Lu Qiang drovehis car towards the city limits.
Lu Feng Asked, "Where are we going?"
Lu Qiang replied, "I don’t know."
Lu Feng didn’t say anything and leaned back in his seat comfortably; not thinking about where they were going.
On the way to the city outskirts , Lu Qiang suddenly stopped the car in front of a roadside mini-supermarket.It was not occupied by many customers since it was not in the main city.
Lu Feng looked at Lu Qiang and asked, "What happened?"
Lu Qiang looked back at him and said, "Get out of the car and go get some beer." He said while pointing towards the mini-supermarket.
Lu Feng looked at the mini-supermarket and then looked back at Lu Qiang and asked, "Do you want my liver to rot? I already drank a lot last night and its effect hasn’t worn off yet."
Lu Qiang sighed and said as ordering him, "It’s for me. Now, hurry up and bring as much as you can."
Lu Feng looked at him surprisingly and asked, "Huh? Are you sure?"
Lu Qiang nodded and replied, "Hmmm!"
Lu Feng got out of the carpuzzled. He was surprised when Lu Qiang asked him to bring beer for him. Lu Qiang had a low tolerance for alcohol, so he always used to avoid it. Whenever he attended any party; he always accepted the drink and left it after taking one or two sips.
Lu Feng went to the mini-supermarket and bought a pack of six beers and returned back to the car.
Lu Qiang looked at the carton in Lu Feng’s hands and asked with displeased look on his face, "Only this much?"
Lu Feng nodded and replied casually as not being affected by Lu Qiang’s displeased look, "Well, they were short on stock."
Lu Feng sat in the car, fastened his seat belt and Lu Qiang drove off, speeding on the highway, towards the city outskirts. After an hour, Lu Qiang stopped the car at a deserted place; where both sides of the road were surrounded by the vast green land. Lu Qiang parked the car on one side and got out of it. Lu Feng did the same while carrying the carton of beer in his hands.
They walked for some distance on the green land and discovered there was a valley ahead. Both walked towards it and sat on a huge rock, which was under the shade of a tree, near the start of the valley.
The atmosphere was calm and the cool breeze, coming from the valley, was cooling down the effect of the summer heat.
Lu Qiang removed his jacket and put it on the rock. He then loosened his tie and undid the top two buttons of his shirt. Then, Lu Qiang looked at Lu Feng and said, "Give me my beer."
Lu Feng passed him a bottle and kept the others with him.
Lu Qiang took the bottle, but still was not happy. He stared at Lu Feng for a moment.
Lu Feng understood. He took out the bottle opener from the carton and said, "My bad."
Lu Qiang then started to drink, looking at the other side of the valley.
Lu Feng also looked in the direction Lu Qiang was looking at and said, "I have never seen you drink, other than occasionally at parties, for all of these years."
Lu Qiang didn’t look at him and replied while staring at the valley, "During all of these years, you were not beside me to handle the drunken me."
Lu Feng replied apologetically, "Sorry man!"
Lu Qiang smiled and said while looking at him, "See, what your absence made me miss."
Lu Feng smiled and said, "Well, I guess, I should have brought all the beer bottles from that supermarket to make up for all these missing years, damn!"
Lu Qiang looked at him with his one eyebrow raised and said, "But you said... Ohh! I should have gone by myself."
Lu Feng: "Next time, I’ll buy a huge carton for you, then drink to your heart’s content."
Then, Lu Feng picked up a bottle from the carton in his hands, looked at it and said, "We are together after a long time, so this one deserves to go into my stomach."
Lu Qiang: "Don’t even think about it. That’s mine."
Lu Feng opened the lid and said, "Stop me if you can." Then he immediately started to drink the beer.
Lu Qiang just smiled and let him drink the beer.
Both sat there looking at the other side of the valley and emptying the beer bottles in their stomach. They were enjoying the peaceful atmosphere there.
After a while Lu Qiang said, "Lu Feng!"
Lu Feng: "Hmm?"
Lu Qiang: "What happened nine years back, that you left my side?"
The expressions on Lu Feng’s face changed suddenly but he was thankful that Lu Qiang was looking ahead and not towards him. He was expecting this question from Lu Qiang but when he actually asked it, Lu Feng felt puzzled for some time.
Lu Feng immediately collected himself and replied, "What could have happened? I just changed the direction of my interest, it was only at that time I realized exactly whatI wanted to do."
Upon hearing this answer from Lu Feng, Lu Qiang laughed a little and said, "Liar! Still, a very bad liar." He then paused for a moment and said, "I want to know the real reason."
