The Boyfriend Who I’ve Never Met

The tail of August, on the 26th, is Xie Tao's birthday.

Early in the morning, Xie Tao received a call from Aunt Fu.

"Happy birthday to Taotao!" Aunt Fu said with a smile on the end of the phone, as full of energy as usual.

Xie Tao rubbed her eyes, yawned, and reacted for a while before realizing that today seems to be her birthday.

Xie Tao laughed, "Thank you Aunt Fu!"

"Come on, Hua'er, tell your sister Taotao a happy birthday, come on."

Fumiaolan's voice over there was clear and sometimes fuzzy.

Then, Xie Tao heard Fuhua's ignorant voice on the other end of the phone, "Happy birthday, sister Taotao."

"Thank you Huaer." Xie Tao frowned.

"Taotao, you are eighteen years old and you are grown up." Fu Miaolan whispered, "Aunt Fu sent you something to eat, even if it's a birthday present."

"Thank you Auntie Fu..."

At a certain moment, when Xie Tao heard Fu Miaolan's warm voice coming from the phone through a small electric current, her eyes were a little hot.

It was a fortunate thing for Xie Tao to be able to meet Fu Miaolan and her daughter Fuhua when he left the Zheng family and returned to Qizhen.

She remembered that on the night of her last birthday, at the counter in the Fujia cake shop, Aunt Fu made a cake for her herself. When the candles were put in, Fuhua sang a song to her in a childish voice. Happy birthday song.

At that time, Xie Tao suddenly felt that life didn't seem so bad.

She still feels so now.

After hanging up the phone, Xie Tao opened the quilt, put on the clothes, and went to the bathroom to wash.

Since it's your birthday, you should have something delicious.

After breakfast, Xie Tao went to work in the dessert shop where she worked.

Reluctant to buy that kind of big cake, Xie Tao originally wanted to buy a small cherry cake in the dessert shop, but the proprietress heard that it was her birthday today, so she made a medium-sized chocolate cake for her personally, but no matter what They refused to accept Xie Tao's money.

In the afternoon, Xie Tao thanked the proprietress, and then took the cake to the bus stop to take the bus.

After buying some vegetables at the vegetable market near the community, Xie Tao walked in the direction of the community.

But halfway, she met Zheng Wenhong.

The black BMW parked on the side of the road, and the window slowly lowered, revealing Zheng Wenhong's elegant and gentle face.

"Xie Tao."

"Uncle Zheng."

Xie Tao nodded at him politely again.

Zheng Wenhong glanced at the vegetables she was holding, and a cake box, holding the steering wheel, and then said to her as usual, "Is it convenient to talk?"

"What's the matter with you?" Xie Tao asked.

Zheng Wenhong said, "Zhao Yixuan's case will be heard next month. The lawyer I hired wants to ask you something."

Because he is currently regarded as Xie Tao's guardian, people from the police station have been contacting him about this matter, and Su Linghua and Zheng Wenhong had already filed a lawsuit against Zhao Yixuan along with Zhou Xinyue's parents.

After hearing Zheng Wenhong's words, Xie Tao felt that she could not refuse, after all, this matter was originally her business.

So she nodded and said, "Okay."

But when she got in Zheng Wenhong's car, about ten minutes later, when she got out of the car, she discovered that Zheng Wenhong had brought her to a hotel.

"Have a meal by the way," Zheng Wenhong explained.

Seeing Xie Tao still carrying something in his hand, he said, "Put it in the car first."

Xie Tao had to put everything he was carrying back into the car.

Zheng Wenhong handed the car key to the person who parked the car, and then took Xie Tao into the hotel lobby and took the elevator to the third floor.

When Xie Tao followed Zheng Wenhong through the corridor covered with thick carpets and came to a box door, Zheng Wenhong opened the box door.

As soon as Xie Tao stepped into the door, she looked up and saw a large round table in the box with a variety of dishes, and in the middle of the round table, a big cake was placed.

The cake says: Happy Taotao’s eighteenth birthday.

The two people sitting at the table immediately stood up when they saw Xie Tao walk in.

One is Su Linghua, who has been well-dressed.

The other one is Zheng Hejia.

The water-green skirt Su Linghua wore was the one designed by Su Linghua herself in the magazine Xie Tao bought recently.

She seems to have recovered who she used to be.

That was the appearance that Xie Tao had never seen before.

Unlike the woman with gray eyes in memory, her Xing Tao eyes that were especially similar to Xie Tao had more confidence that she didn't have before.

Xie Tao thought for a moment, maybe her mother should have looked like this once?

Confident and feminine.

But at this moment, in her eyes, it seemed a bit strange.

At that moment, Xie Tao stood there blankly, her gaze stopped on Su Linghua's body, the light and shadow moved slightly, and she blinked her eyes as if they were dangled by a crystal lamp hanging from the ceiling.

There was silence in the box until Su Linghua, who was standing at the table, moved her lips, calling her, "Tao Tao..."

