Chapter 25 Spring Breeze in Guangzhou 02 With You, That's Enough
Yu Xingzhou was somewhat reluctant when he went to the train station to pick up Zhou Qichen.
Despite not having seen each other for a long time, Yu Xingzhou recognized Zhou Qichen at a glance. It was Zhou Qichen who didn't recognize Yu Xingzhou at first, or rather, he never expected that the person who came to pick him up was not Lin Tingyue.
Not seeing the person he was looking for, Zhou Qichen couldn't help but ask, "Where is she?"
Yu Xingzhou felt a little displeased that Zhou Qichen only used the word "she" to refer to his wife, but he still explained, "She suddenly had something to do at school and can't leave. Let me take you to see a house first. I found two places, both not far from our rented house."
Although Zhou Qichen also wanted to see Lin Tingyue as soon as possible, he knew that there was no need to rush.
To do business in Guangzhou, he sold his factory job, obtained the longest possible letter of introduction, and brought all his savings from the past few years. His family was initially worried, fearing he might be scammed, but Zhou Qichen had always been very opinionated, and his family couldn't control him.
Although he trusted Lin Tingyue, he was still somewhat uneasy about not seeing her in this distant and unfamiliar city. The temperature here was about 10 degrees Celsius different from that in Northeast China. Wearing long sleeves, Zhou Qichen was unsure whether he was sweating from the heat or from fear.
They weren't really in the mood to look at the houses carefully. After looking at two places, Zhou Qichen simply said whichever one was closer to their T family home would be chosen. Yu Xingzhou couldn't help but frown, but he still patiently negotiated the rent with the landlord in his broken dialect. Finally, after both parties signed and he got the keys, he couldn't wait to go back to school.
"You pack up first, we'll come back tonight... Be careful!" Yu Xingzhou saw the person in front of him lose his balance, and just as he reached out to support Zhou Qichen's arm, the other person fell to the side like a doll that had lost its power. However, Zhou Qichen had already lost consciousness, and he could only barely keep him from falling directly to the ground.
Yu Xingzhou called Zhou Qichen a few times, but found that the other party showed no signs of waking up, so he hurriedly went out to borrow a phone to call an ambulance.
When Lin Tingyue received the call from the hospital, she was still a little dazed. When she learned that Zhou Qichen had fainted, she rushed to the hospital. However, when she arrived, Zhou Qichen had already finished his IV drip and was pressing the needle mark on the back of his hand.
She looked at Yu Xingzhou and asked, "How did you faint? Is it serious?"
Zhou Qichen hadn't changed much, even his hairstyle was the same. But he and his wife were dressed smartly and beautifully, as if there was a clear dividing line between them. So he only glanced at them and then looked away, but couldn't help but look back when Lin Tingyue turned to talk to Yu Xingzhou.
“…He probably didn’t eat much because of the change in environment on the way here, and it’s been too sunny today.” Yu Xingzhou explained while pouring her a glass of water, and then skillfully took out a handkerchief to wipe her sweat.
"Then you should rest for the next few days and get better first," Lin Tingyue said, turning to look at Zhou Qichen.
Zhou Qichen lowered his gaze to the red and white checkered skirt by the bed and said in a low voice, "No need, let's talk about the business you mentioned first."
“This can’t be rushed, but we need your help to supervise the construction in the early stages. We have classes to attend, so we can’t be there all the time to watch the workers work.” Lin Tingyue said, taking out blueprints from a file bag. The blueprints were for a hotel that was currently being prepared for renovation.
Zhou Qichen wasn't unfamiliar with hotels, but he didn't know what their advantages were. "Can you make money opening one?"
“Yes, there are many foreign tourists here…” Lin Tingyue then explained the situation to Zhou Qichen, including the special location of the hotel, which was deliberately chosen near the import and export commodity fair venue.
Yu Xingzhou sat to the side listening but did not interrupt. Most of the time, his gaze was fixed on his wife's face or body. Lin Tingyue was already used to such stares. Only Zhou Qichen, an outsider, would occasionally glance up and find his appearance somewhat jarring.
