Picnic
After returning from the research building, the teacher instructed everyone to start preparing dinner. Lu Er discussed what to eat with the others in her group, and they all said they didn't care. Lu Er finally decided to cook two dishes, two meat dishes, and a soup, and buy some fruit for dessert.
Lu Er led Ruan Xiyan and Xu Ting to the nearest supermarket to buy ingredients. Yan Songqi and the twins went to collect the kitchen utensils distributed by the teacher and washed them so that Lu Er and the others could cook as soon as they returned.
"Lettuce, potatoes, chicken legs, ham sausages..." Lu Er read the ingredients from the memo, then turned to the two of them and said, "Who's going to buy the fruit?"
Xu Ting said excitedly, "I'll make you a fruit platter."
Ruan Xiyan pushed the shopping cart behind her. Lu Er lowered his eyes to select vegetables, and gave the ones he liked to Ruan Xiyan. He then obediently handed the plastic bag to the supermarket aunt to weigh, and then followed closely behind Lu Er.
Like a puppy being led out on a leash. Even if Lu Er wasn't on a leash, he was willing to be tied up by her.
After buying the ingredients, we returned to the campsite. Among the dozens of picnic groups, some were busy and flustered, some were laughing heartily, and some looked utterly dejected.
Lu Er stood calmly in front of the large pot, wielding a spatula. The hot oil released a fragrant aroma, attracting Yan Songqi and the others to come and watch. The setting sun slowly descended from the mountaintop, casting a warm light that dappled the stream, turning it a lemon-yellow color, like a small river brewed from fresh orange juice and lemonade.
Oyster sauce lettuce, stir-fried potatoes and ham, seaweed and egg soup, braised chicken drumsticks with baby bok choy... every dish smelled delicious. Teacher Mina passed by their group and praised them with a smile, "You did a really good job."
Xu Ting spread his arms to Lu Er: "Lu Er did it all!"
Yan Songqi tapped her glasses frame with her finger bone: "This is our sixth group's culinary god, Lu."
The five people rushed to praise Lu Er, who, with her eyes half-closed, moved slightly, looking a little embarrassed.
The aroma wafting from the table attracted students from the next group. Ye Xinyu and a boy came over, their eyes filled with envy: "Can we try some? Our group is so ridiculous, they bought several packs of instant noodles to make."
They planned to order takeout, only to find that the area they located didn't offer takeout service at all. It just goes to prove what Teacher Mina said: "Let's see if you can even get your order."
The five of them turned their gazes to Lu Er, the unspoken message being that she was their head chef and therefore in charge. Lu Er coughed lightly and nodded, saying, "Okay."
At first, there were only two students, but then more and more kept joining in. The foreign teacher joined in, praising Lu Er lavishly. Lu Er's table of food was quickly devoured, eliminating any worry about wasting it.
Lu Er felt embarrassed by the compliment, and since she ate quickly, she hurriedly retreated to sit by the stream to cool off. A little while later, Ruan Xiyan sat down beside her, holding a bowl of pineapple soaked in salt water. He poked a piece with his fork and held it out to her: "Want some?" Lu Er took it and thanked him.
The coolness of the spring water felt like a refreshing mint compress on the skin—perfect, neither painful nor itchy. The last rays of sunlight filtering through the green trees were scattered by the wind, and the sky slowly darkened, with a pale crescent moon piercing the night sky.
The students behind me each found a comfortable spot to sit, playing on their phones or chatting. Several German Shepherds darted about among the crowd, their barking not disturbing the peace.
Lu Er quietly savored this sense of tranquility. It seemed like she hadn't felt this way in a long time; her heart was calm, she didn't think about anything, and she didn't need to consider anything.
“The school gave us watermelons.” Ruan Xiyan took off her shoes and put the dark green watermelon into the middle of the stream, letting it be moistened by the gurgling water until it turned bright red. “Doing it this way adds a touch of wildness.”
After waiting for about ten minutes, Ruan Xiyan picked up the watermelon. He tapped the watermelon rind twice, making a loud thumping sound, like the sound of summer itself.
Lu Er held the slice of melon he had been given and looked at his trousers, which were rolled up to his ankles.
Ruan Xiyan tilted her head: "What are you looking at?"
"Don't move." Lu Er suddenly grabbed his arm, took out her phone, snapped two photos of his trouser leg, and then let go. "Okay."
A slight smile played on her lips. Curious, Ruan Xiyan bent down to look and discovered a small silver fish tucked into the rolled-up cuff of her jeans.
"..." Ruan Xiyan caught the small fish with two fingers. The fish was still jumping around. He widened his eyes and couldn't help but laugh, "You can catch fish like this. I must have a talent for fishing."
—
After dinner, everyone cleared away their dishes. Lu Er took a large cleaver and rinsed it under the tap. Unable to get a sponge pad, she slowly scraped the blade with her own hand.
In a moment of relaxation, she noticed a small cut on her index finger from the sharp edge of the cleaver. Blood gushed out instantly, the stench filling her nostrils.
Fortunately, the injury wasn't serious. Lu Er frowned slightly. She held her index finger under the tap, but even after rinsing it, the blood was still flowing.
Lu Er thought it wasn't a big deal. After washing the kitchen knife and using the water to briefly stop the bleeding, she went back to the camp to get some paper, tore it into long strips, and tied them at the wound.
It's always a bit difficult to use your right hand. After wasting several sheets of paper, she turned to Xu Ting next to her for help: "Xu Ting, can you help me?"
