1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 154 Heading to Shanghai, Wherever You Are, That's Where I Am

"Okay, it's on me, it's on me, alright?"

Qu Peng sighed resignedly, "I knew you wouldn't come up with anything good. You're just trying to get me to pay for your meal."

"Just understand it yourself."

Gu Bin patted his shoulder and gave him a pitying look: "Who told you to go to Beijing and stay there for so long without even making a phone call? If Xi Yu and I weren't engaged, were you planning to stay there forever and never come back?"

"how could be"

Qu Peng was a little guilty: "It's too difficult to apply for a Beijing hukou. Many people who drift to Beijing can't even last three years. I'll probably have to come back too."

"You're thinking quite far ahead."

Wang Fan couldn't resist teasing him again: "You haven't even started university yet, and you're already thinking about your household registration."

"It's indeed not easy for people from other places to apply for a Beijing hukou (household registration), unless..."

Gu Bin glanced at Qu Peng and smiled meaningfully: "Find a girl from Beijing and marry a local."

"Ah."

Wang Fan chuckled and then feigned sudden realization: "No wonder you took a fancy to Gu Hui, so that's what you were planning."

"Ryoko."

Wu Meng's expression changed upon hearing this: "You don't intend to stay in Beijing in the future, do you?"

"Where you are, I will be."

Without hesitation, Li Liang reassured her.

"That's good"

Wu Meng was relieved and smiled.

"Tsk."

Wang Fan's teeth feel sensitive.

Qu Peng's expression was also not good.

"Let's go to an internet cafe."

Gu Bin held Lin Xiyu's hand intimately, delivering another blow to the two single people: "The CD that Sister Yan gave us must have a surprise. I guess it's a special copy of the documentary 'Spring Water Family' for us."

"I think so too"

Lin Xiyu, as if on cue, returned his greeting with a sweet smile.

Wang Fan: "."

Qu Peng: "."

This is going to be plenty of dog food (a Chinese slang term for public displays of affection)!

I'm already stuffed.

Why bother with a big meal tonight? Let's all go home, wash up, and go to sleep. We have to travel tomorrow.

-

The CD that Li Yan presented to Lin Xiyu on behalf of the program team was indeed the complete version of the documentary "Spring Water Village".

The documentary is 1 hour and 17 minutes long, with beautiful visuals and behind-the-scenes footage.

Gu Bin's quick thinking on the shores of Daming Lake led to a scene where his grandfather had no choice but to admit that Lin Xiyu was his future granddaughter-in-law.

"Oh, they filmed this part too?"

Even though Lin Xiyu was present at the time, seeing this scene again still made her heart pound with fear.

"The cameraman is a professional."

Gu Bin didn't take it seriously and gave a casual, perfunctory reply.

"You've got some nerve."

Lin Xiyu smiled and playfully scolded, "You dared to set a trap for Grandpa. Thinking about it now, I still feel very nervous. What if Grandpa had been heartless and refused to agree back then? What would you have done then?"

"will not."

Gu Bin was confident: "Grandpa won't refuse because he understands me. Once he's made up his mind about something or someone, it's hard for anyone else to change his mind unless he gives up himself."

Lin Xiyu's heart skipped a beat: "When did you start to believe in me?"

"Let me think."

Gu Bin stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Lin Xiyu raised her eyebrows and looked at him with great interest.

"should be"

Gu Bin met her expectant gaze and smiled slyly: "It started with a silly girl falling from a tree."

"Oh, you're laughing at me again!"

Lin Xiyu got angry and raised her fist to hit her.

Gu Bin reacted quickly, grabbed her hand, pulled her into his arms, and his warm lips landed on hers.

Lin Xiyu struggled in vain and once again succumbed to his tenderness and affection.

-

September 10th.

There's an old custom in Jinan: steamed buns at the beginning and noodles at the end.

To put it simply, you eat dumplings to send off your loved ones and noodles to welcome them home.

On the day her two granddaughters left home, their maternal grandmother, following tradition, personally made dumplings with green beans and pork filling, the sisters' favorite food, to see them off.

After eating dumplings, the two sisters, with the earnest advice of their relatives, set off on a long journey and boarded a train to Shanghai.

-

It takes 17 hours to travel from Jinan to Shanghai by express train.

Gu Bin had Wang Fan buy sleeper berths in advance. The group of six, taking advantage of the sleeper berths to rest, chatted, laughed, and joked around, so they didn't get too bored.

As darkness fell, the carriage quieted down, and the boys and girls stopped playing around and lay down to rest.

Listening to the clattering of the train, they slept lightly through the night. When they woke up the next morning, none of the three girls felt well.

