Please Have a Cup of Green Tea - Chapter 106-1
Chapter 106: Mint Cigarette Extras (2)
“Let’s congratulate PG for winning the League of Legends World Championship for three consecutive years!”
In the brilliant golden light, there were deafening cheers and screams in his ears. Before Li Dingbei took off his headphones, he subconsciously stretched out his hand to his side, wanting to celebrate the victory with her.
But the scene that caught his eye was her and Shi Zhong’s embrace, and her laughing so briskly that she seemed to float.
“Three consecutive championships – we did it!”
The cameras couldn’t stop capturing their overflowing intimacy either.
Li Dingbei didn’t know how long he stared at them, but he was woken up by the flashing spotlight and quickly stood up, blocking the moving camera for them without a trace.
The twins also gathered around, forming a group with them, happily venting the joy of victory.
When he picked up the trophy, Li Dingbei heard Shi Zhong whispering “Thank you” behind him, but when he turned around, he saw the girl beside Shi Zhong bend her eyes at him and make a heart-to-heart gesture with their fingers.
Li Dingbei pulled his lips, then picked up the trophy and strode away.
He wasn’t quite sure what role he was playing, maybe in their eyes, he was more like a friend who helped cover-up.
Back in the background, his mood gradually returned to normal, and his feverish brain began to slowly wake up.
What else is there to be unwilling to for them do?
Her relationship with Shi Zhong has never been hidden from them.
After winning the championship in the first year, the two had already started to date.
Li Dingbei even felt that it was not impossible for them to announce on Weibo when they were so excited tonight.
However, everyone was busy dealing with the media that night, and the “Official announcement” Li Dingbei imagined did not happen.
A few days later, they went to Li Dingbei’s hometown for vacation according to the pre-match agreement.
The team tour after the S game had become their annual “reward”. For example, in the first year, the twins entertained them with a beach house. Last year, Bi Ming took them to visit the Jiangnan water town. This year, it was Li Dingbei’s turn.
As the most famous local tyrant in Qin Province, Li Dingbei’s family got rich by mining coal, and they were commonly known as the “Coal boss”. Later, when the policy changed, his family resolutely transformed, contracting the mountains and forests to start a “Farmhouse”, which is now the industry leader in the province.
When welcoming everyone, Li Dingbei saw his mother looking at his teammates, and her eyes stayed on Bi Ming for a while.
It was even more obvious when it was time to eat. Mother Li started inquiring about Bi Ming’s family information.
Li Dingbei was restless, but looking at the expression of his brother and sister-in-law watching the excitement on the round table, and Shi Zhong’s increasingly dark face, he could only pull his mother aside and explain in a low voice:
“Hey…Mom, don’t ask so many questions, it’s like checking the household registration. How embarrassing.”
Mother Li looked at her son: “What’s embarrassing? Aren’t you interested in that girl?”
“No—” Li Dingbei blushed, “Don’t mess around with the mandarin ducks, it’s nothing.”
“Then what about our bracelet?” Mother Li’s eyes widened. “That’s for my daughter-in-law. Who did you give it to?”
“It’s still here, I didn’t give it to anyone.” The birthday present that Li Dingbei gave her was put back on the table in his training room.
Mother Li stared at him, the wrinkles at the end of her eyes narrowed, with a little doubt: “Why do I feel like you are lying to me?”
“Mom—” Li Dingbei rubbed his temples tiredly, “Don’t be suspicious, please say a few words at the dinner table.”
Knowing her son, when she heard his son’s tone, the mother became even more skeptical.
The dining table in Li’s family was very large, and four generations lived in the same room. Halfway through the meal, the sound of a baby crying suddenly came from the room. Mother Li seemed to complain, and the elder sister-in-law quickly put down the tableware and went back to the room to coax the child.
“The youngest of our family is a crybaby and cannot be separated from his mother all day long.” Mother Li smiled and explained to the guests, “But the older two are very good and can eat by themselves.”
“So Brother Bei now has three nephews,” Meng Dongliu exclaimed.
“More than that,” Mother Li shook her head again and again and told them with a smile, “Dingbei’s sister just got pregnant with her second child this year. Now that his older brother and sister have both sons and daughters, Dingbei is just short of it.”
“Mom…” Li Dingbei didn’t expect that his topic would suddenly come around.
But Li’s father also supported his wife: “Your mother is right, man should be married and woman should be married. Your brother has a great treasure at your age.”
The atmosphere at the table suddenly became a little strange.
