In order to protect the cultural relics, not many cultural relics were put on display. Zhenzhen only took an hour to appreciate all the exhibits. Her consciousness enveloped the entire Forbidden City. Looking at the collections of the Palace Museum, Zhenzhen said with great sorrow: "I chose the wrong major. I should have studied cultural relic restoration or archaeology, so that I could go to the Forbidden City to study cultural relics or excavate ancient tombs after graduation."
Seeing Zhenzhen wanting to cry but unable to, Xi Junjie didn't know how to comfort her, so he could only silently pull her out: "Or you can apply to change your major?"
After hearing this, Zhen Zhen felt reluctant to give up her journalism major. She looked at Xi Junjie hesitantly and said, "Do you think you will agree if I apply to another professional school?"
"Definitely not." Xi Junjie shook his head: "So many majors will overwhelm you. I know you may like many courses, but you don't have to take all the courses you like. You have to learn to make choices and give up appropriately."
"I know." Zhen Zhen said somewhat disappointedly, "Originally, I just wanted to study cultural relics as a hobby. Seeing so many cultural relics today, I am a little excited." Seeing Xi Junjie's concerned eyes, Zhen Zhen leaned her head on his shoulder and said, "It's okay. When I have time, I will take some courses in archaeology. I just think I have a special talent for excavating ancient tombs."
Xi Junjie looked Zhen Zhen up and down and said, "Besides being very pretty and very cute, there's nothing special about her? Where's her talent?"
Zhen Zhen was amused by him and glared at him: "You only know how to beat around the bush to praise me, but even if you do, I won't tell you about my amazing talent."
Xi Junjie looked at the smile on Zhenzhen's face and put his arm around her shoulders with a smile on his face: "Okay, if you really want to study archaeology, then stop taking French courses. Anyway, you just want to learn this language, and it's enough for me to teach you."
Zhen Zhen immediately shook her head upon hearing this. Xi Junjie couldn't help but smiled and pinched her earlobe: "Why did you want to learn French in the first place? Was it to get to know me?"
Zhenzhen's foot slipped and she stumbled and nearly fell. Xi Junjie quickly helped her up and broke out in a cold sweat: "Even if you were told the truth, don't get so excited."
Zhen Zhen slapped him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "You are so shameless."
The sun sets particularly quickly in winter. It seemed to be hanging in the air just now, but a moment later only the afterglow was left. The palace under the sunset had a sense of vicissitudes of beauty. Xi Junjie took out his camera and took pictures of Zhenzhen from different positions and angles. He did not put the camera away until the whole roll of film was finished.
"Can you develop color photos?" Zhenzhen asked curiously.
Nowadays, most photos taken in a photo studio are in black and white, but Zhenzhen thinks that today's scenery is so beautiful that it will be even more beautiful if it is developed into color photos.
Xi Junjie looked at Zhenzhen with a smile: "Black and white photos and color photos do not depend on the development technology, but the film." Putting on his backpack, Xi Junjie smiled and said: "Fortunately, I brought color film today, otherwise I would disappoint you."
After leaving the Forbidden City, it was already getting dark. The two came to the bus stop, and Xi Junjie asked Zhenzhen softly, "Do you want to go home for dinner or eat out?"
Zhenzhen hesitated: "Is there any good place to eat outside?"
"I know there's a noodle shop near home, it's run by the Qin Province's office in the capital, and the food tastes really good." Xi Junjie looked at Zhen Zhen's excited expression and continued, "The roujiamo is delicious, the oil-splashed pulled noodles are also very authentic, and it's not far from home, we can walk back after we finish eating."
"Then why are you talking so much? We have to go." Zhenzhen touched her stomach and seemed to hear a rumbling sound. Thinking about it, it seemed like eating roujiamo was something she had done in college in her previous life.
The bus drove for about ten minutes and arrived at the destination. It was a small courtyard and a large house. There was a sign of Qin Province Reception Office in the Imperial Capital hanging on the door. I pushed aside the thick door curtain and a waiter came over to help open the door. He asked in a thick Qin Province accent, "What would you like to order?"
