Lan Xin also suggested having a barbecue at the botanical garden and asked everyone to freely form their own groups and bring food and equipment.
When Hua Xu heard that the class was preparing to barbecue during the spring outing, she frowned.
As a skincare expert, Hua Xu rarely joined in the smoky bustle of barbecues. Eating barbecue was still barely acceptable, but making it herself — sitting there for a while until every pore on her body was filled with the smell of smoke and char — was simply unbearably annoying.
After Zhou Xiu found out, she stroked Hua Xu’s head and said, “It’s fine if we don’t barbecue. Then let’s have a picnic-style cookout instead. Xuxu, what do you want to eat?”
What Hua Xu listed was always a pile of desserts. After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xiu wrote out the ingredients they would need to prepare for the spring outing.
Du Feiyang and Yu Qingyan had eaten dishes Zhou Xiu personally made last time at Hua Xu’s house, so they hurriedly raised their hands to sign up and join Hua Xu and Zhou Xiu’s group.
Xu Qing said, “I don’t want to eat barbecue either. I want to be in Xiu Xiu’s group.”
Tan Ming, who had been left alone, awkwardly hesitated for a long while before saying, “I want to join too.”
So Zhou Xiu assigned everyone the food and tools they needed to bring. After they discussed it noisily for a while, Tan Ming listened in stunned silence, gradually frowning.
These days, you even had to carry things for a spring outing? How heavy would that be?
He said straightforwardly, “There’s no need to carry the tableware or ingredients. I’ll have someone deliver them. Prepare more. It’s fine.”
Hearing this, Zhou Xiu unceremoniously doubled the amount and wrote out an extremely long list.
On the day of the spring outing, Zhou Xiu’s schoolbag only contained tools for collecting specimens, such as scissors, tweezers, clear tape, purified water, and so on.
After the large group arrived at the barbecue garden, Tan Ming’s family driver delivered the items. The group moved away from the smoky barbecue area, chose an empty spot for their cookout, and spread out all the things they had brought.
Zhou Xiu searched around and found an apron. She tore open the plastic packaging, tied on the apron, and began cooking.
Tan Ming saw Zhou Xiu put on the apron he had prepared. It was a pink-and-white rabbit apron, and the soft, tender colour diluted some of the coolness around Zhou Xiu.
The contrast was so cute that it made people stare blankly for a few seconds.
Tan Ming looked a few times, then silently turned his head away.
Du Feiyang could not help praising it. “That apron is really cute.”
A smile spread across Xu Qing’s lips.
Hua Xu was so tired she had collapsed onto the ground. Otherwise, she definitely would not have been able to resist rubbing Zhou Xiu’s head.
Zhou Xiu skilfully set up the stove. She spread a layer of green and red sweet peppers, enoki mushrooms, mushrooms, and white clams at the bottom of the pot. Then she took out the fresh fish that had been marinated in advance and placed it in another pan to stir-fry. Once the fish had been fried until both sides were golden, she transferred it onto the bed of green and red peppers and enoki mushrooms.
Zhou Xiu opened a bottle of beer and slowly poured it into the pot. The pale-yellow liquid covered the fish.
The wheat-brewed beer boiled and evaporated over the high heat, releasing a rich wheat fragrance. Mixed with the aroma of the ingredients, it made everyone’s appetite stir.
The two boys were cutting fruit. Xu Qing calmly and unhurriedly cut vegetables and stir-fried greens. Hua Xu and Yu Qingyan followed Zhou Xiu’s instructions to boil sago, stew snow pears, and simmer sweet fermented rice.
By the time the other underachievers in the class had finally, miserably overcome the century-old problem of “the charcoal won’t light,” Du Feiyang and the others were already happily eating beer-braised rice-flower fish dry pot.
Aside from making a pot of rice-flower fish, Zhou Xiu also stewed tofu and mixed vegetable soup, spicy crayfish, finger-licking roasted wings, and cold lemon chicken feet.
Many of the ingredients had been prepared in advance, saving them the trouble of washing, chopping, and marinating. They could simply throw them straight into the pot and cook them, which was very convenient.
When Lan Xin came to see Zhou Xiu’s group’s lavish lunch, she was stunned.
Hua Xu was happily drinking the mango pomelo sago Zhou Xiu had made by hand. Zhou Xiu had also made double-skin milk pudding, rock sugar stewed snow pear, and sweet fermented rice dumplings.
Du Feiyang was panting from the spiciness of the crayfish and asked, “Are there any ice cubes?”
“Xiu Xiu brought some. Look through her bag.”
