Chapter 45 Midnight Chat

  The child lay on the bed, fiddling with his mobile phone, pressing this and looking at that. Although he felt a little embarrassed in his heart, he still thought it was a good thing and didn't want to put it down.

  "Ding ding!" The phone rang, Luo Er looked at it for a long time, and it turned out to be a message. She opened it and saw that Lu Xiangsheng had sent her a smiling face "Do you like it?"

  Li Lu'er went back and forth thinking of writing something, but always ended up deleting it after writing, and rewriting again after deletion, never sending out this message.

  Li Jinyun turned to look at her daughter, full of joy in her heart. She wanted to say something but didn't say it out loud. It was also because she felt that she owed her child too much. Having friends send gifts was a good thing, but some were too expensive. However, saying so might hurt her daughter's feelings, so she decided not to mention it after all.

  "It's so hot at home, can't sleep, want to go out for some fresh air? I'll wait for you at the door!" Lu Xiangsheng sent another message.

  Li Lu'er quickly turned off her phone and lay down on her back, but her heart was still racing and she couldn't calm down.

  Through the gap in the curtains, Luo'er gazed at the bright moon outside the window, dotted with twinkling stars, so quietly beautiful.

  The clock's hands ticked away, and after a while, Luo'er finally felt a bit sleepy. She looked up at the moon, then glanced at the door again, as if there was no one's shadow. "He should be back to sleep if he can't wait for me."

  A gust of cold wind blew by, and Luo Er shivered, feeling vaguely that something was off, as if she couldn't sleep soundly.

  Luo'er listened to his mother's even breathing, quietly put on a piece of clothing and took his slippers before going out the door.

  Fortunately, Grandpa was not startled, and Luo Er put on his slippers only after he had left the yard.

  "I thought you wouldn't come out!" Lu Xiansheng crouched on the stone bench, throwing away the remaining half of his cigarette.

  Luo Er was startled and turned around, only then did she see clearly that Lu Xiang Sheng was still here.

  "What time is it now? You still haven't gone to sleep!"

  Lu Xuan Sheng took out his phone and glanced at it, saying lightly: "Half past two!"

  "You're crazy! It's so late and you're still not sleeping. If I didn't come out, would you still not go in?" Luo Er said softly, standing opposite Lu Xiang Sheng.

  Lu Xuan Sheng suddenly pulled Luo Er into his arms and held her tightly without saying a word.

  "What's wrong with you, Lu Xiansheng? Don't do this, what if someone sees us and thinks we're having an affair?" Luo'er said in a low voice as she tried to push Xiansheng away forcefully.

  "Let me lean on you for a while, just for a while..." Lu Xiangsheng leaned his head on Luo Er's shoulder.

  Luo Er stopped talking, looking around, it was already 2:30, there wouldn't be anyone. Luo Er gently patted Xuan Sheng's back. This kid, usually so proud, what happened today? Wouldn't he be thinking of his mom...

  "Alright!" Lu Xuan Sheng smiled and lifted his head, releasing Lei Luo Er. He sat down directly on the stone bench, shifting to the right a bit.

  Luo'er sat down next to Xuan Sheng and asked carefully, "What's wrong with you today?"

  "I miss home!"

  "Oh... haha... indeed, this must be absolutely different from your previous life. You had everything in that big house in Shanghai, and the care of your family members... Do you want to go back?" Luo Er rubbed her fingers together, lowering her head without looking directly at Xuan Sheng.

  "The longer I stay here, the more I feel that I was too reckless and unruly in the past. Sometimes I didn't consider others' thoughts at all, whether it was Zhi Quan, my sister, or even my dad. I always thought their kindness to me was a necessity. But being here has made me realize that people are fair. My father's love for me may not be expressed in the right way, but it is still love. I shouldn't have done so many wrong things to make him angry, and I shouldn't have spent money recklessly without limit. If I had known these things earlier, I could have saved that money and let many children go to school and eat their fill..."

  A warm smile spread across Luo Er's face as she gazed at Lu Xiangsheng with her head tilted to one side: "It's not too late now, actually people like you who hold the golden key have the right to be extravagant, but we're different, we have to consider our livelihood, survival, and making a living. There's no such thing as should or shouldn't, as long as we're alive, everything is not too late!"

  Lu Xuan Sheng turned his head and looked at Li Luo Er, smiling silently.

  Luo'er felt a bit embarrassed and quickly lowered his head, "How come you're still smoking? I didn't know that before!" Luo'er looked at the half cigarette butt on the ground and changed the subject.

  "Hmm, how many guys don't smoke? I'm not addicted to cigarettes, but I always think of them when I feel lonely and want to kill time!" Lu Xiansheng gazed at the cigarette butt on the ground, smiling faintly as he explained.

  "Smoking is bad, and cigarettes are not good things, especially after you finish smoking, the people around you will also feel uncomfortable. If you can quit, then quit!" Lí Luòér hated it the most when men smoked, especially in front of elders, feeling very rude.

  Lu Xiansheng smiled and replied, "I will listen to everything you say!"

  "Are you going to die just because I told you to?"

  "If you're willing, I think I can consider it too..." Lu Xiangsheng still smiled, looking at Li Lu'er's face which was completely red, thinking that this girl was really interesting.

  "Neurosis! Can't say two serious sentences!" Li Lu'er pinched Lu Xiangsheng hard and turned to run back into the room to sleep.

  Lu Xuan Sheng listened to the sound of Luo Er's slippers, one deep and one shallow, and smiled foolishly. He also entered the yard, locked the door, and went back to his room to rest.

