Fu Jichen looked at her for a long time and finally realized that he had lost his composure. She thought of nothing. The emotion in his eyes gradually dissipated, and he returned to his usual calmness.
"I'm not angry, you don't have to apologize." He explained, "I accidentally knocked over the cup."
Ni Yiqiong opened her mouth but said nothing. His words made her reaction look like a joke.
Fu Jichen left the table: "I'm going to change clothes."
He walked very slowly when he left, and his back looked a little lonely.
Shen Jianian looked at his retreating figure and recalled his words. He asked her if she remembered anything. Did he think she had recovered her memory?
Why does he think so?
What Shen Jia Nian couldn't understand, let alone others.
Bai Changxia glanced at the woman opposite, and the tingling sensation was not the slightest. She took a sip of red wine and said, "Miss Ni, Jia Nian's soft temper does not mean that others are good-tempered. She was just joking. , the rightful owner doesn’t mind, Miss Ni is too high-ranking.”
Ni Yiqiong didn't expect that Bai Changxia would point it out in public, and her face was a little confused, turning red and white: "I was quick to speak, and I didn't mean to accuse her."
She looked at Shen Jianian and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Jianian, I was a little impatient at the time."
Shen Jianian shook his head and said nothing.
Bai Changxia hadn't finished speaking and was about to continue talking when Shen Jia Nian gave her a look and she held back. She originally wanted to say that everyone could see what Miss Ni was thinking, but today was Jia Nian's birthday after all, so it would be too inappropriate to take over the honors.
Fu Jichen went next door to change clothes and smoked a cigarette before coming over.
At that moment, he really thought Shen Jia Nian was thinking about it.
Returning to the dining table, Fu Jichen found that there was an extra chicken wing in the bowl in front of him, including the wing root, filling the entire bowl.
He glanced at Shen Jianian. She was concentrating on eating chicken wings and not looking at him.
After Ni Yiqiong was pointed out by Bai Changxia, he didn't talk much or eat much.
The cake ordered online arrived. Shen Jia Nian received a call and went to open the door.
The cake was ordered by Bai Changxia half a month in advance from a private Western pastry shop.
There was a space in the middle of the dining table. Shen Jianian put the cake on it and opened the outer packaging. It was a white two-layer cake with some pink and blue flowers scattered at random. The flowers were made realistically and the layers of petals were delicate and beautiful. Embellished with pearls.
Zhao Shunyi took out his mobile phone again: "Look good, let me take a photo first."
With a "click", she finished taking pictures and helped put in the candles.
Shen Jianian was put on a pointed red hat by Bai Changxia, with a circle of colorful sequins decorating the edge of the hat. Today she was wearing a light pink furry sweater and white knitted pants. Her whole body was incredibly soft and she was wearing a cartoon version of a little hat, which was very cute.
"I'll turn off the lights!" Bai Changxia jumped away from the chair.
"I'll go." Fu Jichen had long legs and turned off the restaurant's ceiling light faster than her.
The light suddenly dimmed, leaving only the flickering light of the candles on the cake, which was warm and beautiful.
Fu Jichen picked up a brocade box from the chest of drawers. It was a birthday gift he had brought to Shen Jianian before, and he put it here without being discovered.
"Hurry up and make a wish." Zhao Shunyi looked excited, happier than his own birthday. He shook his phone and said, "I'll take a picture for you."
Shen Jianian was a little shy: "No need to make a wish, I don't have any wishes."
"How can you celebrate your birthday without making a wish? Just think of a few at the moment." Bai Changxia raised his eyebrows and gave her some advice, "What about getting rich suddenly? You will never gain weight because of eating. Find a boyfriend or something."
Shen Jia Nian was encouraged to close his eyes, clasped his hands, thought about it, and finally made only one wish, wishing himself and his friends around him eternal health and happiness.
She thinks this wish is very good. Good health is more important than anything else, and happiness is also important.
She opened her eyes, and a brocade box was handed to her. She was stunned for a moment, then looked along the brocade box to the slender hand, and then to the owner of the hand.
"Birthday gift." Fu Jichen said.
Shen Jia Nian wanted to refuse. She was afraid that what he gave was too expensive and she would be mentally burdened if she accepted it, but she couldn't find the right words for the moment.
As if he had read her mind, Fu Jichen smiled casually: "Take it, it's a cup." He directly told her what was in the brocade box.
Shen Jia Nian did not shirk it and accepted it: "Thank you."
Fu Jichen said "Yes": "Blow out the candles."
Shen Jianian leaned forward and blew out the candles. Fu Jichen turned on the lights, and the restaurant returned to the brightness it had just a moment ago. Shen Jianian cut the cake and served it to Ni Yiqiong first. Suddenly he remembered that she said she wanted to lose weight before, so he hesitated and asked first: "Miss Ni, do you want to try it?"
Ni Yiqiong's face didn't look good: "I'm full and I can't eat anymore."
Shen Jia Nian nodded and gave it to Bai Changxia and Zhao Shunyi. She thought Fu Jichen might not like eating it, so she cut a piece for herself without asking him.
Fu Jichen leaned on the back of the chair and Shen Jianian stood. He raised his head and looked up at her: "Where's mine?"
