Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
The next morning, Le Cheng woke up early and was dragged off to the farmers’ market by Cao Fanqin to buy groceries.
On the way there, Le Cheng changed Zhou Shirui’s contact label.
[Zhou Andersen]
Le Cheng still remembered the story Zhou Shirui had told him, but had Zhou Shirui spoken to him again after that? He couldn’t quite recall.
Browsing the farmers’ market was a new experience for Le Cheng. He followed Cao Fanqin around excitedly, watching her haggle with the vendors and then proudly introduce him.
“Oh my, your son’s back?”
“Yeah, C University’s break starts early, so of course he’s back early.”
“C University? That’s a great school!”
“Haha.” Cao Fanqin feigned modesty. “It’s just average. By the way, this fish is really nice, could you knock the price down a little more?”
“I really can’t go any lower on this one; I’d be selling at a loss…”
Le Cheng stood nearby, carrying the groceries like a laborer, and felt quite pleased with himself.
It felt great to be showered with praise. Most of the vendors knew Cao Fanqin, and Le Cheng addressed them as “Auntie” and “Uncle” one after another. He was good-looking and had a great figure, so the compliments just kept pouring in.
If Le Cheng had a tail, it would have been wagging all the way to the sky right then.
He pulled out his phone and started typing away, sending a message to Zhou Shirui.
[Orange: I just went grocery shopping with my mom, and so many people complimented me!]
[Orange: Plus, I learned how to tell which fish are fresh, how to pick eggplants and green beans, and where to find the best meat.]
[Orange: Spinning in pride.jpg]
Zhou Shirui didn’t reply. Le Cheng waited two minutes, then strolled back with Cao Fanqin while carrying the fish, typing with one hand, making a dramatic accusation.
[Orange: Oh, come on, you haven’t replied to me in over two minutes!]
[Orange: I’m going to get mad!]
[Orange: What are you doing?]
“Buzz…”
[Zhou Andersen: Thinking about how to compliment you]
Le Cheng couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl up slightly.
[Orange: So, have you figured it out yet?]
[Zhou Andersen: I’ve thought about it]
[Orange: Tell me, tell me]
[Zhou Andersen: Very impressive, very smart, and you have a strong ability to learn.]
If someone else had said this, Le Cheng would definitely have thought they were just flattering him, but Zhou Shirui wasn’t that kind of person. Hehe, Le Cheng giggled foolishly twice, making Cao Fanqin turn her head to look at him.
Le Cheng quickly suppressed the corners of his lips and said seriously, “I’m reading a joke.”
Cao Fanqin smiled meaningfully but didn’t say anything.
The weather in the north was very cold. A few days later, when Le Cheng woke up in the morning, he discovered that it had snowed heavily.
His family lived on the fifth floor. Looking outside through the window, everything was a hazy white. Le Cheng pressed himself against it and saw that it was still snowing outside, the snowflakes drifting down like goose feathers.
Le Cheng watched for a while and thought it was so beautiful, so he took a photo and sent it to Zhou Shirui.
[Le Cheng: It’s snowing!]
Zhou Shirui didn’t reply, and Le Cheng didn’t pay attention to it either, because he and Zhou Shirui were in neighboring cities. He checked the weather forecast, and C City should also be getting heavy snow.
“Knock knock—”
Someone was knocking on the door. It was Cao Fanqin: “Chengcheng, hurry up and get up to wash your face and brush your teeth. Your cousin is coming over to our house to play in a little while.”
The New Year was approaching, and close relatives would visit each other. Le Cheng answered, changed out of his pajamas, and opened the door to go wash up.
It wasn’t long before the cousins Cao Fanqin had mentioned arrived.
The older cousin looked only a little older than Le Cheng, while the younger cousin was still a seven-year-old elementary school student.
To avoid making a mistake, Le Cheng sat on the sofa and called out somewhat awkwardly, “Big Brother, you’re here.”
The boy he called Big Brother looked a little surprised. After Cao Fanqin enthusiastically pulled him down to sit, he said in a shocked whisper, “Le Cheng? You’re really Le Cheng?”
