HR Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Birthday Celebration

Bai Ze twirled the beads on his wrist, saying nothing. Zhu Yan seemed deeply moved by his trip, looking up at a wisp of white cloud drifting across the sky, and said, “I haven’t read many books, so I can’t explain some profound truths, but I understand them in my heart. I used to be thick-headed and didn’t understand, but now I do. Life is about living for the living, not for the dead.”

“That’s not easy, it’s good that you understand.” Bai Ze joked, “If you get stuck in your ways again, I won’t bother with you, you can stew in your own juice.”

“Haha, can I be tripped twice? I’m not that stupid.” Zhu Yan was genuinely grateful to Bai Ze, but then worried about Xiao Qi again, glancing towards the door behind him: “Has he been causing trouble?”

Bai Ze then recounted everything that happened after Zhu Yan left, big and small, and sighed in the end: “It feels like the two of them are just playing house, just fooling around.”

Zhu Yan didn’t think so. Now he had also figured it out, his sister died for him, so he had to live well, living out the free and easy life that his sister would have wanted, otherwise he would be letting her down. Besides, it wasn’t right for a grown man like him to be caught up in sentimental affairs all day long.

“Let’s go, I’ll distribute the gifts.” Zhu Yan stood up and patted his butt, pulling Bai Ze up with him, and the two walked in side by side.

The items were piled under the eaves in front of the room. Zhu Yan moved a stool to sit down, while the other two didn’t move, directly grabbing the middle one, taking out a pile of jewelry and ornaments, including coral, agate, wooden beads, and other materials. Then he pulled out a few Tibetan knives, some rough and sharp, some small and delicate, and then reached out and grabbed a handful of ox-horn combs, pulling out a string with a tug. He then displayed a few yak bone carvings, and upon closer inspection, some already had small flaws from being dropped.

Bai Ze watched from the side, his heart aching. He even stuffed the carvings back inside, how big was this guy’s heart.

After displaying everything, Zhu Yan carefully counted the number and asked Bai Ze: “We haven’t had any new people come into the house, have we?” Without waiting for Bai Ze to answer, he waved his hand: “Alright, let them come and collect them themselves.”

Bai Ze was dumbfounded. What a generous gesture. He guessed that the other two bags should be things like Thangkas, tapestries, Zha Nang, and Pulu. He even suspected that Zhu Yan had looted someone’s store.

Sha Tang heard the commotion and came out to take a look, playing with a Tibetan knife in his hand, slanting his eyes and lazily saying, “Di-nner-is-served!” Suddenly his tone changed: “Hurry up and get in here! If you’re late, you don’t get to eat!” He turned and went back inside, leaving everyone with a fiery back view.

Chef Sha often had little tantrums, and everyone was used to it, but they were just curious about the source of his inexplicable anger.

However, there were some who knew the inside story. A young girl picking out gifts smiled and said: “This morning, Jian Qilu cooked breakfast, I heard it was called ‘Meat and Vegetable Mayhem’, Lu Qinyuan gave it the name.”

That explained everything. Sha Tang had a motto that was said to be half self-created and half plagiarized, it went something like this: “If you have rice but no clever wife, you might as well eat shit.” The words were a bit rough, but as for the reason, their group of mortals couldn’t see any heavenly secret, and felt that this motto was like an epitaph, so they mourned in silence.

Sha Tang’s face was gloomy. When he saw Lu Qinyuan, he immediately turned his head away. Xiao Qi was already slightly drunk, but now he was awake. He first saw Zhu Yan, who had been tanned black, and jumped and ran over to hug Zhu Yan and kiss him on the face, happily shouting: “Uncle, I love you!” He stretched out his hand: “Gifts.”

Zhu Yan hadn’t recovered from the shock of being kissed, and when he heard Xiao Qi asking for a gift, he was stunned for a moment, wooden and blank: “Hey, I rushed back, I forgot the shells you wanted, but this time I’ll give you a live one.” Saying that, he stood up and strode outside, and came back a moment later with a small thing in his hand, it was actually a small black Tibetan Mastiff.

