There was not a single water stain on the paper bag, and the cake was intact when it was taken out, without even the cream smeared on the edge of the box. Ethan Ling looked at him in surprise, not knowing whether to be surprised that he knew his birthday or to be surprised at his exquisite technique of serving the cake.
"Clara Jiang said that today is your birthday. She just remembered that she didn't have time to order a cake, so she asked me to apologize to you on her behalf and to spend the day with you." Lucas Qi patted his cheeks to make his face flush, and sat up straight, "Happy birthday."
Ethan Ling glanced at him indifferently: "You're lying. Clara Jiang won't remember my birthday." She didn't mean anything else, it was just that it was a stretch for Clara Jiang to remember her own birthday, let alone remember his when she was having fun.
Lucas Qi didn't feel embarrassed even though his words were exposed. He apologized fluently: "Sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you." He saw Ethan Ling's birthday from the information. He didn't have time to order a cake, and it was late after he finished the things at hand. He had to look for a cake shop along the street that was still open. Fortunately, he found one and picked the mango flavor that Ethan Ling might like.
The whole story would inevitably make the listeners think that he had some weird intentions, so he just lied.
After what happened last night, he probably guessed that Ethan Ling was not having an easy time in the Ling family, so he didn't ask the housekeeper why he didn't help him prepare for the birthday party, but just carefully helped him put candles on the cake.
Ethan Ling was quite satisfied with Lucas Qi's straightforward apology. He nodded, didn't ask anything else, and thanked him stiffly. In fact, he had not celebrated birthdays since his mother passed away, but Lucas Qi had just helped him yesterday, and brought him a cake in the rain today. No matter how much he blamed him, he couldn't lose face and ask for it.
He looked at the small and exquisite mango cake, reached out to pick up a piece of fruit flesh and was about to put it in his mouth, but Lucas Qi stopped his wrist: "The candles haven't even been lit yet, why are you in such a hurry?"
"Formalism." Ethan Ling threw the mango back onto the cake, making a small hole in the snow-white cream.
"At least it's just a formality." It was so perfunctory that Lucas Qi didn't even turn off the lights. Instead, he lit candles in the shape of numbers and urged him to make a wish.
Ethan Ling closed her eyes reluctantly, opened them again after a moment, and blew out the candle.
"What did you wish for?" Lucas Qi helped him cut the cake into pieces. "I didn't have time to buy a gift. Tell me what your wish is. If it can come true, I'll give it to you as a gift. Picking stars or the moon is not okay."
"My wish is that you fail in your bid for the throne and don't get a share of the Ling family's fortune." Ethan Ling took the cake and fork he handed over, still speaking rudely.
Lucas Qi was amused: "Please be more realistic."
He didn't make a wish at all. Ethan Ling lowered his eyes while biting the cake. The sweet taste in his mouth brought back some childhood memories, so he said casually: "I hope to go to Mingjing Bay to see the sea."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lucas Qi stood up and asked the housekeeper for the car keys.
"I didn't say I was really going..." Adrian Ling's fork almost stabbed her tongue, "Aren't you feeling unwell?"
Lucas Qi's stomach was warmed by his lively expression, and he turned the car key with his index finger: "I won't feel dizzy when driving."
The city itself is surrounded by the sea on three sides. Mingjing Bay is a small bay, which is closest to Ling's house. Since the children want to see it, Lucas Qi feels that he should be a good person to the end. Anyway, he always does things according to his heart, and it is also pleasant to watch the sea and enjoy the breeze.
"It's still raining..." Ethan Ling found out that Lucas Qi really intended to take him to the beach, and rarely showed a bit of panic, "I haven't finished eating the cake yet."
Seeing that the child didn't really want to go, Lucas Qi pulled him up: "Rain is water, the sea is water, they are the same. Take the cake with you and eat it on the way. Wear more clothes."
-
After driving for dozens of minutes, you can see the sea. Going along the coast, it took another ten minutes to turn off the road and stop directly at the beach.
Seeing that the rain was not heavy, Lucas Qi parked the car, carried Ethan Ling in one hand and the cake box in the other, let Ethan Ling hold an umbrella, and stepped onto the soft beach in the drizzle.
The rain was thick and dense, stringing the sky and the sea together. In the distance, there were several ships on the sea, with star-like lights on, stretching all the way to the horizon. It was the wrong time, and the weather was not too good. There were few tourists on the beach, only two or three chatting and strolling.
Ethan Ling was wearing a thick fleece hoodie. Her mind was blank as she was pulled here. Looking at the scenery that she hadn't seen for a long time, she didn't know what mood to take.
