NOVPUBHaving finished the deposit payment, they left the sales office near noon. Although it had entered winter, the sun in Li City in January was still blazing.
"You guys don’t think Donghui City will end up unfinished, right?" On the way back, Yao Jiping began to worry again.
"I doubt it, with such big investment." Xu Aiguo had been driving for hundreds of meters, but still hadn’t left the bounds of Donghui City.
Yao Jiping’s worry was normal, as newspapers in Hong Kong usually didn’t lack bad news from other provinces, among which unfinished buildings drew the most attention from the public.
"Mom, you can be assured, this area is part of the government’s new urban plan. Even if the enterprises default, the government will cover it, otherwise how could they boost the surrounding land prices!" Xu Qingfan explained in a know-it-all tone.
"Like you know so much!" Yao Jiping glared at her son, annoyed, although she knew Xu Qingfan had always been assertive, it still bothered her to be lectured by her child.
Xu Qingfan shrugged and stopped dealing with his mom, turning to look out the window instead.
As the car drove along Rhein Road, the snack and kebab shops that once lined the street were now desolate, leaving Wu Lingyu staring out the window, lost in thought, as scenes from the past replayed in her mind like a slideshow.
The girl would never forget how, in her darkest moments, Xu Qingfan reignited hope in her life, like the sun rising from a graveyard.
The desolate street juxtaposed with her increasingly better family situation. Wu Lingyu used the excuse of looking at the scenery to secretly steal glances at Xu Qingfan until the car completely left Rhein Road, then she sweetly thought: How wonderful!
...
It was too late for lunch, so Yao Jiping didn’t bother cooking at home; they soon appeared at Zhengwu Gate for tea.
Zhengwu Gate and Martial Arts Chef God were two tea houses that the people of Li City had grown up with. The food was decent enough, nothing special but no risks, and the prices were very reasonable, even after many years it was still hard for the average cost to exceed fifty yuan, and at this time in 2009, it was only about thirty yuan per person.
Maybe because it was the first day of the New Year holiday, the tea house was full. They waited a bit and quickly got a table as some customers finished and left.
Xu Qingfan sat at the tea-brewing spot, helped everyone boil water and rinse bowls while cleaning the teawares, then he put his own tea leaves in a teapot, rinsed and brewed them.
"Mom, Auntie, see if you want to order anything else?" Xia Xiaoxiao and Wu Lingyu finished marking what they wanted on the order sheet, then flipped it over for the adults.
"Xiao Fan hasn’t seen it yet, why don’t you ask what Xiao Fan wants to eat?"
"Hmph~" Xia Xiaoxiao turned her head away, displaying an expression of not wanting to deal with him.
"No worries, Auntie, you guys go ahead and order. It’s always the same few dishes anyway." Xu Qingfan said after pouring out the brewed tea for everyone.
The tea almost everyone ordered was quite similar: peanuts and chicken feet, taro ribs, beef tripe, shrimp dumplings, and dried tangerine peel beef balls were musts; stir-fried beef ho fun, mixed fried noodles, and porridge where you pick two for the main dish, and then a few personal favorites like Xia Xiaoxiao’s favorite ice durian, Xu Qingfan’s favorite XO sauce radish cake, etc.
And ordering rice noodle roll at a tea place? Even dogs wouldn’t eat that!
Shortly after placing the order, a waiter pushed a cart full of steaming baskets to their table, served the food, and marked off the corresponding dishes on their bill.
"Yu, eat more, we’re leaving Hong Kong after lunch." Xu Qingfan picked the biggest chicken foot and put it in her bowl.
"Mmm, thanks, Brother Fan." The girl gave him a shy smile and began to tackle the chicken foot in front of her.
"Don’t slouch." Seeing this, Xu Qingfan patted her back.
Xia Xiaoxiao watched the scene unfold before her, and suddenly the ice durian in her mouth felt bland. She chewed angrily on her food.
"Here, this is yours." He reached with his chopsticks to get Xia Xiaoxiao another one.
The girl’s movement paused for a moment, as if suddenly all her anger had gone – why was that?
[I won’t forgive you that easily!] She glared at Xu Qingfan and said, "You don’t have to be so kind!"
"Xiaoxiao, watch how you speak!" Lin Jing couldn’t bear to see her daughter always picking on Xu Qingfan, tapping her on the head with her chopstick.
"Ah~" Xia Xiaoxiao rubbed the spot where she had just been hit, looking aggrieved.
"Auntie, it’s fine, we were just playing. Xia Xiaoxiao said we were playing a game to see who laughs first loses."
"Pfft~" She almost spat out her food laughing at Xu Qingfan’s remark.
"Good grief, I really can’t keep up with your post-90s way of thinking." Lin Jing believed him and chuckled, shaking her head.
"Come on, Auntie, you’re not old, saying eighteen might be a stretch, but twenty-five is about right. When we go to high school and you attend the parent-teacher meetings, those teachers might even think you’re Xiaoxiao’s sister!" Xu Qingfan, seeing his mom’s predatory glance, hurriedly added, "My mom, too! My mom, too!"
"Hahaha..." Both moms were charmed into smiles, attracting glances from nearby tables where older men occasionally stared over.
Xia Xiaoxiao focused on the chicken feet in her bowl, while subconsciously looking down at the spot Xu Qingfan had touched the day before.
She had expected Xu Qingfan to kick her when she was down, but instead, he had covered for her. Xia Xiaoxiao took this as an apology from him and thought to herself:
