“Damn!” Shang Xueyan kicked out. “Not only are you insulting my big brother’s feelings for me, now you’re insulting my feelings for my big brother!”
“Then why did you write that last sentence?”
“Wouldn’t you love your parents forever?”
Wang Xiantao was left speechless.
“Alright, it’s 11:30. I need to head back.” Shang Xueyan shut down the computer and hurriedly stood up.
From Wang Xiantao’s place to Fengyun Bay was ten kilometers. With midnight approaching, the roads were completely clear. Shang Xueyan made it home before twelve.
He opened the front door and stepped into the entryway. He had just changed into his slippers when he heard footsteps approaching from a distance. Shang Xueyan looked up and saw Shang Xianwang, dressed in a dark navy pajama set, walking from the living room to the entryway, appearing before him.
“Big brother, you haven’t gone upstairs to rest yet?” Shang Xueyan asked in surprise.
“I was waiting for you,” Shang Xianwang said. “Ayan, you seem to have been coming back pretty late lately. What have you been up to?”
Shang Xueyan’s hand paused as he was placing his car keys on the entryway shelf. “It’s just that I was so busy these past few months, I never had time to properly explore this world. Now that I have the time and energy, I’ve been going around to check things out.”
“By yourself?”
“Of course not. Wang Xiantao and Shen Mengkun have both been pretty free lately they’ve been keeping me company.”
Shang Xianwang’s lashes lowered, and he let out a soft, subdued “Mm.”
Back in his room, after washing up, Shang Xueyan lay in bed, racking his brain. He didn’t need to spend any more time on the drone for now, but what gift should he give his big brother?
Shen Mengkun was going to the hospital tomorrow to accompany his sister, so Shang Xueyan sent Wang Xiantao a message: [Come shopping with me tomorrow]
Wang Xiantao: [?]
Shang Xueyan: [I need to buy a birthday gift for my big brother!]
Time flew by, and it was the evening of May 10th. Shang Xueyan had always remembered Shang Xianwang’s birthday. He intended to stay up past midnight and personally go say “happy birthday” to his big brother. He crept quietly to his brother’s door and saw no light spilling out from beneath it, deducing that his brother had already gone to sleep. Shang Xueyan tiptoed back to his own room.
The next day, Shang Xueyan woke up before six. After washing up, he strode energetically into the kitchen, put on an apron, and kneaded dough to make noodles.
Before Shang Xueyan had come to Fengyun Bay, Shang Xianwang’s villa had only him living in it. The villa hired a housekeeping service to clean, but during the times he was in the villa, he was the only one there.
After getting up and washing up, he came to the dining room.
Auntie Wang, wearing an apron, stood at the kitchen doorway. Spotting Shang Xianwang, she called out to the person inside the kitchen: “Xueyan, your brother is down.”
“Ayan is in the kitchen?” Shang Xianwang was taken aback, then quickened his pace and headed toward the kitchen.
Before he even reached the kitchen, Shang Xueyan walked out carrying a bowl of noodles, his face radiant. “Big brother, happy birthday! This is the longevity noodles I cooked for you.”
During the Daan Dynasty, there was no custom of eating longevity noodles for birthdays and back then, noodles weren’t even called noodles; they were called “soup cakes.”
There also wasn’t any specific food that had to be eaten. Celebrations were generally just among family, except when elders celebrated their birthdays with formal banquets.
“This is the custom here. Auntie Wang and the others said that if you eat longevity noodles, you’ll live a long and lasting life. Big brother, hurry and eat.”
Shang Xueyan placed the white porcelain soup bowl containing the noodles on the dining table.
Auntie Wang said, “Xueyan has been practicing making noodles with me for days. Xianwang, hurry and taste them while they’re hot.”
Shang Xueyan was wearing one of Auntie Wang’s aprons, deep black, with a cartoon embroidered cat in the center of the chest, its eyes wide open.
Shang Xianwang pulled out a chair with his slender fingers. After he sat down, Shang Xueyan eagerly handed him a pair of chopsticks.
Shang Xianwang took the chopsticks, lowered his head, and took a bite of the longevity noodles. His pace wasn’t very fast, but it wasn’t very slow either.
“How is it?” Shang Xueyan stood beside him, watching over him.
“Very delicious,” Shang Xianwang said in a low voice.
Shang Xianwang finished the entire bowl of noodles.
Before he left for work, Shang Xueyan followed closely at his side, his eyes bright as he asked, “Big Brother, can you get off work on time this afternoon? I’ve booked a restaurant for tonight, I want to celebrate your birthday.”
“I’ll be off on time.”
“Then I’ll come pick you up at your company’s entrance at six.”
“Mm.”
At dusk, Shang Xueyan picked up Shang Xianwang in the underground garage of Fengyuan Group and drove him to a restaurant for dinner.
He had booked an open-air garden restaurant on the twenty-sixth floor, with an unobstructed view all around, overlooking the Jia’an River, the most bustling area of Jing City.
