“When is your birthday?”


  I received a text from Xiao Qin on July 26th, even though she already knew the answer to her question.

  Since I was born new years, even students from class 2-3 who weren’t familiar with me, knew my birthday.

  Basically, the real reason Xiao Qin asked was to remind me that her birthday was coming up soon.

  July 28, the beginning of World War I, it was easy to remember Xiao Qin’s birthday.

  “I’ll call everyone over to celebrate your birthday.” I replied to Xiao Qin, “Just like Gong CaiCai’s birthday, how about it?”


  Xiao Qin was overjoyed I had remembered her birthday after only a simple reminder.

  “(^__^) hehehe… finally another birthday, I’m one year closer to the legal age of marriage…”


  I don’t even need to ask, she must be planning to marry me as soon as shes reaches 20 years old.

  “Actually, a few days ago the class leader asked if I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a few classmates” Xiao Qin continued, “But I said I would be with my mother and celebrate at a relative’s home, so I politely declined. “


  “Huh, so then there’s nothing for me to do.” I said while thinking if Xiao Qin’s so-called relatives will be Auntie Ren’s father, so gramps Ren.

  “How would it work if Ye Lin classmate is missing?” Xiao Qin hurriedly said, “I lied to the class leader because I wanted to celebrate my birthday with Ye Lin classmate. I even told my mother I wouldn’t be home because I was going to celebrate with my classmates.”


  So in order to spend her birthday with me, she lied to both the class leader and Auntie Ren?

  “Then… what do you want to eat, I’ll go ahead and book a restaurant.”


  “There’s nothing in particular that I want to eat… I ate enough cake last time at Gong CaiCai’s party… can you take me to an amusement park to celebrate my birthday? I’ve always wanted to go with Ye Lin classmate to an amusement park.”


  Xiao Qin begged me.

  I don’t know why, but I felt a sense of guilt. Perhaps it was because I had been neglecting her since summer break started.

  I was still really uncomfortable with the identity of being “Xiao Qin’s boyfriend”.

  “I’m fine with an amusement park. Wait for me at the entrance of the largest amusement park downtown on July 28. I’ll be there at 9, right when it opens. Did you get all of it?”


  “I… got it.” Xiao Qin repeated with insecurity.

  “Umm… you will be there right? You will definitely be there right and won’t stand me up?”


  “Eh, what made you think that?”


  “Because… Ye Lin classmate is petty and still remembers about the time when I bullied you. That’s why you might stand me up to break my heart…”


  It’s not that I’m petty, but you’re bullying was inhumane. Plus, you took away my Swiss Army knife right before the break began, so I really should get revenge if I think about it.

  But it would be too cruel to stand her up on her birthday because of that. I’ll think of another way to get back brother Optimus Prime and the Swiss Army knife.

  “Don’t worry, I will be there on time since birthdays are only once a year.”


  “Well, I’ll be eagerly counting the days at home. Please don’t miss our date or I’ll live at the entrance of the amusement park without going home until Ye Lin classmates comes to claim me.”


  Stop embarrassing me, do you think you’re a small dog or cat?

  After promising Xiao Qin, it seems my dad heard some isolated phrases because I spoke too loudly on the phone, and said to me at dinner:

  “Is a female classmate’s birthday coming up? What gifts did you prepare?”


  Ah, the gift, I would have forgot if my dad didn’t remind me.

  “Dad, you misheard, it was a salesperson from 10086. I had nothing to do so I had a chat with her.”


  Dad, who was eating some fried noodles, choked, “But our family is using China Unicom’s family plan, your phone has a Unicom number.”


  “Well… yeah.” I nodded, “That’s why a China Mobile salesman called, hoping we can change to their plans, since they’re competitors.”


  After fooling my dad, I began to seriously consider what gift to give to Xiao Qin.

  Usually, it would be something like a doll, accessories, or clothing.

  But that would mean I would have to go to gift stores or clothing stores where there are girls everywhere and ask the clerk to tie them up with a ribbon to announce “I have a girlfriend”.

  Should I buy it online? But there’s less than two days before Xiao Qin’s birthday, so what if the delivery doesn’t make it on time?

  Also I really don’t know how to pick a birthday gift for a girl, so troublesome.

