Ti flies, and before you know it, it’s the 31st of the month.
Early in the morning, Mu Chenxi excitedly can’t sleep, and the first thing she does upon opening her eyes is to call Luo Shangqing.
"Hello." She lies in bed, her morning voice lazy.
"Just woke up?" Unlike her languidness, Luo Shangqing already sounds bright and refreshed.
"I’ve been awake for a while."
"Mu Chenxi, you’re not good at lying." Luo Shangqing’s low chuckle cos from the other end, "If I’m not mistaken, you’re still wrapped up in your blanket right now."
Mu Chenxi feels a bit awkward and tugs at the corner of her blanket: "Professor Luo, are you going to the lab today?"
"Yeah, heading over in a bit, what’s up?"
"No, nothing." Mu Chenxi hurriedly waves her hand, "Just asking, so what ti are you going over?"
Luo Shangqing walks out of his house, takes out his car keys, and presses the unlock button on his car, after hearing the unlocking sound, he says: "Nine o’clock."
"Got it, then drive safely, I’m hanging up now."
"Mu Chenxi." Luo Shangqing suddenly stops her: "Is there nothing else you want to say?"
"Sothing else? Oh, yes."
Luo Shangqing’s eyebrows raise when he hears her say "Rember to eat breakfast," and his brows furrow in the middle: "Mu Chenxi, silly girl."
～
Visiting the lab every day is a habit of Luo Shangqing, whether or not he has experints, he still spends a few hours there.
Today is no different, and when he unlocks the door, he first hangs up his coat, then goes to change into his lab clothes. As he passes the spacious and bright experint table, he instinctively glances at it and is taken aback.
On the experint table, there is a row of differently shaped glass vessels filled with colorful candies.
Surprised, he walks over and picks up a U-shaped tube closest to him. As he pours its contents into his palm, it turns out to be a lollipop wrapped in grass-green paper.
It reminds him of the lollipops he often gives to Mu Chenxi.
Luo Shangqing, intrigued, unwraps one, and to his surprise, there are words on the wrapping paper, tiny and exquisite: "Happy Birthday, Mr. Beast."
He can’t help but smile, his lips curling up in pleasure. This morning when he called, he was a bit anxious and disappointed that she hadn’t realized it was his birthday despite his reminders. Knowing she was not the most observant, he hadn’t held much hope. Now seeing the vessels filled to the brim with candy is like the many Christmases he would secretly hang a few socks by the bedside, hoping to wake up to lots of candy.
But each ti was a disappointnt, and every year was lonely. His stocking never overflowed with candies; his Christmas gifts were always just new books or a new watch on the coffee table.
Yes, he has so many watches, enough to wear a different one daily without repeat for a year.
But, what he dislikes most are also watches. He likes candies like a little kid, and of course, this hobby is unknown to anyone else; except for the candies he has given to Mu Chenxi, he has never shown it to anyone else.
He doesn’t like the taste of candy, he just feels it’s the childhood he missed out on.
Luo Shangqing never imagined that a straightforward kid like Mu Chenxi would notice this particular fondness of his—he’s sure he never gave the slightest hint.
He puts the unwrapped candy in his mouth, and Luo Shangqing is sowhat amazed; the taste of the candy is very sweet, lacking the flavor of essence, as if... it’s handmade.
All he knows is that she can boil noodles. Could she make candy too?
Luo Shangqing unwraps several more pieces of candy, and as expected, each wrapper carries a ssage or a simple drawing, crudely done to the level of an elentary student’s, so so abstract he has to ponder over them for a while with his intelligence.
After unwrapping more than a dozen candies, he stops. These are enough to last him a while; he’ll leave the rest to open slowly when he feels like eating them. Enjoying the surprises on the candy wrappers while eating is undoubtedly a pleasant experience.
Luo Shangqing puts all the candies from the vessels into a cardboard box and stores them in a drawer. There are many; clearly, it took a long ti to make.
This is the cheapest birthday gift he’s ever received, yet also the most thoughtful; his favorite gift. The child’s effort is apparent. While he seems indifferent, he is truly moved.
Just as Luo Shangqing picks up the phone, a WeChat ssage pops up: "Guess where I am?"
Luo Shangqing lifts the corner of his mouth, puts down the phone, and walks straight to the door. As he opens it, Mu Chenxi, who is still playing with her phone waiting for a ssage, clearly freezes, looking bewilderedly at the tall and handso man before finally uttering, "Unbelievable."
"Surprised?"
"Yeah, how did you know I was at the door?"
Luo Shangqing gently rubs her face: "If I couldn’t figure that out, would I still be your teacher?"
"Professor Luo, that’s not fair, you take away all my sense of mystery," Mu Chenxi pouts unhappily.