Roujiamo, Shaanxi cold noodles, mutton soup buns, oil-splashed pulled noodles... Looking at the familiar names on the menu, Zhenzhen's saliva was about to flow out.
They ordered two bowls of mutton in a basin, two steamed buns with meat in a steamed bun, a portion of oil-splashed pulled noodles and a portion of Qishan sauerkraut noodles. The meat was stewed in advance, and the Baiji steamed buns were also ready, just needing to be heated in the stove. The chef poked open the stove where the meat was stewing, washed his hands and went to make noodles. In ten minutes or so, the steaming mutton in a basin and several special snacks were all on the table. The waiter also considerately brought shredded carrots, diced onions, pickled cabbage, sugar garlic, oil-splashed chili peppers, fresh garlic cloves and the like, for them to eat with their own taste.
After freezing outside for an afternoon, Zhenzhen couldn't wait to drink a mouthful of soup, which was fresh and fragrant, and then take a bite of the Baiji steamed bun filled with bacon and meat. The bun was fragrant and the meat was crispy, fat but not greasy. This reception uses authentic Qin Province chefs, and the ingredients are shipped from the local area thousands of miles away, and the food they make is also honest. Every bite of Roujiamo feels like your mouth is filled with bacon and meat, and the chewy aroma of noodles and the rich aroma of meat are intertwined, making people can't wait to take a second bite.
After swallowing the roujiamo and drinking a mouthful of mutton soup, Zhenzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Xi Junjie took two empty bowls and divided the oil-splashed noodles and the sauerkraut noodles into two, so that there would be more varieties to eat. Zhenzhen has always had a good appetite, and the food in this restaurant tastes particularly authentic. It only took half an hour for the two of them to finish all the food on the table. Touching her stomach, Zhenzhen sighed with satisfaction: "I think the happiest thing in life is to eat all kinds of delicious food."
Xi Junjie smiled and handed her the down jacket: "There is a new provincial office not far away. The lamb skewers and big plate chicken there are especially delicious."
Zhenzhen paused for a moment while holding the scarf, and looked at him hesitantly: "How about we go get some mutton skewers?"
The waitress who was clearing the dishes almost dropped the bowl in her hand. She looked at Zhenzhen in disbelief, as if she couldn't believe that such a slim girl like her could still have an appetite to continue eating after eating so much.
Seeing Xi Junjie's expression, Zhen Zhen couldn't help laughing: "I'm just kidding, let's go eat next time."
When Zhenzhen got home, her family had already eaten. Roubao brought the finished rolls to Zhenzhen's room and said jokingly, "This relationship is really different now. You won't be home anymore."
"Li Roubao, stop looking at me with that sly smile." Zhenzhen didn't even raise her head, picked up the red pen and put a big cross on the paper. Roubao shuddered in his heart, stretched his neck to take a look, and saw that it was a math problem. His legs suddenly became weak: "Little aunt, I really can't do this, it's not because I'm careless."
"I can see that." Zhenzhen turned the page of the paper: "The solution is all wrong."
Ever since Zhenzhen had been carrying Roubao to the tree and torturing him from time to time, Roubao's carefulness in answering questions had increased dramatically, and he had not made any mistakes due to carelessness in two consecutive exams.
After reading the papers, Roubao's test scores were much better than when he first came back from the holiday. Taking a piece of rough paper, Zhenzhen explained the questions that Roubao didn't understand, and then gave a few similar questions by analogy. Then she opened the drawer and pulled out a new stack of papers: "Hand them in to me tomorrow night when you finish. There are a lot of new question types in it. I hope you won't make too many mistakes."
When Roubao saw this, his legs went limp: "When did you come up with so many questions? Are you a human being?"
