Chapter 385: Returning to the Hometown
Once Wu Sheng’s leave was approved, their itinerary for the trip back home was finalized.
Wu Sheng bought the train tickets first.
Wu Qihua, who was being left behind, was absolutely heartbroken.
"How could you abandon a lonely old woman like me? Have you no conscience?"
Wu Sheng: "..."
’Just yesterday she was so happy calling herself my older sister, and now she’s suddenly a lonely old woman?’
Wu Qihua clutched her chest, her voice full of pain. "Wu Sheng, doesn’t your conscience bother you at all?"
Wu Sheng: "...I told you about this two days ago. Should I go buy another ticket?"
"I can’t go even if you buy another ticket! What’s the point?"
Wu Qihua’s tone finally returned to normal.
But the hopeless expression on her face didn’t diminish in the slightest.
In past years, it had always been Wu Qihua and Wu Sheng who returned to their hometown.
They didn’t go back every single year, but whenever they had time—especially during summer break—Wu Qihua would always try to make the trip home with Wu Sheng.
They would go back even if it was just for one night.
But this year, Wu Qihua was simply too busy. The music conservatory was expanding its student enrollment, and with so much to do, she couldn’t possibly get away.
And because she couldn’t go, she felt especially sorry for herself.
Looking at her, Wu Sheng knew she felt genuinely upset.
"Why don’t we go together next year? Or we could go during winter break, whenever we both have time."
Wu Sheng suggested.
Wu Qihua was still so heartbroken she could barely breathe. "I want to go with you all."
Seeing her expression, Wu Sheng recalled something Little Tang Mo had done for Su Li. Before he could think, he was already patting Wu Qihua’s head.
He whispered coaxingly, "Be good."
The moment the word left his lips, he froze.
Wu Qihua stiffened for a second as well.
The mother and son looked at each other, and then Wu Qihua burst out laughing.
"Pfft... you brat, did you learn that from Little Mo? ’Be good’? Isn’t that what I do to you?"
She reached up and ruffled Wu Sheng’s hair. "My, my, I must be getting old. You’ve learned how to humor your old mom now, have you?"
Though her words were teasing, her eyes were filled with a soft, gentle light.
Wu Sheng could see it clearly. His face flushed slightly as he cleared his throat. "Well, if it makes you happy, I can do it every day."
"Can’t praise you for a second, can I!" The hand ruffling his hair instantly became a light shove.
After pushing him away, Wu Qihua sighed wistfully.
"I want to eat plums too, and pears, and Yellow Bubble Fruit... and the chicken your aunt makes..."
The thought alone was making Wu Qihua’s mouth water.
Wu Sheng: "...."
’So my mom is really just craving all the food, isn’t she?’
"And with Su Li going this time, there’s no telling how many delicious things she’ll cook. AHHHH! I want to go so bad!"
Wu Qihua slapped her thigh, then whipped her head around to look at Wu Sheng.
"Wu Sheng, I’m telling you, you’d better bring me back some Yellow Bubble Fruit, some crisp green plums, some..."
Wu Qihua reeled off a long list of food. "If you don’t bring them back, you can forget about coming home."
"I can probably bring the crisp green plums, but I don’t think I can bring the Yellow Bubble Fruit. They’ll spoil on the journey back," Wu Sheng said helplessly.
Wu Qihua looked despondent. "I don’t care. I want them."
Wu Sheng rubbed his forehead wearily.
This mother of his had an uncanny ability to change her age in an instant.
Normally she was so mature, but she could instantly regress to a twenty-year-old, a thirty-year-old, or even... a three-year-old.
Despite his verbal complaints and exasperation, Wu Sheng went out that afternoon.
He ran all over town, buying whatever fruits he could find for Wu Qihua.
When Su Li heard what had happened, she went to the Wu Family home the day before their departure and cooked Wu Qihua a whole table of her favorite dishes.
When Wu Qihua got home from work, she was stunned to see the feast laid out on the table.
With such a wonderful son and future daughter-in-law, Wu Qihua finally stopped complaining about her "heartbreak."
The next day, Wu Sheng, Su Li, and Little Tang Mo boarded a train to Wu Sheng’s hometown.
