Chapter 15
It's true that you can't buy cakes around the neighborhood.
Chi Ran contacted all the dessert shops within a five-kilometer radius, but couldn't find a place that could customize cakes.
He went through several groups of people before finally contacting a home-based pastry chef.
It's both a coincidence and an unfortunate coincidence. The coincidence is that the pastry chef lives in their neighborhood, but the unfortunate coincidence is that he doesn't have any tools at home, and the only raw material he has is eggs.
It took some effort to gather the tools and raw materials, but luckily we made it in time.
The pastry chef asked him what kind of pastry he wanted to make, and without thinking, he said pink, the kind of pink that's perfect for spring.
She asked him if he wanted her to write "Happy Birthday." He was about to say yes, but then her face flashed through his mind, and he suddenly changed his mind.
"Just write the three characters 'Enjoy life to the fullest'," he said.
The dessert vendor was quite confused: "Xu Huan? Is that your name?"
Chi Ran explained: "It's not a name, it's the last three characters of 'Enjoy life while you can't be proud.'"
Whether it was gathering the ingredients for the cake or writing those three words, his thoughts were very pure.
I didn't have any other intentions; I just wanted to celebrate her birthday.
Song Yihuan at twenty years old.
She was energetic yet impulsive.
He wished her to continue enjoying her current state of passion and courage, finding joy in everything she did.
Enjoy yourself to the fullest.
These three words were not a typical birthday greeting, and he was actually a little uneasy about them.
He felt nervous when he presented the cake to her.
But the next second, there was a loud thud—the sound of tears hitting the cake box and shattering it.
"Hey," Chi Ran called out to her, "Are you really crying?"
He reached his hand up somewhat blankly.
Song Yihuan wiped away her tears haphazardly: "No."
Her nasal tone betrayed her. He nervously extended his index finger, but unable to pinpoint the location, he dared not move forward rashly. In the end, he simply hovered there, making a rubbing motion against the air.
She leaned forward slightly, her dry nose touching his hand: "I said no."
Chi Ran withdrew her hand and smiled: "Then there isn't one."
Qian Yu and Guo Guo stared intently at the oil in the pan, neither daring to glance in their direction.
Song Yihuan quickly wiped her face haphazardly and shoved off a few pieces of meat: "Let's start grilling! Let's start grilling!"
She shoved the barbecue tongs into Qian Yu's hand, took the cake from Chi Ran, and put it in the refrigerator.
The cool white light from the refrigerator illuminated the three characters "Xu Jin Huan" (meaning "Enjoy Life to the Fullest"), giving them a subtle sheen. Since the cake would be ready to be cut soon, she hesitated to close the door immediately, lingering to stare at it for a while.
This blessing was completely contrary to the course of her first eighteen years of life.
For the first eighteen years, Ms. Wang made every tiny decision in her life for her, from what color socks to wear to whether to eat broccoli or mushrooms for lunch, from what time to go home to what time to get sleepy and when to fall asleep, down to the smallest detail.
Ms. Wang has an Excel spreadsheet that she uses to manage every detail of her life.
She met Guoguo when she was eighteen, and moved out of her family home when she was nineteen, finally freeing herself from the constraints of an Excel spreadsheet.
If you've been bound for long enough, the first feeling upon breaking free isn't freedom, but rather bewilderment. She was used to living within all sorts of rules, so all her freedom was built on breaking those rules.
Following the rules is one narrow path, while defying and breaking the rules is another. Blinded by this narrow perspective, she failed to see the vast wilderness.
No one taught her how to live life to the fullest, and she still hasn't learned it.
On her twentieth birthday, Chi Ran wished her to enjoy herself to the fullest.
He wished her to have a wonderful time on earth.
She silently gazed at the three gleaming words, like Cinderella looking at her dream glass slipper, imagining stepping out of her cramped room to see a wider world.
The coolness of the refrigerator mixed with the sweet smell of cream, and even the remaining tear stains on my face felt like ice cream, cool and sweet.
"Huan, the meat is cooked!" Guoguo called out to her.
Song Yi laughed, "Here you are!"
The marbled pork belly sizzled enticingly in the pan, its rich, marinated color gradually giving way to delicious Maillard hues. The edges of the roasted meat curled up, occasionally crackling softly.
"Brother Ran, this baking pan has no edge, don't reach in!"
After Qian Yu finished speaking, Chi Ran silently put the chopsticks she had raised back onto the bowl.
I made a mistake when I sat down; I was only thinking about showing her the cake quickly and didn't let Qian Yu sit next to him. That Qian Yu, too, forgot about the blind shopkeeper as soon as he saw the meat.
"Take it from the plate."
Song Yihuan placed a plate in front of him, then pinched his right sleeve, like when eating carrot cake, and led him to the edge of the plate so that he could touch it with his hand.
