Shen Sinian was stood up by his parents again.
This was not the first time they'd failed to make it back for his birthday, promising each time to return, only to be invariably detained by a myriad of work commitments and personnel issues, breaking the promises they'd made to him.
Shen Sinian stood on the brightly lit second floor, looking down with a listless expression at the clinking glasses and mingling guests below, feeling rather unhappy.
"Sinian," his grandmother Sang Menglan came upstairs to call him, "all the relatives and friends are here, it's time for us to go down."
Dressed in a finely tailored suit, with his hair cut a bit shorter, revealing a handsome, youthful face framed by strong brows and bright eyes, he responded, "Grandmother."
He didn't move, instead asking her, "I don't want to go down yet."
Seeing him like this, Sang Menglan understood the reason for his mood, "Your parents did say they could make it back, but there was a downpour in Ning City, and their flight got canceled—"
Without letting Sang Menglan finish, Shen Sinian interrupted with displeasure, "They always say that."
This year marked Shen Sinian's seventeenth birthday. From the day he was born, the number of birthdays his parents had spent with him could be counted on one hand. He'd been consoled since childhood by his grandparents, his maternal grandparents, and even the family servants, telling him that his parents were too busy and that he should learn to understand them.
But Shen Sinian didn't understand what could keep them so busy. The Shen Family was so wealthy, with so many people making money, surely taking a single day off wouldn't lead to bankruptcy.
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Shen Sinian knew nothing of worldly hardships. He just wanted his parents to spend more time with him, rather than being away from home 360 out of 365 days a year.
Hearing his words, Sang Menglan also felt a bit helpless, "Your mother this time..."
Before she could finish speaking, Shen Sinian turned away with a cold expression and started walking toward the far end of the corridor, "Sinian, where are you going?"
Shen Sinian displayed the temper of a young master: "I'm not celebrating this birthday."
Ignoring Sang Menglan's calls, he walked out through the villa's back door.
Jiang City was bathed in a dense moonlight, as Shen Sinian walked down alone from the mid-mountain villa, his shadow stretching long behind him.
Arriving at the foot of the mountain, he passed a beggar by the roadside. Taking a glance, the elderly woman called out to him, "Young man, could you spare me five yuan?"
Shen Sinian instinctively reached for his pocket only to find it empty. Gazing at the old woman with tattered clothes and whitening hair, he thought of the charities his parents were constantly involved in, and whispered, "Grandma, can you wait here for me for a bit?"
The old woman looked at him with a smile and said, "It's okay if you didn't bring any money."
"No, I'm going to get some," Shen Sinian left her with, "Please wait here for me, I'll definitely be back within twenty minutes."
After saying that, he took long strides forward, running towards the lively area.
He left in such a hurry that he didn't bring any money or even his phone. But today was his birthday, and he was smartly dressed in a suit, complete with cufflinks and a watch, all carefully selected for the occasion.
He didn't have money, but he could pawn the watch.
The wristwatch was a birthday present specifically ordered by his father for his seventeenth birthday.
Shen Sinian had liked it very much when he received it in the morning, but now he decided to sell it, and truth be told, he did feel somewhat reluctant to let it go. However, it was his parents' broken promises that came first; they couldn't blame him for not cherishing their gift.
As the manager asked if he was sure about selling the watch, Shen Sinian hesitated for a moment before nodding his head, "Sell it."
The shop owner, beaming with joy, took it and asked, "Will this be a transfer, or how would you like to do this?"
Shen Sinian thought of the old woman he had just seen and inquired, "Could you give cash, by any chance?"
"Huh?"
Shen Sinian: "Cash, even partial cash is fine."
"That's no problem," the owner agreed, "I'll give ten thousand yuan in cash, and the rest I'll transfer to you."
Shen Sinian nodded.
With the cash in hand, Shen Sinian rushed back to where he had just been.
The old grandmother was still there. Seeing him out of breath running back, the smile on her face deepened, "Young man, I don't need so much, just five yuan for a bowl of vegetarian noodles is enough."
"Please take it." Shen Sinian handed her the ten thousand yuan, "This amount is not much at all."
The grandmother paused for a moment and then suddenly asked him, "Did something upset you today?"
Shen Sinian was startled, "Is it that obvious?"
The grandmother nodded, "Would you like to talk to me about it?"
Shen Sinian hummed, paused for a moment, and then said, "My parents don't love me at all."
Perhaps it was because he found it easier to pour out his troubles to a stranger, or maybe it was because he subconsciously felt that he would never encounter this old grandmother again in his life, so he spoke some words that he had never shared with anyone before.
Towards the end, Shen Sinian was very depressed, "Grandma, do you think they have me in their hearts at all?"
The grandmother smiled thoughtfully, "I suppose they do."
"But not much, right?" Shen Sinian asked.
The grandmother did not answer him directly. She looked steadily at Shen Sinian for a while, "Is it your seventeenth birthday today?"
Shen Sinian nodded.
The grandmother mysteriously took something out from her tattered bag beside her and handed it to him, "Then let Grandma give you a birthday present."
Shen Sinian refused, "I can't accept it."
"It's nothing valuable," the grandmother said, "Take it. However, this item can fulfill one of your wishes."
Naturally, Shen Sinian did not take such words seriously, but the grandmother was very warm in her attitude. He looked at the small stone she handed him; it really wasn't anything valuable, so he accepted it, "Thank you, Grandma. Actually, I don't have any special wishes."
He sat on the ground with the grandmother, looking at the bright moonlight, and said, "I just wish they would spend more time with me."
Upon hearing this, the grandmother looked at him and smiled, her eyes curving, her face kind. She looked very much like Shen Sinian's mother and the grandmother he had never met, as mentioned by her.
Just as he realized this, Shen Sinian heard the grandmother say, "Your wish will definitely come true."
"..."
After sitting with the grandmother for a while and waiting until after eleven o'clock, Shen Sinian slowly made his way back home.
Halfway there, the small stone he was holding in his hand suddenly emitted a strange light. Shen Sinian fixed his eyes to look at it, but before he could see it clearly, a runaway sports car came speeding from behind.
Shen Sinian couldn't dodge in time, cursed under his breath, and then lost consciousness.
*
When he became conscious again, a pleasant female voice entered Shen Sinian's ears, "Shen Yubai, how come he hasn't woken up yet? What did the doctor just say?"
"I didn't hit him." Another voice sounded cold, and a bit familiar, "He was scared into fainting."
Xu Chuning didn't quite believe him, "Are you sure?"
Shen Yubai gave her a cool look, arms crossed against the wall, "Xu Chuning, what do you mean by that question?"
Xu Chuning pursed her lips, about to speak when the person on the hospital bed struggled to open his eyes. He saw the blurred figures of two people not far away and spoke with a hoarse voice, "Mom and Dad, please stop fighting."
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