“You’re talking nonsense. This isn’t a chicken; it’s an albino peacock,” Shen Xingruo retorted.
Lu Xingyan leaned closer to the bewildered albino peacock and said to Shen Xingruo, “Don’t you have common sense? This is an albino peacock chick, just a bit young. It’s not a chicken. Look at its crest in front.”
With that, Lu Xingyan pointed it out.
He didn’t quite see the crest as resembling a fan shape, but the shop owner emphasized it when explaining, so he conveyed it to Shen Xingruo in earnest.
Shen Xingruo hesitated for a moment, then approached.
The little albino peacock fluttered a bit but remained timidly in place, unlike a chicken. It was slightly more slender, and its crest resembled an unformed fan.
“But it’s still quite small?” Shen Xingruo leaned in, touching the peacock’s crest with her hand.
The little peacock retreated two steps.
Lu Xingyan looked down at the two white peacocks interacting and found them inexplicably cute. He chuckled and replied, “Yeah, it’s probably about four or six months old.”
The store also had adult albino peacocks. But what fun would it be to raise adult ones? Plus, his mom wanted to control his allowance, so he felt a bit shy about the sudden expense. The bigger the peacock, the more expensive it was. Since it wasn’t much trouble anyway, he figured he could just feed it casually like a chicken. Besides, his mom had nothing to do all day; raising a peacock would be quite trendy.
At that moment, Pei Yue heard the commotion and came out of the kitchen.
Seeing the albino peacock from afar, she asked, “Lu Xingyan, what kind of nonsense did you bring back? Didn’t you go to get a gift for Ruoruo?”
“This is the gift,” he replied.
Pei Yue approached and, without hesitation, patted Lu Xingyan’s head. “You’re up to your tricks again! You have so much money you don’t know how to spend it. You even brought back a chicken! Impressive! I guess you don’t need an allowance anymore!”
“No, this is a peacock, not a chicken!” Lu Xingyan tried to explain to Pei Yue with his limited vocabulary.
Pei Yue leaned in for a closer look and indeed saw a peacock. Suddenly, she became nervous and turned to grab Lu Xingyan. “Where did you get this thing? Is it legal? I remember peacocks are protected animals, and this one is an albino. If it’s illegal, hurry and send it to the zoo. You’re underage; you shouldn’t be sentenced for this!”
“Can you stop worrying unnecessarily? I asked the shop owner. Green peacocks can’t be kept, but albino peacocks are a variant of blue peacocks, artificially bred. It’s not illegal,” Lu Xingyan explained, feeling exasperated.
Pei Yue was speechless.
“Then, are there no boundaries now? Do they even say they’ll compensate if it dies on the way?” she retorted.
“You know about that too…”
“I don’t think you’re reliable at all. I’ll have your dad ask about it another day.”
While they were talking, Shen Xingruo had already been squatting down and interacting with the albino peacock for several rounds. It was a bit shy at first, but perhaps drawn by its kind, it stopped avoiding Shen Xingruo after a while, even allowing her to stroke its feathers.
Pei Yue was busy and, after asking her question, hurried to check on the old duck soup she had carefully prepared.
Lu Xingyan chuckled and finally squatted down beside Shen Xingruo. “How do you like it?”
As the little albino peacock gently pecked at her sleeve, Shen Xingruo’s lips curved into a smile. She suddenly realized that Lu Xingyan was squatting next to her and quickly straightened up again.
After a while, she nodded and then asked, “Is it a male or female?”
“It’s a male. Originally, I wanted to buy a female, but the shop owner said females don’t display their feathers. What’s the point of having a peacock if it doesn’t display its feathers? So, I bought a male,” Lu Xingyan explained.
“Oh, speaking of which, you’re quite the variant yourself, always displaying your feathers at any time,” Shen Xingruo retorted, only realizing a moment later that Lu Xingyan was referring to her.
She flicked the peacock’s tail and said, “Peck him.”
As if understanding human speech, the little peacock pecked at Lu Xingyan’s outstretched hand.
Lu Xingyan exclaimed, “Wow, he is your son.”
They both chuckled and continued to watch the little peacock. Suddenly, Lu Xingyan remembered something and said, “Sister Que, let’s give your son a name.”
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment. “Then let’s call him Yan Yan?”
“Yan Yan?” Lu Xingyan repeated.
Shen Xingruo patted his head lightly and said casually, “Good boy.”
While they adopted their “son,” Shen Xingruo’s father arrived.
Shen Guangyao remembered that Lu Xingyan and his daughter shared a birthday, so he prepared gifts for both of them. However, Shen Xingruo had one more gift, which Shen Guangyao said, “This one is from Jingran for you.”
Shen Xingruo accepted it.
