Back To The 80s-Chapter 339 - 349: Going Home_1

Ji Xiangdong had been in the capital for half a month. In his free time at night, he liked to stroll by the Yellow River. Today, he saw Bai Xiaolan wandering up ahead.

He couldn’t help but follow her, only to find out that she was boldly tailing two obviously suspicious men. He carefully observed the surrounding area and discovered another person nearby.

Ji Xiangdong understand that this was the police working on a case. He sighed quietly, approaching Bai Xiaolan without a noise. As she prepared to make a move, he pulled her back in time and covered her mouth.

He signalled Bai Xiaolan not to speak before letting her go.

Bai Xiaolan was speechless in surprise. This felt so much like Lu Zhanguo. When Ji Xiangdong turned around and motioned for Bai Xiaolan to follow him away, she got even more excited.

Isn’t this silhouette the person she has been looking for? Her brain seemed to stop working, and she mechanically followed Ji Xiangdong.

The two of them walked into the city one after the other, only when Ji Xiangdong finally stopped and turned around to look at Bai Xiaolan did he notice her distressed expression.

Bai Xiaolan saw Ji Xiangdong turn around and look at her, she nervously blurted out: "Are you Brother Zhanguo’s elder brother?" After asking, she realized how thoughtless she was, the other party probably didn’t even know about her origin.

She didn’t expect that Ji Xiangdong would nod calmly.

"That, you..." Bai Xiaolan couldn’t find the words to speak. She didn’t know what to do with her hands and feet. The person she had been secretly admiring was suddenly right before her eyes, and he was also the elder brother of the Lu family!

Ji Xiangdong looked at Bai Xiaolan gently. Seeing her embarrassment, he said, "It’s getting late. Go home. Don’t be so curious when you are alone. It could be dangerous."

Bai Xiaolan was a bit calmer now and curiously asked: "Do you know that Lu’s mother is also in the capital?"

Ji Xiangdong was taken aback and shook his head.

"If you know that you’re Brother Zhanguo’s elder brother, why don’t you go home?" Bai Xiaolan asked, ignoring her rapidly beating heart.

Ji Xiangdong calmly looked at Bai Xiaolan, and thought back to when he was in Shule. He told his father that he saw his family and shared his thoughts that everyone should be contented with their own lives.

His father sighed, "Xiangdong, you say you don’t hate them, but deep inside, you still do. You resent them for abandoning you back then. You refused to acknowledge your kin, and you are running away. You fear that your siblings won’t accept you, fear that the truth those years ago was them truly abandoning you. You are scared. So, you want to be an ostrich."

Many a night, he would stroke his birth parents’ photograph, unable to suppress his longing for family affection. A small voice in his heart would say, "Go, don’t live with regrets due to inaction." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Bai Xiaolan saw that Ji Xiangdong was silent, seemingly lost in thought, and couldn’t help but ask again, "Lu’s mother suffered a lot because of you and has been living poorly these years."

Ji Xiangdong’s heart twinged. He said in a deep voice: "Let’s go. I’ll take you home first."

"Aren’t you going to see Lu’s mother?" Bai Xiaolan asked somewhat persistently.

The corner of Ji Xiangdong’s mouth curled slightly as he replied, "I will."

After hearing this, Bai Xiaolan got excited, "Great! Let’s go now!" She wanted to grab Ji Xiangdong’s arm, but held back at the last moment, realizing it would be too abrupt.

Ji Xiangdong had a moment where he couldn’t follow Bai Xiaolan’s train of thought. How did seeking out his family home come into the conversation so quickly? He didn’t feel like he was mentally prepared yet.

"Let’s go, we’re not far off. It’s only a ten-minute walk." Bai Xiaolan’s expression seemed to say that if he didn’t go, she would literally drag him there.

Ji Xiangdong’s steps involuntarily followed, at the thought of going home, his heart felt warm, yet a little bitter.

Gu Xiaobei recently managed to find time to draft a detailed plan for integrating radio and children’s English teaching, thanks to Wen Xiuqing’s help with babysitting. As the two children slept, Wen Xiuqing hurriedly started to prepare dinner. The children’s biological clocks had been out of whack lately; they weren’t sleeping at usual times.

