Three or Two Things about Rebirth

"What did you say?" Qiu Luming didn't hear clearly.

"I say! Are you two dating?" There was an obvious questioning tone in Ma Zhenyi's voice.

"Say it again." Qiu Luming's face turned cold. Her voice was not loud, but it was as cold as ice.

"I..." Ma Zhenyi suddenly woke up, like a deflated ball, lowered his head dejectedly and said, "I'm sorry." He stood up and strode towards the door.

"Hey!"

Hearing Qiu Luming's voice, Ma Zhenyi turned around suddenly and looked at her hopefully, but when he saw the reading card in her hand, the light in his eyes went out in an instant.

Liu Qi came back with a cloth bag and put it on a reader's desk. He rubbed his hands and found chopsticks in his drawer. "Hey, is Ma Zhenyi gone?"

"It's time for dinner, so we have to go."

"This guy is quite weird." Liu Qi opened the lid of the lunch box and picked up a piece of salted fish.

Qiu Luming also opened the lid of his lunch box, "Let me see what my mother brought me today."

Liu Qi put the salted fish on Qiu Luming's rice. "Wow, is this chicken or goose meat? Such a big piece. Why did your family kill the chicken so early?"

In Qiu Luming's lunch box, there were two pieces of meat on the side, and some vegetable soup had soaked into the rice, emitting an oily and tempting aroma.

"This is a goose. My mother doesn't raise poultry. This was given to me by someone in Taiping Village. They have been giving it to me every year for more than ten years."

"relative?"

"They were my father's former patients. Now they are almost like relatives. They send food and drinks every year, and I can't refuse them. My father simply accepted them and then checked their pulses regularly. At the end of the year, my second brother also goes to return the favor." Qiu Luming said as he picked up two pieces of goose meat for Liu Qi.

"Hey, hey, no, no! Just two pieces, eat them yourself. I brought salted fish and shredded potatoes, which is enough for you."

"There must be a few more pieces buried under the rice." Qiu Luming used chopsticks to dig and sure enough, there was a piece of goose wing, a piece of goose leg, and two pieces of goose breast under the rice. "Hey, these were left for me when they came out of the pot last night!"

"Your mother really loves you, isn't your sister-in-law picky?"

Qiu Luming thought for a moment, "Well, I don't know. If you were my sister-in-law, would you argue?"

Liu Qi also thought about it, "Once or twice is okay, but if it keeps on like this, she'll probably be a little unhappy. After all, when the family is eating together, we pick out the good meat first. This, this..." Liu Qi suddenly lowered her voice and said happily, "If I could be your third sister-in-law, I wouldn't have to eat and just work! So I guess your second sister-in-law won't complain! Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!" Qiu Luming also laughed.

She used a spoon to scoop out a salted egg yolk buried in the rice, gave half of it to Liu Qi, and picked up a piece of her shredded potatoes with chopsticks. Then the two of them started to eat.

"Hey, Lu Ming, don't you think Ma Zhenyi is weird?" Liu Qi took a few bites and couldn't help but bring up the old matter again.

“I don’t think so.” Qiu Luming crushed the salted egg yolk, mixed it with the hot rice, pressed it down, and ate a spoonful. “It’s amazing. Let me tell you, this duck egg was also given by someone in Taiping Village. It’s moderately salty, slightly oily, and a little sandy. My mother said it tastes like crab roe.”

"I see he's always stealing glances at you." Liu Qi bit her chopsticks and stared at Qiu Luming intently.

"You can watch it if you want. It won't melt." Qiu Luming looked up from his lunch box. "By the way, why hasn't Liu Guangli from the Fisheries Bureau come to visit recently?"

"Hey, we're eating, what do you think he's doing?"

"If you don't want to talk, then don't talk. Just focus on eating!"

"Hey, Luming, how many boys have pursued you since you grew up?"

"Have a meal!"

***

By the end of 1992, Fei Yuanhang's arm had fully recovered. Principal Fei brought his son and gifts to the Qiu family to thank Qiu Jiye for his amazing healing. He Manshu smiled and pinched Fei Yuanhang's arm, "Are you feeling better now?"

"I am fine now, thanks to Uncle Qiu. He didn't need surgery and prescribed Chinese medicine. I recovered so quickly without any sequelae."