Fang Jingran had sent her a necklace. It was delicate, made of silver, not very expensive, but the design was nice.
Shen Guangyao explained, “He bought it for you with the prize money from a competition.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t say anything. After examining the necklace, she took out the greeting card Fang Jingran had written for her from the gift bag.
Fang Jingran was still young, but he had a somewhat rigid masculine taste. Without much sense of aesthetics, he had drawn some fancy and colorful things around the greetings, like a handmade version of the “I’m sending you my blessings” emoji. The whole card exuded a strong elementary school vibe.
Before Shen Guangyao and Fang Min got together, Shen Xingruo had a good relationship with Fang Jingran. Fang Jingran’s father passed away early, so he had been living with his mother. When he was in junior high, after school, he would go to the Chinese language office in senior high to do his homework while waiting for his mother to finish work. Shen Xingruo often saw Fang Jingran in Fang Min’s office. At that time, she had a good relationship with Fang Min, and consequently, with Fang Jingran as well.
Shen Guangyao’s gift was much more valuable than Fang Jingran’s. He had heard that she performed on stage during the school anniversary, so he gave her a violin. There was a famous luthier’s logo on the case.
She also opened it and took a look.
Shen Xingruo accepted both gifts without any extra emotional expressions, just like Lu Xingyan, and said, “Thank you.”
Shen Xingruo and Shen Guangyao’s relationship was known to Lu Shan and Pei Yue. However, from an adult perspective, they naturally hoped for a reconciliation between father and daughter. So, during lunch, they subtly tried to mediate through their words.
Lu Xingyan didn’t interfere much. From the bottom of his heart, he felt sorry for Shen Xingruo. To him, it seemed like she had been abandoned as if her father had suddenly remembered he had a daughter and began to show concern.
However, those of us in the artistic world sometimes have a more abstract way of thinking, which ordinary people find hard to understand. Anyway, Lu Xingyan couldn’t comprehend it. He only knew that if his mother suddenly married Wang Youfu, he might nail a kitchen knife to Wang Youfu’s forehead.
On the other hand, Pei Yue didn’t treat him like her own son anymore. While she tried to mediate between Shen Guangyao and Shen Xingruo on one side, on the other, she would use him as a topic to belittle, contrasting him with Shen Xingruo’s excellence.
“…Can you believe that he scored half of Shen Xingruo’s score in his first monthly exam, Lao Shen? I almost died of anger at the parent-teacher meeting.”
Lu Xingyan became annoyed, “Weren’t you pretending to be Shen Xingruo’s mother at that time and quite enjoying it? I didn’t see you getting angry anywhere.”
“Look! Look at what he’s saying, Lao Shen, you’re so lucky. Hey, how could there be such a big difference when they were born on the same day? Speaking of which, I want to go to that hospital and check. When kids are carried to swim, they all look the same. Maybe Shen Xingruo is my daughter, and this Lu Xingyan is your son!”
Shen Guangyao also laughed, “What’s wrong with Xingyan? Grades aren’t the only measure of a person’s ability. Maybe he’s just not good at learning textbook knowledge. Maybe in the future, like Lao Lu, he’ll also be a business genius. You can’t be sure, can you?”
Although Lu Xingyan thought Shen Guangyao wasn’t a good person, those words sounded quite reasonable.
The birthday meal was lively, with Pei Yue speaking the most, while Shen Xingruo hardly said a word. With exams approaching, after dinner, Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan went upstairs to study, while Shen Guangyao and the others stayed in the living room chatting.
In the evening, they had dinner at home, with an additional two-tiered cake with candles shaped like the number 17 before dinner. When Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo came downstairs after washing up, Pei Yue put paper birthday crowns on both of their heads. Then, she busied herself with serving the dishes and turned off the lights in the room.
The master switch was pressed.
The room suddenly darkened.
Lu Shan lit the candles with a lighter, and Pei Yue began to organize everyone to sing the birthday song together. Shen Xingruo initially just clapped along with their singing, but later, she couldn’t help but hum along.
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you …”
Lu Xingyan stood opposite her and casually glanced up, noticing the warm glow of the candles reflecting on her fair complexion, casting a rare gentle arc.
After the song ended, Pei Yue urged the two to make wishes. Lu Xingyan glanced at Shen Xingruo, then closed his eyes. His wish was made quickly, and within seconds, he opened his eyes and instinctively moved to blow out the candles. Pei Yue quickly stopped him, lifted his chin, and gestured for him to wait for Shen Xingruo.
Shen Xingruo closed her eyes with her hands clasped together in front of the candles, her eyelashes occasionally trembling. It was unclear what she was wishing for. After waiting for a while, Lu Xingyan thought that the young lady seemed to have too many demands.
