CS - 49

Big Zhuang: But why are you suddenly asking this?

Lin Zhe Xia: …

Lin Zhe Xia: Because…

She nervously typed out a response and finally sent: Because I’m also worried that he might never find someone in his life.

……

What on earth was she saying?

Thankfully, Big Zhuang was used to privately complaining about Chi Yao with her: “Bro, I totally understand your concern.”

Lin Zhe Xia: It’s good that you understand.

After chatting with He Yang, Lin Zhe Xia couldn’t hold on any longer, and her eyes gradually closed.

As her and Chi Yao’s birthdays were approaching, the last thought before she lost consciousness was: Eighteen years old—what will my eighteenth year and Chi Yao’s eighteenth year look like?

Both adults and children consider eighteen to be a very special age.

But why was eighteen so special? What was the difference between being an adult and a minor? Lin Zhe Xia, who was about to turn eighteen, couldn’t answer these questions yet.

________________________________________

The next day was Saturday.

Lin Zhe Xia planned to go directly to Chi Yao’s house to investigate, see if there was anything he lacked, and also satisfy her curiosity about what gift Chi Yao might buy for her.

“What’s this?” After entering, Lin Zhe Xia noticed something new on Chi Yao’s desk.

“VR glasses. He Yang’s.”

“Oh.”

Lin Zhe Xia casually asked, “Do you think it’s fun?”

Chi Yao was in the bedroom, and his voice came from inside: “It’s okay. Why do you ask?”

“I’m just curious.”

Lin Zhe Xia weighed her small stash of New Year’s money in her mind and thought, Well, there’s no way I can afford something like this anyway.

After circling the living room without finding anything useful, Lin Zhe Xia asked again: “What are you doing in your room?”

“Changing clothes.” As he spoke, the bedroom door finally opened, and Chi Yao leaned against the doorway. “If I’m not in the room, do you want me to change in the living room instead?”

This offhand comment, made without much thought, left both of them stunned.

The atmosphere turned awkward and strange.

Though Lin Zhe Xia and Chi Yao often joked around in their usual conversations, this particular joke felt uncomfortably close.

It seemed that at some point, the topics between them had stopped being as innocent as they were in childhood. Sometimes, they crossed boundaries.

Lin Zhe Xia pretended to be nonchalant. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it before. What’s there to see?”

Chi Yao also returned to his usual detached demeanor. “I’ve got abs now.”

“…”

After a while, the two sat on the couch watching a movie.

The living room lights were off, leaving only the projector’s glow illuminating them.

Suddenly, Lin Zhe Xia said, “Let me borrow your phone. I want to order some orange juice.”

Chi Yao: “What about your phone?”

“It’s out of battery.”

“If it’s out of battery, then charge it.”

“My charging cable is broken.”

“…”

Having known each other for so long, Chi Yao was well aware of Lin Zhe Xia’s intentions.

“You want to check my shopping cart,” Chi Yao turned his head and said, “Why don’t you just ask me what gift I bought for your birthday this year?”

Lin Zhe Xia followed his lead and asked, “… Since you brought it up, let me ask directly. What gift did you get me?”

Chi Yao: “I’m not telling you.”

Lin Zhe Xia rolled her eyes internally.

For the entire morning, both of them were extremely careful not to let the other see their phones, fearing that their gifts would be discovered or that the other might sneakily search their browsing history. Lin Zhe Xia had once done this when she was younger, unable to contain her curiosity about her gift.

Halfway through the movie, Lin Zhe Xia thought Chi Yao had forgotten about earlier.

She glanced down at the couch and noticed his phone sitting nearby.

Taking a quick peek shouldn’t hurt, right? And it’s all for buying him a gift.

…

With this thought, her hand moved ahead without hesitation. She carefully reached for the edge of Chi Yao’s phone and slowly pulled it toward her.

Between her and Chi Yao, aside from her secret feelings for him, there were no other secrets. They knew each other’s phone passwords and even payment codes.

Chi Yao had first told her his phone password back when she had just entered middle school, and Lin He refused to buy her a phone. At the time, a popular mobile game was trending in her class. Though Chi Yao found it childish, he still downloaded the game and lent it to her on weekends.

From Monday to Friday, Lin Zhe Xia would remind him: “Don’t forget to log in and collect my energy points, sign in, and if you have time, try to complete the daily tasks for me.”

Back then, Chi Yao looked disdainfully at the cute pet-raising game: “Collect it yourself.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “I can’t. If I keep running over to your place without doing homework, my mom will scold me.”

“You’re asking me to help you, and you’re not afraid I’ll yell at you?”

“You won’t yell at me,” Lin Zhe Xia smiled at the time. “Even if you do, you’ll still end up helping me collect it.”

