Birthday
The May breeze, wrapped in the fragrance of osmanthus, swept through the teaching building. That morning, Gu Hanzhi's fingers trembled slightly as she gripped the straps of her schoolbag. She lowered her eyes to the date circled in red on the calendar: "May 17th." The sunlight from the glass window suddenly grew glaring, casting tiny shadows on her eyelashes. Her nails unconsciously dug into her palms, leaving crescent-shaped, pale red marks.
As the sun streamed into the kitchen, Gu Songyi's fingers twisted the ribbon of the gift box into wrinkles. He lowered his head and moved to the dining table. He gently pushed the gift box hidden behind him toward Gu Hanzhi and said shyly, "Sister, today is your birthday. This is something I gave you specially. There's a surprise tonight!"
The moment the gift box was opened, high heels as bright as moonlight came into view. The uppers were adorned with fine pearls, and under the warm yellow light, they shone with a gentle luster, like a white magnolia covered in morning dew.
"Song Yi has grown up." She knelt down to look him in the eye, a smile etched in her eyes. "I really like these high heels. Thank you, Song Yi." The boy's ears flushed bright red, but as he watched his sister carefully put the shoes into the dust bag, he secretly curled his lips. The evening breeze blew past the window, gently crumbling the silhouettes of the brother and sister smiling at each other beneath the swaying willow trees.
As the school bell pierced the dusk's stillness, Gu Hanzhi dawdled with her textbooks. She walked towards the back door, her canvas shoes scraping softly against the floor as she clutched her workbook. Jiang Wanning was stuffing her wrong-answer notebook into her schoolbag, Lu Chenzhou leaned against the doorframe, spinning a basketball, while Shen Zhihe lowered his head to sort through competition materials, his profile bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun.
"Um..." Her throat tightened, and her voice was softer than she intended. "Do you have time after school?"
Jiang Wanning was the first to look up, her hair swaying slightly as she moved. "Hanzhi, I'm sorry. My mom's new tutor is super strict. She wants me to improve five places before the monthly exam. You know, I'm terrible at studying." She flicked the calendar on her phone. "Even the weekends are packed."
Shen Zhihe's fingertips paused, his pen spreading ink across the draft paper. He lowered his eyes and closed the pen cap, his voice barely raspy. "The lab has a project to rush, and the professor says the data must be produced today." His eyes behind his glasses avoided her gaze, his Adam's apple rolling as he swallowed the unspoken words.
Lu Chenzhou supported the door frame with one hand, and the basketball made a dull thud in his other palm: "The school team has arranged a friendly match with the high school next door, and we have been practicing every day recently." He grinned, revealing his fangs.
Gu Hanzhi's nails dug deeply into the edge of the exercise book, but her smile was particularly bright: "Go quickly, business is important!" When she turned around, her ponytail brushed past her ears, and she didn't see the glances exchanged by the three people behind her - on the screen of Jiang Wanning's clenched mobile phone, a calendar vaguely appeared, with the words "Today is Hanzhi's birthday" marked on it; the corners of the gift box hidden in the drawer by Shen Zhihe were slightly wrinkled; Lu Chenzhou's basketball bag was filled with blue roses still with water droplets on them.
Dusk dyed the streets a honey-colored hue. Gu Hanzhi counted the gaps between the tiles as she walked. Sycamore leaves swirled around her feet, and children's laughter drifted from afar. In a cardboard box at the alley entrance, a ginger cat pricked up its ears warily, slowly approaching her when she crouched. She scratched the cat's chin with her fingertips, a sour taste in her throat. "So loneliness is contagious..."
As dusk dyed the streets a honey-hued hue, Gu Hanzhi bent down to count the newly blossomed hydrangeas by the roadside. Suddenly, warm fabric lashed her eyes, and an arm, scented with cedarwood, wrapped around her waist. She instinctively struggled, but the familiar scent of soapberry stained the fabric, and her limbs softened as if the strength had been drained from them.
When she opened her eyes again, the damp, musty smell, mingled with a chill, assaulted her. Gu Hanzhi groped for the wall until her fingertips touched the cool switch. With a click, a warm yellow light instantly pierced the darkness. Colored paper and sequins rustled down her shoulders. Shen Zhihe's slender fingers gripped a firework tube. Jiang Wanning smiled, her eyes curved as she held a camera. Lu Chenzhou was straightening a crooked birthday hat. Gu Songyi, blushing, held a cake with candles and a picture of Gu Hanzhi's face painted on the cream.
"Happy Birthday!" Cheers startled the sparrows from the treetops. Gu Hanzhi looked at herself being swept into the warm crowd and suddenly remembered the date that had been crossed out on her calendar that morning. It turned out that some love had already been quietly growing in the invisible corners.
Jiang Wanning jumped and handed the camera to Shen Zhihe, then took out an exquisite velvet box from behind.
"Open it quickly!" Jiang Wanning stood on tiptoe, the star stickers on her nails twinkling under the light, "I saw you staring at the pearl earrings in the window when we were shopping last month, and I remember them all!" Gu Hanzhi opened the lid of the box, and two round pearls hung on a silver chain and swayed gently, as if they were holding the moonlight in the twilight.
Shen Zhihe set his camera on the windowsill and pulled a brown paper bag from his bag. The bag was tied with a faded blue ribbon, which he opened to reveal a leather notebook. The cover was densely packed with yellowed exercises from the three core subjects of math, English, and Chinese. "You always say you want to compete with me," he lowered his eyes, turning to a page where, beside the ink-printed exercises, he wrote in red pen: "These are some classic exercises." Gu Hanzhi stroked the edge of the paper and discovered his neat notes next to each exercise.
