In the second half of the birthday party, a huge multi-layered cake was pushed in by the waiter. The private room that had been noisy for two hours was finally quiet. Seventeen candles were lit on the delicate cake. In the song "Happy", I closed my eyes and made a wish.
At the moment when the candle was blown out, a boy coaxed and asked, "Beauty, what wish did you make?"
"I guess it's because I wish I could be with the person I like?" Some girls coaxed along, and many people immediately gave each other a few glances and laughed, as if they all knew who Jin Jing liked.
Jin Jing squinted at the few people and scolded: "Don't make trouble! It's not this wish, it won't work if you say it."
Tao Xi, like the others, surrounded the big cake, watching Jin Jing cut the cake piece by piece and distribute it to everyone. He took the cake that Jin Jing handed over and said thank you.
When assigned to Yang Duole, Jin Jing smiled at Yang Duole and said:
"Yakult, it's your birthday next. Will you hold a Christmas birthday party at home this year like last year and invite us to play?"
Li Xiaoyuan followed up: "Yes, I also want to ask. I remember that it was done at Lin Qinhe's house last year, and Aunt Luo also prepared a Christmas gift for each of us."
As soon as they heard the words "Lin Qinhe", everyone started to coax Jin Jing again. No wonder they asked Yang Duole this question. Jin Jing blushed and cursed a few more times.
Tao Xi looked at Yang Duole, saw the expression of the person who had the same birthday as him for a moment, took the cake from Jin Jing and smiled: "Of course it will be done."
After Yang Duole finished speaking, he looked at Tao Xi subconsciously. Tao Xi was holding a piece of cake in his hand and tilted his head to smile at him. Yang Duole quickly retracted his gaze, pursed his lips, walked to the sofa and sat down, picked up the The phone seems to be sending something.
Tao Xi picked up the small fork and ate the cake in his hand. The cake tasted very sweet and delicate. He had only occasionally eaten birthday cakes on his classmates' birthdays, but the cakes sold by the best cake shop in the county were also very rough.
"The next one is Tao Xi. I remember it was on December 26, and it was very close to Yakult." Li Xiaoyuan walked to Tao Xi and asked. As the monitor, he remembered the birthdays of every classmate in the class. down.
"It's very close to him, it's almost the same day." Tao Xi took a bite of the cake and looked at Yang Duole and replied.
Yang Duole buried his head and paused with his finger on the phone screen.
Perhaps it was due to Guo Ping's guilty conscience. Tao Xi's birthday on the household registration book was December 26, and Tao Le's birthday was December 28. Over the years, Tao Xi has been eating a bowl of longevity with Tao Le on the 28th. Face, it's a birthday.
He didn't know the day his mother gave birth to him until last year.
The birthday party was coming to an end, and a group of people who had drunk too much were still crying and howling. Tao Xi’s phone vibrated. He took it out and took a look. As if calculating the time, Guan Fanyun sent him a WeChat message:
"A friend of mine came over just now. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts and studied oil painting like you. He is famous now. I heard that you want to apply to a school in the United States. How about introducing you to this big cow? He is very nice, you can ask him any questions you have."
Tao Xi stared at the news with his eyes down. The light from the screen was converging in his dark pupils. He slowly raised his head, his face half bright and half dark.
Yang Duole was discussing his birthday party with a few people laughing and didn't notice his gaze.
Tao Xi lowered his head and slowly typed on the screen: "Okay, thank you."
Guan Fanyun replied quickly: "No thanks, which private room are you in, I'll take you there."
Tao Xi replied to the private room number, held the phone in his hand, and went to talk to Jin Jing. Jin Jing thought that Tao Xi would have to go back to the dormitory and there would be a curfew, so he didn't hold back much, and asked him to pay attention to safety on the road.
During this period, Yang Duole kept looking at this side from the corner of his eye.
Tao Xi didn't look back. After saying goodbye to the other students, he opened the private room door and walked out. He closed the door and kept all the noise behind him.
Guan Fanyun was walking in high heels in the corridor, and Tao Xi could smell the alcohol on the woman's body from a distance. With the strong smell of smoke, he lowered his eyelashes slightly to hide the disgust in his eyes.
Guan Fanyun walked up to Tao Xi with a cigarette in his hand, and looked at the fair-faced boy in front of him. His temperament that looked like a good student was too obvious, and it was a bit out of tune with this place.
She narrowed her eyes and smiled, and said in a friendly tone, "Have you bid farewell to your classmates?"
Tao Xi glanced at the door that he had just closed, and nodded.
"Then let's go, my friend will be here for a while." Guan Fanyun said, she didn't want to stay here for a long time.
