The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 195 Mind your own business

This time, Zhou Fang and Yang Man did not give Zhou Yanruo a perfunctory answer. They did indeed finish their work on New Year's Eve and go back to their grandmother's house to celebrate the New Year together.

They returned close to evening, by which time the New Year's Eve dinner was almost ready. Grandma was the head chef, while Zhou Yanruo assisted her. The two of them worked all afternoon, preparing a sumptuous feast.

Yang Man went straight into the kitchen and saw the busy grandmother and granddaughter. She stepped forward to help and asked, "Mom, Ruoruo, you've prepared so many dishes. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'll stir-fry another vegetable dish. You all come and sit down, it'll be ready soon."

As Grandma spoke, she kept poking at the bok choy in the pot.

Zhou Yanruo carried a plate of braised vegetarian chicken to the dining room. "Mom, call Dad to come and sit down. Dinner is ready."

The New Year's Eve dinner is about the whole family sitting together, eating, drinking, chatting and sharing everyday stories.

Grandma sat in the main seat, a satisfied smile on her face. She picked up her chopsticks, placed a piece of fish in Zhou Fang's bowl, and said, "This is your favorite Green Lake Bluefish. I marinated it beforehand. Why don't you try it and see how it tastes?"

Green carp from Cuihu Lake is a must-have dish on the New Year's Eve dinner table, symbolizing good fortune and abundance year after year. This season is also when the carp is at its fattest and most delicious. After being cured with coarse salt and then steamed, the fish meat is a vibrant pink color, with a smooth and tender texture and a particularly delicious salty and savory flavor.

Zhou Fang picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. "Mom, it still tastes the same. Your grass carp is absolutely amazing."

Grandma: "Yes, eat more if you like. I pickled a lot this year, I'll take some with me when I go back."

Yang Man smiled and raised an eyebrow, saying, "He just likes to eat this."

Zhou Yanruo smiled knowingly and teased, "It's clearly smelly, but you insist it smells good. My dad can't tell the difference between smelly and good-smelling food."

Her words made the adults at the table laugh...

The next day was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and Zhou Yanruo slept until 10 a.m. She was so tired these days that she fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She jumped out of bed and went downstairs to the hall to wish her elders a Happy New Year.

In the living room, Grandma was tidying up the fruit platter that she hadn't had time to put away the night before. Seeing Zhou Yanruo come downstairs, Grandma said with a doting smile, "You really can sleep in, even on New Year's Day you're still sleeping in."

"Happy New Year, Grandma! Wishing you good health and all the best!" Zhou Yanruo stepped over the threshold, walked to the middle of the hall, looked around, and asked in confusion, "Huh, where are my mom and dad?"

“They went to school early this morning,” Grandma replied.

Zhou Yanru pouted and asked reluctantly, "Isn't it already a holiday? Why are we going back to school?"

As Grandma added peanuts, melon seeds, and candy to the fruit plate, she explained, "That's because the school labs are on holiday, not because the two of them are on holiday. After all these years, don't you know your parents well enough?"

After saying that, Grandma asked as she walked towards the kitchen, "I've cooked some glutinous rice balls. Do you want to eat here or at the restaurant?"

Zhou Yanruo followed behind her grandmother and pressed, "I'll go to the kitchen and get the glutinous rice balls myself. But the students are all on holiday, what could they possibly be doing at school?"

"They said they're preparing materials for the third phase of the experiment, and the experiment will start next week," Grandma explained.

"My parents are really something, not even giving us a holiday during the Lunar New Year. Doesn't that mean everyone else can't get a proper rest either?" Zhou Yanruo said with a hint of complaint.

"They enjoy being in the lab, just like you enjoy being in the dance studio. You both have your own passions, so let's not blame each other." Grandma was as insightful as ever, hitting the nail on the head.

Zhou Yanruo only had three days off. During those three days, apart from the necessary basic dance practice, she did most of her time sleeping. Only in busyness and sleep could she temporarily forget those troubling thoughts.

On her first night back in Xichuan, she dreamt of Wang Jie. In the dream, he was riding his bicycle with her on a bumpy cobblestone road, facing the rising sun, and the two of them laughed and chatted all the way. But when she woke up, she couldn't remember what they had talked about. She turned over, trying to fall back asleep and continue the dream, but she couldn't fall asleep, and the dream ended there.

In the following two days, Zhou Yanruo kept thinking that as long as she kept sleeping, and slept a lot, she would eventually dream again, and if she dreamed a lot, Wang Jie would definitely appear in her dreams again. However, that didn't happen; after that one dream, she never dreamed of him again.

These past few days, Zhou Fang and Yang Man haven't gone home, only calling twice in the evening to inquire about the situation. Each time, Grandma said, "Everything is fine at home. Should we let Ruoruo answer the phone?" But the person on the other end always replied, "If there's nothing else, then no need." So Grandma said, "Then you two go ahead and do your work."

Zhou Yanruo overheard this conversation upstairs and decided not to come down to answer the phone. Indeed, since there was nothing important to discuss over the phone, there wasn't much to say.

Holidays always fly by, and before she knew it, it was the second day of the Lunar New Year, time for Zhou Yanruo to return to Beijing. She planned to take the 6:45 PM train. Although the journey was long, the timing was perfect; she could sleep on the train and arrive at her destination by 5:00 AM the next morning.

When Wang Jie went to Beijing, she took this train. She and Wang Jie looked at the train schedule together and chose this train together. Wang Jie once said, "This train has the most convenient time. It departs at night, so we can sleep on the train and arrive early the next morning."

Back then, Zhou Yanruo even teased him, saying, "Sleeping on a train is so uncomfortable, the clattering noise is really loud."

What did Wang Jie say again? Right, he said very seriously, "Actually, there are many advantages. Leaving at night saves time and also saves on a night's accommodation fee. I like listening to the clattering sound of the train as it travels. It has a unique rhythm, sounds very realistic, and is also very helpful for falling asleep."

Thinking of this, Zhou Yanruo couldn't help but laugh and muttered to herself, "He always has so many fallacies; it's a real pity he's not a teacher."

Zhou Yanruo had almost finished packing her luggage and was about to go downstairs when she heard her grandmother calling her from downstairs: "Ruoruo, come answer the phone, it's your mother calling."

Zhou Yanruo carried her luggage downstairs, put it on the ground, and took the phone from her grandmother: "Hello, Mom."

Yang Man's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Ruo Ruo, you're taking the train back tonight, right? Your dad and I don't have time to see you off."

Zhou Yanruo never expected her parents to come and see her off. "No need to see me off. I've come and gone so many times already. You two go about your business."

The phrase "Go about your own business" is exactly what Grandma often said.