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May 20, 2018
Today is “520,” and many people celebrate this day as “Valentine’s Day.”
But for me, the special thing about today is—it happens to be my mother-in-law’s lunar birthday.
My mother-in-law repeatedly said, “Don’t buy me a cake for my birthday; it’s a waste of money.”
I didn’t buy a cake but gave her a jade pendant. She said, “I don’t usually wear necklaces or anything!”
I said, “It looks good when you wear it.”
Lin Zhiyi said, “It’s jade; wearing jade nurtures the body.”
My mother-in-law said, “Can it cure all my ailments like back pain and leg pain?”
Hearing this, Lin Zhiyi and I laughed.
Lin Zhiyi said, “Do you think it’s some miraculous medicine?”
Having a birthday cake is a fixed mindset for little Xinbao.
Lin Zhiyi still secretly went out and bought a birthday cake.
When my mother-in-law saw the cake, she scolded, “Why spend money on a cake? I hardly eat it anyway.”
Xinbao said, “There are pictures of me and Beibei on this cake. The pink rabbit is me, and the blue rabbit is Beibei.”
My mother-in-law immediately smiled, “I’ve been waiting to take care of two kids!” Then, seeing a bouquet of flowers in Lin Zhiyi’s hand, she said, “Buying a cake is enough; why also give flowers?”
Lin Zhiyi said, “Mom, you’re overthinking. These flowers are for Dà Níng. Today is ‘520’.”
With that, he handed the bouquet to me.
“Ah? I have a gift too? I thought the flowers were for Mom!” I was pleasantly surprised because today’s protagonist was supposed to be my mother-in-law!
“Roses, of course, are for you.” After Lin Zhiyi said this, he added, “This time, the boss assured me they are real roses.”
He still remembered being tricked into buying fake roses for me before!
At this moment, Xinbao asked us, “Do you know what ‘FAMILY’ means?”
I said, “Isn’t it just the meaning of ‘family’?”
She said, “‘F’ stands for ‘father,’ ‘A’ stands for ‘and,’ ‘M’ stands for ‘mother,’ ‘I’ stands for ‘I,’ ‘L’ stands for ‘love,’ ‘Y’ stands for ‘you.’ ‘FAMILY’ means ‘father and mother, I love you’!”
After hearing this, Lin Zhiyi and I couldn’t help but exclaim “Wow” at the same time!
After her explanation, I suddenly felt that “FAMILY” is such a loving word.
“520,” I love you. Love is not limited to lovers alone; it’s also among family and friends.
Love is a flowing language, sometimes silent yet incredibly moving.
February 14, 2019
On Valentine’s Day, I wanted to watch a movie with Lin Zhiyi, and Xinbao also wanted to come. I said, “We’re going to watch The Wandering Earth . Are you coming too?”
Xinbao said she had seen the trailer, which had blood in it, and she was scared and didn’t dare to watch it. She strongly requested watching Boonie Bears , and due to differing opinions, we temporarily didn’t go to the cinema.
Later, when we got home, I said to Lin Zhiyi, “Let’s do this next time—I’ll accompany Xinbao to watch Boonie Bears , and you can go watch The Wandering Earth by yourself.”
“Alright. Let’s arrange it for the weekend,” he said.
As a result, yesterday while I was in a training class, I received two electronic tickets for Boonie Bears from Lin Zhiyi.
Oh! They were for me and Xinbao. I thought. Soon, he sent two more electronic tickets for The Wandering Earth.
I thought he had bought too many tickets and was about to say something when he said, “In the afternoon, I’ll watch a movie with my little sweetheart, and in the evening, I’ll watch a movie with my big sweetheart. My mom will stay home with Xinbao.”
The cold Beijing suddenly became much warmer.
April 29, 2019
At noon, I was having lunch with colleagues, and the dishes were already served, yet I was still holding my phone.
“Dà Níng, let’s eat first, otherwise the food will get cold and won’t taste good,” a colleague reminded me.
“Just wait a moment,” I still didn’t look up.
“What’s more important than eating?” the colleague was quite puzzled.
“Well, it’s important. I’m ordering a birthday cake for someone,” I said.
