Chapter 71：

Amidst the sound of fireworks in full bloom, Tao Zhi stared blankly at the person in front of him.

Huo Ran's wet hair in the swimming pool was finally dried by the wind, and it was stuck to his forehead in a mess. It was the wind that had blown across the entire lazy river, gathering all the scenery along the coast, spray and fireworks.

Tao Zhiyue remembered the moment when he opened his eyes in the pool, the world was quiet and transparent, and all the noises disappeared, leaving only them in the blue water.

Just like now, fireworks, crowds, cheers, cream, candlelight, suddenly lost their sound and color.

Time stands still by your side.

After a long time, he laughed, his clear eyes shining brightly against the brilliant fireworks.

"Thank you, I love it."

Huo Ran seemed relieved and breathed a sigh of relief.

In an instant, the world flowed again.

Colorful candles flicker on the cake.

Huo Sihan, who had been holding back for a long time, was finally able to cheer openly.

"Brother Zhizhi, happy birthday! Blow out the candles!"

Huo Ran reminded: "Remember to make a wish, the wish you make on your birthday will be very spiritual."

Under the fleeting fireworks, Tao Zhiyue closed his eyes and made a serious wish.

He wants everything to remain the way it is now, not to change.

Don't change anything.

In the birthday song sung a cappella, Tao Zhiyue blew out the candles in one breath, looking at the colorful wax sticks emitting gray smoke, he added in a low voice: "Happy birthday."

Happy birthday, "Tao Zhiyue".

In fact, he thought for a while before he remembered what month and day it was.

It is difficult for a person to remember two long ID numbers with completely different permutations and combinations.

Especially when the two ID numbers belong to you.

Tao Zhiyue tried to recite his new ID number, but he often confused it with the old number when he needed to use it, and pieced together a set of two different ones. After all, it is the inertia accumulated over the past twenty years, and it is difficult to defy.

Once he memorized too many times, he simply stopped memorizing the number and recorded the number in the memo on his mobile phone, calling it up and copying and pasting it when needed.

If things go on like this, the string of unfamiliar numbers just passed by casually, and Tao Zhiyue never even noticed the date of birth in the ID number.

It turns out that "his" birthday is August 16.

This date is very beautiful, born in late summer and early autumn, and the temperature is just right, it sounds very happy.

Tao Zhi felt that he should like this day.

It's just that he can't live his own birthday anymore.

In a moment of daze, Huo Ran put the cake knife into his hand, and then moved his hand to the top of the cake.

"Cut the cake quickly, some people are dying of hunger."

"How can I! Don't slander me!"

"Oh, then why are you taking your seat?"

Tao Zhiyue smiled and glanced at Huo Sihan who was alive and kicking, and made the first cut.

The soft cream is separated by the tip of the silver knife, revealing the fluffy cake embryo inside. The interlayer is covered with canned assorted fruits, orange oranges, light yellow pineapples, and milky white coconuts. Just by looking at it, you can Imagine the smell of the entrance and exit.

One night when walking past the cake shop, Tao Zhiyue casually mentioned that he likes to eat this kind of cake, unexpectedly Huo Ran even remembered this.

"It's a classic birthday cake! It's so retro!" Huo Sihan, who couldn't take his eyes off it, was eager to move, "I haven't eaten it for a long time, and I kind of miss this taste. I want the piece with flowers. Brother Zhizhi will cut it for me second!"

Tao Zhiyue readily agreed, he cut a piece for himself as usual, and then gave it to Huo Sihan and Huo Ran.

Huo Sihan took the cake with one hand, and quietly turned on the phone camera with the other.

When Tao Zhiyue picked up the fork and took a bite of the cake, she struck out decisively, scooped up the pink and white intertwined cream flowers with her fingers, and quickly spread them on Tao Zhiyue's face.

At the same time, with a click, she caught the surprised expression in Shou Xing's smile in time.

His face was stained with soft cream flowers, and behind him were extremely gorgeous fireworks.

Huo Sihan's trick succeeded, he took a step back, and deliberately said to Huo Ran: "Brother, I did it!"

Huo Ran was bewildered, and in the next second, Tao Zhiyue smeared cream on his face.

"I didn't ask her to do it... Huo Sihan, come here!"

"Brother Zhizhi wipe him quickly!"

When the fireworks above the head faded, the cream war was finally declared over.

The excitement came to an end, and the three exhausted from the fun ate and played with the cake. Wearing cream all over their bodies, they slumped neatly on the three reclining chairs to watch the moon.

This time, Huo Ran snatched Huo Sihan's cell phone with quick eyes and hands, happily flipping through the photos he took just now.