  I also heard there was a list of taboos for gifts for girls. For example, you would get a beating if you gave a fat girl a treadmill. That’s relatively easy to understand, but there are other taboos too.

  You can’t give an umbrella, because the word umbrella is an homonym for the word ‘to break up’, which means you want to break up.

  You can’t give shoes either, because it means you want her to leave, which also implies you want to break up.

  But I did give a shoe as a present before, did I subconsciously want to break up with Xiao Qin? But Xiao Qin was rather happy instead of being sad.

  I looked online and it seems opinions differ greatly about taboos. No one was able to reach a consensus, for example wind chimes, some people say it implies a breakup while some other people say it means you miss them…


  It wasn’t this troublesome when I used birthdays with Brother Gang or with captain Guo SongTao along with the rest of the basketball team. It wasn’t popular to give gifts between boys, we would just get together to have a good time, eat some barbecue, steal some beer, and everything would be OK.

  The next day, I still hadn’t thought about what to give Xiao Qin for her birthday.

  Tomorrow is the 28th, so I had to get things done today.

  I was determined to go to the jewelry store to pick something out, but before I entered, I was dragged into a black car parked on the street.

  After I got into the car, I found Xiao Qin’s biological father, Huo ZhenBang, sitting in the passenger seat with a sickly look on his face and looking at me through the rear view mirror.

  The ones who dragged me into the car were, of course, his men, Uncle Tiger (Hu), Uncle Leopard (Bao), and the one-eyed Uncle Long, who sat in the driver’s seat.

  “My daughter’s birthday is coming up.” Huo ZhenBang muttered to himself, “Every year, I would mail birthday gifts to Xiao Qin, but they were all returned by her mother…”


  It seems that Auntie Ren really hated her ex-husband. I guess it was an unforgivable sin to cheat and also conceal his ties to the triads.

  “If I’m not mistaken.” Huo ZhenBang slightly turned his head back towards me, “Xiao Qin is planning to spend this birthday with you, right?”


  I nodded silently.

  “As expected.” Huo ZhenBang took out a beautifully wrapped gift box and handed it to me, then he looked me in the eye and said, “This is the gift I prepared for Xiao Qin this year, I’ll have you pass it on to her.”


  I reached out and took it. It felt quite heavy, but I didn’t know what was inside.

  “But don’t say it’s from me, or her mother will get angry.” Huo ZhenBang laughed bitterly and then coughed.

  Although Huo ZhenBang lost his wife and daughter because he was fooling around with other women, and now he was also infected with AIDS, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for a triad boss standing at the end of the road.

  “Um, Mr. Huo, I will pass on your gift to Xiao Qin, but I don’t think it’s right to pretend it’s my gift.”


  “It’s perfectly fine.” Huo ZhenBang’s expression instantly fierce up, “Just give this box to Xiao Qin, don’t do anything unnecessary and buy another gift. It would prevent Xiao Qin from getting suspicious, she doesn’t know I’m here and I don’t want her to know either.”


  I couldn’t figure out what Huo ZhenBang was thinking, but could only nod my head in agreement when faced against a triad boss.

  After all, it was a gift from a terminally ill father to his beloved daughter. It must have been carefully selected and definitely more exquisite and significant than the impromptu gift chosen by an amateur like me.

  Huo ZhenBang nodded with satisfaction after I agreed to give Xiao Qin his gift. He also gave me two tickets in return.

  “Ye Lin, I heard you like fighting. Are you interested in watching some underground fights?”


  Eh, underground fights that Peng TouSi once was devoted to? It’s surprising it exists in Dong Shan city.

  The tickets were very different from tickets for normal theaters and cinemas. It had detailed printing but it was very thin and very easily damaged, as if they were designed to be easily torn up in case of emergency.

  “These two tickets were given to A Long by an old customer from the mainland.” Huo ZhenBang glanced at Uncle Long who was in the driver’s seat, “We’ve seen this kinds of competition many times and aren’t very interested in them anymore, but if you haven’t seen it before, you can go and broaden your horizons.”


  I took the ticket and I began to imagine fighters in a ring all as strong as Peng TouSi.

  “The other ticket isn’t for you to take Xiao Qin. After her birthday, choose a friend you trust and take him with you, but underground boxing isn’t a legal sport, so you must be careful of cops. If you get targeted, tear up the ticket and swallow it, okay.”