandering thoughts.
サプライズ. Surprise.
It seemed like a hint, or like an answer to the question she had just asked outside the door - she came here because of a surprise.
What surprise will it be?
However, Jiang Song said these words full of surprise in a muffled voice, and then he fell silent again. It was a while before he took her inside.
The moment I walked around the partition, a blue wall appeared in my field of vision. It was a wall made of an aquarium, with a faint dark blue light inside.
As if attracted by some special substance, Xia Cun walked closer to the wall. She pulled her hand out of the boy's palm and gently placed it on the glass. The glass was hard and cool, which was exactly the opposite of the touch brought by Jiang Song's hand.
Within the water curtain, jellyfish after jellyfish slowly floated, rising and falling. They had no direction, simply drifting here and there, entwining themselves, and then dispersing, like wandering spirits on a moonlit night.
She blinked, her breathing so light and rhythmic with the jellyfish's drifting that it seemed almost nonexistent. After a long moment, she turned her head to look at the boy beside her and said, "So beautiful."
But the boy did not respond to her. He just walked to the sofa on the side in the dim light and sat down. He collapsed on the cushion, folded his arms, and his unhappiness was written in the shadows.
Xia Cun reluctantly walked away from the jellyfish wall and came to stand in front of him. The already weak light was further blocked by her figure. She had no choice but to crouch down like Jiang Song had looked at her in the past and look at him closely.
Jiang Song tilted his head slightly, clearly not seeing anything clearly, but still turned his head away with an expression that showed he didn't want to see her. Seeing this, Xia Cun sat on the side where he turned his head, and then looked at him in a strange posture. Jiang Song turned his head away again.
“…”Don’t want to talk.
"お天生日おめでとう." Xia Cun said to him, repeating the blessing, "Happy birthday."
Jiang Song held it in for a while and asked: "What's the matter?"
"I don't understand."
"うそつきっ."
He said it was a lie. Well, Jiang Song's question is: Is that all?
Is that all? Shouldn't I give him a surprise too?
"But I told you before that I was a little angry," she said suddenly.
Jiang Song finally turned back to look at the girl. If the light was bright enough, he would have seen that her expression was full of disbelief. He hadn't expected her to bring up this matter again. After all, she didn't look like she was still angry with him.
"Because you don't seem to treat me as a friend, I plan to tell you at your birthday party how angry I am - that is, I don't plan to give you my gift."
Xia Cun spoke slowly, and because of this, her tone seemed extremely serious. After she finished speaking, she heard some heavy breathing in the dark blue room. She recognized it as the angry voice of Jiang Song, but suddenly, she found something flickering. It happened at the moment when Jiang Song turned his head away from her again.
The breathing was still heavy, but it was not the sound of Jiang Song being angry.
That was the sound of him crying.
She seemed to have made Jiang Song cry.
"Are you crying?"
"No."
He had barely finished denying it when a hand suddenly landed on his left cheek. The touch was unreal through the Band-Aid, but he still felt a surge of electricity coursing through his body, and his scalp numbed. Another hand then moved to the other side, and together, they pulled his face back to where she was.
In the dim light, a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes were watery. The girl kneeling on the sofa withdrew one hand and touched the thin skin under his eyes with her right hand.
"You just cried."
She concluded, sounding as serious as if she were saying he was too fragile.
Jiang Song's cheeks flushed instantly, and his ears burned. Fortunately, they couldn't see each other clearly. He stepped back and said stiffly, "No, it's not. It's sweat. Wearing a suit is very hot..."
But the air conditioner was turned up full blast, and even he couldn't convince himself.
He simply lowered his head, picked up a pillow and hugged it in his arms. His breathing was not as heavy as before, and he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Quiet. Dull. Like sinking underwater.
After a long time, Xia Cun asked him: "If other people don't give you a gift, will you cry?"
“I won’t…”
"Then why didn't I send you off? Why did you cry?"
"because--"
Why? Because he hated her for not saying happy birthday to him, hated her for not showing up at the party, hated her for being stingy and holding a grudge for not giving him a gift, and hated her for sitting and talking with He Shizhao... His brows furrowed a little, and thinking of this, Jiang Song finally seemed to muster up some courage and said:
"...やきもちを焼く."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
