Chapter 12 First Encounter + New Friends

  Su Qing had a good rest and slept well the next day, and did a set of radio exercises in the yard with great enthusiasm. The pleasant mood made everyone at the breakfast table feel it.

  "Qing Qing, you're in a good mood today. What's the good news you want to share with Grandpa?" Grandpa said with a smile.

  "I can see that my sister is very happy, if there's anything good, be sure to bring me along."

  "I just think today's weather is nice." Su Qing said so, and it was indeed the case.

  "What are your plans for today, staying at home or going out to play, brother will accompany you." Su Chen hadn't had time to spend with his sister in a long while.

  "I'm not a three-year-old kid, I don't need someone to accompany me."

  "Your brother is concerned about you, and you don't know the blessings you have." Wang Shuqin felt that she was the happiest mother in the world when looking at this pair of siblings.

  "Hehe, how would I not know? I bought a few trees today that can be delivered, brother has nothing to do and can stay at home to wait for the moving worker and diligent gardener." Su Qing wanted to leave a few of the trees she dug up in Xishan last night in the remaining space to transplant into the courtyard.

  In the morning, Su Qing picked all the ripe Chinese cherries and mulberries from the trees. When no one was around, she moved two sour jujube trees, two pearl plum trees, two yellow rose bushes, and a Mongolian cherry tree out of the space and placed them at the door. She turned back home and said that the seedlings had been delivered, calling her older brother and grandfather to come to the door together to move them.

  "Where is Su Qing's delivery person?" Grandfather asked strangely as soon as he arrived at the door and only saw the tree but not the person.

  Su Qing could only gloss over it by saying "They had something to attend to and left first."

  "Su Qing, where did you buy all this? It looks different from what we usually see." Su Chen's observation ability was very strong, and he noticed the difference at a glance.

  "They're all wild, from the mountains. I don't know which company got them." My grandfather was old and had a lot of experience, so he immediately recognized that they were wild.

  "These yellow thorny golden petals are something I've never seen before, but they're all thorns up and down, how can you move them. These few green jujube trees and mulberry trees are still on the tree, this is the first time I've seen such a strange tree-selling company." Su Chen looked at these plants and felt more and more strange.

  Several thornless ones were moved into the yard smoothly, and finally two yellow rose bushes had some thorns cut off before they could be moved in. During the transportation, Su Chen was curious about how the workers who delivered the seedlings managed to transport them without cutting off the thorns.

  Digging holes, planting saplings, filling soil, and watering, it's like celebrating Arbor Day. Finally, my grandfather pruned the branches for them. Su Qing further pruned the cut flower-bearing yellow rose branches to remove thorns and put them in a vase, which was very beautiful.

  Su Qing went to the supermarket and came back with a bag of sour jujubes. Su Qing picked some tender sour jujube leaves for her grandfather to make into tea, and also made some soft and delicious sour jujube cakes. Her grandparents, along with Su Chen and his sister, leisurely drank afternoon tea and had some snacks in the garden.

  In the afternoon, Su Chen was called out by his friends to play ball and brought some pastries for them. Su Qing thought that it had been a while since she last visited her grandfather, so she packed some sour jujube leaf tea and date cakes and said goodbye to her grandfather before heading out.

  "Grandpa Bai, I've come to see you."

  "Ah, Qingqing's here again, what good stuff have you brought this time?" said Bai Lao with a warm smile as he greeted Su Qing.

  "Grandpa Bai, you just like to tease me, but I'll only have a sour plum tea and a date cake." Su Qing smiled as she handed over the tea leaves and led the old man into the teahouse by the arm.

  "I'll go get the tea set and we can have a drink." The old man was eager to taste the flavor of jujube leaf tea.

  "The cake is sour and sweet, and the tea also has a unique flavor."

  "As long as you like it, it's worth my hard work picking mulberry leaves."

  "You little rascal, just teasing me."

  A hurried footsteps came, followed by a voice at the teahouse door "Grandpa I'm back."

  "What's the hurry, there are no guests. This is Su Qing, not even a greeting." Grandpa Bai's words were reproachful but his tone was doting. "Su Qing, this is my grandson Mu Rong Xuan."

  "Su Qing, hello, welcome to our home. I often hear my grandfather mention you."

  "Hello, Murong."

