Su Yan didn’t get any reply from Bai Xingfan, and she didn’t send any more messages to him.
After the work was over, she went to the hotel, packed all the gifts she got from Bai Xingfan, including the bouquet of roses, and sent them back to Bai Xingfan’s manor in Dongfu.
She said she would not accept any gifts from him, and by returning them, she was keeping her promise as well as expressing her refusal to accept his proposal in this way.
The facts proved that this method works very well. Bai Xingfan never came to look for her again or even sent her any messages, he completely disappeared from her world.
After several days, Su Yan was finally relieved, but there was always some grievance and regret deep in her heart. Occasionally, in the dead of night, she couldn’t stop thinking wildly. ‘Did he understand what I meant, so he chose to respect her decision or have no patience with me?’
Even if the reason was the latter, she had nothing to say because she was the one who took the first step to stop. But sometimes she would be angry with him because she would think that he may have treated her as a plaything. Also, a nobleman who had everything would not chase after her when he was rejected by her. He had a lot of suitors, and there were many women who were prettier than her, better than her, and had a prominent family background. Why did he only have a soft spot for himself?
The answer was not at all.
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of June, and the 30th was Su Yan’s 24th birthday.
For most people, the birthday was definitely a day worth celebrating, and they celebrated it happily. But for Su Yan, this day seemed to be nothing special because she had never had the habit of celebrating birthdays since she was a child. When she was a child, her parents were not with her, and she never had a chance to celebrate her birthday.
Before the age of thirteen, she never celebrated her birthday, but on her thirteenth birthday, her mother came back to her hometown with her brother to celebrate her birthday, but the day that should have been a happy one turned into a terrible one because her mother and grandma had a big fight.
The mother came back late at night on the 30th. It happened that the teacher gave a lot of homework that day, and Su Yan hadn’t finished memorising the Chinese text, so she went to bed late, waiting for her mother and younger brother. In the middle of the night, when she heard a knock on the courtyard door, her first reaction was to be afraid, but after hearing the voices of her mother and younger brother, her fear turned into excitement, and she directly dropped the Chinese book in her hand, jumped up on the wooden bed, and ran to open the door for her mother.
After the courtyard door opened, she threw herself into her mother’s arms at once. Mom also hugged her for a long time, then looked at her carefully, and asked with a smile, “Yanyan is one year older than last year again, did you eat cake today?”
At that time, she shook her head very earnestly. ” No.”
“Maybe Grandma wants to wait until the weekend comes.” Mom excused Grandma at that time, but when they returned to the room where she lived, her mother suddenly noticed her school bag and frowned. She got up and asked, “Yanyan, why don’t you carry the new school bag that your mother sent for you?”
The thirteen-year-old Su Yan was at a loss. “What new schoolbag?”
Her mother was also surprised to hear such words. “It’s just the pink one. I bought it for you at the beginning of the semester, it’s a famous brand and very expensive.”
Su Yan shook her head again. “I don’t know, I’ve been carrying this blue cloth school bag for a long time, and it broke last time, and I sewed it.”
“Why don’t you know?” Her mother was a little anxious. “I really bought it for you!”
Su Yan replied helplessly, “I really don’t know, besides, it’s just a schoolbag, what I lack is more than just a schoolbag.” There was still a little bit of complaint in her tone.
Her mother was startled at first, as if she had guessed something suddenly, then grabbed her arm and asked, “Where are your pair of sneakers? They are the Li Ning pair I bought for you last month. A pair of white sneakers.”
She continued to shake her head. “I don’t know, you have never bought me sneakers, and I don’t know where they are. I always wear the cloth shoes my grandma sewed for me.”
Her mother’s eye circles turned red instantly. “Why haven’t I bought you sneakers? Not only for your birthday, but I also bought them for you every spring, summer, autumn, and winter!” At this point, her mother gritted her teeth resentfully and said angrily, “No wonder Su Qian has so many sneakers. Everything is the same as what I bought for you.” After she finished speaking, she rushed out of the old brick house, crossed the yard angrily, and knocked loudly on the old lady’s door.
The old lady had gone to bed early, and she didn’t even notice that the eldest daughter-in-law came back with her precious grandson. After she opened the door, her eyes widened instantly, and the first sentence was, “Who told you to come back? Who will cook for Jianan when you come back?” The second sentence: “Where is Xiao Zhan? Didn’t you bring it back?”
Her mother ignored the old lady’s tricky complaints and went straight to the point. “Mom, let me ask you, did you give the things that I and Jianan sent back to Yan Yan?”
