Chapter 26
How could this be? Why wouldn’t the candle go out? Could it be that his birthday wish simply didn’t want to come true?
Was his birthday wish really such a difficult thing?
For the first time in his life, Shi Ye had been rejected by a birthday candle.
Impossible.
Or was it that Xia Fengsheng really did have another boat outside?
Shi Ye looked at Xia Fengsheng, then at the candle.
Impossible.
He had shown up the very second day after Xia Fengsheng lost his memory. Xia Fengsheng had had no chance at all to find another boat.
With renewed determination, Shi Ye fixed his eyes on the candle again. Maybe it was just a high-quality candle, and besides, the window in the room was open, so the air was circulating well and the oxygen was plentiful.
Yes. That had to be it!
Shi Ye: “:D”
Watch me blow it out this time.
He bent down closer, this time deliberately leaning nearer to the candle, the flame right in front of his eyes.
Ding Qizhen nearly jumped out of his skin.
What was this big brother doing leaning in so close? At this rate his eyelashes were going to catch fire.
Shi Ye stopped at a safe distance, closed his eyes, and once again sincerely made his wish.
Then he opened his eyes.
“Fuuuuuuu—”
Pah——
Shi Ye: ……
Shi Ye shut his eyes again: Annoying.
Not daring to open them, he hoped it had all been his imagination~
Why won’t it go out? At this point, Shi Ye wanted nothing more than to shove the candle straight into his mouth.
The candlelight was orange, but Shi Ye’s face had turned green.
Seeing that the birthday boy’s mood had gone off, the culprits hurried to jump out and explain themselves.
Ding Qizhen said, “We were just messing with you. We specially bought relighting candles so you could make a few extra wishes, hahahahahaha. Isn’t that hilarious?”
Shi Ye glanced at him.
Ding Qizhen instantly withdrew the hand he had slung over Shi Ye’s shoulder.
Shit, he wants to hit me.
Xia Fengsheng pulled out a video and held it in front of Shi Ye as proof that the candles really would relight. “Look.”
After seeing the video, Shi Ye’s expression slowly cleared.
As if he had survived a disaster, he wiped the sweat that had appeared at his temple. So they were relighting candles, hahaha.
No wonder they lit back up after he blew them out. It had been the candle’s problem, not because his birthday wish was impossible to fulfill.
Shi Ye let out a breath of relief.
Scaring himself for nothing~
After finally extinguishing the candle for good, Shi Ye cast Xia Fengsheng a meaningful glance.
Xia Fengsheng, who had absolutely no idea what was going on in his head: ?
For some reason, even though all that had been proven was that the candles relit, it felt as though he himself had narrowly escaped some calamity.
The three of them divided up the cake. It had not been ordered very large, and aside from Shi Ye, neither of the other two liked sweets, so most of it ended up in Shi Ye’s stomach.
Actually, Shi Ye had not been much for sweets as a child. One reason was that he was allergic to chocolate, and many desserts came decorated with chocolate. The second reason was that he had danced from a young age and controlled his diet, so sweets were completely absent from his meal plan.
Later, after he stopped dancing, he went through a bit of retaliatory eating and had a lot of desserts—then thoroughly fell in love with them.
Once dinner ended, it was time to open presents.
Shi Ye first opened the cashmere scarf from Xia Fengsheng. Xia Fengsheng had gone through several streets’ worth of shops to find the best one he could buy.
The color was a mature dark gray, easy to match with clothes and hard to go wrong with.
Shi Ye walked over to the mirror and wrapped it around himself. Ding Qizhen casually handed him a bag at the same time.
It actually matched pretty well.
Ding Qizhen said, “The bag is from me and Brother Xia together.”
Brother Xia?
Together?
Since when had the two of them gotten this close?
Ding Qizhen said “Brother Xia” with complete natural ease.
Forget the title. The day he got robbed, he had practically been halfway to heaven. If it had not been for Xia Fengsheng, he had no idea which sewer in America he might be floating through by now.
To him, Xia Fengsheng was basically a second set of parents—not only had he snatched back the stolen bag, he had avenged him fiercely too. The robber had hit him a few times, but Xia Fengsheng had repaid it nearly tenfold.
It gave the strange sense that if Xia Fengsheng ever classified you as one of his own, he would unconditionally shield and favor you.
Ding Qizhen: kind of handsome.
The only reason Ding Qizhen had not directly called him Dad was because he already had a biological father.
Ding Qizhen explained, “I paid. Brother Xia did the labor.”
Shi Ye looked baffled. “When did you two get that close?”
Ding Qizhen declared with full loyalty, “I am willing to follow Brother Xia to the death.”