  Su Qing saw that the young man was extraordinary, but he had a pair of peach blossom-like phoenix eyes, and his eyes were like deep and bottomless pool water. Wearing a V-neck shirt, he was an incarnation of a demon.

  "Murong big brother is drinking tea." Su Qing didn't know what was wrong with her, she actually took the initiative to pour a cup of tea for the young man sitting opposite her.

  "Thank you, this tea is delicious. No wonder Grandpa likes you so much."

  "There's nothing much, I just accompanied Grandpa Bai to have some tea and chat."

  "I've been abroad for many years and haven't accompanied Grandpa well, you can often come to his old home and he will definitely be happy."

  The two of them chatted like this until dusk, and White didn't even notice when Old Man Bai left.

  After Su Qing said goodbye and went home, Grandpa Bai came out with a smile.

  "Hey kid, I remember you only drank coffee, when did you start liking tea?"

  Murong Xuan smiled awkwardly, "I just think that tea is really good."

  "It's good tea, and the person is even better." The old man chuckled and walked away, leaving his grandson standing there in a daze. After walking for a while, he furrowed his brow, as if Su Qing was only thirteen after all.

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  Chen Shan went to the airport a few days ago to see her father off for an academic exchange. Unexpectedly, she ran into her childhood friend Yang Yingxue at the airport. The two long-unseen friends excitedly hugged each other and jumped up and down in the airport hall, with Chen Shan also letting out a burst of loud cries. After they got on the car, Chen Shan started asking questions nonstop. When Yang Yingxue mentioned that her family was going to move back to Beijing, Chen Shan surprisingly gave her a kiss on the cheek while hugging her. Chen Shan laughed happily, not noticing that her normally gentle friend's face had turned bright red with embarrassment.

  Yang Yingshu came to a good friend's house today, and had a few words with Chen Jia people who hadn't seen for a long time. Before noon, Chen Shan pulled herself out the door. Yang Yingshu didn't even ask where Chen Shan was going, she had already gotten into a taxi.

  "Chen Shan, where are we going?"

  "Yingxue, I'd like to introduce you to a new friend, Suzhen." Chen Shan thought it would be great if Suzhen and Yingxue could also become good friends, so the three of them could go shopping and chatting together, just thinking about it made her happy.

  "Should we go to her house now? It feels like we're freeloading at this hour." Yingshu is a gentle soul, and going to someone's house at this time seems somewhat impolite.

  "It's okay, the Su family is very easy-going. I often go to her house for dinner, and the food at Su's house is much better than in restaurants." Chen Shan felt that the food at Su's house was delicious since she had dinner there once, even surpassing that of restaurants.

  "How did you two meet? It's obvious that you really like her." Xiangxue asked with a smile.

  "My primary school classmate, also learned calligraphy from my grandfather. But she's too smart and always skipped grades, soon to be in college. She's a great person, you'll like her when you meet her later." Chen Shan always felt that Su Qing was not good enough, making herself have no close friends like Su Qing or Ying Xue at school. But Ying Xue returned to Beijing, the two were in the same school, it was really great.

  Yang Yingshu is now looking forward to seeing Su Qing. Chen Shan is a straightforward person with high requirements for making friends. If she didn't truly like Su Qing, Chen Shan wouldn't have been so sincere, let alone the two of them being so casual. Just calling to introduce herself and asking her out would be enough, Yang Yingshu thought that Chen Shan had gone out of her way to eat together.

  Chen Shan led Yang Yingshu directly to the Su family's quadrangle courtyard and pressed the doorbell repeatedly. The door was opened by Su Chen.

  "Su Ge, I came to find Su Qing and also take advantage of a free meal, I know you don't mind. By the way, I brought my friend Yang Yingshu." Chen Shan had been to Su's house many times and was familiar with Su Chen, so she spoke very casually.

  "Hello Su Gege, I'm Yang Yingshuang." Yang Yingshuang was surprised to see Chen Shan speaking to the young man in such a way, but she couldn't be impolite herself.

  "Hello, I'm Su Chen. Please come in, Su Qing will be thrilled to know you're here." Su Chen said as he invited the two of them inside.

  "What is Su Qing doing?" Chen Shan was anxious to see Su Qing.

  "Everyone went out today, and now it's just the two of us left at home. Su Qing is cooking in the kitchen."

