"Shi Yan, aren't you usually very active? Why did you languish as soon as my mother came back?"
Zhao Shiyan was so angry when he saw Ling Zhi's proud look:
"Well, Lingzhi, when you met my dad, I didn't tell him that we were already together. It's better this time. You didn't even tell me in advance when my aunt came back. It's not fair!"
"I didn't expect that she would take over her duties temporarily! This is indeed a bit sudden. So tell me, how do you want me to compensate you?"
"Hehe! Then next time I go back to Pengcheng to see my dad, you won't mind if I say you are my boyfriend, right?"
Ling Zhi thought about it and felt that Zhao Zhiyu was also easy to talk to, so he agreed.
"However, you just asked my mother if she fell in love with Mengyao. It is unfair to say that. It would be better to say that my mother likes both of you very much."
"Ah? Is that so?"
"Of course! When I invite you two to my house for the New Year this time, I will inevitably have to tell my mother about you two."
"Let's just talk about you, Shi Yan. I reported your heroic deeds to my mother when you defeated Bai Ming and Gao Xiangyu. She was..."
"What? Lingzhi, if you want to introduce me, why don't you choose something better to talk about? Why did you choose my fight?"
"Hey, why are you so anxious? My mother has a very good impression of you! You're not fighting randomly, you're dealing with bad guys. What's wrong with that?"
"Oh, that's right... Uh, no, no, Lingzhi, you must be fooling me! You described my image as not ladylike at all! Look at how polite Mengyao is, Auntie must like her more
She’s like that!”
"So this is the reason why you didn't dare to speak just now? Are you afraid that your true nature will be exposed if you speak?"
"Lingzhi, are you annoyed?"
Zhao Shiyan was about to give Ling Zhi a hard slap, but he thought he hadn't left the community where Ling Zhi's home was yet. If his aunt was watching him upstairs, wouldn't it be a big deal?
So she stopped her right hand that had been raised in the air and gently touched Ling Zhi's shoulder with a playful smile.
Ling Zhi felt that this dead girl must be brewing something bad again, and he didn't want to give her time to implement her plan, so he immediately walked out of the community quickly and brought the two of them to a car.
"Ah? Lexus, is this your car? Can you still drive?"
Lexus sat in the driver's seat proudly, pretending for a rare moment:
"Then, what can't I do?"
"Hey! But it's good. It's rare to come here this time and it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a ride in the car you drive!"
"Hey, Shi Yan, wait a minute. Don't sit here. You sit in the back with Mengyao."
"Ah? Why? Why can't I sit in the passenger seat? Don't they say that the passenger seat is the exclusive seat for girlfriends?"
"Are you watching too many short videos? I can think about it in the future, but not today. I'm afraid you'll make trouble for me again when I'm driving!"
Zhao Shiyan was about to pout and sulk, but then he had an idea, turned around and pulled Li Mengyao over, making a gesture of pushing her into the passenger seat.
"Uh, ok, ok, I'll surrender. You'd better sit in the passenger seat."
Before Li Mengyao could refuse, Lexus raised the white flag first.
Li Mengyao also knew that she could never occupy the sensitive position of the co-pilot, so she hurriedly escaped from Zhao Shiyan's clutches and slipped into the back seat.
But in the end, Zhao Shiyan followed her into the back seat, not embarrassing Ling Zhi any more. After all, she had achieved her goal of teasing Ling Zhi.
After starting the car, while waiting for the engine to warm up, Ling Zhi recalled Zhao Shiyan's complaint when he just came downstairs, and comforted her:
"Shi Yan, actually you don't have to worry. I'm telling the truth. My mother really likes you."
"Everyone is chatting casually at the dinner table. How can we easily draw conclusions about who we like and who we don't like?"
"Besides, it doesn't matter whether she likes you or not. Isn't it enough that I like you?"
Hearing these words, the faces of the two girls in the back row turned red, but Lexus seemed to be unaware. After fastening his seat belt, he only looked at the rearview mirror and slowly moved the car out of the parking space.
.
"Lingzhi, when did you become so thick-skinned?"
