Liang Wenhua was stunned.

Seeing that things were not going well, Ji Yousheng quickly explained, "Yanjun, your mother didn't mean that..."

Liang Wenhua himself knew he had spoken out of turn; how could he say such things in front of his son?

Ji Yanjun stared straight at Liang Wenhua and asked, "Mom, what do you mean?"

“I…I…” Liang Wenhua couldn’t speak.

Ji Ningzhi did not cry out.

Ji Yousheng didn't know how to smooth things over.

Ji Yanjun turned to look at Ji Ningzhi's door: "Ji Ningzhi, come out. Tell me how Wen Qing bullied you. Come out!"

Ji Ningzhi was so frightened in the room that she didn't dare to move.

Ji Yanjun stepped forward and kicked the door open.

Ji Ningzhi screamed in fright.

Ji Yanjun stepped forward and grabbed her arm.

"Mom, Mom, Mom..." Ji Ningzhi cried out loudly.

Ji Yanjun's face was gloomy. He didn't let go at all, but pulled her out by the arm.

"Mom, Mom..." Ji Ningzhi wailed.

Liang Wenhua grabbed Ji Yanjun's arm: "What are you doing? What are you doing? She's your sister!"

Ji Yousheng also pulled Ji Yanjun, saying, "Yanjun, Yanjun, calm down, calm down."

Ignoring everything else, Ji Yanjun dragged Ji Ningzhi away.

"Mother……"

"Yanjun, let go, this is your sister."

"Yanjun, Yanjun..."

The courtyard was filled with cries and shouts. Ji Yanjun stopped, turned around and looked at Ji Ningzhi, who was crying her eyes out, and asked, "How did Wen Qing bully you?"

"Ningzhi, hurry up and tell me, your brother is really angry," Ji Yousheng urged from the side. Ji Yanjun rarely gets angry, but when he does, he's capable of anything.

Liang Wenhua also asked, "What happened to Ning Zhi?"

Ji Ningzhi had no choice but to admit it, saying, "Wen Qing got first place in the whole school, but I didn't."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Yousheng released Ji Yanjun's hand and sighed, "Alas! Really..."

Ji Yanjun looked at Liang Wenhua.

Liang Wenhua was very embarrassed, but she genuinely disliked Wen Qing from the bottom of her heart, and her first reaction was that Wen Qing had done something bad.

Ji Yanjun released Ji Ningzhi and turned to enter the main room.

Ji Yousheng sensed something was wrong, pointed at Ji Ningzhi and then at Liang Wenhua, sighed in exasperation, and followed Ji Yanjun into the main hall, all the way to Ji Yanjun's room.

After entering the room, Ji Yanjun pulled a large leather suitcase from the cabinet. Although it was called a large leather suitcase, it was actually a square box made of wood and leather. The outside of the box had a metal lock with rivets and a handle, making it easy to carry.

Ji Yanjun opened the large suitcase, pulled off the checkered bed sheet from the bed without even folding it, and stuffed it directly into the suitcase. He then bent down and stuffed the red and blue slippers, the women's shirts and men's shirts from the closet, the lipstick on the table, the hair on the table, and his clothes into the large suitcase.

Ji Yousheng was startled and asked, "Yanjun, Yanjun, what are you doing?"

I want to go away for a while.

"But you don't have to take everything out of the house!" Ji Yousheng said anxiously.

Ji Yanjun continued tidying up: "Dad, Mom said those things in front of me today..."

"Don't take it to heart, your mother definitely knows she was wrong."

Ji Yanjun stopped and looked at Ji Yousheng: "You must have said something even more outrageous in front of Wen Qing before."

Ji Yousheng was speechless. Liang Wenhua had indeed said that he had never told Ji Yanjun this in order to balance his family life.

Ji Yanjun continued packing his things.

"Then what does it mean if you leave now?" Ji Yousheng asked.

"It's nothing, I just want to get away for a while."

When will you be back?

"I don't know." Ji Yanjun closed the large leather suitcase, locked it on three sides, picked up the handle, glanced back at the room, reached out and peeled off a red paper from the wall, stuffed it into his pocket, and this time he didn't lock the door. He carried the large leather suitcase toward the main room.

"Yanjun, Yanjun, listen to Dad, don't go! It's nothing serious, every family has its ups and downs. Yanjun, Yanjun!" Ji Yousheng jogged after Ji Yanjun, calling out, "Yanjun, Yanjun, Yanjun..."

