Xiang Bingbing's home is actually in the town rather than at the entrance of the village, but the overall planning of Shenlongjia town is still a bit biased towards the village.
However, obviously compared with other houses, Bingbing's house can be regarded as a wealthy family here; the houses here are very spacious and bright, with a high ceiling between the second and first floors, but there are not many furniture in the house, which makes it look a bit empty.
Bingbing's sister Xiang Taotao is obviously a very reliable and sensible little cutie. After her sister ran away, she began to help her mother entertain guests on her behalf, serving tea, pouring water, and cutting fruits, and she was very attentive;
The twin brothers were attracted by the remote control racing car that Mei Fang bought and went outside to play racing. Children of this age are hated by everyone, so no one was very interested in them.
The cute little girl Xiang Guoguo, who is still in kindergarten, acted as the mascot and was surrounded by the girls to play with.
"Guoguo, how old are you this year?"
"I'm... um... six years old!"
"Who is your favorite family member?"
"My favorite is... Sister Taotao!"
"Wow, why isn't it Sister Bingbing?"
"Because Sister Bingbing... Sister Bingbing never plays with me and always comes back only after a long time."
"Sister Bingbing is studying hard to make a lot of money. Look, didn't she buy you a doll?"
"Yeah... that's right."
Xia Yuan liked Xiang Guoguo's babyish voice very much. She played happily with little Guoguo. Mei Fang, who was watching from the side, was very happy. Lin Youxi leaned on his shoulder and smiled:
"Isn't it enough for you to look at Yuanyuan all the time? Why do you just stare at her when you go out?"
"It's not just Yuanyuan, don't you think? Little sister Bingbing looks like Yuanyuan when she was a child. Her cheeks are plump and chubby. She is so cute."
"Do you still remember so clearly what Yuanyuan looked like when she was a child?"
"Of course... After all, she was the cutest when she was a child."
Lin Youxi whispered to Mei Fang, "Since you like Yuanyuan's childhood so much, how about asking her to give birth to a few more daughters for you in the future..."
Mei Fang smiled and shook her head, and also leaned close to Lin Youxi's ear to flirt with her:
"Don't just focus on letting Yuanyuan give birth, little Youxi is also very cute."
Lin Youxi smiled after hearing this: "A dirty nose with snot hanging down, is that cute?"
"Anyway, I like it! Besides, Xiao Youxi will have two beautiful mothers who know how to dress up and love her. She will definitely become a very, very cute little girl."
“That’s a nice thought.”
Lin Youxi was flirting with Mei Fang when Xiang Bingbing's voice came from outside the door.
"I'm back."
"Bingbing, how is it?"
Xiang Bingbing, who always had a silly smile on her face, had completely lost the enthusiasm she had when she first set out. However, under Xia Yuan's concerned questioning, she still managed to put on a bright smile, "Let's not talk about this for now, let's eat first! Try our Shenlongjia hometown dishes!"
"Come on, kids, it's time to eat! Try our braised pig's trotters and smoked bacon, they're so delicious!"
"Oh, it smells so good!"
Bingbing's mother was busy preparing a large table of dishes and didn't feel tired at all. Everyone sat down to eat. Bingbing also took the opportunity to introduce her friends to her mother, especially Mei Fang.
"This is the Afang I often mentioned to you. He was my deskmate for three years in high school and helped me a lot, especially when I was isolated and helpless in the beginning. It was he and his friends who helped me."
"You are Mei Fang... a very energetic young man, very good! I heard that Bingbing's athlete thing at school was handled by you?"
"Actually, I didn't do much. I just helped look up some information and contacted the teachers at school..."
Mei Fang scratched his head. "Bingbing is very good at basketball. Her talent should be shown so that it won't be wasted."
Xiang Bingbing seemed thoughtful after hearing this. Lin Youxi noticed her loneliness, and then looked at Xia Yuan who also glanced over.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they helped Bingbing's mother clean up the dishes. Seeing Xiang Taotao packing the food, Mei Fang asked, "Are you going to give it to Bingbing's father?"
At the dinner table, Xiang Bingbing and Mei Fang did not reveal their special identities, but Xiang Taotao was a girl who would watch Station C, and she had confirmed their identities from her sister, so she naturally knew what kind of status these three people in front of her were.
However, unlike her cheerful and energetic sister, Xiang Taotao is naturally weak, introverted and low-key, so she did not show any exaggerated fan tendencies and just nodded slightly.
"Then you can rest at home. We will help you send it to your father."
"You, you won't leave... It's better for me to take you there."
"No need, your sister can take it over."
Mei Fang touched Taotao's head skillfully. This kind of honest, sensible and obedient girl was very popular with Mei Fang. After all, they were all good potential workers in the future.
