Everything I bought on online shopping platforms was genuine.

"Hey, cousin, yes, it's me. Did you get a day off today? No, really? Are you sure you're still at the company?"
Okay, that's fine then, all right!

On the highway, Lin Mo hung up the phone and fell into deep thought as he looked at the endless convoy ahead and behind him.

"Is this really so unlucky? Is it fate?" Lin Mo murmured.

Before making that call, he genuinely suspected that his cousin had also gotten on the highway. There was no way around it; the esteemed owner of the 2888t, nicknamed the "Traffic Jam Queen," didn't earn that title for nothing.

But I just heard a voice from the company on the other end of the phone, so it looks like today is just pure bad luck.

It's understandable, after all, it's the peak season for returning home at the end of the year, so traffic jams are perfectly normal.

He had initially taken a chance, thinking that if he got on the highway and things went smoothly, the journey would only take an hour and a half to two hours, with little chance of traffic jams. But now it seems he underestimated the formidable reputation of the highways at the end of the year.

After all, in the years before that, he had always taken the high-speed rail to return home for the Spring Festival and had never experienced traffic jams or anything like that.

We can't expect a college student to wait until the end of the year to come back with his cousin just to hitch a ride; that's impossible.

Of course, he can skip October 1st; he's been stuck in traffic for two or three years now, so he's gotten used to it.

'Buzz~'

Just then, Lin Mo's phone rang again. He immediately pressed the answer button, turned on speakerphone, and Miss Yuan's voice came through.

"Mo Zai, are you back yet?"

"On my way, Sister Yuan!"

Which road did you take?

"It's on the highway!"

"You got stuck in traffic, hahaha, serves you right!"

Lin Mo:
"Wait a minute, Sister Yuan, you're not on the highway, are you?"

As he spoke, he quickly rolled down the car window and began searching around for Miss Yuan's little purple tram. During this time, Miss Yuan only liked to drive this tram; she was very immersed in the pleasure of marking the soft persimmon.

"Get lost. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Why would I go home with you? What kind of person are you that I have to escort you? I just saw the news about the traffic jam on the highway online, so I called to find out what happened and to make a sarcastic remark to you."

Now that I know you're stuck in traffic on the highway, I'm relieved. Okay, you can stay stuck there. I'm going to have some fun, bye-bye~~

After saying that, Miss Yuan hung up the phone. Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Lin Mo's forehead was covered with black lines. How idle must this person be? She would make a special call to mock him for such a trivial matter?

Fortunately, this time it was a gasoline car, and the tank was full, so there was no need to worry about being stuck in traffic for a long time.

Simply recline your seat, grab your phone, and scroll through short videos. It's not boring at all. After all, in modern society, as long as you have a phone and internet access, young people won't feel bored.

He can even stay home for a week without going out.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and Lin Mo was still on the highway. It had been three hours since he got on the highway. During that time, the car was moving at a snail's pace, stopping and starting frequently. But fortunately, he was not far from Nancheng.

We're on the highway now, and there's no way to take the shortcut through his uncle's village this time. We can only proceed in the queue as usual.

After a while, Lin Mo also started to get restless, mainly because he hadn't slept well the night before and was feeling a bit sleepy.

However, it is still winter and the temperature is still very cold, so no one got out of the car to perform any shows.

Fortunately, after another half hour, the situation finally improved, and he could see the so-called exit from a distance.

A significant number of vehicles chose to drop off at the southern part of the city.

A large portion of these vehicles belong to local residents of Nancheng, while some are from out of town who don't want to get stuck in traffic on the highway and are planning to get off here, since even if the side road is congested, it's still better than this area.

At worst, we can find a place to stay in the south of the city for the night, which is better than being on the highway. If we are energetic, we can even take the side roads at night to get around.

However, because of the lane change required to exit the highway, which was congested on the highway, some traffic jams also occurred here, with many cars trying to squeeze in.

More than half an hour later, Lin Mo finally entered the exit smoothly, and then the car speed increased considerably.

As cars drove out of the highway exit, the area suddenly became much wider.

