Chapter 47
The story had only mentioned that Gu Lin’s birthday was in the winter, but never the specific date. In the plot, Gu Lin wasn’t enthusiastic about his birthday; in fact, he disliked celebrating it entirely.
It wasn’t that Gu Lin was solely focused on work. On the contrary, he knew how to enjoy life and fill it with surprises. He liked holidays, but he usually only celebrated the major ones where he could gather with family. He never paid much attention to his own birthday.
Of course, there was a reason for this.
It all started when Gu Lin was a child. For his eighth birthday, his family threw him a party by a lake. But while playing with friends, Gu Lin was accidentally pushed by another child and fell into the water. He nearly drowned, terrifying everyone and casting a shadow over his young mind. From that day on, Gu Lin developed a fear of water, and at the same time, he stopped celebrating his birthday.
Every year on his birthday, while other children were laughing and celebrating with their parents and friends, Gu Lin’s routine remained completely undisturbed. He would just go about his day as usual, doing whatever he needed to do alone.
Honestly, if Yan Yang hadn’t mentioned it, Gu Lin’s birthday would have passed without Lin Zheng even realizing he had turned a year older.
But as Gu Lin’s friend, Yan Yang actually knew that Gu Lin disliked celebrating his birthday.
“Are you sure you want to throw a birthday party for someone who doesn’t like celebrating it?” Lin Zheng asked him.
Yan Yang looked at Lin Zheng, puzzled. After a few seconds, he slowly asked, “How do you know Gu Lin doesn’t like celebrating his birthday?”
Lin Zheng suddenly realized he had accidentally let the cat out of the bag.
As someone with an omniscient view of the story, Lin Zheng naturally knew about this. But without that special knowledge, he was just Lin Zheng in Yan Yang’s eyes—an ordinary person who shouldn’t know about Gu Lin’s birthday trauma.
Lin Zheng quickly came up with an excuse. “Well, you can just tell by looking at him. Gu Lin is always so absorbed in his work, and he’s so low-key. He doesn’t seem like the type to make a big deal out of his own birthday.”
He said it with a look of absolute certainty.
Yan Yang found it amusing. “Low-key? I think we know two different Gu Lins.”
“Whatever,” Lin Zheng said. “I just don’t think Gu Lin would want to celebrate his birthday.”
Yan Yang crossed his arms and pointed to his own head. “I have to wonder how that little brain of yours works. Whether Gu Lin wants to celebrate his birthday is his business. Whether you want to celebrate it for him is your business. Those are two completely different things, you know?”
Lin Zheng countered, “If he doesn’t like it and you insist on doing it, it becomes one and the same thing: a way to offend someone.”
Yan Yang shook his head. “You’re wrong, little bird’s nest head. I don’t know about other people, but if it’s you… if you’re the one celebrating it for him…” Yan Yang grinned. “I think it would be perfectly fine.”
After saying that, Yan Yang didn’t press the issue further. He just patted Lin Zheng’s shoulder. “Anyway, I’m just giving you a heads-up. Whether you celebrate it for him or not is out of my hands. It’s up to you. You’re both adults.”
With a wink, Yan Yang left Lin Zheng standing there and headed home.
Lin Zheng stood at the intersection, watching Yan Yang’s carefree back…
What does he mean? What does he mean, just dropping a problem on me and leaving? What’s that supposed to mean?
Lin Zheng was stumped.
It would have been better if he hadn’t told him at all. If he didn’t know it was Gu Lin’s birthday, he wouldn’t be in this dilemma.
Light snow began to drift down. Lin Zheng looked up at the snowflakes falling from the sky and let out a soft breath, the cold air snatching away its warmth.
A birthday, huh? This is going to be difficult.
As Lin Zheng watched the snow, a black shape suddenly appeared in his field of vision. The snowflakes falling from the sky stopped, no longer landing on his hair or shoulders. He turned his head and was met with a handsome face.
Gu Lin was standing just a few inches behind him, holding an umbrella over him.
When their eyes met, Gu Lin asked gently, “Why are you just standing outside the door instead of going in? It’s cold out. You’ll catch a cold if you stay out here too long.”
