At the tail end of August, on the 26th, it was Xie Tao’s birthday.
Early in the morning, Xie Tao received a call from Aunt Fu.
“Happy birthday to our Tao Tao!” Aunt Fu’s voice was filled with smiles on the other end of the phone, as lively as ever.
Rubbing her eyes and yawning, it took Xie Tao quite a while to realize that today was indeed her birthday.
Blocking the glaring sunlight seeping in from the half-open curtains with her hand, Xie Tao smiled, “Thank you, Aunt Fu!”
“Come on, Flower, wish your sister Tao Tao a happy birthday, quickly.”
The voice of Fu Miaolan on the other end was sometimes clear, sometimes muffled.
Then, Xie Tao heard the bewildered voice of Fu Hua from the phone, “Happy birthday, Sister Tao Tao.”
“Thank you, Fua.” Xie Tao raised her eyebrows.
“Tao Tao, you’re eighteen now, you’ve grown up,” Fu Miaolan chattered on, “Aunt Fu sent you some food, consider it a birthday gift.”
“Thank you, Aunt Fu…”
At that moment, amidst the faint crackling of the phone line, Xie Tao felt her eyes welling up with warmth upon hearing the comforting voice of Fu Miaolan from the other end.
Being able to meet Fu Miaolan and her daughter Fu Hua when she returned to Qizhen from the Zheng family was such a fortunate thing for Xie Tao.
She recalled the previous birthday night, when Aunt Fu personally made her a cake at the Fu family’s cake shop counter, and Fu Hua sang her a happy birthday song with a childish voice beside her.
At that time, Xie Tao suddenly felt that life was not so bad after all.
Now, she still feels the same way.
After hanging up the phone, Xie Tao threw off the covers, put on her clothes, and went to the restroom to wash up.
Since it was her birthday, she should eat something delicious.
After breakfast, Xie Tao went to work at the dessert shop where she was employed.
Not willing to buy a large cake, Xie Tao originally wanted to buy a small cherry cake at the dessert shop, but the shop owner, upon hearing it was her birthday, specially made her a medium-sized chocolate cake and refused to take any money from Xie Tao.
In the afternoon, Xie Tao thanked the shop owner and then carried the cake to the bus station.
After buying some vegetables at the market near the residential area, Xie Tao headed towards the neighborhood.
However, halfway there, she encountered Zheng Wenhong.
A black BMW stopped by the roadside, the window slowly rolled down, revealing Zheng Wenhong’s refined and gentle face.
“Xie Tao.”
“Uncle Zheng.”
Xie Tao nodded at him, polite yet distant.
Zheng Wenhong glanced subtly at the vegetables and the cake box she was holding, hands on the steering wheel, and then said to her with a normal expression, “Can we talk?”
“What is it?” Xie Tao asked.
Zheng Wenhong hummed in affirmation and said, “The case of Zhao Yixuan will go to trial next month, and the lawyer I’ve hired would like to ask you some questions.”
Since he was currently Xie Tao’s guardian, the police had been in contact with him about this matter, and Su Linghua along with Zheng Wenhong had already sued Zhao Yixuan, along with Zhou Xinyue’s parents.
Hearing Zheng Wenhong’s words, Xie Tao felt like she couldn’t refuse, as it was her matter after all.
So, she nodded and said, “Okay.”
But when she got out of Zheng Wenhong’s car about ten minutes later, she realized he had brought her to a hotel.
“Just to have a meal,” Zheng Wenhong explained.
Seeing Xie Tao still holding things, he said, “Leave it in the car for now.”
Xie Tao had no choice but to put everything back in the car.
Zheng Wenhong handed the car keys to the valet, then led Xie Tao into the hotel lobby and took the elevator to the third floor.
Following Zheng Wenhong, through a corridor laid with thick carpet to a private room, Zheng Wenhong opened the door.
As Xie Tao stepped through the door, she looked up to see a large round table in the private room, covered with various dishes, and in the center of the table was a large cake.
The cake read: Happy 18th Birthday, Tao Tao.
The two people seated at the table stood up immediately upon seeing Xie Tao enter.
One was Su Linghua, who had dressed up carefully.
The other was Zheng Hejia.
The sea-green dress that Su Linghua was wearing was the one she had designed herself and was featured in a magazine that Xie Tao had recently bought.
It seemed as if she had found her former self again.
It was a look that even Xie Tao had never seen before.
Different from the woman with the dim eyes in her memories, her eyes, which resembled Xie Tao’s especially, now held a confidence that wasn’t there before.
Xie Tao momentarily thought, perhaps this was how her mother was supposed to look?
Confident, and gently beautiful.
Yet, at this moment, it appeared somewhat unfamiliar to her.
In that instant, Xie Tao stood there, dumbfounded, her gaze fixed on Su Linghua. The light shifted slightly, and she blinked, as if dazzled by the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The room was silent until Su Linghua, standing by the table, moved her lips to call her, “Tao Tao…”
Xie Tao stood there, her gaze flickering, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the hem of her clothes.
