Chronicle of the 70s-Chapter 344 - 331: Packing Up (First Update)

The next day, after having breakfast, Qin Zhen took his wife and child back to the Lu Family. Qin Xi didn’t say much; after all, his brother had been away from home for a year, and the Lu Family had been looking after Anna and Minmin, so it was perfectly reasonable for the brother to visit them first.

But then this scene happened just as they were leaving.

Ba’er and Minmin were holding hands, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Qin Zhen took a step back, holding Minmin, and Ba’er suddenly burst into tears, while Minmin screamed and cried loudly.

Everyone was stunned, and Lu Anna tried to comfort Minmin somewhat helplessly, "Minmin, you’ll see your brother tomorrow."

Minmin, already two years old and able to understand what adults said, still shook her head unwillingly and pleaded pitifully to her mother, "No, I don’t want you to go."

Seeing Ba’er being held by Qin Xi and crying bitterly, Li Xianglu felt a headache coming on and tried to tug people into walking back toward the yard. Instead, Ba’er began to flail and struggle to get down from Qin Xi’s arms, wanting to rescue his sister Minmin from the terrible Uncle Qin Zhen.

Seeing this, Qin Zhen didn’t dare to delay and hurriedly carried his daughter, who was also crying breathlessly, out.

Li Xianglu watched the family walk away, then turned to Qin Xi with a cold face, "Put him down on the ground, shut the door, and let him continue crying."

Qin Xi, seeing his wife angry, didn’t dare to disobey. Ba’er was indeed getting out of hand, and since it wasn’t cold on the ground in the summer, he put his son down, locked the door, and immediately stood by his wife’s side.

Hu Zi, holding Ba Yi, curiously widened his eyes to watch his brother still crying on the ground.

Ba’er was still unaware, crying and pointing at the door, mumbling, "Sister."

Li Xianglu said coldly, "Your sister has her own family; she has gone home!"

Hearing this, Ba’er became even more anxious, stood up unsteadily, ran to the door, and began hitting it hard with his little hand, calling out, "Sister! Sister!"

Li Xianglu, quite angry at this point, thought it was about time to toughen up this child’s temperament; otherwise, always letting him have his way was unendurable. She gestured for everyone to return to the yard.

Ba’er was not scared in the least at everyone’s departure; he was still caught up in his own feelings, continuously banging on the door, calling for his sister.

Back in the yard, after Li Xianglu finished the remaining congee and began to clean up the table, she saw Hu Zi sneak peeks at her.

Li Xianglu looked over, and Hu Zi shook his head helplessly, "He’s just sitting on the ground playing by himself now."

Li Xianglu was speechless. How could the child be like this? So attached to playing with Minmin that he would not let her leave, creating a scene as if it were a life and death parting. Yet, if he threw away something he disliked and someone else picked it up, he would be unhappy and want it back.

Sighing, she saw the old man bring back dirty little Ba’er and took him to pour water over the child, stripping him and putting him in a basin. She washed him while spanking his butt and reasoning with him.

Yet at that moment, he was not fussing. Whatever mom said, he just stared with wide eyes, his innocent expression as if he wasn’t the one being talked about.

Qin Xi had things to do, so seeing that his son was now behaving, he left in the car. When Ba’er heard the sound of the car in the backyard, he suddenly slapped the water excitedly and shouted, "Vroom vroom!"

Splash! Water drenched Li Xianglu’s face and she couldn’t help feeling helpless. Had she known earlier, she would have opted for a daughter instead–sons are just so rough!

After cleaning Ba’er up, Li Xianglu took them both over to their secondary courtyard. She needed to organize her jewelry and other stuff, but just as she was about to leave, the old man mentioned there was a phone call.

Li Xianglu had no idea who it might be, but she answered it anyway—it could be Su Yan and Xu Wu arriving.

To her surprise, it was Iro on the other end.

Iro, shedding her previous despondent demeanor, cheerfully told Li Xianglu that her application for studying abroad had been approved and she would be heading to France. Though she had always been fond of architecture, she had switched to economics due to her family’s disapproval. Now came a new beginning, where she could pursue the profession she loved.

Li Xianglu was delighted for Iro, offering words of encouragement and asking about her departure, only to learn she would be leaving in a week.

She needed to go early to get accustomed to the language, so leaving beforehand made sense to Li Xianglu. It would be good to get away from this land of trouble, especially since she had heard from Lu Anna that the Wang Family’s man had come back to Iro, hoping for a reconciliation. Sha Xinyu thought it would be better for Iro to date Wang Family’s elder son instead, which had led to quite the tantrum.

They decided to have a meal together with Lu Anna and Iro in three days, then hung up.

After setting the two kids down on the mat to play, Li Xianglu began sorting through the stuff in her Storage Ring.

Her Storage Ring was as big as a football field, now holding plenty of furniture, appliances, food supplies, and fabric, all taking up half the space. There was still plenty of room left. With a wave of her hand, she tucked away the children’s toy cars and a big bundle of sorted clothes inside the ring, too.

The kids had seen their mom make things disappear before, but no matter how often they saw it, it always seemed magical. They peered curiously as they watched.

Unaware of their gaze, Li Xianglu continued to tidy up miscellaneous toys and pack the clothes they were taking into suitcases.

She toiled away all morning, and by the time Qin Xi walked in, Li Xianglu was mostly done with the packing.

Seeing that some of the decorations in the house were gone, Qin Xi sat down on the floor after taking off his shoes and fed the two sons water while asking, "All packed up?"

Li Xianglu nodded, "All set, just Grandpa’s stuff left to pack."

Watching the two boys get up and cling to him in circles, Qin Xi laughed, "Ba’er is so much like Qin Zhen."

Hearing Qin Xi say this, Li Xianglu frowned sternly at Ba’er, who was trying to crawl her way, "Naughty child!"

Ba’er, with a neat row of baby teeth, burst into giggles as if his mother was praising him.

Qin Xi helplessly picked up the halfway-gone Ba’er, stood up, and then picked up Ba Yi as well, the two kids weighing over forty pounds together. Hugging them both at once, the children started clapping and cheering.

Li Xianglu took out a basin of pears from her Storage Ring, following behind. The old man had just finished up in the vegetable garden. The watermelons were almost ripe, and several sweet melons were ready to eat. He picked four for his great-grandchildren and then noticed Li Xianglu holding a basin of pears, and after taking one to look, he nodded his approval, "Such beautiful pears this season."

Li Xianglu smiled and lied without batting an eyelid, "Qin Xi bought them. Grandpa, you’ve been complaining about a sore throat, haven’t you? Eat more to moisten your lungs."

The old man took it without suspicion, feeling pleased by his grandchildren’s thoughtfulness. Meanwhile, Qin Xi shook his head resignedly in front of them, long accustomed to taking the blame.