Woo Yunmei poured Luo Qiao a drink: "In one more year, Qiaoqiao will have finished her studies and can return to the country. It’s perfect timing for Yanyan and Yueyue to attend preschool the first half of next year, and then start first grade the second half of the following year."
Luo Qiao smiled and thanked her as she took the cup: "Yes, the timing is indeed perfect."
Halfway through eating, Zhou Guifang was about to get up to boil dumplings, but Woo Yunmei stopped her: "Grandma, please sit back, we will take care of it."
Woo Yunmei then called Xiaomin who stood next to her. Xiao Ya also stood up, prepared to go with them.
Woo Yunmei gestured for her to sit down and continue eating: "Sit down, Xiaomin and I are enough, we don’t need so many people."
After a lively dinner, everyone finally sat in the living room and started talking.
From the conversation of everyone around, Luo Qiao learned that Second Brother Luo Xuyuan had designed two new agricultural machines for the Mechanical Factory, and the factory was doing quite well.
At this point, they brought up He Qingshan.
Fourth Brother Luo Siyuan asked, "Qiaoqiao, how did you start suspecting He Qingshan?"
To put it plainly, to others, He Qingshan was a thoroughly good person, and since his sister had never lived in the Mechanical Factory Residential Compound, needless to say, she wasn’t familiar with the people from the factory.
Luo Qiao answered her brother’s question: "It’s because he was too anxious. Dad is his superior, and he ought to prioritize Dad’s opinions. Dad already said there was no intention to search further.
Yet, he kept praising how good and beautiful that woman was, making it seem like he was very eager to push this woman forward. That’s why I became more cautious."
What she didn’t mention was her own experiences of watching too many TV dramas in her later life, which made her suspect him, prompting her to have someone investigate him, only to unexpectedly uncover so many issues.
Luo Siyuan, after hearing his sister’s words, commented: "Now Dad has a psychological scar. Whoever tries to set him up with someone, he gets irritated."
Luo Qiao sighed deeply, thinking of their almost forgotten mother and the troubled days ahead.
She then saw the old couple stand up, taking the youngsters with them to cut fruit.
The room fell silent.
It was Luo Siyuan, who had spent the longest time with their birth mother, who spoke first: "Don’t be like this, we’ve already agreed, what else can we do? It’s just a formality anyway, afterward, we’ll continue as before, not getting involved with each other."
Luo Xuyuan said, "We shouldn’t have agreed in the first place. Do you think it’s just a formality?"
Luo Qiao looked up at Luo Xuyuan: "Second Brother, let it be. It’s already like this. When the time comes, we’ll just show our faces, exchange a few pleasantries, find an excuse, and leave.
It’s just to make clear our stance; we won’t get involved with them, but we also won’t let them bully her. We won’t help them, but we won’t tolerate her being bullied by others. As for what happens later, let them guess."
Luo Xuyuan nodded, looking around at everyone: "On that day, only the five of us need to show up. Yichen and you sisters-in-law don’t have to come."
Everyone agreed upon hearing this.
Seeing no objections, the matter was considered settled.
Luo Xuyuan poured himself a glass of water: "I had someone investigate, and that man is quite decent. His children are not bad either, but there are a few troublesome relatives in that family, so you all need to be cautious."
Then Luo Qiao shifted the conversation to other topics, not wanting this issue to dampen everyone’s spirits.
Later, they talked about the schooling of several nephews and nieces, and then discussed which primary school Yanyan and Yueyue would attend, chatting until after ten o’clock, when Luo Qiao stood up: "Brother Chen, go call the kids, it’s time for us to leave."
Xiao Ya said, "Why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s not like there’s nowhere to stay."
Luo Qiao took Xiao Yu: "It’s our first day back, it’s not quite right to leave Elder Rong and Rong Daniang at home alone. These past years, if not for this old couple, I wouldn’t have been able to focus on my own matters."
Zhou Guifang, who just came out, agreed: "Qiaoqiao is right, tomorrow they are going back to Gu family for New Year’s, and they probably won’t return for a few days. Just coming back and leaving the old couple alone at home is somewhat inappropriate."
Unnoticed by all, a smug smile appeared in the eyes of Lu Yichen, who stood aside—he was worried his wife might stay here tonight.