Su Linghua, stepping forward in her high heels, seemed a bit nervous, but she spoke again, “Tao Tao, today is your birthday, so I…”
Before she could finish, Xie Tao interrupted her, “No need.”
Xie Tao turned to leave but was stopped by Zheng Wenhong:
“Xie Tao, deceiving you was my fault, Uncle Zheng apologizes to you, but if I hadn’t done this, you probably wouldn’t have come with me… Consider it an opportunity to make amends to your mother, okay?”
“She has also had a hard time this past year.”
“I don’t need any amends.” Xie Tao said softly, her voice a little light and trembling, as she looked down and clenched her fists.
“Tao Tao, don’t be like this, it makes me feel very bad…” Su Linghua said, her eyes welling up with tears.
For many years, she had vividly remembered the wrongs she had done to Xie Tao, unable to forget them no matter what.
Night after night, she would remember the look in her daughter Xie Tao’s eyes on that winter night.
She was always tormented by guilt.
“I know, I know that whatever I do now might not be able to make up for the harm I’ve caused you, but Tao Tao, I’m your mother, I… I can’t just ignore you, I really want to do something for you, Tao Tao, I really, I really miss you so much…”
As Su Linghua spoke, she became very emotional, tears rolling down her cheeks. She reached out to touch Xie Tao but was avoided.
Thus, her hand could only freeze in mid-air.
And Xie Tao’s almond-shaped eyes were already misted with tears.
The first two years after arriving in Nan City were the darkest times of Xie Tao’s life.
But back then, Xie Tao hadn’t lost hope in her mother.
Because she still remembered her mother’s gentlest moments, still remembered how she used to say over and over how much she loved her.
This is true, the love etched in bloodlines can never be feigned.
Thus, little Xie Tao always told herself that her mother was sick, that her mother felt much more sadness and pain than she did.
But even as she repeated this to herself over and over, that young heart could not avoid being hurt by such scolding and harsh criticism.
When Xie Tao came home covered in bruises from being bullied by her classmates, if Su Linghua had even once helped her change clothes, bathed her, gently blew on the wounds on her forehead, and softly spoken a word of comfort, Xie Tao would not have gradually become disillusioned amidst her long-held hopes.
What gives a child the courage to live a happy life?
At that time, Xie Tao thought it must be her mother’s embrace.
But what truly crushed all of Xie Tao’s hopes for her mother was actually during those days at the Zheng’s.
She had hoped that once her mother recovered from her illness, she would return to her former self, embracing her with the gentlest posture and telling her she loved her.
But she did not.
She focused too much on her new family.
Because of her deliberate favoritism towards Zhengjia, and her harsh demands on Xie Tao, the last bit of light in Xie Tao’s heart about her mother was completely extinguished.
So, on New Year’s Eve, Xie Tao left the Zheng’s house.
That was Su Linghua’s home, and perhaps it would always be her home, but it would never be Xie Tao’s home.
Because Su Linghua was her mother, Xie Tao would always inevitably miss her.
This was, after all, a very contradictory sentiment.
But blood ties are something a person can never sever.
However, missing someone ultimately requires a sufficient distance to truly be considered missing.
That is not forgiveness.
Just as Su Linghua has not yet understood the reason for Xie Tao’s complete disappointment, this mother-daughter relationship will never return to its once pure state.
They are still mother and daughter, but between them, there is an insurmountable chasm that time has not been able to erase, a knot in their hearts about each other.
“Tao Tao, today is your eighteenth birthday, the day you become an adult. I beg you, let your mother celebrate this birthday with you, okay?”
Su Linghua’s eyes were red, and her voice choked with a plea.
Xie Tao did not speak; she just looked up at the high glass on the table filled with dark red wine.
It was like the color of the sleeves in Wei Yun’s painting.
She suddenly thought that on the day of becoming an adult, it seemed appropriate to drink some wine.
Zhengjia stood by silently watching Xie Tao, not speaking out to persuade her, just quietly standing there.
Because he knew he had no place to do so.
And this time, he did not want to interfere with any of her choices.
Just as the atmosphere became tense, Xie Tao suddenly walked to the table, picked up a glass of red wine, and drank it down gulp after gulp.
The red wine in the three tall glasses on the table was all consumed by her.
Then, she picked up a transparent plastic knife, cut a piece of cake, ate it, and then turned and left.
“Tao Tao!” Su Linghua called out from behind, her voice tinged with tears.
Xie Tao paused when she reached the door, but she did not turn back, her eyes already brimming with unshed tears.
Finally, she said, “Mom, thank you for giving birth to me, for bringing me into this world.”
She said, “Today, I have come of age.”
“So from now on, life is really just my own.”
After saying this, she left without looking back, even though she heard the sound of Su Linghua’s collapsing sobs behind her.
