Just like that morning, Jiang Shenghe parked his car at the main entrance. Neither of them needed to avoid the other.

Luo Qi carried a laptop bag and a file bag. She got out of the elevator, nodding and greeting people along the way.

“Ms. Luo is going out to discuss something again?”

Luo Qi smiled and said, “Yeah.”

She walked out of the building and went down the stairs in small steps, wishing she could take two steps at a time.

She got into the car and closed the door at lightning speed, fearing that others would see that the person in the driver’s seat was Jiang Shenghe.

Jiang Shenghe took her bags and put them in the back seat, “Why are you feeling guilty?”

Luo Qi denied it, “I don’t feel guilty.”

Jiang Shenghe said, “Those people just passed in front of the car, and none of them looked inside.” They all thought that the driver was behind the wheel and was waiting for someone.

The more you hid, the more people would spy on you.

He was here so openly that no one was suspicious.

After fastening his seat belt, Jiang Shenghe drove away.

Luo Qi looked at him from the side from time to time. On her 30th birthday, he was with her from morning to night.

At midnight today, they were at negative distance; at that exact second, she was under him, and he seemed to want to give her all his love.

By the time she got up to take a shower, the bed was a mess.

… …

After entering the theater’s underground parking lot, she kissed Jiang Shenghe on the face, “Thank you, Husband.”

Jiang Shenghe said, “After the concert, I will make you a midnight snack.”

“Okay.”

As a birthday gift, Chu Lin had given them two tickets with the best seats in the house.

Inside the concert hall, Jiang Shenghe suddenly gestured to Luo Qi to look ahead.

Luo Qi saw her eldest cousin standing in another line of people waiting for their tickets to be checked. Jiang Shenghe saw the surprise in her eyes and asked, “You didn’t know that Luo Yuli was coming to Beijing?”

“He didn’t tell me he was coming.” That night, when her cousin called her to ask for her address to send a gift, he was still in Suzhou.

Today was her birthday. In the past, her eldest cousin would have definitely invited her to dinner when he came over.

Wasn’t he not interested in piano playing?

Chu Lin had a concert in Suzhou before, but he refused to go even though she wanted to buy him tickets. Why then did he come all the way to Beijing to listen? She now realized that every time she mentioned Chu Lin to her cousin, his reaction was never normal. He either couldn’t hear her or the signal was not working in the elevator.

Luo Qi was shocked by her own thoughts. With people all around her, she couldn’t say Chu Lin’s name. Instead, she whispered to Jiang Shenghe, “Could Eldest Brother be… her ex-boyfriend from Suzhou?”

“It’s possible.” Jiang Shenghe asked in return, “Why do you think you are you so special to her? My mom said she has a similar personality to mine. She doesn’t like small talk and doesn’t like to initiate conversations with anyone. Yet she even gave you a piano.”

There was a piano in her rental house. Chu Lin only played it twice and then said she was giving it to her.

After entering the concert hall, Luo Qi kept her eyes on her eldest cousin. It seemed that he bought the ticket late and could only get a seat at the very edge.

She sighed silently, pretending not to know she has seen him there.

… …

The whole house was packed, and Chu Lin was so immersed in the music that she didn’t know who had come and didn’t come.

Two years has passed, and she still hasn’t come out of it.

Couldn’t let go, couldn’t forget.

She promised her father that after the concert, she would seriously go on a blind date.

A person had to keep moving forward—just like Luo Qi.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

When the show was over, Luo Qi waited until everyone else left before she got up from her seat.

Jiang Shenghe prepared a bouquet of flowers for Luo Qi to give to Chu Lin. He went to the car to wait for her, and she went backstage by herself to give the flowers.

Chu Lin was removing her makeup and looked at her in the mirror with a smile. “Happy birthday. I should be the one giving you flowers.”

Luo Qi smiled. “It doesn’t matter who gives it to whom.

“My Eldest Brother also came to the concert. Too bad it’s too late today. We can have dinner together next time if we have the chance.”

Chu Lin was noticeably flustered, almost incoherent, “Luo Yuli… He… Your Eldest Brother came here specially to celebrate your birthday?”

“No, Jiang Shenghe celebrated my birthday with me.”

Luo Qi could only help them so much. Whether they were destined to be together or not depended on themselves.

“Jiang Shenghe is still waiting for me.”

“Then go over quickly.” Chu Lin’s mind was no longer in the dressing room.

Luo Qi hasn’t made a birthday wish this year, so she made one for her eldest cousin, hoping that he would have a happy love life and everything would go well for him.

… …

Back at their house, Jiang Shenghe went to the kitchen to make a midnight snack for Luo Qi.

He learned how to make minced pork in bean curd wrappers from Teacher Chen. He had tried it a few times before and was now pretty good at it.

The auntie prepared the necessary ingredients for him. He put on an apron and started to boil water and blanch the leaves.

“Husband, I’m going to walk around the yard.”

“Picking strawberries again?”

“… I’m just checking to see if they’re ripe. I’m not picking them.”

Jiang Shenghe smiled, pulled her in front of him and kissed her, “Do you believe it yourself?”

He planted strawberries in the planting equipment in the yard. He had planted cucumbers the previous season, but after the cucumbers were harvested, he planted strawberries for her and stopped giving her strawberry pots. He found that if he gave her pots, she would pick and eat the strawberries before they were ripe.

Luo Qi said seriously, “I’m just going to take a look. Check how many I can pick tomorrow morning.”

Jiang Shenghe let her go, “It’s your birthday today, so you can pick a few unripe ones.”

“Then I’ll pick a few.” Luo Qi went to the yard with a basket.

Jiang Shenghe: “…”

Luo Qi particularly enjoyed the pleasure of picking strawberries, so much so that she would endure eating them even if they were still sour.

She turned on the flashlight on her phone and picked all the strawberries she could. She ended up with dozen or so in her basket.

When she came back to the kitchen, Jiang Shenghe was rolling the ground meat in leaf wrappers. “Are there any ripe ones?”

“Yes. It was sunny today, so they ripened quickly.” She washed the strawberries, picked out the red ones for Jiang Shenghe, and ate the half-red and half-green ones herself.

“You didn’t check your phone?” Jiang Shenghe reminded her.

She had been busy picking strawberries and didn’t have time to look. Luo Qi opened the chat box now. Jiang Shenghe hadn’t sent her a message, but her Moments showed there was a notification.

Ten minutes ago, he posted on Moments something that was only visible to her.

[I wish my Luo Qi will always be 20 years old.]

Attached was a nine-grid photo: it was their wedding photos taken at her old house in the alley, turned into oil paintings.

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

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T/N: By some happy coincidence, Jiang Shenghe is currently learning how to make minced pork in beancurd wrappers from Teacher Chen— Jian Hang’s mother— in the latest posting of MarriageFirstLoveLater.

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Chapter 62.1 — The Ending (Part I)
Chapter 62.1 — The Ending (Part I)
Chapter 63.1 — The Ending (Part II)
Chapter 63.2 — The Ending (Part II)