Chapter 944: Extra 17: Qiuqiu's Birthday 2

Early the next morning, Mu Qiu sat at the dining table and received a unique bowl of birthday noodles.

There were two fried eggs, just like when she was just starting elementary school. To score a hundred points, she always pestered Yuan Chun to make her a special dinner of one fried dough stick and two fried eggs, adding up to “100” points.

However, the one who made this bowl of noodles back then was Yuan Chun, and now it had become Cheng Zhirang.

After breakfast, Yuan Chun and Mu Zhi had to go to university to give lectures to students. Before leaving, they repeatedly asked how long they could stay and when they’d return to Hai City.

Hearing that they could stay for a few more days made them go to class with peace of mind.

As soon as they left, Mu Qiu grabbed Cheng Zhirang and went out the door.

“Today, I’ll show you the process of how a middle school girl celebrates her birthday, as if you’re participating in my birthday from back then.”

On her birthday, she mostly spent her time at school. Occasionally, Yuan Chun could come to school and take her out for a lavish lunch. Otherwise, she celebrated with her classmates.

Mu Qiu took Cheng Zhirang to a cake shop near her middle school and ordered a mousse cake, specifically requesting it to be orange-flavored, with oranges swapped for the fruits on top.

Then she took him to another place.

“From the moment I woke up, I looked forward to everyone saying ‘happy birthday’ to me. As soon as I opened my eyes, the people in the dorm would indeed get up to wish me happy birthday, even though not fully awake and their eyes still closed.”

“After washing up, I’d go to the cafeteria for breakfast. Any classmates who knew it was my birthday would come over to greet me. When I got to the classroom, I’d find some small gifts on my desk.”

“The gifts weren’t valuable. Sometimes they were tiny dolls, sometimes big plushies, and sometimes just mugs from straight guys, and even five-toed socks… speechless.”

They walked hand in hand into the underground mall, which connects to the subway and has many shops, especially gaming arcades where many young people play coin games, though most stay around the dance machines to watch others dance.

They stopped at a little spot just inside the entrance, where there was a small pool full of plushies, essentially a giant claw machine.

Mu Qiu looked at him: “Now I want a pink pig, that one in the middle.”

Cheng Zhirang took out his phone to exchange coins, slightly lowering his eyes to ask her: “Only one pink pig?”

“If possible, then a green turtle… on second thought, that color might be inauspicious. Better to get a lying-down bear.”

Cheng Zhirang couldn’t help but glance at that green turtle, then turned back and gave her a complex look.

Her mind really is quite whimsical.

He exchanged the coins, inserted them into the machine nearby, and operated the claw toward the pool of plushies, focusing intently.

Even if a handsome person’s face were completely covered and they wore the simplest clothes while catching plushies, there’d be plenty of onlookers, mostly students, who didn’t get too close.

Maybe they thought it rare to see someone so seriously catching plushies, so they couldn’t help but take another look. After all, hadn’t she noticed him at the airport because he was so earnestly fetching his luggage?

Mu Qiu kept watching him. After two unsuccessful attempts, he succeeded on the third try and immediately turned to hand her the pink pig he had grabbed from the pool.

“One more, wait for me.”

After figuring out the method, the second attempt went more smoothly, and he successfully grabbed the brown lying-down bear. The middle schoolers watching nearby burst into applause.

“Anything else you want?”

Mu Qiu shook her head, holding his arm as they walked out: “Nope, if we stay any longer, we’ll get recognized. Let’s go to the next place.”

The next stop was a “Typhoon shelter” outside the school.

“After classmates gave me birthday gifts, I would invite them to eat together. But lunch and dinner times were tight, so we usually had day students bring things from this Typhoon shelter to share, then after the night self-study, we’d bring the cake from the school gate to the cafeteria’s second floor for a joint celebration.”

“Because my parents were all about serious education, they chose a strict school for me. I couldn’t rely on connections or stand out for special treatment, so I obediently stayed at school, going home once a month.”

“When coming back from home, it was usually in the morning. After meeting up with classmates, we’d head to the Typhoon shelter for some food, stroll around, and finally head back to school.”

“There weren’t really many people going to restaurants back then. We didn’t even frequent milk tea shops much because our class consisted mostly of fairly ordinary good students, who would only shop for an hour or two at most—oh, except for Zhao Yu.”

As she mentioned Zhao Yu, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“She sent me a voice message this morning, insisting that I should take photos at all these places after finding out I was back home. I wonder if the shrimp at this Typhoon shelter is still as tasty as before.”

Cheng Zhirang listened to her speaking along the way, feeling that such a life seemed more fitting for her.

Her parents were both university professors; she should have been like the children of some professors in Hai City, receiving better education and various interest training, frequenting restaurants and cafes.

But her parents focused more on character building and didn’t give her many chances to enjoy herself. And she seemed to adapt better to this life, finding unique joys in commonplace experiences.

All these experiences and knowledge eventually transformed into the words she wrote.

They ordered a portion of Typhoon shelter shrimp, and after taking photos to send to Zhao Yu, they didn’t sit down to eat. Worried about someone recognizing Cheng Zhirang, Mu Qiu had the shrimp packed up and returned to the initial cake shop. Cheng Zhirang carried the cake as they went to the school.

The school guard and some teachers still remembered her and recognized the person beside her, so they didn’t stop them much.

However, since students were in class, they couldn’t go to the classrooms or the second floor of the cafeteria. The first floor of the cafeteria was open and accessible anytime.

There was a bakery on the first floor of the cafeteria, where people who missed meal times could buy bread.

The tables and chairs opposite the bakery were still new because students who came to the cafeteria to eat didn’t usually sit in that corner.

Cheng Zhirang opened the cake, lit the candles, and placed the birthday hat on her head.

Mu Qiu recalled birthdays in the past when other classmates would light candles, and Zhao Yu would put the hat on her like this.

“Let me make a wish.”

She closed her eyes, with her head slightly bowed in the dim candlelight, a smile on her lips. Cheng Zhirang took out his phone and snapped a couple of photos.

“All done! Blow out the candles!” Mu Qiu opened her eyes, blew out the candles in one go, and earnestly said:

“After today, I’ll have my sixth eighteenth birthday already! Transitioning from a liberalist to a wife, trying hard to play an important role in marriage. I hope my husband can accompany me home for my birthday next year too.”

Across the table, Cheng Zhirang gazed at her warmly, “Your husband definitely will.”