When Lu Chenzhou stuffed the beautifully wrapped gift box into Gu Hanzhi's arms, his signature mischievous smile was still on the corner of his mouth: "Birthday star, accept the gift." Gu Hanzhi lowered her eyes and stared at the gift box printed with golden patterns, and her knuckles left shallow white marks on the surface of the box.
Gu Hanzhi opened the gift box. The mint-green ribbon slipped off, revealing a gold-stamped notebook. On the title page, intricately written words read, "To the most boring student in our class—I wish you will learn to smile soon." In the lower right corner, a stick figure with its tongue sticking out was drawn. Gu Hanzhi clutched the notebook. Outside the window, the leaves of the sycamore trees rustled, and the sunlight filtered through the glass, casting flickering shadows on the drawing paper.
Before the ribbons completely fell, Jiang Wanning tiptoed over to Lu Chenzhou and tapped the card in his hand with her fingertips. Her almond-shaped eyes widened. "What the hell is that? It's so flamboyant and whimsical. What if Hanzhi can't read it clearly?"
Lu Chenzhou shook his pen, the scent of ink mixed with the sweet aroma of cake swirling in the air. He deliberately straightened his back, his eyebrows curved into a cunning crescent: "This is my exclusive artistic calligraphy. The flying dragon and phoenix dance is worthy of the title of the great talent of my Lu family!"
Before he could finish his words, Gu Songyi squeezed over, holding a cake, the cream brushing against his nose. "Stop arguing! I haven't given my sister my present yet!" Gu Hanzhi was amused by the boy's panic. The carefully selected birthday gifts and the venue decoration concealed the clumsy yet passionate thoughts of this group of people.
Lastly, it was Gu Songyi. The boy handed forward the gift hidden behind him, the plastic wrapping rustling. Beneath a crooked bow lay a thick sketchbook, each page filled with a different image of a hydrangea—some drooping in the rain, some blooming in the morning light, and one painted a honey-colored hue. In the lower right corner, written in crayon: "Like the streets where my sister counted the flowers."
The night cast a golden edge on Gu Hanzhi's fingertips. She looked across at Gu Songyi, who was pushing a velvet gift box towards her. Her eyelashes cast a butterfly-like shadow under her eyes. "Songyi, you already gave me a birthday present this morning. I really can't accept this." Her knuckles unconsciously rubbed the condensed water droplets on the wall of the cup, and the reflected light swayed on her wrist.
Gu Songyi pushed the gift box forward a half-inch, his light blue shirt sleeves slipping down, revealing a glint in his youthful eyes. He lowered his gaze to gaze at her, a hint of shyness on his face. "It's different." The deep burgundy ribbon curled slightly in the warm air. "This..." The last syllable of his words faded into the lingering sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance of the cake. He gently placed the gift box in her hand, the warmth of his palm transmitting through the fabric of his clothes. "Sister, please accept this."
Warm yellow light streamed across the confetti. Gu Hanzhi lowered her eyes to gaze at the flickering candlelight, her eyelashes casting tiny shadows. Shen Zhihe's knuckles whitened as he gripped the firework tube, his peripheral vision stealing a glance at her earlobe, which glowed red from the candlelight. Jiang Wanning pressed the camera to her face, shouting, "Make a wish! Make a wish! The candles will all burn soon!" Lu Chenzhou shook the birthday hat he was adjusting, raised an eyebrow, and smiled, "Don't exceed the time limit for making a wish, or it will 'expire.'"
Gu Songyi leaned forward, holding the cake, oblivious to the smear of cream on his nose. He stared at his sister with sparkling eyes. "I heard that making a wish to twelve candles is the most effective!" Gu Hanzhi's lips trembled slightly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as the candlelight flickered. She heard Jiang Wanning's deliberately suppressed "hush," Shen Zhihe's unconscious breath holding, Lu Chenzhou's feigned nonchalant whistle, and the subtle sound of Gu Songyi's sweat soaking the cake box.
The candlelight burned her eyelids, and Gu Hanzhi silently chanted a wish in her heart. She prayed that the people around her would be safe forever, that the tenderness hidden in her unspoken words would never fade, and that... the bullying in junior high would disappear forever.
At the moment when her eyelashes trembled, she heard a "puff" sound of air blowing, and the ribbons exploded. Shen Zhihe hurriedly hid the red rose behind him, Jiang Wanning's shutter sounded "click", Lu Chenzhou clapped exaggeratedly, and Gu Songyi couldn't wait to ask Gu Hanzhi.
"Sister, what did you wish for?" Gu Songyi leaned over, the cream from the cake brushing against his nose. Gu Hanzhi pressed her sketchbook against her chest, gazing at the swirling colored paper all over the room. Suddenly, the musty smell became sweet: "A secret." She smiled as she put on her pearl earrings, tucked her pen into her lapel, and let Shen Zhihe help her tidy her hair, which had been messed up by the fireworks. Jiang Wanning had already raised her camera and started counting down. The moment the shutter was pressed, everyone's shadows melted into the warm light.
Dusk dyed the eaves of the Gu family compound a honey-colored hue. Gu Hanzhi placed the exquisite gift box on the sandalwood table. Moonlight filtered through the carved window lattices, casting tiny silver specks on the silk ribbons. Gu Songyi bent down to light the incense on the desk. Through the curling green smoke, he whispered with a smile: "It seems that on this birthday, sister has become the most favored little lucky star." The candlelight flickered gently, illuminating the similar features of the siblings. All the unspoken care and warmth quietly melted into the star-filled courtyard.
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