Luo Qi and the courier arrived at the 42nd floor at the same time. The courier was carrying a box of cake in his hand. From what Luo Qi could remember, none of the staff in the President’s Office had birthdays in November.

Perhaps it was the new assistant’s birthday today.

When they reached the front desk, the courier said it was for Mr. Jiang and asked who could sign for it.

Luo Qi said, “Let me sign. I happen to be going to Chief Jiang’s office to report on my work.”

His birthday has already passed—why was there still a cake being delivered?

Luo Qi carried the cake and went to Jiang Shenghe’s office.

The door was closed; she knocked twice.

“Chief Jiang?”

“Luo Qi, come in.”

Jiang Shenghe was on the phone with his mother. When he saw the cake in Luo Qi’s hand, he told his mother that the cake shop has delivered the cake.

After he hung up the phone, Luo Qi asked, “Who sent the cake? Did I remember your birthday wrong?”

“You remembered it correctly.” Jiang Shenghe put down his cell phone and said, “My dad got it for me as replacement.”

He opened the box: there was a row of small umbrellas on the cake in all the colors of the rainbow.

Luo Qi stared at these funny, little umbrellas, “These umbrellas are quite similar to the one I requested for your cake.”

For his birthday, she made a simple drawing of a high-rise building. She was not a good artist at all and could not draw Times Square, so she had to replace it with a simple high-rise building. She also asked the bake shop to make as small an umbrella as possible to decorate the cake.

The small umbrella was made of chocolate and looked a bit like the one they used on that rainy day in Suzhou.

Jiang Shenghe said, “My dad ate the little umbrella before I could get it on my plate.”

Luo Qi: “…”

… …

On the night of Jiang Shenghe’s birthday, his father also happened to come back.

He has forgotten how many years it has been since he and his father have sat down to have a meal together calmly.

Although the relationship has eased a lot over the phone, neither one took the initiative to talk to the other when they met in person; there was really no common topic to talk about.

In the past, Jiang Shenghe only got simple cakes for his birthday. But as a matter of fact, this year’s cake had many decorative elements, and he appreciated them all.

At the time, the little umbrella was on Father Jiang’s side, and he found it rather interesting. “Can this be eaten?” he asked Mother Jiang.

Mother Jiang was unsure. “It doesn’t look like a toy, it looks like chocolate.”

Jiang Shenghe looked up and said, “Don’t eat the umbrella.”

But it was too late—his father had already bitten it, and there was only the umbrella handle left in his hand.

Father Jiang was stared at by his youngest son for half a minute, which made his face burn.

After living half a century, he has never felt so embarrassed.

Having eating half of it, he could not throw away the other half, nor could he eat the umbrella handle so he just held it like a coward.

Jiang Shenghe said, “It’s okay, just eat it.”

In Father Jiang’s ears, this ‘it’s okay’ was much too forced.

It’s been days, and Father Jiang still couldn’t get over this hurdle in his heart—he actually ate something that his son cared about. His son was obviously not willing to give it to him, and so he felt uncomfortable.

He called his wife in the morning, had her order another cake, and asked them to put in a few more umbrellas.

So now there were many chocolate umbrellas in various colors.

“My dad’s aesthetics is not very good.”

“I think it’s good. Quite festive.”

Jiang Shenghe wrapped a part of the pink umbrella with a paper napkin and handed it to Luo Qi, “Try it.”

Luo Qi took a small bite and said, “This is strawberry flavored, similar to the strawberry I had this morning, a little sour.”

After hearing that, Jiang Shenghe stared at her.

Luo Qi denied it, “I didn’t eat the strawberries in the pot.”

Jiang Shenghe smiled, “You ate it before it was fully ripe?”

There was only one strawberry in the pot that looked almost ripe and more than half red; he thought she would wait to eat it until tomorrow.

Luo Qi laughed and laughed and bit the chocolate without saying anything.

Before she came over, she picked the half-red and half-green strawberry, washed it, and ate it.

