By the time they'd picked up the cake and reached the Hilton, it was already dark.

Chen Qingqing had gotten her mother's room number out of Chen Hansong beforehand.

The whole time Jiang Meilin had been working in Jinling, she'd lived at a hotel.

Renting a place in Jinling's central business district with anything like a hotel's fittings would actually have cost a good deal more, and Jiang Meilin didn't like being disturbed by noise from the floors above and below. So she would rather live at a hotel long-term than spend more money buying an apartment in Jinling.

Xu Ye carried the cake while Chen Qingqing got out her phone to check the room number again.

They took the elevator up to Jiang Meilin's door, and then started whispering.

"Let's light the candles first."

"How many candles do we put in?"

"Forty-six, so six of them."

"Do you have a lighter?"

"Yes, the bakery threw one in."

"Hold it steady."

"I know."

"Are you holding it or am I?"

"You do it."

"All right, you can ring the bell. The second the door opens, we both sing 'Happy Birthday.'"

"Okay."

Chen Qingqing reached out and pressed the bell, then deliberately moved out of range of the peephole.

Ding-dong~

The doorbell went off abruptly inside the room. Jiang Meilin glanced at the time, thought it was probably Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing, composed herself, and walked over to open the door.

What met her eyes first wasn't the cake with its lit candles but two faces that still looked young to her. She was about to smile when she realized that this was not the reaction she was supposed to be having right now — and only then did she direct her gaze at the cake.

At the same moment, Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing started singing together.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you…"

Listening to them sing, watching the candlelight flicker, Jiang Meilin — who at the company always presented as the formidable career woman — felt tears welling up.

She wiped the corners of her eyes…