Birthday Party

In the afternoon, they didn’t do much. After a game or two, they wandered around the souvenir shops nearby. The place was crammed with all kinds of things, from dolls to commemorative coins and more.

Qin Qingyan wasn’t very interested in any of it. She stayed by Yan Yue’s side, carrying her bag for her. Yan Yue made no attempt to hide how much she liked the items; not long after stepping inside, she had picked out a fluffy phone charm—a little fox, very cute.

She glanced at almost everything in the shop, but thankfully not so impulsively that she wanted to buy it all. Otherwise, not only would the store have been emptied out, Qin Qingyan would have been exhausted too.

In front of a display of building blocks, Yan Yue paused for a moment. There was something in her eyes besides fondness, another emotion as well, though she didn’t linger long before continuing outside.

Qin Qingyan looked at them a little longer, then followed her out.

Her phone suddenly buzzed several times. Qin Qingyan adjusted her leather bag and opened her phone to look. It was Su Yan and the others; they had booked a private room to celebrate her birthday and were asking when she would arrive.

After a moment’s hesitation, she looked at Yan Yue. Yan Yue saw her standing there with her phone in hand and guessed that something had come up.

“It’s getting late anyway; we’ve played and walked around enough. If you have something to do, I’ll take you there,” she said.

“It’s Su Yan and the others. They’re throwing me a birthday celebration,” Qin Qingyan explained.

“Send me the location; I’ll navigate us there.”

But Qin Qingyan still stood there, as if she wanted to say something and couldn’t quite bring herself to. Yan Yue looked at her in confusion.

“Then… are you leaving later?”

Yan Yue understood at once. She had already made up her mind, but deliberately said, “What else? You haven’t seemed very happy all day. Do you maybe not like these things?”

“No!” Qin Qingyan reacted immediately, her voice rising before she could stop it. “I’m very happy, and I really like today. It’s the best day I’ve had so far.”

Even through her sunglasses, Yan Yue could still feel her urgency and a trace of panic.

“Really?”

Qin Qingyan nodded earnestly. “Yes.”

For her, what mattered had never been how a day was spent, but who she spent it with. If it was Yan Yue, then even sitting on a bench in silence would make her happy.

The private room had already been decorated for the most part; a little fixing here and there and it would be complete. Floating pink-and-white balloons each carried ribbons with their wishes attached. Light strips ran along three sides of the room, making it bright enough even with the main lights off.

Su Yan had specially bought a red carpet, laid straight from the doorway to the cake in the center. The cake had been custom-made; it looked like a lavish gown, with plenty of folds around the edges and pearl-like decorations on the bow at the top. Bright red rose petals were arranged in a ring around the base.

When they heard the knock and confirmed it was Qin Qingyan, they quickly switched off the lights. Bai Ruo and Su Yan each held a party popper, nodding at each other to show that everything was ready.

Li Xian opened the door. She seemed not to have expected someone else to be with Qin Qingyan, pausing for a moment before quickly smiling again.

The room lit up in an instant, then with a sharp pop, glitter burst into the air, sparkling with all kinds of colors as it drifted down.

“Ta-da! Happy birthday!”

Qin Qingyan looked at them, her heart full of warmth. “Thank you.”

Noticing Yan Yue beside her, Su Yan said in delighted surprise, “President Yan is here too? Perfect; we can celebrate Qingyan-jie’s birthday together.”

Yan Yue smiled at her.

She didn’t have much contact with the other two. She knew a little about Bai Ruo because she was an actress; her phone would automatically push news about her, and not long ago she seemed to have been on a hot search. As for the woman beside her, she must have been the girlfriend Bai Ruo had mentioned on Weibo.

Su Yan closed the door and walked behind them, only to notice that Qin Qingyan was carrying a small leather bag that clearly didn’t belong to her. As for whose it was, that was already obvious.

Anyway, she was a little bit into this ship.

With the lights off, only the amber glow of the light strips remained. Everyone gathered around, waiting for Qin Qingyan to make her birthday wish, then sang the birthday song. After a round of laughing and teasing, they blew out the candles and sat on the spread-out blanket to share the cake.

“My idea was pretty good, right? The red carpet leading to the gown, flowers all around; it’s full of good omens,” Su Yan said proudly.

What she dreamed of most was seeing Qin Qingyan win the Golden Chuan Best Actress award. On that glittering stage, everyone would be dressed to the nines, Qin Qingyan in her gown, walking gracefully toward the podium under everyone’s gaze.

How glorious that would be.

Seeing Su Yan’s smug expression, Bai Ruo refused to be outdone. She grabbed one of the nearby balloons at random and handed it to Qin Qingyan to look at. “Look at mine; mine’s not bad either. Full of blessings. Your red carpet isn’t even as hard as mine.”

Qin Qingyan was eating cake. She freed a hand to take it and glance at it. Sure enough, there was writing on it, and the handwriting was clearly handwritten.

She picked up another balloon at random; it was the same, only the message was different. They were all sincere and beautiful wishes.