Perhaps because it was her birthday, seeing Su Linghua, hearing her voice, and seeing her tears instantly evoked many memories of the past.
Back then, the image of her father had not yet become a blurry shadow in her mind.
Back then, her mother was the one who would kiss her cheeks every day and then take her to the cake shop in town to buy flaky sugar treats.
Life never offers a chance to start over, but when Xie Tao dreams of her childhood, she still wakes up crying.
Returning to her rented apartment complex, as she approached the building, her phone chimed just in time.
She took out her phone, and through a blur of tears, she saw that it was a message from the express delivery locker.
Standing in place for two minutes, Xie Tao walked back to the area in the community where the express delivery lockers were located. After she entered the password, the locker beeped and opened in response.
Inside was an old-fashioned wooden box.
Like the previous few times, it was a box of pastries sent by Wei Yun.
Thus, in the cicada-filled dusk of midsummer, a girl stood alone in front of the express delivery locker, her reddened eyes brimming with even more tears.
Xie Tao wiped her face over and over again, rubbing her cheeks until they started to turn red and even begin to hurt, but she didn’t mind.
Carrying the box upstairs, Xie Tao’s steps were a bit unsteady.
Perhaps it was the effect of the three large glasses of red wine, compounded by her never having drunk before, so when the alcohol took effect, her mind started to blur.
After returning to her rented room, Xie Tao sat on the bed for a while before opening the box of pastries.
The pastries in the box were not the osmanthus lotus root cakes from before but another type of pastry she had never seen.
She took a piece and fed it into her mouth.
For some reason, tears fell again.
Later, her mind became even more muddled, and she cried and ate at the same time.
Eventually, she lay in bed holding the box, took out her phone from her pocket, stared at the phone screen for a while, and then clicked into the chat interface with a blank profile picture.
She sniffled and clicked on the video call option, staring for a while at the choices “video call” and “audio call” before tilting her head. Eventually, her finger pressed “audio call.”
As she waited for the connection sound, even the drunken Xie Tao became much bolder. Her heart started to race, and she clutched her clothes, her fingers trembling slightly.
At that moment, Wei Yun, who had just come out of the bathroom and returned to the room, was wearing a thin white robe with slightly open fronts revealing his collarbone, his wet dark hair draped over his shoulders.
He held a scroll in his hand, and when he looked down, his long, dense eyelashes resembled crow feathers.
Suddenly, a golden star disk formed by flowing golden energy appeared on the copper pendant he casually placed on the desk.
As the star disk rotated, a sound as delicate as a bell rang out.
The next moment, he clearly heard the sound of a girl sniffing.
“…?” Wei Yun frowned.
“Wei Yun?”
The girl’s voice came through, slightly timid and unpleasant.
For a moment, Wei Yun’s eyes flashed with a complex expression of astonishment, and after a while, he tentatively spoke:
“Xie Tao?”
The moment his clear voice, as refreshing as a spring, reached her, Xie Tao burst into tears.
“Wei Yun…”
She cried so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath, repeating his name over and over.
Wei Yun heard her sob, “After today, I’ll be eighteen.”
“I’ll be an adult…”
It sounded like she was telling him, but also reminding herself.
Wei Yun listened as the girl cried and rambled on about many things to him.
Noticing her slurred speech and apparent drunkenness, he asked, “Did you drink?”
“Mm… Three big glasses, not tasty at all.”
Xie Tao instinctively answered obediently, even burping at the end.
“I lost the cake today, and the food too, I don’t deserve dinner, nor do I deserve a birthday…”
“Wei Yun, are you listening?”
“Wei Yun, say something.”
“Your voice is so nice, I believe you’re not an old man…”
In her drunken state, she seemed bolder and talked more, yet she avoided many topics she didn’t want to touch on.
Even so, Wei Yun could tell she was very upset.
As dusk fell, Wei Yun listened to the girl’s increasingly faint voice, his gaze fixed on the constellation revealed on the copper pendant.
At that moment, Xie Tao seemed to hear his clear and cool voice saying:
“Happy birthday, Xie Tao.”
For some reason, at that moment, Xie Tao’s eyes suddenly filled with tears.
Her heart seemed to beat rapidly, and her breathing gradually became more hurried.
Perhaps it was the influence of alcohol, or perhaps the quiet stirrings of her heart gave her too much courage. She sniffled and then let out a silly laugh, her almond-shaped eyes misty.
But from the moment she stood in front of the express locker downstairs and saw that wooden box, from the moment she bravely made a voice call and heard his voice.
The emotions she had deliberately hidden and blurred out surged again in her mind, which was dizzy and muddled yet somehow excessively clear.
Thus, in the silent night, in front of the flickering lamp, the young gentleman sitting upright like a pine clearly heard the girl’s soft and frail voice whispering from the constellation:
“I really like you…”
“Wei Yun.”
