"I thought we could eat them on the way, so I brought some extra."

Qiao Qiqi stuffed the apple into her hand. Fang Ke thought the apple was expensive and wanted to return it, but she was stopped by Qiao Qiqi's words the next second.

"As you can see, I brought so much. If we don't finish it quickly, it will all go bad and go to waste."

Fang Ke hesitated for a moment before taking the apple back. "Okay, I'll try it then."

Qiao Qiqi offered Sun Shengli and the driver a pear each, but they both declined.

Qiao Qiqi didn't care and threw the pear into Sun Shengli's arms. "If the leader doesn't eat it, I'll feel embarrassed sitting in this car. You don't need to be polite with me."

Hearing her say that, Sun Shengli finally agreed, "Okay, then I'll have one."

Qiao Qiqi finally smiled. After finishing the apple, the car arrived in the county and continued driving towards Heilong City without stopping.

It took them three and a half hours to drive from Qingyang Brigade to Heilong City, and they arrived in Heilong City at noon.

The five of them found a restaurant to eat at.

Before getting out of the car, Qiao Qiqi took out the bracken buns she had steamed that morning from her bag and went inside with them.

Since they were out together, Qiao Qiqi wouldn't treat herself badly. In fact, if she were really stingy, it would only cause trouble for the leaders, who would take better care of her.

Rather than that, Qiao Qiqi would prefer to be open and honest.

The five of them ended up ordering four dishes: two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and one cold dish.

When asked for rice, Qiao Qiqi waved her hand and said, "I don't want rice, I'll just eat the steamed buns I brought."

"You even brought steamed buns?" Fang Ke had just seen her come in carrying a bag and thought it was something valuable. But now that she saw the big, golden steamed buns, she immediately thought of the scallion pancakes that Aunt Su had made that morning.

"Director Sun, then I won't eat dinner. I'll just have Aunt Su's scallion pancakes."

They brought quite a few scallion pancakes, enough for five people to share. Sun Shengli thought for a moment that the scallion pancakes would probably spoil by evening, so he said, "Okay, let's all eat scallion pancakes then."

The driver went out and brought the scallion pancakes back in from the car, and the five of them began to eat.

Qiao Qiqi gave Xin Xin a steamed bun, and then took six more and placed them in front of Fang Ke and the two men. "I brought 30 steamed buns, so everyone can try my cooking."

Fang Ke smiled and said, "We've known about your cooking skills for a long time. It's the best cooking I've ever seen."

As Fang Ke spoke, she took a bite of the steamed bun, and was still amazed. "Wow! Qi Qi, the steamed buns you made are so delicious!"

These are just vegetarian buns, with no meat in sight, but they taste incredibly delicious. The filling is exceptionally fresh and fragrant, and the bun skin, with half cornmeal added, also has a corny aroma. They're absolutely delicious!

Fang Ke had never eaten such delicious steamed buns before.

Qiao Qiqi enjoys cooking primarily because she receives praise from others. When praised, she becomes even more enthusiastic about cooking.

"If you like it, eat more. I brought 30, so we need to finish them quickly." Qiao Qiqi said, giving Fang Ke another one, and then said to Director Sun and the driver, "You guys eat more too, I'm afraid they'll spoil by tomorrow."

“Okay.” Sun Shengli nodded, finished his scallion pancake, picked up Qiao Qiqi’s steamed bun and took a bite. He was immediately amazed by the taste.

The same goes for drivers.

After a quick lunch, the five continued their journey. After a bumpy afternoon, the car finally entered Chunshi.

Qiao Qiqi ate a lot at noon and couldn't eat anything in the evening, so she only ordered a big bowl of corn porridge and a steamed bun with Xin Xin, which solved her dinner problem.

Fang Ke ate two steamed buns, leaving the rest for Sun Shengli and the driver.

After a long day of travel, everyone was exhausted. Upon arriving at the guesthouse, they booked two rooms and immediately went to rest.

Qiao Qiqi shared a room with Xin Xin and Fang Ke. The room had two 1-meter beds, and since both Qiao Qiqi and Xin Xin were thin, they could fit comfortably in them.

“There are restrooms and showers outside. Would you like to take a shower with me?” Fang Ke took out the toiletries and looked at Qiao Qiqi. It was summer, and the weather was hot. After sitting in the car all day, she felt sticky and uncomfortable.

If we didn't have this condition, we wouldn't care, but now that we do, we might as well use it.

When Qiao Qiqi and Xin Xin are at home, they take a shower every night.

Upon hearing this, she immediately and without hesitation replied, "Yes!"

Then the two of them took Xin Xin to take a bath, and after returning, they comfortably snuggled into the quilt.

I slept well all night.

At dawn, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, the five set off again. They drove all day before finally entering Beijing at nightfall.

“You and Xin Xin will stay at my house while you’re in Beijing. It’ll be good for us to look after each other. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you, a young woman, go out alone with a child,” Fang Ke suddenly said to Qiao Qiqi.

Qiao Qiqi had actually considered this issue beforehand. She had taken into account that Fang Ke would bring it up, and she also thought that staying at Fang's house might be inconvenient.

But since he came and helped me so much, I should at least thank him.

Besides, it's already dark now. It's her first time in Beijing, and she doesn't even know where the guesthouse is. Making several people drive for two days straight to accompany her to the guesthouse would only be troublesome.

Thinking of this, Qiao Qiqi did not refuse, "Okay, then I'll trouble you."

"It's no trouble at all. I'm overjoyed that you could come to my house. Besides, I'm going to take you to meet my aunt. I'm sure she'll like you when she sees you!"

Hearing their conversation from the front, Director Sun said to Qiao Qiqi, "If you encounter any problems in Beijing that Fang Ke can't solve, you can ask me for help. Don't be shy."

Qiao Qiqi looked over gratefully, "Then I'll thank Director Sun in advance too."

Beijing is a large city. It took a full hour and a half from entering the city to the car arriving at Fang Ke's home. By then, it was already late at night.

Fang Ke's home is a two-story house with its own entrance and courtyard. As soon as you enter the courtyard, you can see a car parked there. Fang Ke said that it belongs to his father.

Qiao Qiqi nodded.

Through her observations along the way, she found that the environment here was better than the ones she had seen before. Although she didn't know which ring road this was in, she was sure that the families living here must be very well-off.

Thinking that in the future, a house in Beijing will start at several million yuan, and that's for old, dilapidated apartments outside the sixth or seventh ring road, while houses in the city center will cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan, Qiao Qiqi immediately felt envious.