“Wow! You guys are so romantic! Even as an old married couple, you’re still so romantic!”
“The older the love, the more fragrant it gets!” I said.
“Then I’ll start eating. Your love really smells good!” the colleague said sourly and picked up chopsticks to start eating.
My birthdays, Lin Zhiyi always remembers; his birthdays, I often forget.
I used to say I couldn’t tell the difference between the lunar and solar calendars, but ever since I wrote Being With You Is My Whole World , recording our beautiful moments together, I realized how good he has been to me, and I should treat him well too.
I noted down his solar calendar birthday—”429” (Pledge of Love), and for the past few years, I’ve celebrated his birthday seriously. At first, he wasn’t used to it, but now he happily enjoys it.
Today was like confessing to a boyfriend who had just started dating. I gave him a popular internet heart-shaped cake—wholeheartedly loving you.
I also gave him eleven roses—loving you forever.
I found that when he received the gifts, his expression was a smile mixed with shyness, like a young boy who had just been confessed to by a girl.
My Lin Zhiyi! This adorable and interesting big boy, since meeting me, has only me in his heart and eyes. This is truly something I can be proud of for a lifetime!
September 9, 2020
“Can you leave work early today?” Lin Zhiyi asked me before work on September 9th.
“Why? Do you have plans tonight?” A Taurus being romantic is still quite anticipated.
“If you can leave early, I’ll have everything arranged for you from evening to night!”
That day, there was still a lot of urgent work, so I left at dusk. Plus, the roads were congested during the evening rush hour, and when I arrived at the place where Lin Zhiyi was waiting for me, the city lights were already shining brightly.
I followed Lin Zhiyi onto an elevator, and he pressed the “79” button, saying, “I’ll let you experience the feeling of an airplane ascending.”
The elevator was very fast, and I felt a sense of weightlessness like riding a roller coaster.
He took me to a Western restaurant and pointed to the window side, saying, “I originally planned for us to sit there and watch the sunset this evening.”
I like high places and sunsets, and the location there perfectly satisfied my two preferences.
“I feel sorry for letting you down today; we missed the sunset,” I said slightly regretfully.
“It’s okay; we can watch the moon rise,” he said.
There were no seats by the window on the 79th floor, so we went to dine at Cloud Bar on the 80th floor.
Sitting by the window on the 80th floor, I watched the entire city glittering with dazzling lights.
“Dà Níng, do you know where the tallest building in Beijing is?” Lin Zhiyi asked me.
“The Central TV Tower?” Lin Zhiyi and I had gone up together, and from there, we could overlook the entire city of Beijing.
“No! It’s right here.” He pointed to a nearby dazzling building and said, “The China Zun there is the tallest building in Beijing, standing at 528 meters tall.”
“Dà Níng, do you know where the warmest light in Beijing is?”
“Where?” I asked.
“There.” Lin Zhiyi pointed to a distant light in the vast night, “The building we live in, our home has the warmest light in Beijing.”
The ceiling of the restaurant was adorned with star-like lights. He looked at me, and his eyes seemed to sparkle with stars.
My heart slightly stirred. No matter how brilliant the galaxy is, home is still the warmest human light deep in everyone’s heart.
December 25, 2020
In the morning, I was still lying in bed when I heard a conversation outside the door—”Dad, did you drink the milk?”
“No, I didn’t!”
“Yesterday, our class discussed whether Santa Claus exists or not, divided into two groups.
One group believed Santa Claus doesn’t exist, that parents dress up as him; another group believed Santa Claus exists.”
“Which group are you in?”
“I’m in the believing group.”
Listening to the father-daughter conversation, I quietly smiled in my blanket.
Three years ago on Christmas, Xinbao asked me a question: “Why do only children get Christmas presents?”
“Because, children believe in fairy tales, and adults don’t believe in fairy tales,” I answered.
Now, Xinbao is nine years old, and she still says she believes. I am greatly comforted.
Believing in fairy tales is to keep one’s childlike innocence. The greatest significance of The Little Prince is to remind every adult not to forget that they were once children. Guarding the little prince is guarding each person’s childlike innocence. Childlike innocence is beautiful and fragile but extremely precious, an invaluable treasure in the world.
