Li Qingcang could certainly feel that Ye Tianxin had grown up when she hugged him earlier.
From now on, he and Ye Tianxin had to maintain a certain distance.
Less than five minutes later, Ye Tianxin returned. She was wearing a pair of white canvas shoes and carrying several bags in her hands.
“Let’s go, Elder Brother Li!” Ye Tianxin told Li Qingcang as she walked towards his car.
Li Qingcang frowned. He pointed at the things Ye Tianxin was carrying and asked, “What’s that?”
“You’ll find out when we get there,” Ye Tianxin answered with a big smile on her face.
Ye Tianxin smiled. Then, she opened the door to the passenger seat and put on her seat belt.
“Follow this road and just go straight,” Ye Tianxin instructed.
Ye Tianxin guided Li Qingcang, and he drove them to the riverside.
“Elder Brother Li, don’t turn off the lights.”
Ye Tianxin got out of the car and found a pile of firewood.
She bent down and started a fire. She placed a metal rack over the fire and then set a small but deep round pot.
Li Qingcang looked at Ye Tianxin and asked, “Are we having a picnic?”
“Yep.” Ye Tianxin looked very happy. She continued, “I’m going to make you noodles.”
Ye Tianxin poured some water into the pot. Then, she went by the riverbank to dig up some wet mud with her hands.
She put some wet mud to an egg and then threw it into the fire.
“Elder Brother Li, have you seen an egg being cooked this way? I loved eating eggs cooked like this when I was little. They’re delicious when you prepare them this way.”
The water boiled.
Ye Tianxin took out some noodles and put them into the pot. She then added some vegetables.
The egg was cooked by the time the noodles were done.
Ye Tianxin used a little stick to take the egg out. She took the mud off from the egg and then peeled the egg cleanly.
“Elder Brother Li, try this. Are the noodles I cooked good?”
A bowl of piping hot noodles was placed in front of Li Qingcang.
Li Qingcang took the bowl of noodles and smelled the fragrant scent of the noodles. “It smells great!”
Ye Tianxin’s eyes teared up a little when she smiled. “Have the noodles slowly,” she encouraged Li Qingcang. “I’ll cook a few more eggs.”
Li Qingcang sat at the driver’s seat and ate the noodles. These were probably the best noodles he had ever eaten.
The headlights of the cars beamed on Ye Tianxin. She was like a busy bee, bending down by the fire as she cooked the eggs. She was focused on what she’s doing.
She looked like an angel in a sky filled with stars.
Li Qingcang did not know why, but, at that moment, he could hear his heart beating. It went ‘thump, thump, thump’.
Li Qingcang cleaned out the bowl of noodles. Ye Tianxin handed him a flask.
“Elder Brother Li, there’s honey water inside this. Have some.”
Ye Tianxin’s eyes looked at Li Qingcang with anticipation.
Li Qingcang took the flask and drank from it. It was sweet and the temperature was just right. It felt as if this bowl of noodles and this flask of honey water had swept away all the weariness he had felt over the past few days.
“Tianxin, let’s clean up, and I will drive you home.”
Ye Tianxin wanted to say that she did not want to go home, but she could not bring herself to do so.
“Elder Brother Li, shall we head back after the eggs are cooked?” Ye Tianxin suggested. “My eggs are not cooked yet.”
Ye Tianxin remembered the eggs that were still in the bonfire. It would be a waste to just leave them there.