Chapter 101 Mandala 21
The next day was the weekend, which was also the day that No. 3 Middle School had already planned for its autumn outing.
Autumn outing is a traditional activity of No. 3 Middle School, held every year. It is a standard one-day outing experience.
All high school students participated.
How can activities organized by the school be just for students to have fun?
Basically, it integrates learning and science popularization. The year before last, it was the Science and Technology Museum, last year it was the historical relics of the old revolutionary base area, and this year's theme is to understand agricultural modernization.
The itinerary was very full. In the morning, teachers and students visited a farm base near Donglan City, and in the afternoon they visited a nearby modern breeding farm.
The students got up earlier than usual, had breakfast, gathered at the school, and set off together on the bus.
After they lined up, the teachers reiterated the rules of the activity and the class monitor led the team to the playground.
More than a dozen tall and large buses have been parked on the playground, which looks quite spectacular.
Before getting on the bus, the teacher suddenly said, "I'll call the students whose student numbers are called over here."
Before Yu Tingting could react, her name was called, and a boy from her class also lined up with her.
Yu Tingting looked around, and Teacher Zhang waved at her: "Come here, follow Principal Meng."
Yu Tingting was somewhat confused as she followed Principal Meng. Each class teacher called out a few students, and Principal Meng gathered them into a group.
Yu Tingting followed the team to another car.
Principal Meng pointed to a minibus parked nearby and said, "There's limited space on the bus, and some classes can't all fit. So, we've randomly selected a few students. Please join me on this minibus."
Every year, bus arrangements present a challenge. The art class at No. 3 Middle School is small, but the regular classes have over 40 students. The bus has limited seating, so students often have to be separated and grouped together. It seems the teachers have changed their approach again this year.
As students from other classes boarded the bus one after another, the students on this bus remained motionless. They stared at each other, some even muttering to themselves.
"Why should we take this one?"
“How exactly is this divided?”
"Can't we find a bigger bus?"
Most of the students did not know each other, and suddenly they had to sit together with unfamiliar classmates. No one took the initiative to get on the bus, and the autumn outing that they had been looking forward to became disappointing.
Teacher Meng added, "First, everyone's destination is the same, so after getting off the bus, we'll continue to move around in groups. Secondly, thank you for your understanding and cooperation with the school. We've specially prepared some snacks, chocolates, and drinks for everyone on this bus."
A student asked curiously: "Teacher, aren't there any in other cars?"
Teacher Meng nodded: "Yes, there are no drinks or snacks in other cars, only here."
Someone whispered, "There's no teacher watching over here, and there's food. It sounds good."
"Just think of it as a trip. Even when my family goes on a trip, we still have to take a bus with strangers."
"It's a short trip, and the school's arrangement, so there shouldn't be any problems."
The students' expressions gradually improved, and they lined up to get on the bus one by one.
Yu Tingting recognized two classmates from the next class among the students and finally felt a little relieved.
Principal Meng called out the names of the students one by one and counted the number of people.
Only then was their minibus able to start.
Who doesn't like free drinks and snacks? Yu Tingting also got a bag of chips, a bottle of Coke, some jelly, and some chocolate. She didn't eat them, but put the snacks in her schoolbag and sat in the back seat of the car.
The car drove very steadily. Principal Meng emphasized the importance of fastening the seat belts and then sat in the front seat.
The supervision here was indeed lax. For a while, the whole carriage was filled with the sound of people chewing potato chips. Some students directly took out their mobile phones or games and played them blatantly.
Yu Tingting noticed that there was a tall boy she didn't know sitting next to her. The boy was a little nervous, looking forward and checking the time on his phone.
Yu Tingting didn't recognize him and thought he was just anxious to go to the bathroom. She took her phone out of her bag, plugged in her headphones, played some music, and looked out the window.
The car was moving forward, and slowly, the snacks were finished. Since most of the students on the bus didn't know each other, there was little chatting. The car was very quiet.
Yu Tingting was listening to the song, but her mind was thinking about other things.
After a while, she took out the business card that the female police officer had given her from her schoolbag and entered the police officer's phone number.
Yu Tingting stared at the string of numbers for a while, she sighed, and deleted the numbers one by one.
After a while, she was still unwilling to give up, so she took out her cell phone and started dialing numbers.
After repeating this action three times, Yu Tingting memorized the phone number and arrived at the destination of their autumn outing.
The first place we arrived at in the morning was the agricultural base.
After getting off the bus, Yu Tingting hurried back to her class.
A classmate asked her: "Yu Tingting, why didn't you take our class bus?"
Yu Tingting: "Principal Meng said there was no more room, so he assigned me to another class."
"Then you are really unlucky."
"The teacher hired the car without even counting how many students were in the class?"
"Are there any handsome guys from other classes on the bus?"
Yu Tingting was too lazy to explain. She said, "It's just this one trip anyway. They even give out drinks and snacks on the bus. And the controls are pretty lax."
"That's better than us. We sang all the way and even competed in reciting the text. We weren't even allowed to use our phones." The classmate lowered his voice and complained, "Lao Zhang is making fun of us again."
