It's late at night.

Zhao Meiyun is getting old and often has to get up at night.

She got up in the middle of the night and found no one beside her.

She went to the bathroom and came out of the bedroom, only to find Shi Dalin sitting alone on the sofa, motionless.

Zhao Meiyun didn't know what to say. She rummaged through the closet and pulled out a quilt, handing it to Shi Dalin: "Dalin, don't get cold."

Shi Dalin came out dressed and sat down, but after sitting on the sofa for a while, he really got a little cold.

He wrapped the blanket that Zhao Meiyun had taken out around himself and sighed.

He had a craving for a cigarette, but he had quit a long time ago. There were no cigarettes at home, so he could only sit there idly.

His son is like this... He doesn't know what to do.

Who cares about his son?

He can't control it.

His son has always been independent and does what he wants to do, rarely paying attention to his father.

His son is indeed capable.

Speaking of going out to work, it's so dangerous outside. Once you're out there, you might not be able to contact them anymore!

He didn't want his son to come out in the first place.

But Shi Zhen wanted to come out, and he couldn't stop him.

"Come out now. Shi Zhen can indeed get everything done without relying on them."

Their current comfortable life is entirely thanks to Shi Zhen.

How can he manage a child like this?

Hit him or scold him? This kid isn't afraid at all.

Cutting off all ties if you don't get married? That's just talk; you'll never actually do it.

Moreover, his son might be better off without them.

Zhao Qiujuan and Shi Ting still need Shi Zhen's care, so it's impossible for them to really sever ties.

He had absolutely no way to deal with Shi Zhen.

But... targeting Guan Baiyu... won't work either.

Shi Dalin still remembers that when they first came here, Guan Baiyu was still in junior high school and was so young.

Their son, on the other hand, is particularly resourceful.

This was definitely initiated by their son, so he couldn't blame Guan Baiyu.

Now he's thinking that Guan Baiyu has found his biological parents, and they're even professors. Hopefully, they can guide Guan Baiyu onto the right path...

But that's unlikely.

Guan Baiyu is very attached to their son, and their son isn't one to let people go easily...

Shi Dalin worried for a long time, his hair was almost falling out, but he did nothing to help. In the end, he fell asleep on the sofa in a daze.

He got up in the morning, packed his things, and went out to set up his stall as usual.

That's how they are; no matter what happens, people have to live, so... just live well.

The next day was Friday. Shi Zhen came to Shi Dalin's shop early in the morning to help Shi Dalin set up his stall.

Shi Dalin was a bit temperamental and wouldn't let Shi Zhen get involved.

Near their shop, a new stall selling fried dumplings had opened. Unaware of the conflict between the two, he saw Shi Zhen and said to Shi Dalin, "Your son is so kind, coming to help so early."

Shi Dalin opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, so he simply stopped working and let Shi Zhen do it.

Shi Zhen helped him set everything out and helped Zhao Meiyun light up the coal stove.

After finishing all this, Shi Zhencai said, "Dad, I'll come over again tonight."

Shi Zhen left after he finished speaking.

He didn't actually have to do these things; he knew that Shi Dalin and the others couldn't stop him from liking Guan Baiyu.

He was a man of principle, and no matter how much trouble Shi Dalin caused, he wouldn't change his mind. And Shi Dalin had nothing to threaten him with.

After all, he doesn't rely on Shi Dalin for food or drink.

However, Shi Dalin was his father, so of course he didn't want to fall out with him.

You should come here more often during this time.

Shi Zhen gave Duan Hongming the day off today, so he has to do a lot of things himself. Fortunately, he was busy enough in the past few days, so there's not much to do today.

He spent the morning in Anshan Town and even went to the cement factory there to reconnect with the locals.

After dinner, he returned to Changxi City to handle some matters there.

During this time, Zhao Qiujuan came over and asked him, "Ah Zhen, why didn't Duan Hongming come to work today?"

Shi Zhen said, "I gave him a day off, and he'll be here tomorrow. Sister, you can cook for him tomorrow too."

Zhao Qiujuan doesn't have any fixed tasks at the company; she basically just helps out, doing things like cleaning and cooking.

As for food expenses, he deposited some money with Zhao Qiujuan. Zhao Qiujuan would take money from this money whenever she needed it, and of course, the expenses had to be kept in the accounts.

"Okay," Zhao Qiujuan agreed.

"Why did you suddenly ask him, sister?" Shi Zhen asked.

“I ran into him last night when I went out for noodles. He didn’t even take his scarf with him when he left,” Zhao Qiujuan said.

Yesterday, Duan Hongming talked to her for a while, ate one of her braised chicken feet, and left. In the end, he left his scarf behind, which she was planning to return to him today.

Thinking of this, Zhao Qiujuan asked Shi Zhen again, "Zhen, do you want to eat chicken feet? I bought some braised chicken feet."

There were eight braised chicken feet on that plate yesterday. Duan Hongming ate one, she ate one, and there were six left. She brought them to the company, intending to have them as a snack at lunch, but Shi Zhen wasn't there, so she didn't take them out.

