Chapter 72: An Old Enemy

  "Come, come, have some watermelon!" Ning's aunt saw Ning's mother and Fang Pinmei arrive, excitedly running back and forth, laughing and saying: "It's hot, let's eat some watermelon to cool down."

  "Mom, don't be busy, just finished eating, where can you eat so much!" Ning's aunt pulled Ning's grandma, "You just sit down and chat with us."

  "It's just, let's go eat whatever we want!" Ning's mom also stopped Ning's grandma from running in again and instructed Zhang Yu to "bring the toothpick holder over, everyone come sit down and eat watermelon."

  "Wow, grandma is so meticulous, she even peeled the watermelon, cut it into blocks and picked out the seeds." Fang Pinming smiled and said: "Everyone come quickly to eat."

  "This is the watermelon I picked, look, it's got a yellow spot on the underside, it should be sweet." Ning's grandmother saw that everyone was praising the sweetness of the watermelon and couldn't help but smile. She turned her head and didn't see Ning Qingmian, so she asked: "Where did Little Mian go? Why isn't she coming to eat watermelon?"

  "As soon as the phone rang, I ran to the balcony to answer it!" Zhang Yu nodded towards the balcony with her mouth, "It's probably a customer calling."

  Ning Qing heard her grandma calling her, covered the phone and responded with a "hmm", then whispered into the phone: "Ming Na was just being stubborn with you, but you shouldn't have run off to drink at a bar either!"

  Guo Shangliang said on the other side: "Your girls' thoughts are really hard to guess. I'm getting annoyed!"

  "You'd better go back to your dorm quickly, now that the holiday is over, the dorm closes early and you won't be able to get in if you're late." Ning Qing said with a smile: "Maybe Ming Na is waiting for you at your dorm entrance!"

  "She has a mobile phone, doesn't she know to call me?" Guo Shangliang snorted: "In order to earn money to buy a mobile phone for convenience and contact with her, I stayed up all night helping someone design software programming, almost failing the computer science course. She didn't understand, but instead got angry and said I didn't accompany her to visit her sister-in-law."

  After listening to Guo Shangliang, Ning Qingming only knew that Li Mingna's elder brother Li Mingbiao's wife had given birth two weeks ago. Li Mingna asked Guo Shangliang to accompany her to visit her sister-in-law, but Guo Shangliang was busy with a design project and couldn't go. Li Mingna quarreled with him and didn't speak to him until the holiday, when she still ignored him.

  "You go and coax Mingna back first! I'll help you talk to your brother. They will stay for a few more days, you can coax Mingna back and then come see your brother again, it's not too late." Ning Qing comforted Guo Shangliang.

  Ning Qingmin finished the phone call and then went in to eat watermelon. She asked Ning Yima and Fang Pinmei where they wanted to go play tomorrow?

  "We've already discussed where to go. Just wake me up tomorrow and we'll head out." Fang Pinming smiled, "I brought my camera along, ready to take some photos on the way."

  It's still dark. Ning Qingming was woken up. Fang Pinbei said excitedly, "Qingming, get up quickly. We're going to rush to Baiyun Mountain to watch the sunrise."

  "Who suggested climbing Baiyun Mountain?" Ning's grandmother panted and said, "So early in the morning. Why not go have some tea instead? Climbing mountains is so tiring!"

  "Grandma, Auntie and Cousin all want to take a look at Baiyun Mountain. It's rare for them to come once, so let's just accommodate them!" Ning Qingming and Ning Mama supported Grandma Ning from behind as they walked. Looking ahead at Auntie Ning and Fang Pinhui walking quickly, she couldn't help but shout: "Wait! Grandma can't keep up!"

  "The sun is about to come out, can't wait!" Fang Pinming helped Ning's mother climb up and wouldn't stop, "You guys crawl slowly behind us, we'll go ahead and take pictures, want to capture a few sunrise photos."

  "Never mind, never mind, let them go up first! We'll go up slowly!" Ning Qingmin sighed and helped Ning Waipo walk slowly, while Ning Mom took out a bottle of mineral water from her bag for them to drink. She smiled and said: "Pinming is still as impatient as before, Zhixin is really just like that, always following her son's lead."

  Pinming is as lively as Zhixin was when she was young, and Xiaomin is as quiet as you are. Ning's aunt glanced at Ning's mother and sighed softly: "Although Qingmin has grown up so big, I still hope that you can find a good place to settle down like Zhixin did, so that in the future when I'm 100 years old, I won't have to worry about you."