  When Lu Xuan Sheng woke up, Li Luo Er and Xiao Xuan had already prepared breakfast and were busy setting the table.

  "Good morning!" Shen Xiaoxuan greeted Lu Xiansheng.

  Lu Xiansheng looked at his watch again, then glanced at the full table of food and Chen Zhiquan and Li Chao, who had already washed up and were waiting for dinner. He was a bit confused about what to do next.

  "What's going on? No one called me!" Lu Xiansheng asked.

  "Ugh, someone wants you to sleep more, huh? I was just brushing my teeth a bit loudly and almost got strangled! The way people treat each other is really different. And they're still telling us to wait for you to eat, luckily you don't have the habit of sleeping in late, otherwise I think we'd be waiting till lunchtime to eat this meal!" Chen Zhiquan complained discontentedly.

  "You want to die, Chen Zhiquan!" Li Luoer slapped a chopstick onto Zhiquan's hand.

  "Uh... sorry about that, I overslept. Let's get started, everyone!" Lu Xiansheng hastily sat down in his own seat, just as he was about to eat, but felt like someone was missing: "Where's Grandpa?"

  "Grandpa, I've already eaten, got up at 5 o'clock to go to the vineyard to listen to opera. Nowadays old people can't stay still, they all make an appointment to get up early to exercise or sing opera, killing time!" Lu Er served a bowl of porridge to Lu Xiansheng.

  Chen Zhiquan waited for Lai Luo'er, watching bowl after bowl, only giving himself the last one. He was full of resentment but didn't dare to vent it, fearing that Lai Luo'er would hit him with chopsticks again.

  "Xiao Xuan's sister came so early today!" Lei Chao asked while eating.

  "Today is the market day, so I invited you all to have lunch together and then we can go take a look at what's fun, good-looking and worth buying!" Xiaoxuan said while also helping Chen Zhiquan with some dishes.

  "What's Temple Fair?" Chen Zhiquan's interest was piqued again.

  "You'll know when you go and take a look, it's a fair, in your big cities there shouldn't be any! It's just our farm, people live scattered around, so usually on the first and fifteenth of each month, merchants and dealers come to set up sales exhibitions, and families with special products bring their specialties to sell, everything is available, so usually during these few days people from the production team go to the fair to buy some daily necessities!" Lao'er explained to Zhiquan.

  "How shall we go? By bike?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

  "Can't ride a bike? Where there are more people, there are more thieves. Our security is particularly good, but some outsiders take advantage of these few days to come and steal money and bikes, especially our good bikes. Hmm, no riding!" Li Chao looked at the bicycles parked in the courtyard, feeling heartbroken.

  "How are we going?" Chen Zhiquan's eyes widened.

  Luo'er looked a bit embarrassed, stuttering: "We used to take Grandpa Mu's car directly in front, just don't know if you want to...if not, we can walk there!"

  "What car?" Chen Zhiquan asked with wide eyes.

  "Uh..." Luo Er really didn't know how to start speaking.

  "Donkey cart, haha!" Lei Chao said with a laugh.

  Lu Xiansheng and Chen Zhiquan widened their eyes, a little afraid to imagine what the situation would be like. Suddenly, several people stopped talking, only focusing on eating the rice in their bowls.

  Just then, a donkey brayed at the door. Wooden Grandfather shouted for Da Er and her sisters to go out.

  "Hurry up! Grandpa Mu still has to rush to the market to sell melons!" Luo Er quickly put away her bowl and chopsticks, slung her diagonal bag over her shoulder, and pulled Xiao Xuan out.

  "What should we do?" Chen Zhiquan pulled Lu Xiansheng with a embarrassed face.

  Lu Xiansheng furrowed his brow, "Let's go, a donkey cart is still a vehicle, it's better than walking!"

  Li Chao stood by and watched these two brothers, laughing non-stop, poured a thermos of cool water, picked it up and left.

  "So many people! It seems that I didn't leave enough space!" Mu Grandfather looked at the back and saw Lu Xiansheng and Chen Zhiquan following out.

  "It's okay, they can just sit on the melon with me!" Li Chao jumped onto the vehicle with ease and spread some dry grass on the melon before sitting down.

  Chen Zhiquan clumsily climbed up for half a day and didn't know where to sit, crawling back and forth on the watermelon and cantaloupe. Li Chao pulled him over to his side with one hand, scaring Zhiquan into breaking out in a cold sweat.

  Lu Xiansheng pulled up his pants and jumped onto the donkey cart, sitting opposite Li Chao.

  "Clip-clop, clip-clop", Grandpa Mu hurriedly drove his donkey cart towards the town.

  Lu Xiansheng gradually got used to the bumps on this road, surrounded by the fragrance of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon, which didn't feel bad after all. Only Chen Zhiquan, with one hand tightly grasping Li Chao and the other pressing down on the nearby honeydew melon, felt dizzy with stars in his eyes.

  Luo Er turned his head to look at Li Chao, who was happily playing with someone else's phone. "How are you playing with other people's phones? Quickly return it to its owner! On this bumpy road, be careful not to break it!"

  "Haha, Xuan Sheng gave me this phone, he bought another one! You don't know? Isn't that the same model as yours?" Li Chao grinned foolishly, holding the phone excitedly.

  "What? A couple's ring?! Lier looked at Lu Xiangsheng in confusion."

  "You don't know this yet? You two are a couple's numbers!" Xiaoxuan interrupted.

  "What?" Lí Luòér stared at Lù Xiǎng Shèng, her face turned green.