Chapter 87 Because Happy Birthday
The winter vacation did not make Zhu Yingning's life any easier. It was just that the time originally used for studying and working was now all spent on working.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, during a leisurely lunch break, the shop staff—Yi Yi, Emily, and Zhu Zhiwei—all discuss New Year's matters, from small matters like new clothes to big ones like where to celebrate. Emily says she's going on a trip to Yunnan with her boyfriend after the second day of the Lunar New Year, while Yi Yi plans to return to her hometown in Sichuan. When asked if she'll be back home for the Lunar New Year, Zhu Zhiwei smiles faintly, "I'm staying in Beijing. I have some work to attend to."
She stayed in Beijing every year. Yiyi and Emily had become accustomed to her decision, but they still sighed out of habit, "You're not going back home this year?"
"Um."
So they turned to Zhu Yingning and asked, "What about you, Yingning? Are you going back home?"
"I..." Zhu Zhiwei's forced smile burned on her retina like a brand, burning a pain. She was the only one here who knew why Zhu Zhiwei didn't go back to her hometown, but sharing this unspeakable secret didn't seem to make them closer. Instead, it created a slight embarrassment at this moment, especially after she stammered out "go back". She felt a sense of guilt for betraying Zhu Zhiwei.
Yi Yi and Emily were unaware of these complicated inside stories. In their eyes, Zhu Zhiwei was just a career-oriented woman who started working early.
After finishing her work for the day, in the evening, Zhu Yingning was about to pack up and go home when Zhu Zhiwei patted her shoulder and said, "You haven't bought your clothes for the New Year yet, right? Let's go shopping."
Most of the clothes Zhu Yingning wears are brought from her hometown. The only new clothes she bought after coming to Beijing are two sets of school uniforms.
She didn't want to spend money on clothes, hoping to save more money so that her family could have a good New Year. However, she didn't want to reject Zhu Zhiwei's kindness, so she lied and said, "I've already bought it. Thank you, Sister Weiwei."
"Then wear it tomorrow so I can see it."
She choked.
Zhu Zhi smiled and said, "Alright, why are you lying to me? Don't I know whether you're going to buy it or not? Buy some nice clothes for the New Year. There's no heating back home, be careful not to freeze."
Her tone was normal when she mentioned her hometown. In the end, Zhu Yingning couldn't persuade her and had to follow her to the clothing store on the street.
"The children's clothing store in our building was completely sold out a few days ago. It's a bit late to buy New Year's clothes now. But I know a more niche children's clothing store on this side of the street. They should have a few coats left."
Zhu Zhiwei led her through many twists and turns until they arrived at a secluded clothing store. The owner was also a woman, in her thirties or forties, plump, with rosy cheeks, a blessed appearance. Upon seeing Zhu Zhiwei, she smiled and said, "Xiao Zhu, you're here again? What would you like to buy this time?"
Zhu Zhiwei pointed at Zhu Yingning and said, "Bring my sister here to pick out a coat in a festive color for the New Year."
"Coat... Let me see, I only have one left." The boss used a U-shaped fork to pick up a red coat from the top layer. "Gold Label P cotton, pretty warm."
"This outer layer is no good. Is there anything better?"
"Polyester is easy to take care of."
Zhu Zhiwei thought about it and realized that this made sense. Zhu Yingning would definitely have to work when she got home. Instead of buying a corduroy or even suede coat that would require careful care, it would be better to buy something more practical. At least polyester fibers don't easily attract hair or dust. He called her over to try it on, but it was a little too big. Zhu Zhiwei shook his head and pinched her cheek, but he couldn't even pinch a few pounds of flesh. He sighed, "Keep this coat. It's enough for you to wear from skinny to fat."
When it came time to pay, Zhu Yingning quickly pulled out three hundred yuan from her pocket and handed it to the boss. However, the boss refused to accept it and said with a kind smile, "Little guy, I'll only take your sister's money."
Zhu Yingning stopped arguing. Zhu Zhiwei thought her stubborn personality had finally changed, and she was no longer so rigid, but the next day after work, she received her return gift: a test paper wrapped in a TF lipstick.
After stuffing the things into her hands, Zhu Yingning ran away, her feet slipping away, fearing that she would catch up and return them to her.
Seeing the lipstick, Zhu Zhiwei initially felt rather helpless, but then the paper diverted some of her attention. It was a Chinese final exam, already graded, with the grades clearly written. She unfolded it in bewilderment, not understanding why Zhu Yingning would give her such a thing, until she flipped to the back of the paper, which contained the composition.