Humans are creatures of habit, they are not good at showing their emotions too much. After a long time, their senses seem to be dulled, and all emotions are slow and smooth as if wrapped in a thin film, which can be suppressed in just ten seconds. Just like now, he thought his heart would be beating, but he was just staring at the heaving sea in a trance.
Time seemed to overlap with his five-year-old birthday. He saw his little self running wildly on the beach and climbing up and down the breakwater. When he looked back, he could no longer see the gentle woman who held his hand.
When many people recall certain past events, they will replay the scene in their minds from a third-person perspective, seeing themselves doing various things, as if they were watching a play. This is because the person has walked out of the state of mind at the time. Adrian Ling didn't know this, he just felt that this picture looked so quiet and distant, and it didn't look like his own story.
Lucas Qi turned around and wanted to say something, but when he saw Adrian Ling's tightly pursed lips, he consciously hid himself to let the child calm down.
No one disturbed him. Adrian Ling looked at the sea for a long time. The rain gradually subsided. He turned to look at Lucas Qi squatting on the beach and building a sand castle. He said calmly, "Playing romance?"
Lucas Qi didn't even raise his head, fixing his sand sculpture: "What's so fun about you?"
Ethan Ling felt that what he said made sense, so she didn't respond with any sarcasm. Instead, she squatted down and watched Lucas Qi patting and hitting the sand castle. He used a little too much force and it created several cracks, which he then repaired with wet sand.
Adults were doing things that only children would do, and children were thinking things that adults could not bear, as if their identities had been reversed. When Ethan Ling thought of this, she laughed, curled her lips slightly, and suddenly raised her hand to point at the sea, saying, "My biological mother is here."
Lucas Qi didn't look up, paused, and then continued to smooth the extra sand. He listened to Adrian Ling continue: "I don't like crowded occasions. When she was still alive, she would come with Ling Jingxiang - sometimes she would book this place by herself and bring me here to celebrate my birthday."
He didn't know why he said these words to Lucas Qi, an outsider, but this situation was indeed a good time to dig up some past events. The words seemed to be spoken to him, and also to the sea.
"She was a person who put love above all else and was full of romance. Unfortunately, Ling Jingxiang didn't love her and her lover cheated on her, so she jumped into the sea on my fifth birthday. I didn't understand when I was little, but I found out what had happened when I grew up. I don't know why, but I didn't feel sorry for her. I just thought she was selfish and fragile. Isn't she cold-blooded?" The moist sea breeze blew in her face. Ethan Ling's tone was calm, and at the end there was a hint of self-deprecation, but no sadness.
He and his biological parents have always been apart from each other, and even the moments of tenderness between them are rare. His sense of kinship is very weak, so it is a bit too much to ask him to act heartbroken.
There are too many stories of love, hate and revenge in the rich families, and crazy people are not uncommon. Lucas Qi is not surprised. He wiped the sand off his hands, pulled Adrian Ling to stand up, pulled his shoulders towards the sea, and asked: "How do you feel when the wind blows across the sea?"
Ethan Ling narrowed his eyes slightly, paused, and then said: "---Very calm?"
"I feel very sad. The sea is too vast to hold the wind." Lucas Qi shrugged, "You see, there is no correct answer to feelings. You should feel whatever you feel in your heart."
He just asked in self-mockery, and didn't expect Lucas Qi to give such a serious answer. Ethan Ling was stunned for a moment, and choked softly: "... Talking about big principles again."
He found himself unexpectedly comforted, and even his voice became much softer unconsciously: "She was never happy when she was alive, and I didn't notice it at all."
The drizzle gradually died down, and he heard Lucas Qi say in a gentle but serious tone: "It's not your fault."
Lucas Qi can always speak ordinary words in a gentle and coaxing way that warms people's hearts and minds, and he can always speak firmly, regardless of whether the content seems right or wrong objectively. It seems that as long as it comes from his mouth, it must be the truth. It has to be said that it can give people a sense of security.
He straightened Adrian Ling's hair that was messed up by the sea breeze. He knew that Adrian Ling didn't need comfort, but his tone was still gentle: "People need to be responsible for their own emotions. If she can't do that, it's her problem."
Ethan Ling looked at him for a long time, and suddenly laughed softly: "Three views are not correct..."
He thought that in this situation, even out of professional habit, Lucas Qi should say or do some deliberately heartwarming words and actions, but he didn't expect it to be such a sentence, and the effect was surprisingly good.
Lucas Qi didn't say anything else. Adrian Ling looked at the sea reflecting the moonlight, and was slightly distracted. In fact, he wanted to say that the wind blowing across the sea gave him the feeling of Lucas Qi, who could always easily soothe his fluctuating emotions and stir up something else, like the wind rolling up the waves, the sea surface rising or falling, he couldn't control it.
