LWDC Chapter 129

Chapter 129 – Birthday Gift

Chapter 129 – Birthday Gift

Chapter 129 – Birthday Gift

Ning Fei left Zheng Liwen’s home before the New Year even began.

The ostensible reason was that Zheng Liwen’s two teammates were practically passed out drunk and likely wouldn’t make it to midnight. The real reason was that after Zheng Liwen brought up Yu Zhou’s terrible idea, Ning Fei sensed that the atmosphere had become a little strange.

Of course, Ning Fei wasn’t the type to change his expression immediately upon hearing such a topic. He simply said casually, “Captain Zheng, are you drunk?”

“Drunk, a little, but not to the point of talking nonsense.” Zheng Liwen squinted and smiled, taking a couple of sips of beer. “Don’t play dumb, you must know something, right? You’re so smart, Yu Zhou couldn’t hide it from me, he definitely couldn’t hide it from you either.”

“No, Captain Zheng, even if we all know, so what?” Ning Fei raised an eyebrow slightly. “Everyone doesn’t feel that way, isn’t it better to pretend not to know? Why bring it up?”

“Then just pretend I’m drunk.” Zheng Liwen said cheerfully, “Can’t I even ask? It’s not like I want to start dating you just because I said it. Making friends and confiding in each other is normal, right?”

Ning Fei glanced at him. “You confide in your brothers with this kind of topic?”

“…True.” Zheng Liwen said, “But then again, we’ve known each other for a while, and we know each other’s character and personality. If you want to try in that direction, it’s not impossible.”

Ning Fei: “…”

He suspected that Yu Zhou had already told Zheng Liwen that he had a thing for Yu Zhou. But Ning Fei didn’t plan to say it, as it would only make the scene more awkward.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Ning Fei raised an eyebrow. “If you’re like this, I won’t want to drink with you in the future.”

“OKOK, let’s end this topic.” Zheng Liwen raised both hands. “Still, as I said, pretend I’m drunk, okay? Forget about this topic tomorrow…”

“Captain Zheng, what secrets are you and Ning Fei talking about? Let us in on it!”

The words of two teammates interrupted Zheng Liwen and Ning Fei’s awkward conversation. Zheng Liwen waved his hand, casually brushing them off with a natural tone. Ning Fei picked up his glass and took a few sips of beer, lowering his eyes.

The desire to stay and celebrate the New Year together faded.

…

In short, Ning Fei left Zheng Liwen’s house at a little past eleven on New Year’s Eve.

Zheng Liwen even got up to see him off, but Ning Fei directly refused, pointing to the other two who were passed out in his house. “Taking care of them is a good deed, don’t worry about me.”

“Sigh, okay.” Zheng Liwen scratched his stubble haphazardly. “Then tell me when you get home, it’s New Year’s and you’re driving after drinking. If something happens… Yu Zhou will definitely kill me.”

Ning Fei thought that if something really happened, Yu Zhou would only laugh at him.

But he still agreed to Zheng Liwen’s request, otherwise Zheng Liwen’s fussy demeanor when drunk was quite troublesome. As soon as he came out of the building, Ning Fei was awakened by the cold wind. Almost every household in this residential area still had lights on, but it was very quiet outside. That’s right, who would be wandering outside during the New Year? There was no place to set off firecrackers collectively anyway.

Ning Fei drove back to his own residential area. It was only about a ten-minute drive, and he couldn’t even be bothered to turn on the heat. When passing the security guard at the entrance of the complex, he even gave the security guard a cigarette. The security guard took the cigarette, slapping his forehead, “Oh, I think I have something to tell you, but I can’t remember it!”

Ning Fei asked, “Pay the fee?”

The security guard shook his head. “No, no.”

“Then next time I pass by, you can tell me when you remember.” Ning Fei felt that it wasn’t a big deal, a big deal would have called him already, so he said goodbye, pressed the car window, and drove into his residential area.

Then, Ning Fei saw the “thing the security guard couldn’t remember but should have said” downstairs in his building.

——Duan Yunhong’s car was actually parked downstairs in Ning Fei’s building!

To be precise, it even took up Ning Fei’s parking space.

Ning Fei was amused. The distance between the Huichuan base and the Tianyue base wasn’t a short few hours away. This guy was still sending him New Year’s greetings in the afternoon, so he must have been almost here. But he didn’t mention a word about coming to Tianyue, and had been waiting downstairs for who knows how long. What was this for? Playing a tragic love scene?

Ning Fei slowly parked the car behind Duan Yunhong’s car, not honking, not getting out of the car, and directly picked up his phone to call the other party.

The phone was answered quickly, and Ning Fei didn’t wait for a sound before saying directly, “Did you pay the parking fee before you parked randomly?”

“You’re back?” Duan Yunhong’s voice was very calm, as natural as casual chatting. “Not playing until midnight?”

“If I played until midnight, then you’d be prepared to spend New Year’s Eve in the car?” Ning Fei scoffed. “Stop talking nonsense, tell me the truth, what do you want? Don’t tell me you’re here to ‘apologize with thorns on your back’.”

Duan Yunhong said, “Just here to spend the New Year, can’t I?”

“My place isn’t your vacation resort, where I have to receive you every time you’re on vacation.” Ning Fei responded coldly. “It’s not like I have to give way to you just because you did something without asking me first.”

