When they returned to City S, it was already dark. The military vehicle took them directly back to the hotel.

Leaving the nanny to care for Ping An as he fell asleep, the group enjoyed a variety of delicious dishes on the ferry. After dinner, no one was in a hurry to go back, but strolled along the streets, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

The foreign concessions were still bustling. The large and small ships on the Dapu River, the workers at the docks, the tourists strolling along the Bund, the patrolling sentries, the clanking trams, the passing pedicabs—all under the lights of the rows of international buildings across the way—made the city's night scene incredibly lively.

Old Mrs. Cheng had been watching over the children for the past few days and had made a rare appearance tonight. She held Zhou Jiao's hand and recounted the memories of her and her eldest sister, Gu Mingzhu, when they were young girls and had swum across the Dapu River many times.

The old woman's voice echoed in Zhou Jiao's ears. She gazed at the scenery before her, feeling a wave of melancholy. She wondered how many generations of people had experienced the ebb and flow of the multinational architectural complex standing silently before her, and how many joys and sorrows the mighty Dapu River had carried away.

The next day, we decided to visit the Baixiang City God Temple first. It was a shame not to try the local snacks and bring back some local specialties when we came to S City.

After the Lantern Festival, the festive atmosphere at the Baixiang Chenghuang Temple Market has not faded and is crowded with people everywhere.

Several toy stalls in the square in front of the temple and along the Nine-Curve Bridge offered a variety of novelties, such as two-cent puppet shows, colorful masks, lifelike wooden swords and knives, slingshots, diabolos, and slingshots, attracting many children who refused to leave.

The noisy laughter coming from the teahouse and the aroma that hits your nose make you involuntarily quicken your pace to find the source of the fragrance.

Mrs. Cheng, revisiting her old haunt and well-versed in all the delicious food, ignored the long lines in front of the various restaurants and went to the second-floor private dining area at Changxing Building, where she ordered crab meat dumplings and several other varieties of dumplings for breakfast.

After breakfast, everyone went out. The old lady began to quietly introduce several local snacks, such as pork ribs and rice cakes, chicken and duck blood soup, and small rice dumplings with fermented glutinous rice.

Along the way, Old Lady Cheng explained in detail. After seeing that Zhang Guoqing and Zhou Jiao had a general understanding, she started to take Cheng Ruzhu, Lin Lishan and the others to buy gifts to take back to Beijing, leaving the couple to go shopping.

Zhang Guoqing and Zhou Jiao didn't object. They knew the old lady and her friends had been to the City God Temple many times and had little interest in revisiting their old haunts. Besides buying local specialties, they were anxious to get back to take care of their children. Perhaps the old lady assumed they had important matters to attend to, and so they left with everyone else.

Zhang Guoqing and his wife smiled at each other. The City God Temple of today, aside from its more ancient charm, wasn't particularly appealing to them. Instead, they were delighted by the authentic cuisine. Considering they had a trip to Fuzhou Road to browse the used book stalls, they began shopping.

Besides specialty snacks and novelty toys, their biggest interest is the time-honored Yu Garden pear paste candy. As for dim sum and pastries, Nanjing Road No. 1 Food Market has everything.

As noon approached, the couple hurried to Fuzhou Road, carrying their bags. They had long admired the legend of this four-lane road.

As soon as I got on the tricycle, the driver smiled and said everyone knew it when he heard that I was going to Fuzhou Road to buy books and pens.

The closer you get to Fuzhou Road, the more you realize it's just as lively as Nanjing Road. Along the street, besides numerous specialty bookstores and cultural goods shops, you'll find large pharmacies and restaurants everywhere.

Arriving at their destination, the couple happily high-fived upon seeing the numerous bookstores and stationery stores, large and small. Without further ado, they wandered into a used bookstore and went their separate ways. As agreed, Zhang Guoqing would select domestic vintage books, while Zhou Jiao would search for foreign magazines and original works.

Searching through various second-hand bookstores, the book-obsessed couple forgot about time.

After a long time, standing in front of the last second-hand bookstore, Zhang Guoqing touched his hungry stomach, looked at the time, and looked at his excited wife with a wry smile.

After asking the shop owner to look after the several bags of items in his hands, Zhang Guoqing took Zhou Jiao to find a nearby snack bar.

After the couple ordered the restaurant's specialty dishes, Zhang Guoqing looked at Zhou Jiao, who was rubbing her waist, and shook his head helplessly. He really didn't plan to shop anymore this time. He picked up some more stationery and then went back.

Zhou Jiao also had this idea. Besides the fact that she was almost done with her shopping, she was also starting to think about her children.

After finishing their trip, the couple returned to the hotel with their belongings. As soon as they entered the old lady's room, they saw the child sleeping comfortably with his eyes closed in her arms. They immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing their relieved expressions, Old Lady Cheng smiled and shook her head. "It's okay. The child just ate and fell asleep. He doesn't make trouble during the day except at night. As long as someone is with him, he's fine. He's very well behaved."

Zhang Guoqing washed his hands and went to take the child. He found that his mother-in-law and Cheng Ruzhu had not returned yet. He asked curiously, "Auntie, where are my mother and my aunt?"

Old Mrs. Cheng shook her head and smiled, "They're even better at shopping than you are. They haven't come back since lunch. While the children are asleep, why don't you hurry up and go out and see if there's anything you want to bring back?"

Seeing Zhou Jiao getting restless again, Zhang Guoqing knew she'd recovered and was thinking about shopping. He remembered that he had to accompany her to the seafood store early the next morning, and maybe even ask her where to find hairy crabs. Besides, he felt embarrassed to leave the child with the old lady all day, so he decided to take a break.

Zhang Guoqing shook his head and said to the old lady, "We're leaving tomorrow. You didn't go out properly this time, so let Jiaojiao go out for a walk with you. I can just stay with the child for a while."

After saying this, he saw that the old lady was hesitant, so he immediately got up and went back to his room with the child in his arms. If he hesitated any longer, he probably wouldn't be back for dinner.

Seeing him leave, Old Lady Cheng smiled and shook her head. She considered that her nanny had been thinking about visiting Huaihai for the past few days, so she asked Xiao Chen to go with her. She told them to go buy some gifts. As for herself, she refused Xiao Chen's invitation to join her. She and Zhou Jiao just walked around nearby, not planning to go far.

Zhou Jiao told Xiao Chen and the others to hurry over, saying she would be there to keep the old lady company. They were near the First Department Store, a safe place, so there was no need for an orderly.

After watching them leave, Zhou Jiao took Old Lady Cheng's arm, and the two of them whispered affectionately all the way.

The old lady, with her extensive life experience, had often advised Zhou Jiao on the finer points of social interaction. This time, she advised Zhou Jiao to keep her gifts for her in-laws as minimal as possible, arguing that her elders were accustomed to frugality and might not be happy to receive them. Zhou Jiao smiled and nodded as she listened to her detailed analysis. She knew that she must have noticed Lin Lishan's lack of understanding of social conventions and was concerned that she was not fulfilling her motherly duties.

The two of them walked along the street, past the shops. Without Zhang Guoqing by her side, she didn't dare buy anything, worried about carrying too much. They went out to the streets purely to observe the atmosphere, stopping to look at anything they liked.

Zhang Guoqing didn't see everyone returning until dinner time. Everyone was carrying bags, even the orderly and the aunt had bought a lot.