Chapter 49
Tao Xi has been afraid of getting sick since he was a child. Because of his sister's illness, the family has been stretched to the limit. So even if he feels unwell, he will not tell Guo Ping. He thinks it is just a common cold and he will recover in a week or so.
Fortunately, he never had any serious illness. The only time he was seriously ill, Guo Ping seemed to be scared and took care of him in the hospital for several days.
After that, he sometimes thought that being sick was not a bad thing, because when he was sick, Guo Ping would take better care of him and make him a pot of delicious chicken soup, which was what he had longed for since he was a child, especially in winter.
When Tao Xi woke up, the first thing he saw was the little bear staring at him sinisterly, and he was shocked.
Then he realized that the dormitory was dim and the lights were off. He suddenly sat up from the bed and leaned over the edge of the bed to look for Lin Qinhe.
But there was no one in the dormitory.
He looked at the clothes on the quilt, knowing that Lin Qinhe might have just gone out temporarily, but he still felt empty in his heart, because the feeling of sleeping until dusk and waking up alone was not very good, as if he had been abandoned by the world.
Tao Xi sat on the bed in a daze for a while, and suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. He turned sideways and saw Lin Qinhe coming in with a bag. He looked up at him slightly, frowned and said, "Put on your clothes."
Tao Xi's eyes lit up instantly. He quickly put on his heavy clothes, climbed out of bed, and followed Lin Qinhe like a little tail.
Lin Qinhe turned on the light, put the lunch box in his hand on the table, raised his hand and touched Tao Xi's forehead, who was following closely beside him. It was no longer hot, but he was still worried. He handed Tao Xi the thermometer he bought from the infirmary and said, "Take your temperature."
Tao Xi took it, tucked it under his arm, walked back and forth around the full bag on the table, and still couldn't help but lie down on the table, close to the bag and sniffed it carefully.
He already smells the aroma!
"You said before that you wanted to have a puppy in the future, remember?" Lin Qinhe said as he put a discarded English newspaper on the table and took out the lunch boxes from the bag one by one and arranged them.
Tao Xi was stunned: "Yes."
Lin Qinhe took out the last bowl of soup and said nonchalantly, "I don't think it's necessary to raise it. Isn't it here?"
“…”
Well, after taking such a long detour, you want to say he looks like a puppy.
Tao Xi pretended not to hear, took out the thermometer and gave it to Lin Qinhe, and asked, "Have you eaten?"
Lin Qinhe said "hmm", held the thermometer up to the light for a while, and his brows relaxed. "The fever has subsided."
"I just said I'm in good health."
"Let's eat."
Tao Xi did not sit down immediately, but moved a chair next to his own chair, then looked at Lin Qinhe eagerly.
Lin Qinhe already knew that the sick Tao Xi was a bit clingy, so he sat down on the chair and Tao Xi followed and sat next to him.
Tao Xi looked down at the lunch box in front of him. The food Lin Qinhe bought should have been ordered from a restaurant outside. There was also a bowl of bright yellow chicken soup, and the rich aroma wafted towards him.
Seeing Tao Xi staring at the bowl of chicken soup in a daze, Lin Qinhe asked in a low voice: "Don't you like it?"
Tao Xi lowered her eyelashes and shook her head, took a sip of soup with a spoon, and said, "I like soup the most."
In the evening, Tao Xi and Lin Qinhe went to evening self-study together and quickly made up for the afternoon classes. His illness came and went quickly, but Lin Qinhe still watched him drink the medicine before leaving after school.
After Tao Xi returned to the dormitory, he continued to draw the picture he was going to submit to the competition. Because the first draft was scrapped and the submission deadline was very tight, he suddenly became short on time.
Pan Yan knew that Tao Xi was going to participate in the CAC competition. He stood by the easel and watched for a while. Seeing Xu Ziqi also coming over to watch, he sarcastically said, "Do you understand? You are blocking the way here."
Xu Ziqi retracted her gaze, walked back to her seat, and snorted and laughed: "The painting is so strange, who can understand it?"
Pan Yan became excited: "This is abstract, don't you understand? I really can't communicate with someone like you who has no artistic talent."
The gunpowder was ignited, and the two began to argue with each other again.
