Chapter 29 "Let you hold my waist."...
Chapter Twenty-Nine: "Let You Hold My Waist"
Zhou Yunqi arrived by bicycle. He smiled, patted the back seat, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "Want to get on?"
Lin Su was speechless: "Grandpa Gu's house is only a few dozen meters away, why does he have to ride a bike?"
"If you don't want to ride, I'll push you around." He seemed to be just doing it for fun.
Lin Su then smiled and said, "Okay."
She sat in the back seat, swinging her legs, and he laughed when he saw this, saying, "Like a child."
Zhou Yunqi pushed his bicycle forward. People they encountered stared at them, but none of them recognized Lin Su, assuming they were a young couple.
"Did you share a bed with your stepsister yesterday?" he asked.
"No, I kicked my stepbrother and my brother into the living room, and I slept in the room by myself."
Zhou Yunqi: "Stepbrother?"
"Yes, my stepmother's son is living with us now. His grandfather has passed away."
How old is he?
"22 years old."
Which company do you work for?
"An electronics factory that makes radios, stereos, and the like."
Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
"No."
He clicked his tongue.
Lin Su asked, "Why are you asking so clearly?"
Zhou Yunqi didn't respond, only saying, "With such a large family, you seem like an outsider."
Lin Su said softly, "I've always been an outsider."
"I want to go to boarding school in my senior year of high school so I don't have to go home every day."
"Okay, don't worry about going to school, I'll arrange it for you."
Lin Su glanced at him from the car and said, "You've arranged everything for me?"
"Otherwise what?" he laughed. "How can I feel at ease over there if I don't make sure you're settled?"
Lin Su felt a little disappointed when she heard that he would eventually return to the southwest, which was a long way away.
He also fell silent; neither of them seemed to want to bring it up.
Fortunately, Grandpa Gu's house was just ahead. They lived on the first floor, and the elderly couple were both retired and busy taking care of their grandchildren. It was also the Lunar New Year, and relatives were visiting, so the house was very lively.
Lin Su followed Zhou Yunqi to their doorstep, where Grandpa Gu and Grandma Li came out to greet them. Grandma Li even said, "Little Zhou, you brought your girlfriend home!"
Lin Su was extremely embarrassed and introduced herself: "Grandma Li, no, I am Su Su, Lin Su."
The two elderly people were incredibly surprised that she had grown into a beautiful young woman. They said that they had casually mentioned it to Xiao Zhou at the time, never expecting that she would transfer to his branch farm; it was just a coincidence.
As they chatted, Grandma Li really wanted to ask them what their relationship was, but she didn't want to ask directly, so she just said, "Xiao Zhou, have you found a boyfriend yet?"
Zhou Yunqi said, "Not for now, I have to go back to the farm."
"Go back to the farm?" the two old men asked almost in unison.
A relative of theirs, a middle-aged man, asked in bewilderment, "All the educated youth have returned to the city, why do you still want to go back?"
"I still have work over there, so I can't give up yet."
"In my opinion, we should let them go if we can, and let them come back to the capital. This place will develop sooner or later," the middle-aged man said.
Zhou Yunqi said, "I'll be back as soon as possible."
After sitting for an hour, Zhou Yunqi got up and said it was time to leave.
The old man said, "Eat before you leave."
"Next time, we'll have to go to another educated youth's house and bring him some things back."
The old man did not linger and escorted them outside.
After walking a distance, he hung Lin Su's bag on the handlebars of the bicycle, then sat on the bicycle, his long legs touching the ground, and let Lin Su sit on the back seat.
"Hold on tight."
Lin Su gripped a metal bar under the bicycle seat: "Hold on tight."
He turned his head and couldn't help but sigh, "You're the one who had to hug my waist."
Lin Su paused for a moment: "Oh."
A moment later, Lin Su reached out with one hand to his lower abdomen and gripped his clothes tightly.
The man glanced down, smiled, and said, "I'm leaving."
Bicycles travel smoothly on the streets of Beijing. Occasionally, buses or cars will pass by, but the most frequent vehicles are bicycles.
It was a cloudy day, and the early spring wind felt dry and cold on her face. Lin Su couldn't help but miss the sunshine in the southwestern border region.
As Zhou Yunqi rode, he inquired about some details of her life at home yesterday.
Lin Su was afraid that he would think she was being bullied, so she told him in detail how she had manipulated his family.