"I'm not sure about that, maybe it's a god?" Seeing Roubao rolling his eyes, Zhenzhen grabbed a few pine nuts and threw them at him: "If you can't finish the test before dinner, do an extra 100 sit-ups."
In a blink of an eye, the lively Spring Festival passed. Under Zhenzhen's torture, Roubao finished a thick stack of exercise books and got full marks in several mock exams. Seeing Roubao's rapid progress, Mingdong was moved to tears: "Sister, you are still the most reliable in our family."
Zhenzhen put the newly bought exercise book weighing more than 30 kilograms into a sack and threw it next to Mingdong's luggage bag easily: "Brother, when you go home, you must prepare well for the recruitment exam of Imperial Capital Agricultural University. This is a rare opportunity."
Mingdong was a little unsure: "Can I get into Imperial Capital Agricultural University?"
"Why not? You are a top student who graduated from Dongnong. Although you have been in a small place like Anbei for these years, you are very strong in both theory and practice. If you don't have confidence, how can you expect Roubao to pass the exam and come to the capital?" Zhenzhen packed the special products of the capital prepared for Mingdong's family and put them aside: "You should study the books you bought more, and there will be no problem."
Guihua couldn't bear to watch it anymore. She packed her luggage and said, "Just come out and have a look. It would be the best if you pass the exam. If you don't, we can still be in Anbei. What's the problem?"
Hearing his wife's words, Mingdong also relaxed: "That's right, I seem to be less enterprising as I get older. Well, Zhenzhen, keep an eye out for me during this period. Isn't it possible to buy a house now? I haven't spent much of my salary in these years and have been saving it. I estimate that it will be enough to buy a house. Keep an eye out for me later. When I pass the exam to become a teacher here, I will buy a house directly. If I wait for the school to distribute houses, I don't know when it will take."
"Okay, don't worry." Buying a house is a big deal. House transactions are relatively free now. Not only new houses can be bought and sold, but old houses can also be traded. Zhenzhen bought a lot of dilapidated houses near the National University. They are not worth much money now, but in the future this place will be the center of the universe, and every inch of land will be worth a lot of money.
In August, Roubao finally got admitted to a national financial university in the capital, and Mingdong also passed the recruitment examination of the Imperial Capital Agricultural University.
During the summer vacation, Mingdong brought his son, daughter, father-in-law and mother-in-law to the imperial capital from afar, and even brought Li Mingzhong with him. No one knew how he got on the train.
Zhenzhen had already found a house for him near the school. Mingdong had some savings, and Liu Chunhua even took a gold bar to the bank to exchange it for cash. They and their daughter and son-in-law bought a house nearby and settled down in the imperial capital.
Four of Li Muwu's five children are now in the capital. Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen have given up the idea of returning to Beicha. They just occasionally think of the several large houses they built and feel reluctant to leave: "Those three houses have only been lived in for two years. The money was wasted." Whenever Zhenzhen heard this, she would touch Li Mingzhong's head and smile: "Don't worry, they will be useful sooner or later, they won't go to waste."
*****
Although Zhenzhen can go back to Beicha to see Li Mingzhong from time to time, Old Lady Li, Mingxi, and Mingbei haven't seen Li Mingzhong for a long time. Mingbei touched Li Mingzhong's shiny fur and rubbed his head happily: "I thought you would be too old to walk, but you still look the same as when you were young. Do you dare to go hunting with me again?"
Li Mingzhong gave Mingbei a contemptuous look, as if to say: As if you can beat him.
"You are still like this." Mingbei smiled foolishly and held Li Mingzhong in his arms. Li Mingzhong struggled for a long time but failed to break free from Mingbei's arms. He could only let him hold his head with helplessness.
Xi Junjie looked at the nearly 1.7-meter-tall dog in Mingbei's arms and looked at Zhenzhen with some admiration: "Did you raise this dog?"
"Yeah." Zhenzhen stretched out her hand, and Li Mingzhong immediately kicked Mingbei aside, ran to Zhenzhen's side and lay down at her feet obediently.