That night at ten, there was supposed to be a fireworks show by the central riverside.
A few days earlier, when they were out buying souvenirs and birthday gifts, people had already been handing out flyers in the street advertising it. Shi Ye had also heard partners talk about it during the days he went out for work.
They said the show would be grand in scale and was the first fireworks show of the year by an internationally famous fireworks designer, very much worth seeing.
Since it was the opening show of the new year, it was bound to have been prepared with great care. The three of them decided to go take a look, especially since after dinner and gift opening they had nothing else to do.
Watching fireworks would make the birthday less dull.
The three changed clothes and got ready to head out.
Having just opened the gifts, Shi Ye immediately put them to use. He paired them with his coat and wore the whole set right out the door: the scarf from Xia Fengsheng, the bag from Ding Qizhen, and the ready-made clothes and shoes from other friends.
Everything wearable and matchable, he put on.
A fine moral character in which no leftover bun was ever left to sit in the doghouse.
America at ten at night did not sound safe at all. Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen had both been personally “educated” a few days ago and decided they should do something to protect their own safety.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Let’s bring some kind of self-defense item when we go out.”
Who agrees, who objects.
Ding Qizhen raised both hands in support. “I agree.”
Two hands were the limit of his hands. His support for Brother Xia knew no limit.
He supported every decision Brother Xia made without question. He had no interest in ever again being slapped across the face in the dead of night.
Shi Ye took out his phone. “Let’s just have bodyguards come with us.”
Even though bodyguards were coming too, Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen still took defensive weapons anyway. Better safe than sorry.
Before they left, Xia Fengsheng took a table knife, Ding Qizhen took a fork, and when Shi Ye saw both of them taking something, he grabbed one too just for form’s sake.
When they reached the lobby, the butler thoughtfully informed them that the roads leading to the central riverside were already jammed.
If they drove there now, there was a ninety-nine percent chance they would end up watching the fireworks from inside the car.
Shi Ye asked, “And the other one percent?”
Ding Qizhen said, “Right, maybe we’re the one percent.”
The two rich young masters remained wildly optimistic.
The butler said, “The other one percent is that you won’t see the fireworks at all.”
Shi Ye: ……
Ding Qizhen: ……
To be honest, even though Shi Ye and Ding Qizhen had both studied abroad here before, neither of them had ever taken the subway when going out. They always relied on cars.
Xia Fengsheng pulled out his phone to check navigation and found that the subway would only take five stops, likely cutting down travel time by a lot.
The only downside was that they probably would not get seats, so they would have to stand for five stops.
Taking the subway could count as a new experience, though the hygiene conditions of American subways were sometimes questionable.
Ding Qizhen looked at Shi Ye. “Stand?”
Shi Ye said, “Stand.”
Off to one side, a little boy being tugged along by his mother went by chanting, “With the humblest of dreams!”
Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye, Ding Qizhen: ……
Rough as it was, it was still their first time riding the subway. Though it could not compare to a car, the two rich boys still found it pretty novel, swaying along with the carriage.
After five swaying stops, the three of them arrived at the central riverside.
The moment they stepped out of the subway station, they were greeted by the icy smell of cold air. Barely a few steps outside the station, there was already a dense mass of people packed together like an anthill, all of them here to watch the fireworks show.
There were still five minutes left until the show began. Because the crowd was so huge, they searched for quite a while before finally managing to find a barely decent place to watch from.
Very soon, the countdown began—ten seconds. The crowd was boiling with excitement, counting down loudly in unison.
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven… One!
The moment the countdown hit zero, several streaks of sparks shot into the night sky.
Boom—
The fireworks burst brilliantly overhead, their exploding light illuminating the whole sky.
At that moment, everyone around them lifted their heads and sank into the fireworks display, all kinds of dazzling fireworks blooming beautifully.
A chorus of amazement spread through the crowd.
“Wow~~~”
“Wow~~~”
“Woooo!!!!!!!”
“Hm?”
Suddenly, mixed in with the crowd, there came an utterly out-of-place sound—a child breaking down in tears. It was brief and very quiet, only a moment, but Shi Ye’s ears picked it up sharply.
Feeling that something was wrong, Shi Ye turned his head to look. Beside him, a foreign chubby child who looked only five or six was being half-dragged, half-hauled away through the crowd by a man in a black knit cap, one hand clamped over the child’s mouth.
His hand was gripping the fat child’s jaw tightly, not allowing him to cry for help.
The child could only let out muffled sobs, eyes full of terror and fear, tears sticking his eyelashes together.
The fireworks were thunderously loud, and everyone’s attention was on the sky, so almost no one noticed them. The bodyguards were on the outer edge of the crowd and could not push in at all.
