Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Haixing, who was lying by the window, saw Naruse coming to Morimi Furu Honten again.
After a while, the two left together, and the former turned his head and glanced this way.
"..."
Before Morimi looked over, Haixing subconsciously hid.
When I poked my head again, the two people didn't come over, but had already walked away in another direction.
They are going to the city together...
Watching the two figures disappear at the corner of the county road, Haixing also looked back.
Isn’t Shangzi together?
...Is it a date?
Starfish lay beside the window, thinking wildly, until a gust of cold wind blew and woke her up.
After closing the window and returning to the house, she lay down on the bed and fiddled with her phone absentmindedly.
Dad's voice came from downstairs: "Haixing, send two bottles of wine to Mr. Sanji's house."
"Got it——"
She got up and went downstairs to deliver the wine.
As the end of the year approaches, the business of her hotel becomes busier. In the afternoon, she pushes her bicycle here and there, with little time to stop.
It would be great if I could drive...
When setting out for the fourth time, Haixing thought so as he looked at the small truck transporting wine.
It's a pity that she can't.
And the hardship is self-inflicted - she has to work to make money. Unless there is an emergency, Seiichiro will ask her to deliver drinks.
The wine to be sent this time is a small half box, and it belongs to two families.
"This is the wine Mr. Saito ordered...This is the wine Mr. Honda ordered."
Putting away the order form, Haixing pushed the bicycle and set off again.
Busy and busy, the afternoon passed like this.
And at night, people would still call and ask for wine delivery. Seiichiro drove himself to deliver the wine, leaving Haixing to look after the house.
Sitting at the counter, she was in a daze, occasionally answering the phone.
"Hello, this is Maki Hotel... Two bottles of Matsumoto, okay... I'd like another bottle... The address is... OK, we will send it to you as soon as possible."
After hanging up the phone, Haixing quickly wrote down the address, then took out the wine the customer needed from the wine cabinet and put it together with the order.
These days are the peak of the Year-end Party and the New Year's Eve Party. In the evening, there are always people asking for wine, and this is the case every year.
Not long after, a small truck stopped outside the door, and Seiichiro, who had gone out to deliver drinks, returned to the store.
"How was it?"
Haixing pointed to the side, "There are four more orders, and the wine is ready."
He picked up the order, looked at the address, and thought about the delivery route in his mind. Then he loaded the wine prepared by Haixing into the truck, said a few words, and then went out to continue delivering the wine.
As soon as he got in the car, Haixing suddenly waved his arm to signal him to wait.
"Wait a minute, there's a call!"
Seiichiro got off the car and returned to the store. Haixing answered the phone and listened to him while repeating the customer's needs.
"Two bottles of Junmai Ginjo now...the address is...ok, we will deliver them as soon as possible."
Seiichiro wrote down the address, then took out an order form and started writing it. Haixing went to the wine cabinet to look for it, and took out two bottles of Junmai Ginjo and gave them to him.
"Okay. I'm going out."
After seeing his father off again, Haixing glanced at the bookstore. The lights were still on, but he didn't know if Yiye was there.
The busy evening lasted until after ten o'clock, and when Seiichiro came back after delivering the last order, he was already exhausted.
Seeing several order forms on the counter, he glanced at them hastily and asked, "Have you received another order?"
Haixing nodded, "But I need them all tomorrow morning."
Seiichiro also nodded, said nothing more, and sat slumped at the counter.
At the end of every year or before important holidays, the store will be so busy for a period of time. Fortunately, Haixing has become more sensible in the past two years and can help him share some of the work.
However, when things get really busy, it’s still a bit difficult to rely on just the two of them...
The thought of continuing the string flashed through his mind again, and he shook his head and threw it aside.
"Starfish, go and rest."
Haixing looked at his father and wanted to say something, but when he saw that his face was tired, he swallowed it again.
"Well...good night."
After taking a shower and returning to the room, it was already past eleven o'clock.
After drying my hair, Haixing didn’t go to bed.
Standing by the window, the street became silent late at night, and the bookstore diagonally opposite was closed.
"It's so quiet..."
It’s like this every year.
The street light shines brightly alone, and there is no one on the road.
After all, it’s already so late.
She was in a daze for a while, and was awakened by a slight movement below.
It's the sound of the rolling shutter door being locked.
Dad also needs to take a rest.
Haixing returned to the bed and sat down, looking at the time.
In a few minutes, today will be over.
A new day, the last day of the year, is coming.
She fell back and stared at the ceiling.
After I stopped delivering goods, I took several more orders. I will be very busy tomorrow and will start to get busy in the morning.
She should rest early.
But she still wanted to wait a little longer.
Pick up the phone, there are two minutes left.
She pressed a few times to adjust the smallest unit of time display from minutes to seconds.
23:58:35
Staring at the beating numbers, she subconsciously held her breath.
23:59:00
One minute left.
23:59:30
Thirty seconds left...
When there were only ten seconds left, she took a deep breath and stared unblinkingly.
Ten, nine, eight...
Three seconds.
Two seconds.
One second.
Time returns to zero.
December 31 00:00:00
"Happy birthday." She closed her eyes and whispered to herself.
Today is her birthday.
Because it happens to be the last day of the year, birthdays are always forgotten in all the busyness.
"This year's wish, no, I should say today's wish is..."
She opened her mouth, but found that she could only think of some unrealistic things.
If anything is possible...
My current wish is to see him.
Snap!
"——Wow!"
There was a sudden muffled sound from the window, and Starfish was startled.
I turned around and saw a small ball of falling snow on the glass.
What's going on...
She was stunned for a while, stood up, and slowly leaned over.
Snap!
Another ball of snow flew over and hit the window in front of her.
"..."
Starfish quickened his pace and came to the window.
On the street below, Naruse was about to throw out the third ball of snow. Seeing that she had finally come over, he threw it aside and waved to her instead.
Behind him are Naoko, Kazuyo and Hikari waving their hands.
"..."
I have a vague premonition in my heart, but most of it is still unbelievable.
When he came to his senses, Haixing found that he had opened the window.
"Happy birthday, Haixing." Naruse said.
The three girls behind also smiled, "Happy birthday!"
"You..."
Starfish opened his mouth, looked left and right, and held his hands on the window sill, feeling like he had nowhere to put himself.
My eyes suddenly became moist.
"What... suddenly... like this..."
Everything in front of you becomes blurry.
"I think you are not in the mood to sleep now."
Naruse looked up at her.
"Just in time, we have prepared a birthday party, and we are waiting for you now."
"..."
Haixing looked at him and then at Yiye behind him.
Is it a birthday party for her... So that's it.
Why hide it from her!
"What time is it."
Naruse turned his head, "She can't tell..."
"Coming!"
Starfish burst into laughter, waved to several people, turned and left the window sill.
Naruse turned around and was about to say something when she hurried back to the window and closed the forgotten window.
After changing into the clothes for going out, Haixing suppressed her excitement and went downstairs cautiously, thinking that her father had already gone to bed.
Then carefully unlocking the rolling shutter door, she just bent down, stretched out her two hands from the outside, and slowly lifted the door.
He stood outside, holding the door with his hands, wearing a wind and snow.