Yan Xiamu turned around.
Jiang Yue was taking off her nude-colored overcoat at the door. There was a white scarf around her neck. Her long curly hair fell over her shoulders. Perhaps having heard their conversation, she was walking over slowly.
Hearing Jiang Yue mention Lu Qianzhou's birthday, Wen Liang frowned slightly. "Miss Jiang..."
Jiang Yue implied something. "This is the first birthday you've spent with Qianzhou. You're so caring. I'm sure he'll be very happy."
After saying that, without caring about Yan Xiamu's reaction, she turned and said, "I'm here to talk to Qianzhou about some business. I'll leave right after. I promise I won't take up your private time."
In an instant, she withdrew her smile. "Where is Qianzhou?"
Wen Liang nodded. "Please follow me."
Yan Xiamu stared at her back, a bit lost in thought.
What did Jiang Yue mean by saying this was the first birthday she'd spent with Qianzhou? If now Jiang Yue, Fang Jiangyi, and even Peng Shiyi were all suspicious of her identity, did it mean someone had already confirmed who she was?
She was a bit on tenterhooks, just wanting to settle everything as soon as possible so she could feel at ease.
Yan Xiamu also followed upstairs. Outside the study, she saw Jiang Yue and Lu Qianzhou discussing something. She didn't eavesdrop but obediently went to Lu Qianzhou's room to wait for him. Since the two had crossed the last line, they hadn't slept in separate beds anymore.
But she really didn't expect Lu Qianzhou's birthday to be only three days apart from hers. Maybe fate itself was a very wonderful thing.
Out of boredom, she rummaged around in Lu Qianzhou's room and unexpectedly saw his ID card.
The man in the ID photo was expressionless but very handsome.
Sure enough, good-looking people looked good in any photo.
But the birthday was really February 21st.
...
On this day, she waited in Lu Qianzhou's room with a gift early, just to give him a surprise.
She hung a lot of star lights in the room, covered the bed with rose petals, lit a light but not overpowering incense in the room, and also prepared a cake and a gift.
Seeing the car lights downstairs sweep across, Yan Xiamu knew Lu Qianzhou was back.
She lit the candles on the cake in advance and then got into a box tied with a ribbon beside.
A long time passed, so long that she began to suspect if Lu Qianzhou had really come back. Only then did the sound of the doorknob turning come from the door. Immediately afterwards, the door opened.
The moment the door opened, Lu Qianzhou was stunned for a moment.
The surprise prepared by Yan Xiamu was presented before his eyes one by one. The smell of the incense was light and pleasant. There was no light on in the room, but the hazy light of the candles and star lights enveloped the whole room extremely warmly.
His movements as he entered the room became slow and restrained. The warm scene before his eyes was both strange and familiar.
This picture overlapped with the somewhat fragmented picture in his memory. His expression on his face was very ugly. The color suddenly faded from his lips. A corner of his emotions collapsed, like a fault in a crack.
After entering the room, he went straight to the cake. The candlelight flickered. There was a big number 27 on the cake, representing it was his 27th birthday.
For many years, he had never even been willing to count his own age.
"Wow!" Yan Xiamu suddenly pushed off the top lid and got out of the box beside, holding the birthday gift she'd prepared for Lu Qianzhou in her hand. "Third brother, happy birthday!"
She even wore a somewhat revealing nightgown for the mood. Her makeup was delicate, her skin was fair, her black hair was tucked behind her ears, the sequins at the corners of her eyes were pasted in the shape of stars, her delicate collarbone was obvious, and her waist was so slender it could be grasped with one hand...
Yan Xiamu really wanted to liven up the atmosphere.
However, when she met Lu Qianzhou's cold and expressionless gaze, she was stunned for a moment.
"Third brother..." She wanted to say something.
"Throw it away." Lu Qianzhou interrupted her.
Lu Qianzhou said, "I told you to throw all the things away."
Yan Xiamu's expression instantly froze on her face. She was holding the gift for Lu Qianzhou in her hand, and the heat all over her body instantly faded away.
She thought Lu Qianzhou didn't like noise, so she chose to celebrate his birthday alone with him. She thought Lu Qianzhou was just too busy, so she postponed her work and waited for him to come back obediently.
But she never expected him to react so coldly, and she simply couldn't figure out why.
"Why... Are you angry because I messed up your room?" She quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, but I'll clean the room up afterwards. Don't be angry. First take a look at the gift I prepared for you. This is..."
Suddenly, Lu Qianzhou reached out and opened the gift in her hand. "Throw all the things away. Don't make me repeat myself!"
The unopened box rolled into the corner. Yan Xiamu maintained the action of stuffing the gift into his hand, confused.
She'd prepared such a big surprise for him with so much care, and this was his reaction?
She felt inexplicably wronged.
"Third brother, what's wrong with you... This is the gift I prepared for you with so much care. Even if you don't like it, you can't have this kind of attitude!"
The candlelight flickered, and her face was shrouded in deep shadows.
The way she frowned and looked at him with tears in her eyes hit his heart directly, making his heart spasm with pain. A strange pain swept over him, and cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
His voice was cold. "Didn't I tell you long ago that I don't have a birthday and I don't need surprises? You always like to be self - righteous and try to figure out other people's minds. You don't know that these actions are all self - righteousness."
He said she was self - righteous!
The surprise she'd painstakingly prepared was criticized as worthless and even labeled as a conspiracy.
Yan Xiamu's chest heaved rapidly. Considering it was his birthday today, she didn't want to get angry with him.
"I've always been self - righteous, but it's always been for you." She argued. "Because the surprises you gave me are unforgettable for me. Because I love you, I want to give you the same kind of surprises and please you to make you happy. But your performance just now really disappointed me..."
But she never expected him to react like this.
Although the life Cheng Hua had given her was a bit indulgent, she wasn't conceited. After the incident in the Cheng family, she was even a bit self - abased. What Lu Qianzhou did today would only make her doubt herself and reflect on her actions. Was there something she didn't do well enough, or did she do something wrong?
"I never celebrate my birthday, and I don't need these surprises." His heart began to pound wildly. He gasped slightly, and his face was covered with a thin layer of sweat.
He reached out to take off the candle and blew out the flickering flame.
As if not wanting his embarrassing emotions to be too exposed, Lu Qianzhou casually took out his phone, dialed the number of the servants at home, and asked them to come up to clean the room.
Yan Xiamu was extremely disappointed. She was just ignored by Lu Qianzhou like this.
At this moment, all her careful preparations seemed so embarrassing. Her thin body trembled slightly, and her heart felt cold.
"Tell me the reason." Yan Xiamu asked him one last time. "Why don't you ever celebrate your birthday?"
Lu Qianzhou didn't look at her. Finally, he said, "There's no reason."
After saying this, he walked straight out to the broad balcony outside, as if trying to escape the suffocating atmosphere in the room.