Chapter 25 "How about you take me back to the capital?"...
Chapter Twenty-Five: "How about you take me back to the capital?"
Noticing the soft light in his eyes, Lin Su smiled.
Calling her a fairy might sound a bit corny, but at least it was a genuine compliment, which she appreciated.
The tailor had her turn around and look at her. Zhou Yunqi looked at her slender figure, her delicate waist, and noticed a long, white neck peeking out from under her casually styled hair.
Describing her as a fairy is not an exaggeration at all.
The master craftsman was very satisfied with his craftsmanship, saying repeatedly, "When you drew the design for me, I knew what kind of effect you wanted. Your partner just said that this is a costume for a performance at a gala, no wonder it has to be made so beautifully."
"Partner..." Lin Su grasped the key point and shook her head, saying, "Not a partner."
The experienced craftsman exclaimed in surprise, "Don't you think so? You two look like a perfect match. I thought you were a couple."
Lin Su's cheeks flushed slightly. Not wanting to dwell on the matter any longer, she said, "There's nothing wrong with the clothes. I'll go change them back."
She put her simple clothes back on, came out, folded them neatly, and was about to pay when the old man said, "Your partner has already paid."
After saying that, she gave an awkward laugh and said, "Oh, he's not your boyfriend."
Zhou Yunqi let out a soft snort from the side. Lin Su glanced at him, and he shrugged, as if to say that he couldn't do anything about it either.
Lin Su bid farewell to the master craftsman and left with the dress.
Sitting in the car, Lin Su still couldn't put it down, saying, "The craftsmanship is really good, and the lace is very delicate."
Zhou Yunqi said, "Then you'd better perform well, otherwise you'll be letting down the master craftsman's skills."
"What if I don't dance well?" Lin Su asked.
"How could that be? You could just jump up there and it would look great."
"You have so much confidence in me."
This time, Zhou Yunqi finally said something irritating: "After all, I lowered my expectations to the bare minimum."
Lin Su said angrily, "What? You're so annoying."
He chuckled and sighed, "I can't help it if I don't lower my expectations, but even if I do, it won't work. You're quite difficult to please."
"Who told you to deliberately provoke me?"
"How could that be? If I upset you, I'd have to coax you."
Lin Su snorted and turned to look out the window.
She suddenly realized that the man seemed to be flirting with her.
But she quickly convinced herself that he was gentle with her most of the time, and sometimes he would tease her in a drawn-out tone.
This is also his true self.
If his family hadn't had that incident, he might have just been a roguish but handsome young man from a wealthy family.
But there are no "what ifs," and life forced him to become mature and composed.
Lin Su glanced at him sideways, then turned back and said nothing more.
He noticed her subtle movements and asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Su said softly, "Nothing much... I'm just thinking about when would be the best time to buy a ticket back to Beijing."
Zhou Yunqi smiled and said, "No rush, I'm asking for tickets for you."
"Hasn't the train station reopened? I can go there again."
He replied in a flat tone, "I don't take the train."
"Then where should we sit?"
"airplane."
"Flying!" Lin Su exclaimed, her first reaction was, "So expensive!"
The man driving replied casually, "I asked a friend to help me find out if there are any discounted plane tickets. It would take four or five days to get back to Beijing by train from here, and just getting to the provincial capital would take a whole day. It's much faster to fly."
"Even with a discount, it's still expensive, right? Did you take the train when you went home to visit your family before?"
“I’m a grown man, what’s the big deal about taking the train? I can just buy a sleeper ticket and sleep for a few days and I’ll be there. But if you’re stuck in the train, I’ll have to worry about you for days.”
“But…” Lin Su sighed softly.
He smirked: "Not long ago, I got in touch with a childhood friend I hadn't spoken to in a long time. He's a company commander in the civil aviation division at Beijing Airport, and sometimes he has to perform flight missions. He gets discounts on his flights, so I asked him to ask around to see if I could get an internal discount ticket."
"Oh," Lin Su replied. "If it's still expensive even after the discount, I'll just take the train. I can get there in a few days by sleeping."
He said he'd think about it.
The car drove back to the sugar factory.
As soon as he got out of the car, Xu Yaodong ran over: "Boss, boss, this is huge news!"
Zhou Yunqi had always thought Xu Yaodong was just a fussy person, so he said expressionlessly, "Speak."
"The central government has indeed made a decision; the policy for educated youth to return to the cities has been issued."
Lin Su: "..."
A few days ago, the central government sent people to convene a meeting of educated youth from four provinces and five cities in the provincial capital. The final decision was that educated youth in Yunnan Province who did not want to stay could return to the city, and several detailed rules and regulations were given accordingly, mainly to implement the return of educated youth to the city and solve the problems related to household registration.
Xu Yaodong showed them the newspaper, and Lin Su read it carefully.
At this time, there were still two days until the Chinese New Year.
Lin Su could almost imagine how excited everyone on the farm must have been.
At the same time, I was also wondering if people would not even celebrate the New Year properly and would just abandon their farm tools and return to the city.
Zhou Yunqi didn't seem surprised. He went straight to his office, made a phone call back to the farm, and instructed the deputy farm manager to calm everyone down so they wouldn't get too excited and cause any trouble.
Lin Su looked at him with unwavering composure and couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at him.
He hung up the phone and chuckled, "What kind of look is that?"
Lin Su pursed her lips: "It's nothing."
The phone rang again just after he hung up, and Zhou Yunqi answered it: "Hello."
The voice on the other end of the phone was slightly languid, with a more pronounced Beijing accent: "Director Zhou, it's really hard to get through to you. Either no one answers, or the line is busy."
Zhou Yunqi's eyes widened, and his expression relaxed considerably: "It's Company Commander Jin. Is there any news about the matter I asked you to handle?"
