Chapter 38 The Male Lead Appears (Two Chapters Combined)
The two went directly to the station and took a direct bus. Since being reborn and reincarnated, this was the first time Gu Yin had taken a bus at this time of year.
Fortunately, there weren't many people at this time, so there were seats available.
Li Mengxin took out motion sickness medicine and gave it to Gu Yin: "Take it, you'll feel awful if you get motion sickness later."
Gu Yin reached out and took it. Yes, she had been carsick since her first time riding in a car as a child. Even later, when she was working, she was so busy that she would fall asleep as soon as she got on the bus. She didn't know why, but she no longer got carsick. If Li Mengxin hadn't mentioned it, Gu Yin would have almost forgotten that she was carsick.
Seeing that she had put the medicine in her hand but hadn't taken it, Li Mengxin asked in confusion, "Why aren't you taking it? Aren't you feeling carsick anymore?"
Gu Yin shook her head: "I can still bear it now. Let's wait until I can't bear it anymore before taking it. We can't rely on motion sickness medicine; we have to learn to overcome it."
Seeing her like this, Li Mengxin reached out and took the medicine from her: "Then I'll take it. There are oranges in the bag. Take them and smell them, then open the window and take a nap. Maybe you'll feel better."
They happened to be sitting in the last row, so opening the window wouldn't make others feel cold. Gu Yin opened the window just a crack between her fingers, and a cool breeze blew in, finally dissipating the unpleasant smell in the car and making it no longer unbearably stuffy.
Gu Yin put on the hood of her cotton coat, then nestled in the chair, closed her eyes to rest, and fell asleep without realizing it.
Startled by a sudden shout in her sleep, Gu Yin was awakened by the noise around her before she could even open her eyes.
Gu Yin opened her eyes and found herself leaning against the window, looking at the scenery outside. They had already arrived in the county. She turned her head to look inside the car, where a young man and a middle-aged woman were arguing in the middle seat.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Gu Yin approached Li Mengxin and asked in confusion.
Li Mengxin was watching the farce in front of her when she heard Gu Yin's question. She turned around and helped her put on her scarf: "That auntie said that the man was a thief. He was using pliers to grab her pockets, but he didn't grab the money. Instead, he grabbed the auntie's thigh and got caught by her."
Gu Yin looked at the aunt's pants. They were the kind of fabric bought on the street and sewn at home. Almost all the aunties in the countryside wore this kind of fabric. More importantly, these pants had a small pocket inside the waistband. Most of their money was kept in that pocket. Unless the money fell out by itself, it was impossible to steal it. The three women in the family wore these safe pants.
The middle-aged woman was quite fat, and she was grabbing a thief who was trying to get off the bus: "Behave yourself! If you move again, I'll beat you up! You look decent enough, and you're not disabled, you could do anything, why did you have to be a thief!"
The thief, who looked to be around 20 years old, was caught red-handed. His face turned red, whether from anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell. He struggled to get off the bus, shouting, "I didn't steal anything! Let me go!"
The woman ignored him and looked at the driver: "The traffic police brigade is a little further ahead. Let's drop him off there. Driver, please drive!"
The people in the car were also condemning the thief. Two men even stood by the car door to prevent the thief from escaping. People nowadays are very helpful and will help each other in times of trouble, unlike in later generations when people had to consider whether they would get hurt before doing good deeds. After all, there are just too many news stories about people who get into trouble after helping others.
About five minutes after the car started moving, the traffic police brigade was right next to the road. The driver stopped the car, and the woman pulled the thief out of the car. About ten minutes later, the woman returned, the car started moving, and the passengers asked her what had happened.
The aunt waved her hand dismissively: "I took him there and had the traffic police handle it. I came back as soon as I finished registering him. Humph, he tried to steal my money! My husband is a butcher, a pig slaughterer. From the time we got married until now, I've been going to sell pork with him in villages and towns all over the country. We've encountered all sorts of scoundrels, but I've never been taken advantage of. Judging from his appearance, he's probably new to this line of work. Humph, the police need to teach him a lesson!"
The people in the car said in unison, "With the New Year approaching, petty theft is starting to increase. Everyone needs to be careful when going out, just in case."
"I barely make any money all year round, and if I get robbed, I'd feel like dying!"
Li Mengxin leaned closer to Gu Yin: "You should keep your money safe too, it was all written by you, word by word!"
Gu Yin nodded. All her important belongings were inside the Sumeru Mustard Seed, so there was nothing to worry about.
It took another half hour for the car to finally arrive in the city, swaying and bumping along the way.
Gu Yin followed behind Li Mengxin and saw Gu Qinglang standing not far away as soon as she got out of the car.
