Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
“Hahaha! Though I don’t know it either, I still want to laugh at you!” Listening to Lou Cheng’s complains about the grievances he suffered no thanks to the ribs, Yan Zheke sent him a cry-laughing emoji.
Lou Cheng smiled and shook his head, replying her with an emoji biting a handkerchief. “I was so eager and expected to seek comfort from you, but you are just laughing at me... ”
“Okay, fine. Come here, let sister fondle your head. We can go and pick out pre-packaged ribs at the supermarket in the future!” Yan Zheke sent a snickering emoji.
“Why do I still feel like you are laughing at me... ” Lou Cheng sent an emoji touching its chin, pointing out this fact.
“Hehe, don’t pay attention to the details.” Yan Zheke sent an emoji with question marks flashing above its head.
Lou Cheng flirted with Ke through QQ messages as he chatted with his dad, Lou Zhisheng. He also helped his mother prepare ingredients for their dinner and patiently waited for it to be ready.
Around seven, Lou Cheng dipped a piece of pork rib into the sauce and bit the meat off quickly with his healthy teeth.
These were some fine pork ribs! Why did his mom dislike them!?
Suddenly recalling something, Lou Zhisheng put down his chopsticks and took a sip of wine. “Cheng, you may need to go back to our hometown and worship the ancestors in a few days.”
“Worship the ancestors?” Lou Cheng was stunned.
What did his dad mean?
Were his great-grandparents not buried in Xiao Yueshan Cemetery north of this city? He had even visited their graves over his summer break.
Lou Zhisheng laughed heartily when he saw his son’s expression. “I mean to go back to our old hometown and visit our ancestors. Well, you have never been there. It is in the nearby Qingfu County.”
Lening City in Qingfu County!
“Oh, it is Grandfather’s hometown... ” Lou Cheng immediately understood what his dad was saying.
He had never thought that place would be his hometown, because he was born and bred in Xiushan. He had spent all his 18 years here since birth, so he regarded Xiushan as his real hometown.
Lou Cheng’s family was not native to Xiushan. Lou Debang was born in the neighboring Lening City in Qingfu County. When he turned 20, he found a job at a factory in Xiushan City. He then settled down and raised his family here. In the end, he bought his parents here and lived with them.
When Lou Cheng was born, his great-grandparents were already buried in Xiushan. They gradually fell out of touch with their relatives in Qingfu. Lou Debang had visited his hometown twice in the first few years after his retirement. Those visits ceased as he aged because he did not want to travel back and forth between the two cities.
“Yes. Your grandfather recently dreamed of his childhood and thought it was our ancestors reminding him to return to worship them. Maybe he was homesick. What’s more, now you have also succeeded in your way. Of course, he wants to go back and visit them,” Lou Zhisheng said, shaking his pair of chopsticks.
If he did not settle in Xiushan in the future, would he also think and dream of this place often when he becomes old? Lou Cheng considered this, touched to hear his dad’s words.
The answer was definitely yes. Unless he could completely abandon his childhood and more than half of his youth, unless he could totally forget all the difficult but memorable moments he spent here, he would miss this place often.
Even now, when he would study in another city for six months, he would often miss Xiushan.
“Okay. I don’t really have any impression of Qingfu. I will go there with my grandparents and think of it as a trip.” Lou Cheng shook his head and laughed.
He truly knew nothing about his relatives and the situation there.
His mom ate a piece of melon and laughed when she heard him. “Your dad doesn’t remember that place either. He has only been there four or five times. The last time he went was when we were newlyweds.”
“Yes. I only remember a river and a grave hill. When you were born, I thought I had to bring you there for a visit but completely forgot it because I was too busy.” Lou Zhisheng chuckled.
“I heard the family members over there are discussing remaking the family records. Every family has to chip in some money or they won’t be recorded. What kind of society do we live in now? And we live in cities too. What does it matter if we are not recorded in the records? They just want to take our money!” Qi Fang complained.
“But the elders really like things like this.” Lou Zhisheng was not concerned about it either.
Had he not lived well all this while even though he was not recorded in the family records?
Lou Cheng listened as if he was listening to gossip. He planned on searching the web for delicious food there or some native specialties later. He would try his best to bring them back to his fairy. If not, he would try the food first and kidnap his fairy for a future visit.
When he thought it this way, he became quite curious about his grandfather’s hometown. As he ate, Lou Cheng wondered out loud. “Is the whole family going? We have such a large family. It will be troublesome to buy everyone’s tickets... ”
“Most likely. We can rent several cars and provide the drivers with food and accommodation,” Lou Zhisheng answered him slowly.
It was obvious his family had gone over the details several times.
“Okay then.” Lou Cheng felt relieved and no longer concerned himself with this. He was only a student and would only be there to accompany his parents. All he needed to do was follow his family to have good food and worship their ancestors. There was no need for him to worry about this visit.
Lou Zhisheng’s phone vibrated a few times as their discussion stretched on. He picked up the phone and had a look at it. He smiled at Qi Fang and said, “Old Zhao invited us to have tea and play cards with him this weekend.”
“Sounds good.” Qi Fang agreed easily and looked up at Lou Cheng. “Your Uncle Zhao always invites us to play with them when we are free. Since you are on your break, do you want to join us?”
“Uncle Zhao?” Lou Cheng was perplexed.
Who was he? Why did he have no memories of this person?
