Reborn: I'll Never Fail My Childhood Sweetheart Again-Chapter 342 - 139: Summer Solstice Approaches, Su Zelin’s 18th Birthday (Part 4)
"What are you guys talking about?"
As clever as Luo Xi was, she couldn’t grasp the implied meaning in Ding Linna’s words, let alone the others.
"Nothing."
Su Zelin and Ding Linna almost simultaneously.
Luo Xi glanced at the troublemaker, then at her roommate, shaking her head, she said, "You two are weird, acting all mysterious!"
Hu Xu thought to himself, Ah Xi, you’re really pitiful, you still don’t get it, most likely Nanaz has been unfaithful to you!
"It’s so hot, dude, what kind of weather is this? I thought summer in Lin’an would be cooler than in Yangcheng City!"
Zeng Kaiping was drenched in sweat, the ceiling fan was no longer satisfying, and he fanned himself desperately with a book.
"I’m getting heat rash; I need herbal tea!"
"Getting heat" is the most frequently mentioned phrase amongst people in Guangdong Province.
Out of 365 days a year, people in Guangdong are in a state of "getting heat" for 350 days.
Ninety percent of diseases can be attributed to "getting heat."
Fever is "getting heat," toothache is "getting heat," nosebleed is "getting heat," high blood pressure is "getting heat"... the only thing left out is HIV.
So what to do when you "get heat"?
It’s simple, just drink herbal tea.
In summer, herbal tea can clear heat; in winter, it can moisturize and replenish qi.
In the eyes of people from Guangdong, there’s nothing that a cup of herbal tea can’t solve.
If there is, then drink another cup!
How high is the status of herbal tea in the minds of Guangdong people?
There’s a saying that: while 78% of the human body is water, 78% of a Guangdong person’s body is herbal tea.
"After class, I’ll treat everyone to herbal tea!"
The lively guy said generously.
"No, thanks, Ah Ping, I don’t have ’heat’!"
The others politely declined without hesitation.
Zeng Kaiping had already treated everyone to herbal tea once before.
The taste was unbearable for others, incredibly bitter with a pungent smell, and it took forever for the taste buds to recover, prompting them to swear they’d never torment their tongues like that again.
However, Zeng Kaiping could gulp it down as if it were sweet nectar.
Actually, it’s something that gets trained from a young age.
If you’re a child in Guangdong, your mom will have you drink herbal tea whenever she can, the more bitter, the better, and she’ll smile and tell you, "See, I told you it’s not bitter!"
At such times, you’d be tearfully munching on dried orange peel.
But gradually, as Guangdong kids drink herbal tea, they get used to it, and as adults, they can drink it like plain water, making their children drink the same way they did.
Whether it’s genuinely for the children’s benefit, or a kind of contrived revenge, remains uncertain.
The lively guy asked again, "Old Feng, isn’t it true that Hei Province doesn’t have summer?"
"Sweating, not really, it’s just a few degrees cooler there, not as hot."
Old Feng thought to himself, your geography isn’t good, huh? Even said that there’s no summer in Hei Province.
"Sigh, it’s not even the summer solstice yet, I really don’t know how to get through it after that."
Zeng Kaiping was deeply troubled.
When the midday sun approaches the Tropic of Cancer, it marks the summer solstice, the shortest night and longest day of the year.
After the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere shifts into a time of long days and short nights, and blazing sun mode; in Xia Country, the weather becomes increasingly hot, entering the dog days of summer.
Mentioning this term, Su Zelin couldn’t help but be stirred.
Every year on the summer solstice, June 21 in the Gregorian calendar, the last day of Gemini, also marks his Gregorian birthday.
When Zhao Lixia was pregnant for ten months, Su Zelin was restless in her womb, and on the day he was born, it was the summer solstice his Granny Su was worried this son of hers would be mischievous.
As it’s the tenth solar term among the 24 solar terms, the summer solstice has always been considered the peak of flourishing, an extreme point of vigorous yang energy; many people say that a child born on this day will be extraordinarily energetic, possibly even hyperactive.
Though there’s a bit of superstition involved, Granny Su’s worries became a reality, as Su Zelin was a troublemaker from a young age, mischievous as a child and still so as he grew up.
He immediately took out his phone and checked the calendar, indeed, this year’s summer solstice matched the lunar calendar of his birth year, in other words, a cycle came full circle on his eighteenth birthday.
Then, in about a month, it would be the time of Cancer and Qin Shiqing’s birthday, but by then it’d already be summer vacation.
The troublemaker also remembers clearly that on the night of his eighteenth birthday in his previous life, he went to Zhejiang University to find Qin Shiqing and, using the excuse of asking for a birthday gift, stole a kiss from her.
That was also his and Qin Shiqing’s first kiss.
Even though they didn’t define their relationship at that time, it could still be seen as a kiss of commitment, right?
This lifetime, he surely couldn’t act like that again.
He decided to play it by the rules; at the time, just have a meal with these dorm mates and drink a few sips, and that’d be it for the birthday!
...
After the afternoon classes ended, the group returned to their dorm room.
Seeing that the rest weren’t keen on herbal tea, the lively guy hauled back a chilled watermelon.
You have to admit, in this kind of weather, eating a slice of chilled watermelon truly is life’s greatest pleasure, and the six of them quickly devoured it all.
After drinking the herbal tea, Zeng Kaiping immediately seemed to revive, as if all his ailments vanished, and energetically resumed chatting with his group of "concubines."
The other four continued playing Landlord.
Su Zelin, meanwhile, was casually browsing news on Q, seeing if he could think of some quick money-making ideas.
"Beep beep beep..."
Not long after, a message came through.
Sunny Day: "Zelin, your birthday is coming up, I checked, it’s on the summer solstice, got any plans?"
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "What plans could there be, just having a meal with my roommates!"
Sunny Day: "That’s it?"
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "What else?"
Sunny Day: "This is your eighteenth birthday, a coming-of-age, isn’t it a bit too simple? How can it lack a sense of ceremony?"
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "Why need so much ceremony, huh? That’s just how men are, I hate trouble, I just like things simple!"
Sunny Day: "Su Zelin, you’ve changed, you weren’t like this before. Your last birthday, you were quite the troublemaker, even almost getting us all punished!"
His seventeenth birthday came right before his rebirth.
Though it wasn’t a weekend, the troublemaker couldn’t settle for mediocrity.
After evening self-study, he bought some sodas, a bunch of candles, and a small cake at the school’s convenience store; then he called out to Qin Shiqing, Xiaoyanzi, and his close buddies to the back field of the secondary school, lit the candles in a circle, sat within playing guitar, and that’s how a few friends celebrated with him.
Soon after, they were caught by the discipline teacher making rounds, leading to a hasty retreat back to the dorm; fortunately, they ran fast and weren’t caught, or they would’ve surely been disciplined for playing with fire.
Even though it was close to the college entrance exams, getting a demerit might not have mattered much, but still, it would be a blemish on their high school years.
Looking back, every birthday as childhood friends required some mischief.
The once most ceremonial guy now suddenly didn’t pursue it anymore, leaving Qin Shiqing quite unaccustomed.
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "That’s different, huh? I was young and ignorant back then, this birthday I’ll be an adult, maturity dictates that simplicity is truth, and ordinariness is a blessing!"
Sunny Day: "Oh, trying to be all grown-up before your time, aren’t you?"
How do you know I haven’t grown up yet?
Qin Shiqing, be careful, you might get scared!
Su Zelin internally retorted.
Sunny Day: "Alright, I got it. Is there any birthday gift you really want?"
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "Yes!"
Sunny Day: "What?"
One-year-old-and-still-handsome: "Old man’s head, just transfer me a hundred bucks at the ATM downstairs that day; I’ll send you my card number later~~"
Sunny Day: "..."
...