The semi-structured composition was titled "The power of ____", and Zhu Yingning filled in "The power of role models".
She glanced at the first paragraph and saw Zhu Yingning wrote directly:
My sister is my role model.
**
January 17th.
Zhu Yingning woke up early as usual, planning to rush to wash up and go to work. Surprisingly, Xu Sirui was up even earlier than her. When she asked him why he was up so early, he stammered that he couldn't sleep because of insomnia.
After arriving at the store, she was only busy for about an hour when Zhu Zhiwei came and said that she would have the day off.
"Why the sudden holiday?" She looked confused.
"I'm going to take Yi Yi and Emmy to negotiate with a big client later, so I won't be back until tonight. You can't handle it alone. If there are too many customers this afternoon, it would be bad if you get the data wrong. I'll give you a day off, so you can have a good rest."
Zhu Zhiwei's words made sense, so Zhu Yingning didn't insist any further. She packed up the things in the store and left the shop, looking back every few steps. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but Zhu Zhiwei and the others in the store smiled at her with an especially kind and gentle smile.
Back at Xu Sirui's house, she remembered that Xu Sirui had gotten up so early that morning and might have gone to the internet cafe to play games, so she didn't ring the doorbell and opened the door herself with her key. As she inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it, she faintly heard someone inside say "Fuck!" and then yell "I'm coming, I'm coming." Then there were all kinds of small, scattered, chaotic footsteps, and judging by the sound, there was definitely more than one person.
who? !
His movements were strange; it couldn't possibly be Xu Zhengkang. If he was Xu Sirui's friend, why did he become so furtive upon hearing she was coming? Something was definitely fishy. A foreboding feeling suddenly arose in her heart, wondering if Xu Sirui's house had been burglarized. Halfway through turning the keyhole, she immediately turned back and headed for the stairwell, hoping to find a handy weapon to use against the thief. Unfortunately, the stairwell was often cleaned, and after searching for a long time, she finally found a stick that looked like it had once been a mop. She held it in her palm, feeling better than nothing, and walked back to the door. She carefully unlocked it and opened it a crack.
There was no movement inside.
Zhu Yingning gritted her teeth and plotted her escape route with her peripheral vision. She figured if the enemy outnumbered her, she wouldn't be able to defeat them with just two fists. She could just run away, back to the stairwell, and seek support from the gate. With that thought, she calmed down a bit, took a deep breath, and flung the door open completely.
Then——
A crackling sound similar to firecrackers exploded in her ears, and white light flashed wildly in front of her eyes accompanied by strange noises.
If she hadn't known she was in peaceful Beijing, she would have thought it was a war, someone throwing missiles and flashbangs at her. But the wild sound still stunned her. Fortunately, her muscles still had some reaction, and she subconsciously held the stick to her chest, adopting a defensive posture.
By the time the chaotic noise had died down, her hair was a mess of firework fragments, ribbons tucked around her arms, and a strange piece of sequins stuck to the tip of her nose, itching unbelievably. Her nose wrinkled as a sneeze blew away most of the fireworks. Squinting, she saw that it was Xu Sirui and the others standing before her. Guo Yingying, camera in hand, stood in the middle, taking her picture. The others, like greeters, stood on either side, holding empty tubes.
Sun Mingyuan, who was standing in the front row, was the first to speak, hesitantly asking, "Why...are you holding a golden cudgel?"
Not to mention, the stick happened to be orange in color. Under the camera flash and with the blessing of various fireworks and streamers, her appearance looked exactly like Sun Wukong breaking into the Dragon Palace and stealing the Dinghai Shenzhen.
She also hesitated and said, "...I thought my house was robbed."
"Why would you use the golden cudgel when you're being robbed?"
"This is a mop stick, not a golden hoop stick. I thought you were thieves and wanted to use it to hit you." She said honestly.
“…”
Everyone looked at each other.
After a few seconds of silence, everyone suddenly burst into laughter.
Zhu Yingning also laughed.
If she hadn't reacted at first, now, seeing the colorful fireworks and the presence of everyone, she should have guessed they were here to celebrate her birthday. Thinking back on Zhu Zhiwei's words and actions, she was afraid that even the so-called store incident was just a lie, and that she had colluded with Xu Sirui and the others to give her a surprise.
People who have never been surprised are not good at dealing with surprises. She wanted to scream and cry like the people in the TV dramas, giving a sufficiently exaggerated emotional reaction. However, the only moisture in the corners of her eyes was due to her excessive laughter, which forced out some physiological tears. She had missed the opportunity to scream. She was not good at forging any forced reaction, so after laughing, she could only follow her heart, feeling deeply moved and thanking them in a boring way: "Thank you..."