There was some noise in the carriage; some people got up and started washing up.

Lin Xiyu yawned sleepily and forced herself to get up from her bunk.

"sleepy."

My cousin rubbed her eyelids, turned over, and went back to sleep.

"Sleeping on the top bunk is so shaky, I almost fell off in the middle of the night."

Wu Meng groaned and moaned in the top bunk, refusing to get up.

"I told you I wanted to sleep on the top bunk, but you insisted on not doing so, you just had to be stubborn."

Li Liang is tall and has long legs. When he stood up straight, he could see her listless expression as she woke up in the morning.

"Ah, don't look."

Wu Meng suddenly turned around and covered her face with the bed sheet.

Li Liang: "."

He's seen drooling all he wants, so what else can't he see?

"Hahaha."

Wang Fan slapped his thigh, laughing smugly: "You're so tactless! How can you look at a girl with sleep in her eyes right after she wakes up?"

"Boom."

Wu Meng threw a pillow down from above, roaring angrily, "You're the one with eye boogers!"

"Be careful."

Seeing that she was too excited and leaned out halfway, almost tumbling down, Li Liang quickly caught her.

"Wang Fan, I'm really curious, how did you find a girlfriend?"

After their commotion, my cousin was no longer sleepy: "With that mouth of yours, you can make people angry to death with just one word. How many women can stand you?"

“I didn’t go looking for them, they just threw themselves at me.”

Wang Fan was not ashamed but proud: "With my looks and money, how many women could resist me?"

"Just blow it."

My cousin rolled her eyes and didn't want to talk to him anymore.

-

"Attention passengers, the train will arrive at Shanghai Station at 8:35 a.m. Please prepare your luggage and get off the train on time."

"We're almost there. Hurry up, everyone get up and get ready to get off the bus."

After Gu Bin finished washing up, he patted each of the sleeper berths a few times, waking up those who were still in bed.

"Finally we're here."

Wang Fan stopped bragging, ran his fingers through his messy hair, draped a towel over his shoulder, and went to the sink.

His striking blond hair drew a lot of strange looks.

When the young women and wives queuing at the sinks saw him approaching, they seemed startled and instinctively gave up their seats at the front.

"Tsk."

Wang Fan clicked his tongue, not seeing anything wrong with it, turned on the tap, and washed his face with great pleasure.

After Lin Xiyu finished washing up and got some hot water, she saw this scene, looked away helplessly, and pretended not to know her.

"Hey, class monitor, you're up pretty early."

Fate seemed to be working against her. She tried to slip away quietly, but Wang Fan happened to look up as she passed by the mirror and saw her slender figure.

"hiss."

Lin Xiyu sensitively noticed that the way people in line looked at her changed instantly, filled with suspicious gazes that burned her cheeks.

"Go wash your things, why are you talking so much nonsense?" Not wanting to stay any longer, she dropped what she was doing and ran off in a flash.

"Hey."

Wang Fan was both annoyed and amused to see her practically screaming "I don't know him" on her face.

"Am I that shameful? So much so that you all want to stay far away from me when you see me?"

He clicked his tongue again, then suddenly bent down and approached the girl closest to him with a playful grin.

"what?"

The girl looked up in surprise, and the moment their eyes met, her cheeks involuntarily flushed red.

"This is the right thing to do."

Wang Fan raised an eyebrow smugly, feeling a little better: "I knew my charm was everywhere. How could I not even win over a naive young girl? If she doesn't like me, it's just that she's blind."

"What nonsense are you spouting here again?"

Li Liang accompanied Wu Meng to wash up, grabbed his collar, and pulled him away.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Wang Fan protested, dissatisfied: "I'm chatting with a pretty girl, are you jealous or something?"

Who cares about being jealous of you?

Wu Meng disliked what he said and rolled her eyes at him: "My Liangzi is tall and handsome, much better than you."

"Ah."

Wang Fan laughed in exasperation: "Your Liangzi? The saccharine smell of your romance is practically spitting out my face."

"Get out of the way, don't block the way."

Li Liang, annoyed that he was blocking the toilet door, pushed him aside.

"Oh my god!"

Wang Fan was pushed so hard by his brute force that he stumbled and almost fell.

"See? This is the kind of boyfriend you should look for."

In front of the group of young women and married women queuing up, Wu Meng raised her eyebrows smugly: "My Liangzi is loyal, reliable, and gives me a sense of security. That guy over there, with his oily and slick talk, has nothing to offer besides a few stinking bucks."

"Uh."

The girl, who had just been teased by Wang Fan's deliberate approach and blushed, coughed awkwardly twice and looked away.