Seeing the child staring at the sea in a daze, Lucas Qi reached out to tie his hoodie tightly. The hand holding his collar seemed to touch his breath, and his words were a bit casual and a bit serious: "Don't waste your birthday wishes next time."
What kind of child would come to such a sad place on his birthday?
"How is it not a waste?" Adrian Ling looked at Lucas Qi's bony hands on her body and said meaningfully, "Champagne sports car estate, the limited edition one?"
At this time, he still remembered his image as a gigolo. Lucas Qi flicked his forehead lightly to show his dissatisfaction, and then lowered his head to whisper in his ear playfully: "It would be nice if you want me to accompany you for a night."
Used to being scared by him, Ethan Ling raised an eyebrow and pushed his head away unmoved: "Then name a price and see if I can save enough by this time next year."
With a few words, they agreed to celebrate the new year. There were no sad people in the sad land. Two tall, cold-blooded animals talked and laughed in the gentle sound of the waves, sharing a mango cake. The half-built sand castle was illuminated by the moonlight, and seemed to flicker with phosphorescence.
At midnight, Ethan Ling didn't have to go to school the next day, and he had a rare sleepless night. He sat cross-legged on the bay window in his room, flipping through his collection of CDs and listening to them one by one. He didn't turn on the lights, and the oversized black headphones pressed his bangs to his forehead, making his face look pale and small. In the moonlight coming in from the window, he looked like a night elf.
Unlike ghosts which have a dead look, his face only shows the vitality unique to teenagers. He is energetic enough even when staying up late, which is the privilege and benefit of young people.
On his side was a bowl of ginger soup with plenty of brown sugar. He could smell the spicy ginger and sweet sugar from a distance. The brown soup had already cooled down. Since they came back from the beach a few days ago, Lucas Qi was afraid that he would catch a cold from the sea breeze, so he asked Aunt Chen to prepare ginger soup for him every day and told him to drink it before going to bed.
He was well-behaved in the first two days and drank the whole thing obediently. But today, he felt sick at the smell of the soup, and the stomach-warming soup had to be left to cool completely.
Maybe Lucas Qi's description of him as spoiled is not without reason. Adrian Ling casually switched songs and thought carelessly.
Midnight is always like Cinderella's spell that fails, a strange dividing line that separates the sobriety and calmness of the day, making sensitive people feel uneasy. Lyrics in different languages are strung together by cut-off music, like a strange modern poem. When Adrian Ling heard a certain sentence, he stopped cutting the song and looked up at the wall clock. It was one o'clock in the morning, not too late for adults.
He remembered what Lucas Qi said, "I'm here whenever you call," and jumped down from the bay window, rubbed his sore legs, and went to knock on Lucas Qi's door.
-
Lucas Qi had just finished taking a shower and was wearing only a pair of home pants. He sat on the edge of the bed, drying his hair, looking at his phone, calculating the expected income for this month, and sending a message back to his accountant in the UK.
There were three rhythmic knocks on the door. He glanced at the time on the top of his phone with some surprise, then stood up and opened the door.
Adrian Ling stood outside the door dressed neatly. She smelled the refreshing lemon bath scent on Lucas Qi's body, raised her eyes away from his naked upper body, and said directly: "I'm invited to have a midnight snack. Do you still remember what you said before?"
"It's only been a few hours since dinner - you're still growing?" Lucas Qi laughed, took off the towel around his neck and put it on the child's head, "I'm going to change my clothes, don't peek."
Adrian Ling was covered in the lemon scent. She frowned and took off the towel and threw it on his bed. She was satisfied with his straightforward attitude and leaned against the door frame waiting for him: "What are we going to eat?"
After putting on a simple black T-shirt and casual pants, Lucas Qi put on his coat, thought about the shops that were still open at this time, and asked him: "How hungry are you? If you are very hungry, eat beef hotpot, if you are not very hungry, go for sweet soup, ok?"
After weighing the pros and cons, Adrian Ling felt that she was too energetic and could not make up her mind. She asked in a somewhat tangled manner: "What time does the hot pot open, and what time does the sugar soup open?"
"Big eyes, small stomach." Picking up the keys and wallet on the table, Lucas Qi came over and patted his head: "Let's eat hot pot first. If you still have energy after eating, go shopping. If you feel hungry, go eat sweet soup."
"Are there still things to shop for?" Ethan Ling expressed surprise and followed him out.
"There's nothing to shop for. Both stores are next to my old middle school. The scenery is nice and I can take a walk to digest my food." Lucas Qi laughed at his appearance as an immortal who was detached from the world. He woke up the butler, asked him to warm up the car, and waited in the lobby. He calculated the numbers and sent them to the accountant on the other end of the phone. Seeing the affirmative answer from the other end, he smiled in a good mood, put away his phone and took the child out.
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