Liang Wenhua and Ji Ningzhi, who were in the courtyard, looked over upon hearing the sound and saw Ji Yanjun carrying a large leather suitcase and walking into the courtyard.

Ji Ningzhi was stunned.

Liang Wenhua panicked. Ji Yanjun often went on business trips, the longest of which was three months. But he always carried a small bag with some necessities. He had never carried such a big suitcase before. Was he going to run away from home?

"Yanjun, Yanjun, what are you doing? What are you doing?" Liang Wenhua panicked and rushed over, grabbing Ji Yanjun's arm: "What are you doing?"

Ji Yanjun brushed Liang Wenhua's hand away and walked out of the courtyard.

Liang Wenhua grabbed Ji Yanjun's arm and said, "Yanjun, what are you doing? I won't let you leave until you explain yourself."

“Brother…” Ji Ningzhi was also stunned.

"Yanjun, don't go." Ji Yousheng said from the side, "Can't we just talk things out as a family?"

Ji Yanjun took a deep breath and said, "Mom, the first time I said I wanted to go to Shuiwan Village to propose marriage, you said I needed to find a matchmaker. The second time you said the matchmaker had gone back to her hometown in the countryside and would be back in a while. The third time you said it wasn't an auspicious day and I should wait. I believed you all because you're my mom."

Liang Wenhua was taken aback.

Ji Yanjun turned his head and looked at Liang Wenhua: "Mom, I think you've never understood one thing. It's not that Wen Qing is clinging to our family all this time; it's that I like her and I won't let her go."

Upon hearing this, Liang Wenhua was visibly shaken.

Ji Ningzhi was also stunned. It couldn't be. It was clearly Wen Qing who liked her brother.

After Ji Yanjun finished speaking, he reached out and slightly pulled his hand away from Liang Wenhua's, saying, "Dad, Mom, please take care of yourselves. I will come back to see you when I have time."

After saying that, Ji Yanjun walked out of the courtyard, and the sound of a car starting up could be heard outside.

Liang Wenhua suddenly came to her senses and fainted.

"Mom, Mom, Mom!"

"Wenhua, Wenhua!"

Ji Yousheng and Ji Ningzhi shouted at the same time.

Ji Yousheng quickly picked up Liang Wenhua and pinched her philtrum hard. After Liang Wenhua woke up, she started sobbing, "How could I have raised such a thing that forgets its mother once it has a woman? How could I have given birth to such a thing..."

"Wenhua, alright, alright. Yanjun said he'll come back to visit when he has time. The child is grown up and has his own ideas, so don't interfere too much."

"Bullshit! Unless I'm dead, I will never let that brat Wen Qing into the house!"

Ji Ningzhi lowered her head, wondering where her brother had gone.

Ji Yanjun didn't actually know where he was going, but he drove to the entrance of Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School, parked his car there, and planned to go to the school to find Wen Qing. He figured she was in class, so he waited at the entrance.

We waited and waited until all the students were dismissed from school.

He immediately got out of the car, walked into the school, and wanted to go to the classroom, but found that he did not know which class Wen Qing was in, so he had to wait in the girls' dormitory building.

I overheard people discussing something as soon as I got to the dormitory building:

"Did you know? This time, the math test papers for both arts and science students in the second year of high school were the same. As a result, Wen Qing from the arts class completely crushed the top student in our class in math."

"That's not all. I heard that Wen Qing's scores in every subject are close to perfect."

"That's amazing. But I heard that Wen Qing also got into No. 1 Middle School with one of the top scores."

"Wow, but she missed almost a year of classes, and when she came back, she was ranked first in the whole school. She's a shining star."

"That's not true."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yanjun smiled. He realized his Qingqing was indeed exceptional. Feeling pleased, he stood under the tree waiting. After a while, just as he was about to speak with the dormitory supervisor to ask her to call Wen Qing, he saw Xu Shanshan instead.

Xu Shanshan greeted Ji Yanjun first: "Hello, aren't you Ning Zhi's brother?"

“I am,” Ji Yanjun said.

"Looking for Ning Zhi?"

"no."

Xu Shanshan was puzzled.

"I'm here to see Wen Qing. Could you please do me a favor and call her down?" Ji Yanjun said.

Xu Shanshan: "Wen Qing isn't living in the dorm anymore."