Lin Mo's mood improved, and he hummed a little tune as he headed home.

As the year draws to a close, there are more cars in Nancheng, a small county town. Fortunately, although there are many cars, the traffic is not too congested.

Just after 5 p.m., when it was getting dark, he still drove back to his residential community.

Unlike when he last came back, the neighborhood had returned to its usual state, with electric bikes scattered everywhere in a chaotic mess. Lin Mo searched for a long time before finally finding a place where he could barely park.

"Hey Mom, I'm home. Come downstairs and help me with some things!" Lin Mo called his mother.

Soon, Lin Junmin, the father, got out of the car. Looking at Lin Mo's car and then at the trunk full of cigarettes and alcohol, Old Lin laughed and said, "That child Ruyan is really something, taking all that stuff. Next time, tell her she doesn't need to take anything, we have everything we need!"

Although he said that, Comrade Lin's actions didn't stop at all; he grabbed a bunch of cigarettes, alcohol, and tea in one go.

Seeing this, Lin Mo sighed helplessly and said, "Dad, why don't you take more? I've been driving all day, why are you nagging about her as soon as you get here!"

"Go away, go away, go to the side. If I don't talk about my future daughter-in-law, why would I talk about you, you brat? Hurry up, grab your things and go upstairs!" Lin Junmin urged.

When the two elders in the family heard that Liu Ruyan wouldn't be coming with them before the New Year, they weren't so excited anymore.

As for his son coming back, so be it. Are we going to give him an award?

Seeing this, Lin Mo had no choice but to carry the bags and go upstairs with his father. Upstairs, his mother, Zhou Min, glanced at the father and son who had returned, then looked at the empty corridor behind them, before turning back to sit in the living room.

"Ahem, Mom, didn't you already know my boyfriend wasn't coming back with me? Why are you still making that face?" Lin Mo asked, putting his things down.

Hearing this, his mother, who had sat back down on the sofa, rolled her eyes at him and said, "I was just thinking that a miracle might happen, what if? What if you two were just kidding me and were going to give me a surprise? I didn't expect it to actually be true."

"Then I'm your son too. I'm back from my holiday, aren't you happy?" Lin Mo tried to awaken his maternal instincts.

In response, Ms. Zhou sneered: "I want a daughter-in-law right now. Don't talk to me about maternal love. I heard from Ruyan that her mother likes you very much. You two can switch mothers in the future. As for you, I've been looking at you for more than 20 years and I'm tired of you."

"Alright, Lao Lin, heat up the leftovers from lunch for your son and let him have a bite. Save the vegetables you've prepared for tomorrow's lunch!"

"Okay, I'll go right away," Old Lin said with a smile, putting away his cigarettes, alcohol, and tea before heading straight into the kitchen.

Upon hearing this, Lin Mo quickly moved closer to the sofa: "Mom, this isn't right. It's my first day back. Even if we don't have a welcome dinner, you should at least cook two dishes!"

"What are you talking about? You didn't even bring your girlfriend back, and you're already doing something good?" Zhou Min glared at her son.

Lin Mo replied helplessly, "Alright then, but my girlfriend asked me to bring you some gifts—a coat and a scarf. I don't even know what brand they are, but they cost tens of thousands!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his mother disappeared from the sofa. Lin Mo turned his head and saw his mother, Zhou Min, looking through his gifts.

"Wow~ this dress, the cut, the feel, it's like it was made just for me. My Yanyan has such good taste."

Old Lin, cook him two new dishes, for the sake of my future daughter-in-law!

"Alright, coming right up!" Old Lin called out from the kitchen.

Lin Mo:
It has to be said that his mother's ability to change her expression so quickly is comparable to that of a master of intangible cultural heritage.

But no matter what, at least I have a meal to eat after coming back.

While his father was cooking, his mother, Zhou Min, changed into the coat and scarf that Liu Ruyan had given her and stood in front of the mirror to admire herself.

"Son, son, do you think your mom looks good in this outfit?"

"It looks good," Lin Mo said without even looking up from his phone, his tone very perfunctory.

