Chapter 95: This Birthday Song Seems to Have Gone Viral!

Seeing the curious, puzzled look on his wife’s face, Yu Zhile thought for a moment and realized that if even "Two Tigers" was gone, then it made sense that the birthday song would be gone too.

After all, they were both songs, both part of the broader world of entertainment.

Only, without a birthday song, would people in this world not find birthdays terribly dull?

It would be like someone who loved sweet tofu pudding suddenly discovering that everyone in this world only ate the savory kind.

For the sweet-tooth crowd, that would be hard to accept.

He said, "Let’s sing the baby a simple birthday song! Just one line of lyrics, I promise it’s easy to learn!"

Everyone looked at him with curiosity. He clapped a rhythm and began to sing: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!"

The song really did consist of one repeated line.

Yet each repetition carried a slightly different melody, so it sounded rather charming. Most importantly, a birthday song this simple really could be learned at a single listen.

"So? You’ve all learned it, right? Then let’s give the baby a chorus!"

Keeping the beat, Yu Zhile led everyone in clapping along as they began to sing this song that was full of birthday cheer.

The baby sat in the high chair specially prepared for her, and in her curiosity she even joined everyone in clapping her little hands, laughing with delight.

Yu Zhile reached out and straightened the tiny crown on her head. With a birthday song, the birthday finally felt like a real celebration.

"Wife, help the baby blow out the candles!"

After the birthday song ended, Qin Haiyu leaned from behind the baby and blew out the candles. Then she moved the modest two-tier cake in front of the baby, handed her a plastic knife, and guided the baby’s hand as she slowly cut the cake into portions.

The birthday party ended with dessert after the meal.

Throughout the whole process, Xu Ling recorded everything with a professional camera, after all, Yu Zhile and his wife would want to show it to the baby in the future.

Back when they had no means, the most memorable moments in life could not be recorded at all. Now that they had the conditions, of course they should preserve them properly.

When the child grew up, they could let her see her younger self.

And when they themselves were old and forgetful, the child could bring it out and let them reminisce about the past.

Thinking of it that way, it was rather poignant.

A person’s life was not long, yet not short either. To cherish the present and enjoy life was, in Yu Zhile’s eyes, the happiest and most beautiful thing there was.

...

Eight o’clock in the evening.

Tomorrow, his mother still had classes to teach, his father had to return to look after his mahjong parlor, and Old Liu and his chubby little granddaughter also had to go home. So after celebrating the baby’s birthday, they drove back to the county town where they lived.

Yang Bing and Xu Ling helped clear the table and wash the dishes before leaving as well.

The lively house returned once more to the atmosphere of a family of three, sometimes filled with laughter, sometimes warm and quiet.

"Darling, look, the baby’s so sleepy she’s nodding like a little chicken pecking at rice!"

Qin Haiyu was mopping the floor, while the baby sat in her high chair with drooping eyes, her little head bobbing now and then.

Yu Zhile could not help laughing at the little one’s adorable drowsiness. He picked her up and carried her back to her room to sleep.

At that moment, Qin Haiyu suddenly asked, "Oh right, darling, your classmate—why do I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before?"

Yu Zhile said, "That would be normal. He works at Eastern Satellite TV. Last New Year’s Eve gala, didn’t I sneak backstage? He was the one who took me in."

As she kept mopping, Qin Haiyu said, "No wonder he looked a little familiar! I just couldn’t remember where I’d seen him!"

"Wife."

Yu Zhile suddenly complained, "I think you should say something to Xu Ling. She looks like the kind of girl who, once she catches sight of a man, can’t wait to marry him on the spot."

"Pfft!"

Qin Haiyu laughed. "Lingling has always been that way—free and impulsive—but yes, that sort of behavior can be embarrassing for people. Another day I’ll find a way to push her to exercise and lose weight properly. If she succeeds, it’ll be much easier for her to find someone in the future. After all, she’s at least a little rich woman now. Aside from being overweight, her conditions really aren’t bad."

Yu Zhile reminded her, "Wife, don’t tell her I asked you to say that! I’m not looking down on her because she’s overweight, and I don’t think her bold, casual personality is bad either. It’s just that we know her well, so we can understand her. But if strangers don’t know her, they’ll probably find it off-putting."

Qin Haiyu nodded. "Mm-hmm, I understand. Still, honestly, your classmate’s personality does seem pretty well matched with Lingling’s. Today when the two of them were cooking together, they were all smiles and laughter, and they coordinated really well. They even had a sort of husband-and-wife vibe."

Yu Zhile said, "Though Old Yang doesn’t look all that great, he definitely wouldn’t like someone like Xu Ling. Or rather, the vast majority of men don’t like women who are too heavy."

"Poor fat Ling for three seconds..."

Qin Haiyu suddenly grew curious again. "Oh right, darling, is your classmate from a wealthy family? He actually gave the baby such a huge box of birthday gifts!"

Yu Zhile said, "He’s not a rich second generation. It’s just that we’re close, so he went a little overboard this time. I didn’t expect him to bring such a huge box of gifts over either—he bought clothes, toys, and dolls!

"I think he probably didn’t know what to give, so he simply prepared several kinds of presents."

Qin Haiyu said, "Those gifts must cost well over ten thousand yuan, right? Just that set of brand-name plush clothes must be one or two thousand."

Yu Zhile said, "Let’s not fuss over that. When he gets married and has children in the future, we can be generous when it’s our turn to give gifts."

"Mm-hmm."

Qin Haiyu kept mopping the floor. Yu Zhile thought for a moment, then said, "Wife, I’m going to the study to edit and save the baby’s birthday video!"

"Okay!"

...

Two hours later.

Yu Zhile had finished editing the video and backed it up to both a memory card and a cloud drive.

From it, he cut out a short twenty-or-so-second clip of everyone singing the birthday song for the baby as a celebration, then posted it on his microblog to record the moment and share it.

A song like this, a piece of intangible cultural heritage, had to be brought back into the world!

After posting, Yu Zhile walked downstairs. The sound of his wife showering drifted from the bathroom. Seeing that the baby was still asleep, he grabbed a pair of shorts and quickly slipped in for a joint bath.

...

More than half an hour later.

The couple came out after showering, and Yu Zhile used a dry towel to rub his wife’s wet long hair.

Qin Haiyu took out her phone and looked at the microblog he had posted before showering. In that short video, only the baby and she herself, standing behind the baby, had their faces visible.

As for Yu Zhile standing beside her, his head was blocked by a husky avatar. Seeing this, Qin Haiyu could not help laughing. "Hahahaha! Darling, your readers and fans say that’s a dog-head for survival, because you’re too afraid to show your face!"

Yu Zhile said helplessly, "If I don’t use the dog-head for survival, then if I accidentally run into one of those hot-tempered readers outside someday, wouldn’t I be castrated on the spot in a matter of seconds?"

Qin Haiyu laughed again. "Pfft! They say you don’t dare show your face not because you’ve gone into seclusion, but because you’re just too ugly!"

Yu Zhile emphasized, "Jealousy! This is pure, blatant jealousy! They’re jealous that I have a wife as beautiful as an immortal, and such a lovely, pretty daughter!"

After reading the comments for a few minutes, Qin Haiyu suddenly noticed that the reposts and comments on her husband’s microblog seemed to be climbing at an absurd rate.

She opened the trending list and saw that the ninth-ranked topic was: Happy Birthday to You.

Qin Haiyu was stunned. "Darling! This birthday song seems to have gone viral!"