This is definitely not the Ling Zhi that Zhao Shiyan is familiar with. How can Ling Zhi usually say love words in front of others?
Ling Zhi originally wanted to answer, "Didn't I learn this from you?" However, after thinking about it carefully, he gave up this plan. Even if Zhao Shiyan was sitting in the back row, he would inevitably receive a blow after saying this.
.
Normally, that's all. I wouldn't dare to make such a joke with her in the car right now.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
Lexus ultimately chose to respond to questions with questions.
"That's not the case, I just feel a little surprised."
Sure enough, Zhao Shiyan became much more honest after hearing these words. As long as he didn't tease her easily, there shouldn't be any big problem.
There were relatively few vehicles on the streets in the early morning, so the Lexus drove relatively smoothly without excessive pursuit of speed.
He thought that it was early in the morning and the two girls would be relatively sleepy, but he didn't expect that they were quite chatting.
"Shi Yan, I'm sorry, I seemed to have stolen your limelight at the dinner table just now. Now that I think about it, shouldn't I talk less?"
"Ah? No, no, I was joking with Ling Zhi just now! To be honest, I'm actually quite grateful to you. Without you chatting so much with auntie at the dinner table, I think the atmosphere would have become cold."
Li Mengyao breathed a sigh of relief when she heard what Zhao Shiyan said. She didn't want to inadvertently damage the relationship between Ling Zhi, Zhao Shiyan and Yu Ping.
It seems that if I encounter this kind of situation again in the future, I have to restrain myself. Um, no, no, that's not the point. There should be no chance to go to Ling Zhi's house again in the future.
Li Mengyao got rid of some unrealistic thoughts in her mind and began to focus on looking at the retreating scenery outside the window.
Unknowingly, the car had left the city and arrived at a small village.
People in rural areas get up earlier. From time to time, you can see adults taking their children to their neighbors' homes to pay New Year greetings, and you can also see some elderly people doing morning exercises in front of their homes.
After crossing the village, Ling Zhi parked the car next to a corn field. Of course, there must be no corn in this season, but Ling Zhi had been here before during the Qingming Festival. At that time, this land was planted with
Corn, so he knew this was a cornfield.
"Here, put the plastic bags on your feet. The weather has been humid recently and the ground is full of mud. Don't get your shoes dirty."
Ling Zhi first helped Zhao Shiyan put the plastic bag on, then gave the remaining plastic bag to Shi Yan and asked her to put it on Li Mengyao, while he went to the trunk to bring things for visiting the grave.
"Lingzhi, to be honest, I was really shocked! My family's ancestors were buried in the cemetery. I didn't expect that your family was buried in the farmland!"
Zhao Shiyan said while working.
"Hey, my grandma used to live in the cemetery, but after my grandpa left, my grandma moved out of the cemetery again and was buried here with my grandpa."
"Later, after my uncle and my father passed away, they were buried next to my grandparents' graves. This way the family could be closer together, and during the holidays, they could get together and be more lively. This was all done by the four of us back then.
Grandpa’s idea.”
"Is that so? Your Fourth Grandpa is really interested."
While talking, Ling Zhi had already picked up the things, and Zhao Shiyan also helped Li Mengyao put the plastic bags on her feet, and the three of them walked together to the three graves in the shape of a "pin" in the field.
The graves of Ling Zhi's grandparents are at the top of the glyph shape, with Ling Zhi's father on the left and his uncle on the right.
The shape is facing a wind turbine in the distance. This also allows Ling Zhi to quickly find his ancestral graves in the huge fields every time he comes. This is also the wisdom left by the older generation when they helped them choose the site.
.
After arriving at the place, Ling Zhi put down his things and placed fruits, snacks and other food in front of his grandparents' graves one by one. Then he took 4 paper cups and poured 4 glasses of wine, hoping that his father and uncle could also join in.
Grandpa and grandma come and have a drink together.
"Well, Lexus, what can we do for you?"
It's not that the two girls didn't want to help, they were just worried that they were in the wrong position. They didn't know if helping at this time would make Ling Zhi unhappy. After all, this was Ling Zhi's elder, and it didn't matter how casual he was. At this time,
Always be cautious to avoid making mistakes yourself.
