Alcohol is something that can drive people crazy.
Especially when the dark red liquid ripples gently in the flat and sunken collarbone, flows along the thin bones over the fair and delicate skin, and every inch of texture is smudged into a crimson smoky ink painting, it always makes people want to completely crush and tear the plain white rice paper.
Rose petals are also crushed on rice paper, creating shades of red.
The long candle continued to burn fiercely until only a pool of white wax was left.
The slightly tipsy state made Gu Jiqing seem more passionate and direct than usual, and he was also better able to endure the shame and pain brought by Zhou Cibai.
And with his indulgence, Zhou Cibai was like a wolf that wanted to tear its beloved prey apart and eat it alive.
Gu Jiqing finally couldn’t bear any more exertion and fell asleep in a state of near-empty collapse.
So much so that when he woke up the next day, his brain was still too tired and exhausted to work. He just felt the pain that his whole body was about to fall apart. He wrapped himself in the quilt and shrank into Zhou Cibai’s arms. “It hurts.”
As soon as this word came out, Zhou Cibai, who had been leaning over to admire his sleeping face, immediately leaned over and asked anxiously, “Where does it hurt?”
Gu Jiqing closed his eyes. “Don’t you know?”
“……”
After realizing that this pain was that pain, Zhou Cibai’s ears turned red with guilt. He secretly hugged Gu Jiqing tighter and whispered, “We have already applied medicine, why does it still hurt?”
“Have you ever been bitten by a big dog?”
“En, I have. What’s wrong?”
“So at that time, you only took the medicine once, and the pain went away?”
“……”
“Gu Zhizhi! You called me a big dog again!” Zhou Cibai finally reacted and tickled Gu Jiqing in anger.
Gu Jiqing smiled weakly while hiding and calling out, “Big dog.”
“Big dog.” “Big dog.”
The big dog was so angry that he wrapped him in a quilt and tickled him hard.
Gu Jiqing was very ticklish, and he immediately started to move around like a silkworm, laughing and trying to get rid of the torture. However, he couldn’t, and instead crushed the few roses that were barely intact on the bed.
The moment the sound of roses being crushed was heard from beneath him, Gu Jiqing suddenly stopped where he was.
Wait, roses.
If he remembered correctly, last night they were in disarray on the rooftop, and then Zhou Cibai carried him and the wine back to the room, and then Zhou Cibai drank all the remaining wine on him in the bathtub, and finally he went crazy and lost consciousness, so…
“Zhou Cibai.”
Gu Jiqing blinked and called out.
Zhou Cibai looked at his suddenly dazed expression, stopped what he was doing, and said “En.”
Gu Jiqing raised his eyes and looked at him. “Did you get up early in the morning to clean up the sunroom?”
Zhou Cibai said, “No.”
Gu Jiqing asked again: “What about the roses in the living room?”
“Also no.”
Gu Jiqing held on to his last hope: “Then when will your parents come back?”
Zhou Cibai thought for a moment and said, “It should be soon.”
“…Zhou Cibai!”
Gu Jiqing immediately gave him a light kick in anxiety: “Then why don’t you go and clean it up?”
Zhou Cibai blinked: “Why should I clean up?”
He still asking why!
If they don’t clean this up, they will be discovered!
Gu Jiqing thought about it, quickly got up, washed and dressed, and wanted to run out anxiously, but Zhou Cibai grabbed him back, hugged him in his arms, and laughed softly, “Gu Zhizhi, are you an idiot?”
“Ah?”
Gu Jiqing raised his eyes and blinked, as if he hadn’t reacted.
Seeing the rationalist thinker who was always smart and calm become a little fool because of caring too much, Zhou Cibai couldn’t help but lower his head and kiss him, his voice wrapped in laughter: “It turns out that our Gu Zhizhi can also be a little fool. Happy birthday, little fool.”
What happy birthday?