Because it was a hospital, Lin Tingyue was afraid of disturbing the other patients' rest, so she only gave a brief explanation about opening a hotel, and then sent Zhou Qichen back to his rented house.
After entering, Lin Tingyue first looked around and silently noted what was missing in the room before saying to the other person, "We'll help you buy some more daily necessities tomorrow. You should rest well today, and we'll cook some porridge and bring it to you later."
"Then I'll have to trouble you." Zhou Qichen went into the bedroom and lay down on the bed to rest with his eyes closed, actually because he was still a little weak.
Lin Tingyue joked, "You don't seem like a problem at all."
"What can I do? I'm a patient now."
"Alright, I won't banter with you anymore. I'll hurry back and get you something to eat." The woman smiled, took her husband's arm, and left, the fragrance lingering on her body fading away with her laughter.
At this time, Zhou Qichen had not thought about how busy he would be in the future, not only having to supervise the renovation but also running around with various procedures and permits.
Lin Tingyue and Yu Xingzhou were equally busy. With the end of the semester approaching, they still spent most of their time studying, and only had a little time to keep an eye on their respective small businesses.
Moreover, because Min Xue's Chinese fast food is quite good, the idea of starting a breeding and transportation business in Donghe Village should also be put on the agenda. Lin Tingyue's idea is to go back to the village during the summer vacation to discuss it in person, since it has been a long time since she has been back to visit.
“But my parents want me to go back to Beicheng to see them first. How about we go back to Beicheng and stay for a few days?” Min Xue shook her arm and acted coquettishly.
“Okay, let’s just fly there.” Now that they’ve made a lot of money, Lin Tingyue didn’t want to treat herself too badly and take such a long train ride home again.
As the departure date approached, Lin Tingyue made a special call home, intending to have her second brother pick her up at the airport. However, she instead heard the news that Qin Hua had given birth to twin daughters.
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? I wasn't prepared at all..."
Lin Jinwen laughed when he heard this, "What are you preparing? It's not like you're going to be a father."
In this world, only Qin Hua and she came from the same place. Such a unique existence, she naturally did not want anything to happen to Qin Hua. In her opinion, giving birth to one child is already difficult enough, let alone two. She then explained, "No, your twin genes are too terrifying."
Lin Jinwen subconsciously thought that his sister was worried about the suffering she would experience during her future pregnancy, and advised her, "If you're afraid, then don't have the baby. Huahua made her own decision about whether to keep the child."
Lin Tingyue was surprised by her brother's open-mindedness and then asked, "What if the elders on both sides don't agree?"
"Life is a two-person affair, and no one else should participate in the major decisions of our little family."
Lin Tingyue resonated with these words, but she wasn't entirely on one side when it came to whether or not to have a child. Besides the risks of childbirth, her biggest concern was the current state of medical care. And as Lin Jinwen had said, this was a life for the two of them; whether to have a child, and when to have one, was a decision she and Yu Xingzhou needed to make together.
Therefore, Lin Tingyue first went to test her husband's thoughts.
“My second brother and I share the same idea; I support you whether you want to have a child or not,” Yu Xingzhou said, stroking the hair at her temple.
"And what about you? Do you want children?"
Yu Xingzhou shook his head. "I've read a lot of books about childbirth in the past two years, and I don't want you to suffer like that."
For a moment, the beautiful eyes in front of her froze, and her breathing slowed down. Yu Xingzhou could roughly guess her feelings at that moment: surprise, emotion, and guilt.
Unbeknownst to her, Yu Xingzhou probably fantasized about a connection between their lives, and even secretly researched a lot of related information, but ultimately gave up because of her.
"Don't look at me like that... Having you in this life is enough." The man's warm palm covered her eyes, his long fingers revealing prominent veins on the back of his hand. Then he leaned close to her soft lips and freely plucked the juice from them.
The two hadn't been intimate for a long time, and once they started, they couldn't stop.
When Min Xue saw the two tired faces the next day, she assumed they were so excited they couldn't sleep the night before...
