After three years of moving around, Qin Sheng lying on his bed for the first time. Although the Lins had moved, the layout of this room was still the same as before. Qin Sheng was somewhat moved, knowing that this was what Auntie Wang and Xin Xin intended to do, just hoping to make his stay more comfortable with no discomfort.
Auntie Wang got up quite early. She would walk around the Nanhu Lake in Qujiang District every morning. In the past, as long as it was a weekend or a holiday, Qin Sheng would accompany Auntie Wang in the morning and accompany Uncle Lin at night. His favourite thing was to follow Uncle Lin to listen to him telling a lot of stories, especially the truth and details of how to behave and how to work.
However, Qin Sheng had such a comfortable sleep last night. He had a long, long dream. He dreamed of his mom. His mom’s appearance was very vague, but it was very similar to Auntie Wang. He kept chasing and chasing, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not reach her. It seemed that there was a man, leading a girl looking at him from not far away, but he still couldn’t see their appearance. He guessed that maybe it was Uncle Lin and Xin Xin.
When Qin Sheng got up, everyone else had already got up. Xin Xin was watching TV in the living room. Han Bing was doing breakfast with Auntie Wang. Qin Sheng was somewhat embarrassed. He did not expect him to be the latest.
“Brother, you got up,” Xin Xin said when she saw Qin Sheng coming out. She smiled and said hello. Because of the heating system was on, the flat was quite warm, so Xin Xin only wore pyjama and looked quite casual.
Qin Sheng pretended to blame her, “Don’t you know that there are guests at home? You start to eat before washing your face. No wonder you are getting fatter.”
Xin Xin didn’t take it seriously. She got up and deliberately turned two rounds to show that she was keeping a good body. She said, “Am I really fat?”
“I’m just kidding,” Qin Sheng laughed and said.
“Humph.”
Auntie Wang and Han Bing came out of the kitchen with a few bowls of porridge in their hands. Auntie Wang greeted Qin Sheng and said, “Hurry to wash, then you can have breakfast.”
Han Bing blinked at Qin Sheng, and it seemed that she was saying that, the future daughter-in-law was doing well, and asking whether he was touched by her.
Qin Sheng rolled his eyes and then went to wash his face and brush his teeth.
After eating breakfast, Auntie Wang began to ask, “Sheng’er, what are you planning today? Where are you going to bring Bing Bing to play?”
Qin Sheng slightly frowned and said, “Auntie, what about you and Xin Xin take Han Bing to the Great Wild Goose Pagoda and the Tang Dynasty Furong Garden first. I want to go to see Uncle Lin first. I was too hasty last time to visit him. It was my fault.”
Speaking of this thing, Qin Sheng was indeed a bit guilty. He should have visited Uncle Lin as soon as he returned to Xi’an, but then he encountered Han Guoping’s case. This time, no matter what happened, Qin Sheng should go to see Uncle Lin as soon as possible after arriving in Xi’an.
Auntie Wang and Xin Xin were somewhat in a low mood because of hearing that. Whenever Mr Lin was mentioned, their mood would be affected. A family that was so warm in the past had become what it was now. No one felt comfortable in such a situation.
Han Bing was very considerate and she said, “Well, you should go and do your things. We will just stroll around and wait for you to come back.”
“Okay. Then I will bring Bing Bing to the Great Ci’en Temple to burn a scent for blessing,” Wang Li said, pretending to be happy. She then turned around to Xin Xin and said, “Xin Xin, would you like to accompany your brother to see your dad?”
“Mom, I don’t want to go,” Xin Xin refused directly. It wasn’t that she didn’t miss her dad. She just didn’t want to see her father being like that. She was afraid that she couldn’t stand it. Every time she saw her father, she would cry when she came back.
Wang Li surely could understand her daughter, so she said casually, “Forget it.”
After going out from the Furong Shijia, Qin Sheng drove straight to Chang’an District. The Great Wild Goose Pagoda, the Great Ci’en Temple, and the Tang Dynasty Furong Garden were all in the Qujiang New District, not far from the Furong Shijia, so Wang Li and Han Bing walked there. And Hao Lei had already arranged the meeting in the jail for Qin Sheng through the relationship of his family.
Half an hour later, Qin Sheng arrived at the prison where Uncle Lin was held. He was guided by staff in the prison and followed the formal procedures to visit the prisoner. After waiting for a few minutes in the room, the prison guard came in with Uncle Lin. Looking through the shield glass, Qin Sheng could tell that Uncle Lin was old, really old. It was not hard to tell the impact of that incident on him. His face was covered by wrinkles. Although having a buzz cut, but he could still see that Uncle Lin’s hair had turned grey. Anyway, luckily, the mental status of Uncle Lin didn’t look so bad.
