Chapter 171: At the End of My Rope, I Suspect There’s No Path ②
By five or six o’clock, parents from other classes who came to watch the performances also started to leave one after another. Because tomorrow is Sunday, and the three families had already agreed to have dinner at Peng Yu Yang’s house, they weren’t in a hurry to leave. They just waited for the art festival to end before heading to Peng Yu Yang’s house for dinner.
Nie Qiu and the others who were participating in the performances spent the first half preparing their acts and didn’t get to see many of the earlier performances. So, after their own performances, they watched others from the audience seats with great interest, not finding it boring like some of their classmates.
As it neared eight o’clock, the art festival was about to conclude. Although the budget was for it to end after eight, if some matters were handled smoothly, it wouldn’t be surprising for the art festival to end early.
After the final program concluded, the two hosts walked onto the auditorium stage. Ai Si Yuan said with a smile, “Art gives people beauty, gives people enjoyment, cultivates people’s minds and bodies. Life is made more perfect and fulfilling because of art. Art breaks the boundaries of time and space, making a dull life vibrant and colorful…”
“Art brings us so much beauty and so many memories. In this passionate moment, vibrant flowers bloom. As we are still intoxicated by this fragrance, the art festival has quietly drawn to a close,” said Ai Si Yuan’s partner, the girl, with a sweet smile.
“As we awaken from being moved and bid farewell to this dreamlike program, though we are reluctant, we all know that time is the most fleeting. Let us look forward to the arrival of the next art festival. Goodbye.”
The concluding remarks were proper and orderly, but amidst the enthusiastic applause of the classmates, the art festival came to an end.
Nie Qiu, Huang Yan, and Peng Yu Yang returned to their classroom with their class. Their parents, however, stayed at the school gate waiting for them. After receiving Teacher Yang’s instructions, they finally emerged from the school. The group hailed a taxi, chatting and laughing, and headed towards Peng Yu Yang’s family restaurant.
Li Kai’s father was too busy and didn’t come to school to watch his art festival performance. Zhang Hai Yang and Ma Xin might have had their mothers or fathers attend, but they all went home before five o’clock. Therefore, as Li Kai and Zhang Hai Yang walked out of the school gate together, they saw Nie Qiu and Peng Yu Yang getting into a car.
Li Kai and Zhang Hai Yang exchanged a glance. They both knew that Peng Yu Yang’s family owned a restaurant. Seeing Peng Yu Yang’s mother looking like the host, they knew where the group was going. Li Kai and Zhang Hai Yang looked at their buddies, and Li Kai took the initiative to say, “Since we don’t have school tomorrow, why don’t we all go to the restaurant for a meal?”
“Yes, yes!” Wang Chao Lei immediately agreed. Although they had all eaten something that evening, since they had the day off tomorrow and the final exams were only two weeks away, it was great to relax. It would be even better to eat, then go singing. No, they were tired of singing today. It would be best to go play billiards or something. Wang Chao Lei envisioned the itinerary in his mind and couldn’t help but smile.
The others had no objections. Their thoughts were similar to Wang Chao Lei’s. The intense daily study life was suffocating, so why not relax properly before the exams?
Seeing that they all agreed, Li Kai waved and hailed two taxis. Wang Chao Lei and Ma Xin got into one car. Li Kai said to the driver of their car, “Zijin Hotel.”
Luo Xu raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, “Zijin Hotel?” Going to a restaurant late at night for greasy food? Shouldn’t they be going to a hot pot place or a street food stall now, eating some small bites, drinking some beer, and then going wild?
Li Kai ignored Luo Xu’s teasing tone. After speaking, he got into the back taxi. The group took taxis towards Zijin Hotel.
It was already late. The peak hours for most restaurants are between five and seven. After eight, there are usually not many people dining at restaurants. So, Peng Mama took Nie Qiu and the group to a large round table in the lobby. The round table was separated by a half-height fence wall, with soil and lush green plants on the wall.
Peng Yu Yang’s father had received the news earlier that Huang Yan and Nie Qiu’s families were coming for dinner and had already prepared various delicious dishes. As soon as they were seated, Peng Baba signaled the waiter to serve the dishes, then sat down with a laugh at the head of the table next to Peng Mama. He poured wine for Nie Ai Wen and Huang Yan’s father, who were seated on either side, and chatted warmly.
Peng Mama also had a pleasant conversation with Nie Ai Fang and Huang Yan’s mother.
After Li Kai and the others entered the restaurant, they sat at a round table separated from Nie Qiu’s group by only a low wall. The waiter handed them the menu. Zhang Hai Yang and Li Kai leaned over the wall, waved, and asked the waiter to give the menu to Luo Xu and the others so they could order.
Luo Xu and Ma Xin were truly going crazy. Ever since they entered the restaurant, the two of them had been hunched over. Those who knew understood they were there to eat; those who didn’t might have thought they were there to steal! The waiter’s gaze was already strange, and now it was even stranger. The few of them wished they could stick notes on their faces saying, “We don’t know these two people!”
Peng Yu Yang smiled and served Nie Qiu a dish. Under Huang Yan’s glare, he also served Huang Yan a piece of dog meat. This drew a coquettish and soft angry roar from Huang Yan.
Li Kai and Zhang Hai Yang gritted their teeth in unison, “Having one is good enough, and you want two!”
After speaking, the two exchanged another glance and continued to peek.
After Luo Xu and the others finished ordering, Ma Xin said, “I beg you two, this imitation fence low wall is about 1.2 meters high. The people sitting on your side can’t see you. Can you stop being so embarrassing?”
Upon hearing this, the two, tired of crouching, moved stools and sat below the low wall, just their eyes peeking out. Through the plants, their line of sight was similar to when they were crouching. Satisfied, they continued to peek.
Luo Xu put his hand to his forehead. Among their group of brothers, these two were considered the only ones who hadn’t dated. It wasn’t about being so… embarrassing! But if they were to be embarrassed along with them… should this brother consider whether to continue being friends?
“This is too unfair!” Huang Yan, with a few pieces of dog meat in her bowl, complained, “Why do I only have two pieces of dog meat? Nie Qiu’s bowl has beef! I like beef too!” Even though she felt uncomfortable, Huang Yan put on a pretense of dissatisfaction on her face.
Upon hearing this, Peng Yu Yang picked up a pair of unused chopsticks, put a few more pieces of dog meat into Huang Yan’s bowl, and then smiled, saying, “Eat this dog meat, it suits you very well!” His tone was ambiguous.
“What do you mean this dog meat suits me? Do you want to die?” Huang Yan gritted her teeth. Because the elders were present, she spoke in a very low voice. After speaking, she looked at the dining table, her eyes lit up, and she picked up a soup dumpling from the table, placing it in Peng Yu Yang’s bowl with a smile, “Here, eat this, this soup dumpling suits you.”
Seeing this, Nie Qiu smiled. They ate together in the canteen at noon, so she generally knew what they liked and disliked. And Peng Yu Yang really didn’t like soup dumplings. Several times when they went to the canteen late and there was no food left, they had to buy soup dumplings that were steamed in the morning and not sold out. Every time, Peng Yu Yang would spill the soup on his clothes, no matter how he ate.
Recommending my friend Qingfeng Mowan’s work 《Pastoral Evening Colors: A Stout Woman’s Three Marriages to a Good Husband》, the most popular author on 69ShuBa. I’m also following this novel.
