Chapter 182

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on February 16, 2025

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Chapter 182 Returning Home

After the final exams ended, they still attended school for a few more days. On the last day, they only had classes in the morning.

When school was over, the parents of the three children appeared among the sea of parents.

Mei Lijun, Mei Fang’s father, along with his sister Mei Ya, Xia Yuan’s father Xia Xun, Lin You Xi’s father Lin Guochuan, and their stepmother Liang Meijuan, who had been taking care of them.

This was Lin Guochuan’s first time coming to Jiangcheng with the team to see the high school where Lin You Xi studied—Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.

He was usually very busy with work and hadn’t seen his daughter for nearly half a year, so he thought he would come during the end-of-term period.

He worked tirelessly to complete the project, finally catching up with the holiday, and came to Jiangcheng with Mei Lijun’s car.

Lin You Xi was delighted to see her father arrive and immediately went to talk to him. Liang Meijuan deliberately stepped aside to give them some private time.

Lin You Xi seemed a bit upset.

“Dad, you look much thinner. Are you not eating properly when you’re alone at home?”

“Well… I’m okay.”

“You already have stomach problems; this isn’t good for your health. Maybe next semester, Aunt Meijuan could stay at home and take care of you.”

“Ah… Who will take care of you guys then?”

Lin You Xi smiled slightly. “We can take care of ourselves now.”

Now, the only child willing to actively get closer to her father was Lin You Xi.

Xia Yuan didn’t react much when she saw her father Xia Xun coming. She ran to hug her sister Mei Ya first.

“Sister Yuan Yuan!”

Xia Yuan picked up the nine-year-old Mei Ya and said with a smile, “Little Ya, Sister Yuan Yuan misses you so much. You’ve grown taller again.”

Mei Ya, after being hugged by Xia Yuan, couldn’t catch her breath.

“Sister Yuan Yuan… You’ve… gotten fatter…”

Xia Yuan’s face turned red from embarrassment, not knowing what to say;

At this moment, it was still Mei Fang who stepped in, deciding to teach his sister a lesson by gently tapping her head.

“Don’t say Sister Yuan Yuan is fat. This is called development, okay?”

“De…velopment?”

Mei Ya covered her head and looked at Xia Yuan, “So, development means getting bigger… Little Ya learned something new!”

“Don’t learn that kind of thing!”

Xia Yuan blushed and scolded Mei Ya a few times. Mei Fang watched the two interact, and at this moment, Mei Lijun also walked over.

…

The father and son stared at each other in silence for a while.

Usually, when Mei Fang talked on the phone, it was with his mother Xiang Xiaoxia, and his father Mei Lijun rarely spoke to him, making it so that after half a year, they had nothing to say to each other.

The older Mei Lijun broke the silence first, laughing awkwardly and patting Mei Fang’s shoulder, “How did the final exams go?”

“Not bad.”

“What do you mean by not bad? In junior high, you always ranked in the top three or five. Now, haven’t you fallen behind?”

“Even if you knew, you wouldn’t understand. It’s different from junior high rankings.”

“Tell me, are you in the top ten?”

“Yeah, eighth.”

“Oh, well, that’s still good.”

Mei Fang noticed something unusual about Mei Lijun’s head and suddenly stopped, not knowing how to express himself.

His face showed a look of sorrow and grief, opening his mouth but unable to speak, finally trembling as he uttered,

“Dad, you’re bald!”

Mei Lijun immediately became agitated upon hearing this,

“It’s just less hair, not bald, okay!”

“Look at where your hairline has moved.”

“Successful men all look like this, don’t they?”

Xia Yuan, after hugging Mei Ya, started to defend Mei Lijun.

“Afang, don’t say that! Uncle Mei is now a big leader, he works hard, it’s normal.”

“Mm-hmm, still, Yuan Yuan speaks nicely…”

Mei Lijun always favored Yuan Party when they were young, naturally chatting warmly with Xia Yuan.

Xia Xun watched his daughter happily chatting with another father and felt an indescribable sense of loss.

But he couldn’t show it.

Especially in front of these fathers, he needed to maintain his dignity.

…

Xia Xun waited for his daughter to talk to him, but she held Mei Ya’s hand, leaned on Mei Fang’s arm, and chatted happily with Mei Lijun.

Finally, Xia Xun couldn’t stand it anymore and asked his daughter with a stern face, “Cough… Yuan Yuan, why don’t you want to talk to Dad more often when we meet so rarely?”

“Haha, Uncle Xia is jealous,” Mei Ya giggled.

“Mom… don’t be like this, okay?”

Xia Yuan felt embarrassed by her father’s behavior and explained, “Little Ya and Uncle Mei will be gone soon. I’ll have time to report to you and Mom about life in Jiangcheng when I get back.”

“Oh… I know, I know.”

Xia Xun scratched his nose awkwardly, “It’s getting late, let’s go eat first? Today, I’ll treat you all. Just tell me what you want to eat.”

Immediately, little Mei Ya ran to Xia Xun and pleaded in a very cute way,

“Uncle Xia, Uncle Xia, can we eat lamb? I want to eat lamb hotpot. I really want to! But my parents are stingy and won’t take me.”

“Of course! If Little Ya wants to eat, Uncle Xia will take you. Little Ya is so obedient, when I come back for the New Year, I’ll give you a big red envelope.”

Mei Ya jumped excitedly beside, “Thank you, Uncle Xia! You’re so handsome and generous, much better than my dad! You should be my dad!”

Xia Xun laughed heartily at this, while Mei Lijun was furious,

“Hey, you silly girl, how can you betray me like this? Haven’t I treated you well?”

“No matter how well you treat me, it doesn’t matter because you don’t have money. Your money is with Mom… Uncle Xia and Aunt Yu are better. I want to switch with Sister Yuan Yuan, I want to be their daughter!”

So, cotton jackets are all leaky?

The mischievous Mei Ya filled the journey with lively air, making it impossible to stop the laughter.

Only when You Xi came to ask about Little Ya’s studies did the world become quiet again.

On the way back to Baimei County, Xia Xun drove his daughter and Lin You Xi’s family, while Mei Fang took his sister Mei Ya in his father Mei Lijun’s car.

“Father, when are we going back to Baimei County?”

“We’ll probably go on the 28th or 29th. I originally wanted to bring Grandpa and Grandma here, but they want to take care of their vegetable garden.”

“That won’t do. I made plans with Sister Yuan Yuan and Sister You Xi to set off fireworks together.”

Mei Ya emphasized, “I have very few friends in Baizhou, and they live too far away.”

“Okay, okay,” Mei Lijun drove confidently.

Jiangcheng had just had a snowfall yesterday, and the roads were covered in white.

Mei Fang gazed out the window at the scenery.

Thinking carefully, since they met, except for Xia Yuan’s summer vacation in Jiangcheng, they almost never stayed apart for more than two weeks.

Especially after middle school, it was rare for them to be apart for three days.

High school was even less frequent…

Just as Mei Fang was reflecting on this, his phone suddenly rang.

Mei Fang opened it to see a message from Xia Yuan.