"Hey, so what month were you born in 1999?"
Sitting in the store, she casually opened the calendar on her phone and said, "I'll make a note of it so I can prepare a gift for your birthday in advance."
"October," Qin Yuhuan scalded the dishes and chopsticks with boiling water. "October 7th, no gifts, Ziyi, I don't want to..." He paused, "I don't really want to celebrate my birthday. I'm not being polite."
Ziyi put an asterisk on October 7th, then looked up: "Why?"
"My mother passed away in mid-October. I don't like October, Ziyi." Qin Yuhuan half-jokingly said, "Or, your birthday is in July. You can invite me that day and we can celebrate together."
"Hey, you know quite a lot. I'm born on July 28th, and I'm a Leo. I'll call you then, so we can both celebrate our birthdays. I'll buy you a two-layer cake, one for each of us." Ziyi flipped through the calendar to her birthday and marked it. "I have so much to do, I rely on the calendar. Otherwise, I'd forget everything. But don't worry, on July 28th, I'll bring you over to celebrate your birthday with me no matter where you are."
Qin Yuhuan curved her eyes and said, "Thank you, Ziyi, you are very considerate." Just like her, no, Ziyi was even better than she had expected.
"What's the big deal?"
Ziyi's words were interrupted by the waiter who was serving the food.
The hot grilled fish with side dishes was served.
"Eat quickly, eat quickly. I love the charred piece on the side the most. Even if I come here alone, I have to order a four or five jin fish." This time, it was still a four jin fish, but they added some side dishes. "Both the side dishes and the fish are low in calories, so it should be fine."
"I'm not picky about food." Qin Yuhuan said the same thing again, but this time, he added, "I'm easy to feed."
"That's right, librarian, you're satisfied." Ziyi picked up a large piece of fish and put it in Qin Yuhuan's bowl. "My favorite, try it. I haven't touched it with chopsticks yet. I'll remember to give you the serving chopsticks next time."
Qin Yuhuan raised her hand and tied up her hair. "No need to use serving chopsticks. It's okay. It's up to you."
She lowered her head and took a sip. The fish was fully flavored, yet still had a burnt aroma. Just as Ziyi had said, it perfectly suited the taste of the people of Licheng.
"You like calling me by my name, 'Ziyi', 'Ziyi' every time." Ziyi imitated Qin Yuhuan's slow speaking style, and she started to laugh as she imitated him. She glanced at Qin Yuhuan's wrist and said, "Do you have any rubber bands left? Lend me one."
"Yes." Qin Yuhuan took off the remaining rubber band from her wrist. "My family used to run a grocery store and we sold rubber bands. I have a lot at home."
"Hmm... now that you mention it... I seem to have some impression of it. It's the first one on the left under Longxing. It has a big storefront."
Ziyi is good at studying, but her spare time life is more diverse. When she is free, she often goes shopping with Shen Zhiming. Licheng's economy is not developed, but there are many ethnic minorities and it is the capital city, so there is still a lot of fun in spare time. When you go out after ten o'clock in the evening, the streets are still brightly lit and crowded with people.
"Yes, that's the store my parents used to run." Qin Yuhuan seemed very happy that Ziyi could remember it. "One year, you came to my store to buy a scarf."
"Yes, Auntie told me several times that I only picked clothes that looked good, but they weren't warm enough." Ziyi finally remembered. "I said it doesn't matter, I just like what looks good, mainly the ones Auntie recommended to me, bright red or leopard print. I felt I was still young at the time, and I couldn't stand strong colors."
There is an ethnic group in Licheng that particularly prefers bold colors and exaggerated prints. Even now, they only choose to wear large floral patterns when going to the beach.
"But now that you mention it, I don't know if it was good luck or bad luck. Not long after that, a kind person stuffed a hand-knitted scarf into my drawer. It was very warm, so I didn't use the scarf I bought."
At first, I used it because Shu Baizhu liked it, but later I got more and more used to it.
"I don't know who gave it to me. If she wants to let me know, I may not accept her affection, but for this scarf, I'll treat her to a meal. She's a good cook. Hey, why are you distracted and not eating?" Ziyi went to get two more dipping saucers and gave one to Qin Yuhuan.
But Qin Yuhuan once again asked the soul-searching question in her earnest tone: "Will you accept gifts from everyone?"
"How is that possible?" Ziyi added a lot of dishes to Qin Yuhuan. "Many people gave me gifts in high school, but that scarf was the only one I accepted. Don't worry if you laugh at me. At first I thought it was from Shu Baizhu, but now I know it's not. But I've accepted it and worn it for several years, so there's no way it can't be. Licheng is very cold in the winter. My mother is a dedicated career woman. When I was little, the nanny she hired for me even skimped on my clothes. So I'm more afraid of the cold than most people. Maybe I have some psychological trauma. I feel safer when I wear more clothes and wrap myself up more."
"Withholding your clothes?" Qin Yuhuan seemed to have moved on from the previous question and was attracted by Ziyi's words.
"It's the nanny who abuses the child. My mom raised me alone, and when she couldn't spare the time, she asked the nanny to take me shopping for winter clothes. The nanny thought my mom didn't care much about me, so she bought me cheap clothes that looked thick but were actually stiff. But she underestimated me, and I underestimated Ms. Ziyu's shrewdness. One day, my mom came home and felt my clothes and realized something was wrong. I hugged her and told her off, saying that the aunt took me shopping and never went to brand stores. Then she was fired."
All the clothes Ziyi wore since she was a child were bought in specialty stores. She was young and didn’t know whether the quality was good or not. She only knew that she had to buy her own clothes in specialty stores or brand stores in big shopping malls.
The nanny only took her to a small shop on the side street. She was unhappy about it, but Ziyu was too busy. At that time, there were no phone watches or mobile phones. The nanny didn't give her any money. She waited for a long time and pretended to be stupid for a long time before Ziyu came home, but she was really cold.
Since then, Ziyi has been very afraid of the cold.
"Not only that, that auntie also didn't change my sheets and quilt covers. She would not change them for as long as my mom was away on business. Sometimes it was a month, sometimes two. When my mom called me, she would pretend to be doing housework and watch me. It was very annoying. Later, my mom and I learned the secret code for help, but we didn't encounter such a thing again after that."
"Then... you can also come to me in the winter." Qin Yuhuan stretched out a hand. "I'll be very warm in the winter. Do you want to check out the goods?"
Ziyi laughed at the side, "Oh no, Qin Yuhuan, why are you so funny? It's a joke. Is the word 'inspection' really used like that?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