Le Cheng felt a tiny bit guilty at the question and nodded. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” His cousin stroked his chin. “Looks like university really is a beauty salon. It not only beautifies your appearance, but your soul as well.”
“In my memory, this might be the second time you’ve called me Big Brother.”
Le Cheng was silent for a moment. “When was the first time?”
“You were seven, I think.” His cousin said, “Back then, you were holding a toy gun and told me, ‘Big Brother, when I grow up, I want to be a cop. The first person I’ll shoot will be you.’”
Le Cheng: “…………”
He repented, “I was young and didn’t know any better back then…”
“That much is true.” His cousin said, “I thought your rebellious phase would last until you were eighty.”
Le Cheng: “…………”
After a friendly exchange, Le Cheng quickly became familiar with his cousins. As an elementary school student, the younger cousin hadn’t even been upstairs for half an hour before he started clamoring to go downstairs and have a snowball fight.
As the older Big Brother, Le Cheng naturally had to go downstairs with him as well.
After huffing and puffing to pile up a huge ball, Le Cheng’s fingers were frozen red. His phone kept vibrating in his pocket, and only then did he struggle to take it out and glance at it.
[Zhou Andersen: Mm.]
[Zhou Andersen: Are you up?]
Seeing that he hadn’t replied, he asked again.
[Zhou Andersen: Have you eaten?]
[Zhou Andersen: Busy?]
He still didn’t reply, so ten minutes later, Zhou Shirui sent another message.
[Zhou Andersen: What are you busy with?]
Le Cheng’s hands were too frozen to type, so he opened the voice message and replied to him.
“My big brother just came over, and I’m downstairs building a snowman right now.”
At this moment, Zhou Shirui was sitting in front of his computer investigating game bugs. When he saw the voice message, he clicked it and listened to it once, unable to stop himself from frowning.
Big Brother? What Big Brother?
[Zhou Andersen: You have an older Big Brother?]
Le Cheng quickly replied.
“Yes.” Le Cheng’s voice sounded light and airy, as if he were in an open space. “Not my actual brother… Hey! That carrot is mine!”
Not actual brother.
Zhou Shirui couldn’t help but wonder, if they weren’t, then what were they? There were several possible interpretations of that sentence: maternal cousin, paternal cousin, godbrother, or lover.
[Zhou Andersen: What kind of Big Brother?]
Le Cheng was currently fighting with his mischievous younger cousin over the carrot. His older cousin had washed his hands of the matter, not wanting to deal with his two “childish” younger cousins, and had walked off to the side to call his partner.
“Alright, alright.” Le Cheng surrendered. “You can play with it, you can play with it.”
“Hehe.” His younger cousin grinned foolishly with a big runny nose. “Big Brother, hurry up and help me put the carrot on Ultraman’s hand.”
Le Cheng looked at the classic smiling snowman he’d built and felt somewhat helpless. “This isn’t Ultr— okay, Big Brother will put it on for you. It’ll transform into the Super Invincible Ultraman right away.”
Le Cheng huffed and puffed as he attached the carrot to the snowman. When he turned around, he saw his younger cousin sitting on the ground, not knowing what he was doing.
“Don’t pee on the ground!” Le Cheng hurriedly looked down. “Get up!”
His younger cousin said, “Big Brother, you’re so silly. I didn’t pee.”
“I’m drawing a heart…” His younger cousin stuck out his butt.
“Oh…” Le Cheng bent down to take a look, then crouched down as well, sticking out his butt and drawing together with his younger cousin.
The heart was drawn very large. His younger cousin had drawn it crooked and unevenly, and Le Cheng really couldn’t stand looking at it, so he patted down the crooked parts, then slowly finished drawing it with the tip of his foot.
After finishing, Le Cheng saw that his younger cousin had written “Little Yu.”
Le Cheng asked, “Why are you writing Little Yu?”