  Su Chen led the two to the living room, brought out some snacks and poured tea. "First eat some snacks, I'll go to the kitchen to ask Qingqing to add two more dishes."

  "I'm really lucky, Su Qing's cooking is the best. Brother Su can go busy, I'm not a rare guest." Chen Shan heard that Su Qing personally cooked, and her saliva almost flowed out. The most delicious dish in Su's family is Su Qing. Chen Shan sometimes thought that with Su Qing's culinary skills, even the head chef of a five-star restaurant couldn't compare. Whoever marries Su Qing back home will be happy to death.

  Su Chen left the living room, and Chen Shan casually followed him to taste tea and snacks. Yang Yingshu was sizing up Su's living room. The decoration was antique and elegant, with red wood furniture. On the corner flower stand, a blooming camellia was placed. After listening to Chen Shan introduce Su Qing's parents as military personnel and doctors, she didn't expect the home to resemble a scholarly family. A white plum blossom painting hung on the wall, which wasn't an ancient painting but still caught Yang Yingshu's attention. Yingshu walked in front of the painting, and Chen Shan curiously followed her over.

  "It's changed again, last time I saw it was a peony painting." Chen Shan was almost used to the Su family's speed of changing paintings.

  "This flower is as real as it gets, without any signature, I wonder which master created it." Yingxue's father had collected many paintings and she herself was quite knowledgeable about them.

  "It must be Su Qing's painting again, isn't it amazing? My grandfather even said that Su Qing has a talent for painting, and in a few years she might be even better than him." Chen Shanmei said with relish, as if she had painted it herself.

  "Unbelievable, she's really only thirteen!" Ying Xue thought it was a painting by an elder of the Su family, but it turned out to be Su Qing.

  "You also think she's a genius, right? I said that, but Father said I wasn't working hard enough." Chen Shan felt wronged.

  On the other side, Su Qing's meal was already prepared and placed on the table. Su Chen came to the living room and called out to the two to come eat. Chen Shan saw the dishes on the table and immediately gave Su Qing a hug, excitedly saying "Su Qing you're too great, there's my favorite sweet and sour fish and Longjing shrimp."

  Su Qing and Ying Xue introduced each other, and everyone happily had lunch together.

  Su Qing felt that her brother was a bit different today, seemingly paying extra attention to Yang Yingshuang. Su Qing couldn't figure out the reason, so she didn't pay any more attention.

  After dinner, play chess, chat and drink tea. As the sun sets in the west, Chen Shan wants to take Yingxue to visit Su's garden.

  Chen Shan was originally a lively personality, and when she arrived at the garden, she automatically became an interpreter for Ying Xue. Seeing Hua Zanmei's two sentences, she went to the fish pond and scattered some fish food, looking like a runaway horse. Seeing those two sour jujube trees, she immediately wanted to pick some dates.

  "Su Qing, your family actually has a jujube tree, I've never seen it before." Chen Shan had been to Su's house many times and was familiar with the garden, almost as if it were her own backyard.

  "It was planted just recently, you haven't seen it before." Su Qing smiled and explained to Chen Shan.

  "It's only been planted for a short while, and yet it has produced so many dates." Xiangxue looked at the tree full of ripe dates, which was quite a sight.

  "When Su Qing bought it back, the tree had already borne fruit." Su Chen still finds the whole thing strange.

  "There are also people selling that kind of tree, it's so interesting. Su Qing, let's pick some dates, and later we can use the dates to make some desserts." Chen Shan thought she had a great idea and was looking forward to eating Su Qing's desserts.

  Four people ended up with one person carrying a small basket to pick dates. Chen Shan and Ying Xue had never done this kind of work before, feeling very fresh, picking with great enthusiasm. After a while, they finished picking, Chen Shan still felt unsatisfied, asking Su Qing if there were any more date trees. Su Qing introduced that the tender leaves can be made into tea, pointing to the mulberry tree full of mulberries not far away. In the end, the tender leaves and mulberries of the date tree also did not escape the fate of being picked. These few trees were injured all over, Chen Shan was very satisfied, carrying dates, date cakes, and sour date leaf tea, taking Ying Xue back to the Chen family.

  Su Qing was also delighted to have made friends with Yang Yingxue. Su Qing did not know that in the future, this beautiful and gentle girl would have a deeper connection with the Su family.

  Collection.^_^ Hope everyone will support me more, I'll work harder)