Chapter 37: The Farmhouse Courtyard

  "Xiao Qing, Xiao Kai, how come you're driving and have a girlfriend too? We didn't know anything about it!" Miao Lihua couldn't help but feel anxious when it came to her son's affairs.

  Three years ago, his son was admitted to a top university in the city, which is a pride for the Duan family and gave them hope and a vision for the future after they fell into difficulties four years ago.

  However, a mother's worry is always there, even though Duan Lei has shown maturity and understanding since he was young. Miao Lihua still worries that her son will be deceived by others in the complex world of Haicheng. In their daily phone calls, Miao Lihua repeatedly reminds Duan Lei to take care of himself and hopes everything goes smoothly for him.

  Du Yan recently sent back tens of thousands of yuan to his home, which scared Miao Lihua half to death. In her opinion, her son was just a junior student, how could he possibly earn so much money? It wasn't until Du Yan explained over the phone that it was for helping a professor with a project and the school's reward that she felt slightly relieved.

  Actually, many parents are like this, extremely trusting of their children, believing they are the best, but also worried that their child will be deceived outside. However, once they hear that something is related to school, they naturally believe it.

  Now, having heard that Yan Xiaoqing said Duan Lei was driving and bringing his girlfriend, Miao Lihua is worried again, afraid that her young son would be taken advantage of!

  "I'm not clear either, I met him on the road and we came back together!" Yan Xiaoqing shook his head and said: "Anyway, he'll ask clearly when he gets home!"

  Yan Xiaoqing was also quite familiar with the Duan family's situation. Since the incident that year, their originally affluent household had been depleted, and even Duan Lei's first year of tuition fees were scraped together from all sides but still not enough. His own father was somewhat henpecked by his stepmother, so he couldn't help much, which made Yan Kai Shan and his son feel very guilty.

  This time in Tianzhou County, on the streets of a city, he helped Duan Yue solve an unexpected event, and then rushed to the old town without stopping. Along the way, Yan Xiaoqing really didn't think seriously about Duan Yue's huge change.

  One car is worth over a million, how can Duan Yue drive all the way back from Haicheng? Yan Xiaoqing finally reacted and was extremely puzzled.

  Just as the three people were still standing at the gate, confused and unable to figure out what was going on, Kong's body suddenly appeared in everyone's line of sight with a beautiful turn, steadily stopping at the entrance.

  "Xiao Kai!" "Ge Ge!" The relatives they hadn't seen for over a year made Miao Lihua and Duan Qi unable to hold back their inner excitement, and they shouted out.

  As for Miao Lihua's worries earlier, they were already covered up by joy after seeing Duan Lei! Although her son was much taller than a year ago, no matter how he changed, he was still the one that Miao Lihua couldn't bear to part with.

  "Mom!" After getting off the car, Duan Yue rushed into his mother's arms.

  At this time, Duan Lei noticed that his mother's temples had more white hair. He felt a pang of sadness in his heart. To think that his mother was only forty-one this year, but looked like someone over fifty already. At this moment, Duan Lei decided that no matter what, he must improve the family situation and not let his family members work so hard anymore.

  "Brother, and me!" The little girl shouted, seeing her brother hugging their mother, while pulling at Duan Yu's clothes.

  "Little girl is almost in junior high school, still wants brother to hold?" Duan Lei suddenly pulled up the little girl, suspended in mid-air.

  "Ah!" The little girl was scared by Duan Yue and cried out loudly, but she couldn't bear to part with him.

  Duan Yue was nearly ten years older than Xiao Yatou, but the two had a very good relationship. Now that it had been a year and a half since they last saw each other, she was naturally extremely excited to see her brother again.

  After laughing and making a fuss for half a day, Duan Yue finally remembered that the beauty was still waiting beside him, and he hurriedly put down Xiao Yatou.

  "Mom, this is your daughter-in-law Liu'er!" Duan Yue took Liu'er's hand and said: "The reason we didn't tell you in advance that we were coming back this time was to give you a surprise!"...

  "Auntie, hello!" Lui'er slightly bowed and said: "I am Tang Lui'er, I study at Hai Da University with Shi Tou."

  "Good! Good!" Seeing a girl like a fairy in a painting bowing in front of her, Miao Lihua suddenly felt a bit nervous, not knowing where to put her hands and feet.

  "Mom, let's go inside and talk!" Duan Lei said, noticing his mother's tension.

  A group of people walked into the courtyard with Lian'er, and Duan Lei stood beside her, softly introducing some of the decorations in the house, such as the pomegranate in the corner of the wall, the silver ginkgo tree that shaded the sky in the center of the courtyard, and the bluestone table below...

  Duan Lei's childhood had two very important places, the ancestral house in the village and this small farmhouse in front of him. It wasn't until he went to the county town for high school that he gradually left here. Here, Duan Lei left too many beautiful memories, almost every object can bring out many stories, but now is not the time to tell old tales.