“My name is Little Yu.” His younger cousin said, “Cousin, what’s your name? I drew a heart, so you write your name too.”
Le Cheng blinked. “Okay.”
He readily wrote down Le Cheng and said somewhat childishly, “Look, little cousin, Cousin’s name is harder to write, so Cousin isn’t dumb at all.”
“Cousin is smart.” His younger cousin said, “Cousin, tell me how to write Little Xuan.”
“Which xuan?”
“I think there’s a car…”
Le Cheng understood and wrote it beside Little Yu. He asked curiously, “Why are you writing this?”
“This is my good friend!” His younger cousin Little Yu said proudly. “Does Cousin have any good friends?”
“Of course.” Seeing that there was still plenty of space left, Le Cheng wrote the names Tan Xiaobai and He Ziqing in one breath.
There were still many blank spaces. His phone vibrated with a “buzz buzz” in his pocket, and Le Cheng suddenly remembered something. He added “Zhou Shirui” beside Le Cheng.
Then, imitating his younger cousin Little Yu, he drew a heart around him and Zhou Shirui.
His younger cousin Little Yu leaned over. “Cousin, your good friend?”
“Mm…” Before Le Cheng could answer, he took out his phone. Zhou Shirui was calling him.
“Hello?” Le Cheng hurriedly answered.
“Le Cheng.” Zhou Shirui’s voice sounded slightly cold. “What are you doing? Are you still building a snowman?”
“Yeah.” Le Cheng said, “I just finished. Do you want me to take a picture and show you? I built it very perfect!”
Except for the carrot in the snowman’s hand.
There was two seconds of silence on Zhou Shirui’s end of the phone. “I don’t want to see it.”
“Huh?” Le Cheng was somewhat confused. “Why? I think I did a pretty good job…”
“Le Cheng.” His older cousin had finally finished his call with his partner and walked over. Looking at the heart in the snow and the countless names, he frowned disdainfully. “Are you seven years old this year too? Le Seven?”
An unfamiliar man’s voice.
Zhou Shirui’s brows suddenly knitted tightly. He didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but for some reason, he felt like those words sounded flirtatious.
Le Cheng retorted, “Of course not. Little Yu asked me to write it.”
Little Yu. Zhou Shirui’s expression remained blank. Who was Little Yu?
His older cousin said, “Still won’t admit it.”
Le Cheng didn’t plan on paying attention to him, so he said to Zhou Shirui again, “What are you doing? Why did you call me?”
Zhou Shirui asked, “I can’t call you now?”
Le Cheng: “?”
Why did it feel strange?
“You can call me, of course.” Le Cheng said good-naturedly. “I didn’t say you couldn’t.”
“Mm.” Zhou Shirui paused for a moment, then asked naturally, “Who was the Big Brother you were talking about just now?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Le Cheng said, “My cousin. He brought my younger cousin over to pay an early New Year’s visit. We came downstairs together to build a snowman.”
Zhou Shirui suddenly fell silent.
After a while, he asked, “The person who just called you ‘Le Seven’, is he your cousin?”
“Yes.” Le Cheng nodded. “He’s making fun of me. He’s so annoying.”
Zhou Shirui said, “Mm, he is annoying.”
“Forget it, let’s not talk about him.” Le Cheng’s tone was lively. “I built a snowman. Let me show you!”
Le Cheng put the call in the background and took about eighteen photos to send to Zhou Shirui.
Zhou Shirui casually leaned against the balcony, gazing at the heavy snow outside the window. With great patience, he opened the photos one by one, enlarged them, and looked at them.
Le Cheng took many photos that looked barely any different from one another. Zhou Shirui’s gaze paused, and his fingertip enlarged one of them.
In the corner of the photo, there were two blurry names, right next to each other.
[Le Cheng X Zhou Shirui]
There was also a heart drawn around the two names, circling them.
Coincidentally, at that moment, Le Cheng’s clear voice came through the microphone: “The snow is coming down so heavily. It’s really beautiful, but unfortunately, it’s not the first snow.”