"Sneaking into my lab in the middle of the night and filling it with candy like Santa Claus, is that not mysterious?" Luo Shangqing looks down at her face, now spreading with a smile, and stretches his arms to embrace her, "Mu Chenxi, I am very happy."
Yes, he was delighted. The surprise she prepared for him would be etched in his mory for life. He had lived for over thirty years and for the first ti, he felt cherished and understood. He was an adult, yet he was won over by her candy, and he was willing to remain captivated for life.
"Happy Birthday." Mu Chenxi tiptoed, "Wishing my beastly male god success in his career, may everything go smoothly, and may he achieve twice the result with half the effort..."
"Mu Chenxi, how long did you morize those idioms?" She had recited over a dozen idioms in one breath, and he couldn’t help but look at her with a mischievous smile.
"I just made it up on the spot. I was really good at playing idiom solitaire when I was a kid." Mu Chenxi said proudly, lifting her head.
The ti of day when the sunlight was at its best, it warmly cascaded through the glass window, from every strand of hair to the bottom of her heart, forming a trickle that blended into her blood.
He said, "Mu Chenxi, thank you."
～
After staying in the laboratory for a while, Mu Chenxi clamored to eat cake, claiming it was to celebrate his birthday, but it was really because she craved it herself.
In the dessert shop, Luo Shangqing ordered a small rainbow cake for her, just enough for two people.
He wasn’t fond of the ritual of blowing out candles and making wishes, so they simply skipped all that and began to cut and eat the cake.
"How’s the progress with the immigration matter?" Luo Shangqing handed her a napkin. For the first ti in a long while, he brought up this topic, which was also a thorn in both of their hearts.
Mu Chenxi forcibly swallowed the cake in her mouth and looked down at the plate in front of her: "It’s not finished yet."
"Hmm." He responded indifferently, and after a mont of silence, he suddenly looked at her seriously: "Mu Chenxi, I respect your decision."
Mu Chenxi lifted her head, feeling as if she were enveloped by his dark gaze, nervously swallowing.
"Give your answer tomorrow morning," Luo Shangqing pushed the juice towards her, "Have a drink."
Mu Chenxi knew that, sooner or later, she had to make a decision. So things couldn’t be resolved by simply avoiding them.
If she chose to immigrate, it would an the end of their relationship. There was no such thing as love surviving across seas or the beauty that distance could create. People in love should be together.
～
Mu Chenxi returned ho to find Luo ijuan working on docunts at the living room table, surrounded by a heap of folders.
"Xixi, you’re back. I’ll need your ID card tomorrow."
"For what?" Mu Chenxi took off her bag.
"For the immigration matter, of course. It’s almost finished," Luo ijuan said without looking up: "I know you don’t want to leave, and your father and I don’t want to either. After all, your grandparents are still in Aus City, but, Chenxi, everything we’re doing is to pave the way for your future and create a better life for our family."
"Mom, what if I say I’m satisfied with my life now?"
"Silly child, everyone strives for sothing better. Your father works nonstop as a director at the hospital, and we aren’t earning that much money. This can’t go on forever. If we didn’t have this opportunity, we would have had to just make do. Now with such a good offer on the table, it would be foolish not to cherish it, right?"
Of course, Mu Chenxi understood all these reasons. She didn’t say anything and went straight back to her room.
Throwing her bag onto the bed, Mu Chenxi flopped down on it, and looking up, she saw those four characters written by Luo Shangqing again.
His warm and magnetic voice echoed in her ears: "I respect your decision."
It seed the decision was entirely in her hands. What imnse pressure.
What should I do, what should I do?
Grabbing a pillow to hold, Mu Chenxi rolled around restlessly.
She didn’t want to go abroad, she didn’t want to leave Professor Luo, but she also didn’t want to leave her parents. It was at this mont that she deeply understood the difficulty in the saying: In this world, it’s hard to have the best of both worlds, to not let down the Buddha nor the one you hold dear.
Yeah, is there a way to have it all?
As she rolled around for the nth ti, Mu Chenxi suddenly sat up as if she had thought of sothing, then rapidly ran to her desk and turned on the computer.
She joined a translation group and then sent out a call for help in it. She might not have understood what Luo Shangqing had said on the mountain that day, but she rembered it clearly. She was sure it wasn’t English.
Sure enough, soone in the group said, "Is this French?"
Mu Chenxi replied: "I’m not sure. All I can rember is this. Is it hard to translate?"
"The group owner studies French. Ask him."
No sooner had this been ntioned than the group owner showed up, first posting a laughing emoji and then asked, "Where did you hear this phrase from?"
"My boyfriend said it," Mu Chenxi told the truth. HI, happy birthday
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