With just over a week to go until the Mid-Autumn Festival, Meng Xintang hadn't figured out what gift to give Shen Shiyan. Meng Xinchu just came home to pick up something that day. Meng Xintang leaned against the door and watched her rummage through the room. She rummaged through the tidy room little by little, and suddenly asked, "If you are a birthday present, what would you give me?"
After speaking, I felt that the proposition was not clear enough, and added: "It's the person I like."
Meng Xinchu held a popsicle in her mouth, she gnawed her teeth when she heard this, and her face was twisted into a ball of ice, but she didn't care about howling and distressing herself, she had already bounced: "What do you like? people?"
"The person I like," Meng Xintang said, "we just got together."
"Damn it!" Meng Xinchu exclaimed, "When will someone you like pop up? Why didn't I know?"
Meng Xintang frowned and felt that the word "bounce" was really not suitable for Shen Shiyan.
He was afraid that Meng Xinchu would be surprised for too long, so he immediately asked if he had any suggestions, thinking that at least the topic would be brought back on track temporarily.
"Ah, birthday present... Of course it's something she likes. If she has any hobbies, of course it's related to her hobbies. If you don't have any hobbies, you can send a set of skin care products, don't pick people, or send makeup items. Ah, for example, with a dozen lipsticks, you build a small house for her with lipsticks, and she's sure to like it..."
like something? When Meng Xintang heard it, the first thought that popped into his mind was a qin, but he didn't understand this thing. Even if he had money, he didn't know where to buy it and what kind of it to buy.
"Wait a minute," Meng Xinchu, who was on the side, had already recovered, she ran over and asked Meng Xintang's arm, "You haven't said who you are with, what about the photo? Let me see what my future sister-in-law looks like. ."
"It's not my sister-in-law." Meng Xintang corrected immediately and seriously.
Meng Xinchu was wrong: "Isn't it a matter of time? Yes, brother, I was sad for a long time because you said you would die alone, but you are quietly doing something big!"
Meng Xintang knew that there was no way he could get any valuable advice from Meng Xinchu, and he would only get gossip if he continued to chat. He pressed Meng Xinchu's head: "Look for your stuff."
He had been thinking about what else Shen Shiyan liked. When he turned to go out, he suddenly remembered the sound of opera when he brushed his teeth that morning.
Meng Xintang was busy for a week, and asked two friends to help find components and borrow factories, and finally got his birthday present two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. He called Shen Shiyan and asked him if he had any arrangements for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Shen Shiyan said that he would be on duty until seven o'clock in the evening.
"Then I'll pick you up. Let's celebrate the festival together tonight?" Meng Xintang touched something on the table lightly, "I'll cook."
"Okay." Shen Shiyan said with a smile.
The next day, Meng Xintang received a courier from the same city. A key lay neatly in the paper bag of the courier. The sender, Shen Shiyan.
"If you have nothing to do, you can go to prepare early," Shen Shiyan paused on the phone for a moment, and then said, "If you have nothing to do, you can go."
Meng Xintang held the key, not knowing what to say. He was so overwhelmed in his heart that he felt so comfortable that he couldn't help but sigh at last, and said, "I'll have to bring you home to recognize you at some point."
Across the phone, he could imagine how Shen Shiyan was laughing at the moment.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Meng Xintang arrived at Shen Shiyan's house early, and when he opened the door, he suddenly had a strange feeling, as if it was not just an act of unlocking, but more like a ceremony, which opened the way for the rest of his life. Thinking of this, he removed his hand from the key in a mysterious way, brushed his sleeves, and then opened the door.
The flowers in the courtyard were still blooming beautifully. According to Shen Shiyan's instructions, Meng Xintang moved two pots of flowers to the flower room. He has already known a lot of flowers, and it is still early anyway, so he simply faces the flower names one by one and studies the colors. When he saw Qiu Haitang, he smiled unconsciously. It seems that the flowers in this yard belong to these pots of begonias that bloom well.
It is really a picture of Begonia every year.
After taking care of all the ingredients that need to be prepared in advance, and simmering a pot of small crucian carp on a low fire, Meng Xintang began to simply clean up the house and yard. Shen Shiyan's house has a room dedicated to playing the piano. Meng Xintang opened the door when sweeping the floor, looked around and closed it gently, but didn't go in.
