She did her morning exercise even on her birthday.
When the sky was still a bit dim, Lin Miao woke up as usual, dressed herself, and left for a run.
When she came out, she realized that it was raining.
The light drizzle was almost silent, unable to be heard when she was inside her apartment.
She extended her hand to feel the rain. It was chilly.
She decided to turn back for an umbrella. There was a pavilion at the park. She could do other exercises under there.
Since she had been consistent with it for so long, her body would ache if she didn’t exercise in the morning.
Right as she was about to turn back, she saw someone heading towards her with a big umbrella.
She could only see a blurred figure under the umbrella, but she had a feeling that it was the Young Master!
She didn’t have any reasoning— it was a gut feeling.
On this gray morning, the person gradually walked closer to her, their silhouette becoming clearer.
The sixteen year old Yu Jingxuan strode towards her in a black coat and a fiery red scarf.
With a smile on his face, he said, “Happy birthday, I'll bring you to the park.”
Lin Miao shuffled under the umbrella, hugging him. “Happy birthday Gege.”
Then, she quickly let go and raised her hands in the air, she said very innocently, “That was the little me from two years ago who hugged Gege!”
The Young Master looked at her bare neck and wrapped his scarf around her.
Lin Miao had originally given the scarf to him, and he’s kept it ever since.
Lin Miao mumbled, “Gege, I don’t need this. It’ll be too hot for me when I start exercising.”
“Then give it back to me when we get there. It’s quite windy, so you need to stay warm.” The Young Master said.
Lin Miao suddenly thought of an important thing. “Gege, wait! Give me a second, I need to go back to get something!”
She forgot her present! The excitement of seeing him come with an umbrella made her forget.
She ran back up the apartment to retrieve the gift in its box, and then handed it to the Young Master. “Happy birthday Gege.”
The Young Master received the pretty box and saw Lin Miao staring at him with anticipation.
Reading her expression, the Young Master opened the box and saw the watch lying securely inside.
“Does Gege like it? I took a long time to pick it out.”
“Very much.” The Young Master took off his watch, replacing it with Lin Miao’s present. He proceeded to hug Lin Miao and put a piece of jade around her.
She wrapped her hand around the jade around her neck. It was in the shape of a fish.
“Stay safe,” the Young Master said.
Lin Miao felt the jade again and nodded.
The two walked into the rain with the Young Master holding the umbrella.
The light drizzle had grown into a shower, and the raindrops were beating the umbrella. Under the umbrella, it became a little world.
A small place for just the two of them.
Lin Miao told the Young Master about how she felt last night.
“I don’t know if it’s because we didn’t have our thirteenth, fourteenth, or fifteenth birthdays, but I still feel like a little kid. Our next birthday will be when we’re twenty. Twenty years old, we’d be so old,” she said.
“You can be a small child forever.” He wished her to stay this pure, motivated, and passionate her entire life, because maturity always came at a price.
One would need to accept their helplessness and become hardened.
Lin Miao thought for a moment, then asked, “Gege, would you ever feel afraid? Of suddenly growing up…”
The Young Master held the umbrella while making sure that she didn’t step in puddles. Hearing this, he thought of the night when he felt that he had grown up. His face flushed red, but still responded, “Yeah.”
Lin Miao was shocked. Since her childhood, she’s always felt that her older brother was omniscient. He could do anything and was fearless.
She didn’t expect for her older brother to also feel the same. The Young Master’s right hand was occupied with the umbrella, so it would be inconvenient for them to hold hands. Thus, she wrapped her arm around his waist. “Don’t worry, we came to this world together. I’ll be with Gege.”
Though Lin Miao was the one who was really afraid of growing up, her attitude changed right after hearing his response.
The Young Master’s heart itched when he heard the words “came to this world together.” Unable to resist himself, he joked, “Not worried, not worried, I’ll just follow brother Shui.”
Lin Miao blushed, then said, “We can face it by growing up together. Two people will always be better than one.”
The rain got bigger, and the raindrops made a knocking sound against the umbrella.
Lin Miao tightened her hold on the Young Master’s waist, making sure both of them were under the umbrella.
When they finally arrived at the pavilion, they were the only ones there.
Normally, there would be a lot of elders exercising, but due to the rain, there was no one else.
Lin Miao first warmed up, then did her workout and skipped rope.
The Young Master watched her on the side.
After she finished, the two walked back.
The Young Master had to return to his house after the two got back. It was his birthday too, and he was celebrating with his family.
“Wait a bit again, Gege!” Lin Miao called as she ran upstairs. As she had expected, her mother had woken up and was cooking something.
“Shuishui, happy birthday! Have these two red eggs. You’re a year older! May your future be bright and prosperous.”
(T/N: A chinese word for prosperous is 红红火火, literally meaning fiery red, so hence the red eggs)
It was a tradition from her village to have two red eggs on one’s birthday. Even though now her mother would also bake cake, they still kept the tradition.
Lin Miao took the two eggs and went down the stairs.
“I get two red eggs for every birthday, let’s share them starting from this one!”
The Young Master accepted and ate one of the eggs.
Once he left, Lin Miao returned back upstairs and started eating the cake.
A small group of her fans remembered that her birthday was February 29th, so they already started posting under #LinMiaoFebruary29thHappyBirthday# on Weibo.
But that couldn’t compare to the topic nextdoor: #YuJingXuanFebruary29thHappyBirthday#
The world was full of appearance-obsessed netizens.
Originally, it wasn’t a big deal, and even quite a nice coincidence for the two to share birthdays.
However, the two parties began to argue.
It started with Lin Miao’s fans noticing that their tag was not nearly as popular as the other. The Yu Jingxuan tag had already climbed onto hot search, whereas the threads with Lin Miao’s tag were still desolate places. Some couldn’t help but say: “In this world, an athlete fighting for the pride of the nation can’t even compare to a little actor.
It was only a single post, but the Young Master’s hundred thousand member fan club still found it, all reposting and replying with the three points:
Yu Jingxuan isn’t an actor, but a top student in Beijing University
Who the hell are you trying to insult here?
She didn’t even win the Olympics yet, so quit being so entitled
The third point successfully enraged Lin Miao’s fan base. Go berate the stupid person who made that insulting post, what does this have to do with brother Shui?
The two parties soon began tossing insults back and forth.
Even though the argument quickly drew to a close, they now both held deep grudges against each other.
Meanwhile, Tan Jing was also online, just in time to witness this.
Astonished, she drew three conclusions:
Brother Shui and her older brother were born on the same date! She only knew of it now!
Today is brother Shui’s birthday! Today is brother Shui’s birthday!
The people who liked brother Shui argued with the people who liked her older brother…
Tan Jing quietly sent her birthday wishes to Lin Miao.
And then she continued watching the argument online. Mmm, only I know the insider information, this feels good.
It wouldn’t affect the caveman brother Shui anyway.
To Tan Jing, brother Shui was 100% a caveman.
The internet was too complicated for her.
But then, Tan Jing rubbed her cheeks, thinking about something.
Would there be some argument between my fans and brother Shui’s? Like the one right now? I’d definitely sit and watch that with a bowl of popcorn.
Tan Jing quickly typed her name and brother Shui’s name into the hot search.
Out came a bunch of results tagged #JingShuiFriendship#
Tan Jing: “…” That’s probably never happening.