Zhou Yunqi's face grew even darker upon hearing this.
Lin Su couldn't see his face and was smugly thinking she had done a great job, unaware that the man on the bicycle was gritting his teeth and frowning.
He didn't say anything for the time being, but stopped at the famous roast duck restaurant and took her there to eat roast duck first.
Lin Su loved roasted duck skin until it was golden brown and crispy, so he simply peeled the skin off separately and rolled it into a dough for her to eat.
Having eaten with him many times, Lin Su was already used to him taking care of her. He said, "If you ever crave something sweet while you're studying, you can come over for a treat."
Lin Su looked at him and said, "But you're not here, so there's no one to roll up my noodles."
His expression froze, and his gaze turned deep.
Lin Su had originally intended to test the waters, but when she was struck by his helpless gaze, she instantly felt like she was being incredibly naive, only capable of throwing out such unanswerable remarks to embarrass him. So she awkwardly said, "Then I'll roll it myself."
He said, "You roll it up first, I'll finish it when I get back."
She then pursed her lips and nodded.
"Eat quickly, we need to go to the Xu family's house after we finish eating, and then we have to go back to the compound."
Lin Su couldn't help but ask, "So you rode a bike the whole way? Can your legs handle it?"
He laughed and said, "Can't take it? Why don't you ride for a bit?"
Lin Su: "That's fine too."
This bicycle has a single bar, not the double bar type. Lin Su felt that she could manage to ride it.
However, as Lin Su was about to ride the duck after leaving the roast duck restaurant, the man said casually, "You dare to ride it, but I don't dare to sit on it. It wouldn't look good if I fell, especially during the New Year."
Lin Su hugged his waist, sat in the back seat, and said with a smile, "Are you afraid of being laughed at by others, saying that a grown man is being driven by a girl?"
He didn't respond, only saying coldly, "Hold on tighter."
Lin Su hugged her tighter.
After thinking about it, I simply rested my head on his back.
Zhou Yunqi's back stiffened, and he turned around to look at him: "Feeling sleepy?"
"kind of."
"How about we find a place to rest first?"
"No need, I'll just rest for a bit."
"Alright."
Xiangchun Hutong got its name from the Chinese toon trees planted there. The Xu family lived in a large courtyard in the hutong, with neighbors standing close together. In order to build an extra room, each family occupied the road.
Zhou Yunqi had been here before and was quite familiar with them.
The entire Xu family, including the grandmother, parents, brothers and sisters, were crammed into a narrow house. When guests came, the children had to be sent out, otherwise there would be no place to sit.
Although it was very crowded and there was no personal space, it was indeed full of life. Lin Su sat happily in their house, listening to Xu Yaodong's mother nag for a while, saying that Yaodong was lucky to have Director Zhou taking care of him, otherwise he might have starved to death.
Xu Yaodong's younger brother, Xu Yaozhong, had a clever look on his face. When he received the five Hongtashan cigarettes, he said happily, "Not bad at all, we're going to make a fortune from this."
Xu's mother added, "Look at him, that's all he's good for. I'm worried he'll get caught one day and be convicted of speculation."
Xu Yaozhong put away the cigarettes and came out: "Mom, how could that be? I'm just doing a small business, transferring money from one hand to the other. Unlike them, who are dealing with state and collective assets, that's a serious crime."
...
After leaving the alley, we headed to the courtyard where Zhou Yunqi had once lived.
Lin Su laughed and said, "It feels like we're on a trip together today. We first strolled through the hutongs, then visited the courtyards, and even ate the famous Peking duck."
Zhou Yunqi said, "How could you be traveling with me? I'm clearly a rickshaw driver."
Lin Su was annoyed: "Then I'll pedal, but you're not willing, afraid of being laughed at."
He laughed and kept pedaling his bicycle, leading her into the courtyard.
Their family used to live in the General Logistics Department compound, which was considered the highest-ranking of all the compounds, with sentries at the gate, but they didn't check them. Zhou Yunqi nodded to the other person and then led her inside on his bicycle.
It is very spacious inside. The family living area is like a street block, with various living facilities, such as a cinema, auditorium, bathhouse, and sports field.
He stopped in front of a detached house with a small courtyard. Lin Su asked, "Did your family used to live here?"
Zhou Yunqi gave a low hum: "Other leaders are staying here now."
