(1)
“Twilight always makes people feel melancholy.” An Jing took her first sip of huangjiu, gently licking her lips with her tongue. “Especially when looking at the sunset glow.”
“But thinking about the long night ahead makes me feel very fulfilled.” Zhu Ying downed half a glass in one go. “Whew, it feels like I’m drinking cooking wine…”
“Huh, huangjiu and cooking wine are actually the same thing.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Of course.” An Jing looked surprised. “You didn’t know that?”
“I thought cooking wine was specially made, and huangjiu was something else.”
“Cooking wine is certainly specially made, but… it’s still a type of huangjiu.” An Jing swirled her glass. She had only taken a small sip, and there was still plenty of amber liquid left inside.
Wang Xinru, sitting across the table, directly finished a whole glass with a glug glug and then let out a long ha of breath. Her fair little face now looked exceptionally pink and delicate, and her slightly narrow eyes were like freshly peeled lychees, seemingly oozing with juice—perhaps it was because of summer, but An Jing couldn’t help thinking of iced lychees, and then linking them to Wang Xinru’s eyes at that moment.
It was a strange but somehow fitting metaphor.
“Xiao Ru, you finished a whole glass in one go!?”
“Mm… it’s okay…” Wang Xinru giggled and picked up a bite of vegetables with her chopsticks. “I do drink a little sometimes…”
“When did you start drinking?” An Jing looked even more surprised than Zhu Ying. “I remember in elementary school, someone tricked you into taking a sip of beer, and you spat it all out as soon as it hit your mouth.”
“It was around New Year’s… I just thought, adults all use alcohol to drown their sorrows, so I wanted to… give it a try.” She gently waved her hand. “Drinking too much makes you feel warm all over, and it’s actually quite comfortable.”
An Jing picked up a piece of fried fish wrapped in perilla leaf, brought it to her mouth, and took a small bite. “Are you okay? When you were little, your body was so weak, and now you’re drinking…”
“It’s already much better than before, and I don’t drink that much anyway. I’m fine.” Wang Xinru smiled especially brightly. Seeing that An Jing and Zhu Ying were still staring at her blankly, she couldn’t help adding, “Really.”
“Really?”
“Mm. As my body gradually got better, I moved more, and with more exercise, my body became even better.” Wang Xinru raised her arm and made a muscle-showing gesture. “See? My arm is already much stronger than before, right?”
“Are you sure that’s not just fat?”
“Is… is it fat?” The confident expression on her face instantly crumbled. She looked at Zhu Ying as if pleading for help. “Ying Ying, am I really fat?”
“Don’t listen to Xiao Jing. She’s only been a girl for a short time, so she always looks at girls with a guy’s perspective! It’s perfectly normal for a girl to have a bit of body fat.”
“Ahem, I was just joking…” An Jing hadn’t expected Wang Xinru to be so sensitive. “Speaking of which, let’s eat the cake after dark, okay? I even asked the boss to include a new-style birthday candle.”
“Okay! And… remember to take a photo.”
“Ah, I forgot to bring the camera my cousin gave me. But I can use my phone. The camera can flip around, so it’s much more convenient than your phones.” An Jing scratched her head. “It’s just that the pixel quality is a bit low…”
“That’s fine, that’s fine! As long as it can clearly capture our faces, it’s good enough!” Zhu Ying chuckled and patted An Jing on the back. “By the way, should we save some wine to drink when we eat the cake? Wouldn’t it be better to cheers after blowing out the candles?”
“Who drinks alcohol while eating cake?…”
“I think it could work.” Wang Xinru smiled softly, carefully cradling the jar of Daughter’s Red Wine, and filled her glass to the brim with the amber liquid.
Huangjiu has a low alcohol content and a mild flavor, so even people who aren’t good at drinking can enjoy the slight stimulation of alcohol.
But compared to An Jing and Zhu Ying, Wang Xinru’s drinking speed was truly a bit too fast…
—
Night had already fallen, and a few bright stars dotted the sky. Though it wasn’t as star-studded as the seaside, it didn’t feel lonely either. The moon seemed to hide deep in the clouds.
The dishes, bowls, and chopsticks on the table had been cleared away, and An Jing was struggling to untie the bow on the cake box. “Strange, why can’t I get it open?”
“This kind of knot doesn’t cinch tight, right?” Zhu Ying looked at it, grabbed one end of the ribbon, and easily loosened it. “So clumsy, Xiao Jing.”
“Uh… why couldn’t I pull it just now?”
“It must have been the wrong angle.” Zhu Ying gave her a sidelong glance. “Hurry up and open the lid. Let’s see if it turned out like the sample or not.”
“Wangwang, should I open it? Or do you want to do it yourself?”
“It’s fine if An’an opens it.”
An Jing held her breath, gently lifted the lid off, and placed it on the stove nearby.