Huo Sihan's resistance was fruitless, and he said angrily: "Remember to give a red envelope after watching it! The photographer will charge for it."

"Let me evaluate the photo quality first."

He turned his head over and saw the first photo Huo Sihan took in the subsea tunnel, surrounded by overwhelming sea water and swimming fish. The two of them looked at the doctor fish on the opposite side of the glass, as if they were talking about his lifeguard certificate.

Looking at it from another perspective, it turned out that Tao Zhiyue tilted his head slightly at that time, looking at himself with a smile, his eyes were pure and gentle.

Yes, this one deserves a big red envelope.

Huo Ran has already thought about what frame to match the photos after they are developed.

He continued to flip backwards.

Lift the rubber boat on the stairs of the crazy maelstrom, eat a two-color cone in front of the spinning seahorse, swim in the wave pool, and lie comfortably on the lazy river...

Thanks to the well-sealed waterproof bag, Huo Sihan even took a photo of the two of them diving underwater. Although it was a little out of focus, it captured the dreamy feeling of the rushing water just right.

Huo Ran reluctantly accepted the photographer's arrogant claim.

Further down, when the rubber boat was about to dock, in the dim night, Tao Zhiyue looked at the birthday cake on the pier close at hand, showing a somewhat dazed expression.

After he heard happy birthday, he was in a daze for a long time, even though he finally laughed.

Blowing out the candles, cutting the cake, the eyes are as bright as usual, but there are strong and unreadable emotions hidden inside.

In the final cake battle, he was smiling the whole time, very softly, but it was different from the smile in the first photo.

Huo Ran slid through the photos, and his high emotions suddenly subsided.

He looked sideways at Tao Zhiyue and saw him staring up at the night sky.

The moon is bright and clear, with few stars, and the smoke from the fireworks is still left in the night, making it gray.

"Would you like to see a photo?"

Tao Zhi responded slowly, then shook his head: "I'll see next time."

"Okay, when I wash it out, the effect should be better."

Huo Sihan stared at his facial expression from the side, full of defense: "Did you deliberately show dissatisfaction, don't let it go! I obviously took such a good shot!"

"You found out, I'll give it to you tomorrow." Huo Ran smiled and threw the phone back to her, "It's really uncomfortable to be dressed in cakes. Let's go to the locker room to take a shower."

"That's right, after the performance in the wave pool is over, there will be a large group of people going back, Brother Zhizhi, let's go!"

Huo Sihan yawned, and quickly got up from the recliner.

Huo Ran took a look at her: "Are you sleepy? After you get out, I will ask the driver to take you home first. The bus is relatively slow. I am tired from playing today. Go back and have an early rest."

"Are you guys going to abandon me?" Huo Sihan was thoughtful, "Ah, I understand, you want to live a two-person world!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sleepy, I can't open my eyes anymore, please ask the driver to wait for me at the gate of the paradise."

"...too deliberate."

"Hey, for the sake of my self-consciousness, do you understand what I mean?"

"I don't understand, let's go quickly."

After seeing Huo Sihan off, the two of them put on clean clothes and waited by the station.

Just after taking a shower, his wet hair was blown away by the night wind. He stood side by side with Tao Zhiyue, and the refreshing aroma of shampoo wafted in the wind.

Huo Ran thought for a long time, but decided to ask directly.

"Is the birthday on the ID card wrong?"

He deliberately didn't look at the expressions of the people around him, perhaps because he didn't want Tao Zhi to feel embarrassed and embarrassed to tell the truth.

Huo Ran stared at the end of the road where no cars passed by, and waited for a while before hearing his answer.

"There is no mistake in the registration, the ID card is correct, I accidentally forgot it."

Tao Zhiyue paused, and emphasized: "I really like today's birthday, I had a very happy time."

"The fireworks are beautiful, and the cake is delicious, even though you ordered Sihan to spread the cream."

"Not me, I didn't."

"It must be you. In the end, you wiped the most."

"..." Huo Ran argued, "It can't be my fault, it's my excellent motor nerves."

"Next time you should give us a hand."

"No, it's already two against one!"

With intermittent laughter, the car drove them back to the familiar street, the bus station where Tao Zhiyue would come every morning.

Swipe the card to enter the community, building 5, elevator, 15th floor.

Tao Zhiyue took out the key from his trousers pocket to open the door, and Huo Ran behind him suddenly made a sound.

"Is it not good for me to live downstairs all the time?" Huo Ran murmured, "Tomorrow my sister will definitely make fun of this again."

"I'll go back upstairs tonight, so as to save her endless gossip tomorrow, how about it?"

Tao Zhi was taken aback for a moment, and took a deep look at him.