  Luli walked into such a farmhouse for the first time. Although it couldn't compare to her grandfather's siheyuan in Beijing in terms of elegance, it was quite clean and had a lot more life to it.

  A few hens were pecking at food with their chicks in the corner of the wall, and the sudden chirping sounds made the entire small courtyard much quieter, revealing a lively vitality; several rabbits poked their heads out of the rabbit hole at the foot of the wall, curiously staring at the group of people who had just walked in; on the west side of the yard, a grapevine climbed up the trellis, with clusters of green grapes hanging from it, shining brightly in the sunlight.

  Little sister looked at Tang Lier, thinking that her brother's girlfriend was really too beautiful, even more beautiful than the stars on TV; and the car at the door was also more beautiful than any car she had seen before. She didn't know how her brother, who went to college, came up with it. Little sister was still young, and her mind was already dizzy.

  "Son, what's going on?" After exchanging pleasantries in the living room for a while, Miao Lihua gestured to let Duan Qi and Yan Xiaoqing accompany Tang Li'er to talk, pulling Duan Lei into the inner room.

  "Hehe, mom, don't worry!" As soon as Duane saw her mother's tense expression, she knew what was on her mind. She had always been someone who couldn't hide her thoughts. Sometimes some small things would make her think wildly, let alone something as big as this?

  Duan Yue didn't tell his family about the things he did in school, such as having a fight, opening a company, and buying a car, because he was worried that his mother would think wildly and get confused. Now that he's back, it's better to explain everything face-to-face.

  "Mom, Lizi is a student in the Literature Department of our school, she's a local from Haicheng. I've been to her home!" To reassure his mother, Duan Lei added, "The car outside was bought by the company, I invented a technology and made a lot of money!"

  After racking his brains, Duan Yue finally managed to choose a suitable time and place to tell his mother about the things that had happened to him in school over the past half year, except for Tingting's existence. He just toned down the scale of the company's assets to avoid shocking his mother.

  "That's great!" As soon as Duan Yue said that the car was bought with legitimate income, Miao Lihua didn't care about anything else. Anyway, she still trusted her son very much. But then he changed his tone and said: "Having made money, don't be extravagant, later we'll have to buy a house in the city. If there's no house, the other family won't agree..."

  Miao Lihua didn't have much experience, but from chatting with the sisters in town, she knew that house prices in the city were very high now, and the mothers-in-law in the city asked for betrothal gifts more fiercely than those in the countryside. Although her son had earned some money, in Miao Lihua's heart, the most important thing was still getting married and buying a house in the future.

  As for Lui, just at first glance, she had already left a good impression on Miao Lihua, thinking that her son's vision was not bad. For Miao Lihua, dating in college wasn't a big deal, some people in the countryside get married and have children at 17 or 18 years old, and her own son is already 21 this year, so it's normal for him to date a girl. Besides, this girl not only looks good but also has a figure that is suitable for childbirth and parenting, Miao Lihua was very satisfied.

  Moreover, this girl is quite polite when interacting with others and looks much better than those country girls.

  Of course, Miao Lihua was still a little worried. The other party was the city's Qianyi Jin, and she was afraid of having a big temper, which would make Shi Tou suffer. After all, this was just the beginning! In a while, Miao Lihua didn't dare to guarantee that Li'er's temper was as good as her appearance.

  Miao Lihua started questioning her son about Li Er, until Duan Lei was begged for mercy and didn't dare to continue the conversation.

  "My dad" Duan Lei just changed the subject to avoid his mother's further questioning.

  Today is Sunday, Father who works in the town government should be at home, at most he would go to an old friend's house to play chess, but now it's almost lunchtime and there is still no sign of him.

  "What about your dad?" Miao Lihua's smile quickly faded, saying: "Your dad was sent to the Du'ergou mine two months ago, and it's not even certain if he'll be back once every ten days or half a month!"

  "What a load of crap! You're cheating people too much!" As soon as he heard this sentence, Duan Lei couldn't help but curse loudly!

  Shuangka Forest Farm is the largest forest farm in Tianzhou County, located deep in the Huixiang Mountains, about 80 kilometers away from Jiuzhou Town, and the road is all rugged and worn-out mountain roads that have been out of repair for years. In recent years, with the reform of the forestry system, Shuangka Forest Farm has been gradually forgotten by people and barely survived in the forestry system.

  Now, Father has been sent to Shuangkalin Ranch, it must be the revenge of those bureaucrats in the county, letting Father wear small shoes and go to Shuangkalin Ranch to feed mosquitoes.

  No wonder, during this period of time when I called back, whether it was the landline or my father's mobile phone, it was always my mother who answered. My father must have been worried that these messages would affect his studies at school, so he kept everything tightly hidden.

  "We can't afford it, our family is still relying on your father's meager salary to pay off debts and support you and Qiqi's education!" Miao Lihua sighed.

  As soon as he heard this, Duan Lei felt extremely regretful. He should have made it clear to his father about his real situation at Hai Da long ago, so that his father could quit this suffocating job and live a carefree life.