grandmother
On the afternoon of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Tao Guohua returned home drunk and slept until it was almost dark before waking up.
Tao Chu couldn't get Tao Guohua to come up with a drink. Xu Jing stood by with her arms crossed, watching helplessly. Tao Chu guessed that Xu Jing had probably encouraged Tao Guohua to get drunk so that she wouldn't be able to go back to her grandmother's house.
Tao Chu didn't dare to drive out alone at night, fearing that someone would take advantage of him being alone. Since Tao Guohua couldn't go, he decided to bring Xu Jing and her daughter along.
She called her grandmother in front of Xu Jing: "Grandma, my dad has drunk too much. He asked Aunt Xu and Xu Lingling to come back with me to visit you."
Xu Jing raised an eyebrow and glared at Tao Chu, who had acted first and reported later.
Tao Chu continued, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, "I know you don't want to see them—but I'm scared driving alone at night, and I haven't been back in a long time so I don't know the way. Okay, fine."
Xu Jing was furious: "Who wants to go with you?!"
Tao Chu shrugged: "Anyway, I've already told my grandma. If you two don't go, she'll definitely tell my dad."
Tao Chu went back to her study to put on her coat. Xu Jing watched as she picked up the New Year's goods Tao Guohua had bought in advance, grabbed her car keys, and prepared to leave. Remembering the old lady's harsh temper, Xu Jing couldn't help but say, "Wait a minute—"
Tao Chu's grandmother, Li Yuzhi, is a retired professor from the School of Journalism at Jianglin University. After her husband passed away, she lived alone in an apartment building on the old campus.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw her granddaughter whom she had been longing for day and night, and rushed forward to cup her face in her hands: "Oh my, you've lost so much weight!"
Tao Chu smiled and said, "I've been quite busy lately. Grandma, these are New Year's goods that Dad bought."
Tao Chu bent down and put down several boxes of New Year's goods. Li Yuzhi saw Xu Jing and her daughter smiling awkwardly behind her and nodded: "You're here."
“Yes, Mom, we came to see you.” Xu Jing said.
Normally, Xu Jing would call out "Mom" a couple of times while following Tao Guohua around, and Li Yuzhi would pretend not to hear it.
But with Tao Chu here today, that "Mom" sounded really jarring.
"Just call me Aunt Li." After saying that, Li Yuzhi put her arm around Tao Chu and walked towards the sofa. Her hand was on Tao Chu's waist, but she could barely grab any flesh. "No, she's too thin. How can her body handle this!"
Tao Chu has been practicing Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) since he went to university. Although he looks thin, he is not physically weak.
However, I haven't been able to exercise for the past two months, so I've lost some muscle.
As soon as she sat down, Li Yuzhi opened the lid of a box of imported candy and stuffed a handful of candy into Tao Chu's hand: "Toffee, you loved eating this when you were little."
Tao Chu looked down at the beautifully packaged candy and remembered that when she was a child, her parents would only allow her to have two candies a day during the Chinese New Year. Whenever she arrived at her grandmother's house, she was like a little mouse that had fallen into a candy jar.
Lately, she's never been without a refreshing mint in her pocket.
In comparison, the toffee in my palm now feels like a bubble from a childhood dream—beautiful but untouchable.
Seeing that she was looking down and not eating, Li Yuzhi picked up a candy, peeled off the wrapper, and fed it to her: "Nowadays, girls are afraid of gaining weight from eating candy. What's the big deal about one or two? You're so thin, what's the harm in eating more?"
Tao Chu was stunned for a moment, but looking at her grandmother's earnest smile, she still opened her mouth and took it in.
It's so sweet! The rich milky aroma makes me want to lean back on the sofa and close my eyes comfortably. Let me enjoy this carefree happiness for just one more minute.
Seeing the two women chatting intimately, Xu Jing and her mother wisely sat down to the side.
There were many nuts and snacks on the table. Xu Lingling looked at the opened box of candy on the table and reached out to take it.
Li Yuzhi glanced at it and said, "You really know how to pick."
Xu Lingling's hand, which was holding the candy, froze in mid-air, at a loss.
Xu Jing was genuinely angry now. What's wrong with a kid eating a couple of candies? They're already opened anyway.
Just as she was about to defend her daughter, Li Yuzhi said, "This was given to me by my student when she came to visit me yesterday. She asked a friend who was on a business trip to Switzerland to bring it back because she remembered me saying that my granddaughter loves sweets."
It turned out that it was specially given to Tao Chu. Xu Jing cursed the old lady for being biased in her heart, and gestured to her daughter to ignore her and continue eating.
Watching Xu Lingling put the food in her mouth, Li Yuzhi continued with a smile, "You all know this student of mine—Lingling, she's your father. Oh, she's your previous father, Fei Xun."
