Qin Hanshu comforted him, "This test may not be accurate. Maybe Peipei has simply changed his mind and doesn't want to go abroad anymore."

Liu Ercui shook her head blankly. "When I asked her, I paid special attention to her expression. She looked like that... Everyone has been young. I could tell what her shy expression meant."

Qin Hanshu was speechless. She was not Liu Ercui, and could not put herself in Liu Ercui's shoes and understand her upset.

In her opinion, it would be fine if Pepe and Qi Lang were really in love. Let's not talk about how far the love of youth can go. Even if the two really got married, as long as both parties were sincere, she would bless them with a smile. Qi Lang and Pepe were not related by blood anyway, so they could get the marriage certificate with separate household registrations.

Liu Ercui let out a long sigh.

Qin Hanshu said: "Just wait and see what happens. What if it's a misunderstanding?"

Liu Ercui nodded silently. This was the only way.

"By the way, is your Zhou Qi coming back?"

Qin Hanshu nodded: "Yes, I'll be back next year."

Liu Ercui asked: "How many years did he study in Beijing? About seven or eight years, right? I remember that when he left, Pepei was only in high school, and now he is about to graduate from college."

Qin Hanshu nodded and said, "Eight years, and he got a doctorate degree. He said he wanted to go abroad in the first few years, but later on, for some reason, he decided not to go."

Liu Ercui: "That's fine. He has been in Beijing for so many years and feels too distant from his family. Who knows what the future will be like if he goes abroad?"

Going abroad is popular now, but most people who go abroad would rather not come back than return.

If that really happens, as parents, we may never see our children again in this life.

Qin Hanshu respected the children's wishes, but Liu Ercui didn't want the children to go out from the bottom of her heart. Fortunately, Pepe had no such plan.

"Alas, the children have not been together for these years and have become estranged. Every year when Zhou Qi comes back, Pei Pei is always shy and doesn't talk much. The relationship between our two families may become weaker in the next generation."

Qin Hanshu said: "Anyway, they will all work in Jiangcheng in the future. If they get together often, their relationship will naturally warm up again."

***

This winter, snowflakes began to fall in Jiangcheng. Although they melted into water as soon as they hit the ground, they still looked like fluttering goose feathers when they floated in the air.

Many people were excited and ran to the streets to walk in the snow.

As soon as Pepe walked out of the school gate, he saw Qi Lang leaning against the road sign. He was only wearing a thin jacket with the zipper open. Pepe felt cold just looking at him.

"Aren't you cold wearing so little?"

Hearing the voice, Qi Lang hurriedly put out the cigarette between his fingers and turned around.

Noticing the smell of cigarette smoke in the air, he waved his hands uncomfortably, trying to get rid of the smell, "I didn't know you came out so soon."

You know, he would never smoke when he saw her so soon, because he knew Pepe hated the smell of cigarettes.

Pepe didn't like the smell of smoke, but she wasn't so overbearing as to control Qi Lang, especially since she was just there to get something.

"You said you bought the concert tickets?"

Qi Lang hurriedly took out two tickets from his pocket and handed them to Pepe. "It just so happens that there is a brother who is a scalper. He sold them to me at the original price."

This is a ticket for a rock band's concert. The band is very popular and tickets are hard to come by. In fact, Qi Lang and the scalper are not brothers at all. The ticket was bought at a high price.

Peipei believed it and gave Qi Lang the ticket money at the original price.

Qi Lang paused and accepted it.

Pepe smiled and said, "Thank you very much. I will go back to the dormitory first."

"Hey..." Before Pepe could react, Qi Lang had already called out to him.

Pepe stopped and looked at him questioningly.

The girl in front of me has long lost the roundness she had when she was a child. She is now tall and graceful, with a pair of watery eyes that seem to be shining with ripples. Just one look from her can make your heart beat faster.

Qi Lang lowered his eyes in panic, and it took him a while to find his voice, "It's quite cold, is there any restaurant near your school? I want to drink some hot soup."

"There's a pretty good beef soup restaurant at the South Gate."

Qi Lang clenched his fists, trying not to be nervous, and said, "How about you take me there? I'll treat you..."

"Hmm..." Pepe thought for a moment and said, "Okay, but I have to treat you. Just as a thank you for buying the ticket for me."

Qi Lang did not argue about who invited whom, but nodded with restrained joy.

As soon as Pepe turned around, his mouth stretched to the back of his ears.

After living under the same roof for many years, Pepe and Qi Lang's relationship cannot be said to be very close, but compared to the beginning, they are much more familiar with each other.

Although this familiarity was mixed with a lot of politeness, Qi Lang was content.

While sitting down and waiting for the meal, Pepe casually said, "You are wearing too little. It's easy to catch a cold."

"I'm not cold..." Qi Lang remembered that he had just said that he was cold and wanted to drink hot soup, and cut the conversation short.

Fortunately, Pepe met an acquaintance and greeted him, but he just turned his head away and didn't pay attention to what he said.

The female classmate who greeted him came over, her eyes stopped on Qi Lang, and asked: "Pepe, who is this? I've never seen him before."

Pepe said: "This is my brother."

The female classmate's eyes lit up, "You have such a handsome brother?"

Pepe smiled and didn't explain further.

The female classmate was very outgoing and also wanted to get to know Qi Lang. After asking Pepe's opinion, she sat at the same table with them.

The female classmate's topic always revolved around Qi Lang. As she was talking, she asked, "Brother should have graduated from college, right? What unit do you work for now?"

Qi Lang paused and looked at Pepe.

Peipei thought she was being asked to answer, so she said, "My brother is working with others to form an engineering team."

Without waiting for the girl to ask more questions, Pepe changed the subject and started talking about some things in study.

Qi Lang took a bite of the pancake in his hand and lowered his eyes. His heart, which had been warmed by the beef soup, suddenly turned cold again.

He has never been to college and works as a laborer on a construction site. Today's society is different from before, and doing dirty and tiring work does not make people feel honored.

She probably also felt that he was not someone she could be proud of.