Chapter 60: Chapter 59: “This Year, Our Whole Family Is Going to the Old Residence.

Grabbing the hand Xu Su had placed on her lap, Zhou Mochen said in a strained voice, “Please don’t be afraid of me, okay? And don’t avoid me. You know I could never bring myself to hurt you.”

He leaned his head closer, trying to meet her gaze, and coaxed in a low voice, “Susu, I was in the wrong just now. Will you forgive me this time?”

Xu Su averted her eyes, refusing to look at him. “Zhou Mochen,” she said slowly, “you should have realized by now that I have a terrible temper. I’m willful and spoiled, especially with you. There’s no need for you to put yourself out like this just to accommodate me.”

Zhou Mochen’s grip tightened unconsciously. Xu Su felt a pang of pain in her hand as she heard him say, “It’s no trouble. I’m the one who asks too much of you. It’s my fault.”

’Their relationship had always been one-sided, with him forcing the issue. Why did he expect her to reciprocate his love with equal respect?’

’The girl was still young and clueless about these things. What if he scared her off?’

Zhou Mochen felt a pang of regret. He slowly loosened his grip. “Go on back. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning.”

Xu Su rubbed her slightly reddened hand. Not wanting to say anything more, she opened the car door without a word, left the roasted sweet potato behind, and walked away without looking back.

Zhou Mochen sat alone in the car, dazed, for a long time. He watched her figure disappear as the sky turned completely dark. Slowly, he peeled one of the chestnuts he had bought for her and put it in his mouth.

* * *

When she got home, the Xu Family was eating dinner.

The new apartment had three bedrooms and a living room. Xu Su was given a south-facing secondary bedroom. Inside was a newly built desk, a wardrobe, and a bed. Nothing else.

Even so, it was a thousand times better than what she had before.

The dining table was set against the wall. Xu Weiping was sitting with a view of the front door. He was surprised to see Xu Su return. “How are you out of school already?”

’He didn’t even know his own daughter had final exams today.’

Xu Su wasn’t surprised. She nodded. “Today was the first day of final exams, so there were no classes. One more day of tests tomorrow, and then it’s winter break.”

Chen Shulan turned her head as well. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “No wonder I saw your room was full of books today. So the semester’s over. How many days off does your school get?”

Xu Su had already brought all her schoolbooks home yesterday. Today, she had only gone to school with a small bag containing the stationery she needed for her exams.

’It was a miracle Chen Shulan had even noticed the books in her room.’ Xu Su changed her shoes and, while putting her bag of stationery in her room, replied, “School starts again on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.”

Xu Weiping was surprised. “Only an eight-day break?”

“Yep.” Xu Su went into the kitchen to wash her hands, then came out with a bowl of rice. “First-years get eight days. Second-years only get five.”

As for the third-years… she heard the original words from the homeroom teacher of the third-year “rocket class” were: “The college entrance exams are just a few months away. How dare you dream of having a relaxing New Year?”

…Of course, they couldn’t give them *no* days off.

According to Huang Feng, they still got two days.

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

While students having to return to school on the second day of the Lunar New Year sounded miserable, on second thought, the third-year teachers couldn’t properly visit relatives for the holiday either.

Besides, the students only had to endure it for one year, but the teachers…

Xu Su silently took a bite of rice. ’My respects to the nation’s hardworking gardeners,’ she thought, paying homage to the teachers.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Xu Su said, “For the New Year, I want to go back and spend it with Grandma.”

Chen Shulan was serving Xu Yang some food. Hearing this, she frowned disapprovingly. “You’ve spent more than a decade in the countryside. Now that you’ve finally made it to the city this year, why are you still thinking about going back?”

Her words dripped with disdain for the place where she was born and raised. Chen Shulan had always been proud of marrying into a family with Chang City residency, saving her from having to scratch a living from the dirt like her brothers and sisters.

Although their family wasn’t considered well-off by Chang City standards, they still saw themselves as a cut above the miserable rural folk.

Xu Yang had been in elementary school for half a year. Perhaps because the school in the Old Industrial Zone had many children of migrant workers from the countryside, he had been influenced by what he heard.

After hearing Chen Shulan’s words, the young boy snickered loudly, “Country bumpkins like staying in the countryside! Xu Su is a country bumpkin… just like that hick Li Min from my class!”

Xu Su’s brow furrowed in disgust. Xu Yang wasn’t bad-looking, actually; he had rather delicate features. But whatever handsomeness he possessed was completely overshadowed by his current expression, leaving only ugliness.

Meanwhile, not only did Chen Shulan see nothing wrong with what her son had said, but she also praised him by placing a piece of lean meat in his bowl. “Our Yangyang is so well-behaved. We’re not going to the countryside. The ground there is covered in mud and chicken and duck droppings. It stinks! Our Yangyang will stay right here in the city, study hard, and go to a university in a big city, okay?”

Xu Su held her bowl and ate quietly, ignoring the mother and son’s conversation as if she hadn’t heard a thing. She was already used to it.

As the head of the family, Xu Weiping, who was sitting to the side, made a decision. “This year, the whole family will go to the old family home for the holiday.”

He added in a tone that brooked no argument, “If you want to be a filial granddaughter to your grandma, you can buy her nice things once you’re working and earning money. Didn’t you just go back for the National Day holiday? Now you want to go back again? What’s a student doing running around all the time? The bus fare isn’t cheap, either.”

The trip required two transfers and cost thirty yuan in total, which was indeed not a small amount of money back then.

Xu Su remained silent. ’If I can’t go, I can’t go.’ She hadn’t gotten her hopes up anyway.

’Two more years at most. Once she was an adult… she could go see her grandma whenever she wanted, without needing anyone’s permission.’

When they had first been assigned the apartment, the couple had thought it was thanks to their pretty daughter’s good fortune, so they had been particularly warm to Xu Su for a while.

But in the two-odd months it took to get the apartment, renovate it, and move in, the old factory director from the textile mill never once asked about their daughter again.

Xu Weiping and his wife couldn’t help but suspect they had misinterpreted the situation. While they didn’t completely change their attitude toward Xu Su, the warmth they had shown before was gone.

Still, she was a pretty and outstanding daughter, so they were willing to keep up appearances. At the very least, they didn’t take back the room they had promised her.

Across the table, Xu Yang was making faces at her. Even after living together for half a year, he still didn’t like his older sister, Xu Su.

Of course, Xu Su had always treated him as if he were thin air.

Chen Shulan spoke again. “We bought a new bicycle today. Our new home is much farther from your brother’s school than the old one, so I’ll need the bike to take him and pick him up. You’re closer to your school, you’re older than him, and you’ve gotten used to walking these days. From now on, you can just walk to school yourself.”

Ever since their old, beat-up bicycle broke, Xu Weiping had taken it to the repair shop. It turned out that replacing the chain was a huge hassle and would cost over fifty yuan.

The couple figured it would be better to just buy a new one. But they were so busy with renovations and moving that they never got around to it, putting it off until now.

All this time, Chen Shulan had assumed Xu Su was walking to and from school.

The new house was closer to First High School anyway. If you really calculated it, the walk was only twenty to thirty minutes. Chen Shulan didn’t think it was much of a hardship for her daughter.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep