The next second—
Lin Lu bent his waist, hands on his knees, and began to howl in pain.
"Ouch, my legs, it really hurts..."
As he cried out, his eyes swept over to Li Xiuli.
It was quite an unprofessional display of pretended suffering.
Li Xiuli initially thought his leg was hurting again and got startled.
But when she saw no hint of pain on the old man’s face, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then her expression turned cold, and she became annoyed.
"...Well, go ahead and hurt if that’s what you want."
You’re too old to be pulling these stunts, how embarrassing!
Lin Lu’s leg injury was a nightmare for her.
When it wasn’t healed, she couldn’t sleep night after night, fearing that her husband would wake up in pain.
Now that he was using his leg injury to mess about, of course, she got angry immediately.
Lin Lu realized something was off with his wife’s expression and immediately caught on.
He gave himself a light slap on the face and quickly offered sweet words in return.
"Wife, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have made a joke about this.
Don’t be mad, and if you really are, just hit me, don’t keep it in. Our daughter says holding it in is bad for your health."
Li Xiuli had spent half a lifetime with the old man, so she knew him inside and out. She knew his anger came quickly and left just as quickly.
After giving Lin Lu a glare, she forcefully changed the subject.
"Stop being so disapproving of Yingzhou, as long as he treats our Tangtang well, that’s what matters. Don’t be a drag, alright?"
Having just annoyed his wife, Lin Lu didn’t dare to be rebellious now.
He forced out a glaring, stiff smile, "...Alright."
How was he being a drag? He simply disliked seeing such a good daughter being taken away by someone else...
Li Xiuli glanced at Lin Lu, not entirely convinced.
He might have agreed now, but would he be able to keep his cool later on if he witnessed his daughter and Yingzhou being sweet together?
Sighing, Li Xiuli decided she’d make chrysanthemum tea daily for the head of the family to reduce his fire, so he wouldn’t end up with a mouth full of ulcers.
Lin Lu had no idea that because of his antics, he was soon to drink chrysanthemum tea for two consecutive months.
Lin Tang walked out of the kitchen with dishes in hand.
Seeing her parents talking some distance away from the kitchen, her expression turned puzzled.
"Dad, Mom, dinner’s ready."
Lin Lu couldn’t muster any resistance against his own daughter; his face blossomed into a chrysanthemum-like smile.
"Ah, got it."
He said, walking over with his hands behind his back.
Eyeing the appealing dishes on the table, he had to admit defeat in the cooking department.
But deep down, he was quite pleased.
Willing to cook for Tangtang wasn’t bad, add a point for that.
The corn in the brigade’s fields was nearly all harvested, and the Sauce Factory had resumed production.
Lin Qingshui and Zhou Mei were busy at the factory and wouldn’t return until evening.
The only ones fortunate enough to taste Gu Yingzhou’s cooking skills were Lin Lu, Li Xiuli, Lin Qingshan, Su Qi and his son, Lin Tang, and the four youngsters of the Lin Family.
At the dining table.
Upon hearing that today’s meal was prepared by Gu Yingzhou, Su Qi almost spit out a mouthful of rice through his nostrils.
Fortunately, he held back, but the swallowed rice choked him severely, causing him to cough violently.
Gu Yingzhou, without changing his expression, stepped forward and clenched his fist, pounding on Su Qi’s back.
After a few more coughs, Su Qi finally began to recover.
Gu Yingzhou passed him a cup of water and, uncharacteristically, joked, "Are you so delighted to eat what I’ve cooked?"
Su Qi: "!!!"
Ignoring Su Qi’s look of utter disbelief, Gu Yingzhou continued with a gentle smile, "If brother-in-law likes it, I’ll cook for you again in the future. No need to be so eager."
Truly noble and pure as the wind.
Looking at that face alone, one could tell this person... was so deceptive.
Li Xiuli was the first to be bewitched, her expression growing increasingly satisfied, "Yingzhou’s cooking skills are indeed good."