It was a seven-inch cake—not large, but definitely enough for three to five people. The background of the cake was a flower field painted with edible colored syrup, and then three-dimensional-looking sunflowers were drawn with colored cream. Its most special feature was the side; unlike ordinary cakes that were uniformly white, it used green cream to create a grass effect.
From a distance, it looked like a miniature flower field, with lush green grass outside.
“What a beautiful cake.” Wang Xinru couldn’t help widening her eyes. “I can’t believe they can design a style like this.”
“That’s why it cost a bit more money.” Zhu Ying squinted at An Jing. “Someone was hurting over the payment the whole way here.”
“Huh? Actually, you didn’t need to go with such a nice one…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s rare that we get to celebrate your birthday. Once this is over, who knows when we’ll have another chance to celebrate it with you.” An Jing gently touched her cheek with her pale fingers. “Anyway, I still have some New Year’s money left over…”
Wang Xinru silently looked at the beautiful cake for several seconds before raising her head, her smile blooming like a flower: “Thank you.”
“Saying ‘thank you’ makes it too formal.”
“Hurry up and light the candle and make a wish!” Zhu Ying urged excitedly. “Xiao Jing, get the candle out.”
“Got it, got it—”
An Jing took the unopened lotus candle out of its separate cardboard box. This kind of birthday candle had been popular for the past few years. Once lit, several petals would fall off, opening up like a flower blooming. Then the electronic birthday song would play.
This lotus candle was probably the newest model; it wasn’t a simple pink but multicolored—each petal was a different color.
“Wangwang, do you have matches?”
“I do.” Wang Xinru, her face flushed red from drinking, quickly got up and walked to the stove, taking the matches out of a small compartment.
Using matches to light this kind of candle was much more convenient than using a lighter.
Because if you pressed the lighter down too low when lighting it, the flame could easily burn your finger.
With a zila sound, the struck match burst into a blazing flame. Zhu Ying quickly pulled the cord on the incandescent light, and the room suddenly went dark, making the match’s flame seem exceptionally bright.
The three of them all focused on the match. Then, the match lit the candle.
“It’s not doing anything.”
“It won’t happen that fast. The fuse has to burn down to here first.”
“The flame’s so big; won’t it burn the whole candle?”
“It is a bit big. A flame this big could be used to stir-fry…” An Jing muttered somewhat dramatically, and then they heard a click.
The lotus candle opened.
Tiny flames flickered on each petal, and the electronic birthday song began to play.
“Whoa! This one actually spins!” Zhu Ying looked amazed. “It’s slowly rotating!”
“It’s quite pretty… and there’s a flame in the middle too.” An Jing quickly took out her phone and snapped a picture in the dark room, but it could only barely capture the outlines of the three of them—and it was hard to make out even that.
“Time to sing the birthday song!” Zhu Ying clapped her hands lightly. “Happy birthday to you~”
“Happy birthday, Wangwang. You can make a wish now!”
“After you make your wish, remember to blow out the candle in one breath! That way, your wish is more likely to come true!”
“Phew!”
The candle was forcefully blown out the next second.
An Jing’s expression was frozen for a few seconds. “Huh… that was fast? Did you make a wish?”
“I did.”
“Shouldn’t you usually close your eyes, clasp your hands to your chest, and silently repeat it several times?”
“No need. My wish was just that simple.”
“That quick… Then should I turn on the light?”
“What was your wish?” An Jing couldn’t help but be a little curious.
“Mm—winning five million dollars in the lottery?”
“Pfft, no way, Wangwang! You actually made such a cliché wish?”
“Why can’t I? I’m human too.”
“I just thought it would be something else, like maybe not having to go abroad in the future or something…”
Zhu Ying, who had just turned on the light, stood with one hand on her hip and smiled at An Jing. “That’s Xiao Jing’s wish, right?” Zhu Ying’s overly kind smile made An Jing shiver. “I was just giving an example…”
“It’s not that wish.” Wang Xinru chuckled, covering her mouth, and picked up a glass full of huangjiu. “Then how about we toast before cutting the cake?”
“You’re still drinking? You already had two glasses during dinner.”
“That’s fine! It’s just huangjiu.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to end up taking you to the hospital on your birthday…”
“Xiao Jing, don’t say something so unlucky.”
“I won’t. I know my limits.”
“Really? Well… I guess you have more self-control than Xiao Ying.”
“Xiao—Jing—what exactly do you mean by that?!”
“N-nothing…”
“No way. You have to drink one more sip than me later!”
“Hey, hey, since when do we force people to drink as punishment?”
“Who told you to say nonsense?”
“Such a scary little demon…”
“An’an can’t say that about Ying Ying. She’s so good to you; how could she be a little demon?”
“That’s right, that’s right!”