"What's wrong?" Xu Ting was playing a game and leaned over when she heard the voice.
"I was cut by a kitchen knife."
Seeing the paper wrapped around her finger quickly turn bright red, Xu Ting gasped dramatically, "My God!"
When Ruan Xiyan returned after putting down the tableware, she heard Xu Ting's exclamation and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Her finger was cut by the kitchen knife."
"It's nothing." Lu Er asked Xu Ting to help tie a knot in the long strip, and then lowered his right hand.
Ruan Xiyan's expression tightened: "That kitchen knife must have a lot of bacteria. Let's find some Band-Aids." He walked to Lu Er's side, naturally picked up her right hand, and examined it carefully. "I'll go with you to ask the teacher. It would be troublesome if she got tetanus."
Once Ruan Xiyan became determined, Lu Er found it hard to resist. She obediently followed Ruan Xiyan. After asking around, Ruan Xiyan obtained a first-aid kit from Teacher Aono.
Using the shop lights, he bandaged Lu Er's index finger. Seeing the bandage now intact on her finger, Lu Er was about to let go when Ruan Xiyan grabbed her wrist and said, "Don't move."
He turned her palm over and saw several swollen blisters on the back of her hand. Lu Er had been burned by hot oil while cooking.
Lu Er blinked: "How did you know?" Because she was used to this kind of thing, when she was burned, she didn't think it was a big deal and didn't think about treating it.
Ruan Xiyan chuckled softly, "When you were taking pictures."
He lowered his head to apply burn ointment to her burn. Lu Er's head was upright, so he could only see Ruan Xiyan's slightly pointed chin. Following his gaze upwards, he saw her straight and delicate nose, and her eyelids, which resembled the crescent moon outline drawn with an eyebrow pencil, clean and translucent. Her thick eyelashes cast long shadows, giving one an urge to touch them.
He has such big eyes, just like his cousin's...
The crickets in the night seemed to have crawled into Lu Er's heart, chirping merrily. She restrained herself from looking away and leaned her head back a little.
With her heart pounding, Ruan Xiyan finally let go of her hand: "Alright, let's go back."
On the way back to the campsite, they ran into Yan Songqi and her friends. Yan Songqi casually asked them, "Where have you been?"
"..." Ruan Xiyan's left dimple appeared. "It's a secret."
After using the public bathhouse in the nearby middle school dormitory to wash his whole body and brush his teeth, Lu Er went into their tent to rest.
Sun Yuanyuan nudged her shoulder curiously: "Little Ear, where did you and Ruan Xiyan go? I didn't see you."
"..." Lu Er's eyes flickered twice, and her dimple on her right cheek appeared and disappeared. She imitated Ruan Xiyan's words and said, "It's a secret."
—
There was still a long time before lights out. The Sun Yuanyuan sisters downloaded a large number of horror movies on their tablets, and after some deliberation, chose to watch "Triangle".
They said horror movies were nothing, but in reality, they shrank back and cowered behind Lu Er like timid quails.
The horror movie "Triangle" tells the story of a woman and her friends who are sailing when they encounter a hurricane. Fortunately, they find and successfully board a cruise ship. The woman believes she has been rescued, but in reality, she is drawn into a series of horrific events.
Lu Er had seen this film and vaguely remembered that it was mostly suspenseful and didn't have many scenes that directly confronted horror; there didn't even seem to be any ghosts.
She explained to Sun Yuanyuan, but they didn't believe her and insisted on using Lu Er as a shield. Perhaps Lu Er's calm and collected demeanor moved them, and their purpose inexplicably changed from watching a horror movie to wanting to create ripples on Lu Er's face.
"Let's watch Final Destination, the fourth one. My friends all say it's really scary."
The film opens with an unexpected explosion at the racetrack, where the protagonist and his friends are struck by the flying debris, their deaths gruesome and varied. It's unclear where Sun Yuanyuan and Sun Yuanyuan obtained their resources, but the large pools of blood and human organs are laid bare before our eyes.
"Ugh." Sun Yuanyuan gagged silently. Sun Yuanyuan was a little better off, but her expression was so disgusted that she looked like she had swallowed a few flies. "I'm going to throw up my dinner."
Lu Erxin said calmly, "These kinds of horror movies are all about gore. If you watch them for the first time, you might not be able to eat."
"I really admire Xiao Erduo." Seeing that they couldn't fool Lu Er, the two of them turned off the tablet with little interest and went back to bed to play games with Xu Ting.
The lights went out one after another. Lu Er lay dozing in her sleeping bag with her eyes closed for a while, then suddenly felt thirsty. She opened her eyes and reached for the water bottle in her backpack.
Her phone lit up by chance, and a message popped up. It was from Ruan Xiyan. He asked her to go out to see the stars.
Lu Er hesitated for a few seconds before replying "okay." The next moment, as soon as she stood up, she saw Xu Ting staring at her with eyes as wide as saucers.
"..." This is much scarier than a horror movie.
"Where are you going?" Xu Ting asked her softly.
Afraid of waking the other two, Lu Er answered in a low voice, "I'm going to see the stars with Ruan Xiyan. He said the stars are pretty good tonight and he wants to take me with him."
Xu Ting didn't speak, but a knowing look appeared on her face. She nodded, understanding without saying a word: "I know, I'll keep it a secret. Go ahead."
Lu Er: "..."
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