Chapter 385: On Traces
"Then let me think about what they are..." Zhu Zhixue picked at her fingers, "Fireworks, dinner, flowers..."

Zhu Zhixue counted them one by one, and finally hugged Li Zhuangsheng with a smile: "I like everything you gave me... But my favorite, the one that makes me happiest, is the book you gave me. You must have spent a long time making that thing. I am really touched. I will keep it for the rest of my life!"

"Yeah, I knew it... I'm a little weird," said Li Zhuangsheng.

When he was preparing for Zhu Zhixue's birthday, he naturally thought of Hu Mengdie. Hu Mengdie was his first girlfriend, but he thought that at least the birthday surprise he prepared for Zhu Zhixue couldn't be worse than Hu Mengdie's.

In fact, it doesn't matter if she can't compare to Hu Mengdie. After all, that happened ten years later, and no one else knows about it now. Zhu Zhixue also has no way to compare.

But he felt that this was not a good thing. Zhu Zhixue deserved better and she should get better.

We must not be like Hu Mengdie, because that would appear insincere and would be disrespectful to Zhu Zhixue.

Since he cared about Hu Mengdie's smiles and frowns towards him, he had done them to others, so he shouldn't treat Zhu Zhixue like this... Although no one could care, and no one could think so. But it was as if there was a pair of eyes staring at him.

So Li Zhuangsheng racked his brains to think of a birthday surprise for Zhu Zhixue, and his most proud idea was seventeen fireworks.

He knew what Zhu Zhixue wanted, and she would definitely be happy.

Although this is a bit like the more than 20 gifts he gave to Hu Mengdie back then.

However, he and Zhu Zhixue were students and did not need so many expensive gifts, and Li Zhuangsheng did not like this either.

Starting from the beginning of the New Year, the Lantern Festival, Valentine's Day, Women's Day, May 20th, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Children's Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas... not including parents' birthdays, partners' birthdays, etc.

It seems like every holiday requires spending money, and you have to spend money. Otherwise, you are not filial enough to your parents, and you are not considerate enough to your girlfriend.

He knew clearly that these were just consumer traps, but there seemed to be an invisible pressure pushing him to step into them. Otherwise, he would feel uneasy, as if he was not doing well enough.

It’s like he always believes that men and women are equal, but when it comes to being his turn to date a girl, he feels that it is natural for him to pay.

When Li Zhuangsheng celebrated Hu Mengdie's first birthday, he racked his brains to give her an unforgettable gift. He thought about it for a long time and looked up a lot of references on the Internet, and finally came up with that method.

He recalled every moment with Hu Mengdie and wrote down all the gifts on paper.

In fact, some of the gifts given away later were not Li Zhuangsheng’s first choices, but they were all very expensive.

There is a popular term in the future world, "scheming poor man", which is used to complain about boys who spend very little on their girlfriends' birthdays. Li Zhuangsheng hates this term and thinks it is highly materialistic, greedily showing the face of snobbishness and worship of money, and justifying the exploitation and PUA of men.

Do gifts have to be valuable? Why can we only use money to measure the thoughtfulness of a person? Why are those unique gifts rejected simply because they are cheap?

He hated this kind of atmosphere, but the atmosphere was the atmosphere. He felt that Hu Mengdie was not someone who particularly valued money and material things, but her not caring did not mean that he could do whatever he wanted.

If she really receives a bunch of cheap gifts, she will still be a little disappointed. Can she really give out gifts that don’t cost much? Will she not be criticized by her besties? Will she be embarrassed in front of her friends?

Will Li Zhuangsheng himself become a "scheming poor man"?
Li Zhuangsheng wasn't sure.

Therefore, although Li Zhuangsheng was sure that his gifts were thoughtful enough, he still replaced some of them with more expensive gifts. Although the original gifts were also expensive, only in this way could he feel confident enough to give them out.

For example, roller skates, perfume, AirPods and Dyson air purifiers. These are priced at more than four figures. It seems that only with them can other relatively cheap gifts reflect the thoughtfulness of the heart.

Judging from the results, he seemed to have done the right thing. After Hu Mengdie's birthday, the other party finally made his existence public on WeChat Moments.

He was a bootlicker who got the goddess. He knew that he got her because of his own bootlicking. He knew from the beginning that their relationship was not equal, but he was happy with it. After he came to his senses, he felt deeply ashamed, especially after dating Zhu Zhixue, he despised and was even more angry with himself back then.

You are so devoted to Hu Mengdie, who doesn't love you, so should you slack off towards a girl like Zhu Zhixue who truly loves you?

Therefore, he must do better than before.

Of course, doing better than before does not mean spending more money. Because he knew clearly in his heart that money and feelings cannot be equated. Most importantly, Zhu Zhixue didn't care how much money he spent on her. He could at least be sure of that.

Maybe Hu Mengdie didn't care, but Li Zhuangsheng didn't dare to test her bottom line before. Mainly because he didn't know her bottom line. She seemed to be always shrouded in a faint fog of war, which was fascinating, but also difficult to see clearly.

Li Zhuangsheng thought that this gift was better than the first birthday gift he gave to Hu Mengdie. When he was preparing it, he felt that the fireworks were a stroke of genius.

Celebrating her birthday in front of all the teachers and students in the school, the seventeen fireworks hinted at her age, Zhu Zhixue must have been very happy!
It turned out that Zhu Zhixue really liked it. But what was beyond Li Zhuangsheng's expectation was that Zhu Zhixue preferred the three-dimensional books with the lowest value.

What's so surprising about this? Isn't this what you have been secretly expecting?

Otherwise, why would you make this thing, just to prove something?

Li Zhuangsheng questioned himself in his heart, and suddenly he laughed.

"If you like it, I will make it for you every year." After a long time, Li Zhuangsheng said again.

"Okay... No, I have to take the college entrance examination next year, maybe the year after." Zhu Zhixue whispered, "From now on, you do it for me, and I do it for you... until we get married, until we both become grandpa and grandma..."

As she was talking, she became silent and fell asleep with her head resting on Li Zhuangsheng's pillow.

Will we both be gray-haired? That would be nice too, sitting in the pavilion in the sun, looking at each other and talking about our youthful days.

Li Zhuangsheng said heartily.

……

"Get up!" Zhu Zhixue patted Li Zhuangsheng.

"Hmm." Li Zhuangsheng rubbed his sore eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's half past five. I made breakfast. You should get up and eat something. We have to go to school soon!" Zhu Zhixue kissed him on the mouth.

(End of this chapter)