Three or Two Things about Rebirth

The Qiu family’s living room couldn’t accommodate so many people.

Qiu Luming put down the fruit and took the bored Sun Ning out. He picked a small watermelon from the shelf by the side wall, washed it, cut it in half, and put each half in a small aluminum basin. He also took two iron spoons and brought them to the north bedroom. He and Sun Ning sat at the desk and ate the watermelon.

"I just finished my meal, so just cut two slices and eat them." Sun Ning said politely.

"No need. This way it's more enjoyable." Qiu Luming turned the spoon, scooped out a watermelon ball, and ate it in one bite. The watermelon burst with sweet juice under the pressure of her upper palate and tongue, and she shook her head twice with happiness.

Sun Ning saw Qiu Luming scoop out the center and eat it after taking the first spoonful. He smiled and said, "You eat watermelon like this too? What if you can't finish it?"

"What? Oh, if I can't eat it, my second brother can eat it. Oh, actually, Jiayang's frost-free period is very short, and many delicious foods are concentrated in these two or three months to mature. We eat watermelons, and we only eat them during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even if we store them in the vegetable cellar, they will not taste good after a long time. In the season when food is most abundant, we will satisfy ourselves to the maximum extent. In winter, the food variety is limited, and we can tolerate it.

The watermelons piled up in the side hall were all sent by the company or friends. They are too big to eat. You can eat them without worrying about waste. If we hadn’t just finished a meal, I would have picked a big watermelon for us.”

"It sounds like a bit of a carpe diem vibe."

"Yes, life is short, let's eat dessert first." Qiu Luming dug another piece of watermelon and ate it. "This piece is not as sweet as the previous one, but it is the sweetest part of the watermelon. My dad always said that you should do what you should do at your age. When your brain is good, you should study more; when your teeth and body are good, you can eat whatever you want; when you are in good shape, you can wear whatever you want. In this way, you will have no regrets when you are old."

Qiu Luming took a look at the watermelon Sun Ning was eating. She drew a line on the watermelon and only ate the half closer to herself. He knew that she was a principled person who paid attention to boundaries. When getting along with her, he had to be careful to respect her bottom line.

"What Weijing said is right. The atmosphere in your family is really good. If he wasn't under the supervision of his family, I think he would really give up everything in Beijing and come to Jiayang to be your son-in-law."

Qiu Luming stared at Sun Ning for two seconds, and she finally understood what was so strange about the conversation between her mother and Sun Ning at the dinner table.

She burst out laughing, "Do you think I'm a puppet? Anyone who wants to come can come." She patted Sun Ning's shoulder, "Eat melons, eat melons, I see you two are living in the same room, I don't want things that have been used by others."

Sun Ning suddenly started coughing violently, and Qiu Luming quickly put down the small basin and patted her back.

Sun Ning coughed for a long time, but the watermelon juice choked her trachea and she still felt a little uncomfortable. She held back her cough and said, "You little girl, you dare to say anything!"

"You are not the kind of person who beats around the bush, so I'll just be frank with you. Don't let this cause any misunderstandings and affect the relationship and business between Third Brother and Brother Zhang, don't you think?"

"Okay, I'm being stingy this time, let's put this matter behind us."

"What do you mean by over?" Liu Xiaomei pulled open the half-closed door and came in, saying with a smile, "I caught you eating alone behind closed doors!"

Dabao crawled under Liu Xiaomei's armpit, climbed onto the kang, and jumped and shouted, "Quick! Let your brother get on the kang!"

Liu Xiaomei came in, revealing Huang Yali holding a child behind her. Fang Yuan, who was behind her, took a look at the door, but seeing that there was no place to sit, he went back to the living room.

"Dabao likes his younger brother very much. Our mother thinks he disturbs your brothers' conversation, so she asked us to come sit in your room."

"Come in, come in." Qiu Luming put the small basin of watermelon in the kitchen. When he came back, he put a few pieces of watermelon and cantaloupe cut into strips and deseeded on a plate. Huang Yali refused to eat them, "I'm feeding the baby. My mother said I can't eat these."

"Why?" Qiu Luming asked curiously.

"Silly girl!" Liu Xiaomei took off her shoes, got on the kang, and sat down next to the fire wall. "If a mother eats randomly, the child will have diarrhea and a rash."

"Oh. Then I won't eat it." Qiu Luming took the fruits out again, brought over a sunflower plate, broke off a piece and gave it to Sun Ning, "Try this."

Huang Yali only ate two melon seeds, but stopped eating because the child kept reaching out to grab them.

Dabao stuffed the peeled melon seeds into Yuanyuan's mouth, but Liu Xiaomei pulled him away and said, "Don't you dare give your brother any random food. He can't eat anything except milk and porridge now!"

Dabao was very disappointed, "He can't eat, stand or sit, how can I play with him!"

"Alas." Liu Xiaomei sighed, "This only child has no companion and is so lonely. His father and I are busy and have no time to play with him. When he comes home, he just does his homework and then watches TV by himself. It's pitiful."

At this time, no one was playing with Dabao, but there were so many people at home, so he was very happy. He kept jumping on the kang and pretended to fall down, shouting, "Grandma's house is good, grandma's house is good too, I won't go back to Harbin!"

Liu Xiaomei's eyes were red. "I went to Harbin so that he could have a better future and more choices, but why do I regret it a little bit..."

"Sister-in-law, don't look back, just keep going. Life is like this. You will regret whatever choice you make."

Liu Xiaomei looked at Qiu Luming, "What did you say?"

"One of our mother's dinner mottos, I'll pass it on to you."

Liu Xiaomei wiped her eyes and smiled, "Yali, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

Huang Yali shook her head, "Teacher He is right."

The little baby sitting on her lap suddenly jumped up twice, cried "oh oh" and pointed his hands towards Qiu Luming, as if asking her to hug him.

Today was the first time that Qiu Luming saw this child. The child looked very good, more like Huang Yali, especially his eyes, which were round and bright.

Qiu Luming remembered that there was a custom that when meeting the children of relatives and friends for the first time, one had to give some gifts. But she just heard that her mother had already given some, so she didn't know if she should give any.

She smiled and clapped her hands at the baby, and the child threw himself forward. Qiu Luming carefully held the soft, fleshy child in his arms and said to Huang Yali, "Sister-in-law, he is so soft and heavy!"

Everyone laughed.

Huang Yali also smiled and said, "This child cries when he sees an old man, and only seeks to be hugged by pretty aunties. The other day when he went to get a vaccination, he saw the pretty nurse and insisted on being hugged from a distance. He didn't cry much even when he was getting the injection!"

The little girl from far away hugged Qiu Luming's shoulders with her arms and put her face on her shoulders obediently, showing great intimacy.

Qiu Luming felt his heart melt instantly, "Oh my, oh my, who can stand this? If I were a nurse, I would not be able to do this."

Suddenly, her stomach felt hot and her face changed drastically. Just as she was about to scream, she heard her sister-in-law whisper, "Don't move! Let him pee, don't scare him."

Qiu Luming grinned but dared not move. He held the child as if he was holding a bomb, making Sun Ning laugh so hard that he fell backwards.