Du Feiyang broke four square ice cubes out of the thermos and tossed them into a glass bottle with a clink, creating a wonderful sound.
He shook the bottle. “Arts committee member, want a bowl of sweet fermented rice dumplings?”
They had chosen an empty spot with a very good view and spread out a tablecloth. Beside it, the stoves and pots were arranged neatly. When they raised their eyes, they saw mountains surrounding them. When they lowered their heads, there was delicious food, beer, exquisite desserts of every kind, and fruit.
As the sun rose higher, the mist in the mountains gradually dispersed. The air carried a faint floral fragrance, and birds chirped noisily in the woods. It was truly very pleasant.
After eating a bowl of dessert, Hua Xu could not help narrowing her eyes. She smoothly shuffled a deck of cards and played while eating with the few friends in her group.
After Lan Xin came to see Zhou Xiu’s group’s setup, she was nearly stunned speechless.
Why was it that, even though they had all carried so many things, her group looked like they had come to suffer, while Hua Xu and the others looked like they had come on holiday?
It was as if they were living in two different worlds. Their practical skills were far too strong, weren’t they?
“Could it be because Zhou Xiu is a few months older than us?”
The university students nearby, who had been miserably busy for ages and had been instantly reduced to dregs by comparison, expressed that age refused to take the blame.
They could not help sighing. “Secondary school students these days are really amazing.”
They were the ones who looked like they were having a normal spring outing, while the group of secondary school students next to them looked as though they were filming a food programme. In terms of equipment, their equipment was complete. In terms of skill, they left everyone else eighteen streets behind.
In terms of looks… every single one of them looked like a school beauty or school hunk. The concentration of handsome boys and pretty girls was far too high. If they had one more cameraman, it would make people even more certain that they were there to film a show.
Yuan Ruoyi excitedly carried around a finally-grilled skewer of chives, looking everywhere for Lan Xin. “Lan Xin, come eat chives—”
She turned a corner and discovered Hua Xu and Zhou Xiu’s group, receiving a hundred thousand tons of critical damage.
Hua Xu clinked cups with Du Feiyang and drank sweet fermented rice dumplings. Zhou Xiu picked up fish and put it into her mouth. Yu Qingyan lightly scooped mango double-skin milk pudding with her thumb-sized spoon, sent it into her mouth, and narrowed her eyes. Tan Ming wore disposable gloves and sucked on a crayfish.
Most importantly, the dry pot of rice-flower fish was constantly bubbling away, gurgling with a rich fragrance, while Xu Qing occasionally stirred it.
Handsome boys, beautiful girls, delicious food, and beautiful scenery formed a pleasing picture. They looked so comfortable that it was as if they had come on holiday.
Yuan Ruoyi’s stomach gave a rumble.
She decisively threw the charred chives and chicken wings into the rubbish bin, sat down beside Yu Qingyan, and asked, “Can I eat?”
The few of them had already eaten almost enough, but there were still two big rice-flower fish left in the pot. The girls nodded.
Yuan Ruoyi was so moved that tears almost burst from her eyes. She hurriedly picked up her chopsticks and grabbed several chicken feet to eat. When Lan Xin saw this, she refused to fall behind. Her movements were faster than anyone’s as she accurately caught a piece of fish.
The other classmates from Class 24 who came after hearing the news were all stunned.
Wuwu, why hadn’t they been included in the cookout?
They also wanted to eat fragrant rice-flower fish. They did not want to eat dry, charred barbecue that had turned into a lump of charcoal.
“Is there still anything for us to eat?”
Zhou Xiu rubbed her already full stomach. “It’s fine. Eat.”
Tan Ming had bought six fish according to headcount. In reality, they had cooked three and still had not finished them. The underachievers swarmed forward and divided up the food, not even letting the fins and heads go. As for the desserts, they licked them clean.
Zhou Xiu half-squatted and threw the remaining fish into the pot to cook, sharing them with her classmates. However, there were too many people, so it was not enough.
Xu Qing said lightly, “Take all the ingredients from the car and let everyone eat together.”
It was still early, only just past eleven. There was more than enough time to prepare another picnic.
“The class monitor predicted it perfectly,” Du Feiyang said.
Last night, Xu Qing had already guessed how the underachievers in the class would react and had specially told Tan Ming to prepare several extra sets of ingredients.
Tan Ming made a phone call, and in less than ten minutes, the ingredients were quickly delivered to the botanical garden.
Tablecloths were spread out one by one on the empty ground, and identical stoves and burners were set up.
Zhou Xiu personally taught Lan Xin and the others how to make rice-flower fish dry pot and spicy crayfish. Hua Xu and Yu Qingyan taught the girls how to make desserts. Since there was no need to process the ingredients, the difficulty was reduced by several levels.
