Chapter 34: Returning Home in Glory

Cheng Guanzhi spent a long time letting the evening breeze blow over him on the street before making a detour to a large supermarket to buy supplies for the upcoming Lunar New Year. The store was packed, and the queue to pay took half an hour. He finished his shopping drenched in sweat, feeling that the holiday season was nothing but a tedious chore.

Tomorrow he had to visit his parents, the day after that he had to visit his relatives, and the day after that he was expected at his in-laws'. Day after day, it was more exhausting than his job. He would have preferred to just stay in the office writing code.

The city prohibited the setting off of firecrackers, and only the long lines of cars on the road hinted at the festive atmosphere. The trees lining the street were wrapped in colorful fairy lights, but to Cheng Guanzhi, they only looked bizarre and ostentatious.

When his car finally pulled back into his residential compound, Cheng checked the address of his daughter’s classmate, which his wife had sent him on WeChat, and pressed the video intercom downstairs.

"The doorbell rang! Quick, quick!"

"Is your dad back?"

Beibei hurriedly took her phone off the stand. "It can't be my dad; why would he ring the doorbell? Is it your dad?"

Yaoyao also jumped off the bed immediately. "Hurry, put it away, shut it all down! Sorry, I can't dance anymore today, my dad is here!"

"Hey? Don't go! The time isn't up yet!"

Someone in the virtual meeting room protested, but Yaoyao had already forcibly closed the app.

"I'll make it up next time!"

She had already taken their money, and she had a reputation to maintain; everyone knew the high quality of "Juicy Little Watermelon," her online persona.

She quickly tore off her bunny-girl outfit, rolled it into a ball, and threw on a cotton pajama top. Yaoyao ran barefoot to the video intercom in the living room and called out, "Coming!"

When Cheng Guanzhi got upstairs, all he saw was a large, spacious mat spread across the center of the living room, covered in a mess of shiny cards.

"What are you two playing? Why is it so hot in here?"

Yaoyao didn't give him a friendly look either. "What does it have to do with you? You actually remembered to come home."

Seeing Cheng Guanzhi enter the room, Beibei greeted him politely, then joined Yaoyao in cleaning up the cards on the floor.

Cheng Guanzhi scooped his daughter up. "Alright, Dad’s busy with work, you know that. Don't be mad. Come on, I bought you a new doll. Let's go home for the New Year."

As he spoke, he handed another large box to Beibei. "Here, this is your New Year's gift. Your parents aren't home yet, are they? Why don't you come over to our place? I don't feel comfortable leaving you here alone."

"I won't go, Uncle. My dad will be back soon; he just called."

"Alright then, take care of yourself! If anything happens, call Yaoyao."

"Thank you, Uncle."

Beibei exchanged glances with Yaoyao while talking to Cheng, her phone still hidden in her bedroom—she still had to tidy things up properly. She couldn't believe he had to come back at this exact moment; it was such a nuisance.

...

"Dad, Mom, I'm home."

After getting off the train, taking a bus, and transferring to a two-hour ride on an electric tricycle, Lin Ke finally returned.

When she was in school, she was timid, terrified that her classmates would find out her home was in such a remote place, so she stayed at school during the holidays to work part-time. Later, she grew resentful, unable to understand why her hometown was so impoverished and backward. Dazzled by the prosperity of the big city, she fantasized that she was a part of that world, forever severed from this desolate corner of the earth.

Later still, she began to feel fear—the fear that she carried the fervent hopes of her fellow villagers and the immense glory of being the village’s first college student, yet she was doing worse than the lowest-paid laborers in the city. She felt ashamed to return and didn't know how to respond to her family's inquiries.

Until now, looking back, she realized she hadn't returned for three and a half years.

Lin Ke had finally managed to get a ticket for a regular train, and after receiving the one-hundred-thousand-yuan bonus her company had paid out early, she bought a large amount of health supplements. Carrying bags in both hands, she set out on the thousand-mile journey home.

The last time she left, carrying a full bag, her father had hunched his back to see her to the edge of the village. Now, as she arrived carrying her heavy bags, her father was there waiting for her, leaning on his cane, trembling as he came to meet her.

"It's good to be back, it's good to be back."

Her father looked older than before; the wrinkles on his forehead were deeper, and his hair was more grey. His back, injured for many years, was even more hunched, yet he still tried to walk a few steps forward until Lin Ke reached him.

Lin Ke’s mother had always been sentimental, and the tears in her eyes were already uncontrollable. "Look at you, child. You're coming home, why buy all these things? It's such a long way; aren't you exhausted?"

"It's not far, Mom. The trains are so fast now. You wouldn't believe it, the high-speed rail can go back and forth between our village and the town three times in an hour. It was only the mountain road at the end that slowed me down."

Lin Ke didn't tell them that because she bought the ticket so late, and to save a bit of money, she hadn't taken the high-speed rail, nor could she bring herself to buy a sleeper berth. There were no tickets for hard seats, so she had spent over thirty hours sitting on a small folding stool to get home.

Afraid they would worry, she had only told them she was coming the day after she left. The journey was bumpy and the timing uncertain; she had intended for her parents to stay home and not fret too early. She hadn't expected them to be waiting at the village entrance so early.

"Oh, the daughter of the Old Lin family has really made something of herself! A real homecoming in glory!" Uncle Wang, from the east end of the village, couldn't help but join in the excitement. Seeing Lin Ke dressed so stylishly, she looked completely different from the girl who had left the village three years ago.

In three years, Lin Ke had long since shed the rosy, sun-darkened skin of a child from the mountains. Her hair was permed in large waves, and her face was expertly made up; she was so beautiful she was almost unrecognizable.

Auntie Yang and Auntie Liu from nearby finally couldn't help themselves and stepped out of their courtyards. They had been watching Old Lin and his wife waiting at the village entrance since early morning, having finished a whole pound of melon seeds while waiting for the guest of honor to arrive.

"Lin lass, you really kept your parents waiting. Do you remember your Auntie? I was the one who sewed that quilt you took to school."

"That's right, that little girl who used to be as thin as a potato is now so fair and clean—the big city really does nourish people. You're doing well, aren't you? Why didn't you drive a car back? The son of the Old Wang family drove a big sedan back when he went out to work."

Lin Ke smiled and exchanged pleasantries with everyone: "My hands are clumsy, I don't know how to drive, so I had to take the train. I’ve only been graduated for half a year, so I haven't earned much money. I just missed home and wanted to come back to see you all."

Lin Ke spoke with humility, but her clothes and the items in her hands clearly weren't cheap.

The neighbors, having long forgotten how they had once mocked the Old Lin family for ending their lineage with only two "cheap girls," felt a strange sensation in their hearts as they looked at Lin Ke, who was dressed like a big star on television.

"What do you know? Rich people don't drive themselves; they have chauffeurs! Unlike the Wang boy, who works for others."

"Exactly. Look at the Lin lass's fair, tender face—could she handle being out in the wind and sun?"

"A girl has to get married! Naturally, she'll have a man's car to sit in, no need to drive herself. Lin lass, have you found a partner yet? My son is also back from working for the New Year. You’re both from the outside world, you should chat more."