The twins who hadn’t thought about the topic of marriage bumped their legs against each other under the table.
Shi Zhong turned his head, his slightly mocking eyes collided with Bi Ming, and then he was glared back coldly.
Li Dingbei took a deep breath: “Dad, Mom, let’s not mention this first. I’m going to the resort with them at night. You remember to remind the manager over there to open five special cave houses.”
“Go find Lao Chen yourself for this trivial matter.” Father Li didn’t say much when he saw his son changing the subject. He just raised his glass to everyone at the table with a smile, “Come on, everyone, eat more!”
After the meal time, Li Dingbei drove out the family tractor.
“I’ll take you there.” He coughed and seemed a little embarrassed, “Don’t dislike this means of transportation.”
The twins, who grew up in affluent neighborhoods and never touched a tractor, let out a cheer.
“Amazing little Bei!”
“Bei let’s go!”
Shi Zhong also found it interesting: “Thank you for your hard work, Dingbei.”
Li Dingbei pointed to the way to the cave area: “It takes more than 20 minutes to walk there. It will save time by riding this.”
Bi Ming smiled softly behind him: “I didn’t expect you to drive a tractor.”
Li Dingbei looked back helplessly, and whispered to her, “Sorry, don’t take it seriously what they asked you about when you were eating just now.”
“Uncle and aunt…” Bi Ming blinked, “What did they say?”
“What age are you, parents… They have always been like this, and they want me to get married sooner, so please understand.” Li Dingbei’s voice became lower and lower under her smiling eyes.
“It’s okay,” Bi Ming shrugged, “It’s normal for the old man to be anxious for you.”
Li Dingbei moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Shi Zhong who came over.
“Shall we sit back and face each other?”
Shi Zhong pointed to the back seat of the tractor covered with haystacks and asked an obvious question.
Li Dingbei saw him quietly separating himself and Bi Ming, and sighed softly in his heart: “Well.”
He shouldn’t expect anything else, it’s obvious that she and Shi Zhong are a couple.
Soon, except for Meng Dongliu, who was eager to learn from Li Dingbei to drive a tractor, everyone else boarded the empty seat in the back row.
The breeze came, and the heavy golden ears of wheat swayed into waves in the autumn fields.
Li Dingbei heard her intermittent brisk minor tunes coming from behind, perhaps mixed with other people’s singing, and Meng Dongliu’s chattering noise, and unconsciously curved the corners of his mouth.
Although he repeatedly reminded himself that he should remain rational, he still couldn’t help but imagine—
She… probably likes his hometown.
At night, the mountain wind was cool and pleasant, the stars were shining, and the cicadas were croaking.
Li Dingbei and Bi Ming were sitting under the pergola hung with grapevines, chatting one after another.
“I’m not eating skewers tonight, I feel like my weight has increased a bit too much.” Bi Ming glanced at the grill next to her, and there were all kinds of skewered ingredients on it. “And why haven’t they come yet?”
Li Dingbei’s eyes moved from the night sky to her side face, and he slowly admitted: “They will not come so fast, I notified them to come after ten o’clock.”
“Hey,” Bi Ming frowned slightly and glanced at her phone, “But your message clearly said it was half past nine?”
“I…” Li Dingbei pursed his lips, “The message I sent you is different from theirs.”
Bi Ming turned her head, her eyelashes fluttering in confusion.
However, Li Dingbei seemed to have made up his mind and said again: “Because I wanted to talk to you alone.”
God knows how hard it took him to say that.
Bi Ming froze for a moment, then stared at him: “What do you want to talk about?”
Li Dingbei settled down and tried not to be affected by those bright eyes: “Two years ago, I gave you a bracelet, and you returned it to me. Now I still want to give it to you—”
“I don’t want.”
“I kept it for you.”
The words of the two blurted out almost at the same time.
“Lin Nan, that’s not what I meant.” Li Dingbei paused for a moment and explained with difficulty, “I know the current relationship between you and Shi Zhong, and this bracelet… is an excuse to avoid my mother’s urging marriage.”
Bi Ming tilted her head: “Without the bracelet, your mother wouldn’t let you go, right?”
“There is a custom passed down by an old man in our family. It’s ‘enjoying the color’. This bracelet is a token.” Li Dingbei lowered his head and avoided her eyes, “My mother values this very much, and I can’t help it if I don’t give it away. They will urge me to find a woman to get married to.”
“But you can’t hide for the rest of your life.” Bi Ming reminded him, “This is your family after all.”
