Three or Two Things about Rebirth

Early on Saturday morning, Qin Huifang called home and made an appointment with Qiu Luming to have lunch in Private Room No. 11 of the Grain Hotel at : am.

Qiu Luming arrived on time with the gifts she had prepared. As soon as she entered the room, she saw that the private room was already full of people. When they saw her come in, they all stood up to greet her.

Qin Huifang pushed her to sit facing the door of the private room, and sat next to her. Han Meifen also sat on her other side. Qiu Luming looked around. Everyone was there. Qin Huifang and Lu Jiaming, Han Meifen and Fu Xinyang, Ma Mingjun and Lin Haiying sat together. Yang Dawei also brought a petite and pretty girl.

Seeing her looking at him, Yang Dawei said, "My girlfriend Li Lu, Lu with the character Wang on the side, is not the same deer as you, haha, she works at the Ge epidemic prevention station, and is four years younger than us. Xiaolu, we have called her Lao Qiu since we were young, but you have to call her sister, call her Sister Qiu!"

"Sister Qiu!" Li Lu's voice was very sweet, and her smile was also very sweet. Qiu Luming felt sorry in his heart, and wasted another beautiful girl.

"Hello!" No matter what he was thinking, Qiu Luming smiled and nodded to Li Lu.

The only one left was Zheng Wei, a bachelor, who was sitting on the kitchen counter at the door, face to face with Qiu Luming, a single woman.

Lu Jiaming first asked Qiu Luming what kind of wine he wanted to drink. Qiu Luming said, "I haven't eaten hometown food for a year, so I didn't eat anything in the morning, just to save my stomach for lunch. If you still want to hear me talk about Russia, then don't let me drink."

"No, we can't do it without drinking!" Lu Jiaming firmly disagreed, "We need to use wine to wash away the Russian dust you brought back!"

Yang Dawei also laughed, "Old Qiu, you must have drunk a lot of vodka this year, right? Why can you drink with the Russian guys but not with your old friends?"

Qin Huifang immediately pointed at Yang Dawei and said, "Shut up! Do you think everyone is like you guys, drinking wherever you go? It seems that Lu Ming only cares about studying and has never practiced his drinking tolerance!"

"You're right!" Qiu Luming nodded. "I'm stupid. I studied Russian, history, and literature in the first half of the year, and economics and trade in the second half. I almost pulled all my hair out from studying so much! I ate nothing but potatoes every day, and never drank a sip of alcohol!"

Everyone laughed when they heard it.

Qiu Luming took out the gifts from the big brown paper bag he brought with him. "For men, this is a lighter, and for women, this is a shawl. A gift of goose feathers from a thousand miles away may be small, but the sentiment is great. Please accept it and don't despise it."

Everyone thanked them after receiving their gifts. Qin Huifang spread out her shawl and put it on. "Hey, what do you think? Wearing a wool skirt in winter with high-waisted leather boots and this over a sweater, doesn't it look good?"

Zheng Wei handed the shawl back to Qiu Luming, "Why are you giving me a shawl? I'm not a woman!"

"Just keep it. When I bought the gift, I didn't know the current state of your relationship, so I bought two gifts each. Keep it. When you have a girlfriend, give it to her!"

There was a moment of silence in the room. Zheng Wei's face was full of bitterness, and he smiled self-deprecatingly, "Okay, then I'll keep it. Thank you!"

The dishes in the private room were served very quickly. The waiter was like a flower and a willow. In a short while, eight dishes were served. Zheng Wei pushed the turntable and said, "The chef in the kitchen has changed. You should try this pot-wrapped pork. Is it still the same flavor?"

Qiu Luming picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork. Before he put it in his mouth, he was hit by the smell of vinegar. He took a bite and found that the batter on the outside was sweet, sour and crispy, while the meat in the middle was soft and tasty. "Delicious! Delicious!" Qiu Luming praised sincerely, "After all, he has someone in the court who can help him. Even the dishes are served faster than other places!"

Ma Mingjun laughed, "You don't know, Lao Qin is not a grain man now, he was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the County Party Committee at the beginning of the year!"

"Really? That's great!" Qiu Luming turned to look at Qin Huifang, "Congratulations! This job is perfect for you to show your talents!"

"Well, just fooling around. I'm a newcomer and I'm just a handyman now!"

"Tsk tsk, even Comrade Qin Huifang has learned to be humble! I've only been away for a year, what did you do behind my back? How could there be such a big change?" Qiu Luming pretended to be angry.

