My spirit appeared on the road to exile, and I was treated as an ancestor.

Chapter 155 Difficulties in transitioning from luxury to frugality

That afternoon, Gu Xingzhao saw the Xu family uncle and nephew off.

When they left, Xu Shisan got into the car first, but his uncle was slow to get in, so he honked the horn several times.

Gu Xingzhao looked at Xu Ci'an, puzzled. Why wasn't he leaving yet? Surely he wasn't staying to wait for dinner?

Xu Ci'an asked softly, "Miss Gu and Uncle Lu inside have a very good relationship?"

Gu Xingzhao looked suspicious. Why was this young uncle of the Xu family asking about Uncle Lu out of the blue? "Better than one's own father."

Xu Ci'an hesitated for a moment, "I heard that he will be leaving in a few days. Miss Gu might as well spend more time with the person beside her."

After leaving behind this ambiguous statement, Xu Ci'an got into the car.

What he didn't say was that if you don't spend more time with the people around you, it might be difficult to see them again in the future.

Gu Xingzhao took his words to heart. That evening, she invited Lu Bingwen to her home for dinner, bought a lot of meat and vegetables, tied on an apron, and took out her wok, which she rarely used throughout the year, ready to show off her culinary skills.

Lu Bingwen waited in the living room. He rarely came to the second floor, after all, it was a young lady's own place, and judging from the furnishings, it had everything she needed.

Hearing the clattering sounds coming from the kitchen, he stood up from the sofa several times, walked to the kitchen door, and knocked. "Xiao Zhao, should I do it?"

He knew Gu Xingzhao's culinary skills all too well.

Through the glass door, Lu Bingwen could vaguely see that Gu Xingzhao had prepared all the vegetables and meat in the kitchen. There were seven or eight bowls filled with chopped green onions, cilantro, minced garlic, and various sauces for thickening with cornstarch and oyster sauce. It looked quite presentable.

Right now, Gu Xingzhao is busy looking at online recipe tutorials while simultaneously heating the pan, adding oil, and cooking the vegetables.

Hearing Lu Bingwen's voice, she grabbed a spatula and called out through the glass door to the kitchen, "Just sit and wait, I'll cook a few dishes, it won't take long!"

Seeing that she was in such a good mood today, it was really not good to interrupt her.

Lu Bingwen sat back down on the sofa. Soon, the smell of stir-fried dishes wafted from the kitchen, accompanied by the occasional cough of the little girl from choking on the smell. He remained silent for a while before taking out his phone.

An hour later, Gu Xingzhao came out of the kitchen, and the two sat facing each other on the sofa, eating the three meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and a soup on the table.

After a busy day, she was really hungry and finished a bowl of rice in one go.

Lu Bingwen ladled a bowl of soup and placed it next to her. "The food at this restaurant is pretty good. They also have your favorite lotus root and pork bone soup. If you get hungry in the future, just call and order. Don't go into the kitchen."

"Okay." Gu Xingzhao chuckled, feeling rather embarrassed. He had originally intended to cook a meal himself, but in the end, the meat was burnt and the vegetables were charred, leaving nothing edible.

Luckily, Uncle Lu was well-prepared and ordered takeout in advance, otherwise we probably wouldn't have anything to eat tonight.

Lu Bingwen placed two more pieces of meat into Gu Xingzhao's bowl, saying, "Eat more meat, you've lost weight."

“After I’m gone, there will be no one to watch you eat. You really need to eat less of those junk foods like instant noodles; they’re bad for your health.”

Gu Xingzhao nodded as he ate, watching Lu Bingwen's rambling manner, and felt that he was becoming more and more like the old man.

As she thought about it, she chuckled. It was nice to have someone nagging in her ear.

Lu Bingwen just watched, knowing that no matter how much he said, it would go in one ear and out the other. He knew that young people these days had their own way of living, but if he didn't give her more advice now, there would be even less of a place to give her advice later.

He sighed. "Don't take what I'm saying lightly. You'll be all alone when I'm not around."

Gu Xingzhao blinked as he sipped his soup, "Aren't you only going to be gone for a few months?"

Lu Bingwen is already so worried after only being away for a few months. If he doesn't see him for a year or two, won't he be even more worried?

Lu Bingwen choked on his words and didn't continue, afraid that Gu Xingzhao would notice something was wrong.

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Because of the successful event, Gu Xingzhao's new supermarket saw a continuous increase in customer traffic. The unique features on the second floor also attracted many travel bloggers and local online celebrities who wanted to explore the store, and it even made the local news once. Business is booming.

Because she needed to keep a close eye on things in the early stages, she had to leave early and return late every day. When she was busy, she could only deliver daily necessities and food to the Lu family every two days.

The supermarket's business stabilized, and with stable income, she was finally able to relax.

Lei Ping won the previous lawsuit, paid 250 yuan in compensation for emotional distress, and publicly apologized on all social media platforms.

The lawsuit briefly caused a minor stir online because an insider revealed that Gu Xingzhao's lawyer fees alone amounted to tens of thousands of yuan, while the compensation was only two hundred and fifty yuan.

The 250 yuan made everyone in my university circle of classmates go crazy with laughter.

Lei Ping, on the contrary, attracted a lot of attention online because of this incident. She went live almost every day and in just half a month, she was packaged into a beautiful and sweet-voiced internet celebrity with more than 200,000 followers.

The internet seems to have no memory; gradually, no one mentioned that lawsuit anymore.

Guan Shun's lawsuit is still ongoing. It is said that Gu Chengzhang has shifted all the blame onto Guan Shun and his mother, causing the couple to become enemies. As a result, many problems have been exposed in their previous business, including tax evasion and even embezzlement. Imprisonment is inevitable for Guan Shun.

Gu Xingzhao had heard about these things to some extent, but he didn't care much and didn't listen to the details, since it was none of his business in the future anyway.

Lu Bingwen set off on a trip more than a week ago. Although he kept saying that she didn't need to see him off, Gu Xingzhao still went. Unfortunately, she didn't see him because Lu Bingwen had left early. After that, he would send her some scenic photos along the way almost every day.

Because she was busy with the supermarket, Gu Xingzhao hardly went to the antique street anymore. Xu Shisan, on the other hand, would come to see her from time to time, sometimes bringing her a deluxe lunch from the Xu family, sometimes inviting her to the Xu family's old house for a meal, or having a late-night snack together.

Sometimes they would run into Xu Ci'an, and gradually, their relationship became more familiar.

Gu Xingzhao discovered that Xu Ci'an was a very mysterious person. He heard that he spent his days reading in the attic or feeding the fish, rarely went out, and had almost no other social life or hobbies.

Xu Shisan said he was as indifferent as a chrysanthemum, had no ambition, and was a very boring person.

In the past two weeks, Gu Xingzhao's life has not experienced many ups and downs, but things are different in ancient times.

Because the ancestors visited less often, the Lu family not only lacked delicious food, but the people keeping watch at night also had no special meals to prepare, even with Lu Xingyao, their lucky charm, around.

Lu Yang had volunteered to keep watch at night because he wanted to get special treatment, but half a month had passed and he hadn't gotten a single meal, which made him very depressed.

Perhaps because he had been eating so much before, there wasn't much food left to eat, and the food was bland and tasteless. Mrs. Xu noticed that her husband had actually lost some weight!
A somber atmosphere enveloped the Lu family; after all, it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.