HSS CH31

Chapter 31: Make a Birthday Wish

So, with his hair still damp, Huo Yuchuan was pressed into doing homework at the table. Lin Miao stood behind him, holding a towel and drying his wet hair in clumps, like an inexperienced barber’s apprentice.

Huo Yuchuan: “……No need to dry it.”

“No way,” Lin Miao dried his hair earnestly, “My mom says it’s easy to catch a cold with wet hair.”

The room was very quiet, with the sound of fine rain faintly rustling from outside the window.

Huo Yuchuan gripped the pen tightly in his hand, the tip trembling, but he didn’t write a single word for a long time.

“Lin Miao,” his throat was dry, and he spoke with difficulty, “If someone likes you……”

“No early romance!” Lin Miao, like an “early romance radar” going off, immediately interrupted, “The teacher said that if you’re in a relationship, you won’t focus on studying, your grades will drop, you won’t get into college, and then you’ll have to collect trash!”

Huo Yuchuan: “……”

Lin Miao, realizing his slip of the tongue, asked, “Who likes me?”

Huo Yuchuan lowered his head and did his homework, “I don’t know.”

Lin Miao didn’t pay much attention and remembered something else, “Huo Yuchuan, why were you in the alley near my house?”

He said happily, “Did you come to find me?”

Huo Yuchuan: “No, I was just passing by.”

Lin Miao: “But that’s not the way to your home, is it?”

Huo Yuchuan didn’t answer. Lin Miao wanted to ask more, but then his mom knocked on the door and said, “Dinner’s ready.”

Lin Miao immediately forgot everything and pulled Huo Yuchuan out to eat.

Dinner was simple home-cooked dishes, and the three family members took turns piling Huo Yuchuan’s plate with food until it was as high as a small mountain. Lin Dad even asked if he wanted to drink alcohol, but Lin Mom stepped on his foot and said, “Are you the one who wants to drink?”

Lin Dad quickly said, “No, no.”

Lin Miao whispered to Huo Yuchuan that his dad always sneaked drinks.

Huo Yuchuan silently finished all the food in his bowl.

That night, Huo Yuchuan stayed at Lin Miao’s house and, under the supervision of the class monitor, finished the homework due the next day. Lin Miao was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open. As soon as he finished, he urged Huo Yuchuan to go to sleep and shared half of his bed and quilt with him.

In a daze, he heard Huo Yuchuan say in a low voice, “Today is my birthday.”

Lin Miao sat up abruptly, “What?!”

He threw off the quilt and was about to get out of bed, “Then I’ll go buy you a cake.”

“No need,” Huo Yuchuan held him back and glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside table, which pointed to half past eleven, “Just say ‘Happy Birthday’ to me.”

Lin Miao paused for a moment, clapped his hands in rhythm and sang, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you……”

That day, fourteen-year-old Huo Yuchuan heard his first birthday song.

In the university classroom, Lin Miao suddenly came to his senses and remembered that tomorrow was Huo Yuchuan’s birthday. Huo Yuchuan’s birthdays these past two years had been spent with him, but this year……

Lin Miao glanced at Huo Yuchuan, who was dozing off at his desk—No way, not celebrating a birthday for a liar!

He thought, without him, there are plenty of people to celebrate Huo Yuchuan’s birthday, like Little Zheng, like Boss He……

He hesitated for a moment and sent a message to Little Zheng, “Tomorrow is Huo Yuchuan’s birthday, right?”

Little Zheng: “Yes.”

Lin Miao: “Are you going to celebrate his birthday?”

Little Zheng: “No, I’m just an employee.”

Lin Miao: “……”

Lin Miao glanced at Huo Yuchuan again and shook his head—There’s no real bond between boss and employee at all.

He decided to ask Boss He when he went to work part-time in the evening.

But when he went to “Muse” that evening, Lin Miao didn’t see He Congshan.

He noticed that Teacher Yu seemed not to have come again either.

Probably scared off by Boss He.

Lin Miao was in a dilemma all night and finally asked Xu Yue, “If someone lied to you and you were very angry, would you still celebrate their birthday?”

Xu Yue slapped the table and said, “Celebrate a birthday after making me angry?! I’d smash the cake in their face!”

“But,” Lin Miao hesitated, “No one celebrating his birthday seems a bit pitiful.”

Xu Yue: “……”

Xu Yue picked up a box of alcohol and walked away.

Lin Miao thought and thought, and finally had a brainstorm—Right, let my dad go celebrate Huo Yuchuan’s birthday!

So, on Saturday, Lin Jianxing went to Huo Yuchuan’s house with a cake and sang him a birthday song.

Huo Yuchuan: “……”

Huo Yuchuan silently cut him a piece of cake.

Lin Jianxing took a few bites and muttered, “I told you I can’t eat this at my age. It’s too sweet, but you insisted on buying it.”

Huo Yuchuan looked at the crooked words on the cake and said, “Did Lin Miao buy this?”

Lin Jianxing realized he had slipped up and quickly corrected himself, “Ahem…… No, I bought it.”

He hastily finished the cake, feeling like he had completed a mission, and couldn’t stay a moment longer.

“I’ll leave you to enjoy it. I’m off.”

Then he left, clutching his ever-present thermos.

Huo Yuchuan picked up his phone, took a photo of the cake, and sent it to Lin Miao.

“No one to share the cake with me.”

In no time, Lin Miao replied, “Didn’t my dad go over?”

Huo Yuchuan: “He left.”

Lin Miao paused for a moment, then said, “Then have Aunt Chen eat it with you.”

Huo Yuchuan: “Aunt Chen left too.”

Lin Miao: “Then call Little Zheng.”

Huo Yuchuan: “I want you to eat it with me.”

Lin Miao stared at the message for half a minute, got out of bed in the dormitory, put on his coat, and hailed a taxi at the school gate.

When he arrived outside Huo Yuchuan’s villa, he saw Huo Yuchuan standing at the entrance, as if waiting for him.

Lin Miao got out of the car, turned his face away, and said awkwardly, “I’m not not angry anymore, it’s just your birthday today.”

He forced a face, “I’ll…… reluctantly eat the cake with you.”

Huo Yuchuan “mm”ed, grabbed his hand, and just looked at him like that.

Lin Miao felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, tugged at his hand, and said, “I’ll leave after I finish the cake.”

Huo Yuchuan didn’t let go of his hand, led him back to the living room, and cut him a large piece of cake.

Lin Miao curled up on the sofa, took a bite, and gloated, “I knew this would be delicious.”

Huo Yuchuan let out a soft chuckle.

Lin Miao, feeling a bit guilty, explained again, “My dad bought it, I just took a look.”

Huo Yuchuan didn’t argue, just looked at the cream on the corner of his mouth and said, “You got some on you.”

He raised his hand, and his fingertip gently wiped the cream from the corner of Lin Miao’s lips. Hearing his words, Lin Miao instinctively stuck out his tongue to lick off the cream.

The warm tip of his tongue touched his fingertip, soft and delicate.

Huo Yuchuan didn’t let go, his eyes, reflecting the figure of a person, seemed bottomless.

“Lin Miao,” his Adam’s apple rolled, “Can I make a birthday wish?”

Lin Miao was a bit stunned for a moment, “What kind of wish?”

Huo Yuchuan slowly leaned in, the sweet cream smell becoming more intense.

“I want…… to kiss the person I like.”