The tiny light from the candle had set the mood for the occasion: solemn and sweet.
It was like a ray of light that lit up her dark life.
Ye Tianxin closed her eyes and silently made her wish.
Her first wish was that her grandmother would stay healthy and live a long life.
Her second wish was that Elder Brother Li would do well at work and would not get injured again.
And for her third wish, she wished that her mother was still alive.
Ye Tianxin blew the candle and opened her eyes.
She looked up at Li Qingcang who was seated across from her. He was looking at her with a smile that reached his eyes. She stretched out a finger and dug at a bit of the white cream on the cake. Then, she smeared it on the tip of Li Qingcang’s nose.
The blob of cream stayed on Li Qingcang’s nose, adding a hint of warmth to his handsome but stoic face.
Li Qingcang did not get angry. He treated Ye Tianxin like his younger sister. He would dote on her however he wanted to. He naturally would not get angry at such a small thing.
“Have some cake.”
The cake was delicious. It was so sweet that even Ye Tianxin’s heart could feel it.
She could not describe how she was feeling right now, but one thing was certain, she appreciated everything Li Qingcang had done for her.
At that very moment, everything was just a blur. Li Qingcang was the only constant in Ye Tianxin’s world.
Ye Tianxin’s ears turned slightly red.
She picked up her teacup and took a small sip of the buckwheat tea.
A slightly bitter taste filled her mouth, and a hint of bitterness grew in her heart.
“Elder Brother Li, have you been busy recently?”
Li Qingcang took a piece of spicy pork ribs with his chopsticks and gave it to Ye Tianxin. “A little,” he answered. “We had to sign a confidentiality agreement. Oh, right. Are you getting along well with your new assistant?”
Ye Tianxin nodded. “Elder Sister Chenxi is great,” she complimented. “If she had not woken me up that night, Grandmother and I might have died in the fire. Elder Brother Li, I don’t understand. Why does Ye Youran hate me so much? Is it because she lost the bet?”
“Tianxin, don’t bother with her. Something things just can’t be explained or understood.”
Li Qingcang’s words were always very philosophical.
Actually, he was very much correct.
One never knew how ruthless people could get. No one could ever anticipate how a person, no matter how good they were treated, might stab a friend in the back.
The only thing a person could do was to make sure that they lived with a clear conscience.
“Elder Brother Li, Ye Youran and I got along very well when we were children, but everything changed when we started school…”
“People change,” Li Qingcang responded gently. “Tianxin, there is no one in this world who stays the way they are. No one.”
“That’s true. Auntie Zhu wanted me to let Ye Youran off. I couldn’t do that. Whatever Ye Youran’s punishment will be, it will be decided by the law. I believe that Ye Youran will learn from this incident. At least, she would know that there are consequences to her actions.”
Li Qingcang disagreed. Ye Tianxin could be naïve at times.
“Tianxin, you have to know this. Being too kind can lead to abuse. People would rather take than give.”
“Elder Brother Li, am I kind?”
Ye Tianxin thought about it. She was only this kind because she had met him.
If she had not met Li Qingcang, she might have become a girl who was filled with hatred.
It was because he was a good teacher and a friend to her.