Li Dingbei said slowly: “I have passed the military’s special test, and I will stay in the army for the next few years, so I can temporarily avoid them.”
Seeing that he handed her the jade bracelet that was crystal clear in the moonlight again, Bi Ming was a little helpless: “Can’t you keep it yourself?”
Li Dingbei lowered his eyes and was silent for a while.
“If I die on a mission in the future, you can keep it as a memorial.”
Bi Ming suspected that if he has got enlistment anxiety: “No, you are still a recruit.”
Li Dingbei grabbed her hand and stuffed the bracelet into her palm—
“Just think I’m unfounded.”
Bi Ming was choked on by him, and when she saw that he threw the family heirloom to her without caring, she shook her head.
“I’ll deposit it in the bank safe for you another day.” She pondered for a moment, and then she quickly cut through the mess, “You will keep the keys yourself. And don’t think about it. It depends on which comes first tomorrow or the accident.”
At that time, Li Dingbei didn’t know what prophecy was, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
Her willingness to accept that bracelet was also a kind of psychological comfort to him.
Cicadas chirped, and the bright moonlight splashed in the yard, dyeing the branches of the grape shed with a halo.
The man turned his head, and the emotion in his eyes also overflowed softly like moonlight.
“Lin Nan… Anyway, I hope you are happy.”
She bent her eyes and smiled, looking back at him she said—
“Thanks, I will.”
This smile that bloomed for him appeared repeatedly in Li Dingbei’s dreams in the following years.
Hard training, the invasion of the waves, the thrill of the storm… The long military life has tempered him into a strong and tenacious naval warrior.
Just like his name “Dingbei”, he has become a part of the coastal defense cause of the Northern Military Region, and has won many honorary medals for his hard-working spirit and keen and loyal character.
In the year of his exceptional promotion to major, he picked up his phone and couldn’t wait to tell her and his family the good news.
However, the new information on his phone froze all his joy for a moment.
[I heard that Lin Nan suffered a terrorist attack, did you know, brother Bei?]
[Dingbei, look at the news, Lin Nan, a staff member of the embassy in Jordan, was attacked by a stray bullet… Is that Sister Nan?]
A dizzying sensation hit him, that he, who has always been strong, stayed in a place like a stone pillar, and couldn’t move.
The military’s system is strict, and anti-counterfeiting slips require weeks of approval.
For the first time, he, who has always been a pacesetter of discipline, begged his superiors for approval as soon as possible. He was afraid that he would not even make it to her funeral.
The extreme pain was like ten thousand ants biting his heart, Li Dingbei repeatedly asked Shi Zhong to verify the truth of the matter.
Her bones have not been found, how can she be considered dead?
“Dingbei, her estate has been counted, remember to pick up the bracelet deposited in the bank.” Shi Zhong’s calm voice sounded extremely cold to Li Dingbei, and even made him get a rare kind of anger.
Knowing that after today – he could never – give it to her-
There was finally a crack in the man’s strong heart that could not be sewed, that it was out of control.
[Why did you let her go to such a dangerous place?]
[Why… couldn’t you protect her?]
He yelled at Shi Zhong on the phone, but when he came to her empty coffin, all the hostility turned into emptiness and nothingness.
The man thought that her ashes were lost on the battlefield, and no one could collect them.
He was silent in front of her tombstone for several days, and finally went to the bank to take out the bracelet, and asked someone to reprocess it into two small jade pendants.
The jade pendant was made into a dragon and phoenix pendant, one piece was worn on his chest and the other was buried in the grave.
The following year, he gave up his immediate promotion order and recommended himself to the troops for a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Since then, the army has added a soldier who has repeatedly rotated among peacekeepers in West Africa and the Middle East.
Danger, war, and death have been with him ever since.
In a foreign land, even if there are many dangers, he would always complete the task brilliantly. Perhaps being alone and having nothing to worry about made him stronger.
But no matter how much honor the accumulated military merit is, it was not enough for him, he has only one request each time:
Don’t send him back home.
Later, he became the youngest admiral, and he never married. Like a ghost in the open sea, he dedicated his life to the country.
But he knew he wasn’t that great.
In the final analysis, it was just because his love died in a foreign land, and he was reluctant to be too far away from her, so he had to drift on the sea, waiting for the Mediterranean wind to bring her breath.
Starting a family, starting a business, getting married, and having children… These life plans had all disappeared in Li Dingbei’s life.
After all, she’s gone, why is he home?