Compared to the icy snowflakes, Gu Lin’s voice was warm, flowing from his ears into his body and warming his limbs, which had grown slightly cold from standing outside.
Gu Lin took Lin Zheng’s hand, as if to warm it, then turned and led him toward the house.
Lin Zheng followed Gu Lin inside, through the courtyard, and into the house.
Standing in the entryway, Gu Lin brushed the snow off his scarf, then straightened his wind-tousled hair before starting to take off his own coat.
After hanging his coat, Gu Lin began unbuttoning his shirt cuffs and asked, “I’m planning to make a hot soup today. You can think about it within the limited ingredients we have and pick one you like.”
Gu Lin finished and turned to look at Lin Zheng.
Lin Zheng was sitting down to change his shoes. He looked up at the man standing beside him and answered distractedly, “Oh, just make whatever. I’m fine with anything.”
Seeing Lin Zheng’s absent-minded expression, Gu Lin finished with his cuffs and knelt down. The shirt across his chest pulled taut, revealing the contours of the muscles beneath. He looked at the person in front of him and, as if teasing a kitten, touched Lin Zheng’s cheek with his finger. “What’s wrong?” he asked with concern.
His right cheek was tapped twice by a warm fingertip, and Lin Zheng snapped back to reality. He was startled to find Gu Lin kneeling in front of him with a smile on his face.
He had just been thinking about Gu Lin’s birthday.
He had been imagining Gu Lin flying into a rage upon seeing a birthday gift from him, and just then, Gu Lin’s face had appeared right in front of him.
Great, he was already scared ahead of schedule.
Realizing how close Gu Lin was, Lin Zheng, who was sitting on the step, shifted back slightly and shook his head. “It’s nothing. I was just thinking about what to do this Saturday.”
As soon as he said it, he saw Gu Lin freeze for a moment.
Realizing his stupid mouth had let it slip again, Lin Zheng really wanted to slap himself. But with Gu Lin still looking at him, he managed to suppress the urge.
“What’s there to do on Saturday? It’s a day off, but isn’t every day a day off for you? You can do whatever you want, whatever you like. Of course…” A slight smile appeared on Gu Lin’s face. “If you want to consider me in your plans, how about taking pity on a working man who hasn’t had a break in a long time and maybe watching a movie with me?”
Lin Zheng’s eyes lit up. “You just want to watch a movie?”
He quickly refined his question. “I mean, it’s a rare weekend. Are you sure you’d be satisfied with just a movie?”
Gu Lin stroked his chin, pretending to think. “…It would be even better if there was something else. For example, holding hands with the person I like, maybe a kiss. And if the mood is right…”
Hearing those familiar lines, Lin Zheng quickly raised his hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. “Hold it!”
Gu Lin looked at him, ignoring his flushed face, and asked innocently, “Is there a problem?”
Was there a problem? The problem was huge!
Never mind that they weren’t even in a relationship yet. More importantly, Gu Lin had clearly said he would take things slow to let him adjust. But the pace Gu Lin was suggesting was anything but slow. This was rocket speed!
Lin Zheng felt like he was back in the past, being cornered by Gu Lin at a frightening pace.
The only difference was, back then he didn’t know if Gu Lin’s feelings were genuine. Now, he did.
But in terms of actions, there was no difference at all!
Gu Lin looked at the person before him, whose face was red from either anger or embarrassment, and chuckled. He reached out and ruffled Lin Zheng’s hair a couple of times, then stopped teasing him and got up to prepare their dinner.
Lin Zheng remained seated, waiting for the heat in his cheeks to subside.
The sky grew dark.
Lin Zheng brought the dishes Gu Lin had cooked to the dining table one by one and sat down eagerly.
What he once desperately craved was now his daily fare, but even so, he had no resistance to delicious food.
Gu Lin placed two wine glasses on the table, picked up a chilled bottle of red wine, and poured. The clear, red liquid flowed down the side of the glass, swirling gently at the bottom of the crystal before settling into stillness.
Snow was still falling outside the window next to their table, flakes drifting down sparsely. Some collected on the windowsill, others on the ground, gradually piling up.