Gu Jiqing was a little confused for a moment, and before he realized what was going on, Zhou Xiaoyue’s cheerful voice came from outside the door: “Jiqing gege! Are you awake? If you are awake, come out and eat cake!”
What cake?
Gu Jiqing wondered if he was still hungover; otherwise, why did his mind suddenly feel a little slow?
Zhou Cibai looked at him and smiled, then reached out to straighten his collar and a few strands of hair that were a little dull from sleeping, then took his hand and pushed open the bedroom door.
The moment the door was pushed open, there was a “bang” sound of champagne being opened, and the golden liquid immediately sprayed out. Zhou Zhou, wearing a cute little bow tie, gave a “woop”, which was a warm welcome.
“Jiqing gege! Happy birthday! I wish Jiqing gege would become more and more handsome and richer!” Su Yuebai shook the champagne and smiled brightly.
Zhou Xiaoyue stood on tiptoe holding a big cake: “Happy birthday, Jiqing gege! This is a cake made by mommy! Xiao Yue also helped! That FaFa was made by Xiao Yue! Because mommy said that FaFa should be given to good-looking people!”
Their sister-in-law took out a gift box and smiled warmly at Gu Jiqing. “Saozi didn’t really know what to give you, so your eldest brother and I chose a pair of couple watches. I hope you and Xiao Ci can cherish every minute and every second and spend many birthdays together in the future.”
Zhou Zhenbai put his hands in the pockets of his suit pants, leaned against the door frame, and said, “As the eldest brother, I don’t have anything good to give you. I’ll just say the same thing as before. If Zhou Cibai bullies you in the future, tell me, and I, as the eldest brother, will be responsible for beating him up.”
“There’s also this mother, if Xiao Ci doesn’t behave well in the future, you can just beat him up. If you can’t beat him, tell Auntie. Auntie will support you.”
Mrs. Zhou took out two amulets and placed them in his hands, with a loving smile in her eyes. “As an elder, I don’t have too many wishes. I just hope that my children can live a safe and happy life. So this is a pair of amulets that Auntie and Uncle personally prepared for you and Xiao Ci when we climbed the mountain that day. I hope they can bless you guys.”
“Aiya, you guys are so fancy, but you are not as good as an old man like me. Come, Xiao Gu, this is a red envelope. Go buy some more meat to eat and gain weight. This is the family rule set by your grandmother. If Zhou Cibai dares to violate it, just beat him up. Don’t be polite!”
Grandpa leaned on his cane and waved his hand, looking very domineering.
It was as if Gu Jiqing was their biological son.
As soon as he finished speaking, Father Zhou’s voice came from downstairs: “Xiao Gu, Uncle is cooking for your birthday banquet today. Come and taste Uncle’s cooking skills!”
After saying that, without waiting for Gu Jiqing to react, the family stuffed the gift into Zhou Cibai’s arms, held Gu Jiqing’s hand, and walked away.
“Xiao Gu, let me tell you, your uncle is an excellent cook. You must eat more later. The more you eat, the happier he will be.”
“That’s right, Xiao Gu, you must also eat an extra bowl of Yuanxiao1Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for the Lantern Festival.. Originally, we should celebrate the Lantern Festival in the evening, but you and Xiao Ci have to go back to school today, so we thought of celebrating it together at noon. You must eat more.”
“Yes! You must eat more Yuanxiao! Otherwise, how can there be a happy family reunion?”
“Great! Xiao Yue wants to compete with Jiqing gege in eating!”
“By the way! Jiqing gege, I heard from cousin that you like painting, so I asked a friend to bring me a box of Michael Harding from England. I hope you like it!”
Gu Jiqing was still a little dazed when he was pulled by Mother Zhou to sit down at the dining table. He looked at the home-cooked meals carefully prepared according to his taste, the handmade cat cakes, the gifts held in Zhou Cibai’s arms, and the whole room full of family members with the most natural smiles and speaking the most natural, homely words.
