Chapter 924: Chapter 235: End of New Year, Homeward Journey, Valentine’s Day Arrives (Part 2)

"Who are you?"

Grandpa looked at Ms. Ren, paused for quite a while, then uttered two words.

"You old fool, you don’t even recognize your own daughter!"

Grandma came over and pointed at Ms. Ren: "This is your daughter!"

Then, she pointed at Rong Xiyi and said, "This is your granddaughter!"

"I see!"

Grandpa had a look of sudden realization.

Grandma said, "Yanyan, don’t blame Grandpa, he has dementia and often can’t remember many things, sometimes even confusing his own children and grandchildren."

"It’s okay." Rong Xiyi smiled.

Actually, Grandpa didn’t remember that Xu Lin and the others came last year, which is why he just told Xu Lin he’s grown up. His memories of Xu Lin were stuck a few years back, and he didn’t remember that this year’s Xu Lin wasn’t much different from last year’s, maybe he just grew a bit.

Half an hour later.

Rong Xiyi suggested going out for a walk.

Last year, the two of them flew kites here.

Rong Xiyi said, "Xu Lin, I want to fly a kite!"

"Let’s go buy one in town then."

"Okay!"

Xu Lin rode an electric scooter to town, and it’s pretty easy to buy a kite.

On the eighth day of the lunar year, kids were still playing.

There were quite a few children here in the fields, some playing with firecrackers, some chasing each other, but no one was flying kites.

Xu Lin bought Rong Xiyi an owl kite.

Once at the field, Rong Xiyi grabbed the kite string and started running, looking back and shouting to Xu Lin, "Xu Lin, come on, follow!"

"Coming!"

"Xu Lin look, the kite is flying so high!"

"Want it to go even higher?"

"Yes! But how? The string isn’t long enough."

Confused, Rong Xiyi saw Xu Lin crouch down ahead of her, "Get on my back, I’ll carry you while running, keep yourself straight, and the kite will fly higher?"

"Xu Lin, how are you so clever?"

"You could say I’m strong, now hop on!"

"Here I come!"

Rong Xiyi immediately lay on Xu Lin’s back, he hoisted her up by her bent legs.

Then as Rong Xiyi tried to straighten up, Xu Lin assured her, "Don’t worry, I’m here, you won’t fall."

"I know, of course!"

Rong Xiyi: "I know you won’t leave me!"

"I’ll leave you here in a moment!"

"Come on!"

"I’m going to start running, keep one hand on my shoulder and hold the kite string with the other."

Rong Xiyi did as told.

Then Xu Lin began to run fast, the kite soared, and indeed it went higher.

"Xu Lin, you’re amazing!"

Rong Xiyi cheered joyfully.

"Happy now?"

"Happy!"

"By the way, even your senior sister didn’t get this kind of treatment!"

"She’s a girlfriend, I can be an elder sister, that’s different!"

"You’re more like a younger sister than an elder sister."

"I don’t care, I am the elder sister, I’m older than you!"

"I’ll always see you as a younger sister."

"Elder sister!"

"Younger sister!"

"Elder sister!"

...

The two of them went back and forth dozens of times, then Xu Lin sped up again to continue flying the kite with Rong Xiyi.

They stayed in the field for more than two hours, most of it spent flying kites.

Rong Xiyi loved playing, and these two hours made her very happy.

Even when they got home, she was still reluctant to stop.

"Where did you play just now? So happy?"

Ms. Ren couldn’t help but ask.

"Mom, Xu Lin and I flew kites!"

"Was it fun?"

"So fun!"

The sixth day of the new year quickly passed.

On the seventh day, Xu Lin took Rong Xiyi to stroll around the town’s vicinity.

In rural areas, there isn’t much entertainment; it can be pretty boring for the rural township locals.

Now many families have cars, making it very convenient, those who stayed at home on the seventh day directly drive to the city to play, where entertainment activities are overwhelmingly abundant.

And Xu Lin and the others felt like city dwellers finding the rural experiences novel.

For instance, that day, Xu Lin bought a lot of firecrackers and other fireworks, normally these are just for kids, used to blow up mouse holes in fields or thrown into rivers to catch fish, or directly blown up cow dung if available. Despite the world of mobile entertainment nowadays, these fun activities still exist to some extent.

Xu Lin and Rong Xiyi started playing with them.

