Su Yang’s birthday was on the 1st of May of the solar calendar[1].
Chu Xia saw the confused look on Su Yang’s face that seemed genuine. She was slightly surprised, so she asked, “Don’t you remember your own birthday?”
Su Yang nodded. “Our house usually celebrates birthdays according to the lunar calendar[2], so I barely remember my solar calendar birthday.”
Chu Xia nodded.
“Anyway, we are still young, so I’m actually okay with anything. I’ll celebrate my solar birthday from now on. Wanna have dinner tomorrow night?”
“I thought you asked Mr. Zhou’s daughter out tomorrow. Are you planning to stand her up?” she asked.
“It’s fine. We are meeting in the afternoon. Wait for me to finish, then I’ll go find you as soon as we are done.”
Chu Xia smiled happily. “It’s a promise then!”
After he sent Chu Xia back, Su Yang thought about his birthday on the way back. He took his phone out and called home.
His mother picked up the phone. Her familiar voice had a heavy accent, but it warmed Su Yang’s heart. “Yes? Is that Su Yang?”
“Hey, Ma, how are you doing? How’s Dad?”
“We are doing fine. Don’t you worry about us. So long as you are well, your dad and I will be well,” his mother replied.
Su Yang grunted softly, “What about your pocket money? Do you and Dad have enough money to spend? I made a little money recently. Why don’t I transfer some to you guys?”
“We are just fine. Your dad and I can feed ourselves with the crops we’ve planted. It won’t cost us a lot either. You are the one that I am worried about. You are living in the city now. Don’t skimp your money on what’s necessary. Buy some clothes and make yourself look better. Otherwise, your friends might look down on you. You’ve always been a proud child ever since you are small. Don’t try to get yourself in trouble...”
His mother then sighed before she continued, “The city is a good place. Your dad and I have never really been to a big city before. If you can stay there, don’t come back. Our little village is really too small for you.”
Su Yang suddenly felt bitter. “Ma, nowhere is better than home.”
“Silly child, you must be ambitious. Once you settle down there, the city will be your home too,” his mother said with a smile.
Mother Su then added, “Oh right, it’s your birthday tomorrow. I heard there are a lot of beautiful-looking fruit cakes in the city, I think it’s called...called...ti-tissue? Or something like that. Since it’s your first birthday outside, and your dad and I aren’t with you, remember to buy yourself a cake.”
“My birthday’s tomorrow? Even on the Chinese calendar[3]?”
She answered, “Yes. You are 19 years old tomorrow, and your solar and lunar birthdays are on the same day this year, so it’s actually an important day. I was planning to call you tomorrow, but since you called me tonight, I won’t be calling tomorrow.
“Is there anything else you want to say? If there isn’t, let’s hang up now. It must cost a lot for you to call back home for so long.”
Mother Su was worried about the money but not Su Yang. He always spent his money on the necessary and saved them somewhere else. He talked to his mother for another five minutes before she insisted on hanging up because the call would be very expensive.
Although birthdays celebrated the child’s birth, it was also the day on which the mother suffered. Therefore, calling his mother on his own birthday was his own way of being a filial son.
After he got home, Su Yang used Alipay to transfer 5,000 yuan to his mother’s card and sent her a text. He reminded her to buy more stuff for herself and his father.
Su Yang jumped into the virtual space after he transferred the money, but the little monsters were not in the living room. Only Sanque was sitting in the flower pot, watching TV.
The TV showed farmers digging for ginseng in Changbai Mountain. Sanque glued his eyes to the screen. Its eyes were as calm as a peaceful lake, gleaming in tranquility.
Su Yang put his stuff on the tea table and asked, “Where are the others?”
Sanque turned to him. Its long mustache twitched for a bit and it said, “I-I’m not telling you.”
‘What’s wrong with him?’
“Why? What happened?” Su Yang asked.
Sanque did not say anything and continued watching the TV. Suddenly, it asked something unexpected, “Is this place my home?”
Su Yang tried to recall the description from the system. Before he added the point to Sanque, the system had labeled the ginseng as ‘wild ginseng from Changbai Mountain’. Therefore, he said, “No, you are from Lesser Khingan.”
Sanque did not say anything as it continued watching the show. A moment later, it said, “They are preparing a present for you.”
‘Huh? Preparing a present for me?’
“How did you guys find out about my birthday?” Su Yang asked.
Sanque did not answer. It seemed like he did not want to answer. Had it been the old Sanque, Su Yang would have switched the TV off and forced the ginseng to talk, but now...
‘I’d better not...He’s the strongest in the house after all...’
Little Hus could take a merciless beating because he was a bolster and Su Yang was a normal human being with a normal body, so he dared not offend this “furious grandpa” anymore.
The ginseng roots that Su Yang possessed had all been cut from Sanque before the addition of the second point. Some of them were from Gru after the twig cut them whereas some were confiscated from Pool after Little Hus lost the roots to him in a bet.
Not a single centimeter of roots was taken from Sanque after the second point.
It was no longer a weak ginseng. Su Yang missed the slow and dumb Sanque because he could swindle the ginseng better.
Since he did not get an answer from Sanque, Su Yang decided to go and look for the others.
He went to Deeny’s bedroom, the storeroom, the study room, and even the swimming pool but found no one.
‘Strange, where are the others?’
Confused, Su Yang wandered around the villa. When he reached the toilet on the first floor, he heard singing from inside. He snuck closer, opened the door, and saw Little Hus taking a bath inside, or rather, it was ‘performing’.
The shower was turned on and Little Hus had a broomstick wrapped in his edges. He pretended like he was playing the guitar while singing horribly, “I’m so sad like I’m playing Chopin in the rain...”
‘Crazy! Ever since his second point failed, he’s been sulking, and now he’s even singing in the bathroom? Is he out of his mind?’
After another round around the villa, he did not find the other little monsters, so Su Yang returned to the living room and asked Sanque, “Where are the others? I can’t find them anywhere in the villa.”
Sanque glanced at him. “You won’t find them. They used your sticky note and changed one of the walls.”
‘Those little b*stards! They stole my things again! Wait...why am I saying “again”?’
Since the little monsters were hiding from Su Yang, he gave up on searching for them.
‘A surprise should remain mysterious, and I’ll know tomorrow anyway.’
With that in mind, he washed up and headed to bed.
‘It’s my birthday tomorrow, so it should be a good day...right? Besides, if the little monsters know when my birthday is, will the system know as well? Will I get a big present from the system?’
With lingering excitement, he went to dreamland to live in his dreams.