Xu Lingling was startled and coughed, so Xu Jing quickly got up to pat her daughter's back.
Li Yuzhi was already holding Tao Chu's hand, and when she saw Tao Chu secretly smiling, she mischievously squeezed her granddaughter's palm as well.
Fei Xun was Li Yuzhi's prized student. When he was studying for his master's degree under her guidance, he brought his girlfriend Xu Jing to his home for a few meals. It was through this that Xu Jing met Tao Guohua, who was already married.
Xu Jing never visited again, but Li Yuzhi heard Fei Xun mention that they had gotten married and had a daughter.
The next time she saw Xu Jing was more than ten years later—her son, who had recently divorced Xu Weirong, brought Xu Jing to their door and said they wanted to be together.
Therefore, Li Yuzhi simply couldn't like Xu Jing, and consequently, she disliked Xu Lingling as well.
Yesterday, Fei Xun came to visit, not only to see his mentor, but also to inquire about the situation of his daughter, Xu Lingling.
He said he hadn't seen Lingling in a long time, and she rarely replied to messages, so he didn't know how his daughter was doing.
After raising her for more than ten years, the father still thinks about his daughter and tries every means to find out about her recent situation. How can the daughter not feel any affection for her daughter?
Looking at Xu Lingling's face, which was flushed red from choking, Li Yuzhi said, "I hadn't noticed before, but as Lingling grows up, she doesn't look like Fei Xun anymore. Xu Jing, don't you think so?"
Tao Chu also turned to look, and Xu Lingling hurriedly lowered her head, helplessly tugging at her mother's sleeve.
Xu Jing forced a smile and said, "Girls change a lot as they grow up. Besides, now that I'm in college, I know how to wear makeup. I look different every day. Sometimes I can't even recognize myself."
Tao Chu seemed to realize something: "Upon closer inspection, Lingling's features do resemble mine a bit..."
Xu Jing and Xu Lingling's expressions both changed, while Li Yuzhi affectionately patted Tao Chu's face: "Nonsense—"
Xu Jing was about to agree with the old lady when Li Yuzhi immediately added, "You're much prettier than her."
Xu Jing held her breath in her throat, her face turning red, and she barely ate any dinner.
The grandmother and granddaughter were eating and chatting. Li Yuzhi said that she had seen news reports that things were very chaotic abroad recently, and things were not peaceful at school either. She was worried about whether Tao Chu's graduation would be affected.
Tao Chu swallowed the rice in his mouth and said, "It's hard to say, maybe... some people have a harder time getting their graduation certificate and degree certificate."
"It's alright. The journalism program at C University isn't necessarily better than ours at Jianglin University. You can come back and study there; the most important thing is safety."
"Well, it's still a bit of a pity. I'll graduate in about half a year—and getting my student registration won't be easy either."
"You don't need to worry about the student registration. Fei Xun works in the education department. Just ask him what procedures are required."
Tao Chu nodded thoughtfully.
After returning home that evening, Tao Chu packed her luggage for the ship, watched Cen Le's live stream for a while, and then called her during her break.
Has anyone contacted the old phone number in the last few days?
"Nothing's happening at all. Should I bring it with me when I board the ship tomorrow?"
"Okay, take it with you."
"Should we pretend we don't know each other? What if your dad recognizes me?"
“My dad is so busy with bureau chiefs and school principals that he doesn’t have time to pay attention to young girls.”
"Haha, that's good. By the way, I attended a party a few days ago, and a guy named Li Yue said that he was the one who organized the 'Dream Chaser on the River' event. I thought he was just another braggart, but when I found out, it turns out he's actually Li Pengcheng's illegitimate son!"
"illegitimate child?"
"Yes, it is said that Li Pengcheng boasted about his success philosophy at a dinner party back then, saying that men should have vision and dare to gamble."
His first gamble was on his father-in-law; after the marriage, his father-in-law gave him money and people to help him build his business.
His second gamble was on the right situation; when he saw the winds were blowing in the wrong direction, he immediately changed his approach.
The third gamble was on having the right backer, which should refer to Zhou Bingcheng, though he dared not reveal his full name.
If you ask me, his wife made a huge mistake, gambling with their family's resources on a man's conscience. As a result, they didn't have a son during their marriage, and Li Pengcheng had one outside the marriage.
"So it seems the maiden voyage event will be Li Yue's debut?"
"I think so. Be careful, this guy is a bit crazy. He got drunk that day and caused a scene that no one could stop. I slipped away as soon as I saw things were getting out of hand. By the way, have you seen those videos that teach makeup tricks and flirting techniques? We're going to board the ship and see Wen Yunsheng tomorrow, so you should cram at the last minute."
"Okay, okay..." Tao Chu hung up the phone with a wry smile.
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