Qu Ling took the cup, smiled, and slowly drank the milk. His expression suggested that he would drink it even if I gave him poison.
The stars are especially bright on winter nights.
I exhaled and looked up at the sky.
Sirius, Orion, Chakrasaurus, and River Valley—these stars hang high in the sky, as if they are all smiling.
"Dean, your hands are getting warm."
"Mmm." Qu Ling grasped my hand in return and looked up at the starry sky. "Yuanyuan, I think... I have stars in my heart too."
"The stars are so bright..." I looked into Qu Ling's eyes, her dark pupils filled with a pool of silver light, bright and dazzling.
“I haven’t felt like looking up at the stars in a long time,” Qu Ling sighed. “So long that I’ve almost forgotten there’s such a beautiful world above me.”
"It's not too late to see now," I said with a wink and a smile. "The stars are always there."
Qu Ling looked down at me, her smile completely different from when we were stargazing at Honghu Lake. "Yes, I should have looked at the stars with you more often, maybe then it wouldn't be so..."
He didn't finish his sentence.
I couldn't guess what he was going to say.
I thought that wasn't important; what mattered was that he was willing to watch the stars with me.
****
My leg has finally healed, and the feeling of being able to walk freely makes me feel like a superhero.
My family was happy for me, and they all came to celebrate with me on Sunday.
Su Zhenzhen and He Yuncong arrived first with Xiao Rouyuan. She walked around the room twice and asked, "Yuanyuan, where's your dad? Where did he go?"
"He went to apply for a Guinness World Record." Little Meatball chased after Su Xizi, and I was panting as I chased after Little Meatball.
"What?" Su Zhenzhen thought she had misheard. "Applying for some Guinness World Record?"
I stopped, looked at my brother-in-law, and then smiled at her, saying, "I'll apply for it for you! A world record for losing something!"
Pfft—My brother-in-law spat out the mouthful of tea he had just drunk.
Su Zhenzhen choked with anger, "Fourth Uncle... that's too much... I've only lost a phone, a wallet, two USB drives, and three scarves this month, what kind of world record is that!"
The brother-in-law wiped his mouth, pulled Su Zhenzhen close, and comforted her, "It's okay, Zhenzhen! We can still keep striving for the world record!"
Su Zhenzhen was so angry that she punched him hard.
Su Tiantian came back this weekend. As soon as he entered the door, he questioned Su Zhenzhen with a dark face, "Big sister, where is the 4G mini USB drive I gave you?"
"Uh... that..." Su Zhenzhen panicked at his question, her eyes darting towards He Yuncong, hoping he would help her out of the predicament.
"Oh, your sister lost it." He Yuncong said frankly, "Isn't that normal? Zhenzhen can't possibly use mini things. She can lose a laptop that's this big, let alone a mini USB drive."
"Big sister!" Su Tiantian roared through gritted teeth, "You can forget about me ever giving you anything again in this lifetime!"
"Oh dear... I didn't mean to..." Su Zhenzhen, having already incurred many debts, simply patted Su Tiantian on the shoulder and said generously, "Tiantian, don't you know me? Don't be like that!"
Su Tiantian rolled her eyes at her and said, "Big sister, I've decided to switch to medicine and start a research group."
Why?
"I'm going to study you! There are practically no other people in the world who can lose things this easily! I think you're missing something in your brain!" Su Tiantian grabbed Su Zhenzhen's head and shook it violently. "I'm going to open it up and see if you're really missing a screw!"
Sigh, Su Zhenzhen is always a bit slow on the uptake. Su Tiantian, you only realized this today?
Qu Ling and her third uncle arrived together for dinner.
Third Uncle's expression was somewhat solemn, but Qu Ling remained relaxed. He and Su Zhenzhen had known each other for a long time, but because of Wu Jinshu, there was always a distance between them when they spoke. Little Rouyuan (Little Meatball) was particularly fond of him, constantly calling him "Daddy, Daddy," which delighted Qu Ling, and he would hold her while eating.
After dinner, Mom cut a plate of watermelon. Uncle asked Little Meatball to give everyone in the family a slice of watermelon from the plate. Little Meatball was very obedient. She ran to the fruit plate, grabbed a slice of watermelon, looked at it, and then ran to her dad, He Yuncong, first, and put it to his mouth, saying, "Dad, eat..."
He Yuncong, with a broad smile, munched on a watermelon and looked at everyone with a smug expression, as if to say, "See? I'm the one my baby loves the most."
After delivering the watermelon to Su Zhenzhen, Xiao Rouyuan started getting restless. She grabbed a piece of the watermelon, took a bite out of the tip herself, and then offered it to someone else, making the whole family burst into laughter. I glanced at Qu Ling; he was eating the watermelon with a bite taken out by Xiao Rouyuan, but he was smiling as sweetly as if he had eaten honey.
Seriously, she's never smiled at me so sweetly before. I'm so blatantly jealous of my little dumpling!
When it was my dad's turn to bring the watermelon, he pulled at the little meatball and instructed, "Baby, don't bite the watermelon for Fourth Grandpa! Grandpa wants to eat the whole thing."
The little dumpling tilted its head and looked at him. I don't know if it understood or not. It stumbled and ran to get the watermelon. It stood there thinking for a long time. Then it stuck out its pink little tongue and licked the watermelon from top to bottom. Then it chuckled and handed it to my dad.
She held up the watermelon, laughing happily, as if to say, "I didn't bite it this time! I really didn't bite it!"
"Fourth brother! You said you can't bite, but you didn't say you can't lick! Eat it!" The eldest and second uncles cheered together.
"Just eat it! What's the big deal?" Dad laughed and took the watermelon, then ate the slice that Little Meatball had licked so much it was dripping with saliva.
After finishing the fruit, the family sat together to watch Little Meatball's performance. I was covering my mouth and laughing happily when my third uncle suddenly grabbed my collar from behind, leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Yuanyuan, come out with me for a moment."
Author's Note: I have some drafts saved up. My friend Feibiao will post them for me while I'm away. Although the updates will be less frequent, at least there will still be updates.
I feel so bad for troubling Xiaoniao like this every time! When I was writing "Chang Xiang Shou" and couldn't continue, it was Xiaoniao who helped me fill in the gaps.
Little bird, I love you!
If hearts resonate
It was a bit chilly in the courtyard, so I tucked my hands into my sleeves and followed behind my third uncle, not daring to ask any questions. I just followed him into the inner courtyard.
When they reached the big jujube tree in the backyard, Uncle San stopped, looked up at the tree for a while, and suddenly said, "Yuanyuan, do you remember when you were little, climbing the tree to pick jujubes?"