Chapter 77 Chapter 77 This little girl is not simple
The midsummer evening glow imbued the small town of Jiangtan with a tranquil, warm atmosphere. Smoke from cooking rose from the windows of residential buildings, dimly illuminated by the newly lit streetlights. The clatter of iron spoons scraping at the bottom of pots and the tinkle of bicycle bells drifted past car windows. Elderly family members, calling home from work and children from school, hastened their pace home for dinner.
Lian Qiao received a call from Ji Yinhe before lunch. Since her daughter rarely came home for a meal, she naturally wanted to do her best. So she got the best ingredients from the store, rushed home at 2 p.m., and started stewing the meat on the stove.
Ji Jianguo did not go to follow Ding Tongguang tonight, but left work early to help his wife.
The three of them were in perfect harmony, their timing impeccable. As Ms. Lian scooped the last dish from the pot, Old Ji was already gazing out the window.
The Grand Cherokee slowly stopped downstairs. Ji Yinhe jumped out of the passenger seat and waved to the person in the driver's seat.
Ji Jianguo quickly reported: "She's back... It seems that Lu Zheng sent her back!"
"Hey, hey!" Lian Qiao put down the spatula in her hand, rushed to the window, and shouted downstairs, "Is Teacher Lu here too? Come up and eat!"
Lu Zheng wasn't surprised at all, but he still stuck his head out of the car window, smiling beautifully, "Thank you, Boss Lian. I won't disturb you three!"
Lian Qiao waved her hand. "Why bother you? You're already home, so don't be polite! I made a lot of food tonight, and it would be a waste if we can't finish it!"
"That's right!" Comrade Xiao Ji also extended a warm invitation. "Let's go up and eat together. Otherwise, what are you going to do alone? Should we go back to the Municipal Bureau and eat in the cafeteria?"
Lu Zheng suppressed his secretly pleased expression and nodded with a smile, "Then I'll obey your command!"
He parked the car and followed Ji Yinhe upstairs.
It was the first time for him to go to the home of the girl he liked, and even an experienced expert like Lu Da could not help but feel a little hesitant.
Comrade Xiao Ji was halfway up the stairs when he turned around and saw Teacher Lu taking a deep breath.
"What's the matter?" she asked in surprise.
"..." Lu Zheng laughed, "I didn't bring anything with me. It's really rude to come here empty-handed."
Ji Yinhe blinked in confusion, "It's okay! My parents have a very good impression of you! ...Besides, you've sent gifts to our family so many times, I'd be embarrassed to give me another one!"
Lu Zheng curled his lips slightly, "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Ji Jianguo had already opened the door and was standing at the entrance, greeting him with a smile and instructing him to change into slippers.
Lu Zheng bowed and greeted people stiffly, then sat on the sofa, chatting with Ji Jianguo while glancing around with his peripheral vision.
Comrade Old Ji's good luck is well-known throughout Jiangtan, and Ms. Lian is an expert at running a shop. Although Comrade Young Ji is low-key in the workplace, his food, clothing and daily necessities occasionally reveal his wealthy family background.
Their house in Meiqingyuan is square, with a large living room. The ceiling fan above their heads brings a cool breeze, and the large Panasonic TV in front of them is playing a popular singing program.
Ji Yinhe went to inspect the kitchen, then ran into the second bedroom humming a song, closed the door and changed clothes. Lu Zheng quickly withdrew his gaze and chatted with Ji Jianguo respectfully.
Comrade Ji was extremely interested in his daughter's work at the provincial department. He pulled Teacher Lu aside and asked her all sorts of questions: "How's the food like there?" "Do you have a lot of overtime?" "How's the salary?" ...
Lu Zheng didn't give any perfunctory answers, answering each one seriously. It wasn't until Ji Yinhe came out of the room in a home T-shirt and sports shorts, set the table, and interrupted with a smile, "Dad, don't ask anymore, let's eat!"
"Eat, eat!" Ji Jianguo patted his head and happily went into the kitchen to serve the dishes.
