CS - 81

After Chi Yao said that, he opened his arms and asked if she wanted a hug.

For some reason, Lin Zhexia’s eyes felt a bit warm.

After all, the issue of overlapping topics was just a small matter.

That summer’s embrace was long and passionate. The evening breeze gently blew through.

She went back to sleep that night, dreamless. Early the next morning, as they had an early class for her major, she received another message from Chi Yao.

• Are you up?

Lin Zhexia was not surprised because Chi Yao almost always invited her to eat breakfast at the cafeteria together. Sometimes when she stayed up late and couldn’t get up in the morning, he would buy her breakfast and bring it over.

At first, she found it unbelievable: “How do you know I don’t have time to eat at the cafeteria today?”

Chi Yao swiped his phone and opened their chat history from last night.

He lightly tapped on the timestamp of her last message: 2:30 AM.

“If you sleep at this hour,” Chi Yao said, “it’s obvious you won’t be able to wake up.”

“...”

So when she guessed that Chi Yao sent her the message “Are you up?” it was indeed to ask her to eat breakfast together.

She wasn’t wrong; the two of them indeed ate breakfast at the cafeteria as usual.

However, after eating breakfast, according to their routine, they should each go to their respective classes.

Lin Zhexia walked towards the lecture hall but halfway there realized that Chi Yao, who should have turned, was still following her.

“Aren’t you going to class?” Lin Zhexia was a bit puzzled. “You took the wrong way; your classroom is in the other direction.”

Chi Yao: “I’ll go later.”

Lin Zhexia: “Then where are you going now?”

Chi Yao casually said: “Lately, I’ve been very interested in languages. I’m going to sit in on your class.”

“?”

“What about your own class?” she asked.

“I’m tired of it. Skipping once won’t hurt.”

Lin Zhexia couldn’t help but think, this person must be crazy.

She originally thought Chi Yao was joking, but he really followed her into the teaching building. Then, at the entrance of the lecture hall, he stood behind her, tugged at her collar with his hand, and pulled her back slightly to signal her to stop.

Then, he lifted his chin and asked: “Which one? Point her out.”

Lin Zhexia didn’t understand: “Which one?”

“People.”

Chi Yao spoke slowly, word by word, with no expression on his face. “The one who changed the topic.”

There were already quite a few people in the lecture hall.

Chi Yao looked like someone who usually kept to himself and didn’t like to bother with anyone, but at critical moments, he would lead others to start trouble. He indeed looked like that now, dressed in all black, a black T-shirt, ripped jeans, standing there looking unapproachable.

“You’re not going to... hit her, right?”

Lin Zhexia’s face was complicated. “I think hitting isn’t good.”

She glanced at the people sitting in the classroom and added: “And she hasn’t arrived yet.”

A few minutes later.

Lin Zhexia was dragged by him from the classroom entrance to the stairwell.

Standing at the stairwell, Lin Zhexia felt a bit lost: “What are we doing here?”

Chi Yao leaned against the wall and spat out two words: “Blocking someone.”

“...”

Before Chi Yao dragged her to block someone at the stairwell, Lin Zhexia planned to let the topic collision incident slide. One reason was that she was too lazy to argue, and secondly, they were classmates, seeing each other every day, confronting her would be awkward.

Most importantly, she subconsciously believed that adults should handle things this way.

She should be more “mature.”

She needed to grow up a little.

The rashness and impulsiveness of childhood seemed unacceptable in the world at twenty.

Even if she planned to say something to Zhou Tong, it shouldn’t be in such a shocking manner.

But when Chi Yao said “block her,” he sounded so righteous.

She momentarily dismissed many concerns. Under Chi Yao’s influence, Lin Zhexia, on the verge of turning twenty, did something completely inappropriate for a college student during the break at the stairwell: she blocked Zhou Tong at the corner of the stairs.

Zhou Tong also didn’t expect to be caught at the stairwell while preparing to enter the classroom.

A cold voice called out to her, “Hey.”

She looked up and saw Lin Zhexia, who always appeared soft and weak in class, standing at the corner. Behind her stood someone who looked like a “big brother” specifically there to protect her. The youth had sharp jawlines, indifferent eyes, leaning against the wall and glancing at her.

Lin Zhexia’s “hey” was full of vigor.

