The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

Li Kaixin and his family returned home and began changing into new clothes. Even the father, Li Mingde, unusually, trimmed his beard in front of the mirror.

Once everything was ready, the family sat in the main room and waited.

Father Li Mingde finally had a chance to ask his eldest son some questions.

He cleared his throat and said, "Kaixin, the elders in the clan have already taken you to that place, right?"

"I went!" Li Kaixin replied, then smiled and asked, "Father, haven't you been?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mingde, the father, felt somewhat embarrassed and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Qin Xiuli, the mother standing nearby, chimed in, "Kaixin, your father isn't qualified yet!"

She heard about it from her mother-in-law yesterday; only a handful of people know about that place.

"Wife, why are you undermining me?" Father Li Mingde said helplessly.

Mother Qin Xiuli raised an eyebrow: "What, you have a problem with that?"

"No, no!" Father Li Mingde quickly waved his hands, smiling ingratiatingly, "Daughter-in-law, say whatever you want!"

"That's more like it, you can continue!" said Qin Xiuli, the mother.

She knew what her husband wanted to ask, and she had only spoken up to break the silence.

"Alright, wife." Father Li Mingde smiled, then regained his serious expression, turning to his eldest son: "Kaixin, what are your thoughts on this?"

"Dad, I haven't decided yet!" Li Kaixin stopped smiling and shook his head.

Although I didn't make many demands on him during my conversation with my second great-grandfather in the basement yesterday, I could tell how heavy this responsibility was from the attitude of Yong Ge and the young people in the village towards him.

In essence, he took over most of the clan chief's power.

But these days, even doing business is impossible, so Li Kaixin has no confidence that he can lead the young people in the village.

After a moment of silence, Father Li Mingde slowly said, "Kaixin, if you're really not sure, don't force yourself. And whatever you do there, don't take anything."

"I understand, Dad!" Li Kaixin replied solemnly. "I won't go there until I've thought it through."

Seeing this, the father didn't say anything more, but simply reached out and patted his eldest son on the shoulder.

Just then, the sound of a car horn rang out from outside the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, Aunt Zhao and Aunt Sun brought a young man in a Zhongshan suit to the backyard, where they happened to run into Li Kaixin and his family who had just come out of the house.

They guessed from the sound of the horn that someone was coming to pick them up.

"Happy, this young man who drives a car is looking for you!"

Aunt Sun introduced with a smile, then turned to the side, "She said she came here specially to pick you up for the banquet."

The young man stepped forward with a smile: "Hello, Comrade Li Kaixin, I am Secretary Liu's driver, my surname is Zhang. Secretary Liu specifically asked me to pick you and your family up."

"Comrade Zhang, thank you for your hard work." Li Kaixin smiled and stepped forward to shake his hand.

"It's not hard work at all, it's what I should do."

Xiao Zhang responded politely, his gaze sweeping over Li Kaixin's parents and younger siblings behind him, "The car is right outside. Is now a convenient time for you to leave?"

"It's convenient, please lead the way, Comrade Zhang." Li Kaixin nodded with a smile and thanked Aunt Sun and Aunt Zhao.

Then, the family followed driver Zhang outside.

The younger brother, Li Kai, was incredibly excited at the thought of soon being able to ride in a toy car.

The same was true for her younger sister, Li Xiaoxiao; the anticipation in her eyes was impossible to hide.

A brand-new Jeep was parked at the entrance of the courtyard, where several middle-aged women had already gathered together, muttering to themselves.

As Li Kaixin and his family approached the car, the murmurs of the older women became clearer:

"Oh my, they really came to pick up Li Kaixin and her family?"

"This is quite a grand affair, with cars providing special transportation. I've hardly ever seen anything like it."

"Don't make a fuss! After all, he's a big shot who's in the newspapers now, so it's normal for him to ride in a car."

Li Kaixin walked past them, pretending not to hear.

He went straight to the car, opened the door, and let his parents and younger siblings get in first, while he got into the passenger seat.

As the car slowly drove out of the alley, the group of middle-aged women remained standing there, watching the direction the car had left in.

Li Kai, the younger brother, lay on his side on the car frame, watching the scenery rushing past the window, muttering to himself:

"This little car is so fast! I wish our bicycle could go that fast too."

"Xiao Kai, sit still and don't move around." His mother, Qin Xiuli, patted his bottom and gently reminded him.

Li Kai, the younger brother, turned his head as if to say something, but saw his father glaring at him. He was so frightened that he covered his mouth with both hands and sat down obediently.

The younger sister, Li Xiaoxiao, sat properly from the moment she got into the car.

At the gate of courtyard number 93, not long after Li Kaixin and his family left.

Aunt Qian arrived here with two older women.

Seeing the group of middle-aged women standing there looking towards the alley entrance, Aunt Qian walked up to them and asked, "What are you all looking at so intently?"

The group of middle-aged women who had been talking aloud turned their attention away upon hearing the voice.

One of the older women turned around, saw it was Aunt Qian, and casually replied, "Looking at Li Kaixin's family, just now..."

"Li Kaixin?" Aunt Qian hurriedly interrupted, taking half a step forward. "Chen Daniu, where is the person you were talking about?"

The two middle-aged women next to Aunt Qian's eyes lit up as they looked around.

"They've left!" The girl called Chen Daniu gestured towards the alley entrance with her chin. "They just left in a car."

"What? Why, why did they leave again?" Aunt Qian stamped her feet anxiously.

Seeing her crazy behavior, Chen Daniu muttered "sick" and pulled her companions away.

A slightly plump middle-aged woman brought by Aunt Qian frowned and asked, "Aunt Qian, what do we do now? Should we keep waiting?"

"How would I know?" Aunt Qian said somewhat rudely.

Another plump woman immediately objected:

"What do you mean you don't know? We've been putting up with this since yesterday, wasting so much of our time. If you don't give us a straight answer, this isn't over!"

"What's your hurry? Do you still want to buy some rare stuff at a low price? That kid has a whole cart full of good stuff," Aunt Qian replied, glancing at her.

The two middle-aged women finally quieted down after hearing that.

Aunt Qian ignored them. If it weren't for the fact that none of the people in the courtyard wanted to be with her, she wouldn't have asked these two people from the neighboring courtyard to fill in.