Lian Qiao was not being polite when speaking to Lu Zheng. The dishes tonight were indeed exceptionally sumptuous. In the middle of the table were grilled meat skewers and a vegetable platter sprinkled with cumin and chili salt. Next to them were tender chicken stewed with hazel mushrooms, Luoding fish tofu and baby cabbage, egg and mulberry leaf soup, osmanthus jelly, and a clay pot rice with cured meats sprinkled with a generous layer of sausage and barbecued pork.
Ji Jianguo doesn't drink, so he took out a few bottles of orange soda from the refrigerator, pried open the bottle caps with a "pop", filled the glasses in front of everyone, and then held them high, "Welcome Teacher Lu to our home!"
Lian Qiao and Ji Yinhe also raised their glasses and shouted, "Welcome, welcome!"
"...Thank you." Lu Zheng felt his cheeks getting a little hot.
In comparison, his family, which is composed of senior officials and intellectuals, seems somewhat cold and heartless.
The four of them chatted and laughed as they ate. Lian Qiao suddenly patted her daughter's shoulder and said, "It's just that Teacher Lu is driving this time. Why don't you take the rabbit doll you didn't bring to Jingzhou last time?"
"Ah..." Ji Yinhe's ears turned red instantly, and he buried his head and said, "Yeah, I know."
Lu Zheng held the bowl and raised an eyebrow, "...rabbit doll?"
——Is this the doll he bought for Ji Yinhe when he went on a business trip to Xiazhou after returning to the provincial department?
"That's right." Lian Qiao shook her head and sighed, "You're so grown up, but you still need to hug a rabbit when you sleep..."
Comrade Xiao Ji picked up a chicken leg and stuffed it into Ms. Lian's bowl, interrupting hurriedly, "Mom, eat quickly! It's stewed especially well today, so delicious!"
"..." Lian Qiao looked at her daughter's expression and understood what she meant, then started eating the chicken leg.
Comrade Lu Zheng's lips were curled up and could hardly be suppressed.
"Ahem..." Comrade Lao Ji came to his daughter's rescue, "Is your return related to the case? All the murderers have come to Jiangtan..."
Ji Yinhe became excited when talking about the case. The embarrassment he had just felt disappeared, and he immediately told the whole story of the case in full.
Lian Qiao narrowed her eyes. "...You said the deceased in Jingzhou is suspected to be Wu Sijia? Our neighbor's missing little girl?"
"Yes." Comrade Xiao Ji pointed to his eyes with certainty, "I definitely wouldn't mistake her. Although she may not be the deceased, I found a photo in the home of the missing Wu Sijia—"
Lu Zheng stretched out his arm tacitly and hooked the bag she placed on the sofa. Ji Yinhe opened her paw and took out the photo frame she had taken from Wu Tianfeng's house that day.
The two book travelers at the table slowly put down their chopsticks and stared at that face quietly.
...It’s Wu Sijia.
Both of them were startled and took a deep breath without making any sound.
I didn’t expect that Wu Sijia is still alive... This little girl is really not that simple.
In the second half of "The Return of the Lost Real Daughter of the 1970s", Wu Sijia, a sophisticated egoist and Su Yue's college classmate, successfully hooks up with a local wealthy businessman through a banquet at the Su family, escapes from an ordinary working-class family, and becomes a wealthy wife.
After moving to Meiqingyuan, Lian Qiao discovered that the little girl next door was the impressive female supporting role in the novel. At first, she was a little worried and didn't want Ji Yinhe and Wu Sijia to have too much contact.
But the two were still young at the time, and she secretly observed them several times - the little girls got along very happily with each other, so Ms. Lian did not interfere too much with her daughter's freedom to make friends, but just gave her a few subtle reminders to teach her whether the other person had bad intentions.
However, just after the summer vacation was over, Wu Sijia suddenly disappeared!
This is completely different from the plot of the original book. Lian Qiao discussed it privately with Ji Jianguo - they changed many plot points in the first half of the original book by traveling through the book. According to the butterfly effect, it may also indirectly change Wu Sijia's fate.
