Waiting for you at the place where you are reborn

Du Qingqing came back to her senses, smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm going back now, you can have some rest."

Fang Zheng looked at her back, feeling disappointed. He suddenly remembered something and called out, "Du Qingqing——"

Du Qingqing turned around and looked at Fang Zheng.

"I-I have a gift for you. It's a graduation gift."

"Graduation gift?"

Fang Zheng took a paper bag from the bedside and handed it to Du Qingqing, saying, "It's a set of cosmetics and a hairpin. After graduation, when you report to the new school, put on some light makeup as etiquette."

Du Qingqing took the paper bag and said to him happily, "Thank you."

Fang Zheng smiled and said, "At 25 years old, Du Qingqing has grown into a big girl."

Du Qingqing looked at Fang Zheng, seeming to want to say something but hesitated. In the end, she said nothing and turned away.

----

On Saturday, Bo Tong just came back from town, and Fang Zheng specially invited He Xinyan and Du Qingqing to go for a barbecue in the suburbs.

Fang Zheng prepared the barbecue ingredients early in the morning, and He Xinyan drove over to pick up the three of them.

"Get in the car." He Xinyan got out of the car and waved to the three of them. She was wearing sunglasses, a white tulle dress with black dots, and her curly hair was tied into a bun behind her head.

Seeing Du Qingqing, He Xinyan stared at her and said, "Fang Zheng, don't you want to introduce yourself?"

"She is Du Qingqing, my and Botong's neighbor." Fang Zheng said, "This is He Xinyan, you know."

Du Qingqing looked at He Xinyan and smiled slightly, her eyes flickering. He Xinyan's eyes made her feel uneasy.

He Xinyan smiled and greeted Du Qingqing in front of her. She was thin, fair-skinned, with a ponytail, wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts, revealing her slender legs. Fang Zheng said that she was Bo Tong's favorite. Although she was not outstanding, her fresh and elegant appearance and quiet and gentle demeanor were indeed hard to forget.

Bo Tong and Du Qingqing got on the back seat. Fang Zheng put all the food in the trunk and sat in the passenger seat holding his guitar.

"You brought a guitar?" He Xinyan asked, "Are you going to perform for us?"

"When we go to the suburbs, there must be some music," said Fang Zheng.

"Great. I didn't expect you were good at this." He Xinyan said.

"Where are we going?" Bo Tong asked in the back seat.

"Just drive wherever you want. If we see nice scenery, we'll stop," said He Xinyan.

After driving for a long time, Fang Zheng asked He Xinyan to stop the car in front of a pine forest. Next to the pine forest was a gurgling stream flowing from top to bottom.

"Is this okay?" Fang Zheng asked for everyone's opinion.

It was now half past ten in the morning. The sun was shining obliquely on the earth. The sunlight passed through the pine forest and sprinkled sparsely on the ground. The stream was running happily with the sparkling light.

He Xinyan said: "This place is so beautiful, I love it here."

They got off the car carrying their things and walked along the stream. When they reached a place where the pine forest blocked the sunlight, they stopped.

Fang Zheng spread the prepared large tablecloth on the ground and placed all the food on it.

He Xinyan looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, then looked around, and finally stood by the stream and sighed: "This place seems like a paradise."

Several people took out barbecue ingredients from the trunk, including shrimp, ribs, chicken wings, beef, pork belly, lettuce, melon slices, lotus root slices, leeks... They found stones from the riverside, built a fire, started a fire, and set up a barbecue grill.

He Xinyan exclaimed: "Fang Zheng, you prepared so many things this morning?"

Fang Zheng greased the grill with oil and put the meat on it one by one. "The charcoal is leftover from before. The meat and ribs were marinated last night. I just washed and cut vegetables this morning. I didn't do anything else."