Sensing trouble, Shi Ye grabbed the knit-cap man’s wrist in one go.
The fat child had cried until his nose was blocked, and now with his mouth covered too, he could barely breathe at all. His flushed face was already turning purple—he was on the verge of suffocating.
In a thoroughly unpolite tone, Shi Ye said, “Sir, is this your child?”
The knit-cap man tried to fling off his hand. “Get the hell away!”
There was a very obvious smell of alcohol on him.
Shi Ye frowned and clamped his grip on the man’s wrist even tighter, refusing to let him go. “Is this your child?”
The knit-cap man had not expected Shi Ye to be that strong. His wrist felt as if it were locked in iron cuffs. No matter how he tried to shake him off, he could not.
“What the fuck does it have to do with you? Let go!”
Seeing the child’s jaw still clamped so hard he could hardly breathe, Shi Ye changed tactics. With one arm, he yanked the child away from him.
The moment the child was snatched free of the knit-cap man’s grasp, he exploded into a pig-slaughtering scream.
“Waaaaa!!!!!!!!!!”
The child had been watching the fireworks happily with his parents when, out of nowhere, a pair of hands clamped over his mouth from behind. Against an adult, a child’s strength was too pitifully small—he had had no chance to struggle. Before his parents realized he was being kidnapped, he had already been taken away.
Even after the child was taken from him, the knit-cap man did not let go completely. He still gripped one of the child’s arms in a death hold.
The pain made the child burst into tears again, wildly pounding at the man’s hand with his little fists, but he would not release him.
Worried that yanking harder would hurt the child, Shi Ye shifted his grip and grabbed the man by the collar.
“Where are the child’s parents? Did you steal this kid?!”
There were plenty of pedophiles around here. A child landing in the hands of a drunken adult man did not even bear imagining.
There was no way Shi Ye was going to let him take the child away.
There was commotion on Shi Ye’s side, and Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen quickly noticed too.
Seeing Shi Ye at a standoff with a clearly drunken foreign man, Ding Qizhen opened his mouth and shouted in English, “Somebody’s stealing a child!!!!”
He shouted as loudly as he possibly could, trying to draw the crowd’s attention this way. Otherwise, in a crowd this large and chaotic, if the suspect ran off, it would be nearly impossible to find him again.
Boom—
The fireworks kept bursting in the sky.
Human voices were completely drowned out by the fireworks, their weak sound rendered useless.
What now? What now?!
Hearing Ding Qizhen shouting, the knit-cap man released the child at last and turned to run.
They could not let him get away like that. If he did, who knew how many horrible things he would do in the future.
Ding Qizhen clutched at his head, trying to think of a solution.
Xia Fengsheng spoke up.
“Dance.”
Ding Qizhen’s eyes widened. “Huh? Right now?”
So sudden.
“I… I’m not ready yet.”
Xia Fengsheng grabbed him by the collar. “Enough nonsense. If I tell you to dance, then dance.”
Ding Qizhen: Oh my god. So domineering. So handsome.
No sooner said than done. The instant Xia Fengsheng’s words fell, the two of them started moving in bizarre dance motions.
In the middle of the crowd, two mutant species had appeared with no effort at all.
There might not be more miracles than oddities, but there were certainly more freak shows—and people were born loving spectacle.
With their astonishing dog-shit-level dance ability, the two of them instantly drew the attention of a huge number of people around them.
The crowd’s eyes all swiveled over toward them, and at that exact moment Xia Fengsheng shouted, “Somebody’s stealing a child!!!!”
Every gaze in the crowd swished toward the direction Xia Fengsheng was pointing.
The knit-cap man was instantly locked onto by the whole population, panic flashing through his eyes as he sensed disaster and pushed even harder through the crowd to escape.
Now that people around them were helping watch the child, Shi Ye moved quickly. He lunged ahead and pinned the knit-cap man to the ground first.
It was as if he had been trained. His long leg swept out sharply, his palm locked onto the back of the man’s head, and he slammed him straight down.
The knit-cap man hit the ground face-first and instantly started howling in pain.
Someone in the crowd had already called the police.
The police rushed over and arrested the knit-cap man. Even while being arrested, he tried to turn things around and accuse Shi Ye instead, saying Shi Ye had physically attacked him, used violence, and seriously threatened his personal safety.
He had only kidnapped a child, he claimed, and had posed no threat to Shi Ye’s own safety. Shi Ye had had no right to use force. Even if it counted as heroic intervention, the injuries Shi Ye inflicted were too severe.
“I think my nose is broken. I demand compensation,” the knit-cap man babbled.
