Chapter 353 Spring Birth
Life is actually a joke.

No matter what the situation, it can be explained as a joke.

For example, if you say something that offends someone, they may ask, "How can you talk like that?"

"Sorry, I was just kidding."

Even if he got hit by a car when he went out, it was just a joke God played on Zhang Yunqi.

Of course, many things cannot be concealed. Zhang Yunqi did not want to hide it. As a person, you should be open and honest. He just did not want a good class reunion to become a fame and fortune place, and did not want everyone to be unable to accept that the poor students who sat in the same classroom back then had become so different in just two years.

The years stretch across it, and the watershed of life is clearly visible.

Such changes can easily make people feel mixed emotions.

This was the reason why Zhang Yunqi initially refused to attend the party, but he couldn't refuse Ji Ling. Of course, he was vain, but he still cared about the friendship of his former classmates. He didn't need these old classmates and friends to flatter him and treat him like a real father. If they really needed help from him, they could chat privately, on the phone, in bed, or talk about anything.

Of course, the meal was quite emotional.

After drinking a little, everyone showed their true colors through some game shows. Everyone was still the same as before. Now everyone became more intimate. While drinking, they talked about the life of the people in the past. One by one, cute, funny, shameful and pitiful anecdotes emerged.

Three years is such a short moment.

Zhang Yunqi, under the influence of alcohol, chatted with all the classmates who had never spoken to him. Some said that working outside was tiring and they were going to go home to raise pigs; some said that it was better when they were studying, carefree and worry-free; some said that they met a migrant worker girl from another place on the assembly line, and she got pregnant before they knew it, and he became a father when he was still a child.

Life is full of different aspects, and only you know how it feels.

Later, everyone set up card tables and mahjong tables, chatting and playing games. Someone, drunk, sang "Should I quietly leave, or should I bravely stay..."

Everyone is sometimes happy, sometimes melancholy, sometimes yearning for future life, and sometimes regretting the situation of parting.

Life is never short of regrets.

A life with regrets may be beautiful.

The impact of the heavy snow is still ongoing. Although the power supply in Jiangchuan City was restored on the day of the Little New Year, the power lines in the remote rural areas below have not been connected. So when night falls, the lights in Yunxi Village dim, leaving only the howling of the cold wind. However, in the tightly sealed doors and windows, under the dim candles, the warmth of family reunions, the happiness of family gossip, and the laughter of children receiving red envelopes and wearing new clothes are not diminished at all.

This is the first Lunar New Year since Zhang Yunqi returned to this era and the whole family reunited in their hometown of Yunxi.

On New Year's Eve, in accordance with international practice, Zhang Yunqi took a bath and checked his physical development. Adequate nutrition and long-term exercise made his physical condition much better than two years ago. His abdominal muscles were prominent, and his body was strong and stylish. Well... the most important thing was that he not only grew taller, but his lonely bird also grew bigger...

After taking a bath, Zhang Yunqi accompanied his parents to cook. His father was responsible for washing vegetables, he cut the vegetables, and his mother cooked. At that time, his eldest brother Zhang Yunfeng and his eldest sister-in-law Zhang Xiaonan, who were newly married, were cutting paper-cuts and talking about love in the main room, Chunlan was reading a book and eating dog food, and Xiaoxiao, who was wearing new clothes, was setting off firecrackers in the yard.

Before five o'clock, the reunion dinner was served.

The family gathered around the dining table, eating the familiar meals made by their mother and steaming rice dumplings. At that time, the sound of firecrackers in the saying "A new year is coming to an end with the sound of firecrackers" could be heard outside the window. Children in new clothes hurried past the door, perhaps their families were waiting for them to come home for a reunion dinner.

Not long after dinner, Ji Ling came.

In such a remote mountain village, without electricity, there is really no entertainment to be found. Ji Ling took Xiao Xiao to set off fireworks, but after a short while of excitement, she felt bored. Playing cards is not her interest, so Zhang Yunqi accompanied her out for a walk.

It's the beginning of spring and the winter snow has melted.

