Chapter 296

Xu Ran’s family came back. The news spread from the moment they arrived at the Xu Village. Except for Wu Mei’s and the other families, they didn’t deliberately inform others in the village. Still, all the villagers knew it right away.

Xu Ran and his family arrived at noon. At night, there were a lot of people gathereding in their house, and they were all their acquaintances.

They were Wu Mei’s, the village head’s, Doctor Liu’s, Xu Houcai’s as well as Xu Hui’s and  Xu Qiang’s families.

Da Hu from Wu Mei’s family had already got married, but children from both Liu Qing’s and Wu Lan’s families were still single. However, they were getting married and had their own families soon.

Xu Hui and Xu Qiang were also married. Xu Ran was surprised that both ot them would come to meet him. After all, he had not treated them so well before. Still Xu Ran didn’t appear excited before them.

Thus all of them gathered and had a meal together, after which the guests went home. They would go on talking after they had a good rest.

Xu Ran and his family had been on the road for a few months and they were all very tired, so villagers didn’t force Xu Ran to tell them about their story in the past few years.

Only Baozi was in the best spirits. As soon as he got home, he immediately got close to Qingshu while talking to him endlessly, as if he wanted to make up for what he hadn’t said during those five years.

Even Zhuo Yun and the rest did not ask too much and let Xu Ran rest first.

Qingshu didn’t try to keep Baozi at a distance. Instead, he smiled gently while chatting with Baozi attentively.

As expected, Qingshu was growing more and more beautiful. Compared with Qingshu, Baozi’s quite good-looking face was completely eclipsed.

However, Baozi’s temperament had shown itself in the past few years, so his light didn’t dim in front of Qingshu.

For this situation, the adults of the two families were very happy. Zhuo Yun knew Qingshu would get married sooner or later when she grew up and that they would worry about her. However, if Qingshu married Baozi in the future, such benefits should always be kept for their own people. Anyway, their two families had a close relationship, and the two children loved each other. So they would by no means object to this result.

Considering that Baozi had run all the way and needed to rest, Zhuo Yun leaned over and said to him, “Baozi, go to sleep first. You can play with Qingshu later after waking up. Don’t worry. He’s always here.”

Zhuo Yun was actually a little jealous about their good relationship. After all, the person Qingshu liked most before Baozi appeared was him. As soon as Baozi came, he became Qingshu’s second favorite person. How could he be happy about this?!

Baozi wanted to shake his head and say that he was not sleepy, but before he could speak that out, Qingshu helped his dad urge him, “Yeah! Baozi, go to have a rest first. I can wait after you wake up.”

Baozi looked at Qingshu and appeared reluctant. However, he was afraid that Qingshu would be annoyed if he didn’t follow his idea and go to sleep. And Baozi decided to go to sleep first.

However, he felt he still had something important to do before sleeping.

Baozi suddenly reached out and hugged Qingshu by the head and quickly kissed him in front of Zhuo Yun. After the kiss, he immediately slipped away.

Standing by the side, Zhuo Yun watched all the scene. He was quite annoyed and had even wanted to pull Baozi away and beat him up.

However, when he turned back, he saw his silly spouse covering his mouth and smiling sweetly.

Zhuo Yun stroked his forehead and felt helpless.

……

When Xu Ran woke up, it was already the next morning. Qin Shuwen had already got breakfast ready for them there.

It was not until they were eating that Zhuo Yun dared to ask about Guoguo and Gao Quan.

At the moment, three people didn’t come back while Xu Ran and the others  mentioned nothing about it. They felt strange. Although Zhuo Yun was eager to know about the situation, it was difficult for him to raise such a question. At last he took advantage of this casual dining time to seek the answer.

However, as soon as this question was heard, the faces of the family’s fell suddenly. Even Baozi stopped smiling.

Xu Ran put down the chopsticks in his hand and sighed, “Well, Guoguo! We don’t know when he will come back. At that time, he went out to play with Tangtang and met some barbarians. Guoguo asked Tangtang to rush for help while he himself followed in the rear. In the end, when Tangtang and the rescue team arrived, Guoguo had disappeared with the barbarians. Later, they were only able to find the bodies of the barbarians but they couldn’t find Guoguo’s.

Although it was just a few words about the story, the atmosphere did not get better after they knew the result. Zhuo Yun wanted to slap himself. If he had not asked this question curiously, Xu Ran and his family would not be reminded again of the terrible truth.

Before Zhuo Yun started to slap himself, Xu Ran spoke again, “Gao Quan and the rest are staying in Yanzhou. I have opened a hot pot restaurant over there and left it for them to manage.”

Zhuo Yun nodded and deliberately changed the topic, “That’s good. Do you plan to sell hotpot here?”

Xu Ran thought for a moment and said, “Leave this to Baozi! My family business is probably inherited by him in the future. If he wants to get richer, then he will have to work harder.”

Zhuo Yun looked at Baozi and disagreed, “Ran, Baozi is still so young. Can he do that?”

Xu Ran replied, “He can even kiss Qingshu now. Why not? He should manage everything himself!”

Baozi pouted, thinking that this was his dad’s revenge, a definite revenge only because he saw his kissing behavior just now.

Baozi quickly scanned the people at the table. He found his dad had a commanding presence and that he was authoritative, so he could not refute at all.

Still, none of this was the key point. Baozi had to admit that the key point was that Qingshu was looking at him expectantly.

Therefore, Baozi could only lump it and tried hard to nodded in agreemen, “Dad, don’t worry! You can leave this matter to me.”