Gu Yin's eyes lit up: "Dad's here to pick us up!"
Gu Qinglang also saw the two of them, waved to them, and then quickly ran over.
"What happened? Are you alright on the way?" Taking the bag from his wife, Gu Qinglang patted his daughter's shoulder and asked with a smile.
Li Mengxin smiled and shook her head: "It's nothing, just a bit of traffic. Have you booked the hotel yet? Let's go check out the place first!"
Gu Yin looked bewildered: "How did Dad know we were here?"
Gu Qinglang smiled at Gu Yin. After a summer, her short hair had grown to shoulder length and was cut into a student-style bob. Her face had also become fuller, making her look delicate and composed, with a kind of temperament that resembled that of a girl from the Republican era. She was completely different from her previous mischievous self.
“Ayin has grown up so much in just a few months. She changes every day. You’re so outstanding, how could your grandma not tell us? We know about you. We knew you were coming today, so I went to find a place to stay this morning. Your grandpa and uncle can’t take time off, otherwise they would have come to pick you up. We’ll go out for dinner together tonight.”
Gu Yin smiled and nodded: "Of course."
The cultural center is located in the city center. The hotel that Gu Qinglang booked was not far from the cultural center, about a ten-minute walk away. It was not very large, only about three stories high, and a bit old, but it was clean and tidy inside, with a complete set of items.
Gu Yin took the bed sheets and toiletries out of her bag.
Gu Qinglang smiled helplessly: "When did you become so obsessed with cleanliness? These sheets look so white, why can't I sleep on them?"
She brought her own bed sheets, a habit from her previous life. In her past life, when filming, the hotels and guesthouses where the crew stayed were all kinds of places, and she wasn't used to using the ones provided. This time, since she was planning to stay outside at night, she brought her own.
"So many people have used those sheets, Dad, don't you feel uncomfortable?"
Gu Qinglang didn't think anything of it at first, but then he glanced at Li Mengxin, and stood up seriously, saying, "It really is too unhygienic! Our daughter is right!"
After tidying up the items, Gu Qinglang looked at Gu Yin and Li Mengxin: "Are you two going to rest here while I go out to buy food, or shall we go together?"
Li Mengxin looked at Gu Yin: "Are you tired? If you're not tired, let's go downstairs to eat. After we eat, we can go to the cultural center to familiarize ourselves with the venue, so it will be convenient to go there tomorrow!"
Gu Yin was also thinking the same thing: "Let's go downstairs to eat!"
After the three locked the door, they left the hotel. Gu Qinglang led them to a fast food restaurant next door. It was already past 2 o'clock, but there weren't many people at this time. Two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes cost five yuan, and rice was all you could eat. Gu Yin glanced at the vegetable section and found that the owner gave a very generous portion, which was quite affordable.
Half an hour later, after lunch, the three of them walked for more than ten minutes and arrived at the cultural center. Since it was winter vacation, the cultural center was very lively. There were many stalls in the square, and upon closer inspection, they were all for enrollment information of various interest classes and tutoring classes.
The person at the stall closest to Gu Yin saw the family of three approaching and assumed they were also there for consultation, so he immediately greeted them warmly.
"Are you looking for tutoring or extracurricular classes? We have both! Come and take a look! I'm not bragging, but all the teachers in our training center are top-notch! Last year's top scorer in the college entrance exam was trained here! Look, these are all students from previous years who went on to top universities; they were all trained by us! There are still spots available since it's just the start of the holiday, so you'd better decide quickly, or they'll be gone by tomorrow!" He then handed them a brochure to look at.
Gu Yin reached out and took the document, flipping through it. There were indeed many students inside, including top scorers in the college entrance examination, top scorers in the middle school entrance examination, art students, and many others who had been admitted to universities. As for whether there was really any training program being held there, who knew?
Seeing that even those outstanding students were still receiving training, Li Mengxin became a little anxious and looked at Gu Qinglang: "Should our child also attend tutoring classes when he goes to high school? It always feels good to learn more."
Gu Qinglang nodded and then started asking the recruiter all sorts of questions. The two chatted quite animatedly.
Seeing that they weren't going to leave anytime soon, Gu Yin told Li Mengxin that she was going to check out other stalls.
Gu Yin wasn't too interested in those things, but when she saw a poster at the entrance of the cultural center about tomorrow's English speech contest, she went over to it.
The event was organized by the Municipal Publicity Department and the Organization Department. The judges included teachers from the English group of the Municipal Senior High School, teachers from English training institutions, and staff members from the Publicity Department and the Organization Department, totaling four judges. There was a lot of information about the four judges, and they had many different roles.
"Shall we come and watch the English speech contest tomorrow?" A male voice came from the side, and Gu Yin moved a little to the side.