His big brother wasn’t picky and had few fussy habits, but he wasn’t entirely without preferences when it came to food. A thousand years ago, Shang Xueyan had known exactly what his brother liked to eat, but a thousand years later, the varieties of ingredients and cooking methods had changed greatly. Shang Xueyan hadn’t spent enough time with Shang Xianwang and had only recently discovered that Shang Xianwang didn’t like lotus root, nor cilantro or celery.
He ordered several dishes, all ones Shang Xianwang would enjoy, and also a bottle of wine, a fruit wine with low alcohol content but a beautiful color, a pale green-grape hue that shimmered in the transparent glass.
Shang Xueyan raised his glass first. “Big Brother, happy birthday.”
Shang Xianwang looked up, met his sparkling eyes, and clinked his transparent goblet against his.
Before long, the waiter brought over the dishes they had ordered. Just as they were nearly full, Shang Xueyan’s phone buzzed twice. He turned his head toward the horizon, where over a thousand drones were slowly rising into the sky not far away.
“Big Brother, look at the sky.”
Shang Xianwang turned his head and saw specks of light rising into the sky in the distance, first converging into the shape of a young man in a Chang Dynasty robe, then the drone formation shifted, revealing a young man in a suit and trousers.
At the same time, four large, striking cursive words “Happy Birthday” appeared against the dimming night sky.
“Beibei, look at the sky!” At the table next to Shang Xueyan’s, a girl excitedly pointed it out to the girl across from her.
The other girl looked up and blurted out, “Holy shit, who’s being this romantic?”
The rooftop garden restaurant spanned two hundred square meters with only seven or eight tables, spaced far apart, so Shang Xianwang couldn’t quite make out those two sentences.
He tilted his head up slightly. Then, the drones in the night sky shifted again. Residents on both sides of the river opened their windows, and people strolling about hurried out of the shopping malls, all raising their heads to gaze at the sky.
Happy birthday. After “may you have peace and prosperity year after year,” the drone display shifted to intricate patterns. A young man in the crimson jinshi robe of the An Dynasty rode a horse adorned with a red flower through the streets, surrounded by a bustling crowd. Then came another young man in a seventh-rank crimson official robe with wide sleeves, seated in a bright government office, piles of documents stacked beside him. The next several scenes all depicted him a thousand years ago.
There were scenes of him in Song County driving out tyrants and righting wrongful convictions, reclaiming wasteland and prioritizing agriculture and sericulture, and scenes of him in Laizhou annihilating sea pirates and burning their ships in a chain of fire. The images formed by over a thousand drones weren’t lifelike, but they were vivid and resplendent, brimming with vigorous, exuberant vitality.
Shang Xianwang actually couldn’t clearly recall what had happened in those years. He had already been in this era a thousand years later for quite some time, and Shang Xueyan said he had lived to thirty-two, so those events were things from over a decade ago.
Yet he still remembered them with perfect clarity, as if Shang Xianwang were someone he would carry in his heart for a lifetime even in death, still blazing and vivid, still enduring, still never fading.
The drone display shifted again, transforming into a young man in a suit, surrounded by countless blossoms. A doctor in a white coat valiantly drove away all the viruses around him, while a warrior in armor swiftly repelled those with ill intentions. When the elegant calligraphy reading “a lifetime of health and peace” appeared in the sky, a figure of a youth in a hoodie, pants, and short hair emerged, embracing the suited young man. Another line of striking red text surfaced.
“May you live ten thousand years, and never a year without spring.”
The words lingered for two seconds before the drones dispersed, and the two figures scattered into points that coalesced into a bold, eye-catching line.
“Today is the birthday of the person I love most. Can everyone wish Mr. Shang peace and health, and that all his thoughts come true?”
Then, the image of that youth appeared in the sky, bowing deeply to the audience from every angle in gratitude.
“Mr. Shang, happy birthday! May you be healthy and safe for life, may all your thoughts come true, stay together with your wife forever, and have a child soon!” At that moment, a resounding female voice rang out from the window below the sky restaurant. Shang Xueyan’s mind went blank at the last part, and just then, others around loudly offered their blessings too “Happy birthday, Mr. Shang, may all you think of come true.”
They were in the bustling heart of the capital city, and countless voices of blessing converged. Even on the twenty-ninth floor of the sky garden restaurant, a faint clamor could be heard.
A clamor that made Shang Xianwang’s heart surge with emotion.
Shang Xianwang’s phone, resting on the transparent glass dining table, chimed several times in succession as messages poured in without pause.
“Brother, check your phone.” Shang Xueyan leaned slightly, his gaze reflecting the dazzling crystal lights of the garden restaurant with a majestic, awe-inspiring brilliance.
Shang Xianwang picked up his phone and received over a dozen messages from Wang Xiantao and Shen Mengkun, whom he didn’t know well, from over a dozen employees at Zaiyang Film and Television, and from Wang Song and the five members of his executive office. Everyone had sent him messages wishing him a happy birthday.