The old lady’s expression flashed panic, but her mouth was like a rainbow. “What do you mean?” In order to give herself more confidence, the old lady shouted. She yelled very loudly.
“Don’t you know what I mean?” Su Yan’s mother was also very angry. “Let me ask you again. Jianan paid your living expenses a few days ago, and specially gave you two thousand more to buy Yanyan a birthday cake and give her the remaining one thousand. Did you buy it? Did you give it to her?”
Although the evidence was convincing, the old lady still acted confidently. “I gave it!”
Su Yan’s mother became more and more furious. “If you give it, How could Yanyan not know? No wonder I feel something is wrong every time you tell me Yanyan’s shoe size. How can the shoe size be the same for two years? I bought those sneakers for Su Yan, not for Su Qian. Yes! My own daughter has been wronged and I don’t even know!” At the end, her voice was choked with sobs.
The old lady refused to admit it to her death, and then the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had a big fight, and each became more aggressive than the other, waking up all the neighbours.
Later, her mother was so angry that she led Su Yan and her younger brother back to Dongfu overnight. She wanted her father to uphold justice, but at that time her father’s principle of doing things was still “the kindness of nurturing is greater than the sky”, so he unconditionally forgave his mother. Aware of Grandma’s obsequious behaviour, Su Yan’s father also persuaded her mother not to care so much, after all, they were all a family.
As a result, this matter was finally settled, but Su Yan still couldn’t let it go. Not only could she not forgive her grandma, but even her father, so she refused to wear many pairs of sneakers after he bought them for her.
But in the second year, when Su Yan was fourteen years old, her parents took her to Dongfu, and in order to compensate her, they did not hesitate to spend 200,000 yuan a year in tuition to let her go to a private noble junior high school.
Although Su Yan’s parents enrolled her in a private school, on the first day she wore a pair of hand-stitched blue calico shoes instead of the pair of sneakers her father bought her because she was angry with her father. To this day, Su Yan regrets that.
Later, she never got angry with her father anymore and finally put on the sports shoes her father bought. She was no longer a left-behind child and lived happily with her parents. However, she couldn’t get to celebrate her birthday as she wished. Her and her cousin, Su Qian’s, birthdays were very close, so Su Yan’s uncle suggested celebrating both of the girls’ birthdays together with the intention of saving money. Reluctantly, Su Yan’s father also agreed with his brother because of his mother’s nagging.
Every time she and Su Qian celebrated their birthdays, it was held at Su Yan’s father’s restaurant. Even her father ordered the birthday cake, while Su Yan’s uncle’s family came empty-handed. They then created a lot of commotion, took over the celebration for their daughter’s birthday, and loudly applauded their daughter while remaining silent about the other birthday star. Meal plates, desserts, and beverages were all packed and taken home.
Before the age of fourteen, Su Yan basically never had a birthday celebration, and after the age of fourteen, her birthday celebration was occupied by someone else. Because of that, Su Yan’s birthday was not special for her.
When she was eighteen, she told her mother that she would never celebrate her birthday again. Her mother asked whether the reason was Su Qian. Although the answer was “yes”, Su Yan never said it aloud. She just said that day, “I am an adult at the age of eighteen, why do I need to celebrate my birthday? I don’t want to be old, the next time I celebrate my birthday, it will be my sixtieth birthday!”
Later, she really didn’t celebrate her birthday, and six years passed in a flash. If it wasn’t for Su Zhan, that silly Baitian who sent her a birthday greeting in the early morning, she would have forgotten that today was her birthday.
She knew that today was a very busy day, and they had to work until the early morning of the next day. However, as soon as she arrived at the crew this morning, Assistant Yang said to her, “The film and television city will be under martial law after 7:00 tonight, and all production crews are not allowed to shoot night scenes.”
Su Yan was very surprised. “When did the announcement happen?”
“Last night.” The assistant surnamed Yang said, “Mr. Su, if we don’t shoot night scenes, it won’t delay you a lot, right? It’s not that you want to change the script.” His tone was a bit yin and yang, there was no longer the respect he had for her.
In fact, not only his but also the rest of the crew’s attitude towards her gradually returned to its original shape.
Su Yan knew that this change was because Bai Xingfan hadn’t appeared for more than a month, so the deterrent force he brought was gradually disappearing.
In other words, in the eyes of outsiders, she was now a woman who had been abandoned by Bai Xingfan, so in their eyes, she was not worth mentioning.
