Chapter 38: Bad Judgment

Zheng Qiaoling realized she had said the wrong thing and quickly covered her mouth. “Ah, I’m going to be late. You guys talk slowly, I have to hurry back to work. Xilan, don’t worry, I’ll help you ask for leave.”

After saying that, she turned around and dashed off.

Song Xilan cursed this disloyal girl in her mind and then turned to Jiang Chengxiao. “Well, don’t be too upset. Jiang Jingru wanted to sell national treasures, and her intentions are reprehensible, but she didn’t succeed. Besides, now that things have blown up like this, she won’t be able to stay in the troupe. She’s already being punished. Let the past be the past, and don’t dwell on it.”

Jiang Chengxiao smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not that fragile.”

“Well… I need to get back to work too.”

“Mm. I might have to go out for a trip in the next couple of days.”

“Where to?” Song Xilan blurted out, and then quickly realized she was asking too much. She blushed and lowered her head. “I mean, I’m just casually asking, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Mm.” Jiang Chengxiao softly replied, “I plan to visit Guangshan’s parents.”

Although the belongings and compensation had already been delivered to them, Jiang Chengxiao still wanted to see those two elderly people who had lost their only son with his own eyes.

Lin Guangshan was an excellent person, and Jiang Chengxiao had come to know him as a brother through their disagreements. From initially not getting along and disliking each other, they had become close friends who would risk their lives for one another.

Everything that had happened in the last two years was still vivid in his mind, but now they were forever separated.

Jiang Chengxiao had long ago made it his responsibility to take care of the elderly couple in the future.

“Oh, okay. Be careful on the road.”

“These next few days… don’t go on any more blind dates.” Jiang Chengxiao suddenly said.

“Huh? Why?” Song Xilan was caught off guard by the sudden shift in topic.

“Because… your judgment isn’t that great. What if you end up meeting a slick, smooth-faced pretty boy and accidentally fall for him?”

Song Xilan’s face turned red, and she quickly said, “No way! I was… I was just… Well, I guess I was blind back then.”

Just then, a stream of messages popped into her mind.

[You can’t let Xiao Jiang go to the countryside alone. Something bad will happen.]

[What do you mean by that?]

[In the original plot, the big villain has a wife, and it’s that wife who gets caught in the countryside this time.]

[Wow, I got so distracted by Xiao Jiang and Xilan’s sweetness, I completely forgot about this part.]

Song Xilan’s heart raced: “Uh, so, your comrade… where is Lin Guangshan’s hometown?”

“Not far, Yang Songkeng. Have you heard of it?”

“Yang Songkeng? I know, I know. Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to work. Bye!”

Song Xilan hurriedly left, flustered.

Jiang Chengxiao watched her retreating figure, shaking his head with a helpless smile. He then patted his pocket and headed toward the downtown department store.

The watch was definitely for Guangshan’s parents, and as for the 360 yuan, he no longer expected to get it back from Jiang Jingru.

However, he still planned to cover the cost himself to send some money to the elderly couple.

But they definitely wouldn’t accept his money for no reason, so he decided to buy practical things for them instead. It was better than them taking the money and hoarding it without spending it.

At the department store, he bought practical items—simple, sturdy, and durable clothes, liberation shoes, and woolen sweaters and duck down jackets that the elderly would surely hesitate to buy for themselves, though they were excellent for warmth.

He also bought things that could only be bought with industrial coupons, like hot water bottles and aluminum lunch boxes—items that rural people couldn’t get even if they had money, because they lacked the necessary coupons.

He ended up buying a large number of things and placed them in two tin buckets. He planned to find a stick to carry everything, and if he wore his old military coat, he’d look like a farmer visiting the city for the first time.

He then went to the bus station to buy a ticket for the early bus to the county where Yang Songkeng was located, and finally returned to the hotel to rest.

Song Xilan spent the entire afternoon thinking about the messages in the barrage and finally made a bold decision.

That evening, after dinner, she cleared her throat and announced, “Mom, Dad, I’d like to take a couple of days off to visit my grandmother’s house.”

Quite the coincidence, Song Xilan’s grandmother’s house is in Yang Songkeng.

Tan Aizhi looked at her curiously. “Why all of a sudden do you want to go to your grandmother’s house?”

“I want to eat sea red fruit.”

Sea red fruit is a unique type of fruit found in the mountains near Yang Songkeng. It’s the season for them to ripen, and the ripe fruits cover the hills, forming a vast sea of red. They look a bit like apples, but are much smaller in size. They also taste like apples, with a tangy-sweet flavor and a slightly powdery texture.

When Song Xilan was little, she saw the sea red fruit when she went with her mother to visit her grandmother’s house. She thought it was the hawthorn used to make candied haws on TV, so she begged to have candied haws.

Her grandfather pampered her so much that he boiled up some of the little sugar they had at home to make syrup and dipped the sea red fruit in it, making candied haws for her to eat.

It made her cousin, her maternal uncle’s daughter, so mad she cried.

This incident was talked about by people in the village for over ten years. Even now, when they return to the village, people still laugh and joke with her, saying, “Did your grandpa really make you candied haws?”

Tan Aizhi said, “The New Year is almost here. Let them save some for you, and you can eat them when you go back for the holiday.”

“But I want to eat them now.”

“Well, I’ll give your uncle a call and ask him to send you some from the county tomorrow.”

Tan Aizhi had three siblings—her elder brother and she both managed to leave the village, while her younger brother stayed in the countryside but was quite capable. He was now the village head.

“I don’t want them sent. They’ll get all mushy and lose their freshness. I want them fresh, straight from the tree.”

Tan Aizhi had no way to argue with her. “Then wait a couple of days. I have some accounts to settle over the next few days and can’t leave. After that, I’ll take leave and go with you.”

“No need. I’m old enough now, I won’t get lost going to my grandmother’s house. I’ll go on my own tomorrow morning.”

Tan Aizhi was both amused and exasperated. She turned to Song Baili and said, “Look at this daughter of ours. She thinks she can do everything on her own. Wants to go, and off she goes. We can’t even talk her out of it.”

Song Baili replied, “Let her go if she wants to. We haven’t been back for a while. It’s good for Nannan to go back and visit the elders. I still have two bottles of Wuliangye. You can take them back for your grandfather.”

Tan Aizhi replied, “My dad doesn’t drink that. It’d be a waste to give it to him. He prefers the bulk wine made by the distillery in our county. When Nannan gets to the county, she can bring him a barrel back.”

“Do we have any white sugar at home? I’ll take some back so my grandfather can make me candied haws, so Xianglan won’t complain that I used up all their white sugar.”