After yesterday’s rain, today’s weather was exceptionally bright and sunny.
Jiang Muzhou finished washing up, casually threw on a white T-shirt, picked up his phone, and opened the door to grab breakfast.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon parked right at the entrance. Shang Shixu was wearing his signature white shirt with the top two buttons undone, his glossy black hair neatly combed, and was leaning lazily against the car door smoking a cigarette. There was no telling how long he had been there.
Their eyes met, and Shang Shixu greeted him, “Morning.”
Seeing the ridiculously good-looking appearance of the other man, Jiang Muzhou couldn’t remember if he had combed his hair during his wash-up. He raised a hand to ruffle it, only to remember that he had cut his hair short because of the hot weather.
Jiang Muzhou smiled as he walked closer, “I didn’t notice just now. I thought some celebrity was parked outside my door.”
Shang Shixu chuckled, put out his cigarette, opened the front passenger door, and made a welcoming gesture, “Get in. Let’s go get breakfast.”
Today, the birthday boy reigned supreme, and since the birthday boy wanted him to keep him company, he naturally had to tag along.
Jiang Muzhou turned his head to look at the person driving, catching sight of the slight upward curve of Shang Shixu’s lips and the soft expression in his brows and eyes, which indicated that he was in a very good mood.
The two of them remained silent the entire ride. When the car finally stopped, Jiang Muzhou realized that Shang Shixu had brought him to a Jiangnan-style morning tea house.
Jiang Muzhou wasn’t particularly picky about food. Having lived in Beijing for many years, even when he missed Southern breakfast foods, he never went out of his way to search for them, choosing instead whatever restaurant happened to be nearby.
The restaurant was decorated in a traditional Chinese aesthetic; the doorframes, partitions, tables, and chairs were all made of wood and carved with delicate patterns of flowers, plants, birds, and beasts. The breakfast patrons spoke in soft tones amidst the soothing strains of Guzheng music.
Compared to the bowl of noodles Jiang Muzhou had treated him to previously, this was the kind of dining environment Shang Shixu should enjoy.
Shang Shixu was eating the long noodles that Jiang Muzhou had insisted on ordering for him. Unlike Northern noodles, these were the Yangchun noodles unique to Jiangnan.
A bit of lard, two spoonfuls of light soy sauce, a pinch of salt and chicken bouillon, a sprinkle of chopped scallions, piping hot broth poured over top, and then the boiled fine noodles placed inside.
The broth was clear, savory, refreshing, and delicious—a flavor rarely found in the North.
As he finished most of his noodles, Shang Shixu raised his head to look at Jiang Muzhou across the table. Jiang Muzhou had finished a basket of steamed soup dumplings and was now using a small bowl to eat shredded dried tofu in broth.
He shook his head and smiled. When ordering earlier, he had initially wanted to order two bowls of Yangchun noodles, but Jiang Muzhou stopped him because he had something else he wanted to eat more.
It seemed he really did miss Suzhou.
Shang Shixu asked casually, “Have you been in Beijing ever since you graduated?”
Jiang Muzhou nodded, “Yeah. Beijing is the capital after all; no matter what, there are more opportunities here than back home.”
“Suzhou’s development is quite good too.”
Jiang Muzhou finished eating, wiped his mouth, and smiled, “My original plan was that if no company invested in me, I would go back to Suzhou and find a job to settle down.”
“Settle down? You don’t strike me as that kind of person.” Shang Shixu finished off the last of his noodles.
Jiang Muzhou looked at Shang Shixu. What kind of person someone was couldn’t be understood overnight, so he smiled and said, “What if I am someone who values stability?”
Shang Shixu put down his chopsticks, pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands, and said with certainty, “That just means you don’t understand yourself well enough yet. You are the type of person who is extremely persistent. If you can’t get what you want, you will be miserable until you finally get it or find an alternative solution.”
Jiang Muzhou’s slightly curved brows twitched in surprise. He gained a new appreciation for Shang Shixu’s ability to see right through people.
