Chapter Thirty-Six

  "Kuo Yuan's." Li Yi Heng raised his head, and in those dimly deep eyes, there were unspeakable words, "If Kuo Yuan is still alive, today would be his 30th birthday."

  Li Jin was so shocked that he couldn't stand still, his body swayed and he hastily retreated two steps.

  He never expected that today would be his own birthday.

  "Ke Yuan's birthday has never been remembered by anyone, not even himself." Li Yi Heng smiled bitterly, "So he must not know that I still remember."

  "Li Yi Heng..." Li Jin stared at him in a daze, suddenly speechless, "You..."

  "Have you eaten yet?" Li Yi Heng asked with a smile, "Want to eat cake together?"

  Li Yiheng carefully cut the cake into several pieces with a paper knife. The cake was sprinkled with golden mango, and Li Yiheng cut it finely, with each piece covered in a full layer. He took one piece on a plate and handed it to Li Jin.

  "Want some?" he smiled.

  Li Jin's mouth was bitter, and he lightly picked up a white butter with his fork and put it in his mouth, but he couldn't taste the sweetness, instead adding more bitterness.

  When a person dies, everything is empty. Ke Yan had no lover, no friends, he died, who will remember his birthday?

  He himself doesn't even remember.

  Ke Li Yi Heng remembers.

  Li Yiheng not only remembered but also specially ordered a cake and took the whole day off to celebrate his birthday.

  Lin Jin's nasal cavity was sour and swollen, with a thousand emotions.

  "It's delicious."

  Li Yiheng was delighted.

  "Ke Yuan also thinks so." He pinched the small spoon that came with it, smiling doting, "His job is busy all day and night, often forgetting his own birthday. He himself forgot, let alone others, so he's been getting older year after year. I deliberately gave him a birthday party, and invited him for several years, but he was always busy and had no time. Later, it wasn't until one year that I finally managed to invite him, and I drove him to the mountains. There was no signal there, and his phone couldn't get through, so no one could find us. By the way, the cake I bought then is exactly the same as the one now, when I took it out he still hadn't come back to himself, foolishly asking me whose birthday it was. Fool, of course it's him."

  Li Yiheng couldn't help but laugh, his waist slightly bent: "He's actually a greedy person who can't resist the temptation of good food. The cake was delicious, and he ate more than half of it in one go. In the middle of the night, he woke up with stomach pain, sat on the toilet, and insisted that it had nothing to do with the cake. He said that for his birthday next year and every year after that, he would use this cake as his royal dessert. Hmm... As for whether he really did become a regular customer, I don't know. After that, I never managed to invite him out again."

  Some. Li Jin said in his heart, some, he always took this cake to insert birthday candles, sang a birthday song for himself on every birthday, commemorating that he had grown one year older.

  He looked at Li Yiheng and laughed with him.

  You book a cake every year and have it delivered directly to his company, neatly placed on his office desk, reminding him not to forget to celebrate his own birthday. How could he forget?

  How could he just...not think of it right away?

  "When I first met him, it was cold outside and his face was red from the chill, but his eyes were very bright. His boss had brought three people to dinner, seemingly having high hopes for him, and as soon as they came in, he arranged for him to sit next to me. He didn't resist, just sat there with his hands tied behind his back, looking like he was resigned to his fate, as if this meal was his last. Li Yiheng laughed as he recalled, "But it turned out he couldn't hold his liquor very well, and after three cups of red wine, he fell over, revealing his true nature, leaning on people and talking nonsense, asking me which celebrity family I was from, saying that with a face like mine, if I signed with them, I'd definitely become famous. His boss was so scared, he rushed over to cover his mouth and stop him from speaking."

  Li Jin also burst out laughing, at that time he had nothing to lose, wasn't afraid of saying something wrong and being caught, after drinking, dared to speak and make trouble. Later on, as he grew up slowly, his capacity for liquor didn't increase, but he never spoke nonsense again.

  "I think this person is really interesting, more interesting than anyone I've ever met. He seems to have no idea who I am or why he's here. Until I picked him up and kissed him on the bed, he was completely clueless, as if he hadn't even realized he was being kissed." Li Yiheng's eyes dimmed, "For the first time in my life, I really wanted to do something for someone. So I asked him, what do you want?"

