Chapter 58 Happy Birthday, Little Star
The clock of the long night is ticking.
Shen Jixing did not sleep well that night. He seemed to be in a black mist.
He walked to the end of the mist and saw a simple yellowed sign.
[Rainbow Star Welfare Home]
One after another, the young faces turned to look at him with surprise and curiosity.
"Has he really been sent back?"
Shen Jixing was stunned for a moment, then he looked down and saw a pair of childish white hands holding a worn-out star doll.
"The nurse said that the children who were sent back were bad kids and no one would want them in the future, so we shouldn't play with them."
The young children scattered like birds and beasts.
Their only hope is to have a home, and they hope that among the thousands of lights in the city, one can be lit for them.
Shen Jixing didn't cry or make a fuss, he just sat under the tree holding Xingxing.
The long wind blew through the soft black hair in front of her forehead.
He missed it a little.
It was the most beautiful manor he had ever seen, with lavender all over the mountains, a warm fireplace in the winter, and tempting roast chicken at Christmas.
As beautiful as a dream of snow in late winter.
But what he missed most was the hand that caressed his cheek, with warmth, as if telling him with great pity -
Even a child who is abandoned at birth has the right to be loved.
He didn't know how long he sat there, and spring began to break out from the snowy winter day.
"Will you come with me?"
The boy, who was also wearing a yellow sweater, sat quietly and coolly beside him. "I have a sister who helped me, so I can go to school."
Shen Jixing smiled: "That's good too."
Although it's not adoption, it's at least better than leaving the child here.
As the deans grow older, they will eventually be abandoned by the world and become drifting dust.
"Well." Fu Chen asked, "Do you want to go?"
Shen Jixing was quiet for a moment: "No."
This was a difficult decision for Fu Chen.
He wants to help himself, but the prerequisite is that he has the right to help others.
Shen Jixing didn't want to embarrass him.
"I want to stay with the dean for a while longer, and spend another Christmas with him."
He was born on Christmas.
This simple and dilapidated welfare home also has the right to celebrate Christmas because of that romantic old man.
They each woke up to receive a new pair of red socks.
"Okay." Fu Chen said, "If you need anything, you can contact me anytime."
"Um."
Shen Jixing said: "You are also my best friend."
It was raining the day Fu Chen left. Few people knew about it, and no one saw him off.
It's just a grant, you still have to rely on yourself to live.
"Silent Star."
Fu Chen stood at the shabby door, looked at him and said, "You are different from the people here."
You are like me.
"Even if we are abandoned children, we still have the right to control our lives."
The stubborn boy carried his bag and walked through the storm without looking back.
"I look forward to seeing you again."
Fu Chen left.
His only friend was gone.
When Fu Chen left, he stuffed a roll of money into his pocket. The dean secretly gave it to him because he was afraid that he would be hungry outside.
Fu Chen said he didn't need it and left it for the dean to buy medicine.
Shen Jixing looked after the elderly man, boiled some medicine and fed it to him mouthful by mouthful: "Xingxing..."
The old man, who was so old that he had difficulty speaking, still wanted to reach out and touch his head: "How come the stars are the last ones left?"
He was obviously the most beautiful child, but in the end he was the only one left.
"Perhaps, the first person I saw when I opened my eyes was you."
So he was the one who stayed to take care of her in the end.
"Are they good to you?" The dean looked at him tenderly with his old eyes.
Shen Jixing never mentioned what happened there after he came back.
At this moment, he lowered his eyes slightly and said, "...No, they actually don't like me."
What they want is not the Silent Star.
He is just a good and obedient son, who came to heal the pain caused by his son being lost.
"I don't like those fancy dresses. I like the little sweaters you made for me."
The dean was made to laugh by him, and as he laughed, tears welled up in his old eyes.
"But they can give you a home."
He tried his best to find a home for each of the children he raised before he died.
Shen Jixing held his old and withered hand: "I have a family."
"From the day you brought me home, I have had a home. I have had one for a long time."
The dean was so pleased with his words that he smiled happily and looked out the window through the yellowed window.
“It’s snowing.”
Shen Jixing nodded. It was afternoon now and the temperature was not too low.
He opened the window: "It's snowing, and Christmas is coming soon."
The sky was filled with tiny snowflakes, the first snow of the year, falling holy on the boy's soft black hair.
The dean looked at him with a smile: "Okay, I'll wait a little longer."
But he never made it to Christmas.
On Christmas Eve when it was snowing, Shen Jixing went to buy some apples, boiled them in warm water until they were soft, and planned to feed the dean a little at a time.
After eating the peace apple, he will be safe and sound.
A hoarse cough was heard from the room, mixed with a weak cry: "Xingxing..."
Shen Jixing seemed to sense something, turned off the fire, put apples in a small bowl and ran back to the room.
The old dean was struggling to get something out of his pocket.
"I'll help you." Shen Jixing helped him take out the wrinkled handkerchief from his pocket. He had seen this handkerchief before. It was carefully kept by the dean a long time ago.
The dean stopped him from handing over and gently held him with his warm, rough hands.
"Don't wait until Christmas. It's not good to keep thinking about this old man like me."
Shen Jixing was confused: "What?"
Those gentle, old eyes seemed gentle and nostalgic, yet filled with exhaustion and worry.
"Happy birthday, little star."
The hands that lifted him up from the corner on a winter night.
The warmth that had once brought him home was now covering his hands, cooling down a little.
Shen Jixing froze in place for a long time, then lowered his head and unwrapped the clean, soap-scented handkerchief.
Inside lay a pair of red socks.
The old man said yesterday: "Actually, I wanted to give you a birthday present, so I gave everyone a pair, but yours is different."
His red socks were embroidered with gold stars.
Shen Jixing had no expression for a long time. He was silent, like a stone statue.
Others said that he would never cry. Even after being abandoned and brought back home, he never shed a tear.
He is naturally cold-hearted, so it's normal for others not to want him.
He did an incredible move. He stuffed the red socks into his pocket, turned around, picked up the bowl of apple soup, and fed it to the dean bit by bit.
The world before him was blurry and bizarre.
The sound of an ambulance rang in his ears, a shrill roar, and someone pulled him away from the bed, and his apple soup spilled onto the floor.
It was as if a taut string finally broke.
Shen Jixing began to struggle hysterically, tears rolling down his eyes, and he stretched out his hands like a helpless child.
He tried hard to retain something, but he could do nothing.
"Silent Star."
A voice called to him from the void.
Shen Jixing couldn't hear anything until he was hugged tightly in someone's arms, and the warmth almost melted into his bones and blood.
"Why are you so fond of crying?"
Someone used dry and warm hands to gently lift up his soft clothes and stroke his thin back.
Shen Jixing's thoughts were a little hazy.
It seems that someone has said something similar before.
"Shen Jixing, why are you crying when you see me?"
Everything in the world turned into nothingness. He choked and leaned in Zhou Yili's arms in a daze. He slowly opened his mouth and bit his neck hard.
Blood and tears fell together.
The man paused for a moment, his palm still roaming soothingly on his back: "It's okay, don't cry."