It suddenly brought back the feeling of fighting everywhere in Nanxiang Street back in the day.

But after calling “hey,” she became stuck: “Then what? What should I say?”

The person behind her whispered: “Say whatever you want to say. Don’t you have something you want to say to her?”

She did have something to say.

Lin Zhexia looked at Zhou Tong, imitating scenes she remembered from TV, trying to pose as the big sister: “Zhou Tong, right.”

“… I know you changed the topic later. I didn’t tell the teacher that day because I didn’t want to bother with you. I hope you won’t do such things again in the future.”

She felt her words might not be harsh enough, so after pausing, she added, “I’ll let it go this time. If it happens again, it won’t be that simple.”

At this age, doing such things was very “childish.”

But at the moment those words came out, she felt an unprecedented sensation.

Before this day, she thought the adult world should be very different.

But on this very day.

She suddenly realized, it seemed not to be like that.

Coincidentally, the speech competition was held the day before Chi Yao’s birthday.

Lin Zhexia had almost finished preparing her new topic. After refining it, she practiced reciting it several times in front of him at his place. After Chi Yao said a casual “don’t be nervous,” she clutched her speech draft and joined other group members to gather and head to the school auditorium for the competition.

The audience consisted of students majoring in languages. With so many majors in university, it was impossible to have every major’s students attend, so they specifically defined the scope of the majors.

However, right before going on stage, she received a photo from Chi Yao.

Boyfriend: [Picture]

She quickly opened it before the competition. The photo was clearly taken from the audience’s perspective, extending all the way from the seats to the stage.

Lin Zhexia put away her phone, stepped onto the stage, placed her hand on the microphone, and glanced down at the audience below. As usual, following the angle of the photo, she roughly pinpointed the range and immediately spotted someone in the audience.

Time and space seemed to loop and flow in this moment.

The speech went without any incidents. After she smoothly delivered it off-script and exited the stage, she returned backstage, where Chi Yao presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

A large bunch of roses.

Wrapped in white and pink decorative paper.

She took it, and Chi Yao gently ruffled her head and said, “You did well, girlfriend.”

On the day of their twentieth birthday.

It happened to be a weekend, and they didn’t go out to celebrate the birthday.

The birthday venue was chosen to be at Chi Yao’s apartment.

“Just buy a cake,” Lin Zhexia reminded him, “No need to make it complicated. I’m already very happy just spending this year’s birthday with you.”

However, when she went to Chi Yao’s apartment that day, holding her keys and turning the doorknob, she saw the entire house filled with candles.

The whole house was dark, with blackout curtains blocking all outside light.

Only faint candlelight remained.

The weak candlelight extended all the way from the entrance to the living room, to the coffee table and shelves, resembling another artificial “firefly” scene.

The cake was quietly placed on the dining table, next to a gift box tied with a ribbon.

Lin Zhexia stood at the door for a long time: “...When did you set all this up?”

Chi Yao said: “Last night.”

“Beautiful,” she really wanted to take a picture with her phone, “It just doesn’t seem like something you would do.”

After all, a house full of candles is usually something only girls would like.

Boys might find it hard to think it romantic.

“Searched online.”

Chi Yao glanced at the house full of candles, “I indeed can’t quite understand it, but as long as you like it, it’s fine.”

After saying that, Chi Yao asked her: “Should we cut the cake first or open the gifts first?”

Without hesitation, Lin Zhexia said: “Open the gifts.”

They sat around the dining table and exchanged gifts.

Then she found... this year, the gifts they gave each other were a bit old-fashioned.

Having given each other so many things, the range of choices became increasingly limited.

Lin Zhexia opened the gift to find a box of preserved flowers inside.

Chi Yao sat opposite her, and almost simultaneously, they both opened their gift boxes. His gift was even more absurd — yet another piece of stainless steel: “...”

A small piece of palm-sized stainless steel gleamed with metallic light.

Their names were engraved on it, with a big heart in the middle.

“...” Chi Yao raised his hand, pressed his brow bone, and asked her, “Do you have anything to say to me? For example, explain this gift.”

Lin Zhexia awkwardly laughed: “This stainless steel is different from the previous one. The previous one represented the stainless steel of friendship, and this year, it has been upgraded.” She enthusiastically pointed it out to him, “Look, this time it represents our love in stainless steel!”