“Zhou Shirui.” Le Cheng laughed softly. “Have you heard before that you’re supposed to watch the first snow with the person you like?”
An ambiguous remark, like a sincere confession.
The strings of his heart were suddenly plucked hard, playing together in his mind at a dizzying frequency. Zhou Shirui’s throat felt dry, and he swallowed. “Mm.”
“I guess you know that too.” Le Cheng said, “The first time I heard about it was from a movie.”
Zhou Shirui: “A movie?”
“Mm, that’s right.” Le Cheng nodded. “It said that if you watch the first snow with the person you like, you’ll be able to be together and receive Heaven’s blessing.”
The words spoken slowly made Zhou Shirui’s heart tighten. Was Le Cheng hinting at something?
“Ah, forget it, I’m not going to talk anymore. It’s so cold.” Le Cheng said with a laugh. “I’m going upstairs to eat. You should go eat too. Bye-bye!”
Zhou Shirui was silent for two seconds. “Okay.”
After Le Cheng went home and ate, and after seeing off his older and younger cousins, he lazily lay on his bed, finally having some free time to play with his phone for a while.
His mother brought in some more cut fruit. Le Cheng stretched out his hand, and Cao Fanqin speared a piece of pineapple for him to eat.
“Thank you, Mom.” Le Cheng opened his mouth and bit into it, then suddenly felt a little embarrassed, sitting up and taking the small fork himself.
Cao Fanqin asked him, “Are you busy right now?”
“I’m not busy.” Le Cheng said, chewing pineapple and unable to speak clearly. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you still going to set off fireworks during the New Year this year?” Cao Fanqin said. “Your dad bought you a lot last year, and they’re still in the warehouse. During the New Year, while setting off fireworks is still allowed here, take them out and play with them.”
They hadn’t yet banned fireworks where they lived. Actually, they had banned them, but whenever someone set them off, people would patrol around in little cars and give them a verbal warning. But when too many people set them off, they simply pretended not to see.
Le Cheng nodded in agreement. “Okay, I’ll go out and set them off during the New Year.”
“Mm, Chengcheng is such a good boy.” Cao Fanqin patted his head. “I’m going out. Take your time eating.”
Le Cheng’s ears were a little red. He closed his eyes for a moment and leaned against the side of the bed, feeling that he was very lucky.
Why?
In his previous life, he had been adopted, but actually, when he was adopted, he was only five years old and didn’t remember much at all. He only remembered that his adoptive mother’s body smelled fragrant.
His adoptive father and adoptive mother treated him very well, in a way that felt like a gentle stream flowing continuously. He was raised with a very stable personality and a heart that was also full.
Although after he grew up, his younger brother was very young and took away most of their parents’ affection, they never treated him unfairly materially.
Now that he had transmigrated, his father and mother were still very good to him. Le Cheng felt that he must have received some kind of blessing. On a path that looked difficult to walk, things always went surprisingly smoothly for him.
Le Cheng lay on the bed for a while, then opened his Weibo and Douyin. Seeing the trending topics, they were already all filled with New Year preparations.
His comment section was also quite lively.
Because he had cleared out his messages in advance, and because Le Cheng didn’t upload and display his drafts every time, his feed showed that he hadn’t updated for three days.
[We Are So Ambiguous: Talented Creator, the New Year is almost here. Happy New Year!]
[Pomelo Fragrance: Haven’t gotten any male-model food for three days. Boss, do you still remember us CP fans by Daming Lake?]
[Moon: Boss, when are you going to show your face?]
Le Cheng scrolled through the comments, then showed up.
[Stealing Hearts, Runaway Fruit Orange: I’ve been slacking off lately, so I haven’t drawn any drafts or done any doodling. I don’t have any talents to show you, so I’ll wish everyone an early Happy New Year!]
[Happy: Caught the boss! Boss, tomorrow is my birthday. Can you wish me a happy birthday?]
When it came to requests like this, Le Cheng had always fulfilled them whenever he saw them.