Upon hearing a knock, Gu Xiaobei ran to the door. The sight of Bai Xiaolan and Ji Xiangdong behind her stunned her. She burst out uncontrollably, "Mom, mom... come here quickly; my big brother, my big brother..." Her utter astonishment left her at a loss for words. Her first thought was that it was Lu Zhanguo returning, but on another look, the expression was too unfamiliar.

When Wen Xiuqing heard Gu Xiaobei’s cry from the kitchen, she thought something had happened, and she hurriedly ran out, still holding a cooking spatula.

Upon seeing Ji Xiangdong at the door, her spatula dropped to the floor with a clatter, and she stood there, turned to stone.

The noise outside woke the children who were sleeping indoors, and their wailing cry brought Gu Xiaobei back to earth, prompting her to rush inside to check on them.

Covering her mouth tightly, Wen Xiuqing tried to stop herself from crying. She looked at Ji Xiangdong in disbelief. Had her Yun Chao returned? Tears started flowing uncontrollably.

The moment Ji Xiangdong saw Wen Xiuqing, he lost all composure. He assumed he would remain calm, that even if his heart was stirred, he wouldn’t cry. But what was that running down his face?

Ji Xiangdong hurried forward and knelt down in front of Wen Xiuqing. The word ’mom,’ which he had uttered countless times in his heart, escaped him at that moment, choked out through his sobs.

Finally, Wen Xiuqing could hold back no longer. Crying hysterically, she bent over and embraced Ji Xiangdong. For the first time, she lost her decorum, crying out, "Yun Chao, you’re really Yun Chao! Where have you been all these years? I’m sorry... I thought I’d never see you alive again..." Unable to finish her sentence, Wen Xiuqing cried harder.

Standing off to the side, Bai Xiaolan continued wiping her tears.

Inside the house, holding Xiaopang, Gu Xiaobei cried rivers of tears. Now that she was a mother, she understood more deeply the piercing pain of losing a child.

Ji Xiangdong, with tears streaming down his face, got up and settled Wen Xiuqing on the sofa.

Pulling out a handkerchief, he gently wiped away the tears and snot on Wen Xiuqing’s face, his voice hoarse as he whispered, "Mom, I’m sorry."

Clutching Ji Xiangdong’s hand, Wen Xiuqing was afraid that letting go would mean it was all a dream. She also kept apologizing, unable to stop her tears from streaming down.

It wasn’t until the smell of something burnt wafted out of the kitchen, signifying that dinner was getting burnt, that Ji Xiangdong came back to his senses and dashed in. The stew on the stove was scorched black, sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Ji Xiangdong quickly turned off the flame. Wen Xiuqing, a bit calmer now, followed him into the kitchen. Wiping away her tears, she said, "You haven’t eaten yet, right? I’ll cook now. You’ve never tried my homemade noodles." However, she didn’t know whether to get the bowl first or scoop the flour.

Seeing Wen Xiuqing in a frenzy, Ji Xiangdong’s eyes moistened again. He nodded and said, "Mom, don’t rush. Make it slowly. I’ll help you."

Bai Xiaolan, wiping away her tears, entered Gu Xiaobei’s room.

With swollen eyes, Gu Xiaobei was breastfeeding Mo Wang. Xiaopang sat quietly to one side, chewing on his little fingers.

"Where did you find big brother?" Seeing Bai Xiaolan come in, Gu Xiaobei asked while sniveling.

"By the Yellow River. As soon as I saw how much he looked like Brother Zhanguo, I knew it was our big brother." Bai Xiaolan didn’t mention that the shadow in her heart was Ji Xiangdong. She felt embarrassed for falling in love with the older Lu brother, especially considering the Lu family was well aware of her past folly.

Wan Xiuqing wanted to make a nice bowl of noodles, but in her excitement, she couldn’t knead the dough correctly. It was either too watery or too dry.

Ji Xiangdong took off his coat and skillfully took over the dough kneading. Wen Xiuqing watched from the side, crying again.