After exchanging information, the other students began to envy Yu Tingting. She also took out the potato chips and jelly that she had not eaten and shared them with other girls.
Next up was the autumn outing. A guide took the students on a tour of a modern farm, where they finished picking fruits in the morning and had a pollution-free, pesticide-free lunch.
Afterwards, the team changed stations and walked to a nearby modern breeding farm.
The afternoon's itinerary was relatively relaxing and enjoyable. The students visited a chicken farm and a pigpen, which were different from the smelly and messy farms they had imagined.
The modern farm was very clean, odorless, and even played music to the pigs. After watching the egg hatching and chick selection process, the students went to the adjacent breeding facility. The highlight was personally feeding the cattle, sheep, and horses.
Yu Tingting took a few pancakes and fed them to a white alpaca.
We had black pork and organic chicken soup for dinner, which was quite delicious.
The last dish to come out was the main course, which was a small pancake.
When Yu Tingting saw this thing, her eyes widened and her face turned pale. Then she began to feel nauseous. After holding back for a while, she excused herself to go to the bathroom and asked for leave.
The bathroom here was far away from the dining hall, so she ran to the bathroom and vomited all the dinner she had just eaten.
When she came out of the bathroom to wash her hands, she heard that there was a bit of chaos in the men's room. Several boys had blocked their classmates in the bathroom.
Those boys were fighting and playing like primitive people. This kind of thing was common in school.
Yu Tingting thought about whether to go over and stop it, or tell the teacher, but she thought to herself self-deprecatingly that she was already busy with her own affairs, so why should she meddle in other people's business?
Thinking this in her heart, Yu Tingting was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of justice and stood not far away without leaving.
Fortunately, the boys quarreled for a few words, quickly reconciled, and walked out arm in arm.
Yu Tingting finally breathed a sigh of relief and walked back. Thinking back on the day's itinerary, she felt that all the activities were quite fun.
In the past, she would have laughed heartily with her classmates. But now, she was like a walking corpse, her whole body numb and unable to feel happy.
The most important thing is that she doesn’t know how long this kind of life will last. Perhaps she will be shrouded in this shadow for the rest of her life.
At six o'clock in the evening, the students gathered and prepared to return to school again.
The homeroom teacher gave us homework: "Tomorrow is Sunday. Everyone, remember to write an 800-word essay about today's visit."
The students who were originally chatting happily exclaimed in unison.
Yu Tingting was about to get on the bus when her homeroom teacher reminded her, "Let's all get on the same bus we came in."
Yu Tingting had no choice but to follow Teacher Meng to the minibus again. She still sat in her previous seat. When most people had boarded, the teacher counted the number of people and prepared to set off.
Yu Tingting found that the person next to her was a short and fat boy.
She was a little surprised: "Did you take this car before?"
The boy blushed and shook his head awkwardly. "I'm not," he stammered, "but it was Brother Yang who insisted on switching with me. He said that since we were all going to the same destination, the teacher would only count the total and wouldn't know everyone... He also said there were snacks here and we could eat as much as we wanted, so he asked me to help him."
Then he pointed to the front and said, "There were three people in our class riding this bus. Brother Yang took them and switched with us." After he finished explaining, his eyes flickered. "Don't tell the teacher."
Yu Tingting said "oh" and noticed that there was a faint slap mark on the fat boy's face. Yu Tingting suddenly remembered what happened in the bathroom and understood.
It seems that the male students did not want to ride this bus anymore, so they asked their classmates to switch with them. The process looked a bit like "violent coercion."
Yu Tingting thought that if she meddled, the little fat boy might get another beating. It would only take an hour or so to get back, so she kept silent.
After Principal Meng counted the number of people, he didn't notice any change in the driver. The car started up smoothly.
After a day of walking and a delicious meal, many students were tired and leaned back in their chairs with drooping eyelids.
Yu Tingting took out her headphones and put them on. She typed in the number again, staring at it.
Yu Tingting knew in her heart that she couldn't go on like this, otherwise there would be no difference between living and dying.
She thought, how about... adding the other person's WeChat first?
The sky was gradually getting dark. In the night, a group of buses moved forward one after another, and the minibus was at the end of all the buses, driving forward.
Gradually, the distance between it and other vehicles gradually increased.
When we reached an intersection, all the cars turned left and drove in a line.
No one noticed as the last car turned and disappeared to the right into the darkness.
Another day passed, and when Luo Siwei stood up from her seat she realized that it was almost dark.
There were only a few police officers working overtime in the office on weekends. She was about to order food when she saw Chi Li walk in. He took the initiative to greet her: "I'll treat you to dinner."
Luo Siwei asked, "Captain Chi, what's the special day today?"
Chi Li explained, "It's the meal I owed you when I solved the last case. I happen to be free today." He raised his head and looked at Luo Siwei, "If I don't treat you to a meal this time, I don't know when I'll postpone it."
Where could Luo Siwei go back to? They had just withdrawn recently, and it wasn't as busy as it was at school. There was always a chance to eat if she wanted to.
