Back To The 80s-Chapter 154: Details (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1
Gu Xiaobei praised internally, "Yuan Tan’s sister is so pretty with a remarkable quality," but he carried on teasing her, "You should have told me if I was going to meet a sister of the Yuan family. You kept it as if it’s an outsider I’m meeting."
Qin Li kept her head lowered, containing her laughter; she could hardly bear it anymore.
Yuan Ye saw Gu Xiaobei with his childish behavior, she gently said, "Zhanguo, this must be Xiaobei, he’s truly handsome."
Lu Zhanguo slightly nodded, then directed towards Gu Xiaobei, "Have you both finished eating? Let’s go once you are done."
Gu Xiaobei quickly nodded, "We are done, just wait for me, I need to settle the bill." He then pulled Qin Li towards the cashier counter, afraid that her laughter might burst out if they stayed any longer.
As soon as Qin Li was out of Yuan Ye’s sight, she broadened her smile and whispered, "Your performance was not genuine at all, haha."
"Really? I thought I acted naturally." Gu Xiaobei responded while paying the bill.
Watching Gu Xiaobei walk away, Yuan Ye told Lu Zhanguo, "Your wife behaves like a child. Very adorable."
Lu Zhanguo did not respond. Yuan Ye’s comment could imply two meanings. The first being that Xiaobei is childish, frank, and straightforward. The second inference was that Xiaobei is childish, naive, and does not give him any face.
Regardless of the implication, Lu Zhanguo didn’t find either appealing.
Seeing Lu Zhanguo’s silence, Yuan Ye contemplated if her remark was inappropriate.
When Gu Xiaobei walked back with Qin Li, Yuan Ye, smiling, addressed to Xiaobei, "Xiaobei, do find some time to visit our place with Zhanguo, my mother and I will probably stay here for a while."
"Sure, I will visit when I have time," Gu Xiaobei politely responded with a smile. Even though Yuan Ye was very attractive and graceful, Xiaobei didn’t particularly like her; perhaps they just didn’t hit it off.
As the group left the restaurant, Yuan Ye excused herself to explore T City. Lu Zhanguo didn’t insist on anything, he sent Qin Li home first, then proceeded to meet Shen Heng.
As Lu Zhanguo parked his car at the entrance of the motel, he spotted a figure flitting across his rear-view mirror. He quickly turned around and saw a silhouette with a straw hat hiding behind a thick soapberry tree across the street.
"What’s wrong?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously seeing Lu Zhanguo focused on something behind the vehicle.
"Nothing, get out of the car." Lu Zhanguo hid the keenness in his eyes and replied, looking back.
Shen Heng had been waiting in his room full of cigarette smoke for Lu Zhanguo.
As the door was opened, Gu Xiaobei was choked by the heavy smoke and coughed vigorously, "I will...cough...wait outside...for a while...cough..." He then left the room.
"Wait outside the door, but don’t go too far." Lu Zhanguo instructed.
Gu Xiaobei nodded and moved towards the far end of the hallway.
Shen Heng scratched his head awkwardly and opened the windows to let the smoke out.
"Are you being followed?" Lu Zhanguo sat down and asked.
"It has been for a while, they are all Gao Dailin’s men. Let them keep an eye, once I capture Bail Hu, I’ll deal with them." Shen Heng responded indifferently.
"Yuan Ye is divorced, have you checked on this?"
"Yes, I called to confirm it. She couldn’t bear the man’s drinking and violent behavior towards her and their child, so she got divorced." Shen Heng’s findings resonated with Yuan Ye’s claims.
"How old are her kids?"
"One is three years old, and the other is one year old." Shen Heng, puzzled, questioned why Lu Zhanguo would care about this.
"With kids so young, how could she cruelly leave them with a drunken and violent ex-husband? Did she raise the issue of her children during the divorce? If so, did she insist on it?" Lu Zhanguo relayed his observations to Shen Heng.
"Yeah, women are considered weak, but mothers are strong. No matter how difficult, a mother would never abandon her offspring. I hadn’t considered these details." Shen Heng was slightly annoyed that he missed the details.
Lu Zhanguo did not respond further, and neither did Shen Heng. Both looked out the window in silence. The tree leaves had started to turn yellow and occasionally fell.
"Yuan Tan rented a small compound behind the department store." Shen suddenly mentioned.
"That can also be explained, living in an apartment would draw more attention." Lu Zhanguo was not startled.
"Do you want to visit Aunt Yuan?" Shen Heng thought that keeping up the courtesy was still necessary, considering they lived in the same compound.
"I heard that Aunt Yuan is not feeling well, maybe we should go another time."
"Alright, there is no smoke now, you should call your wife in."
"No need for that, we’re leaving now. Be careful, alright?" Reminded Lu Zhanguo to Shen Heng as he got up to leave.
Gu Xiaobei stood in the hallway, later thought to herself that the two of them must be discussing things that they didn’t want her to know about, she decided to stay outside.
As Lu Zhanguo and Shen Heng exited one after another, she greeted them with a smile, "Are you done with your talk?"
"Yes, we’ll go visit Uncle Wang now, then head home." When addressing Gu Xiaobei, Lu Zhanguo’s voice always turned soft.
Shen Heng walked them to the entrance of the motel, watched Lu Zhanguo drive off before standing at the entrance, lighting up a cigarette and staring ahead with a serene gaze. He knew that everything would soon surface, and he would no longer have to react passively.
When Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei arrived at uncle Wang’s noodle shop, it was already late afternoon and there were no customers.
Aunt Wang was sitting at the entrance mending shoes. Seeing the couple, she quickly stood up and exclaimed, "Why did you two come at this hour? Did you have lunch?"
"We ate, at Zhanguo’s friend’s place." Gu Xiaobei smiled and handed over the meat and pastries she bought on the way to aunt Wang.
"Why did you buy this? You just need to come, it’s a waste of money." Aunt Wang complained as she took the items.
"It’s all food, things that go into your stomach. It’s not a waste of money." Gu Xiaobei replied cheerfully.
"Why don’t you come in quickly, thanks to your visit today or we would’ve missed each other. We are returning to the village in a day or two." Aunt Wang lifted the curtain and beckoned the couple in.
"Why are you back in the village? Uncle Wang isn’t here?" Lu Zhanguo scanned the room and asked.
"Your uncle Wang went ahead to clean up. With the winter coming, we would waste coal if we stayed here. In the village, we have lots of firewood to keep warm. When spring is here, we’ll reopen the noodle shop." Aunt Wang placed the items on the table and pulled a stool for both of them.
After seeing that they settled down, aunt Wang deviously asked, "Xiaobei, any good news yet?" Pointing at Gu Xiaobei’s stomach.
Unusually, Gu Xiaobei’s face turned red, "Not yet."
"Zhanguo is not getting any younger, it’s about time we expect a child. When you’re ready to deliver, I’ll take care of you, making sure you wouldn’t get postpartum illnesses." Aunt Wang said sincerely.
"That would be great, I don’t have any experience in this." Gu Xiaobei laughed, as if she was already expecting.
Looking at the two women chatting cheerfully, Lu Zhanguo felt jovial.
As they were leaving, aunt Wang brought out a jar of pickles from the backyard, "This is pickled with chives, celery and red chillies. No one could match my flavour. It’s delicious mixed with noodles."