Xie Tao stood there, her eyes flashing slightly, and her fingers subconsciously squeezed the corners of her clothes.

Su Linghua stepped in front of her step by step on high heels, seeming to be a little uneasy, but she still said again, "Taotao, today is your birthday, so I..."

Before she could finish her words, Xie Tao interrupted her, "No need."

Xie Tao turned around to leave, but was stopped by Zheng Wenhong:

"Xie Tao, it's my fault to deceive you. Uncle Zheng apologizes to you, but if I don't, you're afraid that you won't come with me at all... Give your mother a chance to make up, okay?"

"She hasn't had a good time for more than a year."

"I don't need any compensation." Xie Tao lowered her eyes, knuckles bent, and fists clenched, her voice a little soft, and a little trembling.

"Taotao, you... don't be like this, you are like this, I feel very sad..." Su Linghua said, tears were already in her eyes.

Over the years, she has always clearly remembered the wrong things she had done to Xie Tao in the past, and there was no way to forget it anyway.

Every night, her mind always flashed the gaze of her daughter Xie Tao who looked at her on that winter night.

She was always guilty and tortured.

"I know, I know that no matter what I do now, I may not be able to make up for the harm I caused to you before, but Taotao, I am your mother, I... I can't care about you, I really want to do something for you , Taotao, I really, I really miss you..."

As Su Linghua said, she became very excited. Tears slid down her eyes. She reached out to touch Xie Tao, but she avoided her.

So her hand can only froze in the air.

And Xie Tao's apricot eyes were stained with water mist.

The two years when I first came to Nanshi were the gloomiest times in Xie Tao's life.

But at that time, Xie Tao had not lost hope for her mother.

Because she still remembers the gentlest appearance of her mother, and the tone she used to say how much she loved her over and over again.

That's true, the love engraved in the blood, can never be faked.

So little Xie Tao always told herself that her mother was sick, and her heart was even more sad and painful than she was.

But even if she told herself this over and over again, her young heart was still inevitably hurt by such beatings and scolding.

When Xie Tao was bullied by her classmates and returned home in embarrassment, Su Linghua once helped her change her clothes, bathed her, and then gently blew the wound on her forehead and said comfortingly. If so, Xie Tao will not gradually become disappointed in the long and long anticipation.

What is the courage to support a child to live happily?

At that time, Xie Tao thought it should be her mother's embrace.

And what really crushed all the expectations of Xie Tao's mother for her mother was actually those days in the Zheng family.

She originally expected that the mother who was cured would return to her former appearance, embrace her in the most tender manner, and say that she loves her.

But she didn't.

She focused too much on her new family.

Because of her deliberate eccentricity towards Zheng Hejia, and because of her strict demands on Xie Tao, the last bit of light about her mother in Xie Tao's heart was completely wiped out.

So Xie Tao left the Zheng family on New Year's Eve.

That is Su Linghua's home, and perhaps it will always be her home, but it will never be Xie Tao's home.

Because Su Linghua is her mother, Xie Tao will inevitably miss her forever.

This was originally a very contradictory mentality.

But blood relationship is something that a person can never give up.

But in the end, Missing must always be separated by a sufficient distance before it can be called Missing.

That is by no means forgiveness.

Just as Su Linghua hasn't understood so far, what is the reason for her total disappointment to Xie Tao, this relationship between mother and child will never return to the pure relationship that it used to be.

They are still mothers and daughters, but after all, there is an insurmountable gap between them. It is something that time has not been able to dissolve, and it is the knot in their hearts about each other.

"Taotao, today is your eighteenth birthday, and it's the day when you grow up to be an adult. If I beg you, let my mother finish this birthday for you, okay?"

Su Linghua's eyes were red, and her choked voice was a little pleading.

Xie Tao didn't speak, she just raised her eyes and looked at the strong red wine in the goblet on the table.

It's like the color of his sleeves in Wei Yun's portrait.

She suddenly thought that on this day of adulthood, it seemed that it was time to drink some wine.

Zheng Hejia, who was standing next to him, looked at Xie Tao in silence all the time. He didn't speak to persuade her, but just stood there quietly.

Because he knows that he has no position.

And this time, he didn't want to interfere with any of her choices.

When the atmosphere was stalemate, Xie Tao suddenly walked to the table, picked up a glass of red wine, and drank one mouthful after another.

She drank all the red wine in the three goblets on the table.

Then she picked up a transparent plastic knife, dug out a piece of cake, and fed it into her mouth, then she turned and left.

"Peach!" Su Linghua called her from behind, crying in her voice.

Xie Tao paused when she walked to the door, but she didn't look back, her eyes were already red, and the tears were hanging in her eye sockets.

In the end, she said: "Mom, thank you for giving birth to me and allowing me to come into this world."

She said, "Today, I am an adult."

"So in the future, life will be real, just my own life."

After saying this, she left without looking back, even if she heard the cry of Su Linghua's collapse behind her, she did not stop.