Although she understood the reason for this sudden change, she didn’t take it to heart as long as they didn’t tell her to change the script. “If we can’t shoot tonight, will the crew suffer a lot?” Su Yan asked.
The assistant surnamed Yang: “Mr. Su, you don’t have to worry about it. The crew can apply for lost wages from the film and television city.” Although he wasn’t so respectful towards Su Yan, he didn’t dare to go too far, and he still answered every question.
Su Yan: “Is it true that all crews in the film and television city can apply for lost wages?”
Assistant Yang: “Of course.”
Su Yan was a little shocked. “How much is that?”
Assistant Yang sighed helplessly and replied, “Mr. Su, you should ask the person in charge of the film and television city about this question.” He then looked at her meaningfully and said, “Or you can ask Mr. Bai. He will surely tell you.”
Su Yan pretended not to hear, turned around, and left.
It was 6.30 p.m., and on the way back to the hotel from the set, Su Yan met many people from other crews. In order to respond to martial law, almost all the crews in the film and television city were off work at the same time.
Sometimes, the more people around you, the lonelier you feel inside. On the way to the hotel, Su Yan felt a strong sense of loneliness in her heart for no reason. Thinking that today was her birthday, she suddenly became hypocritical, feeling like a little cabbage that no one loves. So she just thought of buying a small cake to treat herself.
There was a dessert shop near the hotel. She went inside the shop and chose a piece of strawberry cake for herself. When she was waiting to check out, her phone suddenly rang. She took it out and saw that it was an unfamiliar number, and the call was from Dongfu.
She frowned slightly. ‘Could it be an advertisement for a decoration company?’ Her house would be ready soon, and many decoration companies had called her recently.
After hesitating for a while, she still answered the call. “Hi, hello.”
The other party didn’t speak, and there were only some weak, suppressed breathing sounds from the receiver.
Su Yan frowned again and asked again, “Hi, who are you?”
After waiting for a few long seconds, the other party finally spoke, and the man’s deep voice revealed a slight uneasiness. “Yan Yan, yes I…”
Su Yan froze.
It was Xie Yu.
Xie Yu took a deep breath and finally mustered up the courage to explain the purpose of making this call. “Happy birthday, I always remember it.”
Su Yan didn’t get any reply from Bai Xingfan, and she didn’t send any more messages to him.
After the work was over, she went to the hotel, packed all the gifts she got from Bai Xingfan, including the bouquet of roses, and sent them back to Bai Xingfan’s manor in Dongfu.
She said she would not accept any gifts from him, and by returning them, she was keeping her promise as well as expressing her refusal to accept his proposal in this way.
The facts proved that this method works very well. Bai Xingfan never came to look for her again or even sent her any messages, he completely disappeared from her world.
After several days, Su Yan was finally relieved, but there was always some grievance and regret deep in her heart. Occasionally, in the dead of night, she couldn’t stop thinking wildly. ‘Did he understand what I meant, so he chose to respect her decision or have no patience with me?’
Even if the reason was the latter, she had nothing to say because she was the one who took the first step to stop. But sometimes she would be angry with him because she would think that he may have treated her as a plaything. Also, a nobleman who had everything would not chase after her when he was rejected by her. He had a lot of suitors, and there were many women who were prettier than her, better than her, and had a prominent family background. Why did he only have a soft spot for himself?
The answer was not at all.
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of June, and the 30th was Su Yan’s 24th birthday.
For most people, the birthday was definitely a day worth celebrating, and they celebrated it happily. But for Su Yan, this day seemed to be nothing special because she had never had the habit of celebrating birthdays since she was a child. When she was a child, her parents were not with her, and she never had a chance to celebrate her birthday.
Before the age of thirteen, she never celebrated her birthday, but on her thirteenth birthday, her mother came back to her hometown with her brother to celebrate her birthday, but the day that should have been a happy one turned into a terrible one because her mother and grandma had a big fight.
The mother came back late at night on the 30th. It happened that the teacher gave a lot of homework that day, and Su Yan hadn’t finished memorising the Chinese text, so she went to bed late, waiting for her mother and younger brother. In the middle of the night, when she heard a knock on the courtyard door, her first reaction was to be afraid, but after hearing the voices of her mother and younger brother, her fear turned into excitement, and she directly dropped the Chinese book in her hand, jumped up on the wooden bed, and ran to open the door for her mother.
