Chapter 54 (Second Update) It's back to an uncertain wait...

Today, Tang Mingmei and her group had a relaxed schedule, with little to no fullness.

We'll take a lake cruise in the morning, visit a museum in the afternoon, and have lunch in between. After the museum visit, there will still be time, so the guide will take us on a tour of the city.

We had dinner back at the hotel, which marked the end of our day's itinerary.

It turns out the arrangements weren't that simple. To make the itinerary seem more exciting, the travel agency included other things. But anyone who's been on a tour knows that the fuller the itinerary, the less enjoyable it is. Otherwise, there wouldn't be that saying decades later: "Sleep on the bus, pee when the bus stops, take pictures at the attractions, sleep soundly back at the hotel, and don't remember anything after the tour."

Tang Mingli broke her own rule of not meddling in other people's business and communicated with the travel agency staff, which is how she managed to secure such a streamlined tour itinerary.

The high-sounding reason is that tourism is about enjoying yourself; quality over quantity.

The truth is, she finds it tiring to be overwhelmed by too many tasks, and she's afraid of getting tired.

The hostel staff, considering that most of the people who signed up were elderly, quickly accepted her suggestion after a brief discussion.

Tang Mingli felt quite accomplished when she finished this task. It's good to live in this era; most people haven't seen much of the world, and there's room for discussion and compromise.

But after Fu Ci made a joke, she realized something was wrong.

This is clearly her offering advice to the travel agency, and for free at that.

However, seeing her grandparents having so much fun today, just like elementary school students, brought back her lost sense of accomplishment.

Does this make up for the regrets they had when they were young?

Just like the first time she took a boat trip on West Lake in her previous life.

Back then, sitting on the small boat, whether West Lake was beautiful or not, or whether the scenery was good or not, was no longer important.

The important thing is that the regret caused by the song "Let Us Row Our Boats" in the elementary school music textbook was made up for in that instant.

They're laughing so happily right now, do they perhaps share some of their own feelings from back then?

Tang Mingli had no way of knowing, nor did she necessarily want to know.

She just felt that being happy was the most important thing in life; after all, the point of living is to be happy.

"Mingli, why aren't you paddling?"

Fu's mother's voice pulled Tang Mingli back to reality.

They went boating on the lake in a multi-person rowing boat; besides her and her mother-in-law, there were four other grandmothers.

Everyone was excited and rowing hard, except for Tang Mingli, who rowed lazily.

Tang Mingli immediately smiled and said, "Okay, let's work together to surpass the guides."

The grandmothers on the same boat were inspired by this and became even more enthusiastic.

A morning of sightseeing had taken a toll on everyone's energy.

At lunchtime, everyone ate an extra bowl of food compared to usual.

Even after a satisfying meal, everyone remained excited and looked forward to the next leg of the journey.

Except for Tang Mingli.

Her biological clock made her really want to go back to the hotel for a nap, but fortunately, she overcame her sleepiness with strong willpower and still chose to follow the group to the next attraction.

Goose City Museum.

I must say, this is a great arrangement.

The museum has a comfortable temperature, allowing visitors to see meaningful and valuable artifacts while escaping the sweltering heat outside.

Moreover, the cultural relics in the Goose City Museum are famous throughout the country, and the staff are both patient and professional in their explanations. Tang Mingli felt that this trip was truly worthwhile.

It was already past four in the afternoon when we came out of the museum.

The guide asked everyone whether they wanted to continue exploring or go straight back to the hotel.

"Let's keep browsing."

"Let's look around some more."

Interspersed among the calls to continue were Tang Mingli's cry of "Back to the hotel."

However, when her grandmother turned her gaze to her, she subconsciously changed her words: "...It's a bit too early, hahaha."

Who understands? Her smile was so bitter.

...

At six o'clock in the evening, the group finally returned to the hotel and sat down at the dining table to wait for dinner.

Tang Mingli is incredibly grateful that this era lacks a vibrant nightlife, and she has also realized that senior citizen groups are a good fit for her.

No matter how healthy grandparents are, they can't possibly be as energetic as young people.

The meals served at hotels are generally more lavish than those eaten outside.

Tang Mingli focused on eating, occasionally responding politely when called upon. Surprisingly, she even received praise from others.

"I'm not saying this to be mean, but your family is really lucky to have married such a wonderful daughter-in-law."

These words were spoken by a grandmother to her mother.

Mother Fu already adored this daughter-in-law; if she had a tail, she'd probably be wagging her tail after hearing others praise her.

She laughed and said, "Oh, not at all, Mingli is just average."

Tang Mingli almost spat out the food she was holding in her mouth at that laughter.

My mother-in-law is completely unlike her usual self today.

Speaking modestly with a proud tone, this shows how much he takes pride in himself.

"I've noticed it these past few days; Mingli is truly a filial child."

Tang Mingli felt ashamed.

What did she do to give others this misconception?

However, as others recounted their experiences, she realized that she had indeed done quite a lot.

Remind elders to fasten their seatbelts in the car, serve them soup and rice at meals, and tell them how delicious something is when you eat it.

Some everyday behaviors that Tang Mingli could not even perceive were actually seen as acts of filial piety by others.

From this perspective, she is indeed quite filial.

Tang Mingli felt relieved; let her mother-in-law and grandmother be high-profile if they wanted to.

