She ate last night because Gu Qingcheng told her what time dinner would be served.

  Gu Qingcheng had been busy all morning and didn’t have time to care about Yun Liuli, so Yun Liuli obediently stayed in her room and didn’t come out for breakfast.

  According to the rules Gu Qingcheng set at home, when he was busy with work, the housekeeper wouldn’t disturb him, even at mealtime. The food would be kept heated until Gu Qingcheng went downstairs and said he wanted to take his meal, then the food would be brought to him.

  The housekeeper was already used to such an arrangement…


  Today, Yun Liuli didn’t go downstairs all morning. The housekeeper must have thought that Yun Liuli, as a kid, wanted to sleep in a little on the weekends and thus didn’t call her, wanting to let the child sleep a little more.

  Gu Qingcheng ate his breakfast early, so Yun Liuli didn’t get to eat with him.

  When Gu Qingcheng went downstairs for lunch, he didn’t see Yun Liuli, so he asked about her. Only then did he hear that Yun Liuli didn’t come down for breakfast all morning.

  The housekeeper had wanted to invite Yun Liuli downstairs, but after thinking about it, Gu Qingcheng decided to go knock on her door personally. Unexpectedly, he opened the door to find the child sitting there spaced out.

  “Time for lunch!” Gu Qingcheng said.

  When the young lady heard him, she obediently set down the doll and walked towards Gu Qingcheng. With a rosy complexion now, she did look better today…


  After lunch, the young lady returned to her room again. Gu Qingcheng changed his clothes and was prepared to leave the house. He had already gone downstairs when his assistant reminded him of the existence of the young lady in the house.

  Only then did Gu Qingcheng realize that the young lady was indeed overly quiet. This was why Gu Qingcheng completely forgot about the existence of the young lady when he worked.

  Just like Yun Shoushan said, the child wouldn’t speak when she could choose not to. Since she reached his place, she hadn’t said a word. If he didn’t know better… Gu Qingcheng would have thought the child was mute.

  Gu Qingcheng took the suit jacket his assistant handed to him, and after fixing his collar, he said, “Go up and tell that lass to tell the kitchen what she wants to eat later!”


  His assistant nodded and was about to head upstairs when Gu Qingcheng called for him.

  With a frown, Gu Qingcheng fixed his sleeves and said, “Forget it, I’ll go up and tell her myself!”


  Since Yun Liuli’s parents had handed her to him, he ought to be more attentive.

  When he got to the entrance of the living room, Gu Qingcheng was prepared to knock on the door, but he realized that the door wasn’t closed. From the crack in the door, he saw that the young lady was still sitting in the same position, hugging the doll and staring out the window, looking as quiet as a wooden doll.

  Gu Qingcheng gently knocked on the door, and only then did the young lady turn around and look towards the door…


  She saw Gu Qingcheng holding the door handle with one hand with his other hand stuck into his pocket. His vision swept over the old doll in Yun Liuli’s arms, and he then said blandly as he gazed at her, “Tell the kitchen what you want to eat later, okay?”


  Yun Liuli understood that this meant that Gu Qingcheng was heading out. She nodded, appearing obedient.

  Gu Qingcheng had truly never seen a kid like Yun Liuli before. His brows knitted, and he looked like he had something to say, but he ultimately held himself back and closed the door, going downstairs…


  Before getting into the car, Gu Qingcheng said to the housekeeper, “That child isn’t fond of speaking. Remember to call her when it’s time to eat!”


  The housekeeper nodded. “Got it, Sir. Don’t worry.”


  The housekeeper had already realized that Yun Liuli had a quiet personality. If she wasn’t called, she wouldn’t leave her room, so he more or less knew what to do from now on.

  Gu Qingcheng nodded and then got into the car. The housekeeper helped Gu Qingcheng close the car door, then retreated to the side and watched as Gu Qingcheng left.

  …


  Upstairs, Yun Liuli, who was seated before the window, heard the sound of the car engine starting. Her black and bright eyes quivered a little as she watched the black car move further and further away.

  She tightly held onto the little doll in her arms.

  Tomorrow was Yun Liuli’s birthday. She wondered if this time around… her father no longer had an excuse for avoiding her on her birthday, hence was directly handing her to someone else.

  The phone she placed on the table had only one message from her father, a message that was especially simple…


  ‘Dad won’t be able to rush back for your birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday!’


  That was it.

  Yun Liuli couldn’t feel if she was happy or not, but she knew that her father must be unhappy…


  That was because her birth mother had passed away on the day of her birthday.

  Later, when Yun Liuli turned four, Yun Liuli’s father remarried.

  The stepmother treated Yun Liuli really well. One could even say that she had treated her like her own. All these years, the stepmother and her father didn’t have another child. Especially after sensing the deficiency in Yun Liuli’s personality, they said that Yun Liuli was their one and only child.

  They both loved Yun Liuli very much. Yun Liuli could sense that. But every year on her birthday… Yun Liuli’s father would avoid her using all sorts of excuses.

  Yun Liuli tightly held onto the little doll. It… was a present from Yun Liuli’s birth mother. Yun Liuli had treasured it very much all these years. Despite that… it inevitably turned old.

  After dinner, Yun Liuli asked for candles and matchsticks from the housekeeper, and the housekeeper gave Yun Liuli some aromatherapy candles.

  That was the first time the housekeeper heard Yun Liuli’s voice—it was especially pleasant-sounding, being gentle and clear.

  Worried that Yun Liuli might play with fire and lead to a fire, the housekeeper had initially wanted to accompany her. But Yun Liuli locked the housekeeper outside the door. The housekeeper gritted his teeth and got someone to guard outside the door just in case a fire really broke out. That way, they could deal with it in time.

  Inside the room, Yun Liuli stared at the time indicated on her phone. The instant the clock struck twelve, she lit up the aromatherapy candles. Sitting in the chair, she gazed at the gently flickering fire, and after a long while, she finally said, “Happy birthday, Yun Liuli!”


  She blew out all the candles, and the entire room descended into darkness. There was now only a faint light from the street lamps illuminating the yard outside the windows, which was vaguely cast on Yun Liuli’s fair and delicate little face.

  All that was left in the room was Yun Liuli’s gentle breathing. It was so lonely it was terrifying. She tightly hugged the little doll to her chest, her clean and peaceful eyes lacking vibrancy.

  …


  By the time Gu Qingcheng was done working, it was already the next day.

  When he stepped out of the elevator, he heard the driver making a call in a hushed voice. He seemed to be saying something about a cake to his younger sister.

  “Why do you girls like to eat such sickeningly sweet stuff? Never mind the fact that it’s sickeningly sweet, but it’s so high in calories too… Later, you’ll have to go on a diet to lose weight. Say, what’s the point of all this?”


  The tall and burly Russian driver made the phone call with one hand against the car. He casually turned around, then saw Gu Qingcheng, who had just stepped out of the elevator.

  The driver hurriedly said, “I’m hanging up,” then proceeded to hang up. He jogged over to help Gu Qingcheng pull open the car door. “Mr. Gu…”


  Gu Qingcheng nodded, then got into the car. He asked with a frown, “What do girls like?”


  The driver paused in surprise. Initially, he didn’t get what Gu Qingcheng meant, but then he recalled the phone conversation he just had, so he replied in embarrassment, “My younger sister said she wants to eat matcha cake. Girls seem rather fond of eating sweet stuff.”