Shen Jianian: "You want to eat?"
Fu Jichen: "Aren't you going to give me something to eat?"
Shen Jianian gave him his plate of untouched cakes and muttered, "I thought you didn't eat sweets." Ni Yiqiong asked him before, and he said he didn't eat pastries.
Ni Yiqiong was so angry that she clenched her hands under the table, and it seemed that there was no need to serve the pastries she made.
She was unwilling to give in and secretly felt angry for a while. She got up and went to the kitchen to bring over the pastries and cakes she had baked before. She tried her best to put on a generous smile and said, "Try what I made again and see how it tastes compared with the ones in the cake shop. "
Ni Yiqiong pushed the cake very close to Fu Jichen, with secret expectations in her eyes.
Fu Jichen didn't seem to hear, and was eating the cake Shen Jia Nian brought to him. It was so sweet.
Opposite Zhao Shunyi shrank her neck. She felt several waves of undercurrents tonight. She lowered her head, took out her mobile phone, and retouched pictures while eating the cake. She took photos of the feast, close-ups of the cake, and Shen Jianian's eyes closed. The photo of the wish was sent to Moments.
Then, she sent her the photo of Jianian's wish alone.
Shen Jianian's cell phone rang. She picked it up and looked at it with a stunned expression. In the photo sent by Zhao Shunyi, in the dim candlelight, she closed her eyes and made a wish. Next to her, Fu Jichen was... looking at her affectionately.
She also saw the Moments posted by Zhao Shunyi. In the same picture, Fu Jichen was cut off, as if to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
*
It was almost nine o'clock, and the things on the dining table were put into the kitchen. Shen Jianian turned on the TV and found a variety show suitable for everyone to watch together.
The stamina of the red wine made her cheeks flush and hot, and most of her body fell into the corner between the armrest and the backrest of the sofa.
Ni Yiqiong stayed to celebrate the New Year with them, and Shen Jianian couldn't refuse.
Fu Jichen didn't leave either, but instead of joining the girls, he sat alone on a single sofa chair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, crossing his legs and talking on the phone.
He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and smoky gray casual pants. He had a lazy, homely vibe about him.
Zhao Shunyi raised his hand and said he wanted to drink mulled wine. Fu Jichen happened to have brought an extra bottle of red wine, so Shen Jia Nian said he would cook it himself. She also wanted to drink it.
Bai Changxia was worried about her: "Are you okay?"
Shen Jianian nodded slowly, gave her an OK sign, and took small steps to the kitchen. His head was a little dizzy, but he was extremely excited.
She found the ingredients for mulled wine from the refrigerator, including oranges, apples, lemons, cloves, cinnamon, etc., washed them all, then cut the oranges in half, picked up the cloves and pierced them into the orange peel one by one. Tie up into a hedgehog.
Suddenly a shadow fell on the side, blocking the light. Shen Jianian raised his head. Fu Jichen's face was close at hand. He asked her: "What are you doing?"
Shen Jianian held up half an orange that was tied into a hedgehog and showed it to him: "Cook mulled wine."
Her state...
Fu Jichen's eyebrows moved, as if she was drunk. It was like this before. When she was drunk, her speech and movements would become slow, and the next step would be to fall asleep.
"Can you cook?" Fu Jichen's voice unconsciously slowed down and he asked her slowly.
"What's so difficult about this?" Shen Jianian almost bit her tongue, "Just throw all these into the pot, pour in red wine and cook for a while."
Fu Jichen began to speak with a loud tongue, and raised the corners of his lips: "You are drunk."
"No." Shen Jianian denied it thoroughly.
She used a knife to cut a lemon, but the edge of the knife slipped and almost cut her finger. Fu Jichen's heart tightened and he took the fruit knife from her hand.
"Want slices?"
He had never made mulled wine, so he didn't know the steps.
Shen Jianian frowned, with an expression that seemed to say he was stupid, and gestured with the lemon: "Cut it, squeeze out the juice from half of the lemon, and cut the other half into slices for decoration. If you throw it in directly and cook it, it will be bitter."
"I know." Fu Jichen smiled and did as she asked.
"That's right." Shen Jianian remembered that she wanted to ask him something. Her brain was spinning slowly and she couldn't organize her words for a while. She swallowed several times in a hurry, "You... why did you just ask me if I remembered anything?"
Fu Jichen put down the fruit knife: "You said those words before, exactly the same."
"Which sentence?"
"..." Fu Jichen didn't want to repeat it.
Shen Jia Nian clicked his tongue dissatisfied: "Which sentence?"
Fu Jichen remained silent.
Shen Jia Nian refused to let go, grabbing the soft sweater on his body with both hands, like a bully: "Are you going to tell me?"
"You can't think of it even if you say it. You don't want to say it." Fu Jichen raised a hand and caressed her face, placing his thumb on her lips.
He had just cut a lemon, and the juice stained his fingers. Shen Jia Nian licked it unconsciously, and it was so sour that her features wrinkled: "Why is it so sour..."
The feeling of the tip of his tongue still lingering on his fingertips made Fu Jichen's throat itchy. He coughed lowly, but it didn't relieve the itching. He felt that he might lose control. (End of chapter)
