Chapter 12: Happy Birthday

Chapter 12: Happy Birthday

Zhou Liao's birthday was the same as every year—messages and calls of congratulations from morning till night, sincere or insincere, some taking the opportunity to send gifts and ask for favors.

Everyone sent their wishes except for those two people, despite him being in endless anticipation since midnight, just like every year.

Bai Ling's message was almost lost in the sea of conversations, along with messages from various girls he had met at bars wishing him and asking when he would go out to play. If not for Chen Xian reminding him, he wouldn't have remembered to reply to Bai Ling's message until the afternoon when he got into his sports car and headed for the club.

"Sorry, darling, I just saw your message. Last night, after sending my drunk friends home, I got back late and only finished getting ready to leave now."

"It's okay. I've arranged for a courier to deliver the gift."

"Are you really not coming today?" Zhou Liao sounded as if he were trying to persuade her. He turned the steering wheel with one hand and quickly drove out of the garage.

"I won't come. You guys enjoy yourselves." Bai Ling looked at the nearly completed drawing on her screen, her pen hovering over the tablet. "I'm still drawing and will be going to the hospital with Mom later."

"Why are you going to the hospital? Are you sick?"

"No, Qin Zhan's grandmother seems to have worsened. We're going to visit her."

Zhou Liao slightly narrowed his eyes, looking ahead at the asphalt road.

"Oh, I see..."

"Yeah, I'll hang up then. My mom is urging me. Happy birthday!"

"Thanks." Zhou Liao rubbed the steering wheel with his fingertips. "Please say hello to the elderly lady for me."

As soon as the call ended, Chen Xian turned his head to look at him. Zhou Liao had connected the car's Bluetooth, so he heard every word of their conversation.

"Qin Zhan's grandmother?"

"Yeah, she has uremia."

"Did Bai Ling tell you?"

"No, she cares about Qin Zhan but doesn't talk about his affairs. I found out through his bank transactions and checked his spending records."

Chen Xian fell silent for a moment. Zhou Liao glanced at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

Chen Xian adjusted his posture. He was raised by his grandparents, so he naturally felt sympathy for families with elderly members. He knew Qin Zhan's hospitalization must be related to his friend, but since Zhou Liao didn't involve him earlier, it meant he knew Chen Xian might interfere.

"Bai Ling still doesn't know why you're dating her, right?" Chen Xian changed the subject.

"No, she's easy to please." Zhou Liao was satisfied with this; unlike other girls who usually had ulterior motives, she wasn't overly concerned about money, wore her emotions on her face, knew her boundaries, and kept a respectful distance without prying into his life too much.

"What exactly is her relationship with Qin Zhan? Does he really like her?" Chen Xian knew that Zhou Liao's "pleasing" was akin to deceiving.

"I'm not sure, but he definitely cares about her."

While speaking, Zhou Liao kept glancing at his phone. Every time a notification lit up, his heart would race, but upon seeing the name, his expression darkened more and more.

The club Zhou Liao chose for his birthday party was called Ding Pavilion. It was a place they often visited, favored by the elites of C City for its privacy and freedom.

The car stopped at the discreetly luxurious entrance, and a man in a black suit greeted them and opened the door. Zhou Liao loosened his collar, tossed the car keys to the receptionist, and followed the attendant to the private room he had reserved.

Many people were already gathered inside, mostly smoking hookah and chatting. When the door opened, everyone looked over, and someone even whistled.

Zhou Liao wore a casual suit, his hair combed back, with a few strands casually falling over his forehead. His strikingly handsome features, enhanced by his model-like height and physique, made him the center of attention.

...

The birthday party was extravagant and lavish. Zhou Liao was surrounded and appeared to be enjoying himself as the main character, but no one noticed the grimace on his face when he sat back on the sofa and drank under the dim lights.

A small influencer brought by someone else started walking towards him. By the time Zhou Liao picked up his drink, she had already sat down beside him.

"Happy birthday, Young Master Zhou."

"Thanks."

"I'm here with Brother Zou. My name is Ling Yang, and I do social media." The girl lifted her drink, smiling at him. "I'm a first-year graduate student at the neighboring university, studying new media."

She was poised and elegant. Zhou Liao only turned to look at her face clearly when the occasional light flickered past. She was fair and beautiful, with an uncommon charm, the type he often dated. Normally, in a bar, he would flirt and take her back to a hotel for a couple of drinks, though he wasn't in the mood for that tonight, but the company was fine.

"Sister, you're impressive."

"Not really, just a hobby." Seeing that he didn't lift his drink, Ling Yang wasn't upset. "Are you feeling down? I guess I'm bothering you."

Zhou Liao leaned back on the sofa and smiled. "Talking to you might cheer me up."

"Really?" Ling Yang blinked.

"Ling Yang, don't bother Zhou Liao. He has a girlfriend." Brother Zou waved at Ling Yang.

Everyone in the room was used to Zhou Liao's frequent changes of partners, so no one was surprised by this statement. Someone casually asked who the current girlfriend was.

"This time..." Brother Zou was about to speak when the door was knocked on.

Standing at the door was a waiter holding a delicately decorated cake and a beautifully wrapped men's perfume gift box.

"Excuse me, Young Master Zhou, these are your gifts."

Zhou Liao gripped the glass tightly, his heart racing again. When the gifts were placed before him and he saw the card's signature, his interest vanished instantly. The hope in his heart was dashed, and he visibly became more irritable.

"Bai Ling..." someone read the signature aloud.