Lin Su looked around. This area consisted of detached houses, essentially villas, and the people who lived there were of a very high social standing.
She didn't know what to say, but his emotions remained calm as he said indifferently, "Let's go to the family quarters office and ask if they've taken back the dormitory room I was assigned to."
I continued riding my bike forward. In the courtyard, many children were setting off fireworks and firecrackers, and others were chasing each other around.
Lin Su said, "How lively! These are the real children of high-ranking families."
He said, "There used to be more people, and the kids would run around like swarms. But these past two years, every time I come back, it feels much quieter."
"It's probably because you've grown up, and you no longer see children in your eyes."
He chuckled softly, "Yes. I've grown up."
Zhou Yunqi inquired in his office while Lin Su waited outside.
Looking around, the green environment and sanitation of the residential area are very well done, clean and tidy. Compared with this, their family compound is simply dirty and messy.
Most of the people who left here carried the unique arrogance of the compound. Zhou Yunqi, in particular, had the pride of a son of a general, which even his years as a sent-down youth had not worn away.
Looking up, I saw him strolling over with an enigmatic smile on his face.
"how's it going?"
He suddenly laughed out of nowhere: "Because I never went through the handover procedures and someone else applied for a dormitory, that dormitory was given to them."
Lin Su: "Huh? What should we do then?"
His tone was very light, as if he were mocking himself: "Yes, what am I going to do? I'm really homeless now."
Although he doesn't care about these things and is always optimistic, he knows he can't go back for the time being, so he doesn't want to occupy the dormitory without living there.
She knew he would have whatever he wanted in the future, but Lin Su still felt a pang of sadness and couldn't help but want to hug him.
Or perhaps, she simply couldn't bear the fact that such a good man was homeless at the moment and needed him to comfort her. So she lowered her head, leaned over, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face in his chest.
Even though people were coming and going around them, and some were giving them strange looks, she didn't want to pay any attention to them.
The man gently and calmly embraced her slender back, nuzzling his cheek against her hair.
"Silly girl, what's there to be sad about? Are you afraid I'll end up homeless?"
"Zhou Yunqi—" she whispered, sniffing.
"Yes, I'm here."
She rubbed against his shirt for a while: "If you end up on the streets, I won't abandon you."
He laughed: "How do you plan to manage me? Take me to your house and I'll sleep in the living room too?"
Lin Su thought for a moment and said, "I'll kick my stepmother's family out, and then you'll have a place to stay. Anyway, I don't like them either."
He said coldly, "You have nothing better to do than fight with your stepmother's family?"
At this point, he pulled the person out of his arms and began to question them without any politeness: "I went through all the trouble of raising you to be like this, just so you could fight against them?"
The more she talked, the angrier I got. I heard her smugly talking about how she dealt with her stepmother on the way here, and the more I listened, the more uncomfortable I felt.
Lin Su was a little confused and argued, "It wasn't a fight, it was just a normal retaliation."
With a serious expression, he admonished, "Listen to me carefully. I raised you to be so healthy, beautiful, and smart, not so that you would come back and fight with them. You should go to a top university, study the major you want to study, and do the job you want to do, instead of focusing your energy on how to deal with these people with low cognitive abilities."
Lin Su was stunned.
She had never seen Zhou Yunqi speak to her in such a serious tone before; he was genuinely reprimanding her.
"Did you understand?" He tried to control his tone, but he couldn't hide his anger.
Lin Su nodded: "I understand. I didn't mean to get involved with them, but we'll be staying together for the next few days, and I can't let them think I'm weak and easy to bully."
He sighed deeply, reached out and touched her face, wiping the corner of her eye. His rough fingers scraped against her skin, causing a slight stinging sensation.
The man stroked the smooth, fair skin and softened his tone: "I don't want you to fight with them. It's not that I want you to become weak and easily bullied, but these trivial matters are not worth your time and energy."
“I know.” She understood his intention.
He continued, "The staff just said I can apply for a new dormitory with my dad's last workplace. I plan to try my best. Then you can move into my dormitory and go to a nearby high school. Study hard and don't get involved with your stepmother's family."
Lin Su: "Huh?"
"Huh what?"
"Wait, it's possible to apply for a dormitory room?"
He then smiled and said, "I hadn't even finished speaking when you tried to snuggle into my arms. What could I do?"
Lin Su: "..."
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