“I don’t like eating things without meat, so you can eat it yourself, sister,” Shi Zhen said.

Zhao Qiujuan said, "I don't like to eat it either... I can't finish it."

"How about I take it back to Aunt Zhao tonight? She can eat it when she's bored," Shi Zhen said.

Zhao Meiyun likes to eat snacks while watching TV.

In contrast, Zhao Qiujuan is much busier, having to practice this and learn that, so she probably doesn't have time to eat chicken feet.

"Okay... Ah Zhen, are you going back today?"

"Okay, I'll go over there for a bit, then head straight to the provincial capital. I won't be back until Sunday," Shi Zhen said.

Zhao Meiyun handed the braised chicken feet to Shi Zhen, a little embarrassed: "There aren't many..."

"I'll go buy some other things later and take them over to them," Shi Zhen said.

Zhao Qiujuan said, "Okay."

Shi Zhen then asked her, "Sister, how's your accounting studies going?"

“My mentor told me to follow her in doing accounting, and I’ll take the certification exam next year,” Zhao Qiujuan said, a little embarrassed. “My mentor also made me buy a junior high school diploma.”

“That’s great,” Shi Zhen said. “If you want to in the future, you can even take the college entrance exam.”

Self-study exams can be taken even after graduating from junior high school; Guan Baiyu did just that.

Zhao Qiujuan wants to take the exam; she can study and take it slowly.

"You can do that?" Zhao Qiujuan asked with some anticipation.

"Sister, study hard for the exam. That way, I won't need to hire anyone to do the bookkeeping for me in the future," Shi Zhen said. Recently, their company has been using Zhao Qiujuan, their mentor, for bookkeeping.

She does accounting for many companies and earns a lot of money. Now that she's older, her son is studying away from home and needs a lot of living expenses, so she's started taking on apprentices. Zhao Qiujuan paid tuition to learn from her.

When she came to the company to do the accounting before, Shi Zhen asked her what she thought of Zhao Qiujuan. From her words, she seemed to like Zhao Qiujuan quite a bit, saying that Zhao Qiujuan was down-to-earth.

Shi Zhen felt that what he meant by "being reliable" was that Zhao Qiujuan was quite obedient.

While others who spend money to learn something don't treat their teachers like royalty, Zhao Qiujuan always calls them "Master," showing them immense respect. Her personality and appearance are the kind that elders would like.

Hearing Shi Zhen's words, Zhao Qiujuan nodded earnestly: "Don't worry, Zhen, I will definitely do well on the exam."

Once they started chatting, Shi Zhen asked again, "By the way, sister, how's your boyfriend going? Can you arrange a time for me to meet him?"

He felt at ease with Zhao Qiujuan dating, but marriage was a different matter, and he would definitely have to look into it carefully.

Zhao Qiujuan said with some worry, "Azhen, it probably won't work."

"What's wrong?" Shi Zhen asked in surprise.

Zhao Qiujuan didn't say much, but Shi Zhen had a basic understanding of her boyfriend.

Previously, Zhao Qiujuan's mentor ran a class and recruited some people to learn accounting from her. Zhao Qiujuan and her boyfriend were both in the class, and they got to know each other over time.

However, Zhao Qiujuan continued to study, while that person seemed to have given up on learning accounting.

The man was a local from Changxi City, a junior high school graduate, and two years older than Zhao Qiujuan... Shi Zhen thought his personal qualities were alright, but whether he was suitable or not, he would have to meet him to say.

"He looked down on me because I was from out of town." Zhao Qiujuan recalled that this was the main reason.

That person kept criticizing her, and she felt she hadn't done enough... but after what happened yesterday... it's probably over.

She wasn't particularly heartbroken, but she wondered if she should lower her standards: "Ah Zhen, what do you think? Should I still find someone from my hometown?"

At the Shizhen construction site, many people from her hometown who came to work there like her!

Shi Zhen said, "Sister, don't worry about this for now. Get your certification first. When you become an accountant here, I'll introduce you to some good ones."

He hadn't introduced anyone to Zhao Qiujuan before, mainly because there really weren't any suitable candidates.

The people he likes are basically the ones who wouldn't like Zhao Qiujuan.

But things changed when Zhao Qiujuan graduated with an accounting degree.

This is his sister. She has already passed the accounting exam and works for his company. She also owns her own house and is planning to take self-study exams... If people knew about her, they would probably be eager to hire her.

Even if he's a college student, Zhao Qiujuan will be a good match for him.

It's hard to say now.

The key point is that Zhao Qiujuan is only twenty-three now, and will be twenty-four after the New Year. She's not that old!

“That’s fine. I’m very busy right now, and sometimes I don’t even have time to go out,” Zhao Qiujuan said.

She often has classes in the evenings, and when that person asked her out before, she was often too busy.

After talking with Zhao Qiujuan, Shi Zhen was busy for a while and then left the company.