Rong Xiyi didn’t even have a rural hometown, her life track was only in the city, so she found the firecrackers even more novel, playing all over the field excitedly.

They played until four in the afternoon before heading back.

By then, Grandpa’s house had already started slaughtering chickens, with the third uncle handling the knife.

Xu Lin and the others were leaving the next day.

Ms. Ren had to go to work on the ninth.

The dinner was sumptuous and very festive.

Of course, the next day was time to say goodbye.

The miraculous thing was that Grandpa’s dementia seemed to improve today.

He came out with a cane, handed out three red packets, giving one to each of Xu Lin, Rong Xiyi, and Ms. Ren, especially to Ms. Ren, who was Grandpa’s youngest child, as parents will always love their children.

Everyone received the red packets and wished Grandpa good health.

Grandpa advised Xu Lin and Rong Xiyi, "Ah Lin, Yanyan, come back and visit Grandpa often!"

"Sure thing, Grandpa, we’ll come back to see you!"

Rong Xiyi said, "Make sure to take care of yourself."

Xu Lin also said, "Grandpa, we’ll come see you again next year."

"Great! Grandpa will miss you!"

Grandpa parted reluctantly.

Then, they said goodbye to everyone at Grandpa’s house, even to the swallows.

Two days passed like this, marking the end of the year.

Xu Lin felt it was plain, yet happiness seemed to be hidden in it.

He felt a bit emo.

Xu Lin drove back.

"I’ll take you back to the provincial city, tomorrow I’ll go back to Jiangdu," Xu Lin remarked.

Ms. Ren: "Why so soon?"

"Isn’t everyone busy? Besides, you need to go to work as well."

"What about Yanyan?" Ms. Ren asked her.

"Mom, I’ll stay in the provincial city with you, and I’ll go back after the Lantern Festival!"

"When does your school start again?"

"The seventeenth of the lunar month!" Rong Xiyi replied.

Xu Lin: "When the time comes, you can take the high-speed rail on your own, I won’t come to pick you up this time."

"I’ll take the high-speed rail, I want to stay with Mom in the provincial city!"

At midnight, they arrived back home in the provincial city.

Xu Lin had driven for over ten hours, his body wasn’t tired, but his mind was fatigued.

So, after a shower, he went straight to sleep.

Because Xu Lin was leaving the next day, Rong Xiyi sneaked over to hug Xu Lin and slept the night.

The next morning, while Rong Xiyi stayed home, Xu Lin went out with Ms. Ren.

He drove her to work and then headed for Jiangdu.

Date: February 14th.

Actually, today was Valentine’s Day.

Xu Lin wasn’t much into this holiday, but he still sent Valentine’s greetings to Rong Xiyi and a few others.

Except for Chi Linyue, whom he didn’t send to.

There was no traffic today, and Xu Lin arrived in Jiangdu by four in the afternoon.

He got to Chi Linyue’s company before she finished work; she had already been back to work for two days.

Seeing Xu Lin, Chi Linyue was quite surprised, "Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to Jiangdu?"

Since they last met, unknowingly a month had passed.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, it was inevitable.

Moreover, Xu Lin often vanished into thin air, rarely replying to messages; how could one not miss him?

"Isn’t this to surprise you?"

Xu Lin said, "Happy Valentine’s Day!"

"Is it Valentine’s Day today?" Chi Linyue checked the calendar and realized it was February 14th.

"As you saw."

"So where’s my gift?" Chi Linyue asked, though she was kidding; having Xu Lin around was the greatest Valentine’s gift for her.

"I’ll give you tens of billions tonight!"

"Not serious at all!"

Chi Linyue blushed a little, "But you promised, tonight you owe me tens of billions, not a penny less!"

"You have my word!"

Xu Lin asked her, "When do you get off work?"

"Soon, at five o’clock."

"Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we should have a romantic candlelight dinner tonight."

"Whatever you say, actually having you here is enough for me."

"That’s not acceptable, we must have a candlelight dinner, and there must be tens of billions as gifts."

"You cheeky thing, I bet you’re just after those tens of billions!"

"Exactly!"

Chi Linyue continued looking at her files, with Xu Lin’s presence making her feel time had slowed, seconds felt like years.

Clearly, there’s still half an hour left before the end of the work day, yet it felt torturous.