Bai Yuan left a WeChat message: “Are you going alone tomorrow, or should I go with you? Do you need a companion to accompany you?”
Shi Liang thought about it and replied: “Forget it, I might as well just go alone. There isn’t much content to negotiate anyway, and I’ll come back and relay everything to you.”
Bai Yuan looked a bit surprised: “Alright!”
Shi Liang put down his phone, went to take a hot shower, and upon returning, found that Qi Wei had sent him a WeChat message.
“Let’s go to Zui Xianju for hot pot tomorrow. I’ve already booked a table in advance, and we can discuss the contract while eating hot pot.”
Shi Liang glanced at the chat history. It had been sent half an hour ago.
Perhaps Qi Wei was already asleep by now, so Shi Liang simply replied with a single word: “Okay.”
Before he could even put his phone down, another message came through: “You’re still not sleeping yet? I thought you were already asleep and wouldn’t reply.”
Shi Liang didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he went to the bathroom, grabbed a towel, and started drying his hair.
He wiped his hair while replying: “Knowing that I was already asleep and wouldn’t reply, why didn’t you go to sleep yourself?”
Qi Wei replied: “Tomorrow is your birthday, and I wanted to be the very first person to send you birthday wishes at midnight.”
Shi Liang remembered back when they were together, he used to demand that Qi Wei be the absolute first person to wish him. Every year around his birthday, Qi Wei would stay up very late just to send him wishes.
He had never known whether Qi Wei was willing to do those things. His sister’s medical expenses entirely relied on his own efforts, and absolute financial strength allowed him to take the initiative in this passive romance.
Thinking about it now, it still felt a bit ridiculous: “In the past, I might have liked things like a sense of ritual, but I don’t care for it that much anymore. Compared to a sense of ritual, I now prefer things that are more practical.”
Qi Wei understood: “What birthday gift do you want? Would you like a mango cake and peach blossom wine?”
Shi Liang remained silent for a long time: “I don’t want them. I’m a bit tired, so I’m going to sleep first. You should go to sleep early too. Don’t stay up late. It’s meaningless.”
Mango cake?
Shi Liang still remembered that on his birthday back then, he had invited many good friends over and received all kinds of gifts. But what he wanted to know the most at that time was what Qi Wei had gotten him.
No matter what Qi Wei gave him, he would gladly accept it. The gift itself wasn’t important. What mattered was that it came from him.
During Qi Wei’s last birthday, because Shi Liang tried to give him something and Qi Wei refused to accept it no matter what, it ended in an unpleasant fallout. This time, everyone tacitly and sensibly refrained from asking to see Qi Wei’s gift.
After everyone else had left, Qi Wei took out the gift he had prepared: a silver necklace.
It was just that Qi Wei didn’t know back then that Shi Liang was allergic to silver jewelry, and wearing it would cause red rashes to break out.
Qi Wei’s life was quite tight financially, so the money for the gift must have been saved up penny by penny. Since it was rare for Qi Wei to give him a gift, he liked it very much. Even though he couldn’t wear it, he still carefully tucked it away in his collection.
Besides the silver necklace, Qi Wei had also personally made him a mango cake and peach blossom wine. However, they got dropped on the way, and all the peach blossom wine spilled. The cake survived, though it looked a bit ugly, but its taste was better than any mango cake he had ever eaten.
That night, Qi Wei held him in bed and swore by his ear that once he had money in the future, he would definitely buy him his favorite jade jewelry.
Shi Liang had teased him: “When you actually have money, by the time I’m burdened with paying for my sister’s medical expenses, I might just want to leave you.”
Qi Wei held him tightly and wouldn’t let go: “I won’t. I will love you forever.”
Shi Liang didn’t bother investigating how credible Qi Wei’s words were, because a man’s sweet words are only at their highest credibility the exact moment they are spoken. And indeed, later on, when Qi Wei got rich, let alone buying him jade jewelry, he hardly even came home.
Even if Qi Wei saying he loved him was true, so what?
Shi Liang had always felt that the word forever in I will love you forever functioned as a degree adverb rather than a time adverb.
What’s more, he had forced his way into getting Qi Wei through leveraging favors and exercising coercion.
Shi Liang lay down and couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.
After a good while, his phone rang. Shi Liang checked the screen: 00:00.
Right there in the chat interface appeared Qi Wei’s message: “Happy birthday!”
Shi Liang closed the chat box without saying a word, lay back down, and closed his eyes. He couldn’t force himself to fall asleep, but he could force his mind to think of nothing at all.
I don’t know how much time passed before he finally drifted into a light sleep, only to be woken up by his alarm the next morning.
When he checked his phone, there were three missed calls, all coming from Li Yanxiang.