  "Mom, where are you going?" Ning's mother glanced at Ning Qingmian and didn't let Ning's grandmother say anything else. She turned her head to see a small pavilion not far away on the left side, pointed and said: "Let's go over there to find a place to sit for a while before we continue!" As she spoke, she quickly walked over herself.

  Just as they approached, they found that the pavilion was already occupied by someone. A voice said: "Pei Pei, why are you suddenly so interested in mountain climbing? You made your dad and mom accompany you to climb the mountain early in the morning?"

  "My classmate took a few photos of the sunrise sword dance on the mountain top, so stylish! I want to go up and take a few more." Peipei waved the wooden sword in her hand and said in a soft voice: "I even bought a wooden sword especially!"

  "But you've only climbed a few steps and are already shouting that you're tired, and have been sitting for a while now. Hurry up and let's go, or else by the time we get there, the sun will be out."

  "What a coincidence!" Ning's mother heard the voices in the pavilion and looked up to see Liu Zhen and his family of three.

  Liu Zhen was talking to Pei Pei and was about to stand up when he suddenly saw Ning's mother and blurted out, "What are you doing here?"

  "What's going on, is this your home? Can't I come in?" Ning's mom turned her head and saw Fang Zhi and Pei Pei with a disdainful expression, getting angrier and glared fiercely at Liu Zhen.

  Ning Qingmian supported Ning Waipo over, took a look at the people in the pavilion and saw that it was Liu Zhen and others, her face also turned black. She was about to call Ning Mama to leave, but Fang Zhi suddenly burst out laughing and said: "Wow, I heard that Liu Zhen would come here, so we came specially to meet up. What a pity! Liu Zhen brought us along too, how disappointing!"

  "Dad, just give them some money to send them away. Mom and I don't want to see them." Pei Pei chimed in with Fang Zhi, and with a glance, she spotted that Ning Qing was wearing Nike sneakers, rolled her eyes and said: "Learning from others to wear branded shoes, how pretentious!"

  Liu Zhen saw Fang Zhi and Pei Pei speaking impolitely, turned her head and glared at them saying: "Shut up!"

  Ning Qing heard Fang Zhi and Pei Pei's sarcastic remarks, their words sharp and piercing. Her anger rising, she said coldly: "We wear branded shoes, but they were bought with our own efforts. Unlike some people who sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor, waiting for them to build a good family and career, and then use their charm to snatch away other people's things."

  "What did you say?" Fang Zhi was most afraid of being exposed, and she used her hand to slap Liu Zhen's shoulder, saying: "You let outsiders speak of me like this?"

  "Qing Min..." Liu Zhen shouted, but was stopped by Ning Qingmin with a hand gesture, saying coldly: "My name is for acquaintances to call, not for outsiders to call. Grandma, mom, let's go, don't stir up trouble early in the morning."

  Ning's mother turned around and was already supporting Ning's grandmother as they walked away, Ning Qingming glared at Liu Zhen with a sideways glance before following them.

  "Qingmian!" Liu Zhen thought of Ning Qingmian's adorable appearance when she was a child and couldn't help but shout again, going up to pull Ning Qingmian.

  Ning's mother had already helped Ning's grandmother walk a few steps away. Ning Qingmin tried to shake off Liu Zhen's hand, but couldn't, so she used all her strength to push him away. Liu Zhen stumbled and took a step back. PeiPei saw Ning Qingmin push Liu Zhen and shrieked, "You dare to push my dad!" She swung the wooden sword in her hand and stabbed it towards Ning Qingmin. Ning Qingmin had just pushed Liu Zhen away and was still off balance, but she quickly regained her footing. Just as she did, a wooden sword came stabbing towards her. She turned her head to avoid it, but couldn't dodge in time. Her glasses were knocked off by the sword and fell to the ground. At this point, she didn't care about anything else. She grabbed the mineral water bottle in her hand and slammed it into PeiPei's wrist. PeiPei yelped in pain, dropped the wooden sword, and quickly bent down to pick it up. Ning Qingmin was furious and didn't think twice. She raised the mineral water bottle in her hand, ready to smash it into PeiPei's head.

  Fang Zhi glanced over and hastily grabbed a handful of mud from the ground, flinging it viciously at Ning Qingmian.

  "Wow, my eyes!" Ning Qing let out a sharp cry, the mineral water bottle dropped to the ground, and she covered her eyes, screaming.