Qin Sheng stood up a little excited and called Uncle Lin. However, Uncle Lin couldn’t hear anything in his side. Lin Xi slowly sat down and pointed at the talker, indicating that Qin Sheng should talk to him with the talker. He looked not excited at all. After all, the last time his wife came, she had told him about Qin Sheng’s return.
Qin Sheng picked up the talker and said with some trembling, “Uncle.”
“Sheng’er, you’ve come back. Well, coming back is good. Then I can be relieved,” Lin Xi said with a smile.
Qin Sheng felt quite guilty deep in mind, and he held his fist tightly and said, “Uncle, it’s my fault. When you needed me the most, I am not around. It’s all my fault.”
“Uncle did not blame you. You couldn’t help with these things, even if you were there,” Lin Xi had already relieved. After all, more than a year had passed. He smiled and said, “I haven’t seen you for more than two years. You have changed a lot that I almost can’t recognize you.”
“Uncle, you can rest assured. I will definitely find a way to prove your innocence to let you come out as soon as possible,” Qin Sheng said, gritting his teeth.
Lin Xi shook his head and said, “Don’t be tossed. Those people are not whom you can deal with. Uncle has already been relieved. Just take this as a few years’ rests. You just help your uncle to take care of your Auntie Wang and Xin Xin. That’s enough.”
Hearing this, Qin Sheng felt even guiltier in his heart. But he had already made up his mind that he would definitely seek an explanation for the Lins.
Seeing Qin Sheng did not speak, Lin Xi volunteered to ask, “How have you been in the past two years? I heard from your Auntie Wang that you were now back in Shanghai. How have you been there?”
“After my grandpa passed away, I went out to travel for two years according to my grandpa’s will. I experienced a lot of things and I grew up completely,” Qin Sheng began to talk with Lin Xi, “I wanted to stay in Xi’an, but my grandfather asked me to go to Shanghai and said that it was my blessed land. So I went there. Now I am quite good in Shanghai. I am doing things for an uncle. He had some stories with my grandfather. He is very good to me and intends to train me to be a successor.”
Hearing that Qin Sheng was not bad now, Lin Xi was very pleased. He said, “That’s good. Old Master is a big person. I guess he had arranged everything for you already. I can’t help you now. You can only rely on yourself outside. Do you still remember the words that I have told you before? Behaving and working both require you to be realistic. Don’t be too impatient and hasty. Everything must be done gradually. Don’t think about stepping into the sky in one step. Only if you have the real and sound foundation, then you can achieve something after accumulations.”
“Uncle, you can rest assured. I remember these things,” Qin Sheng said and nodded silently.
Lin Xi immediately asked, “How are you and Su Qin now? After returning, are you still in contact? The child is very good. Xin Xin said that you two broke up when you two graduated. I don’t know what you are thinking about. When I was in trouble, Su Qin and his dad helped me a lot, keeping busy. If you have time, help me to thank them. If there is really a chance, don’t let the girl down.”
Su Qin had left a deep impression on the Lins. Lin family had treated Su Qin as their daughter-in-law. After all, Qin Sheng and Su Qin had been together for six years.
Qin Sheng was a little embarrassed. He said, “She is also in Shanghai. I have seen her after I came back. As for the future, I am not sure.”
“I’m not going to say anything about your two. You are also at the age of marriage. Don’t let your uncle and your auntie wait for too long. Since now we are still young, we can still help you to look after the children,” Lin Xi said half-jokingly.
Qin Sheng chuckled and said, “I won’t let you wait too long.”
Qin Sheng talked with Lin Xi for more than half an hour. When the time was almost up, he got up and said goodbye to Lin Xi. When he left, Lin Xi said again that he hoped Qin Sheng would help him to take care of his wife and daughter. Even Lin Xi didn’t say so, Qin Sheng would definitely do the same thing.
When he returned to the Qujiang New District, it had been time for lunch. Qin Sheng had set up a place to dine with Auntie Wang and others. It was a local authentic Shaanxi restaurant in the Qujiang District. They used to eat there often, and the taste was not bad. So Qin Sheng went straight to Qujiang Hanyao.
When Qin Sheng arrived, they were ordering food. The four people ordered some things, mainly to let Han Bing taste the taste of Shaanxi. They didn’t know whether Han Bing, who was used to Shanghai cuisine, could get used to the hot and sour food of Shaanxi.