Duan Yunhong said, “I can pay—I mean, Qi Luck.”

“Duan Yunhong, do you think I’m cheap?” Ning Fei sneered directly. “Or do you really think I’m in the service industry? That a little money can shut me up, and a little Qi Luck can let you order me around. Have you forgotten that you used the same trick to trick me last time, or do you think I’ll forget?”

Duan Yunhong didn’t answer for a moment.

At first, Ning Fei thought he had nothing to say, but the next second, he heard rustling sounds. Then, Duan Yunhong opened the door and got out of the car.

Ning Fei watched him walk over, reaching the side of his driver’s seat, and knocking on the car window.

The window glass slowly lowered, and the two looked at each other. Before Ning Fei could say “what,” Duan Yunhong began to stuff things into the window in a flurry: “The cigarettes I gave you last time, two new packs. Two bottles of red wine, I only found twenty-year-old ones. Braised pork made by the most famous restaurant in the Huichuan base, vacuum-sealed and frozen as soon as it was made. And shortcakes from the same restaurant, also famous, easy to break, be careful…”

“Wait, wait!” Ning Fei was confused by this development, blocking his movements. “Why are you stuffing these things into me? I don’t even want Qi Luck, what effect do you think these little favors will have?”

Duan Yunhong suddenly said, “…Happy birthday.”

“Huh?” Ning Fei realized that he was replicating his previous behavior, but was even more at a loss. “But today is not my birthday.”

“I know it was a few days ago.”

“It wasn’t a few days ago either!”

Duan Yunhong finally frowned. “Isn’t it January 18th?”

“No… ah, did you look at my identity information?” Ning Fei finally reacted. “I just wrote that randomly.”

Duan Yunhong retorted, “But you wrote this day in the last world too.”

“I just wrote it casually.” Ning Fei was really amused this time. “But sometimes I’m too lazy to think of a new one to remember, so I use the same one for several worlds before changing to a new date.”

“Then when is your birthday?” Duan Yunhong stared at him. “I’ve already told you mine, why are you being so secretive?”

“Uh, this matter isn’t as important as you think.” Ning Fei replied. “I didn’t know my birthday in the first place. So, to be precise, I can’t be sure if January 18th is my birthday, because every day is possible.”

“You don’t know…?”

“Isn’t that normal?” Ning Fei shrugged. “Even in this world, there are many people who don’t know their birthdays. Not everyone has someone to help them remember their birthday.”

Duan Yunhong realized that he was talking about orphans, the kind who had no parents, no relatives, no acquaintances, and no information since childhood.

Ning Fei didn’t care about the deep meaning behind these words and continued, “Then again, even if it’s my birthday, if you want to return a birthday gift, asking someone to bring it over would be enough to save face. What exactly are you doing here in person?”

He had long forgotten that the pack of cigarettes (an incomplete pack) that he threw at Duan Yunhong as a birthday gift had already been returned to him by Duan Yunhong.

Duan Yunhong still didn’t speak immediately, freezing there without moving. Ning Fei couldn’t understand what he was thinking and didn’t want to. But what was certain was that Ning Fei didn’t want to spend the New Year in the car, glaring at this troublemaker.

“What exactly do you want? Say it!” Ning Fei’s tone became cold again, urging him. “If there’s nothing, get out of here, I want to go home, go wherever you want, I refuse to receive you.”

Duan Yunhong held back for a long time and finally blurted out two words: “Reach out.”

“Crazy!” Ning Fei refused to reach out. This tone, somewhat similar to playing with a dog, completely annoyed him. He closed the car window, pulled out the car key, and began to climb to the passenger seat. There was no way, Duan Yunhong was nailed to the driver’s seat like a big rock. Ning Fei estimated that he couldn’t even open the car door, so he might as well get out of the car from the passenger seat.

He didn’t take any of the things Duan Yunhong gave him, simply jumped out of the car and strode towards the unit door.

But he hadn’t walked a few steps when Duan Yunhong had already bypassed the front of the car and grabbed his wrist.

“Duan Yunhong!” Ning Fei was truly angry, he didn’t bring a gun, otherwise he really wanted to pull it out. “If you make me catch a cold and get a fever during the New Year, I’ll kill you!”

Duan Yunhong finally sized up his clothes, just a short, thin cotton jacket, good-looking but not warm enough. The man frowned, “Where’s your coat?”

In fact, Ning Fei had a down jacket in the back seat of the car, but he forgot to take it when he went to Zheng Liwen’s house. Even if he remembered it now, it was impossible for him to turn around and get it, otherwise, it would be too embarrassing.

At this moment, he and Duan Yunhong had completely forgotten about the wind-based abilities.

“Is that any of your business?” Ning Fei narrowed his eyes. “If you hadn’t grabbed me, I would have been home already!”

Duan Yunhong said, “Can’t you speak properly?”

“Ha? Accusing the victim first?” Ning Fei tried to pull his hand back with force. “I don’t want to argue with you, get away…” Huh?!”

Duan Yunhong released his hand, raised his hand, and a black long down jacket appeared in the man’s hand. The next moment, the down jacket drew a half-arc in the air, enveloping Ning Fei.

“I know you and Jinghui joined forces to make me hand over Wang Haiyang’s technology. I can give it to you.”

——————–

Duan Yunhong, a man who can say anything but can’t apologize.