Tao Xi didn't move. He looked up at Guan Fanyun and said, "President Guan, I suddenly remembered that one of my classmates should also be able to go to your party with me."
The smile on Guan Fanyun's face froze for a moment. She looked into Tao Xi's eyes and felt a strange feeling in her heart, but she quickly reacted: "I shouldn't be a member of our association, so I can't participate."
Tao Xi gave a regretful "ah" and said, "But you should know him. I saw you and Uncle Yang at an art exhibition last time. Uncle Yang's son, Yang Duole, don't you know him?"
The dim spotlights from the top of the corridor slanted down, casting elongated interlaced shadows under his fine eyelashes, shaking gently in the blink of an eye.
Guan Fanyun finally understood where the strange feeling in her heart came from. Tao Xi's eyes were somewhat similar to her own, or rather, more like the person she tried to emulate.
She was clearly smiling, but the coldness made her palms feel cold.
She subconsciously avoided Tao Xi's gaze and looked straight at her, with a look of surprise on her face: "Of course I know him. Did Lele come here today?"
Tao Xi nodded and said, "Yes, he is still inside. I will call him out and see you."
Guan Fanyun saw that Tao Xi was going to go back and open the door, she hurriedly grabbed his arm, squeezed out a smile, and said, "No, he doesn't really want to see me, we hardly ever meet, it's just a coincidence today."
Tao Xi calmly grabbed Guan Fanyun's dark green nail polish hand, and said, "Really?"
After a pause, he smiled at Guan Fanyun and said to himself, "I thought you changed the meeting address here to invite Yang Duole to your party."
Guan Fanyun was shocked, and looked at Tao Xi in surprise, those eyes were staring at her, there was no emotion in the dark pupils, only the shadow of the eyelashes cast on the lower eyelid moved slightly.
She almost felt that Tao Xi saw her intentions.
"President Guan, can we go see your friend now?" Tao Xi asked.
Guan Fanyun didn't dare to look back at Tao Xi's eyes, she tightly squeezed the cigarette in her hand, her heart was in a mess, she hesitated for a while whether to continue the original plan, after a few seconds, she finally made a decision:
"Then let's go, my friend will be here for a while."
Tao Xi put the phone in his pocket, and a mocking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
He was about to follow Guan Fanyun when he suddenly saw a figure at the corner at the end of the corridor, and his footsteps stopped instantly.
Lin Qinhe first looked at Tao Xi and frowned slightly. When he saw the woman beside Tao Xi, his brows furrowed even deeper.
"Why did you come so quickly?" Tao Xi walked quickly to Lin Qinhe and asked him.
Lin Qinhe lowered his eyes and stared at Tao Xi's eyes, trying to find out the gloomy look he had just seen from these eyes, but it seemed to be just an illusion. Tao Xi looked at him with only dependence and happiness in his eyes.
Lin Qinhe didn't answer, he grabbed Tao Xi's wrist, pulled him behind him, then looked at Guan Fanyun, whose eyes were dodging a little, and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Guan Fanyun was clearly aware of Lin Qinhe's hostility towards her, and she pulled out a somewhat stiff smile: "Tao Xi is a member of our Qinghua Association, and I am planning to introduce him to a friend."
Her tone was natural, but her heart was panicked. It was impossible for her not to know that the young master of the Lin family, who grew up with Yang Duole, knew that he had a deep background and could not be offended. He hated Yang Zhengming as much as his mother Luo Zhengyin, let alone herself.
Lin Qinhe didn't fully believe it. He turned to look at Tao Xi and asked, "Really?"
Tao Xi nodded, did not speak, and looked down at his toes.
Lin Qinhe looked at Guan Fanyun, raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, his voice was emotionless: "What friend? Can I get to know him too?"
Guan Fanyun had already thought of a countermeasure just now, she raised her hand and pretended to look at her phone, showing an apologetic look, and said to the two:
"Unfortunately, my friend suddenly sent me a WeChat message saying that there is a temporary matter, and I have to leave later. I'm really sorry. I'll find a chance to invite you next time. I'll go back first."
Lin Qinhe looked at Guan Fanyun's unconcealed anxiety and guilty conscience, and said, "Okay, please help me send a greeting to Uncle Yang."
Guan Fanyun's eyelids jumped, and she smiled and said, "No problem, Zhengming has always wanted to visit you and your mother."
Lin Qinhe watched Guan Fanyun walk away, turned to look at Tao Xi who had not spoken, and his tone became serious: "What's going on?"
It is impossible for him not to see Guan Fanyun's strange attitude, and it is even more impossible not to see Tao Xi's abnormality. For this person in front of him, he has always been keenly aware of all his emotions.