"good."

"Good night, go to bed early."

"Good night."

Leaving at the door of Room 1502, Huo Ran returned to the elevator and pressed down on the nineteenth floor.

When the elevator doors closed and slowly ascended, there was a soft door closing sound from outside the elevator.

Huo Ran looked at the mirror-smooth elevator door, his own face was reflected inside, and the smiles when they said goodnight to each other slowly returned to calm.

He has an intuition that Tao Zhiyue needs a space to be alone now.

Huo Ran opened the door and entered the room. There was no light in the room, the door of the guest bedroom was closed, and there was silence. It seemed that Huo Sihan had already fallen asleep.

Under the moonlight reflected by the floor-to-ceiling windows around him, he walked slowly to the study room and turned on the light.

The first drawer beside the desk was locked.

Huo Ran sat down at the desk, hesitated for a moment, opened the combination lock, and took out the dark brown leather notebook that he used every day.

He flipped through the thick cover, and read it carefully from the first page.

There was no date on the first page, just a few lines numbered with numbers.

[1. I like to write code, because it is a building composed of symbols and numbers that can be completed by him alone. ]

[2. I like to eat hot pot, mushrooms, shabu-shabu, vegetables, and my own bone broth. ]

[3. I also eat hot pot, but I am too lazy to wash the red oil pot (promise to invite me to eat at home next time, he prepares the dishes, and I wash the dishes). ]

[4. I hate cruel, ruthless and illogical people. I have a friend who suffered a tragic fate because of it. ]

[5. No snoring while sleeping after drinking. ]

[6. His name is Tao Zhiyue. ]

…

[13. I like the golden sycamore leaves in autumn. ]

After turning a few pages later, the date and weather began to appear. From a simple record of preferences, it became a diary, and the content became more and more detailed.

【April 18, Saturday, sunny】

Today he took the initiative to invite me to eat hot pot, and we are going to meet.

I really want to go tonight, but I don't have time to prepare, so I can only make an appointment at six o'clock tomorrow night.

He posted the first post, "Summer is here", with a picture of roses I sent.

Sure enough, the climate in northern Shanxi is relatively good. Summer comes early, and Yanping is still very cold, so I don't want to go home.

[April 19, Sunday, sunny]

We finally met.

It turned out that we had met by chance before today.

Very corny, but all I can think of is the word fate.

It's just that after I said my name, his reaction seemed complicated, and I didn't know how to describe it. Have you heard of me before? Neither.

But overall, I had a good time eating, it's just that I acted a little silly, I tried my best.

He said that next time he made braised beef by himself and brought it to me, I actually forgot to prepare a gift.

Got hugged.

"Do you believe in fate?"

I don't believe it, but if I have a chance in the future, I would like to answer a little better.

…

[April 26, Sunday, sunny, Memorial Day]

Confessions in my museum.

He said yes.

It's three o'clock in the middle of the night, and I'm actually writing in my diary, and I can't sleep.

…

[May 9th, Saturday, sunny]

Prepared a surprise today and looked happy this morning, so it should be a success.

The coin pusher is very fun, come again next time.

An active kiss.

Answering the question about fate again, I don't know if it comforted him.

I hope that TOD will go well and be completed as soon as possible. When it is completed, I will take it to see in the morning.

…

[May 24, Sunday, sunny]

I went to the Paradise Town, which is being demolished, and it has a different kind of beauty.

If only I could draw.

In this way, the fairy tale world in the ruins can be drawn together with the two of us.

…

[May 30th, Saturday, sunny]

Looking at the house today, I actually wear sunglasses and dislike the lighting in the house, how silly.

It turned out that he didn't take the subway because a friend had an accident on the subway, plus a horror movie related to the subway.

The protagonist in the movie already has a new life, but he disappears where he came from. Maybe he was captured back to the old world, or just disappeared.

Thinking about it carefully, it was really scary and powerless.

In the future, watch more romance films, mainly comedies, and literary films are a bit sleepy.

[May 31, Sunday, sunny]

We moved together today, and I haven’t wiped the glass since I graduated from elementary school. Sure enough, the times are improving. Wiping with a glass wiper is much cleaner than newspapers.

I finished packing in the evening, and reported that I didn't cook, so I ordered takeaway, and the pickled fish tasted good.

1502 looked cozy and didn't want to go upstairs and home at night until the report started yawning.

Before going to bed, I suddenly thought of a small problem. In the morning, I reported that I set off with the car, and the move should be by van.

Don't get sick of the van?

Ask again when you have a chance.

…

[June 2, Tuesday, rain, memorial day]

It's raining today, it's been raining all day, and he says the rainy season has started here.