"Hey, I was afraid you would be so polite." Wu Bo came up, took her hand, and pulled her into the living room.
A pile of gifts was already placed on the coffee table. Sun Mingyuan urged with interest: "Quick, quick, guess who gave these to you."
The gifts were all beautifully wrapped. She sat on the sofa and asked carefully, "Can I open all of these?"
"Of course! Take it off quickly." Wu Bo pushed her arm.
Guo Yingying was sitting on the other side of the sofa recording a video. Zhu Yingning felt a little embarrassed. Although she had faced the camera many times before when recording variety shows and was interviewed by reporters when she came here, this time was different. This time she was the protagonist, not just a vassal of others.
She picked up the package on top and cut open the outer packaging with a utility knife.
It was a small, solid aromatherapy set, taro purple, with a lavender scent. She looked at Guo Yingying tentatively.
Sun Mingyuan laughed and said, "This one's easy to guess, mainly because it's so much like Guo Yingying's style, a goddess vibe. Okay, next one."
The next one was very small, and when it was opened, it turned out to be a limited-edition, unusual-shaped bus card. She let out a cry and turned to look at Sun Mingyuan.
"Oh no! That's easy to guess." Sun Mingyuan scratched his head. "But don't underestimate it. It's just a bus card. I waited in line for a long time to get it. You can just swipe this card when you take the bus in the future."
The next gift was five Fuwa dolls in a transparent plastic bag, in blue, black, red, orange and green, representing Beijing welcomes you.
There was no need to guess; it had to be Wu Bo's gift. During a break, they'd been talking about the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Zhu Yingning had explained that she lived in the mountains, and there were no televisions in the village, but there were in the town. During the Olympics, many villagers made the trip to town specifically to watch the competitions. Diving queen Guo Jingjing, the great Zhang Yining, Lin Dan...neighbors who usually bickered over trivial matters—whose goats stole whose vegetables, whose dogs killed whose chickens, whose family secretly occupied whose land to grow vegetables—were more united than ever during that period. Every time a Chinese athlete won a gold medal, everyone would hug each other and cry uncontrollably.
"Did you know that Beibei Jingjing welcomes Nini?" Wu Bo asked.
"I know!" When Zhu Yingning mentioned this, his eyes lit up and he nodded like pecking rice. "Our teacher bought a set of Fuwa comics outside, and I even borrowed it from him."
Unexpectedly, Wu Bo had remembered their casual conversation, and those four simple words, "Beijing welcomes you," held a special meaning for someone like her from a different place. Those who drifted to Beijing were like tiny duckweed floating in the capital, rootless and unable to cling to the earth. Even more terrifying than material deprivation was the feeling of being adrift, the possibility of being exiled from this city at any moment, the lack of a sense of security and belonging. Yet, those five words seemed to declare that she had been accepted by this city. Zhu Yingning felt a pang of sadness.
Suppressing her choking sensation, she picked up the last gift, which was heavier than the others. Unwrapping it revealed a complete set of hardcover editions of "Dream of the Red Chamber," a style that echoed both Xu Sirui's and Zou Hao's. Furthermore, since there were only two people left and only one gift, she naturally surmised, "I know. This must have been a gift from Xu Sirui and Zou Hao together."
Xu Sirui: “…”
Zou Hao pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "This is a gift from me." After a few seconds of pausing, he added emphatically, "Alone."
Zhu Yingning was shocked: "Ah! Sorry, I thought..."
"You think Xu Sirui and Zou Hao have very similar tastes." Sun Mingyuan fearlessly added fuel to the fire.
Zou Hao maintained a composed expression, while Xu Sirui's face turned green with rage. He glared at Sun Mingyuan, twisted the flesh on his arm, and silently spun him around. Sun Mingyuan howled in pain, leaping three feet high like a grasshopper, startling both Wu Bo and Guo Yingying so much they dodged to the side. Xu Sirui took the opportunity to lean over to Zhu Yingning's ear and whispered, "I'll give you your gift tonight, separately."
The warm breath from his lips sprayed on her earlobe, which was a little itchy.
Zhu Yingning shrugged, and, influenced by his whispering tone, she also lowered her voice and asked stealthily, "Okay, but why do we have to wait until tonight?"
"Because I don't want to be like them." Xu Sirui lowered his eyes and looked at her, his nose almost touching the side of her face. His voice spread from his throat like an electric current and was transmitted to her ear bone. He spoke slowly and clearly in a calm voice, "Because I am special."
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