The happiest person to see Baozi nod was Qingshu himself. Of course, he himself knew why he was so happy.

After that, Xu Ran did not want to mention it more and let this matter go.

However, since Baozi promised to open a hot pot restaurant himself, he didn’t mean to say it for fun only. As he didn’t understand many things about the restaurant, he pestered Xu Ran every day and asked him about this and that.

Xu Ran was free anyway, so he told Baozi everything in detail, and he even talked about many other things.

Having followed Xiao Qingyun for the past few years, Baozi had not only learned about temperament and etiquette, but also acquired much knowledge like how to regulate the family, etc. At the moment, he seriously pondered on the business experience Xu Ran had taught him and really came up with his own idea on the subject.

However, the business of his hotpot restaurant still had to wait until winter. It was still hot and the time was not suitable.

Furthermore, the fruits in the orchards were about to come out for harvest, so they were busy picking them up. They had to plan about this matter first. As for the hot pot restaurant, they would wait until the weather was cold.

For the time being, only the people in the village knew about Xu Ran’s return. Even Wu Mei and the rest only met them during dinner at his house. As for the rest, they knew nothing. Xu Ran discussed with Liu Tong and decided to visit their friends one by one.

They considered Wu Mei and the rest had immediately come to visit them once they fknew that they were back. They couldn’t do nothing in return.

But before this, they should go to the town to buy something as gifts.

Xu Ran had not many acquaintances in town, except for Mr. Chen, Doctor He, and Qin Shuwu’s family.

Xu Ran asked about Mr. Chen and Doctor He’s situation and knew that they were not affected by the plague.

As for Qin Shuwu, there was no need to worry whether they were all right since Zhuo Yun and the rest were fine at the time.

The day after they returned, Xu Ran and Tangtang each drove a carriage to the town.

Xu Ran first went to buy some things and then went to visit Mr. Chen.

……

The business at Mr. Chen’s restaurant was still good. Upon arriving at the door, they heard someone calling for a pot of potato stew.

Xu Ran smiled unconsciously after hearing this. He did not expect that Mr. Chen was still selling potatoes, which should have been planted by Zhuo Yun.

There was a person who was busy doing accounts at the counter.  Xu Ran stood still watching there until Liu Tong standing behind noticed this and asked, “Ran, what’s the matter? Why are you standing here?”

Just then, Mr. Chen heard this and raised his head. At the sight of Xu Ran and the rest, he opened his mouth in surprise.

Xu Ran walked up to him and put his things on the counter, “Mr. Chen, haven’t seen you for a few years. You’re still so young!”

Mr. Chen’s expression changed after confirming that it was Xu Ran. Then he sneered coldly, “Xu Ran, I say you’re great! It has been a few years since you left. I thought you weren’t coming back.”

Of course, Xu Ran understood what Mr. Chen meant. He was probably blaming him for leaving without informing him first.

Xu Ran lowered his head and smiled, “Mr. Chen, I’m coming to say sorry to you. I was in a hurry to leave and coincidentally it was the plague then. I wasn’t able to inform you then. I know you are kind and generous. Please forgive me!”

Mr. Chen snorted again, obviously not planning to let Xu Ran go so easily.

Liu Tong came up from behind him, “Mr. Chen, Ran is telling the truth. Please forgive us!”

Mr. Chen looked at Xu Ran, then at Liu Tong. At last he said reluctantly, “You lucky sod, since your spouse has begged for you, I’ll forgive you. Let me tell you, there’s no next time. If you leave for a few more years again, you probably won’t see me when you come back.”

Xu Ran hurriedly waved his hand, “Mr. Chen, don’t worry. There’s definitely no next time. Besides, Mr. Chen, you’re so young. Why are you saying this kind of things?”

Mr. Chen pouted and didn’t want to argue with him. He turned his eyes behind him to look at Tangtang and Baozi.

Both Tangtang and Baozi greeted him politely.

Seeing Tangtang, Mr. Chen praised that Tangtang was growing more and more handsome, much better than Xu Ran.

Seeing Mr. Chen complimenting his son while dispraising him, Xu Ran could say nothing.

But upon seeing Baozi, Mr. Chen’s face changed again, “Xu Ran! I’m not criticizing you, but how can you take your youngest child out this time? Isn’t he a Ge’er?! He’s already grown up. Do you really mean to raise the child up as a Xiaozi?”

Xu Ran was unhappy to hear this, “Mr. Chen, why can’t this child come out? He’s not unsightly. Yes, Mr. Chen, you may be right. I really take Baozi as a Xiaozi. Do you know the Ge’er in Zhuo Yun’s family? In a few years, I’ll be let them marry.”

Mr. Chen’s expression changed once more, but Xu Ran was obviously in a happy mood.

In order not to make himself look so ugly, Mr. Chen decisively ended the topic and invited Xu Ran and his family to eat at the restaurant.

Xu Ran shook his head, “No, thank you. We’ll still have to go to visit Brother Qin. I just came back and I haven’t seen anyone else yet. Let’s meet next time and I’ll definitely come to see you again.”

“I’ll charge you twice as much next time. Do you still want me to treat you? Stop dreaming! ” Mr. Chen was fuming, his eyes glaring. Of course, there was a show element in it.

Xu Ran laughed, waved his hand at Mr. Chen and left with his family.

When Xu Ran and the others left, Mr. Chen invited them to come again.

Perhaps, at the moment, his heart was softened.