I used to only like sunny days, but now I think rainy days are also good.

Hope I didn't behave badly today, I'm too embarrassed to ask.

…

[June 17, Wednesday, sunny]

It was rare to see the sun, so I took a walk downstairs after dinner.

The refrigerator said that he likes to eat the most old-fashioned birthday cake, because he has not celebrated his birthday for a long time, and he would not buy a cake alone, so the memory of the cake stays in the fruit sandwich cream cake.

The birthday on his ID card is August 16, two months away.

It's a pity that my birthday was before I met him, and the ice cream cake that day was also delicious.

…

[July 11th, Saturday, rainy]

It rained again, and the climbing plan was postponed again.

I called Tao Tao's colleagues over, played cards at home, and cooked hot pot together at night.

While chatting while playing cards, the legend of mosquitoes even had the ending of a single mosquito surviving and starting to reproduce asexually.

I don't know whether to say that the game producer is great, or Guan Yudong who played this ending is great.

During dinner, they talked about the progress of the game. They will be able to try it this time next year. They are looking forward to it. It is a type that is not currently on the market. I think it will be popular.

Tao Tao mentioned a vampire game that also has a high degree of freedom, Guan Yudong never forgets it.

After hearing his description, I wanted to play it too, but Tao Tao said that he couldn't find this game.

…

[July 30, Thursday, sunny]

The rainy days are getting less and less, and the rainy season is coming to an end.

I love this summer.

I should keep a memorial in the museum, but I can't bear to put all the things at home, and wait until the display shelves are full.

"Love in Summer" poster?

This is both representative and commemorative.

…

[August 5th, Wednesday, sunny, Tanabata]

I posted a post with a bathroom photo I took two months ago, and my dad actually liked it.

My sister's graduation trip is not over yet, so I'm a little envious, but not particularly envious.

Comrade Xiaotao's birthday will be in ten days. I haven't figured out how to spend it yet, and I'm very worried.

…

[August 13th, Thursday, rainy]

Usually there are two people, it seems a little deserted, so I decided to let my sister who was arguing non-stop, and told her to come back at the end of the month, and the project is quite busy recently.

Pillow still didn't mention his birthday, and he avoided it when he hinted at it euphemistically, not sure what to do.

Are you a bit against birthdays?

Or, simply eat a cake on Sunday and prepare another gift.

The belly of the pillow was really a good pillow, slept soundly, although woke up beaten.

…

[August 15th, Saturday, sunny]

Why does my sister like to engage in surprise attacks so much? Probably inherited more from my mother.

Fortunately nothing went wrong and the relationship was well established.

I only grabbed a little bit of the grapefruit shrimp salad at night, it was delicious, next time I will go abroad to eat with brother Zhizhi. (Why can my sister call that, but I will be kicked out of the kitchen?)

I watched horror movies again, and I didn't want him to watch horror movies again.

Suddenly it became three people celebrating their birthday together, so I had to tell my sister in advance.

In fact, this seems to be good, more lively, brother Zhizhi likes this sister very much, and the two of them have many similar hobbies, they seem even more like brothers and sisters than the two of us.

Will it feel a little bit like family?

[August 16th, Sunday, sunny, birthday]

When I woke up in the morning, I was startled and thought he had disappeared.

He dreamed of his sister who was celebrating her first birthday, and the drawing was very cute.

Is it telepathy? Today is also his birthday.

He didn't have a sister, but the dream was real, like a dream I've had before, but haven't had for a long time.

Is there really parallel time and space in this world? It always feels unreal and unacceptable.

…

This is the end of the diary whose handwriting has dried up. It was before departure in the morning, when Huo Ran went upstairs to urge the slow-moving Huo Sihan, during the boring waiting time, he wrote down what happened just now.

Now it is the dead of night, Huo Sihan has already fallen asleep in the guest bedroom next door, and he returned to the rare room 1901.

I watched it for a long time before I knew it, and the birthday star downstairs who just grew up by one year should have slept too.

Under the bright lamplight, Huo Ran held the pen, leaned over the table, and started to finish today's diary.

[Had fun during the day and taught him to swim. ]

[In the evening, according to the plan, fireworks were set off and cakes were eaten. ]

[The birthday on the ID card is not wrong, today is not an oolong. ]

[He was laughing the whole time, very happy, but it was a little different from the pure happiness during the day. ]

[There seems to be a little sense of detachment. ]

After writing this, Huo Ran thought for a moment, crossed out this line, and wrote a description that seemed more accurate.

The black-gold pen trembled slowly, making an inaudible rustling sound on the off-white paper.

[He seems to have had another world. ]