(1)
A sudden downpour ambushed the forest, leaving the students who hadn’t made it back under the bamboo shelter soaked to the bone.
Fortunately, even though this was a wilderness forest, there was a fully equipped three-story wooden cabin. Those who got wet could quickly go take a shower, no need to worry about catching a cold from wearing drenched clothes.
But it still caused a lot of trouble for cooking. Since the firewood was cut and piled out in the open, the boys had started working earlier and could still make do with the leftover firewood they’d brought under the bamboo shelter. The girls, however, had been drenched while carrying the firewood, which meant there was no extra wood left. As soon as the wood in the stoves burned out, the fires would have to go out.
But Zhang Qiqi was clearly not the type to sit around waiting. While the food in the pot was still simmering, she quickly walked over to An Jing and Zhu Ying.
“Xiao Ying, do you guys have any extra firewood?”
“We’re almost done, no need to add more.” An Jing looked up and saw Zhang Qiqi’s face a little wet—the wind was blowing the rain sideways onto her cheeks. “You can take it all if you want.”
“Thanks, Xiao Anjing.” “It’s nothing…”
“Qiqi, what’s going on over there?”
“I’m slow at splitting wood by myself. I was planning to split it all and then carry it over, but then it started raining.” Zhang Qiqi shook her head helplessly. “Good thing I was under the bamboo shelter when it rained, but one of the girls helping me carry wood got completely soaked.”
“Is she okay?” “She’s fine. She went inside to take a shower. Teacher Wen Ye said there’s hot water in there.”
“Is this enough?” An Jing lifted the lid of the rice pot and peeked in. “Mm, it’s already starting to smell good…”
“Probably not enough. Let’s use this for now and then go borrow from the boys.”
“The boys are splitting and using at the same time, so they might not have much left either.”
“It’s okay. If worst comes to worst, we’ll just make the rest of the dishes into a vegetable salad!”
“Good thing we used less firewood, so we’re faster…” Zhu Ying looked at An Jing with relief. “Otherwise, Xiao Jing and I would have been soaked too.”
“Well, we split the wood together this time, so it was faster.”
“Mm—hey, are you done with this pot?” Zhang Qiqi suddenly leaned in, looking at the stove that was still burning.
“Yeah, we were about to put out the fire.”
“Don’t put it out. Let me use your leftover embers. It’s enough for stir-frying a dish.”
“Go ahead… We’ll just wait for the rice to finish.” An Jing pulled up a chair and sat next to Zhu Ying, both watching the roaring flames under the rice pot. She couldn’t help reaching out to feel the scorching heat. “Sitting here watching the fire while it rains feels so nice.”
“Because everyone else is scrambling, while we’re relaxing?” “Probably… maybe?”
(2)
By the time Zhang Qiqi used the leftover embers to quickly stir-fry two easy dishes, An Jing and the others’ rice was almost done.
Because there was less rice, it cooked quickly. Unlike the others, who had to keep adding wood to maintain the heat while cooking.
Especially the boys—I heard they’d cooked eight pounds of raw rice…
The torrential rain didn’t last long, but it didn’t stop completely either. It turned into a moderate, steady drizzle, raindrops pattering against the tree leaves with a rustling sound.
“Ah Wen, time to eat!”
“Coming! Let me see how my students’ cooking is!”
An Jing and Zhu Ying together brought over a square bamboo table. Under the bamboo shelter, there were actually many tables, mostly heavy wooden ones. Since there were only four of them, this square table was enough, and bamboo was lighter, making it less tiring to carry—since they had to bring it from the other end.
By the way, the nearest spot to the tables, saving the most effort, had been taken by the boys first. On the other hand, the girls had to walk a bit farther just to bring the tables out.
“We just made some random stuff. It’s probably not that good…”
“Xiao Jing’s cooking is definitely good.” Zhu Ying said with certainty.
“It looks pretty decent.” Qiu Yi pinched his chin and sat down on a bamboo bench. “Wenwen, when will you get this good at cooking?”
“I never have to cook at home, so I’m not learning.” “Xiao Jing, let’s sit on this side~!” “What man does the cooking—”
“Tch, aren’t chefs all men? And times have changed. Men should cook now. If you don’t agree, then be a woman!”
“You’re just twisting words.”
“Look, I even bake you cookies sometimes. What about you?”
“I can mix powdered milk…”
“Tch!”
Zhu Ying watched Wen Ye and Qiu Yi bicker with interest, then swallowed a mouthful of rice. “Teacher Wenwen, when did you and Teacher Qiu, Teacher Qiu meet?”
