Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

Chapter 107 Are they all leaving?

With the results in, Lin Qingping felt much more at ease.

Regardless of whether she is admitted to the Capital University, she is still satisfied with this score.

Now we just have to keep waiting.

In addition, the garment factory has already produced sample garments in the past two days, which she is very satisfied with. The subsequent work of signing orders with customers is not within her job scope, so she has a few days of free time.

Lin Qingping then took her second sister back to Gu Family Village, and Gu Youlian and Du Gen also went back together.

Gu Youlian and Du Gen spend more time at the factory now, so Xiaomai mostly stays at the Gu family home. This has given Zhiyuan some company, as the two of them are always together. Zhiyuan has even been teaching her to read.

When Lin Qingping returned to the Gu family home, the two children were sitting on the threshold, each holding a small wildflower, tearing off the petals one by one to learn to count.

Zhiyuan saw her first, and was overjoyed. He threw down the flowers in his hand and wanted to run over to catch her, but he restrained himself and stood still, waiting for her from a distance, wiping his little hands on his pants again and again.

"Zhiyuan, Xiaomai." Lin Qingping approached, looking at the two children with a smile, "Why are you both so silly? Can't you talk anymore?"

"Auntie!" Xiaomai called out happily, and then jumped into her parents' arms.

Zhiyuan called out timidly, "Auntie."

After calling out, he went inside.

What's going on here?

Lin Qingping didn't have time to ask her in detail yet. This child always seemed to have a lot on his mind and was more sensitive than other children.

Soon, her parents-in-law returned, and Gu Youlian's family had dinner at the Gu family home before returning to the Du family home.

Lin Qingping chatted with her parents-in-law for a while. Her mother-in-law, understanding that she had a long and tiring journey back from outside, told her to go to bed early, and then they all went to rest.

Lin Qingping took the toys she bought in the county to find Zhiyuan.

I knocked on Zhiyuan's room door, but no one answered. He must be asleep.

Lin Qingping shook her head and went back to her room with her second sister to rest.

The next morning, Lin Qingping got up and made some snacks for Zhiyuan.

Zhiyuan loves sweets; it's like he was like that in his past life.

At that time, her restaurant was harassed by some thugs. After Zhiyuan stood up for her, she invited Zhiyuan into the restaurant for a meal. After the meal, fried sweet potato balls were served, and he ate a whole plate by himself.

Then let's fry some sweet potatoes for him.

Now that our family's living conditions are better and oil is not as scarce as before, who doesn't love fried food?

She made fried sweet potatoes, and seeing that there was pork at home, she also made a plate of fried pork chops.

At first, Zhiyuan refused to come out of the house, but when he smelled the aroma of fried food, he finally couldn't resist and poked his head out like a little mouse.

Lin Qingping smiled and called to him, "Zhiyuan, come and eat!"

"What is this?" Zhiyuan's eyes lit up.

"You'll know once you try it!" Lin Qingping picked up a small piece of pork chop with her chopsticks and fed it to his mouth.

Zhiyuan took a small bite and chewed it carefully. His face clearly showed that he thought it was delicious, but he didn't say anything.

"What's wrong? Is it not good?" Lin Qingping deliberately feigned disappointment.

Zhiyuan shook his head vigorously, "Delicious!"

"Then take them and eat them!" Lin Qingping gave him both plates.

As is his habit, Zhiyuan only ate half of the food, leaving half of the sweet potato balls and half of the fried pork chop.

"Is it for the old man?" Lin Qingping couldn't help but ask.

Zhiyuan paused, nodded, and his expression became even worse.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong with Grandpa?" Lin Qingping never asked about his relationship with the old teachers at the school, but today he was acting strangely.

Zhiyuan lowered his head and whispered, "Grandpa is leaving."

"Go? Where to?" Lin Qingping asked in surprise.

“To the capital,” Zhiyuan said in a low voice. “His son and grandson are coming to take him to the capital. He’s old.”

Lin Qingping patted his head and comforted him, "Then we should be happy for Grandpa! Isn't it good to be back with his family, to have them by his side and take care of him?"

"Okay." Zhiyuan said this with a bittersweet decisiveness.

Lin Qingping thought he was reluctant to leave his grandfather, so she patted his head and asked, "When are you leaving?"

"tomorrow."

"Then... what kind of gift should we give Grandpa? What would he like?" Lin Qingping knew that Zhiyuan valued relationships; otherwise, why would he have gotten himself into prison for the sake of loyalty to his friend in his previous life? It's normal for him to be reluctant to part with the old man he's spent so much time with.

Zhiyuan said, "Let's send some food. Grandpa likes to eat good food."

Lin Qingping smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll make some fresh ones tomorrow for Grandpa to take on the road." As for the half that Zhiyuan left behind today, whether he ate it himself or gave it to the old man, she didn't care. It was the child's own business, and he could decide for himself.

Because she didn't know what time the old gentleman would leave the next day, Lin Qingping got up in the middle of the night. Making pastries wasn't difficult, it was just time-consuming.