One of the officers snapped silver bracelets around his wrists. “You’d better talk less right now, or your charges will only get worse. That gentleman has absolutely no obligation to compensate you for anything.”
Sure enough, very few criminals were remotely normal.
The knit-cap man pressed on. “He’s also carrying a weapon that threatens public safety.”
He kept slandering, clearly determined not to let Shi Ye off easy, trying to drag him down with him.
At a crowded place like the central riverside, carrying a sharp item capable of hurting people absolutely did threaten the safety of the crowd.
The knit-cap man shouted, “I demand that he be arrested too!”
That was the gamble he was making.
American nights were unsafe, and many people chose to carry something for self-defense.
The knit-cap man was betting that Shi Ye had brought some kind of weapon.
“Who knows what he intended to do, mixing into a crowd with a knife? He’s clearly a dangerous person!”
“Are you really going to dismiss his danger just because he hasn’t done anything yet? If you wait until something happens, won’t it be too late? That isn’t fair to the public! Officer, are you not responsible for protecting the people? Have you forgotten your duty?”
The knit-cap man was very good at throwing accusations around. The officer’s face visibly darkened, his expression turning troubled.
At a large-scale public event, if someone was carrying a controlled blade, the police had the right to question it.
Left with no choice, the officer walked over to Shi Ye. “Sir, are you carrying any weapon on you?”
Xia Fengsheng frowned.
Before leaving, the three of them had all taken self-defense items for safety.
Shi Ye answered honestly, “Yes.”
The officer said, “You know the laws are different in every country. Please show it.”
“Sure.” Shi Ye did not even blink.
The next second, Shi Ye pulled out his self-defense weapon.
A birthday cake serrated knife.
And it was plastic.
Officer: ……
The knit-cap man, who had just been gearing up to bark some more: ……
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Wow. Amazing.
Looking at the birthday cake serrated knife, everyone short-circuited for a second.
The knit-cap man shut up for good, utterly speechless.
The police hauled the knit-cap man away and left three officers behind to help the child find his parents.
Once the situation was dealt with, the crowd that had gathered gradually dispersed.
Right then, someone lightly patted Shi Ye on the shoulder.
“That was so cool just now, bro.”
A blond young man walked up and greeted Shi Ye, his eyes full of admiration and appreciation.
For a moment he did not know how to praise him enough, so he looped the topic back to himself.
“You know, when I saw someone trying to kidnap a child over here, I actually wanted to help. I went to get backup. But by the time I came back, you had already taken him down.”
“You’ve really got skills.” The blond young man looked at him in complete admiration.
Then he stepped aside to reveal the woman behind him.
“This is the backup I brought. My master. She hits super hard.”
The blond man’s master: “Hi~”
Shi Ye: ……
Shi Ye had a good build, and both his physique and general type fit exactly the sporty, toned look a lot of old beautiful people liked.
On top of that, he was tall and striking, standing out in a crowd.
The blond young man was into BDSM. He raised his brows at Shi Ye. “Interested in having some fun together?”
Shi Ye turned his head and looked around.
Then, like yanking up a radish, he pulled Xia Fengsheng out of the crowd.
“No. I have a boyfriend. He’s very possessive.”
Xia Fengsheng: me… me?
“Oh, god.”
The blond man and the woman exchanged a look, as if in regret.
The blond man pressed once more. “Are you sure you want to reject us? Try it once and you’ll know—three people together is unbelievably wonderful.”
Shi Ye was clearly rattled. His huge self instantly shifted to hide partly behind Xia Fengsheng.
How were three people supposed to be together? Were they insane?
The blond man leaned closer to Shi Ye, pressing his advantage. “Don’t you think you look super hot?”
The next second, someone shoved the blond man’s shoulder aside.
Blond man: “Huh????”
Xia Fengsheng used two fingers to nudge his shoulder away and lifted eyes as sly as a fox’s.
Blond man: O.O
The blond man was overjoyed. “Come on! You can join too!”
Hiss, hah—he was practically queen level.
The blond man was completely dazzled by Xia Fengsheng. It was his first time seeing someone who looked like that.
Shi Ye’s brow twitched, and he quickly jumped from behind Xia Fengsheng back to in front of him.
This one was a real pervert.
The blond man looked at the two of them as though they were two unbearably delicious platters of meat. “Either one is fine. A threesome is amazing.”
“No, thanks.” Xia Fengsheng remained perfectly composed.
The number of perverts he had seen in finance circles was obviously much greater than Shi Ye had.
Then he turned and looked around until he found Ding Qizhen, yanking him out of the crowd too.
“The three of us are doing just fine together.”
