Chapter 26: The Sky at Eighteen

“You seem to know a lot about her life. Could you tell me about it on the way home?” Su Xiaoli’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“No problem!” Tang Feng readily agreed.

Then, they approached the cashier.

The cashier totaled the price and bagged the books in a plastic bag.

Su Xiaoli paid for the books.

Then, carrying the books, they walked out of Xinhua Bookstore.

“Is your dad coming home for lunch?” Tang Feng asked as they walked.

“He won’t. Unless there’s something special, he eats at the company,” Su Xiaoli answered.

“In that case, come to my house for lunch. My mom’s cooking anyway; one more person won’t make a difference,” Tang Feng offered.

“Great! After lunch, we can read together,” Su Xiaoli agreed without any hesitation.

“Let’s go,” Tang Feng called.

On the way home, Tang Feng shared what he knew about Sanmao’s story with Su Xiaoli.

Su Xiaoli listened with great interest.

Finally, she said, “Tang Feng, if we get the chance, can we go to the Sahara Desert too?”

“Of course! There’s no reason we can’t! Wherever you want to go, I’ll be with you,” Tang Feng promised.

“Really? That’s really great! Here, let’s pinky promise,” Su Xiaoli said, extending her right pinky.

“Isn’t this a bit childish?” Tang Feng was momentarily taken aback.

“Not at all. I think it’s the best way to make a promise,” Su Xiaoli responded.

Tang Feng extended his right pinky as well.

“Pinky promise, hang ourselves from a tree, for a hundred years, no changing!” Su Xiaoli exclaimed with effort.

Tang Feng, seeing her like this, laughed happily too.

Unknowingly, they arrived at the entrance of Tang Feng’s family supermarket.

Tang Long was playing chess with an elderly man.

Several other elderly men were watching the game.

“Little Tang, your son is back!” one of the elderly men pointed out Tang Feng.

Tang Long looked up and saw not only his son but also Su Xiaoli.

He quickly stood up and walked over.

“Uncle Tang!” Su Xiaoli greeted him sweetly.

“You’ve just come back from Xinhua Bookstore?” Tang Long noticed the plastic bag in his son’s hand.

“Yes! I was thinking of having Xiaoli eat lunch at our place. Where’s mom?” Tang Feng looked inside the supermarket as he asked.

“Your mom went to the Nan Guan market to buy groceries. She should be back soon,” Tang Long answered.

“I’ll take Xiaoli home first,” Tang Feng said, then left with Su Xiaoli.

Tang Long watched their backs, shaking his head.

As the saying goes, a child grows beyond one’s control. Now that his son had finished high school and had his own ideas, as long as he wasn’t making principle mistakes, he, as a father, couldn’t interfere too much.

“Little Tang, your son is quite capable! Just graduated from high school and already brought back a daughter-in-law!” the elderly man playing chess with him joked.

“What daughter-in-law! It’s not even close to that! They are high school classmates, and I’m former colleagues with the girl’s father. The two kids have always been close,” Tang Long replied, sitting back down.

“Anyway, it’s good he knows how to interact with girls. Just don’t let him end up like my son! Over thirty and still a bachelor, I don’t know when he’ll bring home a daughter-in-law,” the elderly man sighed.

“Let’s not talk about this. Come on, let’s play chess!” Tang Long changed the subject.

Tang Feng and Su Xiaoli returned home.

Tang Feng asked her to sit on the sofa for a while, and he went to the kitchen.

There weren’t many fruits at home, just a few peaches and a bunch of bananas.

He washed the peaches, picked the biggest and reddest one, and handed it to Su Xiaoli.

Su Xiaoli thanked him and took it.

“Do you want to watch TV?” Tang Feng suggested.

“Sure,” Su Xiaoli agreed.

Tang Feng turned on the TV and handed her the remote control to choose a channel.

Soon, Su Xiaoli settled on a TV series.

Tang Feng was surprised when he saw the title.

“Eighteen Year Old Sky.”

It was a series about high school life.

Back when Tang Feng had just started university, he was particularly fond of this series, to the point of obsession.

He wished he had a teacher like Gu Yuetao.

Not only was he highly skilled in teaching, but he was also witty and humorous, maintaining a friendly relationship with his students.

Su Xiaoli seemed to be watching it for the first time, completely engrossed.

She hardly blinked.

Tang Feng, resisting the urge to spoil the plot, sat beside her, silently accompanying her.

After a while, the sound of keys in the door lock was heard.

Tang Feng instinctively stood up from the sofa.

Then, his mother walked in.

She was carrying several plastic bags, looking quite heavy.

Tang Feng hurriedly helped her.

His mother greeted Su Xiaoli and then went to the kitchen to start cooking.

Su Xiaoli turned off the TV.

“Why did you stop watching?” Tang Feng was puzzled.

“It doesn’t feel right to watch TV while your mother is busy cooking. I’ll go to the kitchen and see if I can help,” Su Xiaoli answered.

“Our kitchen is too small. With more people, there’s hardly space to turn around. If you’re not comfortable staying in the living room, you can go to my room and read. I’ll call you when mom’s done cooking,” Tang Feng suggested.

Su Xiaoli glanced at the kitchen, noting its small size.

She nodded, picked up Sanmao’s books, and went into Tang Feng’s room.

Tang Feng then approached his mother.

Although his mother was just over forty, she had quite a few gray hairs, appearing much older.

“What are you standing there for?” his mother asked while cooking.

“I’m seeing how you cook. In a while, I’ll cook a big meal for you, so you can taste my cooking,” Tang Feng replied.

“Cooking isn’t as easy as you say. If you want to cook well, you need to practice a lot. When your father and I first got married, I couldn’t cook well either. Back then, we didn’t have a phone, so I used to ask my colleagues who had been married for years for advice during work. Over time, my cooking improved,” his mother said, her expression rich with nostalgia as if she were back in those early days of marriage.

Tang Feng remained silent.

He could have used his sign-in points to exchange for a cooking secrets manual last time but, after much deliberation, chose the body strengthening pill instead.

After all, to him, physical health was most important.

His previous identity as an old craftsman had left his body in a severely depleted state.

Since taking the body strengthening pill, he felt not only much better physically but also less desperate for certain things.

Moreover, he was determined to quit that bad habit. Otherwise, his physical condition would only worsen, eventually leading to irreparable damage.

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