Details Shape the Future

The moon hung above the willow branches.

The stars in the countryside were indeed beautiful; the stars in the city were basically obscured by light pollution and smog.

Although there was no switch for the camp lights, when Lin Mo came out holding the cake, the atmosphere was perfectly set.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you... happy birthday dear Yunlu."

Without accompaniment, Lin Mo's a cappella singing sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet mountains.

He walked steadily step by step, safely delivering the cake with its dancing, warm candlelight to Jiang Yunlu.

The candlelight reflected in Jiang Yunlu's eyes, rippling with a watery gleam.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. It was clearly a massive surprise, yet tears welled up uncontrollably.

Smiling through her tears, her voice choked with emotion, "I... I finally get to have a cake made by your own hands."

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait!" Seeing this, Lin Mo was suddenly at a loss. "Make a wish! Hurry up and make a wish! I'll make one for you every year from now on, what are you crying for?"

Lin Mo was most afraid of girls crying.

Behind them, Jiang Chengshan wanted to chop Lin Mo in half for daring to make his precious daughter cry.

But before he could act up, Jiang Yunlu wiped her face vigorously, her smile brighter than the stars in the sky. "I'm just happy! Who's crying? I can finally eat a cake made by you!"

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Freeing a hand, he habitually rubbed Jiang Yunlu's head.

"We've only known each other for a year, but you make it sound like I've owed you cakes for over a decade. Hurry, make a wish and blow out the candles, or the wax will melt all over it."

Jiang Yunlu obediently closed her eyes and pressed her palms together. Her long eyelashes cast a small shadow in the candlelight. She made her wish with utmost devotion, then took a deep breath and blew out all the candles.

Lin Mo didn't ask what she wished for.

Some wishes wouldn't come true if spoken aloud.

He handed over the knife and fork, gesturing for the birthday girl to do the honors.

Jiang Yunlu carefully cut the cake, respectfully handing the first piece to Jiang Chengshan and the second to Uncle Zhao beside them.

"Thank you, Miss," Uncle Zhao received it with a chuckle.

Jiang Chengshan looked at the piece of cake on his plate, which was dotted with little transparent beads, and unconsciously raised an eyebrow.

This kid sure had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

He had already made up his mind: if this cake didn't taste good, he had a master-class creation ordered from a five-star hotel hidden in his RV, ready to sub in at any moment.

With a critical attitude, Jiang Chengshan took a small bite with his fork and put it in his mouth.

The cake had a dense and soft texture, and the sweetness was just right. Just as he was about to nod and say it was decent, a small bead in his mouth suddenly burst.

A burst of crisp, sweet and sour strawberry juice exploded instantly, the sourness shooting straight to the top of his skull!

Jiang Chengshan shuddered, goosebumps instantly breaking out on his arms.

He snapped his head up, shooting a sharp look at Lin Mo, his face full of astonishment.

This kid... how did he know?!

Many people knew that Jiang Yunlu loved strawberries, but she had an extremely private quirk—she didn't like the large, sweet ones, but exclusively favored the small, intensely sour varieties.

This habit was only known to her closest family members. After all, in front of outsiders, she would pretend to like the popular sweet flavors.

Jiang Chengshan's mind went blank; this was practically a little family secret.

How did this kid Lin Mo...

What he didn't know was that Lin Mo was simply observant enough.

He had long used his divine sense to observe that at school, although the lunches sent from Jiang Yunlu's home rarely repeated over seven days a week, the probability of strawberries appearing in her fruit box was as high as seventy percent, and every time, the strawberries were sour.

Because of this, Lin Mo woke up especially early today to specifically search for sour strawberries that met this requirement.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought his own ingredients to Sweetheart Bakery to make the cake.

After all, Sweetheart's kitchen had its own strawberries.

Jiang Chengshan watched his daughter put the cake into her mouth, followed by an undisguised, heartfelt smile of happiness blooming on her face.

He then looked at Lin Mo, who was gazing at his daughter with a gentle expression.

He silently forked another small piece of cake, bringing that explosive surprise into his mouth along with it.

This time, the sourness didn't seem as overwhelming.

He glanced toward the trunk of his car, wavering for the first time.

That backup cake... it seemed he wouldn't need to bring it out after all.

Time rewound to the morning.

Sweetheart Bakery.

Yue Yiqing returned to the kitchen and finally took a bite of the strawberry popping boba cake Lin Mo had made.

With one bite, the strawberry-flavored popping boba exploded in her mouth.

She was shocked; she had originally thought these boba were just a type of gummy candy.

She never expected them to have a liquid center that burst.

"This is amazing! The strawberry flavor is so rich, like a filled gummy, but the outer shell is much thinner. So how are these popping boba made?"

These were popping boba Lin Mo made using the strawberries from Yue Yiqing's kitchen, so they wouldn't be too sour.

Yue Yiqing felt like she had discovered a new continent. She had originally thought she could easily replicate Lin Mo's cake.

But at this moment, she suddenly realized she probably couldn't.

Because she had no idea how to make these popping boba.

So she sent Lin Mo a message.

"Lin Bei! How did you make these popping boba?! It's magical."

There were no popping boba back in 2013.

But Lin Mo was good at chemistry. Replicating something that would only appear years later was a piece of cake for him.

A short while later, the recipe for making the popping boba was sent over.

Yue Yiqing looked at the recipe in pleasant surprise. Fortunately, she was decent at chemistry too and wasn't completely clueless.

The composition of the popping boba was actually formed by the fusion of sodium alginate and calcium lactate solutions.

Most importantly, both of these were edible food additives.

Lin Mo even wrote down the exact proportions; all she had to do was make it.

At the end, Lin Mo even attached a friendly reminder: "Don't leak the recipe. This is your ultimate weapon for conquering the market."

Seeing this, Yue Yiqing felt that Lin Bei was a good guy, except for being a bit of a scumbag.

After all, he had already come here to make three cakes.

All three were for girls.

The timeline returned to the present.

At this moment, the so-called scumbag was being hugged tightly, unable to shake the other person off no matter how much he twisted.

"Hey, hey, hey, watch out for the cream."

"Hmph! I'll smear it all over you, are you scared?"

Lin Mo pretended to be scared. "Oh my, I'm terrified! I beg you, milady, please don't!"

"Hmph, just submit obediently and I won't mess around!"

These little fierce words were far inferior to Chu Miaomiao's.

Little Yunlu, oh Little Yunlu, your progress is the slowest among all the girls in this batch I've guided.

Lin Mo pulled a small box out of his pocket.

"I prepared a gift for you. See if you like it?"

Jiang Yunlu opened the box to reveal a jade pendant inside. It was shaped like an adorable kitten.