Suddenly, he felt like he hadn’t made enough wishes himself. While the candles were still lit, he closed his eyes again to make another wish. But would it not work if there were too many wishes?
Forget it. After waiting for a while, Shen Xingruo finally opened her eyes. They both leaned forward and blew out the candles together. Immediately, the ceiling lights in the room came back on, and everyone cheered and offered their birthday wishes.
“Happy Birthday!”
“Happy Birthday! Get good grades in tomorrow’s final exams!”
“Xingruo will get good grades. If Lu Xingyan can get a perfect score, it would be like a miracle!”
Lu Xingyan took off the birthday crown forcibly placed on his head and, taking advantage of his height, put it on Pei Yue’s head. “Mom, it’s my birthday today. Can you stop teasing me for a while?”
“Alright, after dinner, you can go to the kitchen and help Zhou Yi wash the dishes.”
“Aren’t you seventeen or eighteen years old? If you’re so useless, you probably can’t even tell the difference between dish detergent and hand soap.”
After dinner, Lu Xingyan was indeed chased to the kitchen by Pei Yue to wash the dishes.
Shen Guangyao had some matters to attend to and had to rush back to Huize. After dinner, he didn’t stay any longer. To give the father and daughter some alone time, Lu Shan and Pei Yue deliberately didn’t see them off, just bidding farewell at the door and letting Shen Xingruo accompany Shen Guangyao out.
Shen Guangyao asked, “Ruo Ruo, do you have any plans for the summer vacation? Are you going back to Huize?”
“No, the school should organize supplementary classes. There won’t be much time off.”
Shen Guangyao thought for a moment, then nodded. “That’s good. There’s only one year left. Make the most of it.”
“I know, Dad. You don’t need to worry about my studies. But you still need to take care of your health and not put too much pressure on yourself.”
“Mm.”
The two exchanged casual words as they soon reached the car. Shen Guangyao stopped and looked at Shen Xingruo, feeling somewhat sentimental. He reached out and smoothed Shen Xingruo’s hair. “My Ruo Ruo, you’re seventeen now.”
Shen Xingruo remained silent.
After a while, she stepped forward to help Shen Guangyao open the car door. “Dad, get in the car and drive safely.”
Shen Guangyao nodded.
Shen Xingruo kept watching in the direction the car disappeared until it left the villa area.
On her seventeenth birthday night, the breeze by Fallen Star Lake was a bit chilly, the night sky clear, and the stars bright. She felt, for the first time, a clear sense that something had broken, and no matter how much it was patched up, it could never return to its original state.
As she walked back, Lu Xingyan called out to her from the third-floor balcony. “Hey, Teacher Shen, are we still studying tonight?”
Shen Xingruo looked up. Lu Xingyan should have taken a shower after washing the dishes. He was standing there loosely in a black T-shirt, towel in hand, drying his hair.
Shen Xingruo said, “I’ll be up soon.”
Tomorrow, she has Chinese and Political exams. Chinese depended on accumulated knowledge, and there was not much she could do at the last minute. But for Politics, she could focus on the key points and cram.
When Shen Xingruo entered the room, she brought a stack of political materials.
Lu Xingyan asked, “What did you talk to your dad about?”
“Nothing.”
“So, have you forgiven your dad?”
Shen Xingruo didn’t say anything. She pulled out a chair and sat down, placing the materials on the desk. As she uncapped a marker, she finally said, “He’s my only family. If it makes him feel a little better, then I’ll compromise. But compromise is not forgiveness.”
After all, some wounds had already been inflicted.
When she was in fourth grade, Shen Guangyao and Song Qingzhao often argued, but they deliberately kept it from her, maintaining the facade of a happy family.
By the sixth grade, this facade couldn’t be maintained any longer. Subconsciously, Shen Xing understood that they would eventually part ways. Most of the time, she preferred not to dwell on it, but whenever she did, she found herself leaning toward Shen Guangyao in her heart. This was because of Song Qingzhao’s radical personality; there were even times when she physically harmed Shen Guangyao, smashing her piano in the process. In contrast, Shen Guangyao often appeared in the image of a caring father.
Later, when Song Qingzhao unexpectedly passed away, she ended up living with Shen Guangyao. She had thought about the possibility of him remarrying. What she couldn’t accept, from start to finish, wasn’t the idea of remarriage itself, but rather his choice of spouse – her teacher, Fang Min.
Lu Xingyan was completely puzzled. “So, is it forgiveness or not forgiving, which is it?”
Shen Xing knocked on the table. “Could you please stop fixating on family drama and emotional soap operas? Do you think you’ll score seven hundred on the final?”
How could he not care? This directly determined his attitude towards his future father-in-law.
After mumbling to himself, Lu Xingyan pulled a chair and sat down next to Shen Xing.
