Rebirth 15: I Picked Up a Pure and Innocent Streamer Girlfriend

Chapter 100 Delicious Dumplings

"Harvesting honey isn't difficult; with proper precautions, anyone can do it!"

"It's very simple. Just follow the usual honey extraction steps and guide her through them."

Old Huang thought for a moment and nodded. But he didn't actually take the honey. Instead, he instructed:

"Tomorrow morning. We need to harvest the honey while it's still cool, before the bees start working. The honey on the honeycomb will have cooled down overnight, making it easier to harvest."

He turned and walked to the beehive, took out the bee hat and honey-cutting knife, and began to explain the process to Su Peixue. Su Peixue listened attentively, nodding occasionally, her braids swaying with her movements.

Lin Ran straightened up and glanced at the sky. "We'll shoot the honey-collecting scenes tomorrow morning. The light is perfect today, so let's shoot the osmanthus picking first."

The hillside is on the north side of the village, less than a ten-minute walk up. Wild osmanthus trees cover the hillside, not planted by humans, but from seeds carried by birds, which have grown into a large forest over the decades.

The tree's canopy blocked out the sun, and clusters of tiny golden flowers dotted the deep green leaves. When the wind blew, petals fell to the ground, and the air was filled with the fragrance of osmanthus.

Lin Ran set up the tripod. He first stood at the highest point of the hillside and pulled the camera down.

In the distance, the afternoon sun of autumn shines down from the mountain ridge, enveloping the entire osmanthus grove in a pale golden halo.

Su Peixue walked over from the other side of the woods, the hem of her blue jacket fluttering gently in the wind, her black skirt brushing against the grass. Birdsong drifted from the woods, and in the distance, the whistling of the wind through the treetops could be heard.

Lin Ran adjusted the camera position and pushed the lens in front of an osmanthus tree.

The branches are covered with osmanthus blossoms, and the golden petals are magnified in the lens, making it possible to see each tiny petal and the dewdrops clinging to the stamens.

Su Peixue stood under the tree and looked up slightly at the flowering branches.

The white cotton cloth was something the owner of the farmhouse had dug out from the bottom of her trunk. It was thick and coarse, and when she unfolded it, it made a dull rustling sound. Su Peixue spread the cloth under the osmanthus tree and weighed it down with stones at the four corners.

Lin Ran handed her a thin bamboo stick. "Don't use too much force, just tap gently."

Su Peixue took the bamboo pole and looked up at the flower branches above her head.

She raised her hand, and the bamboo pole gently tapped the branch. Osmanthus blossoms fell from the branch, their golden petals fluttering onto the white cotton cloth like a miniature rain of flowers.

Lin Ran slowed down the camera, elongating the trajectory of each falling petal, and scattered gold spread across the white fabric.

She squatted down, removed the stones from the four corners of the white cotton cloth, and pulled the cloth up by the four corners with both hands to form a bag.

Walking up to the bamboo sieve, I let go of one hand, and the osmanthus blossoms rolled into the sieve with a rustling sound as they collided with the texture of the bamboo weave.

Su Peixue moved a bamboo chair and sat under the eaves in the backyard of the farmhouse.

She placed the bamboo sieve on her lap, lowered her head, and gently moved her fingertips among the osmanthus blossoms, picking out the stray leaves mixed in with the flowers one by one.

Sunlight streamed in from the eaves, falling on her lowered eyelashes. The sound of her fingertips gently plucking the osmanthus blossoms was very soft.

She picked up the bamboo sieve she had sorted and squatted down in the brightest sunlight in the yard. Golden osmanthus blossoms covered the sieve, glistening with a moist sheen in the sunlight.

Lin Ran turned off the recording.

Song Yin watched the whole thing without daring to utter a sound. She nudged Zhao Yining with her elbow, "Did you see that just now? That shot of the osmanthus blossoms falling on the white cloth was so beautiful! I thought it was special effects."