When we returned to Donghe Village, it was already August. This time, Yu's father came along, saying that he wanted to pay respects to his grandparents.
As a result, this trip back to the village caused quite a stir, with some people even trying to arrange marriages for Yu's father, which frightened him so much that he urged Yu's father to hurry back to Beicheng.
Fortunately, Lin Tingyue and Min Xue's matter was quickly resolved, all because the captain took it very seriously. He was responsible for contacting factories in the county to discuss cooperation on transportation-related matters. Finally, the three parties met, reached an agreement, and signed a contract.
At that time, none of them expected that Donghe Village would become the first to get rich because of animal husbandry.
The group soon returned to Beicheng, only to find that the Xu family was holding a wedding.
Xu Xingyi and An Ran still got married, but the newlyweds didn't seem very happy.
While playing with her two little nieces in the cradle, Lin Tingyue asked, "Has there been any gossip about the Xu family lately?"
Lin Jinwen immediately replied, "Does a shotgun wedding count?"
"No wonder this couple didn't seem very happy. Could it be that Xu Xingyi doesn't want to marry her?"
"Neither of them wanted to get married, and the woman didn't want to have children so early either, but both sets of parents wanted to."
Lin Tingyue didn't expect that the original story's plot had completely collapsed. The male lead and the female supporting character even had a child, making it even less likely that he would reconcile with the female lead.
But now, neither she nor the original female lead cares about Xu Xingyi anymore. Especially Min Xue, who only has the desire to make money in her eyes.
According to the promises Lin Tingyue made for her, her Chinese-style hamburger shops could eventually open all over the country, making a lot of money. With money, she would have more freedom, such as traveling abroad.
Lin Tingyue, on the other hand, didn't have much expectation of going abroad; all she cared about was the hotel that could make money off foreigners.
So the group returned to Guangzhou early. With more than half a month of holiday left, Lin Tingyue and Zhou Qichen worked together to keep track of the progress and complete the formalities, hoping to open the hotel as soon as possible.
The person who was happiest about her being able to come back early was Zhou Qichen. After all, Guangzhou is not his hometown, and he doesn't have the connections he used to have, so many things are much more complicated to handle.
They were figuring things out as they went along, and most of the time they went in and out together. Occasionally they even had to work overtime, and often Yu Xingzhou was already asleep when Lin Tingyue came back.
Yu Xingzhou originally wanted to accompany Lin Tingyue, but considering he still had a novel to write, Lin Tingyue declined his offer. After the start of the school year, Lin Tingyue's schedule became even busier due to her daytime classes.
This continued until National Day was approaching, and this year, being the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the variety show featured a large number of programs. Yu Xingzhou's Chinese Literature Department put on a play, and he himself became one of the lead actors.
While watching the performance from the audience, Lin Tingyue suddenly had an immature idea: perhaps Yu Xingzhou is suitable to be an actor, and it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to pursue acting in movies in the future.
Near the end, Min Xue, who was standing next to her, was moved to tears by the actors on stage, and she also felt a little teary-eyed, but still took out a handkerchief from her bag and handed it to Min Xue.
The applause was thunderous during the curtain call, and Lin Tingyue was one of those who contributed to the applause. However, her gaze remained fixed on the aloof figure on the stage, as if the surrounding noise had become the background noise for him.
The man also surveyed the audience below the stage until he saw the person he longed for, at which point his indifferent expression was replaced by a warm and gentle smile.
Yu Xingzhou's smile captured the hearts of many female students, but many clever people also followed his gaze and found the person who made him smile.
Her face was unadorned, and she even looked somewhat tired, yet her eyes seemed to sparkle like a galaxy.
Because the play was a great success, the students who participated in it formed a drama club, and Yu Xingzhou was even elected as the club president.
Yu Xingzhou became busy, with his spare time almost entirely occupied by rehearsals. The two could only exchange a few words on their days off, but because Lin Tingyue needed to frequently go to the hotel to oversee the progress, they separated again to do their own things.
