novelraw Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Chapter 67 “I am your birthday present.”
“Tian Tian… Will you accept it?”
“…”
Qin Qing couldn’t believe that Wen Yufeng could say something so shamelessly.
She stood there dazed for a few seconds under his unwavering gaze until the sensor light in the fire escape went out.
With the darkness cutting off his intense gaze, Qin Qing finally relaxed and tried to regain her composure, only to hear the boy in front of her snap his fingers sharply.
The stairwell was illuminated again.
They locked eyes, and there was no avoiding it.
Qin Qing forced her nearly malfunctioning brain to work, and finally, before Wen Yufeng’s gaze became even more dangerous and uncontrollable, she found her line—
“What if I accept? And if I don’t… what will happen?”
Her clear eyes held a probing and cunning emotion.
Wen Yufeng squinted slightly.
…Indeed, after all this time, his little girl has become smarter in this regard.
“If you don’t accept, I will be very frustrated, very distressed.”
He slowly repeated those three words, his handsome face showing no emotion at all—
“Then, what I do next will not be something I can control.”
Qin Qing was taken aback.
—
Unlike the joke from earlier when Wen Yufeng suddenly pulled her into the stairwell, she could now clearly feel the dangerous aura on the verge of exploding.
Qin Qing shrank back, even though the walls behind her left no space.
She then tried to force a smile: “Wen Yufeng, you actually didn’t buy any other gifts, so you’re using this ribbon to cover up—ah…”
Her words were cut off when the boy in front suddenly lowered his gaze and leaned in.
Unlike many previous times, Wen Yufeng didn’t lean in to her ear this time. He even used the hand with the ribbon to lift her chin, his eyes dropping as if he were about to kiss her directly.
Qin Qing was truly scared, instinctively turning her face to the side and tightly closing her eyes.
It felt like his hot breath was suspended by her cheek.
His voice was hoarse and low, close enough to touch—
“…Will you accept it?”
“…” Qin Qing was almost brought to tears by the situation of this “gift.” “Yes, yes, yes, I accept, all right?”
Wen Yufeng chuckled softly.
“Have you given in so easily?”
“—I actually hoped you’d be a bit more stubborn.”
Feeling Wen Yufeng step back, Qin Qing turned her face back to look at him, feeling embarrassed and annoyed.
Then she realized a crucial problem—
“I—I’ve accepted the gift…” Staring at the deeper gaze, Qin Qing stuttered, “Why… aren’t you leaving?”
The boy tilted his head and smirked, “But you haven’t unwrapped it yet.”
“…”
Qin Qing’s eyes widened in disbelief, like a deer surrounded by drooling wolves, innocent to the point of terror.
However, she didn’t realize that this look would only make the “wolf” in front of her even harder to control.
Qin Qing took even longer to find her voice, her pretty, pinkish face turning red—
“Wen Yufeng, you, you—”
Wen Yufeng was unable to suppress his laughter at the cute appearance Qin Qing had never shown before, but his eyes gradually grew deeper.
“What?” he asked lazily with a smile.
“You—shameless!”
This was probably the most ferocious and impolite thing Qin Qing had ever said in her seventeen years.
Wen Yufeng’s eyes flashed, his words seeming like a joke—
“For you, I can give up anything. What’s a face?”
Qin Qing: “…”
She found that after Wen Yufeng abandoned “the baseline of being human,” she completely couldn’t match him in words.
Wen Yufeng’s eyes flashed again, adopting an innocent expression. “Oh, you’re embarrassed to unwrap it yourself, aren’t you?”
“…Then I’ll help you.”
As Wen Yufeng spoke, he propped one hand against the wall above Qin Qing’s head, and with the other hand, began to undo the first button of his white shirt.
As he did this slowly, his eyes were fixed on Qin Qing.
It was as if he was waiting for some reaction from the girl.
“—!”
Qin Qing was dumbfounded, frozen in place, her usually sharp mind blank.
Wen Yufeng had already undone the first button, and Qin Qing still stood there in a daze, making no response.
Wen Yufeng paused his actions.
After two seconds, he lowered his face and chuckled lightly. “All right, you win.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his arm that had been propping up against the wall gently pressed down, his long fingers covering the girl’s eyes.
“…Why are you like a little dumb goose?”
After blocking Qin Qing’s sight, Wen Yufeng raised his chin again.
The boy’s pale face still had a hint of redness, and his dark eyes had not yet shed their awkward emotions.
Then he quickly unfastened the other buttons.
After a few seconds, Wen Yufeng lowered his hand from covering the girl’s eyes.
Qin Qing probably had realized what was going on; her eyes were tightly closed, and her eyelashes were slightly trembling.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“…” Qin Qing clutched her fingertips, “I don’t want to.”
“There really is a ‘gift’ for you to see.” Wen Yufeng said with a helpless smile.
—
It seemed he had teased her too much.
“…”
After hearing this explanation, Qin Qing was still somewhat skeptical.
“If I really wanted to do something, I wouldn’t have waited until today.”
Only after hearing Wen Yufeng say this did Qin Qing’s reason return somewhat, and she hesitantly opened her eyes.
What she saw was a set of well-defined abs, making Qin Qing blush and immediately feel annoyed, wanting to close her eyes and push him away.
But just before she moved, she saw something else.
Qin Qing was stunned.
—
On the boy’s chest, a calligraphy-style “Qing” was tattooed in a dark blue ink.
The edges of the strokes were slightly swollen, clearly done not long ago.
Qin Qing slowly lifted her gaze, looking at Wen Yufeng with disbelief.
He was also staring at her intently, his dark eyes like stars in the night sky.