Tao Xi glanced at Xu Ziqi, packed up her painting tools, put the easel in the corner of the dormitory, and carefully covered the easel with a piece of white cloth.
After turning off the lights, Pan Yan played with his phone on the bed, smacking his lips and sighing, "The weather forecast says that the temperature will drop in most parts of the country next week, and it may even snow here. Thank the person who invented air conditioning, otherwise I would have frozen to death."
Cathy Xu mocked, "You have so much fat just for show?"
The two started arguing again, and they only stopped after the dormitory manager knocked on the door several times.
Tao Xi lay in bed without saying a word. He took out his cell phone from under the pillow, looked through the weather forecast for a while, then downloaded a shopping app that he had never used. He fumbled around and collected a bunch of things. After comparing and reading reviews, he placed an order for a heater, two electric blankets, two thick quilts, two down jackets, two scarves, two pairs of gloves, a few sweaters, and a few pairs of plush socks...
It was almost time when he finished shopping and he didn't have much money left. He checked the order from beginning to end and placed an order for a few hairpins and a red beanie.
The weather forecast was right. As another cold wave hit most of China, the temperature suddenly dropped to around 0 degrees in the following week. However, the low temperature and cold wind did not extinguish the boys and girls' longing for Christmas.
This year Christmas falls on Sunday, and the girls have already started planning to go shopping and date on Sunday. The boys are not so interested in Christmas, but they know that the foreign toys and games they want to buy will definitely be on sale during Christmas, so they are looking forward to it.
Some students from Class 1, Grade 2, were going to the same place on Sunday afternoon. During the lunch break on Saturday, several invited people gathered in the classroom to discuss what gifts they had bought for each other.
"I heard that Aunt Luo has prepared a Christmas gift for each of us this year. The gifts she gave us last year were very expensive, which made us feel embarrassed. This year, we have invited so many people, so the cost will probably be even higher," said a girl.
"I still remember the birthday cake I had last year. I customized a half-meter-tall fondant doll made from Yakult. It was so lifelike and cute. You could tell it cost a lot of money."
A girl glanced at the back row, and after confirming that Lin Qinhe was not there, she said, "But Lin Qinhe's family is so rich, it shouldn't be a big deal to them."
"I'm so envious. Every year on my birthday, it's nice enough if my mom can cook me a delicious meal." A boy said with envy.
"After all, he was raised from childhood. He is no different from my own child." The girl said in a low voice.
"Why do I feel like this is closer than my own children?"
As soon as Bi Chengfei entered the classroom, he couldn't help but come over to see someone gossiping. He shared the old stuff he knew again, then returned to his seat with satisfaction and asked Tao Xi, who had been writing the paper with his head down:
"Brother Xi, how about you go with me tomorrow afternoon?" He took it for granted that Tao Xi was also invited. After all, Lin Qinhe and Tao Xi had such a good relationship.
Tao Xi stopped writing, turned the pen in his hand around, and said calmly, "I'm going to learn painting tomorrow afternoon."
Even if he didn't go to learn painting, it was impossible for him to go there and cause trouble.
He imagined the scene and sneered.
Bi Chengfei said with great regret: "The home of the God of Learning is particularly artistic, and this year's party will definitely be fun. It will be a pity if you don't go."
Tao Xi didn't say anything, just lowered his head and continued to do the questions.
Lin Qinhe’s home?
He suddenly remembered a dream he had a long time ago. In the dream, Lin Qinhe wanted to take him home, but the car ended up driving to Taoxi Bay. He invited Lin Qinhe to his house, but Lin Qinhe turned and left. He chased after her for a long time but couldn't catch up.
Now he has caught up with Lin Qinhe, but he doesn't want to go to Lin Qinhe's home because that home involves someone he doesn't want to see.
Tao Xi worked on the questions for a while, and after making several mistakes in calculations, he suddenly realized a problem: Does Lin Qinhe know that his birthday is on Christmas?
He just whispered it in that concert hall a long time ago, but I don’t know if Lin Qinhe heard it at that time, and even if he heard it, does he still remember it?
Tao Xi was very worried and decided to talk to Lin Qinhe after he came back and then ask Lin Qinhe out tomorrow night.