Probably feeling it was a bit rude to call adults by their full names directly, Zhu Ying added the word “Teacher” after Qiu Yi’s surname.
At that moment, those two words probably served as honorifics.
“High school.” Wen Ye glanced sideways at Qiu Yi and lowered her head with a snicker. “He was so stupid back then.”
“No way…” Qiu Yi murmured in protest.
“So—how many years have you been married?”
“Fifteen years.” Qiu Yi answered without hesitation.
“Wow!”
“Ah Wen looks so young. I thought you’d only been married two years…” An Jing was also stunned. “Mm~! A girl’s age can’t be guessed casually!” Wen Ye cleared her throat.
“She really does look like a girl. Saying she’s a college student would be no problem at all.” Zhu Ying nodded seriously.
“So how old are your kids?”
“About the same age as you.” Wen Ye rested her chin on her hand. “They’re twins. A boy and a girl. The girl takes my surname, the boy takes his.”
“Oh~ Teacher Wenwen and Teacher Qiu still seem so in love. You’ve always been close, haven’t you?”
“We did a lot of stupid things when we were young.” Qiu Yi scratched his head. “But… that’s all in the past.” “Let me try the drumsticks. They look nice.”
“They’re steamed, so they might not be as tasty as braised.” An Jing smiled sheepishly, then picked up a drumstick herself. Just as she was about to put it in her own bowl, she hesitated and placed it into Zhu Ying’s bowl. “Xiao Ying, try it too?”
“I’ll give it a try~”
“If only we had a microwave. It’d be easier with a microwave. Just heat it three times, five minutes each, then it’s ready. The taste is almost like roasted, but you have to wrap it in oil paper while heating…” An Jing licked her lips. “It’s the only dish Fei Jie knows how to make.”
“Huh? Sister Feifei? I thought you learned it from Sister Huihui.”
“Sister Huihui wouldn’t use such a lazy method…” An Jing scratched her cheek. “One time Sister Huihui wasn’t home, and Sister Fei made some dishes. She was super lazy, so I remembered it.”
“I see~ Xiao Jing, the drumstick is good! You try?” Zhu Ying said, pinching the drumstick she had already bitten and holding it up to An Jing’s mouth.
An Jing’s eyes immediately darted away. She instinctively glanced at Wen Ye and Qiu Yi sitting across from them, and saw Wen Ye lean sideways, take a huge bite out of the drumstick Qiu Yi had already bitten, then chew with her cheeks puffed out, completely unladylike.
The way she ate was more like Sister Fei, no trace of a young lady at all… “Xiao Jing! Try it!”
“Oh, oh…” An Jing carefully took a small bite of the chicken. “Mm… it really, really tastes fine.”
“It’s delicious! The marinade is well absorbed! I like this sticky texture of the skin.”
“Sister Huihui once made just the chicken skin, but it was deep-fried.” An Jing licked her lips. Actually, she barely tasted the drumstick—her mouth felt full of Zhu Ying’s sweet milky scent…
“Xiao Jing, make it next time?”
“But I don’t know where to buy just chicken skin…”
“Why not ask Sister Huihui? Okay~ let’s try the tomato egg drop soup!”
“That’s just a regular flavor… nothing special, but not bad either.” “Mm—it tastes like classic tomato egg drop soup.”
An Jing and Zhu Ying were smiling calmly, while sitting across from them, Wen Ye and Qiu Yi were still bickering—Wen Ye leaned over and took another huge bite of Qiu Yi’s drumstick, leaving it almost just a bone.
Qiu Yi said helplessly, “Aren’t you afraid of breaking your teeth biting the bone…”
“I’m not that stupid!”
“Really? I feel like you’ve been pretty stupid plenty of times.”
“Oh~? Really? Have you never?” Wen Ye glanced sideways at Qiu Yi. “You’ve done way more stupid things!”
“Clearly it’s you… Seriously, who was it that closed the car door and pinched their own finger?”
“Tch, weren’t you even dumber? Sticking your head out the window and closing it, trapping your own neck.”
“That one was, was a button mistake!” “It’s just stupid, super stupid!”
“And you once…”
“You two are so close.” An Jing couldn’t help but laugh softly.
“Yeah.” Zhu Ying looked at An Jing with a smile, as if about to say something, but in the end said nothing. She just quietly placed her left hand on top of An Jing’s right hand, stroking it lightly like a tickle…
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