The breakfast shop that Lu Yibei took Ji Qingqian to was very lively.
The rising steam was filled with people heading out to work early in the morning.
Lu Yibei called out to an elderly woman who was packing breakfast for customers, "Auntie."
The old lady was busy with her work and only replied, "Little Lu, how long has it been since you came?"
Only then do you have time to look up.
First she looked at Lu Yibei, then her gaze fell on Ji Qingqian beside him.
Ji Qingqian was a little nervous.
During a casual chat, she had heard Lu Yibei mention that the word "嬢嬢" has different meanings in different dialects.
In Sichuan and Chongqing, she's equivalent to an aunt.
However, in the Wu dialect, it means "grandma" and is a respectful term for an older woman.
"Ma'am."
Ji Qingqian tried to call out, but her pronunciation, being from the north, was still a bit strange.
The old lady's smile deepened.
She realized Ji Qingqian wasn't a local, so she switched to Mandarin with a Hangzhou accent: "Okay, okay... Xiao Lu, is this your girlfriend?"
Ji Qingqian put her hands behind her back, gently pulling at the fingers of her right hand with her left hand, and glanced at Lu Yibei.
Lu Yibei smiled wryly. "If you're talking about a girlfriend, he hasn't even officially confessed yet. But if you're not, the heroine Qingqian would probably give him a whole set of the Great Creation Palm."
“My little darling,” he said.
The old man laughed heartily, his wrinkles clearly visible.
Then Lu Yibei felt a heaviness in his feet and looked down.
The heroine Qingqian stepped on his instep, glared at him, and then immediately turned her head away.
Lu Yibei ordered his usual food, two servings.
Despite the large number of people, the packed breakfast was quickly delivered to Lu Yibei.
It was obvious that the old lady had cut in line for him.
"This breakfast shop has a long history."
As Lu Yibei and Ji Qingqian walked back to school, he introduced the shop to her: "The old lady opened it when she was young, and it's been around for twenty or thirty years. Now her grandson is helping out in the shop and plans to take it over. It's a truly time-honored brand."
Ji Qingqian nodded, a fried dough stick dangling from her mouth.
Lu Yibei opened the plastic bag of the xiaolongbao, squeezed the vinegar packet inside, and picked one up with chopsticks.
Ji Qingqian immediately spat out the fried dough stick, held it in her hand, and opened her peach lips to Lu Yibei.
Lu Yibei warned, "Be careful, it'll burn you."
Ji Qingqian took it with her mouth, chewed it, and then swallowed it with relish.
"Stable, with iron teeth and bronze teeth."
Lu Yibei found it quite amusing: "What kind of ice-cold goddess or aloof school beauty eats like this?"
"It's just other people's prejudices," Ji Qing said calmly. "What you see is the truth."
She looked at the box of xiaolongbao again: "There are so many, this amount should be enough to go to Harbin... Does Grandma know you?"
"Um."
How do you know so many people?
Ji Qingqian glanced at him suspiciously: "Social butterfly personality?"
"Before... well, before last year's winter break."
Lu Yibei said, "Her old dog, which she had raised for more than ten years, suddenly ran away from home and got lost. I helped her look for it, and that's how we met."
"Did you find it?" Ji Qingqian asked.
"without."
"That's been more than half a year." Ji Qingqian thought for a moment and asked, "Have you put up any lost dog posters?"
"without."
"Why…"
Before Ji Qingqian could finish asking, Lu Yibei fed her another steamed bun.
He said softly, "Because I'm dead."
With a steamed bun in her mouth and her cheeks slightly puffed out, Ji Qingqian couldn't speak, but her bright, clear eyes suddenly widened.
"Dogs' lifespans are already much shorter than humans', and that dog had been unwell all last year... Dogs are relatively simple creatures; if you treat them well, they remember it clearly. So when their time is up, they don't want their owners to worry, so they break free from their restraints, run out of the house, and find a place to wait for death."
Lu Yibei said, "Actually, Grandma knew about it too. She only looked for half a day and then stopped. Rather than saying that Grandma really wanted to find the dog, it's more like she wanted to send it off on its final journey in this way... Look, what a good old lady and her dog."
The boy laughed.
Ji Qingqian swallowed the steamed bun and looked at Lu Yibei with clear eyes.
"What's wrong?" Lu Yibei asked.
“You know that too,” Ji Qingqian said.
"ah?"
“But you still went with Grandma to look for her,” Ji Qingqian said.
“Hmm…” Lu Yibei scratched the back of his head: “Look at her, she’s so old. If she gets upset, there’s someone there to take care of her, right? Anyway, I was pretty free at the time.”
Ji Qingqian lightly bit her lower lip with her upper teeth and squinted at Lu Yibei.
"I'm not a female knight-errant, there's no point in talking about this once you've said it out loud," Lu Yibei said helplessly.
Ji Qingqian wanted to laugh.
This is the big boy who lives in her heart.
Full of tenderness, yet indifferent.
It's no wonder she loved him so much.
Ji Qingqian picked up the pair of thin disposable chopsticks, picked up a small steamed bun, and brought it to Lu Yibei's lips:
"Sweetie, come here, ah—"
...
playground.
Today is the last morning of military training, mainly featuring a competition between the various classes' formations.
The playground was filled with a huge number of new students.
The instructors and leaders hadn't arrived yet, and the freshmen were chatting with acquaintances.
Together they produced a deafening roar.
But no one complained about the noise; it was the sound of their youth.
“Let’s meet up there,” Lu Yibei said.
He took the tissue that Ji Qingqian had used to wipe her mouth and hands.
Ji Qingqian nodded and hummed in agreement:
Will you stay here?
"Once it officially starts, we probably won't be allowed on the playground... I'll watch you from outside."
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