As a result, they waited until the afternoon class was over, and Lin Qinhe finally came back from the competition class. Tao Xi followed Lin Qinhe to the cafeteria for dinner. On the way, he said to Lin Qinhe in a natural tone:
"According to the weather forecast, it might snow on Christmas Day."
Lin Qinhe said "hmm" with a calm expression, as if he didn't remember anything.
Tao Xi was stuck for a moment and he awkwardly changed the subject to talk about something else. When he passed by the milk tea shop next to the cafeteria, he saw a young female clerk doing an activity at the door, handing out free wish cards to students passing by. After writing on the cards, they could hang them on the Christmas tree in the store.
Most of the people who received the cards were girls, but when the female clerk saw Tao Xi looking at the card in her hand curiously and saw that he was handsome, she smiled and stuffed a wish card into Tao Xi's hand.
Tao Xi said "thank you" to the female clerk. He looked at the card in his hand, but before he could see it clearly, the card was taken away by a hand.
Tao Xi went to grab the card from Lin Qinhe's hand and said, "This is for me."
Lin Qinhe put the card directly into his pocket, then took out his vibrating cell phone, looked down at the screen, walked a few steps away to a place with fewer people and answered the call.
Tao Xi had no choice but to stop and wait for Lin Qinhe to answer the phone. Seeing Lin Qinhe frowned, he said in a deep voice after a while: "I'll come over now."
"What's wrong?" Tao Xi asked. He felt that Lin Qinhe's expression was serious for a moment when he answered the phone just now.
Lin Qinhe seemed to be much busier recently. He often went out to answer the phone and sometimes took half a day off. Tao Xi asked him several times, but Lin Qinhe said it was a family matter, so he didn't ask any more questions.
Lin Qinhe looked calm and said, "Nothing, I have something to deal with."
Tao Xi felt a little disappointed. He had originally wanted to tell Lin Qinhe in detail about his plans for tomorrow night while they were having dinner, but it seemed he could only do so on WeChat.
He lowered his eyes, pursed his lips, stretched out his hand and spread his palm, and said: "Then give me the card back, I want to make a wish."
Lin Qinhe did not take out the card. He gently held Tao Xi's hand, then quickly let go and whispered:
"Wouldn't it be nice if I could make a birthday wish with you tonight?"
Tao Xi suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Lin Qinhe, and saw a faint smile in his eyes.
"You, you know?" He opened his eyes wide and suddenly raised his voice again, "Tonight? But isn't my birthday tomorrow?"
He had already planned to go out for dinner with Lin Qinhe after finishing his painting lessons tomorrow afternoon, and celebrate his birthday at the same time, which would just avoid the birthday party that Lin Qinhe's mother was throwing for Yang Duole, so that Lin Qinhe wouldn't have to be embarrassed.
Lin Qinhe's voice was somewhat helpless: "Birthdays are only meaningful after midnight. The last minute of sixteen and the first minute of seventeen are both important."
Tao Xi nodded blankly, as if New Year's Eve also crossed midnight, meaning the beginning of a new year, then birthdays should also be past midnight, meaning a brand new year.
He laughed again, his eyes shining like evening stars: "Yes, after 12 o'clock tonight, I will be the same age as you!"
He will be seventeen years old like Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe said seriously: "No, I am still a few months older than you."
Tao Xi knew that Lin Qinhe's birthday was in May, and thought it was a bit childish for Lin Qinhe to care about such things, but she still agreed:
"Okay, okay, you're older than me. You're older than me."
After he finished speaking, he saw Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows slightly and said "hmm".
"I'll pick you up after school." Lin Qinhe said.
Tao Xi nodded vigorously.
He watched Lin Qinhe leave, walked happily into the cafeteria alone, took out his card to pay for a few expensive meat dishes, and sat down to eat with satisfaction.
He didn't envy Yang Duole's lively birthday party at all.
But he couldn't help but wonder, in the future after he told the truth, would he also have a birthday party like this?
He doesn't need so many friends, nor does he need such expensive gifts. He just wants a cake, a small one, with Lin Qinhe, his sister, his father and grandparents, and maybe his adoptive parents, saying happy birthday to him.
That's very good.
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There will be another chapter tomorrow.
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