"No way! What's there to see? It's all broken English, everyone has an accent, it's so tacky! Besides, didn't you promise to come with me to dance practice tomorrow? It's my first day, and I'm a little scared coming alone! Brother Chu Yan, didn't you promise Grandma Ye you'd show me around here? You can't go back on your word!" A spoiled girl's voice said discontentedly.
Chu Yan looked into the distance and said casually, "That was my mother's stepmother's promise, not mine. If you have any questions, go find her. Don't keep making these pointless threats. I'm leaving." With that, he lifted his long legs and walked away in a relaxed yet elegant manner.
After the group left, Gu Yin turned around and looked at them. There were two men and a woman. The girl was wearing a long red down jacket that reached her knees, white leather shoes, beige stockings, and long curly hair. She looked very elegant. She was stamping her feet and talking to the boy next to her. The boy comforted her the whole way.
The boy in front of them looked very tall, wearing a black hoodie set with a short black down jacket over it, a baseball cap on his head, his hands in his pockets, and his long legs walking lazily. Even from behind, he seemed outstanding, with a noble air about him, somewhat like a wealthy young master played by a senior actor in the entertainment industry in his previous life. It was a pity that his face couldn't be seen.
Chu Yan felt a gaze on him, turned around and looked back, but found nothing. Ye Tiantian's eyes lit up when she saw Chu Yan turn around, thinking that he had given in. She was about to pretend to be angry and ask him to coax her when she saw him turn his head again and walk faster and faster.
Ye Tiantian pointed at his back and shouted angrily, "Xia Tian! Look at him!"
Summer was getting a headache. If he had known there was a Ye Tiantian here, he would have... he would have come over anyway!
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. Yan-ge probably didn't take a nap and is upset, that's why he's like this. You never see him like this usually. Besides, you can talk to your aunt later. Once your aunt tells Yan-ge's grandfather, he won't dare to brush you off, right?" Yeah, right! If Chu Yan were an obedient person, he wouldn't have run off to this school after getting angry with his father! Ye Qian is just a step-grandmother. Chu Yan ignores her when he's in a good mood, and completely ignores her when he's in a bad mood! Even Grandpa Yao can't control him. Only Ye Tiantian is a bit of a fool. If it weren't for wanting to get close to Chu Yan, he wouldn't even approach this idiot!
Hearing what he said, Ye Tiantian thought it made sense, so she gave a haughty snort and chased after him.
Gu Yin glanced at the three people and then turned back, unaware that Chu Yan had turned around.
After walking around and getting familiar with the place, the family of three went home. At seven o'clock in the evening, Grandpa Gu and Gu Qingming came over, and the five of them found a small restaurant to have a get-together.
After all the dishes were served, Gu Yin glanced at the three of them. They were fatter than Xia Tian. Gu Qingming was literate and, I heard, had switched to an easier job after working for a while. He was now in charge of inspecting those who tied steel bars. Grandpa Gu and Uncle Gu were helping in the kitchen. They were both good cooks and could cook with ease, so the foreman fired the stingy cook and replaced him with the two of them.
"Grandpa, are you sure when you're going back?" Gu Yin asked, placing a piece of food on the old man's plate.
The old man nodded: "It wasn't confirmed before, but it's confirmed today. We'll go back on the 28th of the lunar year! We can spend a whole day doing a thorough cleaning when we get back, and the next day is New Year's Eve!"
"Then you'll miss the pig-slaughtering feast. Our pig is so fat, Grandma raised it to be really good!" Gu Yin said with a smile.
The old man took a sip and shook his head: "There's nothing we can do. We can't leave. I'll tell Grandma later that we should keep the pig's head for our own braised dishes and not sell it."
Li Mengxin nodded: "Don't worry, Dad, we won't sell a single pound of meat this year, we'll make all sausages and cured meat!"
"That's good, that's good! Life is getting better and better, and the children are doing well. Back when we were fleeing famine, we all dreamed of having a day like this!" The old man said with emotion, then looked at Gu Yin: "Is everything prepared for tomorrow's competition?"
Gu Yin nodded and reached out to pour him a drink: "No problem, everything is ready."
"That's good. We don't need to be nervous tomorrow. Your dad is right, participation is what matters. Let's treat this as an opportunity to broaden our horizons. We'll come again if we have another chance! Look at your school, you're the only one who came. Grandpa is proud! Don't feel pressured. Eat well, sleep well, and get plenty of rest! Do your best in the competition tomorrow!" He then placed a chicken leg into Gu Yin's bowl.
Although she was confident, her family didn't understand. Gu Yin didn't make any promises to them, but she knew they would find out tomorrow anyway, so she obediently accepted the old man's kindness.
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