After laughing enough, she changed the subject, “Uncle Jiang specially sent you the cake, please eat more.”

Jiang Shenghe packed the cake back into a box and said, “Let’s go to the cafeteria, we can eat it there.”

Only then did he have time to ask her whether she came today to see him or Li Rui.

“I’ll talk to Li Rui about the contract this afternoon.”

Luo Qi wanted to complete the process as soon as possible. She wanted to resolve everything before the end of the month. All those unpleasant people and things that made her unhappy didn’t need to be carried onto the next one.

Jiang Shenghe walked in front carrying the box of cake. Luo Qi closed the office door and stayed about one meter behind him.

As he walked, he sent a text message to his father: [Dad, I received the cake, thank you.]

Father Jiang replied dryly: [“Just accept it.”]

Jiang Shenghe typed again: [Luo Qi said the cake is very nice, I will eat it with her over lunch.]

Father Jiang didn’t know what to say, so he simply didn’t reply.

Jiang Shenghe waited for a while then locked the screen of his phone.

On the night of his birthday, after eating the cake, his father said that he has become another year older.

This was to remind him in disguise that he was no longer young and hinting that they have been waiting for who knew how long for him to get married.

He then told his father that he already has someone.

Father Jiang was surprised. Whose daughter was this?

“It’s Luo Qi. It’s because of her that I returned to China.”

Father Jiang was silent for a long time.

“I didn’t want to tell you at first, but I was afraid that you would arrange a blind date on your own initiative, which would only embarrass the other party. After all, I’m not single anymore.

“We’re going to take wedding photos next week.”

After that, his father didn’t mention Luo Qi again.

He knew that it would be hard for his father to accept this matter for a while.

Entering the elevator, Luo Qi called him, “Chief Jiang, what are you thinking about?”

Jiang Shenghe came to his senses and said, “I was wondering if you would pick the green strawberries and eat them tomorrow.”

Luo Qi looked at him with a smile. He lowered his head, kissed her on the cheek, and coaxed her, “It’s still so green, don’t eat it until two days later.”

When Luo Qi came down to eat with Jiang Shenghe, several people led by Xiao Jiang sympathized with her.

The boss was holding the box of birthday cake in his hand. Luo Qi may have escaped on his actual birthday but not three days later.

Jiang Shenghe cut a large piece of cake for Luo Qi and asked Xiao Jiang and the others to share the rest.

Luo Qi only ate a little, so Jiang Shenghe brought the plate over and ate the rest. 

“Third Uncle is celebrating his birthday this week. Does Luo Yu want to go back with us?” he asked her.

“I’ll ask her now.”

“Okay, if she wants to, then I’ll buy her ticket as well.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Luo Yu hadn’t planned on going back in the same train with her cousin-sister and brother-in-law at first. Knowledgeable light bulbs knew to be invisible when it was time to be invisible. But Luo Qi assured her that it wouldn’t matter. It wasn’t like she and Jiang Shenghe weren’t together yet and needed private space.

If Luo Yu wanted to go back with them, Jiang Shenghe would buy her a business class seat.

Business class tickets were expensive, and Luo Yu was never willing to buy them, so she agreed feeling rather hopeless.

They got tickets for the trip back to Suzhou. It would depart on Friday evening.

Third Uncle’s birthday celebration was for noon on Saturday, and they plan to take wedding photos in the afternoon on the same day and then again on Sunday morning. It was a full schedule.

Seventh Year of My Secret Love for You translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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A list of all advance chapters is HERE.
Chapter 52.3 — The Photoshop is Pretty Good
Chapter 53.1 — Wedding Photos on a Rainy Night
Chapter 53.2 — Wedding Photos on a Rainy Night
Chapter 53.3 — Wedding Photos on a Rainy Night
Chapter 54.1 — Don’t Just Keep Hugging Me
Chapter 54.2 — Don’t Just Keep Hugging Me
Chapter 54.3 — Don’t Just Keep Hugging Me