That morning, the two of them had nothing planned, so they cooked breakfast together and then basked in the sun together.
"Let's clean the house today. We've been so busy lately that we haven't had a chance to tidy up properly," Lin Tingyue suggested.
"Okay, leave anything that needs cleaning to me."
The two always had a clear division of labor, so Lin Tingyue started by tidying up the sofa, which was piled with their clothes from the past few days and bags that they had casually thrown aside. So she piled up all the clothes that were going to be washed and picked them up, but accidentally knocked over Yu Xingzhou's handbag containing textbooks, and the books and papers inside spilled out one after another.
Yu Xingzhou was getting water in the bathroom when he heard some scattered noises and returned to the living room, where he saw her holding a letter with a puzzled expression.
"Why is there no address on this letter, only the recipient's name?"
The envelope Lin Tingyue handed over only had four large characters written on it: "To Yu Xingzhou," and the handwriting didn't look familiar. "This shouldn't be mine, right?"
"Anyway, it has your name on it, just open it and see."
Hearing her say that, Yu Xingzhou didn't hold back and opened the letter right in front of her. Both of them read the letter quickly, but the person in question didn't look too happy.
Lin Tingyue didn't expect that just by performing on stage, someone would already be writing love letters to Yu Xingzhou. If he were to actually act in movies in the future, even more people would admire him.
"I'll handle it, don't be angry." Yu Xingzhou pulled her into his arms, looking at her as if he had done something wrong.
"I'm not angry. Besides, these kinds of things will only happen more often in the future."
"Then I won't perform on stage anymore."
"Don't be silly about this. Maybe this female classmate doesn't know you're married. Just explain it to her."
Yu Xingzhou wanted to say that wasn't the case, but ultimately didn't speak.
The person who wrote him the love letter was Zeng Rui, a freshman in their drama club. She was originally supposed to perform on stage for the National Day show, but she twisted her ankle during rehearsal. Since the role wasn't very important, she found someone else to replace her.
Having rehearsed together for so many days, and knowing that Yu Xingzhou was married was no secret, they concluded that the other party had knowingly committed the crime.
On the day he returned to school, Yu Xingzhou took the letter and arranged to meet the person alone.
"You gave me this letter yesterday, didn't you?"
The girl in front of him blushed. "It's me."
Yu Xingzhou looked at her helplessly and said, "You should know that I'm married."
"Is...is that so..." Her eyes darted around, avoiding Yu Xingzhou's gaze, and she started fidgeting more. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for causing you trouble..."
"Now you know, don't do this kind of thing again." After saying that, Yu Xingzhou burned the letter in front of her. In the short few minutes while waiting for the paper to burn to ashes, passersby would occasionally look at it curiously.
Although Yu Xingzhou had chosen a less crowded place, he still couldn't completely avoid the rumors spreading.
Initially, it was said that Yu Xingzhou bullied a female student in the club, and Zeng Rui cried for two hours after returning to her dormitory on the day she burned the letter; all the female students on her floor heard it. Later, some insider revealed that the letter was actually a love letter, and she cried because Yu Xingzhou rejected her to her face.
Despite being at the center of the rumors, Yu Xingzhou remained oblivious, focusing solely on rehearsing the play to be performed on New Year's Day.
However, Lin Tingyue was unable to see the performance on New Year's Eve, as the hotel had just opened and she and Zhou Qichen were too busy to even catch their breath.
The girl at the front desk had an upset stomach from eating something bad during the day and was constantly running to the restroom, so Lin Tingyue simply let her leave work early.
As I was looking through today's check-in form, someone came in.
The group was dressed fashionably, with a beautiful middle-aged woman at the head wearing sunglasses and having permed hair, which inexplicably reminded Lin Tingyue of Hong Kong stars from that era.
The woman took off her sunglasses and asked her, "Do you have any rooms left?"
Lin Tingyue was momentarily stunned when she saw the face opposite her, but quickly recovered and said, "Yes, we do. How many rooms do you need? I'll register you..."
"Three rooms, please."
"Okay, what is your name?"
"Yun Qing".
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