He couldn’t remember the last time he celebrated his birthday like this.
Because his birthday is in mid-February, either it is during the Chinese New Year and the Gu family is busy with various social events, or school has already started and they have no time to take care of him. In the end, his birthday is usually just some symbolic gifts or a cold dinner.
He didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, but he also didn’t think it was interesting either. So over time, unless someone reminded him specifically, he had gotten used to not thinking about it.
So it was not until just now that he remembered that today was his birthday.
He didn’t know how Zhou Cibai knew it, nor did he know how the Zhou family knew it.
Zhou Cibai sat down next to him, tied the amulet to his phone case, put on his couple watch, and asked in a low voice, “Do you like all the birthday gifts today?”
“I like them.” Gu Jiqing was still a little dull. “But your mother and the others…”
“They like you very much, they also don’t mind us being together, and they also forbid me to bully you.” Zhou Cibai said as he fastened the buckle for him. He looked into his eyes and said seriously, “So, Gu Zhizhi, we really have a family in the future.”
A real home with the blessings of family, the care of elders, and lots of love and smiles.
At that moment, Gu Jiqing sat there, watching the family busy lowering the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows of the entire house to forcefully create darkness and then lighting candles in an attempt to create a scene where he could make a real wish, and suddenly he felt his eyes sore.
Mother Zhou, who was busy lighting candles, suddenly noticed that something was wrong with him and hurriedly stepped forward to ask, “Xiao Gu, what’s wrong? Did Zhou Cibai bully you again?”
That also counts.
Because his collarbones were still hurting, his heart was also aching.
Gu Jiqing nodded. “En.”
Mother Zhou immediately slapped Zhou Cibai on the back: “You stinky bastard, why are you bullying Xiao Gu again?!”
Zhou Cibai, who was caught in the crossfire: “???”
Gu Jiqing looked at his helpless and clumsy expression, chuckled softly, and then looked at Mother Zhou, saying, “No, Auntie. I was just joking, I just suddenly felt that I was really lucky.”
His smile was so sincere and gentle, as if all this was really a big deal.
Mother Zhou felt a pain in her heart at that moment and couldn’t help but ruffle his hair. “Silly boy, this is what you call lucky? You will have many more lucky times in the future!”
“That’s right, there will be plenty of lucky times in the future.” Zhou Cibai held Gu Jiqing’s hand and clasped their fingers in front of all the family members. “And I will lend you my luck, so every birthday wish of yours starting at the age of 20 will come true.”
He looked at Gu Jiqing and spoke seriously and confidently.
Gu Jiqing, who had always believed in materialism, suddenly thought that it would be okay to give it a try.
So he let out an “En”, closed his eyes, clenched his fists, quietly made his wish, and then blew out the candle.
Zhou Cibai whispered in his ear, “Gu Zhizhi, what wish did you make?”
Gu Jiqing also whispered in his ear and answered him seriously: “My wish is that my boyfriend will not have s*x with me more than once a week in the future.”
Zhou Cibai, who had just made a solemn vow to set a flag2The author uses the English word ‘flag’ here, and I’m not sure what it was referred to as well., was frozen in place.
Then Gu Jiqing watched as Su Yuebai launched a surprise attack from behind with a cake knife filled with cream, successfully smearing onto the face of Zhou Cibai, who was tall and agile.
A childish cream war broke out, and even Director Zhou’s suit, Chairman Zhou’s apron, Grandpa Zhou’s beard, and Zhou Zhou’s big tail were not spared.
Zhou Cibai finally reacted: “Gu Zhizhi! How could you be so mean?”
And his Gu Zhizhi was just held in his arms, tickled, and laughed until he couldn’t breathe.
In the creamy, sweet air, the person was in chaos, and there was turmoil, but Gu Jiqing just smiled and thought, hoping that his wish could really come true.
He wanted Zhou Cibai and the people he cared about to live a smooth and peaceful life forever.