After dinner, several grandmothers said they wanted to take a walk in the garden. Fu's mother and Madam Fu also wanted to, and glanced at Tang Mingli.

Tang Mingli couldn't take it anymore and made an excuse, saying, "I want to go back to my room to make a phone call first."

Then Fu's mother remembered that she had called home in the morning but no one answered, and she had said she would call again when she got back.

She was having so much fun that she forgot everything.

It's Mingli who knows how to care about her husband.

Fu's mother said to Tang Mingli, "Go ahead, I'll accompany Grandpa and Grandma for a walk."

Actually, what Fu's mother was thinking was that if Fu Ci had come home early today and received the call, the young couple would definitely have been able to chat more freely since she wasn't there.

"You should all go back to your rooms and rest early too."

Tang Mingli waved and went upstairs.

Back in her room, sitting in a chair, she struggled with whether to take a shower first or make a phone call first.

After a long day out, she felt sticky and wanted to take a shower and change into clean clothes before doing anything else. But she knew how long it would take her to shower, and her mother-in-law might not be finished by the time she got back. What if her mother-in-law found out she hadn't called yet? Wouldn't that give her away?

After thinking about it, I decided to make a call first, since there's a high probability that Fu Ci hasn't gone home yet at this hour.

When my mother-in-law asks, I can say that I called but no one answered.

Tang Mingli's plan was perfect, but when the call connected, Fu Ci's voice came from the other end, and she was stunned.

Why are you home?

These words almost came out of his mouth.

Upon hearing Tang Mingli's voice on the other end of the phone, Fu Ci's mood instantly brightened, and he chuckled, "You called back hoping I wouldn't answer?"

Tang Mingli could feel it even through the phone.

"No, I'm just surprised you're home at this hour."

"Look at the time!"

Tang Mingli then glanced at her watch; it was almost eight o'clock. Their dinner was really taking a long time.

But eight o'clock is still early. When he's busy, he doesn't come back until he's sleeping.

Fu Ci couldn't say that he had deliberately come back early to wait for the call, so he could only vaguely say, "I just happened to not have much to do today."

Tang Mingli said "Oh," and said with some envy, "I'm really tired today."

Fu Ci asked with a smile, "What did you play?"

Tang Mingli explained the itinerary, emphasizing the lake tour, and asked Fu Ci, "Did you ever take a boat tour on a lake when you were in elementary school?"

It was just a casual question, but unexpectedly, Fu Ci responded with an "um".

"Who took you there?"

He declined, saying, "It was organized by the school."

Tang Mingli thought to herself, "Wow!"

It seems this is an essential field trip activity for schools for children of high-ranking officials.

She said, half-jokingly and half-remarkably, "Your childhood is complete."

It was just a school-organized lake trip, how could it be considered a complete event? Fu Ci was puzzled.

Tang Mingli told him, "Do you know how envious I was after learning that song 'Let Us Row Our Boats'? How much I wanted to do it too?"

Unfortunately, all she could do was dream about it.

Speaking of her childhood, Tang Mingli sighed, then changed to a relaxed and cheerful tone, saying, "But today, my wish has come true."

My childhood dream has finally come true today.

Fu Ci felt a pang of heartache upon hearing this, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tell him, and he will definitely have taken her to experience it a long time ago.

Guangcheng People's Park also has an artificial lake, which is not large, but it offers boat tours.

Tang Mingli chuckled and said honestly, "I never thought of it before, but it suddenly came to mind today when I was floating in the middle of the lake on a boat. I didn't realize I had this regret from my childhood."

In fact, she had too many regrets from her childhood. If she kept them all in her heart, she wouldn't be able to live her life.

Fu Ci felt sorry for his wife, but he didn't know how to comfort her through the microphone. He could only talk about other things to distract her from her sadness, so he revealed his own story.

"You know what? I didn't sleep well yesterday because you didn't call back."

However, Tang Mingli misunderstood his meaning and joked, "Oh, so you're going to settle accounts now?"

Fu Ci chuckled, "I was going to settle the accounts, but I can't remember how, so let's just forget about it."

"That's a rather convoluted way of saying it."

Because her body felt sticky, Tang Mingli couldn't help but scratch.

She really couldn't take it anymore and said to Fu Ci, "Can I hang up first? It's so hot in Goose City, I'm sweating so much, I want to take a shower first."

Fu Ci naturally didn't want to, but he understood his wife's eagerness to take a bath.

"Go take a shower first."

"Okay, I'm going to take a shower now."

After saying goodbye, Tang Mingli hung up the phone, took a clean set of clothes, and went into the bathroom.

The two men had different interpretations of how the phone call ended.

Fu Ci's understanding was that his wife would go take a shower first and then call back after she finished.

Tang Mingli's understanding was that once the phone call was made, she could take a shower and then go to sleep.

Because of this misunderstanding, Fu Ci sat by the phone and read for half an hour, but the longer he waited, the more he felt something was wrong.

My wife sometimes takes a long time to shower, but not this long.

However, he was still not satisfied and sat for another ten minutes or so.

Finally, I had to admit that there probably wouldn't be any more phone calls today. I sighed, put down the book I'd barely read two pages of, and went upstairs to my study.

Actually, he wasn't idle; he just suddenly felt annoyed after sitting down at his desk.

Why didn't he remind his wife before hanging up that he would be home around the same time tomorrow, and ask her to call him?

What was once a sure thing has turned into an uncertain wait.