"Have you brought everything? I'm locking the door now," Zhang Hongyan asked, holding the keys in her hand and looking at the people standing behind her.

Xia Heping quickly nodded: "I've brought everything, lock it up."

Zhang Hongyan quickly locked both locks on the door.

Each of their rooms was also locked individually, since they weren't going to be away for just a day or two; it was better to have two extra lines of defense.

These past few days have been during the summer vacation for universities, and crowded places inevitably have some unpleasant smells. Xia Qingqing tried her best to hold her breath the whole way, and only after boarding the train did she lean against the window and take a couple of deep breaths of fresh air.

Wang Sisi put her luggage on her bunk and saw Xia Qingqing suddenly gasping for breath. She asked with concern, "Qingqing, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xia Qingqing smiled and waved her hand: "I'm fine, I just held my breath for a moment."

"The smell is really unpleasant when people are crowded together," Wang Sisi said with deep feeling.

"It's getting hot now, and I'm all sweaty. It's so annoying that I can't take a shower on the train," Xia Qingqing said, fanning herself with her hand and enjoying the cool breeze coming from outside the window.

Wang Sisi walked over and sat down next to Xia Qingqing, and chatted with her in a low voice: "Speaking of this, I heard from my roommate that there is a boy in our class who often doesn't shower for half a month, and doesn't even wash his feet. He throws all his smelly socks under the bed. His roommates hate him to death."

"You haven't showered for half a month in this weather?" Xia Qingqing asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, he always presents himself so respectably, you would never guess how shady he is in private,” Wang Sisi said, her expression indescribable. She was stunned when her roommate told her this.

Wang Sisi's roommate found out about this because she was dating a male classmate in that dorm, and the male classmate would complain to his girlfriend when he couldn't stand it anymore.

Girls in the dormitory like to hold discussion meetings, and Wang Sisi's roommate mentioned this during a casual chat.

Wang Sisi suppressed a laugh and continued, "I had a roommate who had a crush on that guy before, after all, he was quite good-looking. She even tried to win him over. When she found out about it that night, she looked like she had swallowed a fly and said she was glad she hadn't been interested in him."

"Haha, this is lucky. Otherwise, it would be disgusting to find out how slovenly your partner is after you start dating them," Xia Qingqing said with a laugh.

“Yeah, in this kind of weather, you feel smelly if you don’t shower for a day or two. I don’t know how that person can stand it,” Wang Sisi said, puzzled. Didn’t the person think he smelled bad?

Xia Qingqing smiled and shook her head: "I don't know, maybe we'll never be able to understand his thoughts."

It's just a pity for that male classmate's future wife. If she's not very clean either, that's fine, but if she's a bit of a germaphobe, then it'll be terrible.

The space inside the carriage wasn't large, and since they didn't try to lower their voices, the other passengers could hear their conversation.

Zhang Hongyan suddenly gave Xia Heping a hostile look; this man wasn't exactly a clean freak.

When they first got married, Xia Heping would come back from working in the fields and lie down on the bed without saying a word, not caring whether the mud on his body would get on the bed.

In the summer, it's convenient to take a shower, and she'll take a cold shower every day. In the winter, she forgets about taking a shower unless she's urged to.

Ask him to wash some vegetables, just rinse them in water without checking if they're clean or not.

These seemingly insignificant little things could fill an entire night if we were to talk about them.

Fortunately, Xia Heping has one advantage: unlike other men, he is not chauvinistic and has a bad temper. He can also listen to Zhang Hongyan's reminders.

While it's impossible to correct all bad habits in one go, over the years I've managed to get rid of many of them.

Xia Heping, feeling the unfriendly look from his wife, gave her a fawning smile: "Wife, don't look at me like that. I'm very clean."

“If I hadn’t told you so many times over the years, how clean would you be?” Zhang Hongyan said with a hint of disdain.

Gou Dan seized the opportunity to interject, "Mom, I'm like you, I love cleanliness the most."

Zhang Hongyan glanced at her son. Although Gou Dan, like the other boys in the village, liked to play wildly and often came back from being outside all day with his clothes all dirty, he still had the good habits he should have.

For example, they won't use dirty hands to eat, they will never climb onto the bed with dirty clothes, and they won't pick up things from the floor to eat.

These habits were gradually formed after Zhang Hongyan repeatedly reminded them of them.

Zhang Hongyan knew her son wanted her to praise him, so she smiled and patted his head: "Being clean is a good habit, you should keep it up."

"Yes, I will," Gou Dan said with a grin.

They spent two days and two nights on the train, finally arriving in Pingxi County on the morning of the third day.

Wang Sisi reluctantly said goodbye to Xia Qingqing: "Qingqing, see you when school starts."

"See you when school starts. Take care of yourself," Xia Qingqing whispered a reminder.

After getting off the train, Gou Dan complained that he was hungry. They had already finished the eggs and pancakes they brought. Xia Qingqing suggested that they go to the state-run restaurant for breakfast first.

Zhang Hongyan made the final decision: "Alright, let's go have breakfast first."

It had been almost a year since they had returned, and looking at the familiar streets, they all felt a deep sense of longing.

When they arrived at the state-run restaurant, Zhang Hongyan and the other two ordered beef noodles. Xia Qingqing wasn't very hungry, so she ordered a bowl of tofu pudding.

She quickly finished her breakfast and suggested, "Mom and Dad, you two eat first. I'll go find someone to borrow a car. It's too tiring for us to walk back with all these bags."

"Who can we borrow from? There are four of us, so we need to borrow two cars. Is it even possible?" Zhang Hongyan actually thought that walking back was no big deal, but her daughter clearly didn't want to walk back.

"I'll give it a try. If I can't borrow it, I'll just walk away," Xia Qingqing said with a smile before getting up and leaving.

She went straight to Xiao Hui's house, and luckily, Xiao Hui happened to be home.

"Brother Hui, it's been a long time!" Xia Qingqing greeted Xiao Hui with a smile.

Xiao Hui rubbed his eyes, looking at Xia Qingqing in disbelief: "Am I still half asleep, Xia Qingqing?"

Xia Qingqing smiled and nodded: "It's me. It's summer vacation, so I thought I'd go back to my hometown to visit."

Xiao Hui snapped out of his daze and said with a smile, "Come inside and sit down with me. It's been almost a year since we last saw each other."

"I won't be able to sit today. My parents are waiting for me. I came to borrow your car," Xia Qingqing explained her purpose.