Chi Ran nodded and said okay, but she didn't let go after she finished speaking, so he turned his head in confusion.
She pinched his fingers and pressed them against the table, drawing a long line.
"Don't put your hand over here," Song Yihuan said quickly, "or it'll turn into a roasted pig's trotter."
The moment she let go, he grabbed her fingers, kneaded them hard a few times, and leaned in to whisper, "You're the one who's like a roasted pig's trotter."
She withdrew her hand as quickly as if she'd been burned.
Song Yihuan was sitting next to him, but he barely heard her chewing. She was chatting with Guoguo the whole time, complaining about the poor quality of the group-buying vegetables and the property management's inaction, relying entirely on volunteers. Each time she spoke, her mouth was empty, suggesting she hadn't eaten much.
He leaned closer and asked, "Why aren't you eating?"
She paused for a long time before answering, "I'm a little full."
"You barely touched your chopsticks, how did you get full?" Chi Ran asked, frowning.
Before she could answer, Guoguo teased her, "You two, stop whispering to each other. There are only four of you. Why are you always talking like that?"
Chi Ran lost his grip on the chopsticks and they hit the edge of the plate with a clatter.
Fortunately, Guoguo didn't continue talking.
Song Yihuan touched her face, which was burning hot from the baking pan, and chuckled to herself while biting her chopsticks.
"Why did I sit up straight?" Qian Yu chuckled awkwardly. "I wasn't whispering."
Song Yihuan burst out laughing: "She really is a teacher." Then she added, "An elementary school homeroom teacher."
Qian Yu asked, "A primary school homeroom teacher? So you still have time to volunteer? Don't you have to be busy teaching online classes?"
Song Yihuan's smile froze on her face as she turned to look at Guoguo.
Guoguo smiled and said, "I used to, but I quit."
"A secure job, huh?" Qian Yu sighed. "It takes real guts to quit such a secure job."
"You can quit your job if you don't have the guts, but you're so angry that you want to quit every day. Elementary school students are at the age where they're so annoying that sometimes you're so angry that you want to pick them up and kick them like a punching bag."
Guoguo quickly changed the subject, laughing as she recounted the mischievous kids she had encountered.
After they had almost finished eating the barbecue, they threw the grill plate and bowls into the sink and cleaned up the mess on the table.
Guoguo took out a pretty tablecloth, laid it on the table, and placed the cake on it.
Qian Yu chuckled: "Song Shen, I'm sending you a birthday red envelope! Hurry up and accept it before I change my mind!"
Song Yihuan opened the red envelope; it contained thirty-three yuan and one mao, corresponding to her birthday on March 31st. That was quite a large sum; given his miserly nature, she had expected him to give her three yuan and thirty-one mao.
"Huanhuan, I'll give you your birthday present after I unseal it." Guoguo winked.
Song Yihuan clenched her fist and quietly waved it at her as a threat to make her shut up.
She gazed at the words on the cake again and whispered her thanks to Chi Ran: "Thank you for the birthday present, I really like it."
"Who told you—" he tilted his head back, raised an eyebrow, and drawled, "that cake is a birthday present?"
Song Yihuan was stunned: "What?"
Qian Yu took a thin, spiral-shaped thing out of his bag for him. She took it; it was a pink music sheet folder.
The outer design features Puffy from Harry Potter, a pink little dumpling with big eyes that looks very cute and feels fluffy to the touch.
"Sheet music? Icarus?" Song Yihuan asked in surprise.
“No,” Chi Ran said. “Open it and take a look.”
Song Yihuan slowly opened the music score folder, which contained many transparent pockets, with the music score on the first page.
“This is…” Song Yi laughed, “This is the score we had that argument about, the piano piece you wrote called ‘Burning’.”
"Take a closer look." Chi Ran tapped her fingertips on the table twice. "Was all those days of class for nothing?"
Song Yihuan silently sang the score in her mind, but after singing only a few lines, she realized that this was not the original version.
"You...you altered the recipe for the burnt item?" Her voice trembled.
The original score had a wide range, which only the piano could play; the electronic keyboard's range was insufficient, so she revised the score.
Her birthday gift was a burnt version of a song he had personally rearranged for an electronic keyboard.
Chi Ran tilted her head in her direction: "The revised sheet music isn't a birthday present either."
Song Yihuan held the fluffy music book clip, her fingertips and heart filled with tenderness, and said blankly, "What...is that?"
"It's the blank page that follows."
His tone was gentle, his expression was gentle, and his once empty eyes were now filled with tenderness.
He said, "Let me fill in the blank pages whenever you want—that's your birthday present."
Song Yihuan held the sheet music folder, wanting to say thank you, but the word "thank you" was only two words, light and distant.
