Liu Chen found that after she was reborn, she cried even more than in her previous life.
Like now.
She stood on the podium of Class 6, Senior High, and looked at her classmates, whom she had only known for two months. They had organized a surprise party for her, and her eyes felt like they were being attacked by onions at close range, making her unable to stop crying.
Mi Zhuzhu and Ren Mo brought out a cake they had hidden somewhere and placed it on the podium. Mi Zhuzhu stuck eighteen candles on it, and Teacher Lai lit each one with a match.
The classmates started singing "Happy Birthday." Liu Chen cried and smiled as she blew out the candles, then began to cut the cake.
No matter how big the cake, divided into dozens of portions, each would only be a small sliver. However, the classmates didn't mind. They wanted to celebrate Liu Chen, to eat cake. There were plenty of five-yuan cream cakes from the bakeries outside the school!
After cutting the cake, with her eyes still a bit blurry, she handed a piece to each classmate, sincerely saying thank you.
When the dismissal bell rang, the students of Class 6, Senior High, wiped the cream from the corners of their mouths, grabbed their clothes from under their seats, and swarmed out of the classroom.
When most of the people had left the classroom, Liu Chen finally remembered the bags placed behind her seat.
Just as she was about to remind the departing classmates to come back for their clothes, she saw Mi Zhuzhu smiling as she took out a large, brightly colored box from the drawer, complete with a ribbon bow.
"Don't call them back! Those are all gifts from everyone for you. Here, open mine first."
Liu Chen carefully untied the ribbon and gradually peeled open the wrapping paper from the top of the gift, trying her best not to damage the paper in any way.
After opening the wrapping paper, the product box inside was revealed.
Nikon D90.
Liu Chen hadn't touched a camera much in her previous life, but she knew that a camera this large, with a long lens, was very expensive. She recalled it was called a DSLR.
It wouldn't be less than several thousand yuan.
Therefore, Zhuzhu's living expenses saved over the past two months were probably all spent on this.
Thinking of this, Liu Chen felt her heart soften like cotton candy.
"Holy crap, Mi Zhuzhu, you're ruthless! This Nikon D90 set must be eight or nine thousand, right? Tsk tsk, but you're still a bit reserved. Come on, Sister Chen, look at the gift I prepared for you. High-end, magnificent, stylish – even these descriptions are a bit weak!"
Lai Jielun said as he pulled out a stack of pure English hardcover editions of *Harry Potter* from under his desk. He then flipped open the title page of the topmost book.
"Look, signed by J.K. Rowling herself, and wishing Chenchen a happy birthday~"
Ren Mo, sitting next to Liu Chen,'s eyes widened. He couldn't help but punch Lai Jielun lightly in the chest:
"Lai Jielun, you're something else! J.K. Rowling, wow? How did you get it? You two went too high-class, I'm almost embarrassed to present mine..."
Despite his words, Ren Mo still took out a small, elongated box from his backpack. Liu Chen opened it to reveal a miniature figurine of herself.
For the remaining gifts, the three of them suggested Liu Chen open them slowly at home, because according to the gossip king, Lai Jielun,
"They all basically wrote you letters. You can open them slowly when you get back, otherwise, it'll be dark by the time you finish opening them here."
Then, Mi Zhuzhu, Lai Jielun, and Ren Mo accompanied Liu Chen to take the gifts home.
Liu Chen sat on the living room sofa, carefully unwrapping each gift, and then neatly tidying up the boxes and wrapping paper.
As Lai Jielun had said, almost every gift came with a birthday card.
'Liu Chen, Happy Birthday. Your arrival in the monotonous Senior High Year 3 even made me think that Senior High Year 3 is pretty good, hahaha!'
'Happy Birthday, Liu Chen. Thank you. I was always too shy to ask the teacher for help with problems I didn't understand, and you always explained them to me. My score improved a lot in the recent city-wide mock exam, and my mom even said she wants to treat you to a meal...'
'Liu Chen, I used to admire my mom the most. Not anymore. Now I admire you the most. Not only are your grades good, but you're also incredibly hardworking. I've never seen you slack off; you're either doing practice papers or studying the solutions. Awesome!'
As she read, the light began to dim. She looked up towards the living room window and saw that the sky was a deep red, with the evening glow floating among the clouds, casting a golden hue.
It was already past six in the evening. Unknowingly, she had spent over three hours reading the cards. When she stood up from the sofa, her back felt like it wasn't her own.
Humming a tune, she rinsed rice and started cooking. Glancing at the vegetables in the refrigerator, she finally made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised beef with potatoes, and shredded potatoes with green peppers.
Just as the shredded potatoes were served, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the security door.
Hu Min, carrying a chocolate cake from a chain cake shop, entered with a smile, followed by Liu Fang. Seeing Liu Chen turn around, she brought the cake forward and said with a smile, "Happy Birthday, Chenchen!"
Wang Dong, standing behind Hu Min, also presented their gifts – a MacBook Air, Apple's ultra-thin laptop released earlier that year.
Liu Fang smiled and said:
"This child, you're stunned. Aren't you going to thank your aunt?"
Liu Chen smiled and took the laptop box with both hands, saying:
"Thank you, Auntie. Thank you, Uncle!"
"Hey!" Wang Dong quickly responded to being called "Uncle," his smile as bright as if he had received the gift himself.
Initially, the meal was planned for just mother and daughter, but with Hu Min and Wang Dong's arrival, it naturally wouldn't be enough. Liu Chen simply called the small restaurant at the entrance and asked them to deliver a few dishes and a bucket of rice to their home.
Just after finishing the call, she saw her aunt looking at the gifts piled on the sofa. Hu Min looked around and couldn't help but sigh with envy:
"Wow, our little Chenchen is very popular! So many gifts, I'm so envious."
Liu Chen also couldn't help but smile when she saw the mountain of gifts on the sofa.
After examining them, she used the DSLR camera Mi Zhuzhu had given her to carefully arrange all the gifts together and then took a group photo.
Then, she took a photo of the DSLR camera Mi Zhuzhu had given her with her phone.
Next, she opened the laptop and, following the instructions in the manual, plugged in the USB-to-Ethernet adapter, then the network cable.
She inserted the camera's memory card into the card reader, then plugged it into the laptop, downloaded QQ, logged in, and opened her QQ Zone.
She uploaded the photos of the gifts to the "Senior High Year 3 Life" album.
Someone "good-hearted" from Class 4, Senior High Year 3, transferred Liu Chen's photos to the QQ group.
"People from Shifan Fuzhong are really rich, gifting thousands of yuan for presents."
"Could it be that Liu Chen got first place in the grade before, and they're trying to bribe her to pass them answers in the next exam by giving her gifts?"
The speculation about the birthday gifts for Liu Chen, who had already transferred, kept the students of Class 4, Senior High Year 3, awake again tonight.