Yang Dawei said, "Director Qin has been promoted and is now the deputy county chief."

Qiu Luming slapped Qin Huifang's thigh and said, "Oh, what a waste of all the learning I've done this year. I actually missed such a big happy event!"

Qin Huifang laughed and punched her, "You are so annoying! You don't take pictures of yourself, but you take pictures of my legs!"

Everyone laughed, and Qiu Luming picked up the wine glass and said, "Come on, friends, have a drink! I know you have helped my parents a lot in the past year..."

"Well, doing some work for our parents is worth it!" Qin Huifang pushed down Qiu Luming's wine glass, "Today is a welcome party for you, it's not your turn to raise a glass first."

Qiu Luming passed the wine glass around and raised it again, "I won't say much to thank you. Today's private room, the dishes, and the drinks are all very much to my liking, so this meal is my treat. Please enjoy the wine and the food!"

"You're drunk before you even drink. No, no! This won't do!" Everyone spoke at once and no one agreed.

After a noisy argument, Qiu Luming no longer insisted, "Then I'll formally invite everyone another day!"

Having learned the lesson of getting drunk at Qin Huifang's house before, everyone was very restrained when drinking. Qiu Luming noticed that Han Meifen had not drunk and spoke little, so he guessed that she might be feeling unwell, but he didn't say anything.

Within an hour, Han Meifen got up to go to the bathroom for the second time, and Fu Xinyang accompanied her again. As soon as the couple left, Qin Huifang whispered to Qiu Luming, "It seems to me that Meifen is pregnant again."

"Again?" Qiu Luming asked in confusion.

"She got pregnant soon after getting married, but unfortunately she miscarried when she was more than five months pregnant. It was a girl. Seeing Fu Xinyang taking good care of her today, I guessed that she was probably pregnant again."

"Five months? Did he fall?"

"I don't know, but she suffered a lot."

Qiu Luming nodded and stopped talking. After a while, Fu Xinyang came in with Han Meifen.

Everyone continued with the previous topic, passing around the photos Qiu Luming had taken in Moscow and other places, praising the grandeur of Russian architecture and expressing deep regret and anger over those cultural relics.

Suddenly Lin Haiying asked, "Sister Qiu, who is this man?"

"Which one?" Qiu Luming glanced at the photo. "He is from Wuhan University. He was in the same batch of international students as me. His name is Ji Cheng. He is a nice guy, but he looks a bit like an old cadre."

Ma Mingjun said, "Oh, I thought she was your girlfriend!"

"No, he's still in college, much younger than me."

"He looks quite mature. Why don't you have a Russian boyfriend? Russian guys are so handsome!" Yang Dawei asked.

Qiu Luming was silent for two seconds, then smiled and said, "He is indeed very handsome, but... there is no suitable one."

"What's appropriate or inappropriate!" Yang Dawei said jokingly, "You just date eight Ge Lao Maozi, who can tell what's going on?"

Qiu Luming rolled his eyes at him and said to Li Lu, "Don't let your boyfriend get away from you, remember!"

Li Lu nodded repeatedly, blinking her beautiful big eyes, "Sister Qiu, how many girlfriends has Yang Dawei dated before?"

Qiu Luming carefully picked at the fingers of his left hand, then glanced at Yang Dawei, then switched to his left hand to pick at the fingers of his right hand, and said to Li Lu seriously, "As far as I know, one pair of hands cannot count them!"

Ma Mingjun immediately raised his hand and said with a smile, "I can prove that what Lao Qiu said is right! Over the years, the two comrades Wei Ge, one has been dating one girl after another, and the other has never been dating a girl!"

Yang Dawei cursed, "You bunch of beasts! You are trying to destroy me in front of my girlfriend! Ma Mingjun, wait for me to expose your true colors!"

Ma Mingjun laughed, "I'm not afraid, why don't we expose each other!"

"Xiaolu, don't believe them. They are bad people, both men and women, who are always trying to sabotage others." Yang Dawei calmly tilted his head and said to Li Lu, "When I was in junior high school, I had a date, but we didn't even hold hands. I had a date in Harbin, who was from Shuangyashan. We only ate in the cafeteria together, but we broke up after graduation."

Qiu Luming looked at everyone, all of whom looked embarrassed, and admired: This kid has a really strong psychological quality, and he is really thick-skinned!