As soon as she got up, her second sister also got up, and they busied themselves in the kitchen together.

Around 7 o'clock, the two sisters had prepared all the food.

The Gu family's pickles were excellent, and their cured meat was very fragrant. She and her second sister each made several jars of food for them to eat with rice and steamed buns on the train; everything tasted delicious.

Lin Qingping also made muffins, cakes and other desserts. The old gentleman seemed to love sweets too, as he packed several packages in kraft paper and put them together.

This time, Zhiyuan took her hand to school, and she went along openly, unlike before when she deliberately avoided disturbing the friendship between the old man and the young girl.

A Jeep was parked in front of the school.

The old man was walking out of the school accompanied by two young men. When he saw them, his eyes lit up, as if he had been waiting for them.

The old man waved, and Zhiyuan ran over.

The old man then said to the two men beside him, "I won't take the books from my room; I'll leave them all for this child."

One of the young men said, "Yes, Grandpa, I'll go move it now."

Zhiyuan handed him the cake he was holding, saying, "My aunt said to give it to you on your way."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingping and her second sister hurriedly stepped forward and handed the pancakes and vegetables to the young man next to the old man.

The old man looked at his second sister with a pleased expression, "Not bad, you did well on the exam."

The second sister's eyes were a little wet. "I haven't had a chance to properly thank you, and you're already leaving..."

Very reluctant to part with it.

"What else do I need to thank you for?" the old man said with a smile. "Your excellent exam results are the best way to thank me!"

These words brought tears to the Second Sister's eyes.

The old man laughed again, "Don't be sad, what's there to be sad about? Who knows, we might meet again!" After saying that, he turned to the young man beside him and said, "Look at him, with such conditions in the countryside, he still got such good grades!"

The young man smiled.

The old man looked at Lin Qingping again and said, "Thank you so much for eating so much delicious food from you!"

"Ah?" Lin Qingping was completely surprised that the old man would say that to her, because she rarely appeared in front of him, and she felt a little embarrassed. "I haven't been able to cook for you properly many times! I should be thanking you. You are so good to Zhiyuan and Lin Qingyun."

The old man didn't answer her question, but just smiled and said, "Lin Qingyun, what a good name! Qingyun! I'm waiting to see you soar to the top!"

The old and young chatted for a while, and then the young man and the driver had almost finished moving the books. They loaded them all onto the car and then drove the car and the people back to the Gu family. The old man then got into the car and left Gu Family Village.

Watching the old man's car drive away, Zhiyuan returned to his room dejectedly, not even eating the pancakes that Lin Qingping had deliberately left for him.

Lin Qingping was worried about him, so she followed him into the house and found him lying on the bed with red eyes.

Lin Qingping sat down on the edge of the bed, touched his face, and comforted him, "Zhiyuan, although the capital is far away, there are trains now. We can take the train to see Grandpa in the future!"

In the future, there will be high-speed rail! Air travel will also be very developed! Distance will no longer be a problem.

Zhiyuan was not comforted by her words, but stared at her intently, "Why does everyone have to go to the capital? Is the capital really that good?"

"Hmm?" What does "all" mean here?

Zhiyuan's eyes were slightly red. "You're going too, aren't you?"

Lin Qingping was stunned. How did he know?

"Who told you I was going to the capital?" Lin Qingping remembered that she hadn't told her parents-in-law about her college application and the college entrance examination!

"I just know!" Zhiyuan turned his back to her, "What exams did you and your second aunt take? You even got first place! You're going to the capital!"

Lin Qingping remained silent.

She couldn't say she wouldn't go to the capital, even though universities there are hard to get into. But what if she got accepted?

“Go ahead!” Zhiyuan said. “I’ll stay here by myself.”

Then I ignored her.

No matter what Lin Qingping said, he stopped talking.

Lin Qingping had no choice but to say deliberately, "If you're not going to say anything, then I'm leaving, okay?"

She pretended to stand up, and had just turned around and taken a step when she heard Zhiyuan crying behind her.

Lin Qingping felt a pang of sadness and turned to pick him up.

Zhiyuan buried his face in her arms and cried, "Is it true, is it true... that those who went to the capital never come back?"

He was so choked up that he could barely breathe when he spoke.

"How could that be? Why wouldn't they come back? Who told you that?" Lin Qingping didn't understand why the child had this idea.

"I knew it! I didn't need anyone to tell me, I just knew it! Those who went to the capital would never come back!" He cried even louder.

"No!" Lin Qingping swore. "I absolutely won't! My home is here! How could I not go home?"

"But my mother went to the capital and then disappeared!" Zhiyuan burst into tears. "She doesn't want me anymore!"

Lin Qingping: ...

So that's where the problem lies.

She didn't say anything at first, but just held Zhiyuan and let him cry in her arms until he had a good cry.

She really wondered if this sensitive and aloof child had ever had a proper, cathartic cry after his mother left and his father passed away.

If not, then cry your heart out today!

Zhiyuan was crying so hard that his second sister didn't even know what had happened. She tiptoed in to see what was going on, but Lin Qingping secretly shook her head at her and then went out again.