Mingbei got up from the ground, brushed off the dust on his body, and said to Xi Junjie with a proud look on his face: "Is there any mountain near our imperial capital where we can go hunting? You can go and hunt some wild animals while the weather is nice and cool in autumn. My Zhenzhen and Hongzhong are both very good at hunting."
Xi Junjie didn't hear Zhenzhen talking about hunting, so he asked her curiously, "Do you need to bring some nets? Spread some corn or something, and pull down the nets when the pheasants come to eat."
Zhen Zhen kicked the stones under her feet and smiled sweetly: "It's not that troublesome."
There is a deep mountain in the southwest of the imperial capital and a river that has been flowing for thousands of years. Such scenery is most suitable for an autumn outing. Zhenzhen and Xi Junjie discussed it and simply called up two good classmates from the dormitory to go hunting and have a picnic together in the southwestern mountains.
After all, the distance was quite far, so Zhenzhen went back to the dormitory to invite some. Wei Yujin and the other older girls refused to go. They would rather read in the dormitory at that time. Xu Jiajia, Meng Ranxiao, and Guo Xiaoqiao, three girls about the same age as Zhenzhen, were very active. They even went to the school store to buy biscuits and snacks, for fear that they would not be able to hunt any wild animals and would faint from hunger outside.
When the boys in Xi Junjie's dormitory heard that they were going out for a picnic with the girls from the literature department, they all stared with their eyes wide open and wanted to follow. But the day before the picnic, the French teacher smiled and announced the bad news before the get out of class ended: there would be a quiz on Monday morning, and the result would be included in the exam score.
The boys in Xi Junjie's dormitory all had good grades, but the French teacher often asked some weird questions, so some of them were unsure. After much hesitation, they gave up the opportunity to go on a trip with the girls and chose to study in the dormitory. So Xi Junjie took Liu Chenglin, a Northeastern uncle, Meng Yaoxing, a young man from the capital, and Kong Xiangwu, a Shandong man, to the southwest mountains.
The picnic site was quite far from the school, so they got up at five o'clock, took a small train for more than an hour, and then took a passing horse carriage. They finally arrived at their destination at eight o'clock.
After a busy morning, the eight people still hadn't eaten. Touching their empty stomachs, Liu Cheng couldn't help but ask, "What are we going to eat in the morning?"
Zhenzhen found a flat place at the foot of the mountain and directed a few boys to set up the two pots they brought. At the foot of the mountain was the famous Jiuwan River. The clear water was visible and the fat fish swimming around made the boys stare in amazement.
While fetching water and collecting firewood for making a fire, Zhenzhen broke off some willow branches from the willow tree by the river and in a short while she had woven a basket the size of a washbasin. Several girls watched and surrounded Zhenzhen to ask her how she did it.
Handing the basket in her hand to Guo Xiaoqiao, Zhenzhen picked up some willow branches. She deliberately slowed down, but her nimble fingers still spun the willow branches around, making them dazzled.
"Okay." Zhenzhen stuffed the last bit of paper into the basket and smiled while holding the basket. "This mountain is quite deep and there aren't many houses nearby. I think we can pick some mushrooms and pheasant eggs. Let's hurry up because we have to go up the mountain after breakfast."
When the girls heard this, they excitedly followed Zhenzhen up the mountain. Xu Jiajia pushed aside the weeds that blocked the way and asked worriedly, "Can we find pheasant eggs? How do we find them?"
Zhenzhen stopped and pointed to a patch of weeds not far away and said to Xu Jiajia, "Go over there and take a look."
Normally Zhenzhen is very reliable in school, and several girls of similar age in the dormitory all trust her, so when Zhenzhen mentioned Xu Jiajia, she ran over without hesitation, parted the grass and saw a nest of pheasant eggs inside. She counted them and found that there were more than twenty of them.
"Wow! It really exists!"
"Zhenzhen, you are amazing. How did you figure that out?"
