After Lu Ping returned home, he told his parents about going to a classmate’s house to pick oranges on Saturday. Lu Mom thought it wouldn’t do for her son to show up empty-handed, eating and taking without giving anything in return—what kind of impression would that make?
Anyway, they had all sorts of rice noodles ready at home, but Lu Mom decided to have her son bring some Orange Red Pastries as a gift.
Orange Red Pastries were a snack Lu Ping had eaten since childhood, on par with oil dates and fried rice candy as the “Three Treasures of the New Year.” Unfortunately, unlike other snacks, Orange Red Pastries couldn’t be stored for long and had to be made fresh.
Every time Lu Mom made Orange Red Pastries, Lu Ping would crouch by the counter and watch. Over time, he picked up the skill.
As the name implied, Orange Red Pastries definitely included “oranges” inside. He took some dried tangerine peel from last year out of a sealed jar, chopped it finely, mixed it with glutinous rice flour, regular flour, white sugar, and just the right amount of water, stirred it evenly, then steamed it in a steamer over low heat for twenty minutes until soft.
The steamed dough balls had great stretchiness, and with added red yeast rice, the whole dough took on an orange-red hue. While it was still hot, Lu Ping kneaded the dough into long strips, cut them into small pieces the size of fingernails, and Lu Mom brought out cooked glutinous rice flour to roll the sticky pieces in, coating them all around—tat da~ And a plate of simple yet delicious Orange Red Pastries was ready!
On the plate, the little chewy rice cakes piled up like soft candies. Lu Ping couldn’t resist and ate one—it was soft and glutinous, with a faint tangy dried tangerine peel flavor spreading on his tongue, exactly the taste he loved as a kid!
Besides the most traditional flavor, Lu Ping also made a stuffed version, which was a bit more complicated. The filling included mint paste, giving a cool, refreshing bite that young people would love.
Lu Ping packed them into small boxes, then went to the stationery store at the alley entrance to buy two sheets of gift wrapping paper. After decorating them like this, they made for a presentable little gift.
When An An learned her brother was going to pick oranges, she grew incredibly envious and gazed at him pitifully, wanting to tag along as his little shadow.
Lu Ping comforted her. “An An, this time Brother’s going with classmates. It’s not convenient to bring you.”
“Brother, I feel like you don’t love me anymore.” An An pouted, her golden tears ready to fall at any moment. “Before, you were always home with me every weekend, but now you’ve changed. On Saturdays and Sundays, you’re nowhere to be seen! How long has it been since you quizzed me on English words? How long since you told me bedtime stories? Every time I ask where you’re going, you say you’re off to see Brother Shen. But you’re my brother, not his!”
Lu Ping: “……”
He felt extremely guilty.
An An was right. Ever since he met Shen Yuze, he spent nearly every weekend glued to him. In fact, he spent more time with Shen Yuze than with his own family.
Lu Ping quickly raised his hand and swore, “This time, Brother’s not going out with Shen Yuze! It’s with other classmates!”
An An blinked. “Other brothers?”
Lu Ping shook his head. “Not brothers—sisters. My new deskmate, Chen Miaomiao. I’ll introduce you sometime.”
“!!!” An An’s eyes lit up, and she bolted to the kitchen. “Dad, Brother’s going to play with a girl classmate tomorrow!!”
“Little ancestor!” Lu Ping rushed over and covered his sister’s mouth, pleading repeatedly. “Don’t say random stuff, okay? She’s just a regular classmate! Besides, there’ll be lots of other classmates tomorrow—not just the two of us!”
An An: “You can stop me from saying it, but when you come back tomorrow, you have to bring An An a gift!”
Lu Ping laughed in exasperation. So this little schemer had been waiting for that. “What gift?”
He was already prepared to dip into his savings for whatever outrageous demand his sister made, but An An said, “Um… the first orange that touches the top of Brother’s head.”
Lu Ping: “???”
What kind of weird gift was that?
But it wasn’t hard to manage, so Lu Ping readily agreed.
……
The next morning, Lu Ping helped his parents finish the market run, slung on his bag in a hurry, and boarded the bus to Yongquan Mountain. Yongquan Mountain was in the northern suburbs, and from home, following the riverside road west took just over forty minutes.
