Do you eat cake? The kind you only eat on your birthday.
The next day, the entire city was covered with a thick layer of snow, and exclamations of surprise could be heard from time to time on the streets.
Zhou Junchang stood at the entrance of Mingyueye, patted the snow off his clothes, and then opened the door to go inside.
The snow is falling even heavier than last night; if you go out for a while without a hat, your hair will turn white.
Not long after Zhou Junchang entered, Xu Li also arrived.
Even though business at both stores was noticeably worse than before in this weather, the two of them still arrived on time.
They both saw each other. Xu Li's hair still had some snowflakes clinging to the ends, and her eyelashes were wet with water droplets from the melted snowflakes.
Both of them thought of what happened last night, and neither of them felt comfortable speaking, so they simply remained silent.
Xu Li, wearing high heels, walked upstairs past Zhou Junchang.
Even in this weather, Xu Li still wears high heels without fail, but she wears fleece-lined leggings underneath, which doesn't affect the fact that her legs are still as slender and straight as before.
Because the shop's business is not as good as before, and it doesn't need too many people, it's inconvenient for many of the brothers to come over. So Zhou Junchang told them not to come at all to avoid trouble. As a result, he has been the only person in the shop these past few days.
On the third day of snowfall, it was still snowing, but there was no sign of it getting heavier.
The snow should stop soon, and once the snow melts, the city will return to its previous state.
That day, Zhou Junchang lay on the sofa by the door, arms crossed, hat over his head, preparing to take a nap.
I hadn't fallen asleep yet when I heard the sound of high heels again.
Xu Li, carrying her bag, prepared to go home.
Zhou Jun often glanced at the time; it was much earlier than usual. There were only a few people around, and it was already quite good that Xu Li came every day. Even if Xu Li didn't come to work on a regular day, no one else or Zhou Ji would say anything. But it was just the two of them who seemed to run into each other every day, rain or shine.
Xu Li was nearly startled when she saw Zhou Junchang sitting by the door.
Because Zhou Jun was always dressed in black and wearing a black hat, Xu Li almost didn't see the person lying on the sofa.
Xu Li asked, "What are you doing here?"
"sleep."
Aren't you going to leave yet?
Zhou Junchang sat up and shook his head.
Xu Li seemed to remember something, checked the date on her phone, and then said, "Isn't today the 24th? What? Don't you have any plans?"
It had been exactly three days since they last ate together.
Yes, it's the 24th.
It was his birthday.
Xu Li still remembers.
Zhou Junchang's brow twitched, a feeling he couldn't quite describe.
Seeing that Zhou Junchang remained silent and showed no other excitement or joy on his face, Xu Li knew that he probably didn't have any plans.
Xu Li thought that if it weren't for A Feng revealing it last time, and Zhou Ji treating them all to dinner, Zhou Junchang's birthday might have just passed by uneventfully.
Xu Li asked, "Don't you celebrate your birthday? Or...?"
You don't like celebrating your birthday?
Zhou Jun waited for Xu Li to finish speaking, but Xu Li didn't.
This seems to be someone else's business; how others treat their birthdays is their own business, and Xu Li has no right to interfere.
Are you here all by yourself?
"..."
Zhou Junchang did not answer. In his view, if he answered, it would seem as if he were seeking sympathy from others, and he was the last person he wanted to be pitied.
Besides, he didn't feel there was anything to sympathize with. He was used to this kind of life and had accepted it calmly, so he didn't need anyone else's sympathy.
Xu Li, oblivious to Zhou Junchang's emotions, pointed out the window, seemingly to make herself more convincing: "In this kind of weather, there shouldn't be many people at night, so there's no point in you guarding this place."
So you should just go home.
For some reason, Xu Li seemed reluctant to leave. She couldn't bear to leave someone celebrating their birthday alone in the shop.
Zhou Junchang looked outside in the direction Xu Li pointed.
The snow outside was already up to my calves, and the few potholes on the street were marks left by people walking on them.
Zhou Jun often looked out the window, lost in thought.
Standing behind Zhou Junchang, Xu Li couldn't see the snow outside, only Zhou Junchang's back. Xu Li seemed to sense the faint melancholy emanating from Zhou Junchang, and unconsciously felt a little depressed herself.
Xu Li tightened her fingers, her nails digging into her flesh, took a deep breath, and her words trembled slightly.
She asked, "Do you eat cake on your birthday?"
Zhou Jun remained in the same position, hands in his pockets, back to him, and replied, "Can't we eat cake whenever we want? Who says we can only eat it on our birthdays?"
"Okay, then I'll put it another way."
Zhou Junchang waited, wondering what else Xu Li could say.
"Do you eat cake? The kind you only eat on your birthday."
——
**
Zhou Junchang, you came out with Xu Li, and the two of you walked down the street with umbrellas.
Xu Li was wearing a hat and a scarf, completely covered up, while Zhou Junchang was only wearing two layers of clothing, and since he was holding an umbrella, he didn't bring his hat, so he just held it in his hand.
At first, Xu Li was holding the umbrella, but because the wind was a bit strong and Xu Li was wearing thick clothes, the umbrella was crooked. In the end, Zhou Junchang had no choice but to take the umbrella from Xu Li and hold it over their heads.
The two went into a birthday cake shop.
Xu Li squatted down, looked at the cake models in the shop window, and asked Zhou Junchang, "Which one do you like?"
