After leaving the cinema, the two strolled all the way along Women’s Street. Chen An let Cheng Lele spend ages picking out childish little trinkets in small variety stores. Later the two played video games, grabbed dolls from claw machines, sang karaoke, ate dinner, drank milk tea, and walked until their calves became a size thinner. The carefree Cheng Lele of the past seemed to have returned. Chen An felt both comforted and cherished this all the more.
Before going home, Chen An picked up the birthday cake from the bakery. Although there were only two of them, a birthday without a birthday cake was incomplete. Following Cheng Lele’s preferences, Chen An ordered a pink heart-shaped one. The two sat at the dining table, methodically inserted the number 18 candles, and turned off the lights. In the darkness, the warm yellow light illuminated their features especially gently.
The world was so quiet it seemed only the two of them remained.
Peaceful years, safety and happiness.
Chen An solemnly sang the happy birthday song, and then Cheng Lele seriously made her birthday wishes. In previous years she had always been perfunctory during this part—getting rich, becoming beautiful, world peace—thinking of whatever and wishing for whatever, not believing in any of it anyway. But this year she wished very devoutly, and had many wishes. She wanted Mom to be forever happy and young, wanted to pass the college entrance exam and be admitted smoothly, wanted little brother and her to celebrate birthdays together every single year… She had lost before and experienced fear. Fearful people become superstitious easily and won’t miss any opportunity to ask heaven for blessings.
The custom of eating cake was of course to smear cream on each other. Cheng Lele symbolically smeared a white streak on Chen An’s face, then spread out her dirty hand and asked him for her gift: “If it’s a ‘5-Year College Entrance Exam 3-Year Practice Test’ book, don’t even take it out.”
Chen An smiled with crinkled eyes.
He took out a brocade box from his pocket and pushed it in front of Cheng Lele. The brocade box was small and square, with a little flower tied from white ribbon on top.
Cheng Lele stared at this exquisitely delicate box and joked without filter: “Damn, you’re not giving me a ring, are you? Little brother, I’m afraid our pure sibling affection will be tainted.”
Chen An made as if to take it back. Cheng Lele quickly grabbed it: “Aiya aiya, I was wrong! Let me see what it is.”
She opened it and saw a key lying on blue velvet satin.
Cheng Lele didn’t understand. She picked up the key and studied it for ages before asking: “You didn’t give me a key to open your heart, did you?”
Chen An said indifferently: “If you want to understand it that way, fine.”
“What does that mean?” Cheng Lele finally got impatient. “Curiosity killed the cat. Hurry up and tell me! Don’t turn my birthday into your death anniversary!” After saying this, she knocked on the table herself. “Bah bah bah, childish words don’t count.”
Chen An took a sip of cola and said low-key: “I bought a small apartment next to Z University. This is the apartment key.”
Cheng Lele was dumbfounded: “Godfather and Godmother gave it to you?”
Chen An said: “I paid the down payment myself. I just happened to have some spare money on hand.”
Cheng Lele looked at him in shock and felt through her pockets: “Little brother, I also have spare money in my pocket—seven yuan and eighty cents. Are we talking about the same word ‘spare money’ from the Xinhua Dictionary?”
Chen An tossed those few small bills back: “Here, I’m giving you the key now so you can enjoy usage rights. When you get into Media University, I’ll add your name. Then you’ll be a person with a property certificate.”
Cheng Lele was so scared her mouth couldn’t close: “Little brother, if I remember correctly, two months ago on your eighteenth birthday, the birthday present I gave you was a keychain I made myself.”
“Yeah, I really like that keychain. So do you like the key I’m giving you?” Chen An’s eyes held scattered lamplight as he looked at her without moving.
Cheng Lele swallowed: “I like it, I do. But isn’t it too, too extravagant? Little brother, how did you suddenly get so rich? I remember when we were little, we also made money, but it was just a few hundred or a thousand. Did you—go into drug trafficking?”
“Why not say I robbed a bank? That would be even more efficient.” Chen An said helplessly. “A while ago I registered a company in the provincial capital. In the future I’ll study while starting a business. Over the past two years of work, I’ve met several like-minded friends who will gradually join my company to work together.”
Cheng Lele’s nose wrinkled adorably: “Some people haven’t even finished junior year yet, and they’ve already built an empire.”
Chen An’s eyes lowered slightly: “Not really. I have to admit, whether I resist it or not, my dad’s connections in the provincial capital played no small role in this.”
“Relying on your parents isn’t shameful, okay?” Cheng Lele smiled with crescent eyes.
She had never mentioned to Chen An that he had silently given up Tsinghua and Peking University to stay in the provincial capital for her sake, causing a rift between him and his mother, escalating the conflict between the two families again. Such an enormous sacrifice and the fractured results made her feel very heavy. Sometimes, that suffocating feeling caused by owing him and feeling guilty would suddenly wake her from deep sleep.
For her, Chen An’s excessive consideration had become a burden she couldn’t speak of.
But today, when she heard that he had re-planned a new bright path for himself in the provincial capital, her pressure was immediately released a lot, and her sense of guilt also lightened. The wish she made before blowing out the candles had unexpectedly come true.
She was genuinely happy for him, and for herself.
“After you finish your exam, I’ll take you to see that apartment. It has the floor-to-ceiling windows you like, and when the season comes you can even see Z University’s cherry blossoms. Oh, I didn’t buy some furniture yet—waiting for you to make the decision.”
Cheng Lele dramatically covered her face: “Little brother, the way you talk sounds too much like a CEO keeping a mistress.”
“Keeping a mistress isn’t very likely, so I’ll just keep you.”
Cheng Lele said: “What virtue and ability do I have! I’m filled with trepidation! I—”
“Shut up, are you going to eat the cake or not?” As he spoke, Chen An had already stuffed a piece of cake into her mouth.
Cheng Lele’s head tilted up slightly. She bit into the cake, her cheeks bulging, her lips and teeth filled with sweet taste.