It was peak season for Yongquan Honey Tangerines, so along the way, locals with shoulder poles hawked fresh oranges.
After swaying on the bus for forty minutes, Lu Ping arrived at the town at the base of Yongquan Mountain.
The province was full of mountains, with rolling hills here turning into orchards. Agritourism spots thrived everywhere.
Lu Ping had come straight from the North Shore and arrived earlier than the others. He waited a bit longer until the big group from the South Shore finally showed up.
Chen Miaomiao’s dad had specially sent a minibus for the kids. The door opened, and Chen Miaomiao stepped out proudly, leading a troop of girls. Today was her home turf—she was like the moon surrounded by stars, dressed head to toe like a little peacock, even her hair tie sporting a huge designer logo. But everyone was used to her everyday humblebrags, so her outfit didn’t seem out of place.
The group behind her was mostly girls. Five from High School Year 2 Class 8 came—all her usual playmates. Plus three unfamiliar faces, probably the elementary and junior high classmates she mentioned yesterday. Most surprisingly, Lu Ping spotted Meng Xin in the crowd!
Lu Ping greeted her. “Senior Meng, you’re here too?”
Meng Xin was happy to see him. It turned out she and Chen Miaomiao had met at the previous speech contest. After it ended, Chen Miaomiao’s social butterfly mode kicked in, and she asked for Meng Xin’s contact info. Girls’ friendships formed fast, and before long they were close, so Chen Miaomiao invited Senior Meng Xin for the picking trip.
Only then did Lu Ping realize he was the only boy in this picking activity! All the ones Chen Miaomiao invited were girls. He’d thought he’d meet some other boys his age through her, but instead, he’d fallen into a kingdom of daughters.
Chen Miaomiao’s bestie Zhou Yue was also joining the picking. Zhou Yue checked her watch and asked, “Miaomiao, it’s almost two. Shouldn’t we head up the mountain? Otherwise, the sun will set, and we won’t get good photos.”
Chen Miaomiao: “Wait a bit longer. One person’s still coming. He just called—traffic’s jammed, he’ll be a few minutes late.”
“Someone else? Who?” Zhou Yue asked curiously.
Chen Miaomiao played coy. “Can’t tell you who—it’s a surprise!”
Zhou Yue: “Even if you won’t say who, at least tell us if it’s a boy or girl.” She glanced at Lu Ping, then quickly looked away, whispering, “Hope it’s another boy. Lu Ping’s too skinny—looks like he doesn’t have much strength.”
Lu Ping sighed helplessly. “……Hey, I can hear you.”
Chen Miaomiao’s eyes sparkled. “It’s a boy.”
“From our class too?”
“Hey, too many questions! You’ll see when he gets here!” Chen Miaomiao kept the suspense. “Anyway, he absolutely won’t disappoint you!”
Hearing this, Lu Ping grew curious. Which boy had she invited? Boys and girls in class stuck to their own cliques, except the Class Monitor was somewhat close to Chen Miaomiao… So was the boy she meant the Class Monitor?
Lu Ping didn’t get along with the Class Monitor—they’d clashed before. He silently prayed: Please don’t be the Class Monitor, please don’t be the Class Monitor. This believer vows a balanced diet of meat and veggies for life—don’t let the Class Monitor ruin my honey orange picking mood!
Heaven really heard Lu Ping’s prayer. Ten minutes later, a fancy Cayenne appeared at the end of the road, driving toward them and finally pulling up right in front of them.
Lu Ping: “……”
Wait! Why did that car look just like Shen Yuze’s? Why did the driver look like Shen Yuze’s chauffeur? And why did the boy stepping out of the car look exactly like Shen Yuze himself?!
Lu Ping dazedly turned to Meng Xin beside him for help. “Senior, pinch me. Let me see if I’m dreaming.”
Meng Xin was baffled by the request. “Lu Ping, what’s wrong? …Ah, is it because Shen Yuze’s also in sportswear and you feel outdone, like a threat?”
For the mountain picking, Lu Ping had dug out an old tracksuit. It was from his first-year sports day—back then, he thought he’d grow more, so he bought a size up. But his height stalled at 175 cm after that. The gray tracksuit made him look like a listless sparrow.
