After dinner, they rented a car to send the elders home, and then Xia Minmin and her group set off back to their hotel in the county town.

Sitting in the taxi, the county road was pitch black on both sides, with no light in sight. Only through the fields could you see a few scattered lights.

There are very few residents on both sides of the road now, but in a few years, almost every household will choose to build a new house on both sides of the road.

Logically, the area around highways should be noisier and less safe, but everyone is keen to build houses near highways. As far as Xia Minmin knows, quite a few people have died in car accidents.

The taxi was dimly lit. Li Chunmei asked, based on her memory of where she was sitting, "Little sister, Xiao Wu, would you like to come with us to my parents' house tomorrow?"

Xia Xiaomei said, "Second sister-in-law, we won't go. We're planning to take Xia Xiao to the city for fun tomorrow."

"Okay, we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Call us if you need anything."

"good."

Silence fell over the taxi. Xia Jianguo and Xiao Wu, who had been drinking with their elders at dinner, were already dozing off.

The closer you get to the county town, the brighter the lights become. The streetlights and neon lights of the shops are colorful and dazzling, creating a stark contrast to the previous scene.

The closer you get to the hotel, the more noise there is. There are countless entertainment activities in the night market, such as rock-paper-scissors, balloon popping, and ring toss.

Xia Jianguo and Xiao Wu staggered out of the taxi, and Li Chunmei and Xia Xiaomei quickly helped them up.

"Xiaomin, pay the fare." Li Chunmei left these words behind and walked away.

Li Chunmei's confidence in leaving her two children alone on the street stemmed from the improvement in public security after the turn of the millennium.

Xia held onto Xia Minmin's clothes, and after the driver gave him his change, Xia Minmin led him back to their room. During this time, he kept glancing towards the night market, but he knew Xia Minmin wouldn't agree to buy him barbecue.

"Little aunt, return the jade intact to its rightful owner."

Xia Minmin pushed Xia into the room, then turned and went back to her own room. She was exhausted after taking care of the baby all day; she didn't know where all those questions came from, her mouth hadn't stopped all day. Once she had enough energy, she started wandering around, running about, and when she got hungry again, she started eating again.

The room was pitch black. Xia Minmin finished her shower and sat at her desk to continue reading. The soundproofing in the county town hotel was mediocre; the sounds of people playing drinking games and gambling from the night market downstairs could be heard constantly, even with the doors and windows locked.

Li Chunmei returned to her room. "Xiaomin, your father is drunk. I'll be sleeping next door tonight. Be careful and call me if you need anything. Lock your door when you go to sleep." After saying that, she took her clothes and went back to the next room.

I rummaged through my suitcase and finally found the earplugs hidden in a corner. I never thought I'd need them on the train, but I'd come in handy here.

This was the first time in Xia Minmin's life that she had been kept awake by noise; the feeling of insomnia was truly unbearable. After going to the bathroom eleven times, she checked the time on her watch; it was already two in the morning. Sleepiness slowly crept in, and she was still thinking about going to the bathroom before going to sleep.

thump thump thump...

Li Chunmei knocked on the door for a long time, listening intently, but the room was quiet. Her daughter should be up by now; why hadn't she opened the door?

She opened the door with her room card, and the cold air inside made her shiver. Thick curtains blocked out the sunlight—she wasn't up yet? That was strange. She turned on the light, and saw a bulge in the center of the bed; her daughter was curled up under the covers.

Li Chunmei picked up the pillows along the way and pulled the blanket that had fallen on the floor onto the bed. She reached out and patted the round ball under the blanket, but there was no movement for a long time. She lifted a corner of the blanket, and her daughter's little face was rosy from sleeping.

The cold air from the room seeped through the uncovered blanket and hit Xia Minmin's face directly. She was half-asleep and half-awake from the cold. Using the light from the room, she groped for her watch, her hands fumbling for it on either side of her head. She remembered putting it by her pillow before going to sleep; where was it?

Li Chunmei was amused by this situation. "Xiaomin, it's already six o'clock. You need to get up."

"It's already six o'clock? I haven't slept well yet," Xia Minmin muttered.

As Li Chunmei searched for the air conditioner remote, she said, "Why did you get up so late today?"

Xia Minmin sat up wrapped in the blanket, her hair a messy frizz on her head, her eyes still closed, and she kept making accusations.

"Don't even mention it. Those drunkards at the night market upstairs were so noisy that they didn't leave until 2 a.m. Even with noise-canceling headphones, it wasn't very effective. They only managed to get some sleep after they left."

Looking at her daughter's dark circles under her eyes, Li Chunmei realized that she hadn't slept well yesterday and had too many things to do today, so she could only catch up on sleep in the car.

After dawdling for about ten minutes, Xia Minmin finally got up to wash and get ready. After turning up the temperature, the room was more comfortable.

Start your day with a glass of warm water.

The phone, lying on the desk, was turned on. There was a missed call. "Mom, why are you calling me? Is something wrong?"

"I thought you were awake, but I couldn't get through. We're going to Grandpa and Grandma's house later, so hurry up."

"oh."

After Li Chunmei left the room, Xia Minmin went to the bathroom, looked at her messy hair, and felt like crying.

In front of the bathroom mirror, Xia Minmin kept pressing her hair down with her hands. Less than a minute after she let go, her hair would stick up again, making her so angry that she wanted to cut off that clump of hair.

thump thump thump...

"Xiaomin, are you ready? We're about to leave."

Xia Minmin bent over, closed her eyes, and groped her way to open the door. "Mom, give me ten more minutes."

Didn't you wash your hair last night?

"I washed it, but my hair was sticking up when I woke up today, and I couldn't get it down with water."

"Okay, hurry up."

Xia Minmin went downstairs with her hair half-dry from the blow dryer. By the time she arrived at her maternal grandparents' house, her hair was completely dry.

When Grandma Xia saw her granddaughter whom she hadn't seen for half a year, she hugged her and kept calling out, "My little one, my little one."

"Mom and Dad, have we invited all our relatives?" Li Chunmei asked.

Grandma Xia held her granddaughter's hand tightly. "We've invited them all, and the restaurant is booked. Xiaoqi recommended it; I heard it's very good."

"Xiaoqi, was your wedding day lively?"

Li Chunmei, as Jiang Meiqi's aunt, should have attended the wedding. However, the auspicious wedding day happened to fall two days before the college entrance examination, and with two students in her family taking the exam, she simply couldn't spare the energy to attend the wedding banquet. Instead, she gave the wedding gift money to her brother and sister-in-law to take back.

Grandma Xia patted her daughter's hand, "This was an accident. Who knew it would be such a coincidence? Xiaoqi didn't agree to the date at first. After Xiaolei's mother checked their birth dates, this was the only suitable date in the past two years."

Today, Li Chunmei is hosting a dinner for her maternal relatives. Everyone in the family knows about Xia Minmin's college entrance exam. It's perfectly normal to host a dinner party for a happy occasion in our hometown.

"Have you and Dad packed your luggage? We'll head straight back to the county town tonight."

"It's all packed up."

Grandpa and Grandma Xia are going to Shenzhen this time. In a few days, everyone is planning to go to the grasslands for a while to escape the summer heat.