The carved iron gate slowly opened, and the laurel emblem on the silver-plated door knocker shone coldly under the car lights.
Hua Jinyue sat in the back seat of the stretched Lincoln, her fingertips gently stroking the diamond inlay on the umbrella handle - this custom umbrella was from Balenciaga, and the ribs were engraved with her initials "AY", which was a birthday gift from her brother last year.
"Miss, we're here." The driver, Lao Yang, said across the partition, his voice filled with his usual respect.
Hua Jinyue opened her umbrella and stepped out, her little leather shoes making crisp sounds on the marble steps.
She looked up at the three-story villa. The Gothic spire cast a shadow on the night sky. A faint light shone through the floor-to-ceiling window at the corner of the second floor - that was her room.
The combination lock in the entrance hall made a soft "tick." Hua Jinyue had just turned the key when she heard the sound of running water overhead. Her lips curled slightly, and with a flick of her wrist, the umbrella spread open like a peacock's feathers, catching the downpour of cold water.
The mechanism at the bottom of the bucket is cleverly designed, and the water flows along the edge of the umbrella ribs into the drain in the corner of the entrance, without even getting the marble floor wet.
"Playing this trick again." She muttered softly, but there was a smile in her tone.
Press the switch of the crystal wall lamp, and the warm yellow light instantly fills the entire space.
Hua Jinyue's pupils shrank slightly in the light, and she saw dark red ribbons all over the ground like winding bloodstains, wrapped around a helium balloon as tall as a person - the balloon was printed with her cartoon image, wearing a pink puffy skirt and holding a popcorn bucket in her hand.
"Do you like it?"
A deep voice came from the spiral staircase. Ye Qingliu wore a custom-made white shirt, his sleeves rolled up to reveal his watch. The strap was made of deep-sea mother-of-pearl, which shone with a faint blue luster under the light.
He walked down slowly with one hand in his pocket, his leather shoes stepping on the steps covered with Persian carpets, each step precisely in the center of the rose pattern.
Hua Jinyue's breath caught in her throat. Her brother's outfit tonight reminded her of the charity ball when she was fourteen. She had slipped on her mother's high heels and fallen down the stairs. Shi Ye Qingliu had carried her to the infirmary, the back of his white shirt stained with her tears and blood.
"Brother..." Her voice was filled with surprise as her fingertips gently brushed the silk ribbons, which felt as soft as velvet. These ribbons were handmade in an Italian workshop, and every inch was woven with her favorite iris fragrance.
Ye Qingliu walked up to her and raised his hand to brush the raindrops from her hair. The boy's fingertips were filled with the scent of cedar perfume, which mixed with the almond chocolate scent in the room, forming a soothing smell.
Hua Jinyue looked up at him and found that her brother had grown taller. The lines of his ankle bones exposed under his suit pants were graceful, like a replica of a Renaissance sculpture.
"Let's look at the cake first." Ye Qingliu chuckled and tapped the glass cover in the middle of the dining table with his knuckles.
The moment the cover was lifted, Hua Jinyue let out a low cry of surprise. An eight-inch almond chocolate cake, outlined with edible gold foil, featured a starry sky pattern. In the center was a unicorn carved from dark chocolate, its horn tip studded with diamonds—the very item she had missed at auction last year.
The cake is surrounded by twenty-four candles, each engraved with a different zodiac sign.
"Happy birthday, Jinyue." There was an imperceptible tenderness in Ye Qingliu's voice. He took out a lighter, and as the flame danced, the candlelight illuminated the purple light in his eyes.
Hua Jinyue closed her eyes, and her eyelashes cast a trembling shadow under her eyes.
She remembered her mother's last birthday before she passed away. It was the same candlelight and her brother's profile as he cut the cake for her.
"I hope my brother will always be by my side."
She muttered to herself, and when she opened her eyes, the candle had gone out, and Ye Qingliu was cutting the first piece of cake with a silver knife.
"Want to play puzzle games again?"
Hua Jinyue picked up a piece of cake with a fork. The cream was mixed with crushed hazelnuts, and the taste was as delicate as clouds.
Ye Qingliu raised an eyebrow and tapped the empty cake plate with his fingertips: "Family tradition."
Hua Jinyue sighed, but couldn't hide the smile in her eyes. She still remembered that when she was ten years old, her brother hid her grandmother's jade necklace in the maze garden. The clue was a sonnet written in Old English.
Finally, wearing her dew-soaked princess dress, she found the velvet box containing the necklace at the bottom of the fountain.
"What's the clue this time?" She licked the cream on her fingertips, deliberately slowing down her movements.
Ye Qingliu handed over a piece of parchment with a golden laurel pattern embossed on the edge. When Hua Jinyue unfolded it, she could smell the faint scent of cedar—the scent of the ink her brother often used.
There is an acrostic poem on the paper, and the first letters of each sentence together form "Looking for light in the mirror".
"Old-fashioned." She smiled and stood up, her high heels tapping a crisp rhythm on the marble floor. The floor-length mirror at the end of the corridor reflected her figure, and the daisy embroidery on her pink nightgown trembled gently in the light.
She reached out and pressed the mirror, and a combination lock suddenly popped up in the lower right corner, and the screen displayed "Please enter your year of birth."
"Brother really has no creativity." Hua Jinyue entered "2005" and the lock made a slight "click" sound.
The mirror slowly rotated, revealing a secret compartment at the back. Inside lay a gold-stamped card with cursive calligraphy reading: "The prize is in the gears of time."
She turned and looked at the antique clock in the living room. It was an 18th-century treasure that her great-grandfather bought at an auction. Every time the pendulum swung, it made a crisp "tick-tock" sound.
Hua Jinyue squatted down and touched a hidden button at the bottom of the clock base. The moment she pressed it, the pendulum suddenly stopped and a drawer popped out from the base. Inside was a silver key, and hanging on the key ring was a photo of her when she was three years old.
"My brother remembers even details like this," she whispered, her fingertips stroking her chubby cheeks in the photo. Her brother was fifteen then, wearing a school uniform and holding her, his lips still curved with youthful grace.
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