NOVPUBXu Qingfan took his room card, slung his camera around his neck, and then turned to leave the room.
"Are you all ready? I’m starving!" he called out as he knocked on room 509.
Wu Lingyu quickly trotted over to open the door, "Brother Fan."
"Okay, I just contacted my college roommate, and she’ll be driving over to pick us up soon!" Guan Biyue said, as she put her pager back in her pocket and arranged her hair in the mirror.
"Guan Biyue, if all your roommates drive cars, why do you still commute on an electric scooter? Is it for the low-carbon travel?" Xu Qingfan teased.
"Say one more word and I’ll leave you at the hotel!" Guan Biyue made a fist with her right hand and pretended to knock it on his head.
"Why isn’t there any snow accumulation like they show in TV dramas?" Xia Xiaoxiao, who had been peering out the window at the falling snow, asked curiously as she heard Xu Qingfan enter.
"If you’d come a month earlier, there might have been snow accumulation. Now the air in Yanjing is so dry, where would so much water vapor to turn into snow come from?" Xu Qingfan had tackled this subject back in high school physics and explained.
"Quite knowledgeable, aren’t you?" Guan Biyue was about to speak when Xu Qingfan beat her to it.
"Is it that beautiful?" Xu Qingfan joined by Xia Xiaoxiao’s side, shoulder to shoulder with her, both staring out the window.
Under the winter night’s streetlights, snowflakes fluttered, the dim warm light mingled with the white snowflurries in a weave of black and white, and a concert of light and shadow.
Xia Xiaoxiao’s knees started to go numb from kneeling on the stool, so she pulled on Xu Qingfan’s arm to stand up straight.
"Pretty, right?" The young girl turned her head to him, boasting gleefully.
"Not as pretty as you." Xu Qingfan, accustomed to sweet-talking, replied offhandedly.
"What are you saying~" Xia Xiaoxiao blushed, playfully hitting his arm in embarrassment.
"Not as pretty as Yu, either." Seeing Wu Lingyu’s disappointed look, Xu Qingfan quickly added.
"I... didn’t... where..." Wu Lingyu, feeling as if her thoughts were being read, stuttered nervously.
At some point, Guan Biyue finished fixing her hair and emerged from the bathroom: "Alright, everyone’s dressed, let’s go eat!"
"Okay." The three replied in unison.
By the time the group reached the lobby, a white Audi was already parked at the entrance, flashing its lights twice as Xu Qingfan and the others came out.
The heating from the hotel was a distant memory as the cold set in, and they hurriedly walked quickly to the car and climbed inside.
"Guan Guan!"
Guan Biyue took the passenger seat; upon entering the car, the two long-separated friends embraced enthusiastically.
"Alright, my students are here, keep up appearances." Guan Biyue, struggling to breath from the tight hug, whispered.
"Tsk tsk, they’ve gotten bigger," Zhong Wenqing sneakily pinched her, then turned to Xu Qingfan and the other two, saying, "Hello, kiddos, my name is Zhong Wenqing, your teacher Guan’s college roommate."
"Hello, sister." The car’s interior was dark, and the three little ones hesitated for a moment before nodding and greeting in unison.
"Sit tight, I’m taking you to eat authentic old Yanjing hotpot lamb!"
The car quickly left the main road, and after driving for more than ten minutes, they arrived at West City Road’s Yanxiu Lane.
In 2004, the number of vehicles in Yanjing wasn’t high, so they didn’t need to spend half an hour parking like they would twenty years later; Zhong Wenqing easily found an open parking space and parked, and the group quickly got out of the car.
Once seated in the restaurant, Xu Qingfan rubbed his hands together contentedly, breathing out a warm puff of air.
"Hungry, aren’t you? Start with some duck necks to fill your belly." Zhong Wenqing opened a small bag of duck treats that she bought on her way and distributed them among the group.
The three kids looked at each other, all of them thinking of Li Meijuan’s duck necks, wondering whose would taste better.
The hot and spicy sesame-covered flatbread arrived first, and by then everyone was ravenous, devouring the bread while eating the duck necks.
Perhaps to cater to the dietary habits of Yanjing residents, in contrast to the saliva-inducing spicy duck necks Wu Ling’s mother made, the duck necks from Zhong Wenqing had almost no hint of spice.
Xu Qingfan thought the duck necks weren’t as good as those made by Li Meijuan, and Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu probably felt the same, as both stopped reaching for more after trying one.
The boiling copper hotpot, heated by charcoal, was brought to the table soon after, and Xu Qingfan, experiencing hotpot like this for the first time, pointed at the plain water with spring onions and asked, "Is this the soup base?"
"It’s called boiling water lamb, the most authentic way of eating it. Don’t worry, this restaurant is a regular spot for us, it’s delicious." Zhong Wenqing explained with a smile.
"You’ll know once you try it, it’s similar to our hotpot with congee base, mostly reliant on the sesame sauce for flavor." Guan Biyue couldn’t wait to pour the mutton fat into the boiling water.
"Cook it for a dozen seconds and it’s ready to eat, do you guys want some rice?"
Xu Qingfan shook his head repeatedly, eager to dip his chopsticks into the pot to pull out a big piece of meat.
"Why so shy? I’ll share some with you." Seeing Wu Lingyu still nibbling on the flatbread, Xu Qingfan shared half of the lamb in his bowl with her.
"Right, Lingyu, don’t be embarrassed, we’ll order more if it’s not enough. It’s on the school’s tab." Guan Biyue also encouraged her while continuing to eat.
"Okay." The young girl shyly glanced at Xu Qingfan and kept her head down as she ate.
With a stranger present, Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu were too shy to speak, Xu Qingfan was completely absorbed in picking up and devouring meat, and Zhong Wenqing and Guan Biyue chatted and laughed, gossiping about post-work life.
"I’m so envious of you; had I known, I would’ve gotten my teaching credential and become a teacher too." When the conversation turned to work, Zhong Wenqing spoke with a troubled frown.
"What’s there to envy? You have a good position in a state-owned enterprise; what could be troubling you?" Though not unsatisfied with her current job, Guan Biyue still harbored some resentment about failing her political review back then.