Before long, all the underachievers in Class 24 were enjoying the same style of picnic as the “Hua-Xiu group.”
Now that there was fragrant rice-flower fish, crayfish, chicken feet, and sweet desserts, who would still be willing to eat oily, charred barbecue?
The underachievers of Class 24 swiftly cleared away the barbecue ingredients. Those that had not been grilled were given to others, and those that had failed during grilling were thrown away.
They expectantly rubbed their hands together and sat around the picnic blankets, eating the lavish lunch with great enjoyment. The boys and girls could not help taking out their phones and photographing the food from all angles.
The university students next to them, who had also come for a spring outing, looked at these well-fed secondary school students and silently shed tears of envy and jealousy in their hearts.
“Classmates, we’re students from the neighbouring high school who also came out for a spring outing. Could we have a little food?”
The shameless university older brothers and sisters, faced with delicious food, disgracefully pretended to be younger and managed to get a little bit of food shared by the underachievers.
After Zhou Xiu had eaten and drunk her fill, she took out her map and began collecting specimens from every corner of the botanical garden.
The Forest Botanical Garden covered a very wide area. Spring was the season when flowers bloomed and leaves fell, so there were many fallen leaves and undernourished flower buds on the ground. Zhou Xiu walked while taking photos. For plants that she really wanted to collect but that had no fallen buds or leaves, Zhou Xiu took pictures instead.
After picking up a fallen camellia bud from the ground, Zhou Xiu took out her phone. Opportunities to be in contact with nature were rare, so she thought of the fans in her livestream room. Plant observation and dissection were somewhat helpful for the biology competition.
She took out tweezers and a blade and began dissecting the flower bud. Carefully, she removed every stamen and pistil, separated each part of the flower, pressed them onto transparent plastic, vacuum-sealed them, and stored them in her schoolbag.
The fan “Work Hard to Reach National Gold” had brought many classmates with him.
“Caught the livestream just in time. Where is the streamer? There are so many plants.”
“This time, I followed the streamer and saw so many strange and unusual plants. My eyes have really been opened.”
“There are even more plants than in the teaching documentaries our teacher shows us, and there are close-up shots too. Hahaha, the streamer really loves life.”
It was Zhou Xiu’s first time in her life visiting a botanical garden. The many rare and peculiar plants in the garden satisfied her thirst for knowledge and curiosity, and Zhou Xiu was very happy. After she finished collecting specimens, she glanced at the bullet comments and patiently began answering questions.
“Streamer, what is specimen No. 35?”
“Wow, streamer, your dissection technique is so smooth! I’ve never made a specimen before. Next time, can you slow down your movements so I can see how you handle it?”
Zhou Xiu typed out a message and replied to the fans’ questions one by one, introducing what each plant was like an encyclopaedia. She also included tips for handling roots, stems, flowers, and leaves.
“No. 35 is a single-petal camellia, ‘Hanging Branch Golden Heart.’”
“Streamer, your name is Xiu Xiu, right? Xiu Xiu, I want to take a closer look at the legendary dove tree and Cathaya… This biology student has never seen them before.”
After Zhou Xiu finished collecting specimens to her heart’s content, she satisfied their requests.
……
The students from Winner Class came to the botanical garden and obediently toured the various themed sub-greenhouses. They walked until it was nearly twelve, and only when everyone became hungry did they begin preparing to eat.
They each took out the packed lunches they had brought with them. There were all kinds of bentos: high-grade steak, tuna, rice balls, foie gras… and so on. They were extremely varied, and the flavours were all the ones they usually liked to eat.
In short, the students of Winner Class would not have to worry about food during the spring outing.
But doubt gradually rose in their hearts.
What did we come to the botanical garden for? Just to dryly look at plants? Just to eat takeaway in a different place?
That wasn’t right.
They had clearly come because they thought it would be interesting and fun.
The class monitor of Winner Class said, “Go and see what Class 24 is doing.”
Their study committee member opened WeChat and was stunned by the flood of show-off photos posted by the underachievers.
The piping-hot, appetite-stirring food looked so good that they could practically smell the tempting aroma through the photos. The girls, especially, could not resist the temptation of those countless colourful desserts.
Then they lowered their heads and looked at the lukewarm bentos in their arms, feeling so crushed they began to doubt life.
Xi Shaoyuan was holding his phone and happened to scroll past Hua Xu and Yu Qingyan’s posts. In the picture, Zhou Xiu was wearing a soft pink rabbit apron and busily cooking.