Today’s Shen Yuze ditched his usual aloof style for sportswear too. He even used a bit of gel to comb his hair back lightly, revealing a smooth forehead and sharp, handsome features. He was worlds apart from his school self. The moment he got out of the car, every girl’s gaze stuck to him.
Only Lu Ping’s heart was in chaos—he wanted to hide somewhere. Now, just seeing Shen Yuze brought back all the warehouse incidents… stirring up his hard-won calm again.
He muttered under his breath, “Why didn’t Chen Miaomiao say she invited Shen Yuze too!”
If he’d known, he absolutely wouldn’t have come to make “new friends.”
Meng Xin overheard everything. She hesitated before speaking. “Um… it wasn’t Chen Miaomiao who invited him. It was me.”
“Huh???”
“Last night, Shen Yuze called to ask me about something. It was hard to explain over the phone, so he asked if I was free today to meet at the library and talk it over slowly. I told him I was coming to Yongquan to pick oranges.” Meng Xin recounted yesterday. “I said, ‘If it’s urgent, come along to Yongquan—we can pick and talk.’ He refused at first, but then I said you were coming too, and he changed his mind.”
Lu Ping: “……………………..Senior, thank you so much.”
Meng Xin: “Because of me, Slightly Warmed the Four Seasons?”
Lu Ping was about to cry.
This was more than warming the seasons—it was roasting him over a fire!
……
Chen Miaomiao’s family orchard was on a small hill next to Yongquan Mountain, covered in orange trees. From afar, the branches hung with orange-red fruits like little lanterns. Chen Dad doted on his daughter immensely and named the orchard “Miaomiao House Orchard.” Chen Miaomiao said it let her declare loudly every time: “Home sweet Miaomiao!”
Lu Ping: What kind of lame pun is this.jpg
The orchard guardian greeted them. The mountain path was steep—cars couldn’t go up, so they parked at the base and hiked. The group—ten girls plus two boys—followed the path up. Lu Ping walked with Chen Miaomiao, deliberately keeping distance from Shen Yuze. Unexpectedly, Shen Yuze didn’t catch up; instead, he walked with Meng Xin, the two whispering about something.
Chen Miaomiao panted as she climbed, winking at Lu Ping and whispering, “Lu Ping, look—Shen Yuze’s talking to Senior Meng. They’ve been at it the whole way. What could take so long?”
Lu Ping was bursting with curiosity inside, but he feigned indifference. “Probably speech contest stuff…”
“The contest’s long over—what could it be?” True to her “little megaphone” nickname, Chen Miaomiao pried gossipy. “Plus, one’s a senior, one’s a sophomore—different grades. Lu Ping, you think Shen Yuze might like Senior Meng—”
“Impossible!” Lu Ping gave his answer before he had even heard her question fully.
Chen Miaomiao: “I haven’t even finished asking!”
Lu Ping said righteously, “No matter what question you want to ask, I can tell you that Shen Yuze isn’t the kind of person you imagine.”
“Oh?” Chen Miaomiao’s eyes darted around as she pressed, “Then what kind of person is he?”
“…” Lu Ping’s mouth was sealed shut again.
Chen Miaomiao found this too boring. There had to be some big secret between Lu Ping and Shen Yuze! She was always impatient—when watching dramas, she’d skip to the finale first; with mystery novels, she’d peek at the killer’s identity ahead of time; even when doing homework, she’d check the answers beforehand… So where was the answer to Lu Ping and Shen Yuze? She couldn’t wait to flip straight to the last page of this book!
After ten or so minutes of stop-and-go climbing, they finally reached the entrance to the orchard. Miaomiao House Orchard was a small fruit garden, only about ten mu in size, enclosed by a wire fence. Each mu could hold seventy or eighty trees, and on every branch, dainty and adorable oranges clustered together. At a glance, the whole place burst with festive colors.
Yongquan Honey Tangerines had an extremely high sweetness level, over 14 degrees, and unlike other oranges, they had no bitter white veins. One bite unleashed a flood of juice with zero pulp. Once you’d tasted Yongquan Honey Tangerines, any oranges from elsewhere always seemed to fall short.