No matter what hardships life has given us, may we always have a child living in our hearts, believing in love, believing in beauty, maintaining the curiosity and innocence of seeing the world for the first time.
February 14, 2021
Valentine’s Day has arrived, and I asked Lin Zhiyi, “Do you know what day it is today?”
“Yes, I do!”
“Hmm, you’re aware.”
“Today is the third day of the Lunar New Year, everyone knows that.”
“...” It happens to be the third day of the Lunar New Year today, no problem.
Previously, Lin Zhiyi said that after getting married, there’s no need to celebrate Valentine’s Day; we should celebrate Wife’s Day instead. It seems like he doesn’t want to give gifts for Valentine’s Day.
“The roses at home have withered; we need to replace them with new ones.” I hinted indirectly.
“Roses are expensive today; they cost at least ten yuan each.”
A certain Taurus, indeed calculating carefully.
“Mom, Dad doesn’t need to buy you roses; I have some!” After a while, Xinbao came running over cheerfully.
“Where are the roses?”
“Here!” She held up her iPad to show me.
“Did you draw these?” I looked at the digital roses she drew.
“Yes! Are they pretty?”
“They’re beautiful! You saved your dad ten yuan.” Such a considerate daughter.
In the afternoon, after washing my hair, I changed into a retro red velvet long dress, ready to have afternoon tea with Lin Zhiyi, but he wasn’t home.
After a while, he entered the house holding a bunch of roses.
“You just went to buy roses? There must have been many people buying roses today?” I pretended to be nonchalant and asked.
“Of course! I had to queue to buy roses; there were several delivery guys in front of me.”
“Are roses expensive today? Ten yuan each?”
“No, guess again.”
“Twenty yuan each?”
“Correct.”
“So expensive; buying one would have been enough, why did you buy eleven?” After all, red roses usually cost six yuan each.
“Valentine’s Day comes once a year; it’s rare for flower shop owners to make a profit. Besides, no matter how expensive the roses are, they’re not as valuable as the smile on your face. It’s hard to buy your smile with thousands of gold coins. As long as you’re happy, that’s more important than anything.”
May 20, 2021
Every “520” reminds us to confess to the people we like, to say those words we usually can’t express: I love you, thank you.
This year’s “520” was complex because my physical examination showed some issues, and the doctor suggested surgery as soon as possible. Today happened to be the day the doctor gave me the hospital admission form.
From the moment the doctor told me I needed surgery and would be hospitalized for a week, to the various pre-surgery tests like blood draws, to receiving the hospital admission form today, I was slightly uneasy. After all, humans naturally feel uncomfortable with the unknown; this was a completely new experience for me.
Last night, after returning home from work, I was preparing to pack for the hospital when, unexpectedly, Lin Zhiyi brought out a bunch of roses and said, “Wife, it’s ‘520’, here are the flowers for you.”
“More flowers?” In front of the fresh flowers, my face unconsciously bloomed into a flower, dispelling all the tension and unease before the surgery.
“And this.” He magically pulled out a beautifully round cake.
On top of the cake was a “heart gesture” pattern, with “Live Well” and “Love Slowly” written on either side of the pattern. Around the cake was a large inscription—”Big Lin loves Big Níng 520.”
Unintentionally, my smile grew even wider. Seeing the roses, my smile bloomed like a rose; seeing the cake, a sweet strawberry was planted in my heart.
This “520”, because I was about to be hospitalized, bitter melons were planted in my heart, but now sweet strawberries have covered them all! Suddenly, romantic and vibrant hot air balloons rose in my world.
Postscript: These days, my thoughts were all focused on preparing for the surgery, and I never thought he would celebrate “520” with me, especially on the eve of “520”, making me feel that the surgery wasn’t scary anymore. This “520” was still as romantic as ever.
Counting the past, this romantic Taurus man has accompanied me through nineteen springs and autumns. He made me firmly believe—love truly exists, in a person’s long-term companionship, in meticulous care, in always keeping you in the tender corner of their heart.
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