“You’re not as creative as me!” Su Yan protested. “Mine was handmade…” As she stood up, she accidentally brushed Qin Qingyan’s elbow; her hand slipped, and both hands got a little cake on them. Luckily, it didn’t fall off the plate and dirty her clothes.

Bai Ruo immediately looked over with a smug you’re-done-for expression. Li Xian, without a word, pinched Bai Ruo’s leg under the table. Bai Ruo’s expression changed at once, and she looked at Li Xian innocently. Li Xian ignored her and kept eating her cake.

Before Su Yan could even get up to grab some tissues, Yan Yue said, “I have tissues in my bag. Wipe it off.”

Qin Qingyan looked at her and lifted both hands, the meaning obvious.

Yan Yue set down her cake, opened the bag, pulled out a few tissues, and used them to wipe Qin Qingyan’s hands clean.

That one move was enough for the other three to fall silent in perfect understanding, all of them turning to look at the two of them as their gossip flames flared up.

Especially Bai Ruo; she was the most obvious.

So the bag Qin Qingyan had been carrying was Yan Yue’s? Qin Qingyan was carrying it for her, and she was wiping Qin Qingyan’s hands—this relationship was definitely something. No doubt about it.

She coughed twice. “You two?”

Realizing their behavior might invite speculation, Qin Qingyan said nothing and went on eating, as if she didn’t plan to explain anything. But Yan Yue smiled and said, “I’m six years older than her; she’s like a younger sister to me.”

The words landed, and everyone froze.

Su Yan immediately looked at Qin Qingyan with sharp sensitivity. In the flickering light, Qin Qingyan’s expression was unreadable, but the hand holding her fork had frozen in midair. She could feel Qin Qingyan’s sadness.

The atmosphere stiffened for several seconds. Bai Ruo wasn’t sure what Yan Yue and Qin Qingyan’s relationship really was, but after seeing Su Yan and Qin Qingyan’s reactions, she knew her guess might have been right; she blamed herself for speaking out of turn.

“Six years? I’m six years apart from A Ruo too; she’s two years older than Qingyan, and she’s not steady at all. Instead, Qingyan feels about the same as you, President Yan,” Li Xian said, quietly taking Bai Ruo’s hand.

“Exactly, exactly; age doesn’t matter that much. As for me, even if I’m thirty, I’d still dare to date someone in their teens or twenties. Because in my heart, I’ll always be eighteen.” Su Yan cut in at just the right moment to change the subject.

The mood finally eased.

It was already very late. The group chatted a little longer at the door, then Li Xian and Bai Ruo drove off first, leaving only the three of them. Su Yan went to the car ahead of them, giving the two of them enough time alone.

The night wind was a little cold. The hem of Qin Qingyan’s thin coat fluttered up and settled again. She was wearing a cap and a mask; her glasses had been put back into Yan Yue’s bag.

Yan Yue took a deep breath and, not quite knowing what to say, suddenly remembered something. She opened the bag, hesitated for a moment, then decided to take it out.

There were two small boxes. She wasn’t sure which one it was, so after looking, she handed Qin Qingyan one of them.

“A birthday gift. I didn’t know what you liked, but I happened to want to have a pendant custom-made, so I had one made for you too,” Yan Yue said.

Qin Qingyan stared blankly at Yan Yue, then at the opened box. A silver chain lay inside with the initials of her name strung on it, delicate and beautiful.

She reached out to take it, then stopped. “Can I have yours instead?”

She was being bold, yet testing the waters step by step.

Yan Yue knew what Qin Qingyan really meant. Whether to give it or not was entirely up to her. She thought back to Qin Qingyan’s state in the private room just now. Hesitation and indecision had been tugging at her, leaving her mind in a mess.

Maybe she was overthinking it. But if Qin Qingyan wanted it, setting everything else aside, she would give it to her.

So she handed over the other pendant, the one customized with her own name.

Qin Qingyan lowered her head slightly; her voice softened a great deal. “I won’t be able to wear it.”

Yan Yue indulged her again and stepped forward to fasten it for her. But the next moment, Qin Qingyan suddenly hugged her. Their scents mingled, and both of them felt safe.

Su Yan, sitting in the car, happened to glance over and immediately smiled as she looked away, humming a little tune.

It seemed like a long time passed before Qin Qingyan rubbed against Yan Yue’s neck in lingering affection, breathing in the pleasant scent on her body as she spoke in a muffled voice. “What should I do if I’m a little sad?”

Her voice was very soft, and it tugged at the heart.

Yan Yue lifted a hand, then in the end hugged Qin Qingyan back. She knew why Qin Qingyan was sad; precisely because she knew, she was even more aware of it. The strength of the embrace tightened, as if a drowning person had finally found driftwood.

In the end, she still couldn’t completely ignore Qin Qingyan’s feelings. Yan Yue said, “Qin Qingyan, how about we find some time and talk?”

Not about work, not about trivial things, but about the relationship between them that both of them understood perfectly well.

Qin Qingyan’s heartbeat sped up. She answered at once, “Okay, then tomorrow.”

“I have something tomorrow.”

“Then the day after tomorrow.”

“Okay, the day after tomorrow.”