At noon, when the sun was at its brightest, there were few residents on the road at the entrance of the town's bus station. A group of people were talking under the shade of a large tree.

The town's bus station is still the same as Xia Minmin remembers, and even the minibuses are the same as they were four or five years ago, only they've gotten older.

Li Chunmei took the bag from her older sister and said, "Sister, just leave it at the station entrance! Call us if you need anything."

"Yes, I know! When you come back from Chang'an, you see Mom and Dad off at the train station, and I'll go to the county town to pick them up."

The minibus heading to the county town slowly pulled out of the station and stopped by the roadside to wait for passengers. Looking through the glass window, there was no one else except the driver and the ticket seller.

Xia Jianguo and the other men carried their luggage onto the minibus. The driver, who had been looking rather lazy, stood up and got out of the driver's seat to help with the luggage when he saw the dozen or so people standing outside.

Li Qing teased Jiang Meiqi with a playful smile, "Sister Qi, if you have time to go to Shenzhen with your boyfriend, Xiaomin and I will show you around. Shenzhen has changed a lot in the past few years."

Jiang Meiqi blushed deeply with embarrassment, and Sun Erni patted Li Qing on the back as a warning.

Xia Minmin, who was covering her mouth and chuckling to herself, became the target of Jiang Meiqi's attack. Jiang Meiqi kept tickling Xia Minmin's waist with her fingertips.

Xia Minmin smiled and wiggled her body, "Sister Qi, I was wrong!"

Jiang Meiqi smiled and said, "Then tell me where you went wrong?"

"Itchy... I was wrong... I shouldn't have mocked... mocked you for having a boyfriend!" Xia Minmin laughed so hard she could barely breathe, her words slurred.

Jiang Meiqi's hands didn't stop moving. "You dare mention it again!"

Xia Minmin suddenly remembered that she had treated Wang Yu the same way during the Spring Festival. Sure enough, karma came back to bite her.

A young man pushing a bicycle on the street stared at them. His appearance looked familiar. After thinking carefully, Xia Minmin realized that he was Qi's brother-in-law.

"Sister Qi, is that your boyfriend?"

Jiang Meiqi turned her back to the young man without turning her head, "Don't try to fool me! He's at work right now."

Xia Minmin yelled, "Brother-in-law, you need to control your wife!"

A young man pushing a bicycle walked over, his face flushed. "Hello, I'm Cheng Lei, Meiqi's boyfriend."

Upon hearing her boyfriend's voice, Jiang Meiqi froze and released Xia Minmin, who rubbed her waist.

Cheng Lei had already parked the car and stood helplessly beside Jiang Meiqi. They had discussed meeting each other's parents before, but he didn't expect to meet all of the woman's elders under these circumstances.

Grandma Xia smiled and nodded, clearly satisfied with her grandson-in-law.

"Brother-in-law, hello. You'd better keep a close eye on this vicious woman from now on." Xia Minmin waved her hand with a smile, looking just like a lucky cat.

Li Chunmei nudged the back of her daughter's head, and Xia Minmin turned her head and zipped up her own mouth with her hand.

Jiang Meiqi blushed as she introduced her family members to Cheng Lei.

Grandma Xia held Cheng Lei's hand and smiled kindly, "After your grandpa and I return from Chang'an in a few days, you must bring Xiaoqi to our house for dinner."

The minibus driver honked the horn, signaling that it was time to board and head to the county town.

Before getting into the car, Li Chunmei took her daughter's hand and said, "Cheng Lei, take Xiaoqi to Shenzhen when you have time."

After everyone was seated, the minibus driver started the engine, and the bus slowly moved forward.

Li Hongmei's family and Cheng Lei stood by the roadside watching the minibus leave.

Xia Minmin leaned out of the minibus window and said, "Sister Qi, I wish you and your husband a long and happy marriage and many children. Don't forget to invite me to your wedding!"

Seeing her daughter's dangerous move, Li Chunmei, who was sitting next to her, grabbed Xia Minmin's clothes from behind and pulled her into the car.

Li Chunmei's expression was serious and earnest. "Do you know how dangerous it is for you to lean out of the window like that?"

Xia Minmin realized that her actions were wrong, but she wasn't completely oblivious. She tugged at Li Chunmei's clothes and apologized pitifully, "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. I only looked out the window after I made sure there were no other vehicles on the road."

Grandma Xia couldn't bear to see her granddaughter like this, and spoke up in her defense, "Since Xiaomin knows she was wrong, don't pursue it any further. Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, you..."

Before Grandma Xia could finish speaking, Li Chunmei interrupted her, "Mom, I'm disciplining the child here, can you please not make things worse?"

The carriage fell silent. Grandma Xia said, "Okay, I understand. I promise I won't do it again."

Grandma Xia understood her daughter Li Chunmei's thoughts very well, after all, she had gone through the same thing.

The scorching midday sun shone through the car windows, which were unshaded, and the sunlight shone directly on the skin, instantly raising the body temperature. Even with the windows open, it was no match for the high temperature emanating from the metal box that was the minibus.

To avoid getting a tan, Xia Minmin took out a mask and a shirt from her crossbody bag and put them on. She had already put on a hat before leaving the house.

This was the first time Grandpa Xia had seen his granddaughter dressed like this. "Xiaomin, aren't you hot? You're bundled up more warmly than people who work in the fields."

“I’m used to it, Grandpa. It’s not hot there. It’s easy to get tanned in the sun. I don’t want to be dark and thin when I go back to Shenzhen. People will think my family is abusing me.”

Maintaining fair skin over the years has been incredibly difficult, and she doesn't want to ruin all those years of skincare.

The other passengers on the bus were used to it; Xia Minmin dressed like this every summer.

The minibus started moving, and the wind blew in through the windows. As the bus swayed, most of the people who were chatting on the bus became drowsy and chatted only intermittently. Xia Minmin was the first to fall asleep.

Xia Minmin rested her head on Li Chunmei's arm. "Shh, Minmin is asleep."

"Let's take a nap too!"

"Um!"

Besides the driver, only Grandpa and Grandma Xia were still awake on the minibus. The elderly don't usually take naps as they don't need much sleep.

The minibus drove over the rice paddies drying on the road. The dried rice straw had a special fragrance. Were people using bamboo rakes to turn over the rice in the sun?

The minibus driver drove very slowly on this stretch of road, and people carrying bamboo rakes would often suddenly appear on the road.

The minibus stopped at the county bus station, and the driver said, "We've arrived. It's time to get off."

Grandpa and Grandma Xia patted the sleeping children separately.

Xia Minmin rubbed her eyes, stretched, and checked the time on her watch. Hmm, it took her an hour and a half to get to the county town. That was way too slow.

"Erni, you still have a bag you haven't picked up." Grandma Xia stood outside the minibus directing everyone to take their luggage.

We hailed two minivans at the county bus station to take everyone to the train station. There were very few people taking the train during non-holiday periods.

The waiting hall of the station was full of empty seats, and the ceiling fans on the ceiling kept turning, sending out gusts of cool air.