"Well, you were injured indirectly because of my second son's marriage. Your mother must be heartbroken. I feel heartbroken too! Your uncle Qiu is responsible for saving lives and healing the wounded. It is his duty to treat you. Your recovery is better than anything else."

Principal Fei had a lot to say, but when he saw Qiu Jiye's sullen face, he didn't dare to say anything and swallowed it all back.

Seeing Qiu Luming coming over with tea, he said to He Manshu, "In fact, it is necessary to let Luming go to Beijing to try his luck."

"What are you doing here, little girl? In the past, people from Shandong came to Northeast China because they were starving to death. We live a good life now. Are you going to live in a basement in Beijing? Four grown men in my family can't afford to support a daughter?" He Manshu said bluntly.

Principal Fei smiled bitterly and said to Qiu Jiye, "As soon as your wife retired, she no longer took me, the principal, seriously!"

Qiu Jiye also sneered twice, "I also don't think there is any need to go out."

"You! Well, with Moshi here and my Yuanhang, Yoyo won't suffer if she goes to Beijing. Besides, how can I let her live in the basement? We know each other well, right? Yoyo, you young people all yearn for the outside world. It's better to go out and see it. If conditions permit, Yuanhang can even go abroad!"

Without waiting for Qiu Luming to speak, Qiu Jiye said, "Oh, then let your son go abroad! I'll find you a foreign wife and give you a yellow-haired grandson! Our port is about to reopen, and there are two vacancies for translations in the Foreign Trade Bureau. I plan to help Youyou, who is a career cadre!"

"Hey, you want to go through the back door? Can you put down your dignity?"

"I definitely won't do it for my son, but for my daughter, there's nothing I won't give up!"

"What do you mean by that?" Principal Fei seemed a little confused. He looked at his son who said nothing and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Qiu Luming sat obediently beside his mother, not saying a word.

In fact, she was a little confused. In the past three months, she and Fei Yuanhang got along very happily. They never broke the window paper, but they met every day, reading, chatting and playing games. Their feelings grew day by day. Recently, Fei Yuanhang even started to pick her up and drop her off at school.

According to Qiu Luming's personality, she was most resistant to ambiguity. If they were together, then they were together. If they were not together, then forget it! But this time was different. She actually enjoyed this hazy and ambiguous feeling. Perhaps, she also knew that there were mountains and rivers between her and Fei Yuanhang, as well as academic qualifications. It was not easy to get clarity and results.

She didn't understand why her parents, who had clearly tacitly approved her and Fei Yuanhang's relationship, had such an attitude when he came to visit her today. But she would not spoil it for her parents anyway, so she just kept silent.

When the Fei father and son said goodbye, Fei Yuanhang turned around and said to Qiu Luming, "Luming, I will return to Beijing the day after tomorrow. You are welcome to visit Beijing during the holidays, and then... write to me!" He said the last sentence in Russian.

But here, except He Manshu, everyone can speak Russian.

Qiu Jiye coughed, and Fei Yuanhang then remembered that even Qiu Jiashu in the Qiu family could sing Russian songs. His face turned red, "Uncle Qiu, please allow me to write a letter to Lu Ming!"

Qiu Jiye snorted, and it was unclear whether he agreed or not.

Qiu Luming followed his mother to see the guests off. Principal Fei kept saying, "Don't come out, don't come out, it's cold outside!"

They still put on their cotton-padded jackets and saw the guests off to the gate. The Fei family father and son rode away on their bicycles. He Manshu stood at the gate without moving, and Qiu Luming did not move either. She knew that her mother was always courteous and would wait until the guests crossed the street and turned the corner before leaving. She said this was the highest etiquette for seeing off guests.

When I moved my ears, I heard Principal Fei's angry mumbling in the wind, "It's all because of you, you little brat. You made me grovel and say nice things to people, and then they ignored me!... Look how arrogant Qiu Jiye is. I have a daughter too. I'll pick one to marry later! Also, aren't you a top student? Aren't there a lot of girls who like you? It's been three months, why haven't you won Yoyo's heart yet?"

When the two of them rode their bikes to the intersection and turned, Fei Yuanhang suddenly turned around and waved at them vigorously.

Qiu Luming also stood on tiptoe and waved vigorously.

"This kid is good in every way, but he hasn't graduated yet, and we don't know where he will be assigned. Don't be foolish to promise anything. You're only 23 after the Chinese New Year. Wait a little longer and work hard in Jiayang first."