“There are three multiple-choice questions in current affairs this time. You don’t need to memorize them, just go through these two pages of content. The circles are for reading, and the ones marked with a grey marker are for memorizing. Got it?”
“Yeah, got it,” Lu Xingyan lazily responded.
He glanced at the key points marked by Shen Xing, then casually picked up a pen and started doodling.
Suddenly, he remembered something. “Hey,” he called out, then asked, “Shen Xing, what did you wish for when you were looking at the cake just now? Seems like it was a three-minute wish. I see you’re planning not to celebrate your birthday for the next seventeen years.”
“What did you wish for? Tell me, maybe I can help you make it come true,” Shen Xing didn’t look at him, continuing to mark the key points, speaking casually.
“Nothing much, just a wish that Lu Xingyan can finish a whole set of Math 53 this semester, practice five sets of small questions, do ten sets of college entrance examination papers, memorize all the words for the CET-4, and score four hundred in the final exam, not to drag down the class average with your poor grades,” Lu Xingyan said quietly.
Shen Xing fell silent for three seconds. “Pretend I didn’t say that.”
After another three seconds, Lu Xingyan couldn’t help but rub her head. “This is not scientific, you know. Maybe scoring four hundred on the final is possible, but this semester is already over. Where do I go to write all this stuff for you?”
“You talk like you’ll finish it next semester,” Shen Xing remarked.
Lu Xingyan paused. “…”
Shen Xing finished marking the key points and suddenly stopped. “Oh, by the way, I need to go to my room to get something. Wait here.”
Although she claimed she would never reciprocate, she had recently come across a birthday gift that was perfect for Lu Xingyan. It wasn’t too expensive, so she bought it on a whim. She also bought a piece of gold-embossed wrapping paper and casually wrapped it up, tying a bow on it. The gift instantly looked upscale.
With that, Shen Xing got up and walked out.
Lu Xingyan glanced at her back unconsciously, then suddenly froze. Wait a minute, that bloodstain on her white dress… that’s a bloodstain… He subconsciously looked at the chair Shen Xing had been sitting on and suddenly understood something.
Not long after, Shen Xing returned. Seeing that she hadn’t changed her clothes and was holding a delicately wrapped box, Lu Xingyan’s mind was momentarily in chaos. Was this a birthday gift? It should be a birthday gift. Bai Kongque, being so concerned about face, if he gave her a gift, she would prepare one in return, both out of courtesy and obligation. So, should he remind her now? Would the proud Bai Kongque be offended and not give the gift if reminded? Should he wait a bit longer, receive the gift, and then remind her? Alright, he’ll wait a bit longer.
Lu Xingyan coughed twice, pretending as if nothing had happened, and put on a surprised expression. “What’s this? A birthday gift for me?”
Shen Xing responded with a simple “Hmm.”
“It’s quite heavy. What is it?” Lu Xingyan took the box from her hands and weighed it.
Shen Xing continued to tease, “You’ll know when you open it.”
Lu Xingyan nodded and carefully began to unwrap the package along its edges. Inside the gold-embossed wrapping paper was a paper box. Opening the box…
“Five Years of College Entrance Examination Three Years of Simulations” (Mathematics)
“Advanced Edition of Intense Practice for Small Questions” (Complete Set)
“Ten Years of College Entrance Examination Papers” (Complete Set)
“A Carefree Memorization of CET-4 Vocabulary”
Lu Xingyan was dazzled by the orange-yellow-blue-green covers, feeling a bit dizzy for a moment. What the hell, wasn’t this exactly what she had just mentioned, birthday wishes???
Shen Xing appreciated his stunned expression for three seconds and then asked, “Do you like it? By the way, what did you wish for just now? Was it to score four hundred? If you can finish all these, I think four hundred is achievable. In this way, both your wish and mine will come true.”
Sending a birthday gift while fulfilling two birthday wishes at the same time, she was truly clever and efficient.
Lu Xingyan stared at the purple-yellow cover of Math 53 with a blank expression and said, “No, my wish was to find a girlfriend before I turn eighteen.”
He was starting to feel like he didn’t want to find one now. No, he shouldn’t dislike someone just because of such a trivial matter. It’s quite a dilemma, sighs.
Shen Xing didn’t know what nonsense he was thinking, so she objectively said, “I think it might be a bit difficult for you in terms of intelligence, but in terms of looks and financial capability, it might be quite simple for you.”
Lu Xingyan glanced at her, his expression dull.
Forget it.
If it’s someone he likes, he’ll just do whatever he can, what else can he do?
He silently pulled the comforter from the bed, approached Shen Xing, wrapped it around her waist, and tied it tightly.
“I understand the logic, but haven’t you been bleeding like a river during your period? Don’t you feel anything?”