While hesitating, the truth slipped out: "I like it very much, I like it a lot, I like it especially, especially, especially... I like it."
When she spoke of the third time, the word "like" suddenly carried much more weight, and she had to work very hard to say it.
Chi Ran listened intently to her words, and after hearing them, he gave her an almost gentle smile, completely devoid of his usual sharp tongue.
That smile made her heart skip a beat, and the word "like" made her heart race, and her whole body felt warm.
"Make a wish!" Guoguo looked around. "Huh? There aren't any candles?"
"I really couldn't buy one." Qian Yu scratched his head. "How about we use a gas stove? I'll go light it."
Song Yihuan rubbed her reddened eyes, amused and annoyed by his question: "What is that?"
Guoguo said speechlessly, "Are you serious about asking the birthday person to inhale gas?"
Chi Ran pulled a lighter out of her pocket and said with a smile, "Will this work?"
Song Yihuan: "Where did you come from?"
Slow-burning cigarettes are not smoked.
"I borrowed it from the gatekeeper. I have to return it after you play it," Chi Ran said. "Is that okay?"
Song Yi laughed heartily: "That's amazing!"
Guoguo added, "Especially compared to inhaling coal gas."
"I'll hold it, Ran-ge." Qian Yu reached out to take it. "Don't burn your hand."
Chi Ran held on tightly and said, "I'll do it."
"Let's sing a birthday song!" Qian Yu suggested.
Then he started off-key, singing a song that was way off track, followed by Guoguo's suppressed laughter, and then Chi Ran's low singing as he tried to bring the pitch back on track.
Chi Ran faced her, holding a lit lighter. Behind the leaping flame was his slightly upturned face. The warm light shone on it, making his originally cold and aloof face appear gentle.
His originally dull pupils were made bright by the firelight, flowing like a spring, and she was immersed in them, experiencing a strange yet profound happiness.
The incandescent bulb was turned off, and it was dusk outside the window. The light was dim, and the firelight flickered, like a fragile dream.
Song Yihuan stared at the flame above Chi Ran's thumb, not even bothering to close her eyes.
"Make a wish!" Guoguo urged with a smile.
Song Yihuan reluctantly closed her eyes, so happy she almost melted in that moment.
Suddenly, the alarm clock rang, and she exhaled sharply, opening her eyes abruptly.
Her alarm clock was different from Guoguo's; hers was a robotic "waa waa," while Guoguo's was a crisp, tinkling sound. Together, they created a strange rhythm, with a sharp quality that could pierce through dreams.
"Hiss." Chi Ran was startled by the ringing of the bell. His hand trembled, and a blue flame burned his thumb before going out.
It became completely dark all around, and everything became blurry.
Like waking up from a beautiful dream in the middle of the night.
Song Yihuan let herself be immersed in the sharp noise, feeling somewhat dazed, her breathing gradually becoming rapid, as if someone were choking her.
Perhaps Cinderella felt much the same way she does now when she heard the clock strike twelve.
Guoguo reacted quickly, first turning off her own alarm clock, then reaching for her phone.
Qian Yu leaned over to look at Song Yihuan's phone and read aloud, "Why are there so many exclamation marks? Eat...eat what?"
Before he could finish reading, Guoguo had already quickly turned off her phone alarm.
"Do you need to set an alarm for eating?" Qian Yu asked.
Guoguo locked her phone: "I lose track of time at home and always miss mealtimes, so let's set an alarm to remind each other."
"Oh, I see."
"Song Yihuan? What's wrong?" She hadn't moved for a long time, so Chi Ran called out to her tentatively.
Song Yihuan was stunned for a long time before she came to her senses and asked Chi Ran, "Is your hand alright?"
Chi Ran shook his head. "It's okay, shall we try again?"
"Hmm... okay." She looked down at his right thumb, which was slightly red.
Chi Ran switched to her left hand and held the lighter up in front of her again.
"Good things come to those who wait." He smiled gently. "Birthday girl, make a wish."
Song Yihuan clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and made a wishing gesture.
She felt empty inside.
So she simply stayed in that position, counted to five in her mind without making any wishes, then opened her eyes and blew out the candle.
Chi Ran held the lighter and dodged backward.
"What are you doing?" Song Yihuan was taken aback.
He asked, "What's your birthday wish?"
"Speak it out, and maybe it will come true."
Song Yihuan looked into his eyes, and no matter how dull and lifeless they were, there was still tenderness in them.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
The alarm clock was turned off a long time ago, but why is she still experiencing tinnitus?
Will it come true? That was her birthday wish.
Won't.
Never.
It shouldn't be, and it doesn't deserve to be.
She knew better than anyone that she was not worthy of making a wish.
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