77: go home

Just as dawn was breaking,

Li Zhan's black mercedes-benz drove out of Lianhua Residential Area.

The morning mist outside the car window had not yet dispersed, and the shadows of the distant mountains were faintly visible.

From Changan, Dongguan to Guilin, Guangxi,

the entire journey was nearly 600 kilometers, taking at least eight hours to drive.

Adding the mountain roads from Guilin city to his hometown in Xing'an County, it would take at least another hour.

Factoring in time for breaks and meals, he estimated they would arrive home around six or seven in the evening.

After driving for just twenty minutes,

Li Zhan's phone rang.

He pressed the answer button on his Bluetooth headset, and Old Zhou's voice came through.

"Brother Zhan, the rear is clear. No tails."

"Good."

Li Zhan glanced at the rearview mirror.

"You guys head back. I'll leave the company to you for these few days."

"Don't worry."

Old Zhou paused, "Should I arrange for a few brothers to go to Guilin to meet you?"

"No need."

Li Zhan glanced at A Zhen, who was looking through a map in the passenger seat.

"I can handle things here.

You just focus on keeping things steady back home."

Hanging up the phone, Li Zhan noticed A Zhen staring at him.

"What's wrong?" He reached out and pinched her cheek.

A Zhen sat in the passenger seat, wrapped in a thin blanket.

She turned to look at the scenery flying past the window, feeling both excited and apprehensive.

"Brother Zhan, shouldn't we buy some gifts?

It wouldn't be right to go back empty-handed..."

Xiao Xue, in the back seat, also leaned in.

"Yeah, it's my first time meeting your mother. I can't just show up with nothing."

Li Zhan held the steering wheel with one hand and took A Zhen's hand with the other.

"Just buy some fruit when we get to the town. People in the countryside aren't that particular."

A Zhen rolled her eyes at him. "Who else is as heartless as you?"

Li Zhan grinned. "You two are the best gifts.

Others bring back one at most, but I'm bringing two at once, plus another one in a belly.

Won't my mom be thrilled?"

Xiao Xue, embarrassed, punched his shoulder from the back.

"Then how are you going to introduce us? As two girlfriends?"

Li Zhan laughed loudly. "What's there to fear? You're just my two wives!

We aren't getting marriage certificates, so how can the law touch us?"

A Zhen pinched him. "In your dreams!"

The car was filled with laughter and warmth.

At three in the afternoon, the car drove into Guilin city.

As soon as they got out of the car, the bone-chilling damp and cold air hit them.

A Zhen and Xiao Xue immediately shivered.

"It's this cold?!"

Xiao Xue rubbed her arms, her teeth chattering.

Li Zhan smiled and pulled them both close.

"Winter in Guilin is a magical attack.

Even though the temperature isn't as low as in the north, this damp cold can seep into your very bones."

He took them straight to a shopping mall and bought two thick down jackets.

A Zhen chose an off-white one, and Xiao Xue chose light pink.

Both were wrapped up tightly, looking like two round little bears.

"Warm now?"

Li Zhan zipped up A Zhen's jacket and casually pinched her nose, which was red from the cold.

A Zhen slapped his hand away but couldn't help smiling.

"Let's hurry. It'll be dark soon."

The car started up again and headed toward Xing'an County.

The distant karst peaks loomed in the winter mist, looking like an ink wash painting.

Li Zhan glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror—

Xiao Xue had fallen asleep against the window, while A Zhen gently stroked her lower abdomen, staring out the window lost in thought.

The corners of Li Zhan's mouth curled up unconsciously as he pressed down slightly on the accelerator.

As the familiar countryside scenery flew past the window,

a complex emotion surged in his heart.

The closer he got to home, the stronger that long-absent sense of warmth became, mixed with an indefinable anticipation and nervousness.

Nervousness about returning home.

In just half a year, his life's trajectory had undergone earth-shaking changes.

The unknown kid he was when he left home

was now returning in glory with two beautiful girls.

Such a transformation was something even he probably hadn't expected.

The car wound along the Huajiang River, and after turning onto the mountain road, the scenery outside gradually changed.

In Guilin during December, the winter bamboo forests were still lush green,

though the edges of the bamboo leaves were slightly yellowed, rustling in the wind.

Between the interlocking bamboo branches, a few rays of golden sunlight occasionally filtered through.