She was holding a large soup ladle, scooping up sweet fermented rice dumplings and handing them toward the person in front of the camera. The smile that had unconsciously appeared at the corners of her mouth gave people a warm feeling.
Zhang Qi leaned his head over to look.
“I knew it. How could they possibly be interested in plants?”
“So they came here to cook outdoors.”
These rich second-generation kids, who were usually so pampered they never lifted a finger, had actually transformed into highly capable food bloggers after coming here?
Zhang Qi decisively put down the boxed meal in his hand. “Let’s go. We’ll go next door to Class 24 and freeload.”
Anyway, they had made so much food, and the portions were so big. They definitely wouldn’t refuse to let them have some.
Usually, the boys made appointments to play basketball together, and the girls made appointments to go shopping. They were as close as brothers and sisters wearing the same pair of trousers. If they refused to share a little food, how would they still have the face to call themselves brothers and sisters in the future?
Over on Class 24’s side, the underachievers had just started eating. They had only picked up a few pieces of fish with their chopsticks when they saw the students of Winner Class surging toward them.
The underachievers fell silent in unison.
Was it still too late to protect their food now?
The speed at which their chopsticks landed visibly increased, and the mouths drinking dessert swallowed even faster.
Du Feiyang and Tan Ming: “…”
Even if the class monitor could predict things like a god, he definitely could not have predicted another huge wave of people coming to freeload, right?
Zhang Qi familiarly sat down beside Du Feiyang, put on disposable gloves by himself, and ate a crayfish.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. We worked so hard looking at plants, while you lot are comfortably cooking out here? And you didn’t bring us along. That’s way too disloyal.”
Fortunately, the students of Winner Class also had their own bentos. They ate some of their own food and then freeloaded a little from Class 24, finishing all the food the underachievers had made without wasting a single bit.
After eating and drinking their fill, Zhang Qi and the others took out playing cards and started playing with Xu Qing, Tan Ming, and the others.
Zhang Qi asked, “What’s the punishment for losing? Taking clothes off?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the honest high school students mocked him in unison.
“Do you think this is a nightclub? Taking clothes off?”
“Dream on.”
There were so many handsome boys and pretty girls in the class. Clearly, they would be the ones losing out, okay?
Du Feiyang was so hot that he could not help fanning himself. Suddenly, inspiration struck.
“Contribute all your sweaters. Whoever loses has to put clothes on. Lose once, wear one more piece.”
“Let’s see who ends up looking the fattest.”
Who was short of clothes right now? After eating, they were so hot that people had already started taking off layers in twos and threes, okay? As soon as Du Feiyang finished speaking, seven or eight sweaters were thrown at his feet.
After a while, the students from the two classes also ran into Rocket Class. The spot Hua Xu had chosen had particularly beautiful scenery. It was located beside a stream, and they could hear the sound of spring water flowing.
As the sun rose higher, the place could also provide shade from the sunlight.
The students of Rocket Class discovered this treasured spot and stopped to rest, casually starting to play cards.
Xie Cheng and the other top students were playing bridge. After Zhang Qi finished lunch, he went over to join the fun and watched Xie Cheng crush the top students of Rocket Class at bridge.
Zhang Qi’s maths was too good, and he had steamrolled the underachievers of Class 24. The underachievers, who had been forced to wear sweaters until they looked round and puffy, angrily drove him away. He could only come and seek refuge with Xie Cheng’s group to play bridge.
The people playing cards in Xie Cheng’s group were Xu Haobo, Qi Yaguang, Li Simiao, and Lu Lingshan.
Unexpectedly, after the fiercely competitive Zhang Qi joined in, the boys who had originally been playing casually were stirred into competitiveness. A perfectly normal game of bridge was turned into a competition.
Xie Cheng could no longer stay detached either.
As a result, Qi Yaguang and Lu Lingshan lost several rounds in a row. Zhang Qi found the game unsatisfying and said, “There’s no punishment. Not fun, not fun. Hey, how about we do the same as them? Whoever loses has to wear clothes?”
Everyone gave an “Mm” and agreed.
The group gathered together to play cards. After playing for a while, Lu Lingshan was wearing five sweaters, Qi Yaguang two, Xie Cheng none, Zhang Qi none, Xu Haobo none, and Li Simiao two.
The circle of students around them could not help laughing. Such a ridiculous moment was something they normally never got to see. The school beauty usually paid particular attention to her image.
Zhang Qi cleared his throat. “Not playing anymore, not playing. Boring.”
Qi Yaguang, who had been crushed, became angry. She said, “How can you do that? You can’t leave. One more round! Wait until I’ve taken off all the sweaters before you go!”