Zhu Yan put the little black Mastiff on the ground, and the little black Mastiff took a few steps, wobbling, and fell to the ground with a thud, panting with its mouth open and eyes wide, making weak noises intermittently. It struggled to get up, but seemed to be exhausted, lifting itself up a little and then falling back, but continuing to try without giving up.

Xiao Qi stepped forward and picked up the little black Mastiff, which was still baring its teeth, making low threats in its throat. Sha Tang brought water, and the little black Mastiff barely supported itself and slowly licked the water, it was truly pitiful.

What exactly did you do to this child? Everyone had a big question mark, waiting for Zhu Yan to explain, but Zhu Yan was also at a loss: “It was like this when I came back, I put it in that bag to bring it back,” he thought for a moment and suddenly realized: “It might have been too hot and stuffy from being in the sun for too long, it’ll be fine after it recovers.”

As if everyone was as thick-skinned as you, resistant to beatings, durable, and sun-resistant. It was just a little milk Mastiff, to be able to survive all the way here, it wasn’t just an ordinary life! What sins did this dog commit to run into such an unreliable buyer, being as meticulous as a needle when it should be careless, and as thick as the Earth’s equator when it shouldn’t be.

However, the little black Mastiff indirectly defused two crises. Sha Tang didn’t pursue the matter of the kitchen anymore, and Lu Qinyuan didn’t pursue Xiao Qi’s declaration of love. As soon as they finished eating, they started taking action around the little black Mastiff, buying dog houses, dog food, dog bowls, and looking up breeding books and information. Bai Ze, who was originally going out, also joined in with high enthusiasm. The task of naming was handed over to Xiao Qi, he looked at Zhu Yan for a long time and spat out two words: “Too Black.”

Zhu Yan stared without saying a word, Bai Ze frowned: “Not good, too unrefined.”

“This name is pretty good,” Sha Tang said in a huff, “In ancient times there was Li Bai, now there’s Dog Too Black, what’s wrong with it? Not bad, our dog is as famous as the Wine Immortal, how great!”

“In ancient times there was Li Bai, now there’s Sha Too Tang?” Xiao Qi followed, shaking his head and silently correcting it twice, and asked with slight worry: “Isn’t that too disrespectful to the Wine Immortal?” Saying that, he put his palms together and bowed, muttering “Forgive me, forgive me.”

Lu Qinyuan took the opportunity to add: “Too Tang is awkward, it’s better to use ‘Too Sweet’, try reading it.”

“In ancient times there was Li Bai, now there’s Sha Too Sweet.” Xiao Qi recited it once and then repeatedly recited it twice, the more he recited it, the smoother it became, and immediately decided: “I’ve decided, Too Sweet Bro, from now on I’ll call you Too Sweet Bro, okay, Too Sweet Bro?”

Sha Tang was stunned by this new title, Zhu Yan didn’t quite understand at first, but when he realized it, he burst out laughing, Bai Ze was already leaning on Zhu Yan’s shoulder, almost laughing to the ground.

Lu Qinyuan even criticized him seriously, saying: “What exactly is Too Sweet? It’s better to use it as his courtesy name, it will be justified.”

Xiao Qi nodded in agreement, instantly becoming scholarly, cupping his fist to Lu Qinyuan: “Thank you for your guidance, sir, I am enlightened.”

Instantly, laughter overturned the roof.

Then, there was no dinner tonight, Chef Too Sweet went on strike, threatening not to cook tomorrow either, gnashing his teeth and saying that anyone who called him Too Sweet would be added to his list of enemies.

Bai Ze held back his laughter, asking without understanding: “Sweetie?” Offending Chef Too Sweet all the way to the eighteenth level of hell.