"You've been helping your mother prepare for the day. It must be very tiring, right?"
"It's okay... We're used to it."
As Xiang Taotao was talking, she saw the sadness on her sister's face, so she whispered to Mei Fang, "Sister and Sister Rourou were good friends who grew up together. Now that Sister Rourou can't go to college with her and has to get married, she must be very sad."
"I know. All of our friends have seen it."
Mei Fang nodded. "We want to have a good chat with Bingbing about this matter and see if there is anything we can do to help."
"Thank you, thank you! The stationmaster is really kind...ah, that, that..."
As Xiang Taotao was talking, she blurted out what was in her heart. She immediately blushed and lowered her head. Mei Fang immediately said with a smile, "Haha, so you watch C Station too?"
"Yes, yes..."
Xiang Taotao scratched her head and said, "I really like watching videos there. The netizens there are really friendly! They speak in a very kind way!"
"As long as you like it, I'll send you some C-station gifts next time. Do you want any dolls?"
"If possible, I want a small TV. It's really cute!"
Mei Fang finished talking to Xiang Taotao and took the lunch box from her. Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi stood aside and looked at him with complicated eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"After all, Ah Fang is obsessed with daughters. Just now, when he saw Guo Guo, he wanted you to give her a daughter, Yuan Yuan."
Xia Yuan originally wanted to tease Mei Fang, but she didn't expect Lin Youxi to suddenly reveal such an explosive secret to her, "Is this true or false?"
"I didn't say it has to be a daughter!"
Lin Youxi quickly replied, “That means he likes anything that’s born out of fate.”
"You're just that anxious! You!"
Xia Yuan knocked on Mei Fang for a while. There was a commotion going on here. Xiang Bingbing finished packing and came over. "My sister said you guys wanted to go and bring food to my dad. It's a good opportunity for me to take you to the forest area. It will take about 20 minutes to get a ride. Is Youxi physically able to handle it?"
Lin Youxi smiled and shook her head. "It's fine now. But what about you, what does your friend Xiaoran say?"
"I'll tell you about this on the way..."
Xiang Bingbing took the bus in town and told her friends about her childhood sweetheart Xiaoran.
"She told me that she dropped out of school voluntarily because she couldn't concentrate on her studies... She also said that her boyfriend was a nice person... Although I persuaded her a lot, Xiao Ran didn't seem to be very interested... She used to want to leave her hometown and see the world, but now she seems like a different person... Oh, I can't explain it, but it's just very uncomfortable."
Xiang Bingbing, who was always cheerful and optimistic, kept sighing in the car. Seeing her sad face, everyone was very worried.
Guo Yun advised, "After all, you haven't spent much time together in the past three years, so it's normal for friends to change... But I think it would be better to talk more. You haven't talked to her for a long time, right?"
Lin Youxi asked, "Is Xiao Ran's family a bit patriarchal or something? Dad doesn't support Xiao Ran to continue studying."
"We definitely have this kind of culture here, but Xiao Ran said she volunteered... I can't—"
"So we need to find out if she did it voluntarily."
Mei Fang said, "Although everyone has their own aspirations and we can't force them, if a friend does something that she will regret for the rest of her life, then the people around her will also regret it for the rest of their lives, right?"
"Afang is right. We have to find a way to see if Xiao Ran really doesn't want to study and wants to get married. But we still need to know more about your childhood friend. What kind of person was she in the past?"
"I think she's a quiet type..."
Xiang Bingbing thought about it, looked at Liu Xiaoyu's appearance and said, "It will feel a bit like Xiaoyu, but a little more courageous."
Liu Xiaoyu didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this, "So, in your eyes, I'm a little timid, right..."
"She is the type... She is not as timid as a dragon. She would scream when she saw mice or spiders, and she would be too scared to go out when she saw a wild boar running down the street. One time, a wolf ran into town, and she was so scared that she didn't dare to go out for a whole day and didn't go to class. In the end, I still found the wolf."
Liu Xiaoyu felt a little numb when he heard this, "I feel like... Bingbing, are you too brave!"
"That's right!" Xia Yuan also nodded vigorously.
"But overall she is still a very gentle girl. When I was a kid, I liked to wear sneakers when running, but I never knew how to tie my shoelaces, so Xiao Ran always helped me. She started learning to cook when she was very young, and the dishes she cooked are delicious..."
Xiang Bingbing told everyone about her good friend. Xia Yuan and Mei Fang couldn't help but smile knowingly at Lin Youxi. Lin Youxi also coughed lightly and then said:
"Since you are such a good friend, you really need to ask her what she thinks."
Mei Fang thought for a moment, "It may not make sense to just talk about her like this. Although she just got engaged, she shouldn't get married so early, right? Does she really want to get married before she's 20?"