“I’ll give you all a chance. Take off whatever clothes you can take off,” Zhang Qi said.
Li Simiao, who had suffered several losses already, cleverly hurried to take off his coat and sweater, leaving only a base shirt. Qi Yaguang and Lu Lingshan hesitated awkwardly for a long while before finally taking off their coats and sweaters.
Over on Rocket Class’s side, the game of bridge was getting more and more intense. At that moment, Zhou Xiu, who had been collecting specimens, returned.
Sweat covered her forehead as she put down her schoolbag and gulped down a lot of water. She drank too quickly, and water spilled directly from the corner of her lips.
Xu Qing took out a tissue and handed it to Zhou Xiu. Zhou Xiu was drinking water and did not take it. So he held the napkin and directly wiped her mouth for her.
“Slow down. Don’t drink so fast,” he said gently.
Across from them, Xie Cheng saw this and turned his head to glance at Xi Shaoyuan, only to see Xi Shaoyuan staring fixedly at Zhou Xiu and Xu Qing.
Xie Cheng gave a light cough and called Zhang Qi.
“Go invite Xu Qing over. Let’s play together.”
Zhang Qi cheerfully agreed and invited Xu Qing over to play bridge.
Bridge was a game that tested mathematical ability a lot. Xu Qing’s maths grades were also good, much better than Lu Lingshan’s. Whenever Lu Lingshan was in the game, the person who lost was definitely him. Even though Zhang Qi liked going easy on pretty girls, after so many rounds, he was tired of yielding.
Replacing Lu Lingshan with Xu Qing would make the game more exciting.
Seeing that the person coming over was Xu Qing, Lu Lingshan and Qi Yaguang did not argue and tactfully stepped back. Lu Lingshan’s maths grades had never been very good to begin with. As for Qi Yaguang, although her maths was good, her calculation ability was terrible.
Against the experts in the grade, she could only be completely crushed.
And so Xu Qing, who had only just wiped Zhou Xiu’s mouth and had not even had time to throw away the tissue, was invited over to play bridge. This time, the group consisted of Xie Cheng, Xi Shaoyuan, Xu Qing, and Zhang Qi.
Zhang Qi sensitively noticed that after the girls were gone and Xu Qing joined in, the previously relaxed style of play suddenly became sharp and fierce.
Xie Cheng and Xi Shaoyuan played especially ruthlessly. Zhang Qi gradually found his brain was not enough to keep up, and accidentally, humiliatingly, had to put on a sweater.
Xu Qing was even worse. After a few rounds, he had become round from all the sweaters he was wearing.
When the underachievers of Class 24 saw this, they laughed until tears fell, calling one after another for their class monitor to come back to their base camp and play.
Hua Xu pushed Zhou Xiu. “Xiu Xiu, you go. Swap the class monitor back.”
Zhou Xiu, who had rested enough, stood up and walked over to Rocket Class. After one round ended, she asked, “I’ll replace Xu Qing.”
Zhang Qi nodded very naturally. “Come, come. Xu Qing, get up and give Zhou Xiu your seat.”
He asked, “Girls get special treatment. Zhou Xiu, do you want to take off some clothes?”
Zhou Xiu was dressed fairly warmly, but earlier she had been sweating heavily, and the sweat had gradually dried in the wind. If she took off clothes now, she could easily catch a chill.
So Zhou Xiu shook her head. “No.”
“Alright then. No taking them off.”
When Qi Yaguang, who was standing nearby, saw this, her competitive spirit could not help being stirred up.
“Wait… shouldn’t it be our turn?”
Lu Lingshan also wanted to play games with Xi Shaoyuan and Xie Cheng. She looked at them with an expectant gaze.
Zhang Qi said bluntly, “It’s not interesting playing with you. Zhou Xiu, sit down.”
Xi Shaoyuan calmly cut the cards and began shuffling.
Zhang Qi said smugly, “The way boys and girls think is naturally different. Just like Qi Yaguang and Lu Lingshan. Although your maths grades are decent, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be good at cards. Zhou Xiu, do you want me to go easy on you?”
Zhou Xiu said, “No need.”
Qi Yaguang, who had been faintly belittled, felt somewhat uncomfortable. She placed her hands on her hips and stubbornly stood beside Zhou Xiu to watch.
Lu Lingshan, who was used to being surrounded and admired, also felt a little embarrassed.
“It’s just for fun. Just play casually.”
Xi Shaoyuan picked up his cards and said lightly, “It’s not just casual play. We have to play seriously.”
Only playing seriously was interesting.
Leave a Reply