After cleaning the yard, Meng Xintang checked the time, put out the fire in the kitchen and went out.
It is a rare night with a full moon and flowers, and the streets reveal more warmth than usual. Meng Xintang came out early, so the car did not drive fast. Missing mood suddenly flooded while waiting for the last red light, maybe because I saw the hospital building, maybe because I saw a pedestrian crossing the road ahead, carrying a box of moon cakes.
Parking the car opposite the hospital, Meng Xintang got out of the car and lit a cigarette. Just as he was about to finish smoking, he saw Shen Shiyan's figure appearing opposite.
Meng Xintang put out the cigarette.
The road in front of the hospital is not wide, and there are many pedestrians coming and going, so the speed of passing cars is not fast. Meng Xintang saw Shen Shiyan smiling at him, then looked left and right, and crossed the road around a car that had almost stopped. The light from the headlights hit him, and the contrast between light and darkness was very strong, just like the world in Meng Xintang's eyes.
"Did you wait a long time?"
Meng Xintang shook his head: "It's just a cigarette."
The second meeting after the establishment of the relationship, there was no hug or kiss, but the two played a song after getting in the car, and each sighed, the moon today is really round and big.
Shen Shiyan lowered the car window, and the night wind made his hair flutter. In fact, there was no beauty in it, but Meng Xintang always wanted to see it.
After a small traffic jam, it was 7:30 when we got home. Meng Xintang spent half an hour frying all the dishes and serving them on the table. Shen Shiyan came in with a bottle of red wine and said to drink this at night.
"Don't drink Lao Gu today?"
"He asked me to fetch it when he was at home, but I forgot. At this moment, his daughters and daughters are here, and there are the next generation. It is rare to get together as a family, so I won't disturb others."
After Shen Shiyan finished speaking, he noticed that there was a birthday cake on the table. His eyes seemed to be fixed there, and he couldn't believe what he saw.
Noticing his gaze, Meng Xintang took out a box from the cabinet beside him and walked up to him: "Happy birthday."
Shen Shiyan looked at the table and the things in his hand, and suddenly smiled: "How do you know?"
He has celebrated his birthday on the lunar calendar since he was a child, but he has never mentioned it to anyone, and few people know about it. Even his former classmates sent blessings on his birthday on the solar calendar.
"The painting inside has your mother's inscription." Meng Xintang said softly.
It was only then that Shen Shiyan remembered that he was 30 years old this year, and the paintings hanging in the back room were his mother's paintings when he was ten years old.
Meng Xintang's gift was packed in a white box with a beautiful bow. Shen Shiyan lowered his eyes and admired it for a while, then slowly pulled the ribbon on one side to open the bow, moving very lightly and carefully.
"I've been thinking about what I want to give you for a long time. I really don't know how to choose a piano, and I don't have a way to go, so I'll give you this one," Meng Xintang coughed lightly, "It's not worth much, but I made it myself, the radio and sound effects. All good."
Seeing the contents of the box clearly, Shen Shiyan was completely stunned. Lying inside was a radio with a silver metal casing, very small.
The radio at Shen Shiyan's house was a few years old, and when Meng Xintang saw him listening to it that morning, he said that it seems that people nowadays don't listen to the radio very much. Shen Shiyan laughed at the time and said, "It's a habit of my parents. I was used to listening to them when I was a child, and I have kept it."
Meng Xintang remembered at the time that when he was in the piano shop earlier, Shen Shiyan said to the exquisite record player, "It's better to press the play button to save trouble."
Things don't work well for a long time. The radio became a little too noisy and not enough high frequency. Meng Xintang knew that Shen Shiyan's insistence on using it was a commemoration, and he didn't mean to ask him to replace it. He just thought that maybe he could listen to himself occasionally, so that the past and the present coexist.
Shen Shiyan touched the radio, which was condensed with a lot of effort at first glance, fiddled with it twice in his hand, and pressed the play button. After listening for only two seconds, he burst out laughing.
"The effect of yours is more than 'not bad', right? You can't buy such a radio in the market." Shen Shiyan tuned into the evening music channel that he often listens to, and couldn't help but say, "I like it very much, thank you Engineer Meng."
Only then did Meng Xintang feel relieved.
"How do you get a radio to achieve this sound quality? Like a record player."