Chi Yao walked ahead of her, saying nothing.

Later, Lin Zhe Xia lost interest in the game, and the account was mostly managed by Chi Yao.

He collected energy points for her for a long time before realizing that Lin Zhe Xia had already completely forgotten about the game.

…

Recalling this memory, Lin Zhe Xia carefully pressed the familiar string of numbers after pulling the phone over.

The next moment, the screen unlocked successfully.

Just as she was about to open a certain orange shopping app, her hand was suddenly pressed down.

In the dim light of the living room, the projection screen darkened momentarily. Chi Yao’s voice and the warmth of his palm pressing on the back of her hand seemed amplified in the quiet: “You coward, you’re surprisingly bold today.”

“…”

Lin Zhe Xia quickly withdrew her hand as if burned, scooting slightly to the side. “Aren’t you watching the movie?”

“And… do you never change your password?”

“Too lazy to change it.”

Chi Yao placed the phone on the other side and added, “Besides, with your brain, even if I changed it, you’d forget it.”

The strange atmosphere between them unknowingly returned.

Was it because she liked him?

Because she liked him, she tended to overthink things.

“Why?” Lin Zhe Xia suddenly asked.

Caught in the strange mood, she impulsively wanted to blurt out, “Why do you want me to remember?”

But she couldn’t stop herself from thinking, so she rephrased: “I mean, why do you think I’m so dumb? It’s just a string of numbers. You’re the one who wouldn’t remember.”

________________________________________

After returning home, Lin Zhe Xia spent a long time searching online and found a handmade cake shop. She decided to give Chi Yao a personally made cake.

She booked a time slot online.

May 6th.

The day before Chi Yao’s birthday.

In May, spring had passed, and early summer began. The weather started to grow warmer without notice.

Making the cake took Lin Zhe Xia an entire afternoon. Though she worked slowly, the final result was quite good.

She planned to deliver the cake to Chi Yao’s house precisely at midnight that night to give him a “surprise.”

The handmade cake shop owner helped her pack the cake in a gift box. She also requested a card. With cream stains on her clothes, she leaned over the counter to write a birthday message.

She carefully wrote Chi Yao’s name, then added: Wishing you success in everything you wish for and happiness every day. I hope you always have endless courage in whatever you do.

Before leaving, the cake shop owner chased her to the door: “Young lady, sorry, I forgot to give you the candles and lighter.”

Lin Zhe Xia glanced at the cake box tied with a red ribbon in her hand. She couldn’t find a place to put them and felt a bit troubled.

Fortunately, she was wearing a coat with large pockets.

And the candles and lighter, packed in a small bag, fit perfectly.

“No problem,” she said. “I’ll just stuff them in my pocket.”

On the way back to the neighborhood, Lin Zhe Xia noticed a group of people gathered across the street as she crossed the road.

She glanced at them and felt an odd sense of familiarity.

Before turning eighteen, she thought life was a simple straight line.

She believed she would quietly grow up in this carefree, straightforward path.

Even if there were small surprises along the way—like her clumsy, conflicted feelings for Chi Yao—she assumed she would continue living like this with the friends from Nanxiang Street and Chi Yao.

When Lin Zhe Xia arrived home carrying the cake, Lin He was startled: “Where did you run off to without saying anything?”

“It’s Chi Yao’s birthday. I went to make him a cake.”

“Mom, just pretend you didn’t see it,” Lin Zhe Xia added. “I want to surprise him.”

Lin He: “Oh right, I almost forgot. Your Uncle Wei and I also bought him a gift. Wait, I’ll go get it for you.”

Lin Zhe Xia accepted the gift box.

She thought to herself: Chi Yao’s treatment in our family sometimes surpasses even mine.

Lin He couldn’t help but add, “I’m afraid if we give it to him in person, he’ll feel embarrassed to accept it. That kid… On such an important eighteenth birthday, his parents didn’t even say they’d come back to celebrate with him…”

After speaking, Lin He busied herself with cleaning.

But Lin He’s casual words sparked an idea in Lin Zhe Xia’s mind.

Perhaps…

For Chi Yao, the best birthday gift wasn’t anything else.

It was seeing his parents.

As this thought grew stronger in her mind, she hesitated but eventually acted on it.

She didn’t have Chi Yao’s parents’ contact information, but Lin He did.

Lin Zhe Xia had never touched Lin He’s phone without permission, but that day, she secretly flipped through it while Lin He wasn’t paying attention and found the phone numbers of Chi Yao’s parents.

Doing something like this for the first time made her nervous.

After jotting down the number, she hid in the bathroom to make the call.