Zhou Junchang was closing his umbrella, but because it was too small, one of his shoulders got wet from the snow.
Xu Li pointed to the corresponding cake model with each name, as if afraid Zhou Junchang wouldn't recognize it: "Matcha? Cheesecake? Or chocolate?"
The shop assistant, unfazed by the scene, smiled and asked, "Are you choosing a cake for your boyfriend?"
Both of them were taken aback when they heard this, and Xu Li quickly denied it: "No, no, we're just taking a look."
The denial was a bit strange. She should be denying that Zhou Junchang wasn't her boyfriend, but Xu Li's words made it seem like she was denying the fact that they were choosing a cake.
The shop assistant continued to smile and express her understanding. Seeing that the two of them looked conflicted, she added, "If you're not satisfied, we can provide the materials so you can make it yourself."
Xu Li still wanted to take another look. If none of these models met Zhou Junchang's standards, then her own model was even less impressive. Xu Li was well aware of her own abilities.
After walking around, sure enough, none of them were to his liking, given Zhou Jun's often picky taste.
Zhou Jun looked at Xu Li with a smile, seemingly wanting to see what Xu Li could do: "Go ahead and do it."
Xu Li first gave a heads-up, saying, "If you don't like any of these, then don't have too high expectations of me."
Xu Li tied her hair into a low ponytail, wrapped an apron around her neck, and then, wearing gloves, bent down to squeeze cream like a shop assistant.
Zhou Junchang watched from the side.
What are you looking at?
Look at Xu Li's flowing hair, look at Xu Li's bent fingers, look at Xu Li's trembling eyelashes...
Zhou Jun often felt that time had slowed down. In fact, he didn't need to do anything; just watching quietly was enough.
Is matcha good?
"Um."
Would you like some fruit?
"Um."
More cream or less cream?
"Um."
"..."
"..."
The shop assistant next to them burst out laughing.
Zhou Junchang was distracted and answered the question without thinking, only to realize that Xu Li had caught him. He touched his nose, feeling a little guilty.
Xu Li glanced at Zhou Junchang but said nothing, then repeated the question from before.
Zhou Jun often answers with less.
Then Xu Li put down the cream and asked Zhou Junchang what fruit he wanted. Zhou Junchang didn't have any particular favorites and couldn't say for a moment, so Xu Li simply gave him the plate of fruit and let him choose for himself.
When Zhou Junchang held the plate, the first thing he thought of was the rock sugar pear soup that Xu Li had made last time, and then, as if possessed, he took a plate full of pears.
Xu Li looked at the pears Zhou Junchang brought back and asked in surprise, "Do you like pears so much? I've never seen you eat them before."
"I suddenly have a craving for food."
"Are you sure you don't need to add anything else?"
"Is there anything else you like to eat?"
Xu Li thought that it was something Zhou Jun often made, so whether she liked it or not wasn't really important.
Xu Li shook her head, then began to put out the fruit.
Finally, the cake was ready half an hour later.
The presentation is definitely not as good as what you get in the store, but it's still passable.
The cream was a light green color made by mixing it with matcha powder. Because it wasn't mixed well, the color was a bit uneven, but it had a kind of blurred effect, so it wasn't too bad.
Xu Li then used cream to write "Happy Birthday" crookedly on the cake.
After finishing the last stroke, Xu Li looked at Zhou Junchang triumphantly.
So engrossed was I that I didn't even notice when I got some cream on my face.
Zhou Junchang saw Xu Li raise her hand to wipe it away, but suddenly came to her senses just before touching her.
Then he withdrew his hand and tore off a piece of paper for Xu Li.
Xu Li carefully placed the cake into the box, as if it were a precious treasure.
Zhou Junchang carried the cake in one hand and held an umbrella in the other as the two of them left the cake shop.
By this time, the snow had lessened considerably and it wasn't as cold as before, but Zhou Junchang still habitually tilted his umbrella to the side.
Back home, Zhou Junchang opened the package wrapped with ribbon and smiled.
As a child, Zhou Junchang always longed for his own cake, but he never got one. Later, when Zhou Junchang was past the age of being obsessed with birthday cakes, he finally got the cake he had longed for since he was a child at the age of twenty-three.
Everything seems to have come a little late, almost twenty years late, but it also seems to have come just in time.
Previously, Zhou Jun had always thought that making wishes was the most boring and tedious thing, because he knew that these things were just a reason for people to comfort themselves, and whether they could be fulfilled was unpredictable.
But looking at the cake, Zhou Junchang suddenly felt like making a wish.
But there were no candles; they must have forgotten to take them.
Looking at the four-inch cake in front of him, Zhou Junchang thought of Xu Li again.
In fact, when the shop assistant said that he could make it himself, Zhou Junchang already had the answer in his heart. No matter how beautiful or delicious the cake was, he had already made up his mind.
In Xu Li's eyes, whether she felt that Zhou Junchang was mocking her or deliberately causing trouble, he just wanted her to eat what she had made herself.
Regardless of what it is, as long as it seems to be related to Xu Li, Zhou Junchang feels that it has a different meaning to him.
The four-inch cake has very little cream; it's mostly cake base with pear filling, so it's not greasy at all.
Zhou Junchang sat alone by the window, eating the cake piece by piece until it was completely gone.
For the first time, Zhou Jun often felt such a vivid and bright emotion at night.
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