Tao Xi is really a little guilty. He can't tell Lin Qinhe what he encountered here tonight and his plan just now, but Lin Qinhe is staring at him inquiringly, and his eyes make him unable to make up A reasonable lie.
He glanced at the empty private room with the door half-closed next to the corridor, suddenly grabbed Lin Qinhe's wrist, pulled Lin Qinhe into the private room with force, and slammed the door shut.
There was no light in the room, only the faint flickering light of the song-clicking screen. Tao Xi stretched out his arms and hugged Lin Qinhe's neck, buried himself in Lin Qinhe's arms, and pressed his lips against Lin Qinhe's neck. On his skin, he took a deep breath and whispered:
"I miss you a little bit."
Lin Qinhe was obviously stunned, and slowly raised his hand to hug the person in his arms back, with a bit of a smile in his voice: "Isn't it a day since we separated?"
Tao Xi rubbed Lin Qinhe's neck with his lips and felt the hands on his waist tighten even more. He said:
"You've been going to training and competitions every day these past few weeks, and you're often not seen at noon and afternoon, and I won't be able to see you when you go home at night."
Lin Qinhe raised his hand and rubbed the back of Tao Xi's head, and whispered, "Wait for me for a while, soon."
Tao Xi thought that what Lin Qinhe said was waiting for his competition to end, his chin rested on Lin Qinhe's shoulder, his eyelashes drooped, no one could see the emotions surging in his eyes, as if he was hesitating about one thing .
After about five seconds, Tao Xi made a decision and said to Lin Qinhe:
"After your competition is over, I want to tell you a secret."
His biggest secret.
He knew that now was not the best time to speak up. This incident would surely cause shock to several families. Lin Qinhe was still preparing for the competition, which would definitely affect him.
Lin Qinhe was silent for two seconds and asked, "Is it related to Yang Duole?"
Tao Xi's body froze for a moment. He looked into Lin Qinhe's eyes through the weak light, and he was not sure whether Lin Qinhe knew about this.
In fact, he was not as confident as he thought. After hearing the conversation between Guan Fanyun and Yang Duole, he could not control his anger and sarcasm. What qualifications does Yang Duole have to "teach" him
But what followed was anxiety, why did Yang Duole "teach" him? He has enjoyed the favors that should have belonged to him for sixteen years, but will these favors suddenly disappear with the exposure of his background
Impossible, he knows that if you keep pets for 16 years, you will have feelings, let alone people
He didn't even dare to tell Lin Qinhe the truth tonight, because he couldn't be sure whether Lin Qinhe would believe him or not. One end of the scale was friends who had been close as brothers for 16 years, and the other end was less than two years together. Lovers of the month.
Whichever is more important, he cannot be confident.
Tao Xi looked at Lin Qinhe, did not answer his question, but asked a somewhat inexplicable question:
"What if what I want to do makes you very embarrassed?"
After tonight, it was impossible for him to tolerate himself and Yang Duole living peacefully under the same roof pretending that nothing happened.
But how will Lin Qinhe view this matter? Will Yang Duole be maintained
Lin Qinhe lowered his eyes slightly and looked at Tao Xi's eyes. These eyes were full of some kind of unease that he didn't know yet. In the few seconds he was silent, the uneasiness seemed to be even stronger.
"Why am I embarrassed?" Lin Qinhe asked rhetorically, he had never encountered anything too embarrassing.
Tao Xi was even more uneasy when Lin Qinhe looked at him. He looked away, thought for a moment, and said, "For example, you may need to make a choice or something."
"Do you choose between you and others?" Lin Qinhe asked.
Tao Xi was stunned by Lin Qinhe's keenness, and nodded hesitantly.
But in the next second, a hand fell on his head, and he rubbed it gently, and Lin Qinhe's always cold and indifferent voice sounded in his ear:
"If it is this choice, don't worry about my embarrassment, I will unconditionally favor you."
Tao Xi suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Lin Qinhe blankly. At that moment, he didn't know what to do.
He knows that Lin Qinhe is not someone who likes to express, but whenever he is confused, Lin Qinhe always seems to be able to use the simplest words to reassure him.
He blinked his eyes quickly and said jokingly, "What if I commit a crime?"
Lin Qinhe smiled a little, raised his jaw slightly, and said, "What crime can you commit?"
Tao Xi thought for a while, then narrowed his eyes and said, "Kidnapping you?"
Tie Lin Qinhe to a place where there is no one, so you don't have to worry about so many missing.
Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "You can try."
The author says:
Overhaul in the second half