Lu Feng knew, Lu Qiang will never fall for his reasoning but still tried to lie to avoid the question.
Lu Feng sighed and said, "Yes! There is a different reason but I want you to trust me and don’t ask me about it again. This is the first time I have ever asked you for something and I hope you won’t disappoint me."
Lu Qiang respected his decision and didn’t ask it again and said, "Fine with, me as long as you won’t go away from me again."
Lu Feng nodded and said, "I won’t. Just remember, do not show our closeness in front of others, especially my mother."
Lu Qiang was surprised to listen this and asked, "Aunt Lu Hui?"
Lu Feng replied, "Yes! My mother, but please don’t ask why?"
Lu Qiang nodded and said, "Okay! As you wish!"
Lu Feng then smiled and said, "Jiang Yang! That idiot is still the same. I am happy that he came back."
Lu Qiang too smiled and said, "Yes! His return brought everything between us back to normal."
Lu Feng nodded and said, "That’s true. By the way, when are you going to marry? Yuyan is back and I can see, both of you are in love?"
Lu Qiang took a sip of beer, thought about something and replied while looking at the valley ahead, "Will you be ok, if I married to her this early?"
Lu Feng surprisingly looked at Lu Qiang and said, "What.. What do you mean? I’ll be happy for both of you."
Lu Qiang didn’t look at him as what he was going to say further might make Lu Feng to feel awkward. He just took another sip of beer then said while looking at the valley, "I know what is in your heart."
Lu Feng was taken aback on listening to it and said calmly, "Does it matter?"
Lu Qiang replied, "Everything that can hurt you, matters to me."
Lu Feng Didn’t know what to say. He felt like short for words. He took a sip of beer and said while looking at the valley, "The only thing that should matter to us, is her happiness. Don’t you think so?"
Lu Qiang nodded and replied. "Yes!"
Lu Feng then said again, "And you know better than anyone that her happiness is being with you."
Lu Qiang again nodded and said, "I guess so."
Lu Feng then looked at him, punched Lu Qiang on his arm near his shoulder and said while smiling, "So, don’t think about useless things." He then laughed and said, "Idiot!"
Lu Qiang just looked at him and said, "Thank you."
Lu Feng then tried to change this serious mood and asked, "So tell me now, when you are going to marry, so that I can start the preparation now, after all it would be my brother’s wedding."
Lu Qiang smiled and said, "Not this early. She is just nineteen and it would be early for her."
Lu Feng replied, "It would be for her, but you know our grandpa and his wish." He then smiled widely after remembering about his annoying grandpa.
Lu Qiang laughed and replied with a sigh, "Yes that’s true. Hmm! Our Grandpa!"
Lu Qiang then paused for a while and said with serious expressions on his face while looking at the beer bottle in his hands, "Also, she has her own issues, so I want her to get out of it first."
Lu Feng knew, what Lu Qiang was talking about and said, "Hmm! You are right and I am sure, with your help she will soon overcome it."
Lu Qiang looked at Lu Feng surprisingly and asked, "Do you know about it?"
Lu Feng nodded and said, "Yes! Jiang Yang told me everything last night,"
Lu Qiang sighed and said, "So, everyone knows about it except for me."
Lu Feng asked surprisingly, "Everyone?"
Lu Qiang replied, "Grandpa and my father."
Lu Feng patted Lu Qiang’s shoulder and said, "She will tell you herself, have patience."
Lu Qiang ran his one hand through his hairs and replied, "I am trying to"
Lu Feng: "Also, Jiang Yang was worried about how you will react, so he didn’t tell you, so when you will know about it, just maintain your rationality for Yuyan’s sake."
Lu Qiang looked at Lu Feng while thinking ’was it that bad?’ He looked back at the valley and suddenly felt restless and felt likegoing back to Jiang Yuyan. He didn’t say a word and had a sad expression on his face. He just continued to look at the valley blankly while drinking the beer from his bottle.
Lu Feng didn’t disturb him, instead, when he saw empty beer bottle in Lu Qiang’s hands, he took that bottle from his hands and passed him another bottle of Beer.
This continued till the last bottle of beer was emptied out. Lu Feng drank only two while all four had gone through Lu Qiang’s stomach. Lu Feng laughed and said, "It looks like your alcohol tolerance level has been improved."
Just as Lu Feng said this, Lu Qiang was about to lost his balance from the rock. Lu Feng immediately held him and said, "Hmm! I was wrong. You are still the same."