Back to the prime of life

Chapter 52 Brother

If you have the talent to sleep on the bus, you won’t feel tired from rushing at this speed.

It just so happened that they both had some, so they took a nap for an hour or two, chatted for a while, and then took another nap for an hour or two, and then Huaishui County was almost right in front of them.

When they arrived at the bus station, the car to pick up Yin Anyan was already waiting.

Lu Changge was picked up by Lu's mother because she knew he had a lot of luggage, so she had agreed on it in advance.

Because they had just confirmed their relationship, Yin Anyan was embarrassed to meet Lu Changge's mother, so he sneaked away inside the station.

Mrs. Lu thought her son was going home alone, so she didn't ask too many questions.

During the first two days after returning home, Lu Changge did nothing. He just caught up on some sleep and went out to play badminton with Yin Anyan. That was all he did.

The experience of playing ball is not very good. Huaishui County does not have a dedicated sports venue. There may be a few indoor badminton courts in the county, but they don’t know where they are.

Playing outside not only involves no net, but also the slightest breeze makes it impossible to play, and the northwest wind in winter is very strong.

Yin Anyan went back and asked him and then told him the good news.

They said that a theme park is being built in the county, with a gymnasium next to it. Once it is put into use, they will be able to play ball on the professional indoor court.

On February 2, the third day after returning, Lu Changge was taken by his father to attend an engagement party for the child of Lu's father's friend.

The real rhythm of the New Year is about to begin.

Uncle Lu Changge has already made a phone call and asked everyone with the surname Lu to go to his house for dinner on the second day of the Chinese New Year.

Among Lu's father's social friends, in addition to the engagement party, there was also a second wedding and a housewarming party.

As for Lu Ma, Mr. He is going to celebrate his 70th birthday on the third day of the Lunar New Year this year. This is a big event. As soon as he got home, he heard Lu Ma making frantic phone calls every day to discuss various details with the family.

In addition to these relatives and friends at home, Lu Changge also had to take some time to get together with Zhu Xingyu, He Feier and others, and what he couldn't forget was the date with Secretary Yin.

By this calculation, the winter vacation is almost over.

On the afternoon of February 2th, when Lu Changge was accompanying Lu Ma to buy firecrackers in the supermarket, he received a call from his grandfather, Mr. He. He said that the bus Xiaoxue was riding was stuck in traffic and might not arrive in Huaishui until nine o'clock in the evening. He asked them to pick her up and stay in the county town for one night.

There were no buses going to the countryside at that time, and I didn't feel comfortable letting a girl take an illegal taxi, so it was safest to spend the night in the county town.

This was a matter concerning the child's safety, so Mother Lu agreed without hesitation.

"I'll call her directly." Lu Changge frowned after hearing this. Why didn't Xu Qiuxue tell him about this?

He even had a bad feeling in his heart, hoping that nothing would happen on the road.

Fortunately, after a few beeps, someone answered the phone.

"Hey?"

"Hey, it's me, where are you?"

"I don't know, but I haven't crossed the Yangtze River yet." Xu Qiuxue's voice sounded somewhat helpless. "Did you get a call from grandpa? He asked me who to ask, and I told him to ask you to come."

"Oh, I did get the call. He said you can't arrive until 9 o'clock."

"That's good. They must have been in an accident. They've been stuck here for over two hours, and there's no sign of them moving. I just hope they can move forward a bit, even if it means they drive a little slower."

Lu Changge glanced at the time and it was almost 4:30.

Normally the bus journey from Jinling to Huaishui takes four hours.

一般大巴车的时间是早上7点30从淮水出发，11点30到。中午留一个半小时是司机吃饭、下午旅客上车。到1点钟出发，5点左右正好回到县里。

Most of the distance is north of the Yangtze River, and only a few dozen kilometers south.

If we haven't crossed the Yangtze River yet, considering that there are many cars during the Spring Festival travel rush and the traffic is slow, it may take until eight or nine o'clock to arrive.

"Nothing else, right?"

"No, I'm just anxious to wait."

It's just a traffic jam, there's nothing you can do about it.

Then wait.

It wasn't a big problem to pick her up. Lu Changge had talked to Lu's mother, so he could go alone.

Lu's mother had no objection, but she had one question: "Where does she sleep at night?"

Their house has only two bedrooms.

"How about this, you sleep with your dad, and she and I sleep in your room." Mother Lu said after thinking for a while.