Besides, there is still a long way to go. At worst, we can have a meal together during the holidays after the case is solved.
But when she looked up and saw Chi Li's serious expression, she swallowed the words back.
Luo Siwei obediently put on a coat and followed Chi Li downstairs.
"I may have to go back to work overtime later, so I'll eat nearby today. Don't mind." Chi Li took the initiative to ask, "What do you want to eat?"
Luo Siwei looked at the neon-lit shops across the street and chose one: "Boiled Fish."
That boiled fish restaurant is quite famous here. Because the business is so good, it only provides dine-in services and not take-out. Luo Siwei has wanted to come and try it for a long time, and this time she finally got the chance.
After entering, the two of them chose a shabu-shabu hotpot, half of which was Miao-style sour soup and half was spicy hotpot.
Chi Li sat outside and Luo Siwei sat on the sofa inside.
Neither of them explicitly stated whether this was a date, but the atmosphere was still full of ambiguity. Anyone who saw them would think they were a well-matched couple having dinner together.
After a while, the pot started to boil, bubbling, and then the fish fillets were placed on the pot. The bones were removed, and the white fish fillets looked crystal clear. They were cooked immediately after being put into the boiling pot.
Dip it in some sauce and it tastes tender, smooth and refreshing.
This was not the first time that Luo Siwei sat down to eat with Chi Li. From colleagues' gatherings, McDonald's in the ward, porridge in the office, small biscuits in the car, meals that Chi Li made at her house when he took care of her, breakfast at the team-building meeting, and steamed buns in the lounge.
However, those occasions where there are not many people around are either at work or when you are sick.
This was the first time that the two of them sat down to have a good meal together in the small restaurant.
Luo Siwei originally thought that she would be nervous about eating alone with Chi Li, but unexpectedly she felt quite comfortable.
The two chatted about work as usual, and then talked about things in life.
Luo Siwei felt that she usually didn't talk much, but for some reason, when she saw Chi Li, she couldn't help but talk more.
There is no end to the topics.
She told Chi Li about the flowers she had recently bought, the goodies she found online, the cats she had seen in the neighborhood, the book she had recently read, and the progress of her latest research. It seemed like she wanted to share so much with him. She would be happy to hear him say even a "hmm" or nod.
Chi Li has been eating sour soup hotpot, and Luo Siwei has been eating spicy hotpot.
Chi Li rarely eats spicy food, but now seeing Luo Siwei eating enthusiastically, he couldn't help but ask her, "Is the spicy hotpot delicious?"
Luo Siwei said, "It's delicious. You should try it. This hot pot is very famous. It's not just spicy, but very spicy and spicy."
Chi Li hesitated before picking up a piece of food with chopsticks and taking a bite. At first, he thought it tasted good, but when he tasted it carefully, he felt like a fire was burning his throat. He choked and quickly covered his mouth with his hand, coughing until his face turned red.
It was the first time that Luo Siwei saw the aloof Chi Li like this, and she hurriedly said, "Drink some Wanglaoji to relieve the spiciness." She poured half a cup of drink into Chi Li's glass.
Chi Li drank it in one gulp, his face still red.
"Captain Chi, I've finally discovered your weakness." Luo Si smiled. "Your habits are like those of an old cadre. You usually drink tea, but you can't even handle something this spicy."
Chi Li took a break before recovering: "I'd better continue eating the sour soup pot."
Luo Siwei said, "I want to try the sour soup too." She picked up a chopstick and ate it directly, then hissed, "It's so sour."
It was a rich sour soup made from tomato juice and some unknown plants, which was fully wrapped around the tender white fish fillet.
Luo Siwei sighed: "This shop really has a lot of ingredients."
The case remains unsolved, but at this moment, they seem to have escaped the evil. Standing before the steaming fish hot pot, their hearts and eyes are filled with each other.
Seeing Chi Li eating the sour soup fish, Luo Siwei suddenly thought of "sour boy, spicy girl". She thought it would be great if men could have children. Chi Li was handsome and elegant, so he should be able to give birth to a beautiful son who looked like him.
Thinking of this, Luo Siwei couldn't help but laugh.
Chi Li looked up and asked her, "What are you laughing at?"
Luo Siwei couldn't think straight when she looked at Chi Li, and blurted out what she had just thought, "Sour boy, spicy girl."
After hearing this, Chi Li was slightly stunned.
Then his eyelashes drooped, and his long eyelashes covered his eyes. Because of this joke, he didn't eat spicy food this time, and his face turned slightly red.
The warm light in the restaurant hit his forehead. Chi Li had an otherworldly temperament to begin with, and with the curling steam, Luo Siwei suddenly felt a little dazed. She felt that the banished immortals in those fairy tales were no more than this.
Just as she was admiring the "beauty".
Chi Li suddenly whispered, "Boys and girls are all good."
Luo Siwei suddenly realized what Chi Li's silence just now meant.
She seemed to have dug a hole for herself and jumped in.
Luo Siwei wanted to cry but had no tears.
Wait, Captain Chi, please don't misunderstand me. I haven't said I'll have a baby for you yet...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