“When I said I am the gift, it wasn’t a joke. I’m serious.”
“…”
“I’m giving you my future self ten years from now. Until death, I will be yours alone.”
“…”
“No matter what choices you make in these ten years, no matter if you give up.”
He paused slightly, his eyes half-closed, with a seeming smile or sigh. “Ah… in ten years, I will be thirty-one. Will you dislike me?”
Before Qin Qing could answer, he raised his eyes again, “But it doesn’t matter. This is my choice alone.”
“Tian Tian,” Wen Yufeng said softly, “Happy birthday.”
With that, he turned and left.
As he walked out of the fire escape, Wen Yufeng’s fist, hanging by his side, tightened, the veins standing out on his pale knuckles.
Saying “a personal choice” and not daring to stay to hear the answer…
He laughed self-deprecatingly.
—
Wen Yufeng, it turns out you can be so despicable and so timid.
—
The two short days of the college entrance exam had been prepared for by the students for three years.
Everyone thought those two days would be long and memorable, but for Qin Qing, those two days were just like countless mundane days from the past.
There was no need to deliberately remember or forget. But looking back, like the shadow in flowing water, it gradually blurred and faded until completely vanished. No matter how much she recalled, it seemed impossible to catch any trace.
Instead, it was the period after that, like the most relaxing and joyful vacation in life, the people who accompanied her, the things that happened, and moments that could be recalled casually… seemed engraved in her bones.
No matter how many years passed, every scene from that time felt like yesterday or even closer.
So close that it seemed she could reach out and touch the vivid figures inside; listening closely, she could still hear the childish yet sincere laughter…
But that supposedly longest vacation also seemed the shortest, and soon, they welcomed the unfamiliar university life.
Qin Qing performed normally in the college entrance exam, easily becoming the top scorer in liberal arts in Qingcheng, and thus smoothly got the right to choose her favorite school and major.
This time, she also did not follow the “should” of those around her, choosing the school based on her own pre-determined goals.
And this time, Qin Qing’s parents, Qin Jingguo and Li Jinghe, had no intention of stopping her.
“You will turn eighteen in less than a year.”
After learning about Qin Qing’s choice, Li Jinghe said to her.
“And you have already graduated from high school. Your father and I don’t mind letting you think and live like an adult six months in advance. From today, remember— we will no longer interfere with your choices, but at the same time, only you are responsible for every choice you make. You must do so.”
To show their decision, Li Jinghe and Qin Jingguo chose to remain observers regarding Qin Qing’s move to a university in another province.
Only Grandma Qin, on the day Qin Qing left home, still had some worries and reluctance.
“Your parents are just heartless.”
Grandma Qin raised her voice, as if afraid the two old people would hear her dissatisfaction.
“Don’t worry, they really care about you.” Qin Qing comforted her as she packed her things.
Grandma Qin had an unpredictable look on her face.
“No matter how much they care, they’re still selfish. But since your father and mother want to let you go, don’t make them regret it.”
Grandma Qin couldn’t bear to say more. She put her hand on Qin Qing’s shoulder and patted it, “Be good. Be safe.”
—
The separation was always bittersweet.
—
Before moving out of her dorm, Qin Qing opened her phone to take a look. The person she had been avoiding for the last month seemed to be quite persistent in sending messages.
“…”
She hesitated for a moment, then opened the messages.
Her phone showed that Wen Yufeng had sent more than ten messages over the past month. But all the messages were so concise that they seemed almost like automated notifications.
“Qin Qing, is it inconvenient for you to read messages? Do you need me to call?”
“I’m sorry for disturbing you. It’s not urgent. Please reply when you have time.”
“Happy birthday. I’m sorry for not being able to accompany you on your birthday.”
…
Each message ended with a line: “Looking forward to your reply.”
In fact, Qin Qing had already lost interest in such messages, but when she saw the word “birthday,” she thought of the present Wen Yufeng had given her that day.
In the end, she chose to reply, “I’ve received your gift. Thanks. It’s nice. I like it.”
—
This was the first time in her life Qin Qing felt that replying to someone was particularly tiring.
—
The bus was stuck in traffic for more than an hour.
Qin Qing stared blankly out of the window. A familiar figure in a white shirt appeared on the street corner she had just passed.
A handsome face and smile that had been imprinted on her memory… seemed to have been glimpsed fleetingly through the window of the bus.
Qin Qing was dazed, unable to react for a moment. The figure seemed to be waiting for something, but soon, the bus continued to move forward.
“…”
The familiar face was soon lost in the traffic, but Qin Qing’s heart was still restless.
She was thinking:
Why did Wen Yufeng appear at this time, at this place?
But she soon closed her eyes again, trying to adjust her feelings.
In the end, the bus took her away, and only the fleeting shadow remained in her memory.
—
At a corner of the road, Wen Yufeng’s eyes had long disappeared from sight. His hands, hidden in his pockets, were now tightly gripping his phone.
He stood there, waiting until the bus was out of sight. Only then did he finally relax, his fingers loosening.
The phone in his hand vibrated slightly, indicating a new message.
Wen Yufeng glanced at it, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
The smile grew deeper and warmer.
He opened the message.
The content of the message was concise:
“I’ve received your gift. Thanks. It’s nice. I like it.”
—
For the first time, Wen Yufeng felt a warmth spreading in his heart.
The warmth was so gentle and so intense, as if even he himself hadn’t expected such a response.
He looked in the direction the bus had left, murmuring softly, “Happy birthday, Tian Tian.”
—
This was the first time in his life that Wen Yufeng had felt such relief and satisfaction.
And at this moment, he realized that his future self, which he had always sworn to give her, was the best present he could ever offer.