Ji Yanjun was taken aback: "When did this happen?" He had no idea.

"She moved out a week after school started."

"Moved out to live elsewhere?" Ji Yanjun muttered to himself.

“Mm,” Xu Shanshan replied.

"Where did you move to?"

Xu Shanshan shook her head: "I don't know."

Who knows?

"Nobody knows. She's always so busy, she doesn't even come to evening self-study sessions."

Ji Yanjun felt a chill in his heart. He thanked Xu Shanshan and walked dejectedly from the girls' dormitory to the school gate. He didn't even answer when Xu Shanshan asked him when Ning Zhi would return.

After getting into the car, he started it and began searching for Wen Qing aimlessly.

Meanwhile, Wen Qing was in a consignment shop, holding an old-fashioned telephone, calling Aunt Xiao. She originally wanted to ask about the progress of the clothes and shoes, as well as the situation of the ten tailors and the shoemakers in Shuiwan Village. However, she didn't know that Yao Shiling was also in the county town.

Wen Qing held the phone and started chatting with Yao Shiling, a smile on her face: "Mom, I got first place in the whole school."

The first time Yao Shiling made a phone call, or more accurately, the first time she saw a telephone, she didn't know how to use it when she first held it. When she heard Wen Qing's voice, her first reaction wasn't that her daughter had done so well on the exam, but rather: "Wen Qing, what are you doing on the phone?"

Wen Qing laughed heartily: "Mom, this is new technology."

“What technology? Wen Qing, your voice has changed. It sounds a bit like when you talk to me,” Yao Shiling said again.

It took Wen Qing a lot of talking to get her attention away from the phone. Then, like other children, she wanted to tell her parents about her good qualities and hoped to get their praise. So Wen Qing said again, "Mom, I got first place in the whole school in this exam."

Yao Shiling then noticed her daughter's grades: "Really?"

"Really, even the teacher praised me."

"That's great! You must study hard and repay your teacher." Yao Shiling said simply on the other end of the phone.

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Okay, I will repay the teacher well. Mom, tell Pengpeng about me getting first place in the whole school, to motivate him and encourage him to study harder."

"What's the point of excitement? Wen Liang is always the top student in the whole school. He follows Wen Liang to school every day, but he doesn't get any excitement. He's still incredibly playful."

Wen Qing laughed, as if Wen Peng was indeed quite tolerant of stimulation.

Wen Qing then asked Yao Shiling about shoemaking in Shuiwan Village. Yao Shiling said that Aunt Wang was a very righteous person. With her around, the others all followed the rules, made shoes at fixed times and places, and did not run away in the middle.

“I think the shoes they make are better than mine,” Yao Shiling said. “And they’re faster than me.”

Wen Qing laughed: "But you're the only one who's my mom."

Yao Shiling laughed, but before she finished laughing, she asked, "Wen Qing, stop talking. I heard phone calls are really expensive. Don't make this call. This one call is enough for you to take several bus rides, right?"

Before Wen Qing could speak, Yao Shiling continued, "Come back as early as possible on Friday. Mom will pick you up at the four-way intersection and make you braised pork knuckle. Be good at school by yourself, don't cause trouble, and don't speak so rudely. Just focus on your studies and don't worry about other things."

Wen Qing felt a warmth in her heart and said, "Okay."

"Then I'll hang up. Making phone calls is really expensive."

"Okay." Wen Qing didn't hang up. She put the phone to her ear and listened to the sounds on the other end. She thought to herself that her mother probably wouldn't hang up. Sure enough, she heard voices coming from the other end.

"Aunt Xiao, how do we hang up this phone?" Yao Shiling asked.

"Just press the handle on top," Aunt Xiao said.

"How do I press it?" Yao Shiling asked, fiddling with the phone and making a few small noises, but still couldn't hang up correctly. She then said, "It costs money to talk with this thing. I might as well call Wen Qing back and talk to him properly. It only costs five cents for the fare, and I can still see Wen Qing. It's not right to charge money to talk."

Wen Qing listened to Yao Shiling's voice with a smile on her lips until she heard the dial tone, then she hung up the phone.

After paying, I picked up the vegetables and noodles again, went to the water heater to get hot water, and planned to take the thermos home so I wouldn't waste gas boiling water again. Just as I picked up the thermos and turned around, I saw a car parked in front of me.