The three women were eating slowly, chatting and eating at the same time. Qin Sheng had always been fast while eating, like a whirlwind sweeping over the sky. Although it didn’t look well, others still liked to eat with Qin Sheng, because he seemed quite enjoy eating, which could make others also eat more.
Women’s topics were always inseparable from clothes and cosmetics. In the past, Wang Li often went out with Xin Xin to go shopping. She was a woman with especially good taste and paid a lot of attention to her own image, not to mention that she was working for a beauty salon. It was one of her friend’s shop. She was there to take care of it. It was also a matter of finding something to do. After all, all she used to do was to stay at home, taking care of her husband and her daughter. Now the family was not in a good situation, then she couldn’t be idle as well.
As a pure and pretty woman, Xin Xin was naturally more interested in these things. When they knew that Han Bing was designing things and she was a designer, there were more topics for them. After all, Han Bing was an expert.
Qin Sheng didn’t care about these topics. After confirming that Han Bing was used to Shaanxi food, he only paid attention to filling his stomach. In the end, these dishes were basically finished by him.
After the meal, Xin Xin would go out for shopping with her close friends. All of her close friends were basically studying in Xi’an. People in Shaanxi originally were keen to stay in the hometown. In addition, there were many good schools in Xi’an. When Qin Sheng went to university, the Lins had hoped that he would stay in Xi’an. However, after Qin Sheng and Su Qin’s discussion, they finally decided to go to the big city, Shanghai.
So it was rare to come back, thanks to the holiday, Xin Xin would definitely spend some time to get together with her close friends.
Wang Li also had something to do, so Han Bing was handed over to Qin Sheng, which was also the time for the two to get along alone. Qin Sheng had arranged a trip for Han Bing. First, they would go to the Shaanxi History Museum, followed by the visit to the Beilin Museum and the City Wall. Finally, it was time for shopping and eating at Huimin Street and Yongxing Square, equal to the dinner. When the evening came, he would take Han Bing to folk bars in Xi’an. After all, these were also considered as a major feature of Xi’an.
Concerning these historical and antique artifacts, Qin Sheng could also be considered as a half-expert, so when they were in Shaanxi History Museum, they hired a tour guide to explain for them and Qin Sheng made supplements aside. Han Bing was obviously interested in these and asked all kinds of strange questions.
Beilin Museum, this was one of the favorite places of Qin Sheng. Not only the Lins but also Su Qin or some other friends knew that Qin Sheng was good at calligraphy and had made some small achievements on calligraphy. It was Old Master Qin that forced Qin Sheng to learn. Most importantly, during the winter and summer vacations, Old Master Qin asked his friend to let Qin Sheng go to the Beilin Museum to work part-time. Qin Sheng lived together day and night with the inscriptions of those well-known calligraphers and then copied the posts and so on. It was impossible if he didn’t want to make any achievements. He was particularly familiar with most of the famous monuments in the museum. Whether the inscriptions or the story behind them, he knew clearly. So sometimes he would work as a part-time tour guide. Thus when they arrived at the Beilin Museum, Qin Sheng did not need a tour guide at all, and he personally explained for Han Bing on his own.
Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Ouyang Xun, Wang Xizhi, Zhang Xu, Huai Su, from the clerical and cursive scripts to regular and running scripts, Qin Sheng could tell the stories behind vividly, which made Han Bing quite admired. After all, she never saw the writing of Qin Sheng and learned Qin Sheng had stayed here. When she knew that his calligraphy was quite good, she asked Qin Sheng to write something for her when they came back.
Their last destination was the most famous Xi’an city walls. Before going up, Han Bing did not expect that the city wall would be so wide. She insisted that Qin Sheng should ride bicycles with her. Qin Sheng had no other choices but accompany her. And during the whole time, he also had to work as Han Bing’s part-time private photographer and took a lot of pictures for her. But since Qin Sheng was not so good at taking photos, he had been blamed by Han Bing for several times.
It was almost evening. After coming out of the city wall, Qin Sheng should have brought Han Bing to Huimin Street. However, at this time, Hao Lei called him. Hao Lei first asked him where they went today, and finally, Hao Lei said that since Meng Zhe and others heard that Qin Sheng got back, they were arranging a welcoming dinner for Qin Sheng tonight.
Qin Sheng was hesitant. When he returned to Xi’an last time, he called everyone. He had not seen them for more than two years. However, no one came except for Meng Zhe and Hao Lei, with others pushing the gathering away. At that time, he knew that his relationship with many people could not return to the past.