After the courtyard door opened, she threw herself into her mother’s arms at once. Mom also hugged her for a long time, then looked at her carefully, and asked with a smile, “Yanyan is one year older than last year again, did you eat cake today?”
At that time, she shook her head very earnestly. ” No.”
“Maybe Grandma wants to wait until the weekend comes.” Mom excused Grandma at that time, but when they returned to the room where she lived, her mother suddenly noticed her school bag and frowned. She got up and asked, “Yanyan, why don’t you carry the new school bag that your mother sent for you?”
The thirteen-year-old Su Yan was at a loss. “What new schoolbag?”
Her mother was also surprised to hear such words. “It’s just the pink one. I bought it for you at the beginning of the semester, it’s a famous brand and very expensive.”
Su Yan shook her head again. “I don’t know, I’ve been carrying this blue cloth school bag for a long time, and it broke last time, and I sewed it.”
“Why don’t you know?” Her mother was a little anxious. “I really bought it for you!”
Su Yan replied helplessly, “I really don’t know, besides, it’s just a schoolbag, what I lack is more than just a schoolbag.” There was still a little bit of complaint in her tone.
Her mother was startled at first, as if she had guessed something suddenly, then grabbed her arm and asked, “Where are your pair of sneakers? They are the Li Ning pair I bought for you last month. A pair of white sneakers.”
She continued to shake her head. “I don’t know, you have never bought me sneakers, and I don’t know where they are. I always wear the cloth shoes my grandma sewed for me.”
Her mother’s eye circles turned red instantly. “Why haven’t I bought you sneakers? Not only for your birthday, but I also bought them for you every spring, summer, autumn, and winter!” At this point, her mother gritted her teeth resentfully and said angrily, “No wonder Su Qian has so many sneakers. Everything is the same as what I bought for you.” After she finished speaking, she rushed out of the old brick house, crossed the yard angrily, and knocked loudly on the old lady’s door.
The old lady had gone to bed early, and she didn’t even notice that the eldest daughter-in-law came back with her precious grandson. After she opened the door, her eyes widened instantly, and the first sentence was, “Who told you to come back? Who will cook for Jianan when you come back?” The second sentence: “Where is Xiao Zhan? Didn’t you bring it back?”
Her mother ignored the old lady’s tricky complaints and went straight to the point. “Mom, let me ask you, did you give the things that I and Jianan sent back to Yan Yan?”
The old lady’s expression flashed panic, but her mouth was like a rainbow. “What do you mean?” In order to give herself more confidence, the old lady shouted. She yelled very loudly.
“Don’t you know what I mean?” Su Yan’s mother was also very angry. “Let me ask you again. Jianan paid your living expenses a few days ago, and specially gave you two thousand more to buy Yanyan a birthday cake and give her the remaining one thousand. Did you buy it? Did you give it to her?”
Although the evidence was convincing, the old lady still acted confidently. “I gave it!”
Su Yan’s mother became more and more furious. “If you give it, How could Yanyan not know? No wonder I feel something is wrong every time you tell me Yanyan’s shoe size. How can the shoe size be the same for two years? I bought those sneakers for Su Yan, not for Su Qian. Yes! My own daughter has been wronged and I don’t even know!” At the end, her voice was choked with sobs.
The old lady refused to admit it to her death, and then the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had a big fight, and each became more aggressive than the other, waking up all the neighbours.
Later, her mother was so angry that she led Su Yan and her younger brother back to Dongfu overnight. She wanted her father to uphold justice, but at that time her father’s principle of doing things was still “the kindness of nurturing is greater than the sky”, so he unconditionally forgave his mother. Aware of Grandma’s obsequious behaviour, Su Yan’s father also persuaded her mother not to care so much, after all, they were all a family.
As a result, this matter was finally settled, but Su Yan still couldn’t let it go. Not only could she not forgive her grandma, but even her father, so she refused to wear many pairs of sneakers after he bought them for her.
But in the second year, when Su Yan was fourteen years old, her parents took her to Dongfu, and in order to compensate her, they did not hesitate to spend 200,000 yuan a year in tuition to let her go to a private noble junior high school.
Although Su Yan’s parents enrolled her in a private school, on the first day she wore a pair of hand-stitched blue calico shoes instead of the pair of sneakers her father bought her because she was angry with her father. To this day, Su Yan regrets that.
Later, she never got angry with her father anymore and finally put on the sports shoes her father bought. She was no longer a left-behind child and lived happily with her parents. However, she couldn’t get to celebrate her birthday as she wished. Her and her cousin, Su Qian’s, birthdays were very close, so Su Yan’s uncle suggested celebrating both of the girls’ birthdays together with the intention of saving money. Reluctantly, Su Yan’s father also agreed with his brother because of his mother’s nagging.