Not just his skills, but he was also so thoughtful and meticulous.
Look at this dish, it’s tailored to Tangtang’s taste, and also considers the preferences of the younger ones.
A mother-in-law grows fonder of her son-in-law the more she sees of him.
If she had rated Gu Yingzhou 90 points before, now he would have 99 points.
He could have had a perfect score, but to prevent him from becoming arrogant, she deducted one point.
The handsome Gu Yingzhou revealed a faint smile, yet humbly said, "There’s still room for improvement."
Seeing the little girl eating with a face full of satisfaction, the smile in his eyes deepened.
Tangtang is too skinny, he needs to learn to cook more dishes to fatten her up a bit.
Su Qi felt that his brother-in-law had become so strange he couldn’t bear to look.
Adhering to the mealtime etiquette that one shouldn’t speak while eating, he acted as if he were nothing but a rice-eating machine.
-
After the meal, Gu Yingzhou and the others were about to leave.
Su Zheng held Lin Zhicheng’s dark hand, his face full of reluctance.
"Zhicheng!" He called out with deep affection and sorrow.
With a loud voice, he interrupted the conversations of others.
Everyone looked over in stunned silence.
Su Qi thought his son was about to pull a stunt, already starting to pick at his toes.
Don’t ask why, he felt the embarrassment in advance.
Su Zheng, lost in his own emotions and oblivious, didn’t notice a few of the adults not far away watching him with amused looks on their faces.
With teary eyes, he went up to embrace Lin Zhicheng, patting his new friend on the shoulder, unable to let go,
"Old pal, goodbye! I will definitely come back to visit you!
Take good care of yourself, eat well, sleep well, don’t worry about anything, I’m looking forward to the day we meet again."
After speaking, he let go of the arms he was wrapping around Lin Zhicheng.
His little expression was sticky and overly dramatic.
It left the group of adults exchanging bewildered glances.
Are all the young people like this nowadays, or are we just unable to keep up with the times?!
Su Qi’s face twitched with awkwardness.
The scene felt familiar; upon reflection, it was a reenactment of his father saying goodbye to his old friends.
That familiar "Old pal," not even a particle had changed.
Lin Tang felt secondhand embarrassment.
Embarrassed yet thinking it was cute, she felt a complex mix of emotions.
She nudged Gu Yingzhou, who stood emotionless by her side, and whispered, "What on earth did Zhengzheng learn while he was back in Provincial City?"
A perfectly good kid, how did he suddenly become so silly.
Gu Yingzhou frowned slightly, guessing, "He might be imitating someone else."
And he’s imitating an old man of all people?
On the other end, Lin Zhicheng also felt something was strange.
But seeing his new friend’s near-tearful expression, he brushed away the emotions flashing in his mind.
Little aunt had said that when faced with someone behaving oddly, one should respond with love and patience, they aren’t doing it on purpose after all.
It was like that big idiot in the village who always made himself dirty, he was born that way, it wasn’t his choice.
Yeah, he should be tolerant of his new friend.
Zhicheng’s expression became serious, but sympathy shone unabated in his eyes.
He patted Su Zheng on the shoulder, "I will, you take care too, and come to play when you have the time."
Maybe playing together could cure his ailment.
When everyone played together before, Su Zheng had been perfectly normal.
Feeling touched and thinking his new friend also couldn’t bear to part with him, Su Zheng became immensely moved.
His emotions grew even more intense.
"You’re really a warm-hearted Comrade! When you have the time to go to Provincial City, I’ll also take you everywhere to play, guaranteed to make you so happy you won’t tear a mouse apart."
There were so many fun places in Provincial City that he didn’t have time to tear mice, even though his house didn’t have any mice.
Lin Zhicheng, still a teenager, was full of curiosity about everything outside.
He was very interested in the Provincial City that Su Zheng talked about, but he knew it was far away.
So, he shook his head and declined.