"Mmm!" Zhao Yining crunched on a Kobike and nodded repeatedly.

At night, a bonfire was lit on the hillside.

The pine firewood crackled and sparks drifted into the night sky.

Two or three boys were grilling meat on a barbecue grill, and Fang Xun was distributing sparklers he had bought in town to everyone one by one.

He Biqiong lit a cigarette and drew a circle in the air. The sparks reflected off her Ming-style Hanfu, making the floral patterns on the cuffs appear and disappear.

Yao Ziwen stood by the fire, holding a skewer of grilled meat, and said it was the most delicious barbecue he had ever eaten in his life. Li Yifan replied, "That's because you grilled it yourself. Even shit smells good when you grill it yourself."

Yao Ziwen said, "Really? I don't believe it. I'll roast a pig's worth of poop for you to try."

The two of them were almost beaten up by the group.

Su Peixue sat next to Lin Ran, holding a cup in both hands and drinking honey grapefruit water. Osmanthus blossoms fell on her hair, adorning her picturesque profile.

Song Yin secretly took a picture from the side and posted it on her magic book, captioning it: "[Autumn Limited Edition Xuexue.]"

There was an immediate flood of likes and comments.

We stayed at a guesthouse in town that night. Lin Ran had booked the rooms in advance, one room per person.

A sudden gust of wind picked up in the dead of night, rattling the windows, followed by a rumble of thunder from the mountains. Rain then began to fall, pattering loudly against the roof tiles.

Lin Ran lay in bed, listening to the rumbling of autumn thunder outside the window.

He sat up, somewhat worried about Su Peixue.

Su Peixue wasn't afraid of thunder, but the sound of thunder made her feel uneasy.

Back in the old tenement building, her stepfather would drink and smash things on stormy nights. The sound of thunder and smashing things would mix together, and she couldn't tell which was which.

When she lived in the small supermarket, she couldn't sleep on stormy nights.

Lin Ran opened the door to check on her. As soon as the door opened, she saw Su Peixue raising her little hand, about to knock.

The girl was wearing a light pink nightgown, her hair was loose, and a flash of white light from the curtains illuminated the beauty mark under her eye.

She saw the door open, walked in, pressed her cheek against Lin Ran's palm, and gently rubbed it.

Lin Ran led her into the room, and as he turned to close the door, his gaze swept over the neckline of her pajamas.

The lightning flashed again, emphasizing the key point... Lin Ran paused for a moment, then looked away.

Su Peixue tilted her head back, her almond-shaped eyes glistening with tears during the pauses in the thunder. "Does the zookeeper like to watch?"

Lin Ran rolled her eyes. What man doesn't like to watch?

"If you like it, Xuexue, show the zookeeper a better look." She reached out and unbuttoned her clothes, about to take out her fragrant treasure.

Holy crap.

Lin Ran quickly grabbed her hand!

"stop!"

If someone saw this, it would be censored.

Su Peixue tilted her delicate, cherry-like face up, looking at him with a pitiful expression. "The zookeeper doesn't like it?"

"I like it. That's why I can't be frivolous with it."

Lin Ran helped her button it back up, one button at a time.

When he fastened the top button, his fingers brushed against her collarbone, and she flinched.

The girl's mind was filled with the words "I like you" that Lin Ran had said; she couldn't hear anything else, and even her breath tasted sweet.

Thunder rumbled outside the window.

She curled up in Lin Ran's arms and fell asleep, like she was holding a fragrant dumpling.

Lin Ran placed his laptop on her lap, using her little bottom as a computer desk, and started editing videos.

He imported all the footage of picking osmanthus flowers that he filmed today, adjusted the color temperature, and warmed the gold tone to make the slow motion of the petals falling on the white cloth appear softer.

In the frame where the osmanthus blossoms fall from the branch, he amplified the sound of bamboo poles tapping on branches from the audio track, then layered on the background noise of wind rustling through the leaves. The thunder outside the window faded into the distance, and the rain subsided.