Old Wounds, New Growth - Chapter 24
Translator: Deyonna
Before Li Chishu could catch his breath, he grabbed my sleeve to calm down for a moment before speaking in silence, "......Do you think it's appropriate to say that now?"
"......"
It seems that it is not quite appropriate.
I carried the stool and brought him upstairs. After inspecting the circuit breaker behind Li Chishu's door, I confirmed that the reason for the power outage was just a tripped breaker. I pulled the switch back up, and the lights came back on in the house.
Li Chishu murmured beside me, "How come I didn't see the circuit breaker trip when I checked…"
"You must have seen it wrong. Everyone has moments where they see it wrong." I led him back to the living room and turned on the TV. "Just sit for a moment. I'll go downstairs to get something and come back up."
I definitely didn't dare tell Li Chishu that I had thrown Potato, who was still inside in a bag, directly onto the ground of the third floor. Otherwise, he would probably run faster than me at this moment.
As I descended to the fourth floor, I could hear excited and enthusiastic barking coming from the corner of the next floor. Potato was trapped inside the backpack, scratching at the air vents with its paws. If I arrived any later, the bag would be ruined.
"Alright, alright, alright," I quickly opened the dog carrier and picked up Potato, holding it close to my body. I also grabbed the two grocery bags and headed upstairs. With my other hand, I held onto Potato’s mouth, that kept biting and tearing at my sleeve. "Stop scolding, stop scolding. I came to pick you up, haven't I?"
Back in the room, Li Chishu was completely focused on Potato and paid no attention to me. Taking advantage of this time, I cleared the bag from the room and started organizing the items I took out, sorting them into different categories. When Li Chishu noticed my movements, I had already laid a layer of cashmere blanket on his bed and was sitting at the bedside, folding clothes.
He leaned against the door frame and peeked his head in, asking, "What are you doing?"
"I'm folding your clothes. New clothes to wear tomorrow." I stood up and picked up the cake from the bedside table. "Let's go. Let's go out and have some cake."
Li Chishu finally noticed the packaging box on the bedside table and stood rooted in place, staring blankly at me as I walked over. "Cake?"
"Yes, cake," I said. "It's our Xiaobao’s birthday cake."
Seeing that he still looked unsure, I decided to put the cake in his hands and asked him to place it on the small table. "Li Chishu, from now on, you'll have cake every year on your birthdays."
If I hadn't traveled back in time, Li Chishu would have eaten cake for the first time after he was seven years old, a year later.
As a university student, he finally used his adult status to avoid having to go home every winter break. On the contrary, around the school, those industries that rely on the university - such as hot pot restaurants, hotels, milk tea shops, KTVs, and more - are where Li Chishu earns money and resides while he's away from home. Moreover, during holidays, chain stores paid double wages to their employees, so Li Chishu sometimes only slept for four hours a day and took on three part-time jobs.
When Li Chishu reminisced about those days, he had a radiant expression on his face, as if he genuinely appreciated that time. "Although it was tiring, I could earn a year's worth of tuition in just two or three weeks. There's no holiday better for making money than the Lunar New Year."
On his nineteenth birthday, during his first New Year in college, Li Chishu celebrated at a popular hot pot chain restaurant.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, Li Chishu was assigned to serve a table of guests who were celebrating a birthday on the eve of the Lunar New Year. He served them wholeheartedly, but his gaze kept wandering to the small remaining piece of birthday cake that they had set aside after eating. As the girls at the table left close to dawn, they didn't take the leftover cake with them. The cleaning staff at the hot pot restaurant complained about why it took so long for them to finish their meal, as it meant he had to clean up such a mess from the end of the year to the beginning of the new year.
Li Chishu took the cloth from the complaining staff member's hand and told him to take a break in the front hall with the other employees. He took it upon himself to clean up the mess on the floor. After the staff member left, Li Chishu diligently tidied up the dining table and quietly picked up the small piece of cake, and took it to the back kitchen.
As the New Year began and everyone in the front hall exchanged "Happy New Year" greetings, Li Chishu hid in the back kitchen and dug out the clean half of the strawberry on the cake, mixed it with cream and put it in his mouth. He whispered happy birthday to himself.
"To be honest, I struggled with it for a long time. I felt that it was not good to secretly eat other people's leftovers." He smiled and said, "But I couldn't bring myself to spend two or three hours' worth of wages to buy a cake."