Just then, Shu Xiu came back, seeing several people laughing so hard that they were rolling around, Sha Tang was jumping around like a flea in a rage, unable to figure out the situation: “What are you laughing at, who is Sweetie?”

As soon as he asked, everyone burst out laughing, wiping their tears and holding their stomachs, unable to speak. Lu Qinyuan circled his hand at his lips and coughed softly, suppressing his laughter and explaining: “Zhu Yan brought back a Tibetan Mastiff, and they’re giving it a name.” Noticing that Shu Xiu’s face wasn’t good, he suppressed his smile and said, “Your injuries haven’t healed yet, don’t run around, is something the matter?”

Shu Xiu’s eyes dimmed, pursing his lips and humming in acknowledgement.

Lu Qinyuan raised his hand, and the two walked to the French window, looking at the boy standing in front of him with his head lowered. He could roughly guess why Shu Xiu was sad, and comforted him in a low voice: “The law applies equally to the Emperor and the common people.”

“Bro!” Shu Xiu’s eyes lit up, full of disbelief, and after a moment of silence, he frowned and shook his head: “No need, no need, Bro, really, I…” The rest of the words got stuck in his throat, he couldn’t say those insincere three words.

He didn’t care, his life didn’t belong to himself, and even if it did belong to himself, how could he not care. But if Lu Qinyuan didn’t care, what could he do if he cared.

“I only have one younger brother, I won’t let you suffer.” Lu Qinyuan’s smile was faint and his voice was soft, but Shu Xiu heard it clearly, and his eyes immediately turned red, lowering his head and refusing to raise it again.

The Ghost Prince was a gold-lettered signboard, wherever he went, he got respect. His subordinates greeted him with smiling faces, and everyone liked to hear nice words. Although Shu Xiu didn’t smile on his face, he felt very comfortable in his heart, and when he asked, he was particularly amiable: “Who’s so brave, I’d like to meet them too.”

The subordinate stammered: “That, Xiu Bro, that person, you know him. It’s…”

Who? Shu Xiu was struck by lightning, sitting in the chair in silence, not moving or speaking. His mind wasn’t on how to catch the person and punish them, but when he heard that name, he only had one thought left in his mind, which was to be grateful, grateful for escaping death.

He was incomparable to that person, it was his good fortune that he was alive, and he deserved to die if he died. But he still couldn’t help but feel sad, and he still had to endure the sadness and persuade Lu Qinyuan that he was fine, not to bother. What was a knife, what was almost dying, anyway, he didn’t die.

But what did Lu Qinyuan say? He said he was his brother, his only brother. Shu Xiu suddenly felt that with Lu Qinyuan’s words, no matter how heavy the burden on his shoulders or how many debts on his back, it was nothing.

Lu Qinyuan ruffled his head: “Go play, the atmosphere is rarely so good.”

With Shu Xiu joining, the name was quickly decided, Lai Xi, taking the meaning of coming from the west, and in fact, it also took the backup name Nine Deaths, which sounded unlucky, so it wasn’t used.

The light in the study was on until three in the morning. Bai Ze pinched the space between his eyebrows and went downstairs. Warm yellow light shone from the kitchen. Walking in, he saw a thermos on the counter, with a sticky note on it, only drawing a smiling face.

Opening the thermos, there was a bowl of noodles, it must have just been made, with steam rising. Two fried eggs were placed on top of the noodles, one side golden and crispy, the other full and smooth. The word “Leave” (joy) was arranged on top with rapeseed, and the remaining gaps were occupied by twenty-six quail eggs, a full bowl of white roundness.

Taking out the noodles, Bai Ze sat by the counter and ate, peeling a quail egg, picking out a bit of the noodles from underneath and eating it little by little.

When people are quiet, they easily overthink. The paintbrush buried in his heart involuntarily began to paint again, combined with the descriptions he heard from others, his father should be a burly man with strong muscles, and his mother should be a gentle woman who was always smiling. They loved each other, supported each other, and lived and died together, leaving him alone in the world.