What he said was indeed true; if he really wanted stability, he would have gone home right after graduation instead of drifting as a Beipiao in Beijing. Besides, whenever he had something on his mind, he couldn’t sleep a wink all night and would do whatever it took to change the situation.
Sure enough, people who run big businesses really do have a way of reading people. Perhaps the other man understood him even better than he realized.
The two of them returned to the car. Shang Shixu started the engine and turned on the AC, but instead of driving off immediately, he turned his head to look at Jiang Muzhou. With deep, solemn eyes, he said softly, “I really like the birthday gift. Thank you.”
This was the first time he had ever thanked someone like this. After finishing, he cleared his throat and shifted his focus elsewhere.
Because he sensed that his tone just now was a bit… a bit indescribably weird.
Hearing this “thank you,” Jiang Muzhou didn’t think much of it; he only thought of that video game, “Did you clear the game again?”
He emphasized the word “again.”
Shang Shixu started the car and uttered a single “Mm” as a reply.
Jiang Muzhou’s game concept had been rather tacky. Even with Zhu Zhu’s modifications, given the tight timeframe, the final product still had a rustic, small-town-arcade vibe to it.
He glanced at Shang Shixu’s expression, trying to guess how Shang Shixu must have reacted when he saw those words, but right now, the man driving was simply watching the road ahead without any particular expression.
Jiang Muzhou couldn’t help asking, “How does it feel to clear the game?”
Shang Shixu gripped the steering wheel tightly without answering, choosing instead to say “Thank you” one more time.
“Alright, alright, I won’t ask.” Jiang Muzhou gave up in resignation.
Heaven knew what Zhu Zhu had been thinking when she designed the visuals. At the very end, wishing Shang Shixu a happy birthday, she had added a bunch of overly affectionate words and various clusters of hearts, making it look like a large-scale confession scene.
Still, Jiang Muzhou felt that as friends, the form of expression didn’t really matter.
Shang Shixu’s name had been added to this game, so from now on, it belonged exclusively to him.
Shang Shixu dropped Jiang Muzhou off back at his studio. As Jiang Muzhou stepped out of the car, the moment he closed the door, he still said, “Young Master Shang, happy birthday.”
Before he could see Shang Shixu’s expression, the other man stepped on the gas and sped away.
On his walk back to the studio, Jiang Muzhou recalled the birthday greeting he had just given, confirming to himself that he hadn’t said anything wrong. Who wouldn’t want to receive blessings and gifts on their birthday?
Indeed, the smarter people were, the harder it was to figure out what was going on in their heads.
He promptly tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
While driving, Shang Shixu received a phone call. He put on his Bluetooth earpiece, the white device making the flush of red on his earlobe exceptionally noticeable.
When he answered, it was Zhang Ning.
In the past, birthdays were always celebrated with Zhang Ning and a few other friends, either eating and drinking or going to KTV—truly lacking in any real meaning.
He didn’t care about his own birthday, and those friends didn’t seem to care much about birthdays either.
A birthday was merely an excuse for them to gather, eat, and drink; whose birthday it was didn’t really matter.
Consequently, they would gather every so often, each time celebrating a different person’s birthday.
Listening to Zhang Ning lay out the same old cookie-cutter birthday party plans, Shang Shixu waited for the rest of what Zhang Ning had to say.
When a few seconds of silence passed without further speech, the other person asked in confusion, “Brother Xu, what’s wrong? Any other instructions?”
A hint of disappointment flickered across Shang Shixu’s brow.
He said, “Nothing. Add two more people tonight.”
“Brother Xu’s new friends?”
“Mm.”
The “Urban Construction” online forum, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly stirred to life.
1L: Did anyone else notice the game updated? The game developer must be in love.
2L: [Image][Image][Image]
3L: What? What? What? I gotta go check it out.
8L: How can someone make a game that is simultaneously this tacky and this romantic?
9L: Who is shangshixu? Shang Shixu? Shang Shi-xu?
18L: Who came up with such a cringey birthday blessing? Even confessions don’t usually sound like this. Wishing each other year after year, morning till night.
19L: A game developer is either a dense straight guy or head over heels in love.