He found a cooked food shop in Changxi City, bought some cooked food, and went to Shi Dalin's place. When he arrived, it was dinner time.

Zhao Meiyun greeted him as always and served him rice.

Shi Dalin asked, "Doesn't he have hands?"

Shi Zhen smiled and said, "Aunt Zhao, I can do it myself."

After Shi Zhen finished his meal, he said to Shi Dalin, "Dad, I'm going to the provincial capital later and will be back on Sunday... I'll come see you then."

"You don't need to come!" Shi Dalin said irritably.

Shi Zhen didn't pay any attention and left quickly.

After Shi Zhen left, Shi Dalin said angrily, "He only has Guan Baiyu on his mind. He goes to see her every week! No wonder Tingting keeps saying that her brother treats her badly...it's true!"

He had long suspected that Shi Zhen was not as good to Shi Ting as he was to Guan Baiyu. At the time, he thought it was because Guan Baiyu was a man that Shi Zhen could get along with him and that's why he was closer to him.

Who would have thought that his son would actually...

Shi Dalin didn't know what to say!

Zhao Meiyun did not respond.

What could she do? Join in the complaints about Shi Zhen?

The day they reconcile with their father, they'll be the ones to blame her.

Speaking up for Shi Zhen is definitely not an option, as Shi Dalin is in a bad mood!

She should just pretend she doesn't know.

This week, Shi Zhen was very busy, and Guan Baiyu was almost the same.

After all, it's the end of the semester, and they've already started their final exams. After this week, next Thursday, they'll be able to go home.

Recently, many students at their school have been taking time out to buy train tickets, and some students in the class complain from time to time that they can't buy suitable tickets.

In the past two years, the term "Spring Festival travel rush" has emerged, referring to the difficulty in buying tickets for migrant workers returning to their hometowns at the end of the year.

They were actually quite lucky; the school reminded them to buy tickets a long time ago, so almost everyone managed to get them.

Guan Baiyu didn't need to buy a ticket, but he had just reunited with Jiang Xingsheng and Mu Tian, ​​and Jiang Xingsheng and Mu Tian had been coming to see him every day, so he couldn't refuse them, which made things a bit more complicated.

But it cannot be denied that this is beneficial to him.

Jiang Xingsheng and Mu Tian took him to meet some people, most of whom he had wanted to meet but couldn't before.

However, for the time being, he doesn't have anything that these people value, so he can only become a familiar face. It's impossible for him to actually build a relationship with them.

He wanted these people to help him, which would definitely cost him the favors of Jiang Xingsheng and Mu Tian.

On Friday evening, Mu Tian invited Guan Baiyu to her and Jiang Xingsheng's house for dinner.

Guan Baiyu had visited their home once before, and this was his second time. As soon as he arrived, he saw Mu Tian bustling about in the kitchen.

"Let me do it..." Guan Baiyu couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's alright, it'll be ready soon." Mu Tian took the pot with both hands, poured the soup into a bowl, and carried it out.

She made two dishes, one cold dish and one soup.

But it's okay.

A short while later, Jiang Xingsheng returned with several takeout dishes.

Jiang Xingsheng and Mu Tian used to cook when they were young, but they've been eating in the cafeteria for years, so their skills have deteriorated...

When Jiang Xingsheng arrived, he brought Teacher Li and Cao Li with him.

Guan Baiyu greeted them with a smile, and only during the meal did he learn that Mu Tian and Cao Li were very close and had been classmates before.

Cao Li hadn't been very friendly to him before, but now everyone is treating it as if it never happened, and they're having a pleasant conversation.

While they were eating, Mu Tian mentioned that she had prepared a room for Guan Baiyu and asked him to stay there for the night.

Guan Baiyu refused: "Mom, my brother will be coming to see me later, I need to go back."

Mu Tian said, "Your place in the print shop is pretty small, isn't it? Your brother is here, is it comfortable for him to stay alone? I'll go with you later, we'll talk to your brother, and then you can come back with us?"

"No, I can go by myself," Guan Baiyu said.

Mu Tian had no choice but to keep quiet about it.

After a while, Cao Li asked again, "Guan Baiyu, your mother is going home for the New Year... Are you going back with her? Your maternal grandparents want to see you."

A few days ago, one of Guan Baiyu's aunts came by, visited Guan Baiyu, and gave him a red envelope.

However, his maternal grandparents are old and the others are busy with work, so they couldn't come over, but everyone wanted Guan Baiyu to go back for the New Year.

Guan Baiyu remained silent.

Mu Tian hadn't told him about this.

If Mu Tian were to discuss it with him, he would be willing to make a trip after the New Year to visit the Mu family.

As for the Lunar New Year... he still wants to spend it with Shi Zhen.

He had never met the Mu family before, and spending the New Year with such a large family would definitely not be very comfortable.

Seeing that Guan Baiyu didn't speak, Mu Tian quickly said, "Xiaoyu, you don't have to go if you have something to do... Xiaoyu, your dad and I want to visit your adoptive parents. We'll go back with you after your winter break."