[Stealing Hearts, Runaway Fruit Orange: Happy birthday to you, and may you be happy every day!]
After posting the comment, Le Cheng turned off his phone and glanced at the calendar hanging nearby.
Birthday.
He remembered.
In three more days, it would be Zhou Shirui’s birthday.
Le Cheng had always felt that holidays like this were quite important and worth commemorating. As a friend, as Le Cheng saw it, he should naturally celebrate Zhou Shirui’s birthday for him.
Only… Zhou Shirui seemed to have little interest in it, and Le Cheng didn’t plan on keeping some huge surprise from him. He was just preparing to give Zhou Shirui a birthday present.
Le Cheng had chosen the birthday present half a month ago. After all, he was quite poor right now. Although he had earned quite a bit of money, his pockets were empty, and he was still carrying debt. It was difficult to pick a thoughtful gift. After searching online and finding nothing, Le Cheng simply decided to make one himself.
He went to a store specializing in ceramic DIY and made two pairs of figurines. They were both Q-version, one of himself and one of Zhou Shirui. They were chubby and round, extremely cute. There was no other meaning behind them; he simply thought they would have commemorative value. Although Le Cheng was very clumsy at crocheting scarves, he was quite talented at shaping and molding ceramics. When he finished molding them and showed them off, many people around him praised how good they looked.
Firing ceramics took time. Le Cheng went to the store yesterday to pick up the figurines. The finished products were unexpectedly beautiful, comparable to those made by professionals, and extremely delicate.
He had the gift in hand, but there was still one thing he hadn’t settled.
Le Cheng lay on the bed and thought for a moment, then poked Cheng Yufei, whom he had added previously.
[Orange: Are you there?]
Cheng Yufei was probably playing on his computer and quickly replied.
[Free Flying: I’m here, what’s up?]
Le Cheng decided to take a tactful approach.
[Orange: Didn’t we say we’d go out and play together during the holiday?]
[Free Flying: Yeah, isn’t that dependent on your and Brother Rui’s schedules? What’s up, did Brother Rui say he wants to go out?]
[Orange: Mm… not really, but I was planning to look ahead and see where we could go]
[Free Flying: Sure, just let me know after you two figure it out]
[Orange: Okay, you don’t need to tell Zhou Shirui yet. After all, I’m just thinking about it. Oh right, which residential complex does Zhou Shirui live in again? I’ll see if there’s anywhere close to his place.]
[Free Flying: You’re so thoughtful! You even thought of this. Let me check, I’ll send it to you]
“Ding dong—”
Le Cheng quickly opened it and took a look, already forming a plan in his mind.
[Orange: Okay, thank you, got it]
[Free Flying: No need to be polite, we’re all friends]
Le Cheng successfully tricked the address out of him and couldn’t help giving himself a thumbs-up for his cleverness.
He was so smart!
Now that he had the address, he could mail the gift over!
Le Cheng couldn’t help humming “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for a while, smugly putting the gift into a box, wrapping it up, and tying a perfect bow.
***
Sunday.
Zhou Shirui woke up promptly at seven o’clock. He threw off the covers and raised his hand with an indifferent expression, shielding his eyes.
After zoning out for a few seconds, he got up and drank a cup of warm water. The underfloor heating was turned up high, with the indoor temperature displaying 28 degrees. He was wearing only a black tank top, his long legs covered by loose shorts. The hem of the tank top had ridden up slightly, revealing the firm, beautiful lines of his waist and abdomen.
After washing up, Zhou Shirui changed his clothes and lowered his eyes to glance at his phone.
999+ messages. Most were official-account notifications, along with people he didn’t know adding him. Zhou Shirui didn’t particularly care and cleared them all out. Among them were quite a few birthday wishes.
[Cheng Yufei: Brother Rui! Happy birthday!! I came right on time, am I the first!]
[Dad: Son, happy birthday. Dad is busy with work and can’t get away, so I can’t celebrate with you]
[Mom: Shiru, happy birthday, Mom loves you]
[Ah Liang: Happy birthday, Brother Rui]
[Group Message [Very Serious Group Studio]: @Zhou Shirui Happy birthday, Brother Rui!!]