"Considering the needs of special users, some optimizations have been made." Meng Xintang said with a smile, "It's not difficult. It's just a radio on the market. Users only need it to be a radio, so there is no need to exchange cost for sound quality."
"Special user?" Shen Shiyan repeated with a smile.
Meng Xintang nodded: "Permanent after-sale package and upgrade package."
Shen Shiyan kept staring at him with a smile, Meng Xintang looked at him for a while, then smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"
This person pays attention to everything about him and always knows exactly what he cares about. Shen Shiyan felt a little itchy in his heart, and it was so soft.
"It's okay," he shook his head and turned off the radio in his hand, "I just think that a boyfriend like you can earn it when you get it."
It was the first time that Meng Xintang heard Shen Shiyan address him like that. He didn't even think that the word "boyfriend" would make his heart skip a beat.
It feels good, like never before.
Meng Xintang insisted on lighting a candle for Shen Shiyan, and when the two clusters of fires were blown out, Shen Shiyan got too close, and was blinded by the waft of smoke. He rubbed his eyes, reached out and took off one of them: "I don't seem to have blown a candle for many years."
When people grow up, they are too lazy to do many things and do not want to do them. When Shen Shiyan blew out the candles last time, his parents were there, and Xu Yanwu was there. Later, on his birthday, Xu Yanwu sometimes bought him a cake, and he would not let him put any more candles. Not even a birthday.
Thinking of Xu Yanwu, who was still awkward, Shen Shiyan couldn't help but pull out his phone with a smile: "Do you know what birthday present Yanwu gave me?"
"what?"
Shen Shiyan smiled and said nothing, and handed the phone to Meng Xintang.
On the screen were three short messages, all of which Xu Yanwu had forwarded to Shen Shiyan's notice that he had successfully purchased courses for him - a taekwondo class, a sanda class, and a boxing class. Shen Shiyan rarely made a cute crying emoji, with the words, "Master, please spare me."
Meng Xintang laughed and shook his head: "He really has a heart."
"This heart is really too heavy, I really can't stand it." He is basically a person who will not go out of the alley when he rests.
Meng Xintang is not on his side this time: "I think you can learn a lesson, but these three classes are not very practical for you. I will find someone to teach you to protect yourself."
Shen Shiyan pursed his lips and clasped his hands together: "Please leave me some time to sleep at home."
When the two were almost full, there was a knock on the courtyard door, and before they could answer, the courtyard door was pushed open.
"I know brother."
A crisp female voice called out such a sentence.
Shen Shiyan leaned back, looked into the yard, saw the person who was coming, and replied, "Chen Nian."
"Are you eating?"
"Um."
The person who entered the room was a little girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a snack box, two bottles of wine, and a red lantern in her hand.
"This is the wine and moon cakes that grandpa asked me to bring you. The moon cakes are filled with bean paste." The little girl put the box and wine on the table, and raised the red lantern in her hand, "and grandpa just now The lantern you made, I can help you hang it at the door?"
Meng Xintang got up: "I'll help you."
"Don't be busy, I'll introduce you to you." Shen Shiyan looked at Meng Xintang and said, "This is Lao Gu's granddaughter, Gu Chennian. Chen Nian, this is my friend, Meng Xintang."
"Hello, brother." Gu Chennian greeted obediently.
"Hello." Meng Xintang walked out and asked, "Where do you want to hang the lantern?"
Shen Shiyan didn't follow him out, but sat down, watching the two of them communicate where the lanterns were hanging while getting started.
"Have you eaten yet?" After hanging up the lantern, Shen Shiyan asked Gu Chennian.
"Eat," Gu Chennian sat on the stool next to him, pursed his mouth, "I have an aunt's family coming over today, too many people, it's really messy and noisy, I'll come and hide for a while. I'll stay for a while. I'll leave in a little while, I won't bother you for a long time."
"Don't bother, we just finished eating." Shen Shiyan pulled the cake over and asked Chen Nian, "Are you afraid of getting fat? How big should you eat?"
Gu Chennian was stunned for a moment: "Who's birthday?"
"I."
"Ah? I don't even know." Gu Chennian lost his face, "I didn't prepare a present."
"How old am I, what gift do I need?" Although he said so, Shen Shiyan gave Meng Xintang a look.
Meng Xintang smiled back at him, raised his hand and touched his nose.