"That's her, our Liao's current girlfriend."

"Is this light luxury something Brother Liao would be interested in?"

Ling Yang noticed that Zhou Liao hadn't looked at the cake or the perfume but instead frowned slightly and glanced at the signature on the card with an impatient expression. She had a rough idea of what was going on.

"This is the new men's fragrance from this brand; it's been very popular this year." Ling Yang looked at the person who had spoken.

"I mean, it’s not up to par."

"Speaking of which, why isn’t Bai Ling here?"

"Just for fun, she can’t be taken out." One of the people who had helped Zhou Liao beat up Qin Zhan spoke up.

"Back when I was in junior high, my mom gave me this brand too." Another person picked up the perfume and took a look.

"Your mom would give you something like this?"

"At that time, our family business was just starting. On my eighteenth birthday, my mom gave me a gift box with all the presents I should have received from one to eighteen."

"I remember your birthday party back then; your parents threw a huge event on a cruise ship."

"Yes, my mom has always been good to me. Isn’t your family also big on your birthdays?"

"Well, they think birthdays are important, so they wouldn’t neglect me."

Chen Xian listened to the conversation around him and raised his eyes to glance at Zhou Liao. The latter sat in the shadow of the light, making it hard to see his facial expression.

"Speaking of which, how did Brother Liao celebrate his eighteenth birthday? Was it also..."

Zhou Liao slowly stood up, tugged at the corner of his mouth, and forced a perfunctory smile. "I remembered I have something else to do. You guys enjoy yourselves; tonight’s on me."

"...Huh? We haven’t even had the cake yet."

"Why so sudden, Brother Liao?"

Without responding, Zhou Liao, amidst everyone’s surprised and puzzled gazes, put his hands in his pockets and pushed open the door of the private room.

"Zhou Liao..." Chen Xian stood up, intending to follow.

"Don’t follow me. I have something to do." Zhou Liao growled, lowering his voice.

The sports car wandered aimlessly through the city. At night, the streets were almost deserted, with only a few lights still on in office buildings.

An indescribable frustration filled his heart. Every time he thought he could learn to not care, reality would slap him in the face.

He had made countless excuses for them, but reality was reality—it never matched his imagination.

Not knowing how long he had driven, Zhou Liao parked the car by the roadside. He stared at his phone for a while before dialing a video call with the last shred of hope. It rang for a long time until he almost crushed his palm before it was answered.

The well-maintained face of the woman on the screen carried the sternness and coldness of someone in power. She didn’t look at him but instead showed a hint of impatience towards the computer screen.

"What is it?"

Zhou Liao swallowed, his courage nearly extinguished by those three words. He couldn’t control the suppressed emotions raging within him, almost breaking him apart.

As if not waiting for a response, the woman looked back at her phone, her gaze under the screen light indifferent and cold.

Too familiar—the fear, nightmares, and shadows of his youth all stemmed from the coldness he encountered when seeking attention and the indifference he received when reaching out.

"What trouble have you caused this time?"

Zhou Liao clenched his fists but said nothing.

"If there’s nothing, I’m hanging up. I’m busy. Call Uncle Lin if you have any issues." The woman’s tone was cold, and her lips didn’t change their curve, "Or tell your father."

"..."

Even after the call ended, Zhou Liao hadn’t said "Happy Birthday," nor had he heard it from her. They were born on the same day in different years, and Zhou Liao thought no one would like receiving a lifetime shackle as a birthday present.

Silence filled the car. The confined space felt suffocating and oppressive, squeezing him as if trying to crush him into a pulp.

Year after year.

Ever since the first time he beat someone up and sent them to the hospital, he realized that only then would his mother pay attention to him, and only then would those indifferent eyes show a trace of emotion, albeit hatred. But the act was no longer novel.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly. His phone kept ringing with calls from Chen Xian. After hanging up, Zhou Liao turned off his phone and got out of the car.

Unconsciously, he had driven out of the fifth district, almost reaching the outskirts near the development zone. On the road, there were elderly scavengers pedaling tricycles with trembling legs, women selling vegetables late at night, vendors arguing with city management, and beggars rummaging through garbage cans. Almost everyone’s face bore the hardships of life.

Passing an alley, Zhou Liao heard a child crying, saying they wanted a small cake because they had never had one. The adult impatiently replied that their father only gave a few hundred yuan for food each month, and who had money to buy a twenty-five-yuan cake. Birthdays weren’t necessary to celebrate, and the child could leave if they wished.

The adult seemed to deliberately provoke the child, who soon walked away, leaving the child alone, crying until they hiccupped and trembled.

Zhou Liao stood behind the child, watching their shaking shoulders. After a while, he entered a nearby bakery about to close and bought the most expensive sixty-eight-yuan cake, along with a candle.

"Here, for you." Zhou Liao patted the child’s shoulder.

The child turned around, snot still on their face, and their mother had already disappeared into one of the buildings in the alley.

Seeing the child’s stunned expression, Zhou Liao irritably ran a hand through his hair. "I’m not a scammer."

He placed the cake on the air conditioner outside the alley, opened it, and used his lighter to light the candle. The flame immediately illuminated the space between them, brighter than the dim streetlights, creating a warm yellow glow in the dark alley.

The child’s eyes quickly reflected the candle’s light. Zhou Liao could see their surprise and joy, as if it was their first birthday cake.

"Happy birthday to you."

Zhou Liao watched the child close their eyes and make a wish, then lowered his own gaze.

And happy birthday to me.