"Just stay in a hotel. What's so troublesome about this?"

"Are you stupid? Just look at how much a hotel costs per night during the New Year. It's so expensive, isn't it? Besides, she'll arrive in the middle of the night. It's only for a few hours. She can just make do with it. Why do you have to spend that money?" "I'll ask her when the time comes. Just leave it to me." Lu Changge didn't want to save the money, but he still tried to coax his mother first. He wouldn't make any sense arguing with her here.

"Go get someone to take you home, and don't mess around with me." She then muttered, "She used to sleep at her aunt's house, so why did she think of calling me this time? Don't you know we only have two rooms?"

Her words reminded Lu Changge that it was no wonder that he had no memory of Xu Qiuxue being stuck in traffic until midnight on her way home for the New Year in her previous life.

Now it seems that she must have been blocked in her previous life, but she just lived with her aunt and didn't cause any trouble to them.

This was also part of He Xu's battle. Lu Changge still didn't care and just waited to pick her up at night. During the process, they kept in touch by phone.

The final result was explosive.

The bus Xu Qiuxue was on started at 7:10 and was stuck in traffic. Not only that, it rained heavily after dark, and the river crossing was stuck twice again. She finally arrived at Huaishui around 2:30 in the morning.

When Lu Changge waited for her at the passenger exit, her ponytail had become fluffy, her bangs were messy on her forehead, and she was dragging her legs when she walked, looking like she was out of her body.

"13 and a half hours!!" Xu Qiuxue walked up to him and shouted this with a slight growl, and then dropped the tattered bag she was carrying to the ground with a 'bang'. "I'm going to collapse!"

Lu Changge felt sorry for her condition, but also found her reaction a little funny.

"It would be best if you could arrive safely. Let me help you get it."

This time Xu Qiuxue was not polite. She handed the small white suitcase and the schoolbag on the ground to Lu Changge. She was lucky enough to be able to walk forward by herself.

"Next time I won't be late again, this is horrible. That lousy driver doesn't even like to go to the service area. He has no manners, but what about us girls?! I'm so angry!!"

I guess he's been holding it in for a long time, and finally there's someone he can talk to.

Lu Changge said: "You can definitely tell him this. But I guess you'd be embarrassed too. This is me."

"Who am I? I just want to beat someone up!"

So fierce.

I'm really angry.

It was also raining on the Huai River side, and the rain was quite heavy. Fortunately, Lu Changge brought two umbrellas, one for each of them.

Lu Changge walked in front pulling the suitcase, and she walked behind. The small county town was not very bright at night. From a distance, the two people in the darkness looked like two moving black shadows, with the five big words "Bus Station" glowing behind them.

He went to a motel and didn't listen to what Lu Ma said.

After being stuck in traffic for more than 13 hours, it was still raining heavily outside. She was asked to go back and squeeze in an unfamiliar environment with Lu Ma, whom she was not familiar with at all. After thinking about it, he decided to forget it.

It would be better to book a cleaner room for her in a nearby hotel so that she can have a good sleep.

At most he was nagged a few times.

"Rest first, and call me when you wake up tomorrow."

"Okay." Xu Qiuxue collapsed directly on the chair in the room and nodded.

"I'm leaving."

"Wait a moment." She forced herself to get up, but didn't say anything. She only said, "Be careful on the road."

"fine."

After Lu Changge went down, Xu Qiuxue looked down through the window of the room. Because it was dark, she could not see anything. There was only a round black umbrella and it seemed that there was a figure over there.

Under the heavy rain, this figure was waiting for a car on the side of the road.

However, she could only see far away from where she was standing upstairs. It was the middle of the night, and there was not a single thing from one end of the road to the other, let alone a taxi.

Two minutes passed and it was still the same.

Five minutes passed.

The room was quiet.

Three minutes later, Lu Changge, who was standing below, started to move. He raised his foot and walked in one direction. Xu Qiuxue understood that since he couldn't wait for the car, he was going to walk back.

Pushing open the door of the hotel, Xu Qiuxue's ears were filled with the sound of rain.

"Hey!"

Lu Changge turned around after hearing this, his face blank, "What are you doing?"

"Brother, it's raining heavily outside, you shouldn't go back!" She walked up to him regardless of the rain.

The rain was indeed very loud, but he heard it.

(End of this chapter)