"I’m going back to pack my bags," Cai Ming instructed as he walked on the road.

"Before the main group returns, you all should be careful." Even though Gao Dalin and the others are around, and there are dogs.

But in such a large house, there is only Gong Ruini and the others, and when Cai Ming thinks about it, he feels scared.

Ah, why pack luggage? Gong Ruini was very surprised. With Cao Li there, she should be keeping an eye on Cai Zhiheng and the rest.

"I’m going to the Cao family. Cao Li can’t keep an eye on Cai Guoqing and them."

"And she won’t do it sincerely."

"She will find an excuse to go out to work."

"And they’re not fools. I’ve clearly said I’ve left the house clean, but if I’m not living at the Cao house, what will they think?"

"They’ll think you’re just scaring them," Zhao Xuran quickly added, "But Uncle, what do you plan to do?"

"Follow them for food and drink," Cai Ming had long devised a plan.

"If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just go back, not worrying about food or drink. Whatever Cai Guoqing eats, I’ll eat."

"I don’t believe Cai Guoqing can tolerate me for long."

"Maybe they won’t even allow me to return to Beijing." Cai Ming knows Cai Guoqing’s little schemes like the back of his hand.

"If I just go back like that, I’ll definitely be fighting for the house with them, which Cai Guoqing will not be happy about."

Seeing Cai Ming so determined, Gong Ruini knew this was the best way, "But it will be very tiring."

Tiring? Cai Ming looked at his worried niece and felt a warmth in his heart, "Your uncle has been on business trips all the time; I’ve been through tougher environments than this."

"As long as I can get them settled, it’s really not tiring." Cai Ming was confident that after this time, no matter how others incite them, Cai Guoqing would definitely be scared.

Even if someone else uses this trick later, it requires the presence of parents, but such a long journey, coupled with poor nutrition and Cao Li’s cold words, how good could their mood be?

Maybe after they return, they will completely collapse.

Cai Ming knew thinking this way wasn’t very kind, but he had no choice. Sometimes he wished his parents would just leave like that. Other than Cai Guoqing, it would be good for everyone else.

Cai Guoqing casually packed some old clothes. To make it look realistic, he also packed some clothes for all seasons before heading to the Cao house again.

Standing at the door, Gong Ruini watched Cai Ming leave with just a bag on his back and couldn’t help but sigh, "Is it really meaningful for parents and children to scheme against each other like this?"

"There’s no way, Uncle also feels bad inside." Zhao Xuran liked to observe people’s eyes. Previously, Cai Ming’s eyes were so bright, but ever since Cai Guoqing and the others moved north, Cai Ming’s eyes had dimmed.

"Yes, my mom also doesn’t feel good." Otherwise, she wouldn’t have said to mind our manners.

"I haven’t even seen Cai Zhiheng."

"It’s okay if you haven’t seen him. My intuition is that they won’t last much longer before leaving," Zhao Xuran turned Gong Ruini around and went back.

"Today it’s just the two of us, should we...?" What a great opportunity, even though we can’t do much, it’s nice to be under the same roof.

Sometimes Zhao Xuran wondered why we needed such a big house; it really made things inconvenient.

"Back in the Northeast, you stayed in the inner room, we stayed in the outer room, and we could see each other just by looking up."

"One shout and you could hear us."

"After moving to Beijing, we lived at Grandpa Zhuge’s house, and we all stayed in one compound. Even though we had to raise our voices a bit, we could still hear each other."

"But now, it’s one person per courtyard. The place has gotten bigger, but we have to walk a long way to meet."

"And to find someone, we have to make a phone call." For convenience, everyone figured out a way to use internal lines; otherwise, it would be easy to miss someone, and Zhao Xuran thought the theory that the bigger the house, the more distant people’s feelings were, made sense.

It is a bit inconvenient, but would feelings really grow distant? In Gong Ruini’s view, perhaps Zhao Xuran was overthinking it.

On the contrary, Gong Ruini felt a sense of security. If she entered a certain space, it would be much safer; otherwise, she constantly worried if someone would suddenly burst into her room, which was really worrying.

"Brother Xuran, if you say that, people will be jealous."

"Really?" Zhao Xuran listened to Gong Ruini’s chatter, and his first reaction was that Ni Zi was feeling shy, "By the way, what do you think of my proposal?"

What do I think? Not much, really, but Gong Ruini was not worried, she didn’t think Zhao Xuran would be so shameless.

Although they were engaged, university students couldn’t marry at the time, so Zhao Xuran would never watch as Gong Ruini mistakenly thought he made a mistake, leading her to have no choice but to drop out of university.

"Okay, you sleep on the couch." Gong Ruini couldn’t just casually say you sleep in my bed; that would be too improper.

Ah, on the couch? It wasn’t that Zhao Xuran couldn’t sleep on it, but he was really disappointed, "I’ll be well-behaved."

"I don’t know." If it were before, she would have been confident, but for a man over twenty, especially one with a status, Gong Ruini didn’t dare to test a man’s self-control.

"I’ll show you." To prove his self-control, Zhao Xuran certainly had to demonstrate.

"Alright." After considering it, Gong Ruini agreed, "But I need to paint."

This trip, Gong Ruini just wrote some words, without painting anything large, mainly for the convenience of travel, as she didn’t carry handy painting tools.

Additionally, the desk over there didn’t meet Gong Ruini’s requirements, so she couldn’t paint large-scale paintings. Now that she was back in Beijing, she naturally wanted to paint more pieces.

"This year’s family portrait hasn’t been painted yet." Although Gong Ruini would take pictures of everyone, she still painted a family portrait each year.

According to Zhao Guangran’s idea, maybe when Gong Ruini gained fame in the art world, these paintings would become very valuable.

And Zhao Guangran really guessed right. These paintings indeed became quite valuable later, but not because Gong Ruini gained fame in the art world, rather because most of the people in the paintings became big shots.

Unfortunately, Gong Ruini didn’t care for the money earned from these paintings. Of course, the significant factor was that as the elderly passed away one by one, these paintings became more precious.

Gong Ruini hoped to continue painting these every year, as the so-called family tree couldn’t compare to the rich feelings evoked by a family portrait.

Though she could take photos, she felt that painting offered warmth, as the person painting infused emotions into it, pouring feelings for each person into the work.

"Sure."

"I’ll help you prepare the paint." Zhao Xuran habitually assisted when Gong Ruini painted.

Although Zhao Xuran had thought of helping Gong Ruini paint, the things he painted weren’t satisfactory, at least not in his eyes.

To not ruin something that would be passed down, all Zhao Xuran could do was assist.

Every time he saw Gong Ruini produce a beautiful, warm, and emotional family portrait, Zhao Xuran just wanted to say his wife was the best.

"Yes, the family portrait I paint, it’s like you have half the credit for the medals."