The sight of those familiar orange fruits excited all the classmates—they couldn’t wait to rush under the trees and start picking.
Chen Miaomiao called out to everyone, “Wait! Let’s take a group photo first! The light won’t be as good later, and the pics won’t turn out nice.”
This suggestion earned unanimous approval from all the girls.
Zhou Yue said, “Tall people in the middle, short ones on the sides—that way the group looks neat and the photo comes out better.”
Tall people in the middle?
Lu Ping’s heart sank at the thought: he and Shen Yuze were the tallest. If they stood in the center together? He felt like if he actually ended up next to Shen Yuze, he might not be able to hold back his laughter…
Lu Ping quickly suggested, “We’ve got over ten people—how are we fitting in one row? Let’s do two rows. And no tall people in the middle. Since we’re at Miaomiao’s home today, Miaomiao should be the center!”
Thanks to his scheming, they ended up in two rows of twelve, with Chen Miaomiao pushed to the C-position. Lu Ping and Shen Yuze stood on opposite sides of the second row, several people between them.
Shen Yuze glanced at the distance between himself and Lu Ping, said nothing, but raised an eyebrow questioningly.
Lu Ping resumed his “little deaf-blind” act and turned to ask the old orchard guard to take their photo.
The guard called out, “Getting ready to shoot! Three, two—wait, can the two boys smile? Don’t look so serious!”
Lu Ping: “…Okay.”
Shen Yuze: “Mm.”
The guard: “Smile more sincerely—that looks too forced!”
Lu Ping bared eight teeth in a grin, while Shen Yuze lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.
The guard started to say more, but Lu Ping couldn’t take it. He held his eight-tooth smile and urged, “Grandpa, just take the shot already—my face is gonna cramp if you don’t!”
The guard had no choice but to suppress his inner photographer and act like a merciless shutter machine, snapping away several times in a row.
They used Chen Miaomiao’s phone for the photos. After she finished editing first, she passed it to the next girl.
Lu Ping watched as the girls passed the phone around like musical chairs, firing up photo editors. He couldn’t even follow their operations—they just poked with fingers, pinched to zoom in and out, and boom, the photo was done!
Closed eyes popped open, crooked smiles straightened, pimples vanished… Even trash by their feet and half-empty milk tea cups disappeared!
Lu Ping: “Is this magic?!!”
The last one to edit was Meng Xin. Her face and figure were already perfect, so Lu Ping figured she wouldn’t change a thing. But she pulled up the brush tool and hand-drew a fluffy hairline!
Noticing Lu Ping’s stare, Meng Xin answered candidly, “Too much homework lately—lost a bunch of hair, so I had to fix it in post.” She handed him the phone. “I’m done. Your turn.”
Lu Ping: “Me?” He waved it off hurriedly. “Guys don’t need to edit. You girls go ahead.”
Meng Xin hesitated: “…You sure? In this photo, you and Shen Yuze look like Dumb and Dumber.”
Lu Ping: “???”
He looked down—yep. In the twelve-person group shot, Lu Ping’s grin was painfully awkward, his eight teeth gleaming idiotically. Shen Yuze looked displeased, his lip barely curved.
They stuck out like sore thumbs in the photo—anyone could tell something was off.
Lu Ping thought about reshooting, but the girls had all just edited this one with so much effort. He didn’t want to make them start over.
Lu Ping: “Uh, how about you just edit me and Shen Yuze out?”
“Computers can, but phone apps can’t,” Meng Xin shook her head.
As Lu Ping pondered solutions, the usually silent Shen Yuze spoke up: “Couldn’t we cover with stickers? Block our faces and be done.”
“Right!” Meng Xin said. “Good idea—as long as the faces are covered, no need to edit. Problem solved forever! What stickers do you want? I’ve got cartoons, soccer stars, comic characters…”
Shen Yuze: “Any cute animals?”
“What kind?”
Shen Yuze’s gaze slid lightly over Lu Ping: “Cat and mouse.”
Lu Ping: “…”
He was pretty sure Shen Yuze didn’t mean clever Jerry the mouse and dopey Tom the cat!