"Ah? It's okay. You can just stand. I don't need your help."
With that said, Ling Zhi took out a few more pieces of paper and pressed the paper on the graves of his grandparents with clods of soil.
Upon seeing this, Li Mengyao followed suit and helped Ling Zhi put paper on the graves of his father and uncle together with Zhao Shiyan. This was always true.
Ling Zhi glanced at them gratefully, then silently poured the prepared ingots and foils in front of his grandparents' graves, and lit the pile of paper money with the lighter he brought.
The fire gradually grew stronger, and from time to time soot was rushed into the air. Ling Zhi asked the two girls to stand farther away, while he stood in front of the fire, stirring the fire with a wooden stick, and flipping up the paper money underneath.
Make sure the money goes to the grandparents.
Missing is passed on in this way, from generation to generation...
After burning the paper money, Ling Zhi took the empty plastic bag, knelt on the plastic bag and solemnly kowtowed three times to the grave.
What surprised him was that the two girls also knelt down and paid their utmost respect to Ling Zhi's elders.
"Hey, there's no need for you two. Look, you two have soiled your pants!"
Ling Zhi quickly pulled them up and helped them wipe off the mud on their trouser legs, without even bothering to look at whose legs it was.
"It's not easy to come here, just say goodbye. I have to thank them. Without them, I wouldn't have met you Lingzhi."
"You!"
Ling Zhi gently nodded Zhao Shiyan's little head, feeling warm in his heart.
After doing all this, he packed up his things and took the two girls back. Until they got into the car and started the car, the three of them didn't speak for a long time.
"Um, Ling Zhi, are you a little unhappy?"
Zhao Shiyan made an exception this time and was invited by Lexus to be the co-pilot. She turned sideways and said worriedly.
"Huh? Why do you think I'm unhappy?"
"Then why don't you speak? Judging from your expression, you look lifeless."
"Hey, you're thinking too much. Isn't that how I usually am? I don't talk much. Don't think too much. I'm not unhappy. Don't worry."
"Oh, that's good. I thought you missed your grandparents and your father."
"Well, how should I put it? I still think about it, but it won't affect my mood. After all, so much time has passed."
"In life, you still have to be happy. You can't always live in the past. After leaving the fields, we return to our own lives, right?"
Zhao Shiyan nodded vigorously. She was afraid that Ling Zhi would still hold his emotions in his heart like last night, but after listening to what he just said, she could feel that Ling Zhi was indeed not unhappy. He was a normal Ling Zhi now.
This gave her a sigh of relief.
As for Ling Zhi himself, he naturally did not dwell on the past, but had been worried about whether it was appropriate to bring the two girls to worship their ancestors together, and worried about inadvertently passing on some of his bad emotions to them.
After all, he saw Li Mengyao's face looked heavy in the rearview mirror, maybe thinking of her parents.
He couldn't help but regret a little, he would not have brought them here if he had known it earlier, and he didn't know if Li Mengyao listened to what he just said.
After a while, Ling Zhi drove to the bus station. He stood at the door of the security hall and waved goodbye to the two girls. At this moment, Zhao Shiyan suddenly turned away, ran over and hugged Ling Zhi, not wanting to be like this with him.
Separate soon.
"It's okay, it's okay. We've only been separated for a dozen days. We'll be able to see each other again soon."
"Ok, I know."
Zhao Shiyan lay in Ling Zhi's arms, saying that he knew, but he just didn't want to let go.
"Okay, okay, it's almost time. If you don't leave, you won't be able to catch the bus."
Only then did Zhao Shiyan let go of Ling Zhi, but she did not walk into the security hall, but whispered to Ling Zhi in a low voice:
"Lingzhi, thank you for entertaining us this time. I have already discussed it with my mother. If you go to my house next year, it will be our turn to entertain you!"
After saying that, Zhao Shiyan pulled Li Mengyao and ran into the security inspection hall, waving goodbye to Ling Zhi from a distance.
Ling Zhi stood there, waving blankly, not knowing what he was thinking.