Rounding the last bend,

the sight before them was like a slowly unfolding landscape scroll—

the distant blue-gray karst peaks were like dark eyebrows, and the nearby dense bamboo forest swayed with the wind.

At the end of the bamboo forest, a clear river flowed quietly like a jade belt,

with dozens of scattered cottages featuring white walls and black tiles along the bank, and cooking smoke curling upward.

Li Zhan unconsciously slowed down.

Looking at this familiar scene, an old song suddenly echoed in his mind,

"A great river with wide waves, the wind blows the scent of rice flowers along both banks, my home is right on the shore..."

He began to hum softly, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

This was probably the most classic image of "home" deeply rooted in every Chinese person's heart,

the most simple kind of nostalgia.

The car slowly drove onto the village road, the tires making a crunching sound as they rolled over the gravel.

A few elderly people sitting in front of their doors sunbathing curiously eyed the unfamiliar luxury car,

until Li Zhan lowered the window.

"Uncles, have you had dinner yet?" He handed out the cigarettes he had prepared.

"Oh! It's A-Zhan who's back!"

An old man with a missing front tooth shouted in surprise, "Go tell Li Zhan's mother quickly!"

"This car is so grand. A-Zhan must have made a fortune out there!"

"He even brought back such a handsome wife!"

Li Zhan responded with a smile,

handing out cigarettes to every fellow villager he met while driving slowly.

A Zhen and Xiao Xue looked out the window curiously.

This small village hidden among the mountains and waters was the hometown their beloved dreamed of.

The black mercedes-benz slowly stopped in front of a quaint wooden house.

Under the old pear tree in front of the house,

a rural woman in her fifties was picking greens in the vegetable garden in front of the house.

Her graying hair was casually tied back, and her slightly tanned face already showed the marks of time,

but her features still hinted at her youthful beauty.

She wore a faded blue cloth jacket.

Hearing the sound of the car, she straightened up in confusion,

squinting at the unfamiliar black car at the entrance.

When she saw Li Zhan push the door open and step out,

the vegetable basket in her hand dropped to the ground with a thud, spilling greens everywhere.

"Mom, I'm back," Li Zhan called out with a smile.

Mother Li froze on the spot, her eyes turning red instantly.

Her lips trembled, and she suddenly turned toward the house and shouted,

"Old man!

Come out quickly! A-Zhan is back!"

Her voice carried an irrepressible sob.

The wooden door creaked open,

and a relatively sturdy, dark-skinned middle-aged man walked out with a pipe in his mouth.

Under his graying eyebrows, his eyes lit up the moment he saw his son.

"Dad..."

Li Zhan called out to his father.

Father Li just stood there and nodded slightly.

Having not seen each other for half a year, the father and son just exchanged simple greetings—a typical Chinese-style father-son dynamic.

Li Zhan opened the trunk and took out bags of gifts—

a carton of the old Guangxi cigarette brand, Jia Tian Xia, and two cases of cave-aged Guilin Sanhua Liquor for his father,

and a wool scarf and health supplements for his mother.

A Zhen and Xiao Xue also got out of the car, standing behind him a bit stiffly.

His mother had already hurried over,

her rough hands grabbing her son's arm as she looked him up and down.

"You've gotten thin!

Were you not eating well out there?"

Father Li didn't speak,

but his gaze lingered on the mercedes-benz for a few seconds,

then swept over A Zhen and Xiao Xue, the corners of his mouth twitching up imperceptibly.

Li Zhan put his arm around A Zhen's shoulder and whispered a few words into his mother's ear.

His mother's eyes widened, and she immediately began to smile so widely she couldn't close her mouth.

"Oh my! Sit down, sit down quickly!"

She took A Zhen's hand and led her toward the house. "You child, standing is so tiring!"

Turning around, she shouted at Father Li again,

"Old man!

Don't just stand there, go to the backyard and catch a chicken to slaughter!

I want that fattest old hen!"

Father Li grunted in response and turned toward the backyard, his steps much lighter than usual.

Xiao Xue obediently went to the kitchen to help.

While lighting the fire, Mother Li secretly observed the two girls, her heart blossoming with joy.

Li Zhan stood in the courtyard,

watching his father briskly catch the chicken and boil water, and his mother busy at the stove.

Cooking smoke curled up from the chimney, mixing with the aroma of stewing chicken.

At this moment, he suddenly felt that

no matter how successful he was outside, upon returning here,

he would always be the child in his parents' eyes who needed to be looked after.