My College Teacher is My Children's Mom-Chapter 782: Half of the Credit Goes to You

Lin Dashan cradled the bowl in his hands and asked with concern, "Are you alright? Did you and your spouse have a fight?"

Lin Feng waved his hand and replied, "Nope, we’re good! I just suddenly missed you and wanted to come back to see you, to spend some time with you."

As he was thinking earlier, his thoughts had drifted to his parents... It seemed he had never actually said the word ’love’ to them, nor had he ever expressed his feelings out loud. Now that his parents were nearly eighty, he didn’t know how much time they had left. He knew he should spend more time with them.

Lin Dashan hadn’t expected his son to say something like this. He was momentarily stunned, a deep sense of contentment warming his heart. "It’s rare for you to have such thoughts. As parents, all we want is for our children to be safe and happy."

"I know. As a parent myself, how could I not understand?"

Before long, a bowl of fragrant egg noodles was ready, sprinkled with chopped green onions that smelled particularly delicious.

"The scallions from our own garden are so fragrant. The ones from the store just can’t compare."

"Don’t you have some planted outside your place?"

"I do, but they always seem to lack a certain flavor."

After finishing the noodles, Lin Feng started to clear the dishes, but Zhou Cuilan stopped him.

"Lin Feng! Take your luggage upstairs. Go sort out the room. It’s just a few bowls; I’ll wash them."

Zhou Cuilan waved her hand as if shooing away flies. She wasn’t sure if she had changed, or if he had.

Lin Feng didn’t mind at all and carried his luggage upstairs to get his room in order. The room didn’t actually need any tidying; it was spotlessly clean, as if always waiting for his return. On the nightstand sat a rare complete family portrait. Lin Feng gazed at it for a long moment before heading back downstairs.

Downstairs, the couple was chatting away. The television was on, but they weren’t watching it, just listening to the sound for background noise. They were discussing whether to prepare some cured meat, a subject they were experts on.

"What if we ordered one pig? That should be enough, right?"

"I don’t think even two would be enough. We have so many grandchildren, after all."

"True. Let’s go with three pigs, then. One more won’t hurt, and it won’t spoil once it’s cured."

"How about this, let’s buy one more. We can give some to our son’s in-laws, too..."

As they talked, their plan for one pig ballooned to five, and even then, they felt it might not be enough. If they kept going, Lin Feng thought, the pigs in the entire village wouldn’t be enough to satisfy them.

Lin Feng quickly interjected to stop them from adding more. "Mom, Dad, I heard Wen Wen has a boyfriend now?"

Wen Wen was Lin Xiaolan’s daughter, and Er Bao had helped her find her job. She was a good girl who called to send her greetings every New Year and would even visit if she wasn’t working. All in all, she was much better at handling people than her own mother, Lin Xiaolan. He had heard about his niece’s new relationship from Zhang Yuxi some time ago. Zhang Yuxi had heard it from Er Bao, who had heard it from a friend... In any case, it was all just hearsay, and he didn’t know if it was true.

But Zhou Cuilan would definitely know.

"Yes, she’s dating someone," Zhou Cuilan confirmed. "The young man’s family is quite well-off, and they’re planning to meet the parents this year. Oh, and speaking of that, I wanted to ask—what’s the situation with Si Bao? When is San Bao getting married? And what about Da Bao?"

Zhou Cuilan started to nag, "You need to get a move on and handle your children’s affairs. It would put your dad’s mind and mine at ease. Your father and I are almost eighty now. How many more years do we have? All I want before I die is to see all our children settled down."

Turning her head, she saw Lin Feng munching on peanuts and grew exasperated. "I’m talking to you! Did you hear me?"

Lin Feng nodded. "I heard you. Da Bao and the others have jobs with special circumstances. As you know, their marriages keep getting pushed back."

"And getting San Bao married depends on her. She has a mind of her own, so what can I do if she doesn’t want to get married? Then there’s Si Bao—he just started dating someone. I can’t rush him, can I? Besides, everyone is free to choose who they love these days. What am I supposed to do about it? Mom, times have changed. We can’t control our kids’ major life decisions anymore."

Zhou Cuilan ground her teeth. "But you still have to try."

Lin Feng’s eyes widened. "How do you know I haven’t tried?"

Zhou Cuilan waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it, I can’t be bothered to talk to you. Are you finished eating? If you’re done, I’ll put the peanuts away in the cabinet."

After cleaning up, Zhou Cuilan went behind her son’s back to call her daughter-in-law. "It’s good that you two didn’t argue. He was acting so strange today, like he’d taken the wrong medicine. He even said he wanted to be treated like a baby..."

"Hahaha, Mom, Lin Feng just wants to spend more time with you..."

Unbelievable. Calling himself a baby... How could he even say something like that?

After hanging up, Zhang Yuxi’s smile vanished. "Why did you stop eating?"

They had cooked noodles for dinner tonight, a joint effort between mother and daughter. Zhang Yuxi had already finished her bowl, but Xiao Bao had only taken a few bites.

"But we followed the exact same steps. Why does it taste so different?"

Zhang Yuxi’s expression darkened. "Every grain of food comes from hard work. Eat all of it. If it tastes bad, you’re half to blame."

Xiao Bao was speechless.

「Nighttime.」

Lin Feng was scrolling through the group chat, where Lin Jiajun was always the most animated. With the New Year approaching, he was itching to go on a trip. He recalled how he and a few of his brothers had once promised to treat each other to vacations, only to realize later it had just been the liquor talking. Lin Jiajun had always loved to have fun, and now that his children were grown and didn’t need his constant attention, he enjoyed it even more. His favorite thing to do was travel everywhere with Wang Lu; the more they traveled, the more they loved it.

He proposed a trip abroad, and others began to chime in. As they chatted, however, the tone of the conversation suddenly shifted. There were no younger members in this chat group, so the men always joked without reservation.

Just then, Lin Xiaolan sent a voice message. Third Aunt had taken a fall.

And then, she was gone.

The group chat exploded instantly. Lin Xiaolan went on to explain the whole story. Third Aunt had a relative on her mother’s side pass away, someone she had been quite close to. She had gone to the funeral in the morning and seemed fine when she returned that evening, only telling Lin Xiaolan that she had fallen while visiting the grave. She complained of a headache and tightness in her chest and said she wanted to lie down and rest for a bit.

The group was aware of this, since Third Aunt herself had sent a message that afternoon saying she was back. Lin Xiaolan had asked if it was serious or if she needed to go to the hospital, but she had replied that it wasn’t a big deal and that she was just feeling a bit tired.

That evening, after finishing work, Lin Xiaolan called home, but no one answered. Checking the security camera, she saw the old woman was still asleep. She called several more times with no answer. Sensing something was wrong, she rushed home, only to find that her aunt had already stopped breathing.

Lin Xiaolan was inconsolable, and everyone was struggling to process the shocking news.

Lin Feng was stunned. He had been driving back this afternoon and only saw Third Aunt’s message in the chat history after he finished dinner. Everything had happened so suddenly, catching them all completely off guard.

He took a moment to compose himself, then replied in the group chat, "I’ll be back tomorrow."

He then told his parents the news. The couple could hardly believe it. Zhou Cuilan was at a loss for words, and it took them a long while to recover from the shock.

"Let’s go," Lin Dashan said finally. "We’re heading back."