Jin Yucheng: "Hey, hey, don't try to fool me. I read the newspaper. If your side suddenly agrees to let educated youth return to the city, won't airfare prices skyrocket?"
Zhou Yunqi sat down: "Nonsense, the educated youth here are eating grass roots and gnawing on tree bark. Where would they get the money to fly? Not everyone is like you, with a fortune of thousands."
Jin Yucheng: "Where did I get all this wealth? I only have a little bit of allowance, not even enough to support my wife."
Ever since he reconnected with his childhood friend, he has been constantly talking about his wife. Hearing this, Zhou Yunqi gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, tell me what you've found out."
Jin Yucheng cleared his throat: "I consulted my uncle, and he said that your father's matter has been settled. You should also go back to Beijing to meet with the leaders, go through the motions, and hold a memorial service. Therefore, under the guise of official business, we can issue you a free flight permit."
Zhou Yunqi: "But I'm not asking for myself."
Jin Yucheng drawled, "Hey, who's that for?"
Zhou Yunqi glanced at Lin Su and replied in a low voice, "A girl."
Lin Su sat opposite him, holding up his enamel mug and blowing on the hot water. Judging from his speaking style, she could roughly guess that he was in contact with his childhood friend from the civil aviation company. Suddenly, when she heard him say "a girl," she couldn't help but look at him. Seeing that his lips were slightly pursed, she could only return a smile.
Jin Yucheng, on the other end of the phone, reacted quickly: "Is that girl your girlfriend?"
Zhou Yunqi looked at the dimples at the corners of her mouth and replied, "Not yet."
Jin Yucheng: "That means he's pursuing her."
Zhou Yunqi: "It hasn't started yet."
Jin Yucheng: "Seriously, Zhou Yunqi? Aren't you being way too slow?"
"Let me tell you, if you see someone you like, go for it, or someone else will snatch them up sooner or later."
Zhou Yunqi's heart sank. He heard that his childhood friend was openly and relentlessly pursuing his wife, making the whole courtyard gossip about them, which was completely opposite to his childhood personality of ignoring everyone.
He might have wanted to act recklessly like that, but ultimately, everyone's circumstances are different, and comparisons cannot be made arbitrarily.
Zhou Yunqi didn't answer his childhood friend, but looked at her gently, making Lin Su unsure where to look. She asked softly, "What's wrong?"
He chuckled and replied to the person on the other end of the phone, "Why don't you just give me a discount?"
Jin Yucheng sighed, "Wait a moment, I'll talk to my uncle and see what he says. I should get a reply sometime today. Remember to wait for my call, don't let me lose contact with you."
Zhou Yunqi: "Okay, thank you."
Jin Yucheng: "Don't be so polite, we're not that close."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yunqi paused to reflect.
To be honest, they weren't very close. They lived in different compounds and attended different middle schools. Back then, the kids from the different compounds didn't like each other and often had conflicts. They were both the type who didn't want to get involved, and since they were the same age, they often got together to play basketball.
After his family tragedy, he went to the southwestern border region, while she went to study at a flight school, and the two lost contact.
Not long ago, Jin Yucheng managed to find out his contact information. Goodness, when he got through on the phone, the man talked about his girlfriend the whole time, and even mentioned that his girlfriend's surname was also Zhou, which was why he remembered his childhood friend whom he had lost contact with.
On the surface, that's how it seems, but in reality, Zhou Yunqi guessed that it was probably Jin Yucheng's uncle who brought up those things about the Zhou family, which made this guy remember him.
Should we go back? It seems necessary.
Seeing that he had hung up the phone and fallen into deep thought, as if something had happened, Lin Su took his cup and poured him a glass of water.
Zhou Yunqi sat in the chair, still smiling as he watched her movements.
Lin Su said, "Why don't you have some water first?"
She pushed the glass of water.
Zhou Yunqi didn't take the water glass. Instead, he looked up into her clear eyes, a smile playing on his lips: "How about you take me back to the capital?"
Lin Su: "Huh?"
"You don't want to take me back to Beijing?"
"It's not that." Lin Su had many questions she wanted to ask, but didn't know which one to ask for a moment. After sorting through her thoughts, she said, "Isn't it the harvest season now? Are you free to come here?"
He leaned back in his chair, looking completely defeated: "There's no way I can finish all this work. I'm giving up. I'm quitting."
Lin Su didn't believe it: "You're willing to abandon this place?"
"Why wouldn't I be reluctant? We can just give it up. The policy for returning to the city has been issued, and everyone can return. Why can't I?"
Lin Su grinned, thinking he was just bluffing.
Unable to bear his tone, she punched him lightly. Just as she was about to move away and organize her thoughts to retort, her hand was suddenly grabbed by something. The man's large hand tightly gripped several of her fingers, tugged at them, and raised an eyebrow: "So violent. You said you'd take me back to the city with you."
Lin Su was momentarily stunned.
She felt there was something wrong with this man, a really big problem. She tried to shake him off, but couldn't.
He gripped it so tightly that he almost crushed several of his fingers. Yet, he wore a smug expression, behaving like a spoiled brat behaving like a thug.
"It hurts," Lin Su cried out.
Just then, Xu Yaodong ran in: "Boss, boss."
Zhou Yunqi: "..."
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Author's Note: Director Zhou: It's just a wife, everyone has one, right? And, kick Xu Yaodong out.
Note: Some readers might not have read this; Jin Yucheng, who appears in this chapter, is the male lead of the completed novel "The Daily Life of a Courtyard Beauty Dating," which you can read in the author's column. I hadn't originally planned a crossover, but as I was writing, I realized I could have him make a cameo appearance, though his role is quite small~~~ [Sprinkling flowers]
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