Perhaps it was because today was her birthday, so when I saw Su Linghua, heard her voice, saw her tears, she instantly evoked many memories of her past.

At that time, her father's appearance had not yet become a vague shadow in her mind.

At that time, my mother was the one who kissed her on the cheek every day, and then took her to the town’s cake shop to buy shortbread candies.

Life will never come back again, but Xie Tao sometimes wakes up crying when she dreams of everything from her childhood.

Back to the rented community, when she walked downstairs to the unit, the mobile phone prompt sounded at the right time.

She took out her mobile phone, and through a blur of tears, she saw that it was a message from the express locker.

After standing there for two minutes, Xie Tao turned back to the place where the express locker was placed in the community. After she entered the password, the locker opened with a beep.

A simple wooden box is placed inside.

As before, Wei Yun sent her pastry boxes.

So in the midsummer twilight of the cicadas, there was a girl standing alone in front of the express locker. Tears seemed to be more turbulent in those red eyes.

Xie Tao stretched out her hand and wiped it again and again, rubbing the skin of her cheeks so that it started to turn red, and even it started to hurt, she didn't care at all.

When holding the box upstairs, Xie Tao's steps were already a bit wobbly.

It may be that the wine strength of those three glasses of red wine has come up, plus she has never touched wine before, so as soon as the wine spirit came up, her mind started to be a little unclear.

After returning to the rented house, Xie Tao sat on the bed for a long time before opening the box containing the pastries.

The pastry in the box is not the sweet-scented osmanthus lotus root powder cake before, but another kind of pastry she has never seen before.

She reached for a piece and fed it into her mouth.

I don't know why, the tears fell again.

Later, her mind began to become more chaotic, and she was crying and eating.

Later, she lay on the bed with the box in her arms, took out the phone in her pocket, and stared at the phone screen for a while before she clicked into the chat interface with the blank avatar.

She sniffed and clicked on the video call option. In the pop-up "video call" and "voice call" options, she tilted her head and stared for a while, pressing her finger on the "voice call".

While waiting for the sound of the connection call to ring, even the drunk Xie Tao became a lot more courageous, her heart began to beat very fast, she grabbed her clothes, her fingers trembled a little .

At that time, Wei Yun had just come out of the bath room and returned to the house. He was wearing a thin white robe with long moist hair and a slightly open placket with his collarbone half exposed.

He held a book in his hand, and when he looked down, his long and thick eyelashes were like crow feathers.

Suddenly, an astrolabe of golden air flow suddenly appeared on the copper pendant that he casually placed on the book case.

As the astrolabe turned, a soft bell-like sound rang.

In the next moment, he clearly heard the sound of a girl sniffing.

"...?" Wei Yun frowned.

"Wei Yun?"

The girl's cowardly voice came, a little faint and unpleasant.

At that moment, Wei Yun's eyes flashed with consternation-like complex expressions. After a while, he tentatively spoke:

"Xie Tao?"

Xie Tao burst into tears as soon as the clear male voice came.

"Wei Yun..."

She cried out of breath, only repeating his name.

Wei Yun heard her choked and said, "As soon as today is over, I will be eighteen years old."

"I am an adult..."

It's like telling him, and it's like telling myself.

While Wei Yun listened to the girl crying, he talked a lot about him.

Realizing that her words were a little unclear, and there seemed to be a bit of drunkenness during her speech, he said, "Drinking?"

"Um... three cups, not good at all."

Xie Tao replied obediently and hiccuped at the end.

"I lost the cake and the dishes today, I am not eligible for dinner, nor am I eligible for my birthday..."

"Wei Yun, is Wei Yun listening?"

"Wei Yun, do you speak."

"Your voice is so nice, I believe you are not a grandfather..."

When she was drunk, she seemed bolder and talked more, but she avoided many topics she didn't want to touch on.

Even if Wei Yun could hear it, she seemed sad.

When the sky was getting darker, Wei Yun listened to the girl's voice getting smaller and smaller, and his eyes stopped on the astrolabe that appeared on the copper pendant.

At that time, Xie Tao was in a blur, as if he heard his clear voice:

"Happy birthday, Xie Tao."

I don't know why, at that moment, Xie Tao's tears filled her eyes suddenly.

A heart seemed to be beating fast, and her breathing gradually became a little fast.

Perhaps it was the drunkenness, or the quiet heartbeat at this moment gave her too much courage. She sucked her nose and suddenly smirked again, her apricot eyes blurred.

But from the moment she stood in front of the courier cabinet downstairs and saw the wooden box inside, from the moment she was bold enough to press the voice call and heard his voice.

Those emotions that were deliberately hidden by her and deliberately blurred, at this moment are dizzy, but seem to be too clear in the mind, once again.

So in this silent night, in front of the flickering light, the young boy sitting like loose clearly heard the girl's soft and faint voice coming from the astrolabe like a whisper:

"I like you so much..."

"Wei Yun."