Chapter 32
Lunch was at my house as planned.
At the table, my mother brought up the matter of Guangyu Shares.
"Did your father mention
Guangyu Shares to you later?"
"No." I shook my head.
"That's definitely Mr. Nie's
style." My mother chuckled. "Go talk to your father in a few days,
and I'll pay for you to buy Guangyu Shares."
"Huh?" I was surprised.
Lin Yusen's eyes flickered
slightly.
"What 'huh'?" My mother
picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and said casually, "When I'm
out doing business, I always make a name for myself. I don't want people to say
I took advantage of him later."
In that instant, I felt my
mother's aura changed. It was as if she had returned to the decisive and
ruthless way she was before her divorce from my father. When I was a child, I
was used to it and didn't think much of it; I even sometimes felt a little distant.
But now, after several years, seeing her like this again, I felt a surge of
excitement. I suddenly realized with crystal clarity that I was about to work
with my mother, and this excited me far more than working with Lin Yusen.
"How much should we
spend?" I asked her.
My mother was probably in a good
mood; her expression even became a little playful: "That depends on how
much he's willing to accept."
I immediately understood,
suppressing a laugh, and said, "Understood, Ms. Jiang."
Lin Yusen shook his head and
smiled, placing a piece of pork rib in my bowl.
My mother glanced at Lin Yusen
after seeing the rib in my bowl. After eating for a while, she asked casually,
"Xiao Lin, Xi Guang said you want to be a doctor in the future. Is that in
Shanghai? Long-distance relationships aren't easy."
"It's in Shanghai, but not a
long-distance one," Lin Yusen replied politely. "The neurosurgery
research center where I work is in Songjiang, only about an hour from Suzhou. I
can easily live in Suzhou."
Her mother gently stirred her
soup. "Traveling between Suzhou and Shanghai every day, don't you find it
tiring? Don't you feel like you're sacrificing too much?"
Lin Yusen didn't seize the
opportunity to play the victim, stating truthfully, "If I encounter rush
hour traffic from Songjiang to Lujiazui, it might take longer than getting to
Suzhou. There's absolutely no sacrifice involved."
Her mother's face showed
appreciation and satisfaction, and she didn't continue the topic. However,
after the meal, as everyone got up to leave, she suddenly said, "Don't
rush back to Suzhou after dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's. Stay here for the
night. A day trip is too tiring. There's a guest room at home."
The last sentence was clearly
directed at Lin Yusen.
Before I could even react, Lin
Yusen had already thanked her happily, "Thank you, Auntie."
So, Lin Yusen won my mom's favor
so quickly?
Then it's understandable that my
simple-minded grandparents were charmed by him in less than half an hour...
After arriving at my
grandparents' house and chatting with them for over an hour, I quickly grabbed
Lin Yusen and ran off to play in the street. If they kept talking, Grandpa
would spill all my embarrassing childhood stories.
My grandparents' village,
Jingqiao Village, is quite a large village, with a main street, a primary
school, and a farmers' market. On certain days when I was little, people from
surrounding villages would come to the market.
Once we got to the street, I
first took Lin Yusen to buy the sesame seed cakes from that shop I'd boasted
about.
We were lucky; a batch of hot
sesame seed cakes had just come out of the oven when we arrived. The owner
recognized me and was delighted to see me, insisting on giving me two for free.
So, Lin Yusen and I each took a sesame seed cake and left without spending a
penny. I waved goodbye to the owner, and after taking only a few steps, I
eagerly took a bite, gesturing to Lin Yusen, "Don't worry about
appearances here, just eat!"
Lin Yusen took a relatively
refined bite, and I asked expectantly, "How is it?"
Lin Yusen said, "Can we get
some to go? Should we order some to take back to Suzhou?"
I laughed heartily, "No, it
won't taste as good if we reheat it back home."
We strolled around the village,
eating our sesame cakes. The village streets were rather deserted; many young
people had gone to work in the city. However, every now and then we saw groups
of elderly people sitting in their doorways chatting, adding a touch of gentle
tranquility to the afternoon village.
As we passed the elementary
school, Lin Yusen asked me, "You went to elementary school in Wuxi,
right?"
"Yes, not here. My mom took
me back to Wuxi when I started elementary school, but my grandma was worried
and went to the city to take care of me for several years."
So, my mom has always been
grateful to my grandparents, and even now that she's divorced from my dad, she
hasn't lost touch with them. This time, when Lin Yusen and I visited her in the
countryside, she prepared a lot of skincare products for me to bring back.
We quickly finished walking
through the short street, and Lin Yusen said thoughtfully, "So our Xiguang
grew up in such a small place."
"I was small back then too,
and it seemed so big." I finished the remaining sesame seed cake in my
hand, clapped my hands, and said, "Come on, I'll take you to see the
bridge in Jingqiao Village."
The small village of Jingqiao
actually has its own famous attraction: a well-preserved, still-in-use
three-arched stone bridge from the Ming Dynasty.
The stone bridge is on the other
side of the village, and it's called Jingqiao (Whale Bridge). Unlike the
obvious modern buildings on the street, the area around the stone bridge still
retains its original appearance. I took Lin Yusen's hand and we walked along
the ancient cobblestone path, counting the steps, until we reached the highest
point of the stone bridge.
Calming my breath, I pointed to
the distant, hazy green mountains and the green willows and white walls lining
the riverbanks. "Look," I said, "isn't the scenery here
beautiful?"
Lin Yusen looked in the direction
I was pointing and was immediately captivated by the scene before him.
"This is the Jiangnan region as depicted by Wu Guanzhong," he said.
I nodded. "Perhaps the
master himself has been here."
We remained silent for a while,
both immersed in the enchanting scenery. I leaned against the stone bridge
railing, Lin Yusen standing beside me. A gentle breeze carried the calls of
water birds, and I softly hummed a cheerful, unknown song. Lin Yusen listened
for a moment, then turned to look at me.
"So happy to be back
here?"
"The journey here was great
too."
"Why are you so happy?"
"I don't know!" I
answered him playfully, "You look happy too."
"Me?" Lin Yusen's
handsome eyebrows rose slightly. "I'm not happy, I'm proud."
"Proud?" I asked
curiously, "Proud of what?"
"Proud that I've found the
right person, that they've arranged my life perfectly, and that I can soon have
everything I want again. So, I'm proud of life, full of vigor." He
answered me quickly.
I stared at him, a surge of
emotion welling up inside me, but then I burst out laughing. "People are
proud of life by drinking, but our Mr. Lin is eating pancakes."
Lin Yusen looked even more proud:
"Then I'm much more well-nourished."
Found the right person…
I remembered Grandma praising Lin
Yusen in her broken Mandarin—I knew my granddaughter was bringing a boyfriend
home, but who knew she'd bring back such a handsome and charming one.
It's not just about looks and
charisma...
So, I've found the right person,
what's so special about that?
A surge of joy welled up inside
me, and driven by some unknown emotion, I asked the question that had been
buried deep within me lately: "Lin Yusen, why do you never ask me about my
university days? Don't you want to know?"
"Of course I want to
know," he said, looking at me, his voice as calm as the breeze blowing
across the bridge. "But I think the best time would be when you suddenly
ask me if I want to know."
I stared at him intently, finding
him incredibly handsome and intelligent. "Let me think about where to
begin."
And so, on this afternoon, in
this place where I grew up, I slowly began to tell him about the things that
happened in university.
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