  "I have a friend who is extremely good-looking and talented, he should be the one and only superstar in the entertainment industry. I want to... help him become that person."

  At that time, I answered like this.

  Li Jin lowered his head and quietly looked at the dark golden long-haired carpet under his feet, but suddenly found that this unique color was so familiar.

  Not only the dark golden carpet, but also the wide light blue bed sheet on the double bed, the soft down pillow that seemed to make people sink in, and the small night lamp on the headboard that seemed to illuminate the darkness...

  This is actually the room from that day!

  "Li Yi Heng!" Lei Jin almost shouted out loud.

  Ten years, everything in this room has not changed at all!

  "I'm so envious of Shu Mu." Li Yi Heng seemed as if he hadn't heard and continued to speak to himself.

  Li Jin's eye sockets were warm and she stared straight at him.

  The soft light of the sunset seemed to have gilded him with a layer of gold, his back against the window, making his face even more indistinct. He finally stopped forcing himself to smile, and the expression that settled after the smile was so painful and heavy, for an instant, Li Jin thought he was going to cry.

  But he didn't.

  He said Ke Yuan was killed by me.

  "Ke Yuan is the one I killed." Li Yi Heng turned his head, as if resisting any eye contact, "I didn't trust Shu Mu's character, so after they started their company together, I've been quietly paying attention. I knew long ago that Shu Mu was up to something, so I had someone handle it privately, but unexpectedly Ke Yuan found out. He was furious and called me in the middle of the night, telling me not to interfere with his personal affairs. That mouth of his, when he's being venomous, is more infuriating than anyone else's, I don't know why, even though I knew he had that kind of temper, I'd endured it for ten years, but only lost my temper that one time."

  Li Yiheng closed his eyes: "I no longer pay attention to any news about him, and I don't even want to hear his name. I know I'm being childish, but why can't I be childish just this once?" He paused for a moment, "Until one day, Lin Xin walked into my office and told me that Ke Yuan was dead."

  "I thought she was joking," he said. "He was fine just half a year ago, scolding me in the middle of the night for meddling in his affairs, and I didn't sleep well for several nights because of him. How could he suddenly die? But when I turned on the TV, it was all about his car accident, even people saying he abused his power and embezzled public funds. I sat in front of the TV, watching the replay three times, the bloodstains at the scene hadn't been cleaned up yet, so bright and eye-catching - that's when I believed he really died."

  No one will glare at him with their eyes wide open, no one will curve the corners of their lips to smile at him, and no one will awkwardly keep a distance from him while setting an alarm clock for him when he has stomach pain, reminding him three times a day not to forget to take his medicine, as if they are more careful than anyone else, fearing that he might die.

  Li Yiheng thought, those happy memories were gone forever.

  He savored the tiny bits of goodness that slipped out from Ke Yuan's fingers like sand, and remembered them fondly, but afterwards, they were gone forever.

  All he has left is memories.

  "It was me who killed him." Li Yi Heng's voice was like the whimpering of some kind of wild beast, "If I could have stopped Shu Mu, or even just been more patient and persuaded him to stay vigilant for a moment, then he might not be dead..."

  "No, no!" Li Jin grasped his hand tightly, "It has nothing to do with you!"

  His death has nothing to do with you.

  You said he was being stubborn, but wasn't he? He even went so far as to replace the financial director you recommended with Shu Mu's confidant, putting him in that deadly position and giving him full trust.

  What does it have to do with you?

  But he couldn't say it, all he could do was hold Li Yiheng's icy fingers tightly, sit with him by the window and quietly wait for night to fall.

  At night, Li Jin finally left Li Yi Heng's room. Li Yi Heng's emotions had calmed down and he told him to be alone for a while, letting him go home first.

  When Li Jin left, he specifically went to the bedside and turned on that dim yellow small night lamp. This room was just an ordinary one among many rooms in the Continental Hotel, but because of this dim yellow light, it had a kind of warm feeling for no reason.

  He slowly walked to the door, stretched out his hand to pull it open and went out.

  As the door closed, he looked at Li Yiheng through the increasingly narrow gap. In the dim light, that person slightly tilted his head, as if looking out the window in a daze.

  Outside the window, cars and horses are galloping, people coming and going.

  At that moment, he suddenly understood all the reasons why Li Yiheng had been standing behind him for ten years.

  He asked him: "Have you always loved Ke Yuan?"