"Wu Meng, you can do it!"

Wang Fan pointed at her, speechless with anger.

"Gu Bin is looking for you, hurry back."

Li Liang stood up for his fiancée and used this as a pretext to send the person away.

"slightly"

Wu Meng made a face at Wang Fan's back, pulling down her eyelids.

"Hurry up and wash your face, we're getting off the bus."

Li Liang patted her head, his face full of affection.

-

Shanghai.

The train arrived on time, and passengers, carrying large bags and small suitcases, rushed to get off the train and joined the crowded flow of people.

Gu Bin and the others moved forward with the flow of people and successfully exited the station.

"Two yuan for one flower, buy one, it smells wonderful."

Outside the station, an elderly woman was selling flowers, holding up fresh blooms to attract customers.

The unfamiliar local dialect they had never heard before filled their ears, bringing a sense of novelty and making the group of young people truly feel that they had arrived in a strange city they had never been to before.

"What are they talking about?"

Wu Meng was very curious about the old woman selling flowers.

"Can't understand."

Li Liang wasn't interested in flowers. He rubbed his ears, feeling inexplicably annoyed.

Arriving in an unfamiliar environment for the first time, with language barriers, communication difficulties, and an inability to adjust one's mindset in time, can really be very disheartening.

"Selling flowers."

Gu Bin couldn't understand Shanghainese, but that didn't stop his sharp mind from working at lightning speed. He could guess the old woman's intentions.

He took out a 10-yuan bill from his wallet and handed it to one of the elderly women.

The old woman smiled broadly, gave him three flowers, and gave him four yuan in change.

"Two yuan each."

He accepted the flowers and casually handed them to the three ladies.

How do you wear this thing?

Wu Meng was a little confused: "It's not going to be tucked behind the ear, is it?"

"puff."

Wang Fan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"The flowers smell lovely."

Gu Bin explained with a smile, "Women in old Shanghai would wrap fresh flowers in a handkerchief and put them inside their cheongsams. This would give them a natural fragrance that smelled better than rouge and face powder."

Wow, the provincial top scorer is amazing!

Wu Meng was genuinely impressed: "How do you even know this?"

"That's what my sixth grandfather said."

Gu Bin glanced at Lin Xiyu and smiled meaningfully.

"Oh, I understand."

Lin Xiyu immediately understood what he meant.

The woman that Sixth Grandfather was in love with was the daughter of a prominent family.

A rich young lady like herself would naturally have such a refined taste, wearing fresh flowers to please her lover.

What kind of riddles are you two playing?

Wu Meng was completely confused: "Don't just say half of what you mean. What's wrong with your sixth grandfather? Keep going."

"this one"

Lin Xiyu deliberately kept everyone in suspense: "It's a secret, I can't tell you."

"Humph."

Wu Meng pouted, feigning displeasure: "You value romance over friendship? Am I still your best friend?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely!"

Lin Xiyu smiled playfully and took the opportunity to tuck the flower into her hair.

"oops."

Wu Meng was startled: "Why are you sticking it in my head? It looks awful."

"It's not ugly at all, it's very beautiful."

Lin Xiyu pressed her hand down, preventing her from taking it off: "If you don't believe me, ask Li Liang. Isn't it beautiful?"

"nice."

Li Liang showed his support very enthusiastically.

"No."

Wu Meng was secretly pleased, but still insisted, "Unless you wear it too, I don't believe you."

"Okay, okay, I'll wear it too, alright?"

As Lin Xiyu spoke, she tucked the flowers behind her ear.

The girl's delicate face appeared even more radiant and beautiful against the backdrop of the flowers.

Gu Bin's eyes lit up, a hint of amazement flashing across them.

"Hey."

Wu Meng had no choice but to believe it: "I must say, it really looks pretty on you."

"Where to go next?"

Seeing how beautiful her younger sister looked in the flower, the older cousin also tucked it behind her ear.

"You shouldn't wear it."

Wang Fan, bored, teased her, saying, "You're just imitating others, like Dong Shi trying to imitate Xi Shi."

"You're the one who's just imitating others."

My cousin got angry and kicked him.

Wang Fan anticipated this and dodged it.

My cousin was unwilling to give up and wanted to punch him again.

"You dare hit the boss?"

Wang Fan smiled slyly, and with one sentence, he struck at her weak spot: "Forget about your commission this month."

My cousin paused, abruptly pulling back the fist that was about to hit his face.

"Find a hotel near the train station and drop off your luggage first."

Gu Bin ignored their playful banter, looked around, and made a decision.