With a ding, a new message came in.
Shang Xianwang moved his finger lightly and opened it.
“Brother, happy birthday. May you be healthy and safe, may everything you think of come to pass, may all be well in every year and season, and from now on, may your path be smooth, filled with blooming flowers, free of illness and disaster.”
“Your little brother Shang Xueyan [heart] [heart]”
Shang Xianwang’s gaze lingered intently on the message Shang Xueyan had sent. After a long moment, he lifted his eyes. Shang Xueyan’s lashes were long and thick, his pupils dark, his gaze bright, and the corners of his lips curved slightly upward as he looked at him.
“Did you arrange all of this?” The colleagues at his company Shang Xueyan only knew Wang Song and the employees in the president’s office, wouldn’t naturally send birthday wishes to their boss. This was the first time he’d received their congratulations.
As for Wang Xiantao, Shen Mengkun, and the others, his acquaintance with them was only superficial, having met just a few times. And among the employees at Zaiyang, he’d only been responsible for recruiting two key figures, Shen Ling and Sun Zhou; some employees he didn’t even know by name.
“Yeah.” Shang Xueyan looked straight into his eyes and said frankly, “I wanted to give Big Brother a grand birthday.”
“Big Brother, do you like it?” The drone show had already ended, countless points of light retreating from the dim night sky. Beneath the transparent dining table were pots of dazzling, vivid peonies, tree peonies, and azaleas. Beside them, a white Roman-column chandelier cast a soft, warm orange glow. The young man before him was sincere and full of emotion.
Shang Xianwang averted his gaze from Shang Xueyan for a moment, his voice hoarse. “I like it. I like it very much.”
After dinner, Shang Xueyan drove, humming a little tune all the way home, cheerful and content. The sleek, cold-lined Rolls-Royce came to a stop in the garage. Shang Xueyan turned his face, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Shang Xianwang. “Big Brother, I still have one more gift for you.”
“Another gift?” Shang Xianwang was speechless for two seconds.
Opening the driver’s door and stepping out, Shang Xueyan strode briskly to his room, opened a drawer, and took out a light blue box. The box was about the length and width of his palm, topped with a neat, beautiful bow tied with bright red ribbon.
Shang Xueyan handed the gift to him and urged, “Open it and take a look.”
The bow was pulled open by a slender, fair hand, and the light blue box was opened. Shang Xianwang took out the “gift” hidden inside, a thermos cup about a palm’s length, its body a low-saturation sky blue. What drew the most attention was the pair of cartoon puppies in the center of the cup, tongues out, laughing heartily, with a line of vivid, eye-catching colored text below them.
“Happy every day.”
“Big Brother, I’m giving you ‘Happy Every Day,’ so from now on, you have to be happy every day.” Shang Xueyan pointed at the cartoon colored text on the cup, his brows and eyes curving into a smile.
Having delivered the gift that mattered most and received Big Brother’s answer of liking it, Shang Xueyan returned to his room, satisfied. He grabbed his pajamas and went to the bathroom to wash up. After washing, he flopped onto the bed, reached for his phone, and saw that Wang Xiantao had sent a message in the group chat.
Wang Xiantao: [Yan-ge, is your big brother satisfied with today’s birthday?]
Shang Xueyan’s fingers moved lightly: [Of course he’s satisfied]
Shen Mengkun: [With such a grand, heartfelt birthday, how could President Shang not be satisfied]
Wang Xiantao ignored Shen Mengkun and continued asking Shang Xueyan: [What kind of satisfied? Average, extremely, especially?]
Shang Xueyan: [Extremely]
Seeing this line, Wang Xiantao paced anxiously back and forth twice in his rented bachelor apartment, then gritted his teeth: [Yan’er, remember to lock your door when you sleep tonight.]
Shang Xueyan: [?]
Shen Mengkun: [Adding a question mark]
Wang Xiantao: [I’m afraid President Shang won’t be able to control his feelings for you and will come to your room tonight to eat you up]
A vertical crease formed between his brows. It took a few seconds for Shang Xueyan to catch Wang Xiantao’s implication: [bloody little knife jpg]
Shen Mengkun: [shocked expression JPG]
Shen Mengkun: [Does President Shang have feelings for Yan’er beyond brotherhood?]
Shen Mengkun said in terror: [Yan’er, you’re straight, right?]
Shang Xueyan rolled his eyes, [Don’t listen to his nonsense]
Shang Xueyan’s fingers pounded hard on the keyboard: [Wang Xiantao, if you keep defiling my big brother’s feelings for me, I’m really going to cut ties with you!!]
Shang Xueyan: [angry soybeans jpg]
Wang Xiantao sighed for a long time, still wanting to save his deluded brother: [Trust me, the way he looks at you is anything but innocent]
Shang Xueyan was furious: [I think the way you look at Kun’er isn’t innocent either]
Wang Xiantao: [I admit the way I look at him isn’t innocent, so now can you admit that the way your big brother looks at you isn’t innocent?]