Ding Qizhen: me… me?
Shi Ye shot Ding Qizhen a look. The three of them smiled and stuck close together.
They had their own winter fire.
“Alright then.” The blond man spread his hands in regret and left with the woman.
The entire day had truly been full of excitement.
After Shi Ye’s birthday, the return trip to China was finally put on the schedule.
Waking once more in the presidential suite, Xia Fengsheng pulled out his suitcase and started packing.
Their flight was tomorrow morning. He had rested extremely well during this vacation in America, and his dance practice was more or less complete. All that remained was to go home and show off his skills.
Knock knock—
A knock sounded at the door.
Xia Fengsheng looked up from his luggage.
Shi Ye stood there leaning against the doorway in sunglasses, one finger curled as he tapped lightly on the door panel.
Xia Fengsheng had no idea what he was doing standing there.
Shi Ye strode in on long legs. “Change clothes. I’m taking you out to buy some local specialty goods.”
With the trip back to China so close, they had to buy something to take home as a memento. Otherwise what was the difference between coming and not coming at all?
The meaning of souvenirs lay in the fact that seeing them later would remind you of the happy times from the trip.
Today, Xia Fengsheng only wanted a private little two-person world with his king-size bed, to sleep until he had no idea when he might wake up, then get up and eat the luxurious feast prepared by the head chef.
“No, thanks. I already bought the local specialty goods,” Xia Fengsheng said.
Shi Ye took off his sunglasses, not expecting that he had already bought them.
“What did you buy?”
Xia Fengsheng pulled out the rock-hard giant loaf he had already packed into his suitcase.
The kind where a light bump from it could raise a huge lump on your head.
Wasn’t giant loaf a Russian specialty? That was not American at all.
Shi Ye moved the loaf aside. “I’m taking you to buy American local specialty goods.”
Xia Fengsheng: ?
Half an hour later, Xia Fengsheng stood there with his head tilted up, looking at the magnificent golden store sign in front of him.
Italian Handmade Suit Store
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Could America not have anything of its own…?
Italian handmade suits were world-famous, and getting a master to custom-make one for you was especially expensive.
In the past, Xia Fengsheng had spent large amounts on shirts and suits to make sure he could hold his own in the circles of fame and profit, but no matter how much he spent, it still did not compare to custom tailoring.
Very good.
This was a local specialty he wanted.
Every floor tile inside the store screamed a price capable of killing him. At this moment, regardless of nationality, Italian handmade suits were absolutely American local specialty goods.
Xia Fengsheng agreed, and did not care who objected.
Going from frugality to luxury was easy. Going from luxury back to frugality was hard.
Now, the more Shi Ye bought Xia Fengsheng things far beyond his normal means, the more painful it would be when they broke up later and he could not adjust.
Only then would Xia Fengsheng truly understand the pain of having his feelings toyed with.
At the suit store, Shi Ye ordered several sets of ready-made clothes and swiped his card with smooth ease.
Italian suits alone were not enough. Shi Ye immediately turned around and took Xia Fengsheng to all the major luxury stores too.
Where the money went, the love went.
Only by spending enough money would Xia Fengsheng be willing to believe that Shi Ye truly loved him.
And the flower language of Love was LV.
Items worth tens of thousands were treated like a light drizzle. Items worth hundreds of thousands, he did not even blink.
It was the truest definition of spending money like running water.
The bill for what the two of them spent in a single day today would have been long enough to hang from a roof beam and use as a noose.
Xia Fengsheng’s hands were stuffed full of luxury shopping bags. He had no way of counting just how much Shi Ye had spent on him today.
Xia Fengsheng asked, “Are you sure all of this is for me?”
Shi Ye said nothing. He merely kept swiping the card.
Everything was under control.
By the time they got back to the hotel, Xia Fengsheng was floating in a haze of life and death.
Ding Qizhen came out to get water and saw the various shopping bags sent up by hotel staff spread across the floor, piled high and filling the entire living room.
Ding Qizhen asked, “You two went shopping? How was it?”
Xia Fengsheng said lightly, “We passed by an LV.”
Ding Qizhen asked, “And then?”
Xia Fengsheng recalled, “We went inside and had ourselves a good time.”
The next morning, Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye arrived at the airport right on time for their flight.
A good number of the luxury goods they had bought yesterday were already on Xia Fengsheng’s body today, from clothes to shoes, every piece in place.
When he came: PDD, PDD, PDD, polyester fiber, yay~
When he left: LV, Chanel, Hermès, Dior, handmade suits, yay~
Xia Fengsheng adjusted his lapels.
This was the true meaning of returning home in glory.
