Today is Shen Xiaomin's birthday, and Yuan Xiangci is away on a business trip abroad.
The moonlight streamed through the window into the living room, casting a thin layer of white gauze on the porcelain floor. The hall was extremely quiet. Shen Xiaomin sat obediently, her eyes fixed on the exquisite cakes arranged on the table.
The grape mousse cake, with its gradient colors of deep purple and light purple echoing each other, is decorated with delicate milky white petals. It is only one layer, four inches in size, and Shen Xiaomin stared at it again and again.
This was his first birthday celebration, and the first time someone had ever celebrated his birthday with him.
The cake looked even better than the ones he saw on TV.
This also made him more hungry.
"Ugh! It's so hot!" Yuan Jiang exclaimed, rushing out of the kitchen with a bowl of longevity noodles in her hands, which she placed in front of Shen Xiaomin.
Her fingertips were red from the heat, and she blew on them with her lips pursed, saying, "It's burning me."
"Let me see." Upon hearing this, Shen Xiaomin immediately stood up, grabbed her hand, and looked at her red fingertips with concern.
Yuan Jiang's skin is fair and smooth. Normally, even a slight press would leave a mark. But this time, it turned red just from touching a slightly hot porcelain bowl. Fortunately, no blisters formed.
Shen Xiaomin's eyes darkened slightly as he lowered his head and took her finger into his mouth.
“You…” Yuan Jiang’s expression was one of astonishment.
"Baby, will this feel better?" Shen Xiaomin looked innocently at Yuan Jiang, slowly opening his mouth and gently stroking her little hand with his calloused fingertips.
Yuan Jiang's charming fox-like eyes were filled with a shy and alluring mix of reluctance and attraction. She nodded nervously, her eyelashes trembling, "Yes, yes, I'm feeling better."
"I knew this would work." Shen Xiaomin curled her crimson lips into a smile.
"Sit down, it's your birthday today. This is a bowl of longevity noodles I made myself." Yuan Jiang pointed to the bowl of longevity noodles she had made, as if presenting a treasure.
The simmered bone broth is served with noodles, topped with scallions, mushrooms, shrimp, sea cucumber, a fried egg, and a few small green vegetables, creating a rich and colorful dish.
"Try it!" Yuan Jiang handed a pair of chopsticks to Shen Xiaomin, her eyebrows slightly raised, her big, watery eyes full of anticipation.
Shen Xiaomin smiled shyly as she took the chopsticks, picked up a shiitake mushroom and ate a bite, then ate a bite of noodles. It has to be said that Yuan Jiang has a real talent for cooking. This was her first time making longevity noodles. The presentation was exquisite, the taste was superb, the noodles were chewy, and paired with the rich bone broth, the taste was fresh and sweet without being greasy. The addition of shrimp and shiitake mushrooms made it even better.
"It's delicious." He gave an affirmative answer: "Baby, you're amazing! It's your first time making it and it tastes so good!"
"Hehe~" Yuan Jiang rested her chin on her hands, tilted her head, and stared at Shen Xiaomin with her eyes blinking.
Shen Xiaomin ate very quickly, but her table manners were impeccable. She finished the entire bowl of longevity noodles in no time, leaving not even a drop of soup.
Yuan Jiang glanced at her phone screen; the time had jumped from 58 minutes to 59 minutes. After today, Shen Xiaomin would be an adult.
"Happy birthday, Minbao." Yuan Jiang took out a lighter, lit the candles, and pushed the cake in front of Shen Xiaomin. She smiled with her eyes crinkling. The scarlet candlelight reflected on her face, making her look even more charming and pitiful with her thick eyebrows, alluring eyes, red lips, and white teeth.
She softly sang a birthday song for him, a very simple and ordinary song.
But this was the first time Shen Xiaomin had heard someone sing to him. His nose tingled and his eyes immediately welled up with tears. He stared blankly at Yuan Jiang, his thoughts drifting back to Niutou Village.
Shen Xiaomin remembered that he used to envy the children in the village who had cake on their birthdays. So he waited expectantly for his own birthday and excitedly ran to ask his mother, "It's my birthday today, Mom, can you buy me a cake?"
His mother kicked him to the ground viciously and spat on him: "Pah! Eat cake? Don't you know what kind of family you live in? Do you even deserve to eat it?"
"Go steal a bottle of wine right now, or I'll beat you to death!"
His mother walked away cursing, while he curled up on the ground in pain, his mind filled with the words, "Do you even deserve to eat?"
Later, his parents died, and he lived with his grandmother. His grandmother remembered his birthday, but he didn't want to celebrate it anymore. He felt it was meaningless, and buying a cake would cost money. Although it wasn't much, he always felt that saving the money for the cake would be enough for him and his grandmother's groceries for several days, which would be more cost-effective.
"Minbao, make a wish!" Yuan Jiang tilted her head and leaned closer to him, smiling.
As Shen Xiaomin regained consciousness, the blurry scene before his eyes gradually became clear, revealing Yuan Jiang's magnified face. She was unadorned, beautiful and exquisite, illuminating his filthy and dark world.
He nodded subconsciously, clasped his hands together, and stared blankly at Yuan Jiang, saying, "I want to be with Yuan Jiang forever, until death do us part."
As soon as he finished speaking, he blew out the candle.
"You're so silly, your wishes won't come true if you say them out loud." Yuan Jiang covered her mouth and giggled.
"Ah?... " Shen Xiaomin was clearly panicked. He looked at the extinguished candle in a daze, then looked at Yuan Jiang: "What should we do?"
"Can I make a wish again?"
Yuan Jiang smiled, smeared some cream on Shen Xiaomin's nose, and said with her beautiful big eyes, "Of course you can't make a wish again."
"However... I will help you fulfill your wish."
“Minbao, I will always be with you.” Yuan Jiang stood beside Shen Xiaomin, her slender, jade-like fingers pinching his chin, forcing him to look up at her. Gazing into his dark, bright eyes, the curve of her lips deepened, and she lowered her head to lick the cream off the tip of Shen Xiaomin’s nose.
Shen Xiaomin glanced at his phone screen out of the corner of his eye. It was past midnight. His tense body suddenly trembled, and he tightened his arms, picked up the petite woman, and rushed into the bedroom.
Yuan Jiang was thrown onto the large bed. The mattress was soft and didn't hurt. Instead, her petite and slender body was tossed up, and her long, black hair, like a waterfall, was spread messily beneath her, making her charming and beautiful face even more radiant and captivating.
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