I asked him to personally untie the ribbon on top of the cake box. While Li Chishu was fixated on the cake and was reluctant to look away, I got up and turned off the lights. When I came back, I took out the crown I had bought along the way from the grocery bag and placed it on his head.
He raised his hand and touched the crown, then crouched down by the small table, supported the crown and raised his head and asked me, "I can also wear this?"
I crouched down beside him and slowly inserted the candles into the cake. "Why can't you wear it?"
"Isn't this what princesses wear?"
"Of course, princes should wear crowns too." I inserted ten small candles next to the "18" candle, symbolizing the years that he missed celebrating after turning seven. Then I lit the candles one by one. "Li Chishu, little prince, make a wish and blow out the candles."
Potato ran around us, sometimes placing its front paws on Li Chishu's lap, and other times on the small table. When I gave it a stern look, it ran to Li Chishu's feet and started barking loudly.
Li Chishu clasped his hands together, about to close his eyes, but then he suddenly asked me, "That... how many wishes can I make?"
Quite greedy, Li Chishu.
I said, "You can make as many wishes as you want."
He looked skeptical.
So I pretended to think for a moment and said, "Hmm... three. Usually, you can make three wishes."
"Three wishes?" His eyes lit up, and that made me not regret giving him two more wishes.
As a result, in the next second, Li Chishu said, "Then I'll share one with you."
I was stunned, "What?"
"I'll share one with you," he said. "That way, you'll also have something that you can take away…… an irreplaceable gift from me."
I lowered my head and remained silent for a couple of seconds. When I looked up again, I smiled and said, "Sure. Then you should quickly make your two wishes."
Li Chishu turned his head back and was about to make a wish when he opened his eyes again and asked, "Do I need to say it out loud, or should I keep it to myself?"
I thought for a moment and replied to him, "Say it out loud."
He looked skeptical and said, "But I heard that if you say it out loud, it won't come true. The gods won't hear it…"
"It doesn't matter if the gods can hear it or not," I cupped his face and gently turned his head back again. "Shen Baoshan can hear it, and your wishes will always come true."
"Okay."
He smiled and finally closed his eyes honestly to make a wish. "I wish my grandmother will be healthy next year, and I can attend a good university with Shen Baoshan."
Li Chishu prepared to blow out the candles.
I ask, "Anything else?"
He stared blankly. "Anything else?"
"But that's only one wish."
"Isn't it two wishes?"
"You said it all in one sentence. How can that count as two?" I pestered him. "Quick, make another wish."
Li Chishu hesitated considerably. "Are you... sure?"
"I'm sure." I shielded the candles that were almost extinguished by the wind and urged him. "Hurry up."
So Li Chishu clasps his hands together again, deep in thought for a while, before finally saying, "I hope that Potato can grow up healthy and live a long, long life."
"......"
"Hey, Li Chishu," I called out to him coldly.
"What's wrong?"
"You only had three wishes!" I complained to him. "You gave one to me and one to it!"
"......"
Potato nudged Li Chishu's hand and its head tilted upward, looking at me with its nostrils flaring. Its tail is wagging so vigorously it's almost about to break.
Li Chishu smiled sheepishly and said, "I didn't know what else to wish for…"
He glanced at my expression and tugged my sleeve. "Shen Baoshan, you haven't made a wish yet."
"Tsk."
I barely held my fingers together while protecting the flickering candlelight, and closed my eyes and said, "I wish for Li Chishu to be healthy, live a long life, surrounded by flowers, love that never runs out, and to be able to embrace the whole world."
Li Chishu didn't speak.
I quietly open one eye and look at him through the halo of dandelion-like fluff. "Li Chishu?"
"En?"
"Do you know what the first step is to embracing the whole world?"
"...What is it?"
"Embrace Shen Baoshan.
January 28th, Sunny
I turned eighteen.
Mother and father, Happy New Year.
January 28th, Sunny
Mother and father, Happy New Year. This year, someone celebrated my birthday with me.
Shen Baoshan brought Potato and a birthday cake for me.
The birthday cake was delicious. It was the first time our home was so lively.
He asked me to make three birthday wishes. I gave one to him, one to Potato, and kept one for myself.
I originally thought of wishing to see you both again, but I felt that would be making things difficult for Shen Baoshan. Even gods can't do everything.
Tomorrow, he will make me longevity noodles. For the first time, I wish that people could go straight to dawn without sleeping.
But what I wish for even more is to see Shen Baoshan every year from now on.
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