After finishing the meeting, Song Guomin hurriedly went to Heping Lane.
Xu Guiying and her husband had not yet finished get off work.
Since being promoted to director of the purchasing department, Xu Guiying has occasionally worked overtime until six or seven o'clock before returning home.
Now only Grandpa and Grandma Song are left at home.
The door opened, and there was his eldest grandson outside.
"Grandma! I only heard about Liu Aimei's incident when I went back to the city today. Is my third brother alright?"
Grandma Song glanced at Song Guomin's complexion; it wasn't very good, but it wasn't worse than before either.
Grandma Song invited Song Guomin to come in and sit down. Song Guomin looked hesitant. Grandma Song sighed, "Your third brother is fine, and Liu Aimei was rescued in time."
Grandpa Song glanced at Song Guomin and heard him say, "Whether Liu Aimei is alive or dead, I don't care. To me, she's a stranger."
Grandpa Song scoffed and took another drag of his cigarette. "I hope you really think that way."
As human beings, everyone has selfish desires. Although Song Guomin is not very steadfast by nature, he is not a bad person. However, when he met Liu Aimei, who instigated him, the two people with weak minds became two troublemakers who didn't distinguish between big and small.
Grandpa Song often felt that his eldest grandson's marriage to Liu Aimei was simply a case of birds of a feather flocking together.
Song Guomin frowned. "Grandpa, that's really what I plan to do. Yan Yan and Lele rarely mention her anymore."
Grandma Song went into the kitchen and packed some cakes for Song Guomin.
"Take it back for Yan Yan and Le Le to eat. I also made dumplings at noon. It's hot now, and the pancakes will probably taste bad by the time you get back from the bus. They've been sitting for a long time."
Song Guomin's eyes were slightly red, "Grandma..."
The old lady was always soft-hearted. Grandma Song said sternly, "Don't think about anything more. You've come all this way, it's not good to go back empty-handed. You should take a bus back now."
Song Guomin moved his lips, but was pushed out the door by Grandma Song.
After Song Guomin left, Grandma Song let out a long sigh.
Grandpa Song was thinking about something else, "It's almost five o'clock, why hasn't Yu'an come back yet?"
Qian Yu'an didn't have class this afternoon; she usually comes back to see her two kids around noon.
Grandma Song: "She might have been delayed by something. You know Yu'an's personality; every day after class, all she wants to do is go home."
Grandpa Song nodded and didn't think about it anymore. Grandma Song urged him to go to the back field to dig up vegetables to eat.
At 5:30 p.m., Xu Guiying rode her bicycle back to Heping Lane and bought a pound of braised meat. A familiar figure appeared ahead, and Xu Guiying called out "Yu'an".
Qian Yu'an looked up instantly, as if she had been startled.
"mom."
Xu Guiying narrowed her eyes, got off the car, pushed her bicycle, and walked side by side with Qian Yu'an.
"Yu'an, why are you back so late? I remember you said last night that you didn't have class this afternoon and something came up?"
Qian Yu'an avoided eye contact, shaking her head and nodding at the same time: "I was called by a classmate to eat in the cafeteria at noon, and I spent some time in the library in the afternoon."
Xu Guiying nodded thoughtfully. "Let's go home first."
When we got home, Grandpa Song and Grandma Song had already prepared dinner.
A short while later, Song Xinfu also returned.
Not only Xu Guiying, but even Song Xinfu noticed Qian Yu'an's nonchalance; he was absent-minded when talking to Song Zhiyin.
Song Xinfu pulled Xu Guiying into the house, "Has something happened to the Qian family?"
Xu Guiying shook her head: "How would I know? I'll ask you when we go for a walk after dinner."
The couple both looked somber.
Xu Guiying added, "The second son left just the day before yesterday, saying he would be back in six days."
If the second child is home, it's easier for them to ask questions than for the parents-in-law.
"I'll ask later."
After dinner, Xu Guiying and Qian Yu'an took their baby out for a walk.
Xu Guiying asked directly, "Yu'an, is something wrong at school? Is your workload heavy lately?"
Qian Yu'an forced a smile, "Mom, no, I'm just a little tired lately."
Xu Guiying: "If you're tired, take a good rest and go to bed early tonight. Your second son isn't home, so if you need anything, just let us know."
Qian Yu'an immediately lowered his head and said "okay" as if it were a natural thing to do.
Xu Guiying's heart immediately tightened.
I went home after my walk.
Xu Guiying went back into the house and said to Song Xinfu, "Something is definitely not right."
Song Xinfu frowned. "What should we do then? How about we go to the school tomorrow?"
"Are you lying?" Xu Guiying asked suspiciously.
“I just asked, and Yu’an’s class doesn’t start until 10 o’clock. I can just go to the factory to ask for leave at 8 o’clock. We’ll meet at the school gate then.”
Xu Guiying: That works too.
"And what about you?"
Xu Guiying: "Anyway, it's on my way to school, so I'll ask the supply and marketing cooperative for the morning off tomorrow."
"Then it's settled."
-
Early the next morning.
Qian Yu'an left home at 9:30.
Xu Guiying and Song Xinfu went out around 8 o'clock. They split up and went to ask for leave. They arrived at the school at 9 o'clock and hid near the school.
Soon, Qian Yu'an's absent-minded figure came into view.
Universities no longer require students to register their enrollment information. Xu Guiying and her husband were dressed well and easily followed Qian Yu'an into the school.
I followed them all the way to the bottom of the teaching building, and even went up to the third floor. Once we got outside the classroom, it was too dangerous to get any closer.
The couple went downstairs and found a place to sit.
“It seems perfectly normal,” Song Xinfu couldn’t help but say. “Aren’t we overthinking it?”
Xu Guiying: "I'll take another look later."
Qian Yu'an only has this one class today, in the morning.
At 11:50, all the students in the teaching building came out, looking like a horde of zombies. Some rushed towards the cafeteria, some towards the outside of the school, and some towards the dormitory building.
Xu Guiying and her husband sat under the tree, both wearing hats, glancing at the direction of the stairs out of the corner of their eyes.
Soon, Qian Yu'an came out.
Qian Yu'an waved goodbye to her classmates as usual and headed towards the school gate.
Xu Guiying squinted slightly. "Let's go, follow them."
Song Xinfu: "..."
Fortunately, there were many students leaving the school, and the two carefully hid in the crowd and were not discovered.
After leaving school, Qian Yu'an headed home.
Xu Guiying murmured, "Impossible..."
Song Xinfu: "She's probably just not used to school these past couple of days. She'll get used to it once she gets used to it."
Xu Guiying pursed her lips. "Let's observe a bit more. Let's find a place to have lunch; we have to go to work this afternoon."
The new Phoenix Pavilion restaurant is close to the university town, but it's crowded, so the two of them decided to skip it and just ate noodles at a random noodle shop before heading off to their respective workplaces.
Xu Guiying felt something was wrong all afternoon.
Qian Yu'an has a straightforward and unpretentious personality, so this shouldn't be the case.
Could it be something serious?
Xu Guiying's mood became heavy, and she decided to go home that evening and observe the situation further.
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