In this day and age, celebrating birthdays isn’t really a thing, but on this day, Wang Meili still got up early to make a bowl of longevity noodles and boil two eggs for Old Mrs. Gu.
Gu Lingling had just gotten up when Gu Juan was already nestled by Old Mrs. Gu and sweet-talking, "Grandma, I saved up pocket money for months. Grandma will certainly live to be a hundred."
"Gu Lingling, you know it’s Grandma’s birthday today, right? What did you get her?" Seeing Gu Lingling enter, Gu Juan lifted her face and asked smugly.
"I don’t have any pocket money," Gu Lingling replied calmly.
"Enough, why are you asking her? Heartless thing," Old Mrs. Gu said with a dark expression. "Come on, let’s go eat the eggs."
Gu Lingling lowered her head without saying a word.
Outside, Gu Chunhai came in and saw what was happening. He helplessly rubbed his daughter’s head and, when no one was around, slipped five yuan to Gu Lingling, "Keep this money with you and buy something you like if you find it."
"From now on, Dad will give you pocket money every month."
"Thanks, Dad," Gu Lingling gave Gu Chunhai a sweet smile.
Five yuan was a huge amount in this era; perhaps Gu Chunhai wanted to make it up to her.
In any case, Gu Lingling accepted it with peace of mind.
If it wasn’t given to her, it would end up in Wang Meili’s or Old Mrs. Gu’s pocket.
Considering the money Old Man Gu secretly gave her before, Gu Lingling now had savings of more than eighty yuan, quite a sum.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t do business in these years, she could only save it, planning to use the money to start a small business in a few more years.
The next day was Yao Ruanqian’s death anniversary, and early in the morning, Gu Chunhai took Gu Lingling to pay respects at Yao Ruanqian’s grave.
Yao Ruanqian’s grave was halfway up the mountain; because she died of illness, she wasn’t buried in the village’s communal grave but chosen a spot halfway up the mountain.
In her previous life, under Wang Meili’s instigation, Gu Lingling had almost never visited Yao Ruanqian’s grave.
At this moment, seeing her mother’s grave, the grievances of both lives suddenly flooded out, and she cried her heart out at Yao Ruanqian’s grave.
A child with a mother is a treasure.
If Yao Ruanqian were still alive, she wouldn’t have lived so miserably in her previous life, right?
Seeing his daughter crying so sadly, Gu Chunhai felt heartache.
Gu Lingling cried for a while, letting out most of her grievances and sadness, finally getting up from the grave and quietly sobbing, "Dad, I’ll wait for you at the foot of the mountain."
Even though she had never come to the grave with Gu Chunhai before, she knew that at this time of year, Gu Chunhai would spend almost the whole day up the mountain.
"Don’t cry," Gu Chunhua said affectionately, wiping tears from his daughter’s face and watching her retreating figure down the mountain. "Qianqian, I’m sorry to you and the two children."
While Gu Chunhai was apologizing to his wife here, Gu Lingling had red, swollen eyes and was startled to look at the person down the mountain.
"What’re you thinking about? So absent-minded? What if you fall?" Yang Yunhai’s deep voice rumbled in Gu Lingling’s ear.
Only then did Gu Lingling realize that she was actually being held in Yang Yunhai’s arms.
This position... was simply too embarrassing!