The wilderness outside Yunxi Village is vast and boundless, with distant mountains hidden in the mist. Yunxi Village is shrouded in the setting sun, and lanterns are hung high in every household. Zhang Yunqi accompanied Ji Ling as they chatted and walked, consciously or unconsciously, all the way to the river where they often came when they were children, and saw that the withered yellow grass and trees there had green buds, and were covered with blooming white wild lilies of the valley.

Ji Ling happily picked a lot of red envelopes, held them in her palms, and then sat by the river with Zhang Yunqi to talk. The fading warm sun shone on her skin, which seemed transparent. At this time, Zhang Yunqi took out a handful of red envelopes from his pocket, picked the bulgiest one, handed it to Ji Ling and said, "Happy New Year, just be free from worries."

"Hey! You're such a rich guy." Ji Ling was not polite at all. She grabbed the red envelope and opened it in front of Zhang Yunqi. She counted the brand new hundred-yuan bills inside and smiled happily: "Is this the first time we meet?"

Zhang Yunqi scratched his head: "She won't want it. You are different."

Ji Ling tilted his head and asked, "What's the difference?"

Zhang Yunqi pulled a piece of dogtail grass and said, "She grew up in a poor family and is always afraid of owing others because she feels she can't pay back some things. You are not afraid. Classmate Ji Ling is not afraid of anything."

Ji Ling rolled his eyes: "What you mean is that I have superior conditions and I am not afraid of owing you a favor."

Zhang Yunqi laughed and said, "Just say half of what you want to say and leave the other half. It's so hurtful to be so direct."

"how about you?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"You are not afraid of owing others a favor. You are afraid that others will ask you for help and bother you, and then feel that they owe you a favor, and they will be very embarrassed to be humble in front of you."

"That makes sense." Zhang Yunqi was touched. To some extent, this girl who grew up with him understood him best, and she was very thoughtful: "So no matter what I gave you, whether you liked it or not, you always acted like you liked it, because you didn't want me to feel like you owed me something."

"These are not important." Ji Ling narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Xiao Zhang, do you know why I insisted on dragging you to this party that day?"

Zhang Yunqi tilted his head: "Why?"

Ji Ling held her delicate chin with both hands, looked at the clear river water, and said slowly: "Actually, you didn't say anything, but I always felt that you were not in a good state recently. It seemed that something was wrong in your heart. Now making money can't seem to make you happy. Going back to your hometown, you just want to stay quietly, cook, take a walk with me, and take care of the work at the base, avoiding those social events far away. Not to mention classmates and friends, those county leaders who come to the base to inspect and visit can't even see you."

"What's wrong with that?"

"I can't say whether it's good or not. I just want to tell you that you want to treat your friends and classmates with a normal heart and an equal status. That's right, but it's impossible. You can't go back. Your current status is different. This has nothing to do with being normal and low-key. You are a rich man, you are a young entrepreneur in the city, you should enjoy this glory as a matter of course, and even enjoy the flattery of others."

Zhang Yunqi looked at her in a daze.

Ji Ling patted the dry grass on his trouser legs and stood up: "My classmate Xiao Zhang is no longer an ordinary person. I remember there is a saying that goes like this, if you don't return home in splendor, you are just walking in the night in splendor. That will be very tiring."

At this point, she stood on tiptoe, got close to Zhang Yunqi, pouted and said, "Smile."

Zhang Yunqi smiled.

"You're so good." Ji Ling reached out and ruffled Zhang Yunqi's hair, then jumped back a step, squinted her eyes and smiled, turned her head and walked towards home: "Let's go home, I want to eat the hot pot you made."

Zhang Yunqi looked at the girl with delicate short hair swaying in the wind. She was holding a white lily of the valley in her hand. She was walking in the field, as light as a deer. Her slender and clear figure was stretched longer and longer by the twilight.

Not far away, the red lanterns hanging high in front of every household in Yunxi Village had already lit up with warm red lights, the sound of firecrackers, the air was filled with the faint smell of gunpowder, and someone's mother-in-law was calling her children to come home for the New Year's Eve dinner. At that time, there were fireworks blooming in the night sky.

This is the New Year's Eve of the lunar year 1994.

As the months and years come to an end, the winter chill has melted away and spring grass has begun to grow.

******
(End of this chapter)