Lou Zhisheng took a sip of wine and smiled. “Haven’t you already met him? He is my childhood friend, Zhao Zijun. His daughter has gone on a blind date with your cousin brother. The blind date didn’t work out, but we have started contacting each other again.”
“Oh, him... ” Lou Cheng thought of the scene when he saw Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao in Chief Xing’s house. Not wanting to say anything else, he only smiled. “We’ll see. I may need to do something that day. I am still part of the team coach of Xiushan during the preliminaries. ”
“Why are you still so busy when you are on winter break?” Qi Fang nagged a little out of her heartache for her son. “Oh, Fatty Guo also invited us to dinner. Huh, I never found him this passionate before! What a drastic change since you won the Youth Tournament!”
Guo Min was Lou Zhisheng’s boss.
That was not true... Lou Cheng silently judged his mother’s opinion.
Guo Min began to change his attitude since he recognized him.
“Hey, Cheng. Fatty Guo keeps saying he has a life-saving debt to you. What does he mean?” Lou Zhisheng asked with a frown.
“There was a fugitive who fled to Xiushan back then. Thanks to my master, I have some connections with the police. So I was asked to do them a favor and guard Guo’s family for one night.” Lou Cheng gave them a simplified explanation.
As expected, his parents found nothing wrong with his words. They lamented how cowardly Fatty Guo was while complimenting Lou Cheng for having a wide network of friends.
After dinner, Lou Cheng shared all these things with Yan Zheke. They began enthusiastically discussing the kind of specialties Qingfu had and if Lou Cheng’s family ever had any great ancestors.
Unfortunately, Lou Cheng’s family was common, so there was no prominent past about his family. But someone brilliant had appeared in this generation. That was the champion of Youth Tournament, Lou Cheng!
Lou Cheng suddenly received a message from Jiang Fei while chatting with Yan Zheke.
“Cheng, I need to ask you something!” Fatty Jiang added an admiring emoji.
“What’s up? Aren’t you coming back the day after tomorrow?” Lou Cheng replied with a nose-picking emoji.
Fatty Jiang sent a grinning emoji. “Yes, I will be back the day after tomorrow. I want to ask you what the fun places in Xiushan are. I have a few classmates coming over to play for several days.”
Lou Cheng laughed as he read Jiang Fei’s message. He then replied, borrowing Little Ming’s tone, “Aren’t you also a Xiushan native? Why are you asking me this?”
“Hehe, how would I know where the delicious food is! I usually stay home. But you are always on dates with Yan Zheke, so you know where the fun places are,” Jiang Fei said unabashedly.
Lou Cheng replied with a snickering emoji. “To be honest, I do know. There is a place we usually go to.”
“Where?” Jiang Fei kept asking him.
Lou Cheng replied with an emoji with an evil smile. “The library! It is the place we frequent the most when we are on dates!”
Fatty Jiang was speechless. “So should I bring my friends to sightsee in the library?”
“Haha.” Lou Cheng felt very happy after he succeeded in making fun of his friend. He then poked fun at him and said, “There must be some girls among those friends. Why else would you take this so seriously?”
Fatty Jiang sent an emoji scratching its head. “Yes, there is. A classmate will come here with his girlfriend and the girl will bring a female friend along. They just want to take a trip here. I didn’t fall for her. I just want to get to know more girls so I will have more chances to get a girlfriend.”
“Not bad. You are being very practical.” Lou Cheng teased him. “Then you can take them to Xiushan Spot. You can climb the mountain and stroll around the temple. When you come back, you can use your talent to bring them to eat the delicious food.”
“Is that it?” Jiang Fei could not believe it, so he tried to seek confirmation from him.
“What else are you going to do within two days?” Lou Cheng smiled and scolded him. “Most probably come here for the scenic spots.”
“Oh, you are right.” Jiang Fei finally made his decision.
...
The next morning, after Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke completed their morning exercises, they ate dishes they had missed for breakfast. Since Yan Zheke had family activities to attend to, Lou Cheng said goodbye to her in front of her estate.
When he went home, he found that no one was around. So his plan to accompany his mom to handle the house furnishing arrangements and play his role as a son were ruined. His dad was at work and his mom was busy supervising the furnishing of the new house.
“I have become the idlest person in the world... ” Lou Cheng thought self-deprecatingly. He changed his clothes and took his house key. He then walked toward the Gushan Martial Arts School while carrying the boiled soup and other things. He wanted to borrow their Strength Training Gymnasium and arena to continue his tempering.
He also heard from Qin Rui that the Xiushan and Tiangao preliminary teams would be competing in friendly matches in the school this afternoon in preparation for the post-New Year preliminaries. He could also take a look at the matches.
There were a few people in front of the Gushan Martial Arts School. All the female receptionists were looking inside, full of anticipation.
Lou Cheng did not greet them and slowly walked into the arena. He saw that several partitions had been removed and a standard ring had been set in the middle. The disciples of the martial arts club and other spectators sat cross-legged around the ring. They watched the fight as they discussed.
Lou Cheng bent down slightly and casually patted one of the students’ shoulders, indicating for him to move to the side so he could sit.
The student turned around and seemed bewildered at first. He then immediately looked surprised. “Lou... ”
Lou Cheng did not know who he was, so he smiled and placed a finger on his lips as a way of telling him to curb his excitement and not make any noise.