……
A whole string of birthday wishes. Zhou Shirui had already gradually received birthday gifts quite early on, ranging from watches worth five hundred thousand to jigsaw puzzles worth one hundred yuan, all of which he had piled up in the warehouse without paying much attention to them.
Zhou Shirui scrolled through them expressionlessly. His fingertip landed on Le Cheng’s chat window. Le Cheng hadn’t sent him a message today, but he had wished him a happy birthday in advance last night.
The chat window was still sitting on that one little emoticon giving a kiss,
His slender fingers scrolled. Zhou Shirui picked and chose, replying only to Cheng Yufei’s message.
[Zhou Shirui: No, you’re too slow.]
Cheng Yufei couldn’t get up this early, so he wouldn’t reply to him.
Then, as a matter of course, he sent a red envelope in the [Very Serious Group] group chat, immediately triggering a flurry of “beep beep beep” as everyone scrambled to grab it.
[Yuanzi: Boss is so generous!]
[AAA Esports Male God: Boss Zhou is so generous!]
[Handsome and Rich: Even gives out money on his birthday. Our Boss Zhou is one of a kind.]
After sending out the red envelope, Zhou Shirui stood in front of the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows and looked at the view for a while, then went downstairs to run. It was an extremely ordinary day.
Even though it was his birthday.
Ever since Zhou Shirui turned seven, his parents had chosen to live separately because they frequently argued, and he stopped celebrating his birthday.
At first, no one celebrated it for him. Later, it evolved into him simply not wanting to celebrate it himself.
He wasn’t someone who particularly cared about ceremony. Correspondingly, after growing up, out of habit, he wouldn’t celebrate his own birthday either.
If he didn’t care, then no one would care either. After all these years, Zhou Shirui had long since stopped feeling anything about it.
In the first year after meeting Cheng Yufei, Cheng Yufei had once asked him, “Brother Rui, when it’s your birthday, should we throw a party and have some fun?”
Zhou Shirui refused, with the reason being that he didn’t like noisy places.
After that, everyone became familiar with him, so no one brought it up again.
Zhou Shirui wore earphones. The landscaping on both sides of the road was well maintained, and the air was very fresh. He ran for forty minutes without getting the slightest bit out of breath. The warm winter sunlight shone over him, and a thin layer of sweat covered his neck. Zhou Shirui prepared to go home.
“Bzz…”
His phone vibrated in his pocket. Zhou Shirui took it out. Someone had sent him a message: a package had arrived, marked as fragile, with delivery to his door.
The delivery person couldn’t get through the gate without the homeowner’s permission. Zhou Shirui thought for a moment, then called the other person.
The call was answered after two rings.
“I’m downstairs,” Zhou Shirui said. “Wait a moment, I’ll come get it directly.”
The delivery person on the other end said, “Okay, sorry for the trouble.”
Zhou Shirui hadn’t bought anything online. Thinking carefully, it should be a gift someone had sent him.
He was already close to the entrance because of his run. After walking for less than five minutes, he arrived at the gate.
After scanning his face to get out, Zhou Shirui expressionlessly swept his gaze around and spotted a yellow electric scooter with a conspicuous rabbit-ear logo.
But there was no one there.
Zhou Shirui frowned slightly. He turned around and looked to the side,
“Surprise! Zhou Shirui!” A white figure suddenly jumped out from the side. Immediately afterward, his arms were filled, and Zhou Shirui looked down in astonishment. When he saw Le Cheng’s face, his heart suddenly went “thump.”
“You…” His throat tightened, and his emotions churned. He didn’t know how to describe this feeling. There was something that made him feel dazzling, almost piercingly bright, but it wasn’t sunlight.
Le Cheng was still looking up at him, his eyes like black obsidian, his smile even more radiant than his eyes. “Zhou Shirui, you’re twenty years old! Did you miss me? Happy birthday!”