"She started school late, and will be 20 in two months. But we don't have so many rules here... so we still have to ask as soon as possible."
Lin Youxi suggested: "I think you can invite Xiaoran to come and meet us. We can talk more and relax a little. Maybe we can know what she really thinks."
Xiang Bingbing, who originally didn't know what to do, suddenly had bright eyes after hearing what Lin Youxi said. She excitedly took Lin Youxi's hand and said, "Yes, yes, yes, this is a very good idea! Let's take her to play with us. She will feel younger when she is with us, and maybe she can tell me her true feelings. I have to take her with me."
Xiang Bingbing was about to ask the driver to let her get off the bus, but Mei Fang and the others stopped her, "Hey, hey! You still have to deliver food to your dad!"
The bus got off at the forest area in the middle. Mei Fang and his group accompanied Xiang Bingbing along the asphalt road for a while and came to a simple wooden house.
Being a forest ranger is a very hard job. One has to stay in the forest area 24 hours a day for more than seven months a year. Xiang Bingbing's father usually lives in such a place. When Xiang Bingbing's father, who was also 1.9 meters tall, appeared in front of Mei Fang and his group, everyone immediately understood where Xiang Bingbing's genes came from.
"Hello, uncle!"
Mei Fang and his group greeted Uncle Xiang. Uncle Xiang was a little surprised to see Bingbing's classmates, but soon he greeted everyone with a smile, "Um... Hello, come in and sit down."
The group followed him into the cabin where Uncle Xiang lived and they moved some wooden stools to sit down. The furnishings in the cabin were relatively simple. In addition to a desk, dining table, a small TV and a bed, there was a simple stove and a wardrobe. There was a mottled clock and a mirror hanging on the wall, as well as portraits of some great men.
Uncle Xiang poured a cup of tea for everyone, and then said gently, "There's nothing at home to serve you, so just take a look."
"Yes! Don't bother Uncle Xiang! We are just here to deliver food."
Mei Fang was responding when Xia Yuan kept pulling his arm to remind Mei Fang to look at the shotgun placed in the middle of the wooden house.
Forest rangers are legally allowed to carry guns. In order to deal with vicious poachers, they must take up arms to protect themselves. But after all, it was the first time to see a real gun, and everyone couldn't help but feel a little scared after seeing it.
Uncle Xiang lives a simple and hard life. Apart from a captive Chinese native dog named Dahuang, he has no other companions.
Years of lonely life made him seem to be very quiet. After Bingbing came, he just listened to Bingbing's nonstop chatter while eating. Then he heard Bingbing complain about Xiaoran's marriage, and he sighed at the moment.
"The child is so young, there is no need for him to get married so early. He should go out into the woods and walk around more..."
As she spoke to her uncle, she recalled, "Speaking of which, at the beginning of the year, Xiao Ran and Tao Tao came to bring me food and asked me what qualifications I needed to be a forest ranger... I even laughed at her for being so afraid of animals since she was a child, how could she have the idea of becoming a forest ranger and spending the rest of her life in the mountains. She just smiled and said nothing at the time. Maybe she had other thoughts at that time..."
Xiang Bingbing thought for a moment, "Dad, I plan to take my friend and Xiaorou to go camping tomorrow! What do you think of this idea?"
"Of course, you are here to have fun with your friends, right?" Xiang smiled at his uncle, "Remember to take your friends to the Julongtan to take some photos of the golden monkeys."
"What's so interesting about golden monkeys? I'm sick of them. It's more interesting to go find donkey-headed wolves and big-footed sasquatch!"
As Xiang Bingbing was talking, her father interrupted her, "Don't believe in those weird stories. Your father has been in the mountains for so many years and has never seen anything like this. How could you possibly run into this? Stay in the resort area and don't think you can get away from me."
Uncle Xiang thought for a moment and reminded Xiang Bingbing, "There are a lot of people at Jiulong Lake recently, remember to enter the scenic area from the north line."
"I know, I know. Then can I drive my little golden cup up the mountain?"
"You wish! You haven't passed your driver's license test yet, so let your mom drive. She's going to make some deliveries tomorrow, too."
Xiang Bingbing and her father have made plans to visit the Shennongjia Scenic Area. They will spend the next few days in the vast Shennongjia forest area, the roof of central China.
I haven't recommended a book for a long time, so I'll recommend one of my own works to you to relieve your boredom. My monthly votes have fallen below 100 again. The author of "Reborn Daily Cultivation of Immortality", Yuan Ting Ju Ju, is behind me and said that he is going to explode my ass soon. Can you watch me being exploded? Please vote for me for more monthly votes. If you don't, I will kneel down to you.
(End of this chapter)