Out of guilt, they concealed their identities and did their best to provide clues to Wu's parents and the police station.
But there was still no news of Wu Sijia.
Later, the Wu family moved out of Jiangtan, Ji Yinhe decided to become a policeman, and Lian Qiao and Ji Jianguo shifted their focus to their current life.
——Until that day Ji Yinhe called and asked.
Who would have thought that the quiet little girl would end up in Jingzhou alone, be adopted, and become a stewardess!
What she didn't expect was that she would be involved in a murder case!
Ji Jianguo and Lian Qiao were silent for a moment and neither spoke.
Although they had provided Ji Yinhe with clues several times before, those were facts that were set in stone.
But this time it was different. Although they had some doubts about Wu Sijia's behavior, they had no substantial evidence.
It might even disrupt Ji Yinhe's thinking on the case.
Therefore, after a moment of silence, Ji Jianguo and Lian Qiao smiled in tacit understanding and shouted - "No way!" "What a coincidence!" "Maybe the police station will contact the Wu couple" and these words evaded the matter.
"All right……"
Although Ji Yinhe could see that Old Ji and Ms. Lian looked unhappy, they were unwilling to say anything, so he could only put the photos away and wait for a chance to try to get more information from them.
…
After dinner, Ji Yinhe naturally stayed at home.
Lu Zheng stood up politely and helped clear the dishes on the table.
Although Mr. Ji and Ms. Lian politely advised him to spend the night on the sofa in the living room, Mr. Lu declined and thanked them, saying that he would stay in a nearby hotel for one night and come to pick up Ji Yinhe to return to Jingzhou tomorrow morning.
After everyone left, Comrade Xiao Ji skipped off to wash up in his pajamas.
Lian Qiao walked into the kitchen and whispered to Ji Jianguo who was washing dishes: "This young man knows his limits."
"Yeah." Ji Jianguo nodded, his eyes sweeping over Lu Zheng's bowl of rice, which he had eaten completely. After a moment's thought, he said, "They're going back to Jingzhou tomorrow. How about preparing a special lunch box for Yinhe and one for Teacher Lu as well?"
Lian Qiao clapped his hands and said, "I think it's okay!"
*
The next day.
The sun had just risen in the early morning when the Grand Cherokee arrived at Meiqingyuan in advance.
Lu Zheng was sitting in the car, reading a book at hand, when he heard someone knocking lightly on the car window.
"Good morning, Teacher Lu!" Ji Yinhe opened the car door and jumped into the passenger seat with a smile, two aluminum lunch boxes dangling in his hands.
"Here, my mom made a lunch box for us to eat on the way!" Comrade Xiao Ji placed the lunch box wrapped in pink cotton cloth on his knees and the blue one on the middle armrest, proudly raising his chin. "But my mom must have made me some rice cake rolls and steamed dumplings with preserved mustard greens and vermicelli filling. You have no idea how delicious they are. There's even a hidden menu that the boss never reveals, so no one else has tried it! I'll secretly treat you to a couple later-"
Before she finished speaking, Lu Zheng had already opened the lid of the lunch box out of curiosity.
——The same rice cake rolls and rice balls were revealed inside. In addition to the preserved vegetable and vermicelli, there were also greasy shredded egg skin, shredded dried tofu, bean sprouts and shredded carrots.
Ji Yinhe was a little dumbfounded.
"How come you, you also have..."
Lu Zheng smiled silently, picked up a rice roll and stuffed it into his mouth with satisfaction, then turned the steering wheel handsomely and drove towards the highway leading to Jingzhou.
"It's delicious indeed." He nodded, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, and he glanced at the passenger seat with an uncontrollable smug look, "Thank Auntie for me next time... No, I'll thank her in person when I get a chance."
"Oh—" Comrade Xiao Ji couldn't help but mutter as he chewed the glutinous meat dumplings, "It's over! I'm no longer the only treasure in my mother's heart!"
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Author's words: Lu Zheng (has won the future father-in-law and mother-in-law version [sunglasses]
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