590. Birthday
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The day after visiting the class teacher.
Lin Nan’s birthday had arrived.
Since they started school relatively early, the holiday came quickly, while the other students were still grinding away preparing for final exams.
She had already treated her roommates to a meal to celebrate her birthday in advance, after all, over the years she had attended Tu Junhui and Xiong Da’s birthday parties, but those two had never been to one for Lin Nan.
That morning, her Aunt had already woken up early and was busy preparing for the celebration.
Lin Nan wasn’t quite sure how local birthday traditions were supposed to go. Back when she was living with her grandfather or great-grandfather during elementary school, they didn’t really celebrate, and growing up, she didn’t care much about birthdays either. It seemed like today, at age nineteen, was the first time she was preparing to celebrate a “proper” birthday.
At seven in the morning, Lin Nan woke up.
After feeding Lemon some warm milk, she pushed open her bedroom door, yawning as she headed to the dining room.
Having had seafood noodles at the teacher’s house last night, her stomach wasn’t feeling empty, so she thought she’d grab a glass of milk to whet her appetite.
“Up so early?”
Her Aunt, busy in the kitchen, turned around and smiled warmly at Lin Nan. “I’ve ordered a birthday cake for you. We can pick it up at eleven!”
“There’s a cake too?”
“It’s an ice cream cake!” Her Aunt tousled Lin Nan’s already messy hair, making it look even like a bird’s nest. At this moment, Lin Nan was probably at her aesthetic low, but the more her Aunt looked, the more she liked it. “Quick, go wash up! Let’s have breakfast first?”
Lin Nan shook her head, and after a moment’s thought, tentatively asked, “Auntie, do you think my mom is still thinking about getting married?”
“Huh?” Her Aunt poked Lin Nan’s little head. “Worrying about your mom now? What about your own love life?”
“It’s not like that… I just think living alone for the next half of her life might be tough?”
Her Aunt nodded in agreement: “It’s definitely better to have two people together. But the guy your mom liked—his daughter didn’t agree, right?”
“I found another one for her!”
The class teacher was also divorced and seemed to still have feelings for Lin Nan’s mom. After all, from their time together in high school, Lin Nan thought the teacher’s character and caregiving skills were pretty decent.
Just that the job stability was a bit shaky.
“What are you worrying about?” Her Aunt giggled, covering her mouth. “Right now, your mom just wants to get back that half of the house you have! She doesn’t have time to think about anything else.”
“By the way, is my mom coming today?”
Her Aunt shook her head. “She has something else to attend to, but she bought you a gift yesterday.”
She set down what she was doing, walked towards the living room, and Lin Nan eagerly followed her, step for step.
At the shoe cabinet, her Aunt opened the door and pulled out a big box, then teasingly asked, “Guess what she got you?”
“Clothes? Jewelry?”
“It’s a laptop.” Her Aunt opened the box to reveal a sleek black computer.
Lin Nan was completely dumbfounded.
“Wasn’t your old laptop not working well?” Her Aunt explained with a chuckle, “I often heard you complain to Chen Yao about that old thing. Once your mom heard, she just got you a new one.”
“Eh?”
But Lin Nan frowned, took the computer, and lifted her head to ask, “How much was it?”
“Five thousand, on installment, so it’s not too much each month. Don’t worry.”
Lin Nan’s computer was still that ancient laptop from Tu Junhui that had seen better days. The fan was completely dead, and the keyboard had issues; even watching live streams would cause it to lag. She had been thinking about getting a compatible fan online during the summer holiday and having Chen Yao help fix it, or perhaps taking it to a repair shop where it shouldn’t cost too much.
She could still use Chen Yao’s computer, so she wasn’t in a hurry to fix it.
And here her mom just plopped down a brand-new one.
She didn’t know what to say and, after a moment of shock, a sweet smile broke out on her face. “I’ll call to thank Mom!”
“Go ahead, and wash up after that. Breakfast is ready.”
Hugging the brand-new laptop back in her room, Lin Nan eagerly ripped it out of the packaging and set it next to Chen Yao’s desktop computer.
As for her old clunker, she thought about repurposing it—maybe swapping the SSD into the new one and using its screen as a separate monitor.
She had seen such videos online, and now her head was full of clever ideas.
Even though she was a complete newbie when it came to assembling computers.
As she fumbled around with her new laptop, Lin Nan accidentally made a bit of noise, which woke up Chen Yao, who was still snoozing.
Actually, it wasn’t that he was sleeping in; he had stayed up late the night before, waiting until after feeding Lemon before crashing.
“Lin Nan, let me sleep a bit longer.” He flipped over, half-opening his eyes to speak.
Lin Nan froze for a moment, her cheeks flushed, her mind racing as she turned back.
Why was Chen Yao being so… crude today?
“Let me sleep!”
Listening to the sounds from the kitchen, she frowned and refused, “Auntie’s here!”
Chen Yao, baffled at Lin Nan’s odd response, took a moment to ponder and then turned over, covering his head with the blanket.
There was an eerie silence for a good ten seconds before heavy, rhythmic breathing emerged from under the blanket. Lin Nan was left in a daze again; her face was getting redder and her ears and neck were starting to heat up.
It was all Chen Yao’s fault.
She took a deep breath, turned back, and continued fussing with her new laptop, feeling a bit miffed.
If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be thinking like this!
The more she thought, the angrier she got. The joy from the new laptop had vanished. Lin Nan stood up, raised her foot, and lightly kicked Chen Yao’s b*tt on the bed.
It wasn’t hard, he was still snoring lightly, but Lin Nan felt a tad satisfied.
She let out a little sigh and glanced over at the A-Frame board in the corner of her room.
That was the birthday gift Chen Yao had prepared for her. He intended to make a birdcage for Lemon out of the A-Frame board and wire mesh, but the materials had only arrived yesterday and were still sitting in the corner. She wouldn’t be receiving her gift in the next couple of days.
But a few branches were already cleaned and ready for use inside the cage as perches for the bird.
After deleting the pre-installed software on her new laptop, Lin Nan hurried to start downloading a big game to test the performance of her new rig.
She didn’t understand the specs at all.
“Nan Nan, breakfast is ready!”
Her Aunt called from the doorway softly.
Maybe she startled Lemon, as the little bird squawked loudly, like a pig being slaughtered, making her Aunt jump outside.
“I’m coming!”
