Ye Qingqing eagerly took the old lady's basket and glanced at it. The basket was half full of clean green beans and water spinach, and several paper packages, probably containing dried vegetables. It was quite heavy.

"Grandma, let's take the bus home!"

The old lady looked at Ye Qingqing strangely. This girl wasn't this diligent before; she's become much more sensible as she's grown up.

After leaving the station, Ye Qingqing planned to have the old lady and Ye Tong take a taxi while she rode her bicycle back. However, after already hailing a taxi, the old lady asked about the price and immediately turned pale when she heard it was ten yuan.

"I'm not sitting here anymore. Ten yuan can buy several kilograms of meat. I'm not sitting here..."

The old lady resolutely refused to take the car and even gave Ye Qingqing a good scolding right there on the busy street.

"You have no idea how hard your old man works to earn money... He has to take a taxi every few steps, and your feet are born beautiful... Ten dollars can buy salt that I can eat for ten years..."

The old lady was two heads shorter than Ye Qingqing, but her imposing manner was as high as the sky. She cursed and jumped up and down, showing no signs of fatigue from the long journey.

Its power remains undiminished.

No...it's even worse than back then!

The taxi driver was about to curse a few more times, but seeing the old lady's posture, he stepped on the gas and sped away.

We can't afford to mess with them!

"Use your bicycle to carry it!" the old woman shouted.

Ye Qingqing looked distressed. "There's no room."

She was riding a women's bicycle, which didn't have a crossbar in front and could only seat one person. Ye Tong and the old lady, along with a bunch of stuff, were they going to carry it all?

"Xiaotong, sit down, I'll walk." The old lady picked up her basket and strutted away with great pride.

She can walk such a short distance with ease. Only someone with a screw loose would waste money on a bus ride for ten yuan.

Ye Qingqing looked up at the blazing sun, her heart aching even more. The temperature outside was at least forty degrees Celsius, and it was at least twenty miles from the bus station to her home. The old lady was walking back under the scorching sun...

What if I get heatstroke?

"Grandma, let's take the bus. It only costs eight cents," Ye Qingqing said, running up to persuade her.

The old lady walked with such speed that Ye Qingqing couldn't keep up even when running. She turned around and glared at her fiercely, "Isn't eight cents money? One cent can buy a bowl of salt, and I can eat it for a month!" (To clarify, the salt used in rural areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the past was sea salt, which was very coarse and sold in bulk, costing one cent for a bowl.)

"Grandma...it's twenty li (about 10 kilometers) to walk back, my legs will break!" Ye Qingqing wanted to cry.

She was worried that her legs would become useless.

The old lady can't walk while she rides her bike home first!

"Are your feet made of tofu? Twenty miles is nothing..." The old woman glared even more fiercely.

Before, when she went to the city, there were no cars, so she relied entirely on her two legs to walk. She could walk fifty or sixty miles a day and still make a round trip. This granddaughter was completely spoiled by her son. She was so delicate that her eyes were practically spitting fire, just like her dead mother.

The old lady walked incredibly fast, and Ye Qingqing chased after her like a dog, pushing her cart. Soon, she was covered in sweat.

This couldn't go on. Ye Qingqing felt more bitter than a bitter gourd. If she had known the old lady was so stubborn, she wouldn't have come to pick her up and would have had Ye Lan come to accompany the old lady on her walk.

"Grandma, I'll take Xiaotong home first. You wait for me under the shade of the tree. I'll come back to pick you up after I've taken Xiaotong, okay?" Ye Qingqing finally came up with a good idea.

The old lady didn't stop walking, she waved her hand, "Go on!"

Ye Qingqing had to coax and persuade the old lady to go to the shade of the tree near her mouth. She wanted to buy the old lady a bottle of iced soda to cool her down, but then she thought better of it and decided against it, because she knew the old lady would scold her if she did.