Guo Xiaoqiao and Meng Ranxiao ran over exclaiming and put the pheasant eggs into the basket impatiently.
Pheasant eggs are small in size, but those boys had big appetites. Zhenzhen led them to pick up three nests of pheasant eggs and a basket of mushrooms before heading back.
At the foot of the mountain, the water in the pot had already boiled. Seeing the girl coming back, Liu Chenglin jumped up and down excitedly: "I caught a lot of fish."
Guo Xiaoqiao immediately ran over there with a smile on his face: "Let me see where it is."
"It's stewing in the pot." Guo Xiaoqiao looked into the pot and saw more than a dozen small fish, more than a finger long, rolling in the hot water, each of them looking like they died with their eyes open.
"No, classmate Guo, you can't ask for too much. I didn't bring a fishing rod or anything. It's not bad that I can catch these fish with a straw hat net."
"Such a small fish is not enough to fill the gaps between our teeth." Guo Xiaoqiao shook his head speechlessly and reached out to take the basket brought back by Xu Jiajia: "Look at us, 52 pheasant eggs and a basket of mushrooms, we are better than you, right?"
"This is so lucky." Several boys shouted, took the basket from the girl, poured the pheasant eggs into the empty pot, washed the mushrooms, tore them into strips and put them into the fish soup.
After waiting for about eight minutes, everyone took out their own rice bowls from their schoolbags and filled a bowl. Although the fish in the soup was a little small, the mushrooms were fresh, so this strange combination of soup was still quite popular. The group of people ate up all the fifty or so eggs, leaving not even a fish residue in the soup.
After eating and drinking, the girls went to the river to wash their lunch boxes, and the boys put out the fire and found a place with lush weeds to hide the two pots inside. They would have to come down to cook after hunting wild animals, and it was really inconvenient to carry the pots up the mountain.
Because the breakfast they had was basically what the girls had brought back, Liu Chenglin, Kong Xiangwu and others shouted to avenge themselves and they insisted on killing two pheasants to let the female classmates see their bravery.
Liu Chenglin took out a slingshot from his schoolbag, and Kong Xiangwu brought a net, preparing to set a trap. When they reached the middle of the mountain, they heard the fluttering of pheasants, but they flew away alertly as soon as they approached.
"Don't worry, I learned this method from a book, it will definitely work." Kong Xiangwu finally installed his mechanism after some trouble. He pulled a wire and lay on the ground carefully.
After waiting for a few minutes, no pheasants came over. Liu Chenglin was immediately happy: "Hey, can you do it? If not, don't talk nonsense. I'll show you how I can hit a pheasant with every shot."
Pulling the slingshot, Liu Chenglin aimed at a pheasant on a tree branch not far away. Seeing his professional look with half-closed eyes, several people couldn't help but hold their breath. Only Zhenzhen smiled slightly and shook her head gently behind him.
"What's wrong?" Xi Junjie asked Zhenzhen using mouth shapes.
"To the right." Just as the words fell, the stone flew out and hit the leaves on the right side of the pheasant. The pheasant was frightened and flapped its wings and flew away quickly.
"Oh, you're not always hitting the target, are you?" Xu Jiajia couldn't help but sigh: "Do you know how to use a slingshot?"
"Of course I can't. I've been playing this since I was a kid." Liu Chenglin was sweating. "But this doesn't always work. It must be that the gun is not aimed at the right place. I can shoot so close that I can hit the target every time."
Xu Jiajia was speechless: "You are talking nonsense."
"It's really difficult. If you don't believe me, try it." Liu Chenglin handed the slingshot to Xu Jiajia.
Xu Jiajia grew up in Ice City and had never experienced hunting. She didn't know how to use the slingshot when she took it, and immediately handed it to Zhenzhen: "Zhenzhen, do you know how to use it?"
Zhenzhen took off her schoolbag with a smile and pulled out a very old-looking slingshot from it: "I'm used to using mine."
The author has something to say: Update first, then correct mistakes!