Every time she and Su Qian celebrated their birthdays, it was held at Su Yan’s father’s restaurant. Even her father ordered the birthday cake, while Su Yan’s uncle’s family came empty-handed. They then created a lot of commotion, took over the celebration for their daughter’s birthday, and loudly applauded their daughter while remaining silent about the other birthday star. Meal plates, desserts, and beverages were all packed and taken home.
Before the age of fourteen, Su Yan basically never had a birthday celebration, and after the age of fourteen, her birthday celebration was occupied by someone else. Because of that, Su Yan’s birthday was not special for her.
When she was eighteen, she told her mother that she would never celebrate her birthday again. Her mother asked whether the reason was Su Qian. Although the answer was “yes”, Su Yan never said it aloud. She just said that day, “I am an adult at the age of eighteen, why do I need to celebrate my birthday? I don’t want to be old, the next time I celebrate my birthday, it will be my sixtieth birthday!”
Later, she really didn’t celebrate her birthday, and six years passed in a flash. If it wasn’t for Su Zhan, that silly Baitian who sent her a birthday greeting in the early morning, she would have forgotten that today was her birthday.
She knew that today was a very busy day, and they had to work until the early morning of the next day. However, as soon as she arrived at the crew this morning, Assistant Yang said to her, “The film and television city will be under martial law after 7:00 tonight, and all production crews are not allowed to shoot night scenes.”
Su Yan was very surprised. “When did the announcement happen?”
“Last night.” The assistant surnamed Yang said, “Mr. Su, if we don’t shoot night scenes, it won’t delay you a lot, right? It’s not that you want to change the script.” His tone was a bit yin and yang, there was no longer the respect he had for her.
In fact, not only his but also the rest of the crew’s attitude towards her gradually returned to its original shape.
Su Yan knew that this change was because Bai Xingfan hadn’t appeared for more than a month, so the deterrent force he brought was gradually disappearing.
In other words, in the eyes of outsiders, she was now a woman who had been abandoned by Bai Xingfan, so in their eyes, she was not worth mentioning.
Although she understood the reason for this sudden change, she didn’t take it to heart as long as they didn’t tell her to change the script. “If we can’t shoot tonight, will the crew suffer a lot?” Su Yan asked.
The assistant surnamed Yang: “Mr. Su, you don’t have to worry about it. The crew can apply for lost wages from the film and television city.” Although he wasn’t so respectful towards Su Yan, he didn’t dare to go too far, and he still answered every question.
Su Yan: “Is it true that all crews in the film and television city can apply for lost wages?”
Assistant Yang: “Of course.”
Su Yan was a little shocked. “How much is that?”
Assistant Yang sighed helplessly and replied, “Mr. Su, you should ask the person in charge of the film and television city about this question.” He then looked at her meaningfully and said, “Or you can ask Mr. Bai. He will surely tell you.”
Su Yan pretended not to hear, turned around, and left.
It was 6.30 p.m., and on the way back to the hotel from the set, Su Yan met many people from other crews. In order to respond to martial law, almost all the crews in the film and television city were off work at the same time.
Sometimes, the more people around you, the lonelier you feel inside. On the way to the hotel, Su Yan felt a strong sense of loneliness in her heart for no reason. Thinking that today was her birthday, she suddenly became hypocritical, feeling like a little cabbage that no one loves. So she just thought of buying a small cake to treat herself.
There was a dessert shop near the hotel. She went inside the shop and chose a piece of strawberry cake for herself. When she was waiting to check out, her phone suddenly rang. She took it out and saw that it was an unfamiliar number, and the call was from Dongfu.
She frowned slightly. ‘Could it be an advertisement for a decoration company?’ Her house would be ready soon, and many decoration companies had called her recently.
After hesitating for a while, she still answered the call. “Hi, hello.”
The other party didn’t speak, and there were only some weak, suppressed breathing sounds from the receiver.
Su Yan frowned again and asked again, “Hi, who are you?”
After waiting for a few long seconds, the other party finally spoke, and the man’s deep voice revealed a slight uneasiness. “Yan Yan, yes I…”
Su Yan froze.
It was Xie Yu.
Xie Yu took a deep breath and finally mustered up the courage to explain the purpose of making this call. “Happy birthday, I always remember it.”