Chi Yao barely managed to force out a smile after a while, though that smile was closer to a sneer: “Thank you, I like it very much.”

Lin Zhexia put away the preserved flowers and said, “Your gift isn’t great either, but I still like it very much.”

Facing each other silently, they stared at each other for a few moments.

Then Lin Zhexia took the initiative to say: “Why don’t we make wishes instead.”

Chi Yao slightly nodded in agreement.

While Chi Yao was busy inserting candles, Lin Zhexia suddenly remembered how they celebrated their birthdays for the first time: “Do you remember the first time we celebrated our birthdays?”

Chi Yao: “I remember. You told me a month in advance that you really wanted a set of comic books recently.”

“...” Lin Zhexia felt a bit awkward, “Anyway, you were going to give me a present anyway. I was afraid you’d pick something I wouldn’t like.”

“And obviously, an honest person like me is easier to get along with. Who’s like you, refusing to tell your birthday no matter what,” Lin Zhexia complained, “I chased you to ask for a long time.”

Chi Yao’s memory followed her words back to their childhood.

He was used to being alone at home, spending all holidays and birthdays by himself.

At that time, childish pride made him gradually start to resist these dates.

From not receiving, to transforming into not needing.

—I don’t need to celebrate these holidays, I don’t need to celebrate my birthday.

So when Lin Zhexia first talked to him about “birthday,” he kept a cold face and didn’t answer her.

“My birthday is coming soon. When’s your birthday?”

“Why aren’t you talking?”

“...”

Back then, Lin Zhexia pestered him with a lot of talk, ending with: “Tell me, and I’ll celebrate your birthday when the time comes.”

He suppressed the thought of chasing her out and slowly asked: “Why do you want to celebrate my birthday?”

“Because we’re friends.”

From that day on, another person’s figure appeared in those festivals originally spent alone.

That person would carefully prepare gifts for him and earnestly write down various birthday wishes: Happy Birthday, hope you won’t need to take medicine next year.

Wish you good health.

Perhaps God didn’t hear last year’s wish, so this year again, I hope you won’t end up in the hospital anymore.

...

And that year at eighteen: Wish you all the best, happiness every day. Hope you will always have endless courage in whatever you do in the future.

Finally, Lin Zhexia pulled him out of his memories with one sentence: “Alright, let’s make wishes together, close your eyes.”

As she spoke, she eagerly closed her eyes and clasped her hands together.

But this year’s wish was a bit hard to make. Perhaps because Chi Yao was by her side, she felt like she didn’t have any other wishes left.

She was racking her brains thinking about what wish to make, when unexpectedly, a warm and familiar touch came to her lips. She reacted half a beat slower and opened her eyes to see Chi Yao’s face up close.

The young man had one hand on the dining table, leaning towards her, crossing over the table, and kissed her amidst the candlelight and the few seconds of making wishes.

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

In the midst of chaotic thoughts, she grasped the last bit of clarity and made a wish: No matter how long the road ahead may be, I hope we can always walk shoulder to shoulder forever.

After a few seconds, Chi Yao released her and reminded her: “Blow out the candles.”

Before blowing out the candles, Lin Zhexia casually asked: “What wish did you make just now?”

She thought Chi Yao would pretend to be mysterious and refuse to answer her question.

However, under the faint candlelight, Chi Yao said:

“You don’t need to grow up.”

“...Huh?”

“By my side, you don’t need to grow up, you don’t need to become an ‘adult’ who needs to digest problems on your own, and you don’t need to follow the rules of adults,” his voice remained cold and weary, yet carried a tenderness that only she could hear, unique to her, “Whether you’re twenty or thirty, you can forever remain the Lin Zhexia who never grows up.”

“This is my wish for this year.”

In Chi Yao’s pupils, Lin Zhexia saw herself, and the flickering candlelight, like starlight fallen to earth.

Clearly, this year was their twentieth birthday.

Clearly, they should have become more mature.

She thought of the day Chi Yao took her to block someone.

She remembered the end of that day, when Zhou Tong helplessly apologized to her.

During the process of growing up, there would be countless moments when she lost her courage.

But it seemed that every time, Chi Yao would help her regain it.

As long as she was by his side, she could remain the Lin Zhexia who never grew up in this constantly fast-paced world forcing people to grow up.