Seeing this, Mom didn't mind and continued to touch her clothes, laughing, "Since we ate the things you sent back, your dad and I are much healthier than before. We feel like we've become several years younger. If we wear these clothes, we'll look so energetic when we visit relatives during the New Year."

I must say, you really do get what you pay for! These clothes are really good; they'll last for years!

Now that she knows her son is rich, with assets in the tens of millions, and her girlfriend's family is also well-off, Zhou Min no longer hesitates to spend tens of thousands of yuan on clothes.

Before, she would have wanted to take the clothes off immediately and return them. Forget about clothes costing tens of thousands of yuan, even clothes costing three or five thousand yuan would have felt like a death sentence to her.

An hour later, the family of three sat at the dining table eating dinner. At this time, Zhou Min, the mother, had already taken off the clothes that Liu Ruyan had given her and put them away. She couldn't bear to wear such nice clothes at home.

"Hey Mom, the refrigerator and TV have been replaced? Is it the one I mailed back?" Lin Mo asked while eating.

The refrigerator and television in the house were clearly not the same ones he had brought Liu Ruyan back with him last time.

“Yes, the thing you brought back is better than the one we have at home. So I had your dad sell our new refrigerator and TV to his coworker. By the way, son, why did you buy this thing?” Mom asked.

Lin Mo: "I didn't buy it. It was a gift from someone during a promotion. I don't need it, so I mailed it back to you!"

"This promotion is great! It just so happens that your dad was thinking of buying a phone, and this is perfect for him. Haha, by the way, what kind of promotion is it?" Old Lin asked with a smile, pointing to the latest Apple phone on his table.

"It's nothing, I just collected all my savings and deposited them in the bank. It was a gift from the bank, tens of millions of yuan in deposits, they had to show their appreciation," Lin Mo said with a smile.

He didn't mention that he had made a fortune, earning over 50 million yuan and now had a net worth of nearly 80 million yuan, but his parents knew that he had 10 million yuan in savings.

Upon hearing this, the two elderly people nodded. Although his parents were not extremely wealthy, they were not ignorant old people either.

"It's good to have money. When have we ever received a gift when we've saved up our money?" Old Lin sighed.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Min, his mother, rolled her eyes at him: "With your meager savings, what do you need gifts for? Just deposit a million in the bank, and the bank will give you something in return!"

Comrade Lin gave an awkward smile in response.

Seeing this, Lin Mo smiled and said, "By the way, Dad, how's work these days? Is it easier?"

He already knew that his father, at his mother's suggestion, had used connections to get a job transfer. He was working hard to earn money while his father suffered on the front lines. What was the point of that?
"It's so much easier now. I just sit in the office all day, eight hours a day, no night shifts, two days off a week, and I don't have to work shifts anymore. Your dad started his annual leave the night before last. It's even easier than your mom's, except the salary is less," Old Lin said with a smile.

He used to be a frontline worker in a steel mill, and the work was quite strenuous. It was fine when he was young, but as he got older, it became quite difficult.

But he was still a little unaccustomed to being suddenly transferred to an easier position.

"Now that you two have recovered, you don't need to worry about my wedding. I have the money. Mom, see if there are any other positions at your school. Don't just grade papers all day. If all else fails, we can find someone for you to teach PE. PE teachers are usually weak and sickly, and they get plenty of rest time," Lin Mo said with a smile.

"Get out of here. Do you think your mother can just move her around like that?"
"Look, if you're really not short of money, after you get married and have children, Mom might consider quitting her job to help you take care of the kids. Otherwise, forget it, Mom still wants to collect her retirement pension," his mother, Zhou Min, spat at him.

In fact, Lin Mo knew that even if he said he had 100 million yuan in his hands, his parents would not resign. After all, they were only in their early forties, not even forty-five yet. They couldn't afford to retire now and rely on their son to support them.

Unless there is a legitimate reason, such as after he got married and had children, and he and Liu Ruyan were busy, his mother would not be willing to resign and go home to take care of her grandson.

"Then you should go to work!"

Mom Zhou Min: "Hey, are you asking for a beating?"

(End of this chapter)