Compared to Xinghua Village or Su Family Village, Wu Family Village wasn’t quite as remote.
From the nearest town, it was a two-hour hike along a mountain path and over two mountains to reach it.
Wu Family Village was nestled between mountains and water, with a lake before it and peaks behind it. Electricity had just been installed in the village this year, and everything was thriving.
The villagers still lived off the mountains and the water, but because the environment was a little better, their living conditions were also much improved.
Of course, only by a little.
There were very few thatched huts; most homes had tiled roofs, and some were even built of brick.
Being so close to the lake, the people of Wu Family Village didn’t just rely on the mountains for their livelihood, but the water as well. They raised fish in the lake, which they could catch and sell for a bit of money.
The lakeshore was lined with layer upon layer of lush, green terraced fields, a refreshing and pleasant sight.
Further up was Wu Family Village itself, home to over a hundred households. Each family was large, with five, six, seven, eight, or even nine or ten members.
Patches of bamboo grew on the mountain behind the village. Su Li and the others had arrived right at the peak of bamboo shoot season, and Wu Sheng’s face lit up with a huge smile as he spotted the bamboo grove from a distance.
"Tomorrow, we’ll go harvest some bamboo shoots. They’re delicious no matter how you cook them. I’ll go catch a couple of fish, too. Bamboo shoot and crucian carp soup... my mouth is watering just thinking about it."
Su Li and Little Tang Mo were busy looking around, but their interest was piqued by Wu Sheng’s words.
"Sounds great," Su Li quickly agreed. "With a wonderful ingredient like bamboo shoots, I can already think of so many dishes to make."
Hearing this, Wu Sheng laughed out loud. "Hahaha, I’m in for a treat! Haha, tomorrow Little Point and I will go catch fish. Oh, by the way, Little Point, do you know how to swim?"
Xinghua Village only had that one small river, so Little Tang Mo never had a chance to learn. He shook his head honestly. "I don’t."
"You don’t know how to swim? That’s a shame! On a hot day like this, swimming is the best way to cool off. I’ll teach you tomorrow."
Wu Sheng pointed to the lake. "See? All those kids swimming over there are from the village. The people of Wu Family Village live by this water, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl—most kids here can swim by the time they’re two or three."
A gentle breeze rippled across the sparkling surface of the lake. In addition to the children playing by the shore, bamboo rafts drifted across the water.
The people on the rafts, some sitting and others standing, looked completely at ease under their conical bamboo hats.
Little Tang Mo watched the lake and nodded. "Okay."
Wu Sheng had just agreed and was about to say something more when he suddenly stopped, his eyes lighting up. "Yellow Bubble Fruit!"
He quickly set down their things, scooped up Little Tang Mo, and carried him onto a small hillock. He then leaped up himself before reaching a hand down to Su Li. "Come on."
Su Li had spotted the Yellow Bubble Fruit too, and her mouth instantly started watering at the sight.
"Go on, eat up." And so, Wu Sheng, Su Li, and Little Tang Mo began to happily feast on the Yellow Bubble Fruit.
"If Mom were here, she’d be so happy. She’s been craving these for so long. Yellow Bubble Fruit are her absolute favorite. When she was a kid, she was so afraid the other children would pick them all that she’d come out first thing in the morning to guard the bush and eat her fill."
As he ate, Wu Sheng told Su Li stories from the past. "She tricked me out of my share all the time when I was little. She’d say it was no fun to eat them one by one, that it was much better to gather a whole handful first. And then, every single time, she’d trick me and eat them all herself."
Wu Sheng’s tone was full of mock frustration, but his eyes were smiling.
’In other families, the parents would pick fruit for their kids. But Wu Qihua? She would fight me for them.’
’He’d get so mad every time, but he’d still gather a handful of Yellow Bubble Fruit just so Wu Qihua could snatch them away from him.’
’It even became a habit.’
He held out the handful of Yellow Bubble Fruit to Su Li. "Here. Since Mom isn’t around, you can have them."
Su Li looked at the fruit in his palm and leaned in, eagerly eating them right out of his hand.
"Easy there, I’ll feed them to you," Wu Sheng said, torn between laughter and exasperation.