She was a bit scared. She didn’t know Chi Yao’s parents well, and their personalities weren’t exactly easy to deal with.

Her first call was to Chi Yao’s mother.

But Chi Yao’s mother didn’t pick up.

After the busy signal ended, she dialed another number.

“Dial tone—”

Lin Zhe Xia waited for a long time, the dial tone almost synchronizing with her heartbeat.

After十几 seconds, Chi Han Shan picked up.

Just as Lin Zhe Xia was about to say “Uncle Chi,” the voice on the other end was chaotic. He shouted frantically: “Stop calling! Even if you keep pressuring me, it won’t help!”

“We didn’t expect this to happen either. You need to give us some time to handle it.”

“It’s still short, we know. This time, we’ll definitely pay it back.”

“…”

Lin Zhe Xia froze, too scared to speak.

The word “Uncle Chi” stuck in her throat, and by the time Chi Han Shan hung up, she still hadn’t uttered it.

She didn’t know the specifics of what had happened, but she knew it wasn’t good.

Her hands and feet felt cold, and her right eyelid twitched uncontrollably twice.

For a moment, she couldn’t hear anything. After a while, faint sounds slowly filtered in from outside the bathroom.

It was Lin He talking to Wei Ping outside: “The weather forecast says it might rain heavily tonight. Remember to take an umbrella when you go out later.”

“The meteorological station has issued another blue rainstorm warning—”

“The public should be mindful of the potential issues caused by heavy rain and adjust their plans accordingly.”

Chi Yao emerged from the kitchen, holding a black plastic bag. He bent slightly to press the TV remote on the couch.

With a faint “click,” the TV sound cut off abruptly.

He held his phone, the screen displaying a birthday plan.

A birthday plan prepared for Lin Zhe Xia.

He didn’t care much about his own birthday. Compared to his own, he cared more about the date in June.

Chi Yao looked down at his phone, holding the black trash bag as he stepped out. After throwing away the trash, his path was suddenly blocked.

Several figures appeared in his line of sight.

At this hour, there were hardly any people at the garbage station.

The sky was darker due to the impending rain.

The person blocking him had several others behind him, though the group stayed back and didn’t approach.

Chi Yao raised his eyes to meet the man’s face.

“Chi Yao, that’s your name, right? You’ve probably seen me,” the man said. “After all, I’ve been hanging around your neighborhood for quite some time now.”

A thunderous boom echoed.

Lightning flashed outside.

Lin Zhe Xia was startled by the thunder, her mind wandering.

Though she was no longer afraid of abandonment or dwelling on the past, years of habit made her instinctively fear the sound of thunder.

“What’s wrong, Xia Xia?” Lin He, busy folding clothes, called to her. “Come help me.”

Lin Zhe Xia responded.

While helping Lin He fold clothes, Lin Zhe Xia couldn’t help but ask, “Mom.”

Lin He: “What is it?”

Lin Zhe Xia: “I have a question for you.”

“Say you have a friend, and you accidentally overhear from somewhere that there might be some issues at their home. But you don’t know if your friend knows about it. Should you tell them?”

Lin He asked: “Who? Which friend?”

Lin Zhe Xia, fearing Lin He would jump to conclusions, said: “Just a classmate. I overheard it in the teacher’s office. Don’t ask too many questions.”

“Oh.” Lin He didn’t suspect anything. After thinking for a moment, she folded the clothes in her hands and said, “It’s best not to say anything. It’s their family matter; why get involved? Besides, what if your classmate doesn’t want others to know? If they find out you know, it might make things awkward.”

Lin He’s words made perfect sense.

After much deliberation, Lin Zhe Xia decided to pretend she didn’t know and subtly probe the situation.

She sent Chi Yao a few messages:

Chi Yao, Chi Yao—

I’m too broke to buy you a birthday gift—

You won’t be mad at me, right?—

Or you could send me 50 bucks, and I’ll go buy something right now. It’s still not too late.

She planned to claim she hadn’t prepared anything, so when she showed up later with the cake, Chi Yao would surely be shocked.

But after sending these messages, she waited a long time, and Chi Yao didn’t reply.

This was unusual. Chi Yao never took this long to respond.

Two hours and no reply—

What are you doing?

Still no response.

Lin Zhe Xia sent another message:

Are you home?

The thunder outside grew louder.

Lin Zhe Xia told Lin He she was heading out and took the cake from the fridge, planning to go directly to Chi Yao’s house.

“Alright,” Lin He said. “Don’t forget to bring the gifts from Uncle Wei and me.”

Lin Zhe Xia opened the door with her key. After entering, she turned on the living room light and found that Chi Yao wasn’t home.

Rumble—

With the thunder, the rain poured down in torrents.