Lin Zheng took the glass Gu Lin handed him. The cool liquid made his fingers feel a bit numb, but he didn’t want to put it down. Good wine, good food, and falling snow—it was all too romantic.
He tore his gaze away from the window and looked at Gu Lin.
Gu Lin just wanted to watch a movie.
If a simple movie could make Gu Lin happy, then why was he agonizing over whether to celebrate his birthday? The purpose of celebrating someone’s birthday was to make them happy. So, as long as he could do that, wouldn’t that be the best gift of all?
No longer needing to struggle with the decision, Lin Zheng suddenly felt a sense of clarity.
Let’s see, what movies were coming out on Saturday?
There was a big foreign blockbuster, which seemed like Gu Lin’s type.
There was also a mind-bending thriller that looked pretty good.
Just as Lin Zheng was debating which movie would be the best surprise, Gu Lin spoke from across the table. “Suddenly, I don’t feel like watching a movie anymore.”
Lin Zheng: “?”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Gu Lin looked at him and explained, “Enjoying such a peaceful and leisurely time made me think about what you said earlier, about how to spend the day off.”
Lin Zheng pressed a hand on the table, asking urgently, “Why don’t you want to watch a movie all of a sudden?”
He had already started picking out films in his head.
He was planning to give Gu Lin a surprise, but Gu Lin had surprised him first.
Gu Lin swirled the wine in his glass. “Well, let’s just say I want to do something more meaningful.”
This completely stumped Lin Zheng.
…What does he mean by ‘something more meaningful’?!
He didn’t get it.
He just didn’t understand.
The problem he thought he had solved had just circled back and stumped him all over again.
Watching Lin Zheng lower his head, pressing a finger to his lips in troubled thought, Gu Lin’s lips curved into a subtle smile.
After dinner, Lin Zheng volunteered to clear the table. However, not trusting him with the dishes, Gu Lin stayed by his side to supervise.
Once everything was done and the kitchen was clean, Lin Zheng was about to run up to his room on the second floor when Gu Lin called out to him from behind.
He turned around to see Gu Lin leaning against the bottom of the staircase railing, arms crossed, smiling at him. “Little rabbit, go to bed early tonight. Just wanted to say goodnight in advance.”
He couldn’t believe Gu Lin had stopped him just to say that.
But Lin Zheng had more important things to do and couldn’t spare much thought for it. He replied, “You too, go to bed early,” and went to his room.
The moment he was inside, he closed the door and pulled out his phone to text Yan Yang. “Yan Yang, hurry up and tell me, what does Gu Lin consider ‘something meaningful’?”
Lin Zheng had thought it over. He didn’t have to celebrate Gu Lin’s birthday, but he had seen all the kindness Gu Lin had shown him. He felt that, even just to repay him, he should do something for him. It didn’t have to be a celebration, but he could do something that would make Gu Lin happy.
As long as it was within his power, he would do his best.
Even if it cost a lot of money, it didn’t matter.
…As long as it didn’t completely drain his savings.
He still had to live on that money.
Although he knew turning to Yan Yang wasn’t the best idea, Yan Yang was the person closest to him who knew Gu Lin best. He knew Gu Lin too, of course, but the plot never mentioned what Gu Lin considered most meaningful. So, he had to ask a real person for help.
Yan Yang sent him a “What the heck?” sticker, then asked, “What ‘something meaningful’? What does that have to do with Gu Lin’s birthday?”
Lin Zheng explained that he didn’t want to make a big fuss, but he wanted to do something that would make Gu Lin happy.
Yan Yang: “Something that would make Gu Lin happy?”
Lin Zheng: “Yeah, yeah.”
Yan Yang: “That’s way too easy.”
Lin Zheng: “Is it really that easy? [expectant.jpg]”
Yan Yang sent a winking emoji.
Then he texted: “Easy. Just gift yourself to him and you’re all set.”
Author’s Note: Yan “The Devil” Yang: “Call me ‘big bro,’ and not only will I give you ideas, I can also help you with free ‘delivery’.”
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