Chapter Seventy-Ninth Visiting the Teacher's Mother

  Zou Ze has been coming to the mountain villa every day for several days, staying for half a day each time. He didn't come to play, but specifically waited for Ji Xin'an, yet after waiting for a week, he still hadn't seen him. Finally, he couldn't bear it and made a phone call, only then did Ji Xin'an reluctantly come.

  "Was it so urgent to find me just to have me come here and swing on the swing?" Ji Xin'an sat on the swing, holding her own ground coffee, seeing Zou Ze sitting there not saying a word, she started joking.

  "Of course not, you...do you have time tomorrow?" Zou Ze saw Ji Xin'an speak up, and was somewhat at a loss for words.

  "I don't have time, but if you have something important, I can squeeze some out." Ji Xin'an smiled lightly as she looked at Zou Ze, who seemed a bit at a loss, wondering what was wrong with him today.

  "It's like that, just in time for the holiday and not busy, my mom said she wants to invite you to our home for dinner." Zou Ze heard her joke and relaxed a bit, gritting his teeth and saying it out loud.

  "Your mom wants me to go to your house for dinner?" Ji Xin'an looked at him in surprise, although the two of them having meals together had become a common occurrence over the years, but such a formal invitation was still a first, not to mention mentioning his parents.

  "Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with me. Originally, I was going to wait for my dad to come back before asking you to go, but who knows when he'll be back, so I said let's just ask you to go first." Zou Ze hurriedly shook his head to clear up the misunderstanding.

  "What does your dad have to do with this again?" Ji Xin'an thought it was strange that they were invited to dinner, but Zou Ze's family didn't even know them. Now she still didn't know the relationship between Zou Weiguo and Zou Ze.

  "Didn't you know?" Zou Ze saw that when mentioning Zou Weiguo, she didn't have any reaction, so he thought it was possible that Ji Xin'an still didn't know about their relationship.

  "What do I know? I just know you and your family. What's the relationship between us?" Ji Xin'an smiled, it's not like we're getting married and looking at the whole family, we're just making friends and looking at three generations.

  "Then come tomorrow and I'll give you a surprise." Zou Ze smiled mysteriously as he saw that she really didn't know.

  "You look so mysterious, I'd like to see what surprises you have in store for me." Ji Xin'an thought it was no big deal to go eat and agreed.

  "I'll scare you when the time comes." Zou Ze got her agreement and went home together to prepare.

  Ji Xin'an looked at him with a smile and shook his head, "You made me run all the way here just for this little thing. Can't it be settled with just a few words over the phone?"

  "That's different, this is your first time coming to my house for dinner, I have to formally invite you, how can a few words on the phone be the same?" Zou Ze said seriously.

  "Alright, I formally accept your invitation and will definitely be on time for our appointment." Ji Xin'an also pretended to be serious.

  The two of them couldn't help it and burst out laughing together.

  The next day, Zou Ze personally went to Ji Xin'an's home to pick her up. When Ji Xin'an came down, Zou Ze had already been waiting there for a while. It wasn't that Ji Xin'an was late, but rather he arrived too early.

  Ji Xin didn't come down with an apologetic mindset, instead blaming him for coming too early, when she herself hadn't even slept in late, although it had been a long time since she last slept in.

  Ji Xin'an wanted to buy something to bring along, but Zou Ze was adamant in his disagreement. The two of them arrived at Zou Ze's home empty-handed. As soon as they entered the door, they saw Zou Ze's mother standing at the entrance, helping them take off their shoes.

  "Auntie, hello." Ji Xin'an smiled and greeted politely.

  "You must be Ji Xin'an, I've heard of you a long time ago. It's only today that we finally meet. We should have invited you to our home for dinner earlier, but Zou Ze's father has been away all the time and hasn't come back yet. This time, let's not wait for him anymore. After all, you and Zou Ze are classmates and it's not like you don't know each other." Liu Lihua looked at Ji Xin'an with a discerning eye, taking in her well-coordinated clothes, her fair and delicate face, and couldn't help but admit that she was even more beautiful than the last time she saw her. Moreover, there was something special about Ji Xin'an's demeanor that made people unconsciously drawn to her.

  Ji Xin'an listened to her words and was still a bit puzzled. Why did both the mother and son mention Zou Ze's father, but didn't ask anything about it. "Thank you, Auntie, I'm really disturbing you."

  Zou Ze saw Ji Xin'an being talked to the point of confusion, and secretly smiled in his heart. He then nudged her and discreetly pointed to the living room, indicating for her to look at the photos on the wall.

  Ji Xin'an lifted her head and saw the whole family of three, two men and women in military uniforms standing on either side of Zou Ze. Ji Xin'an was stunned, because the man inside was none other than her master, Zou Weiguo, whom she had known for several years.

  "Is he your father?" Ji Xin'an exclaimed in surprise, pointing at the photo.

  Zou Ze smiled and nodded.

  Ji Xin'an was stunned, so this was the surprise he had mentioned. It seemed that Zou Ze should have known it earlier. "This is the surprise you were talking about, I really didn't expect that you two are father and son." Now looking carefully, the two of them indeed shared many similarities, only they hadn't noticed before.

  "How's that? Isn't this surprising enough?" Zou Ze smiled complacently, it wasn't easy to see Ji Xin'an's shocked expression.

  Ji Xin'an nodded, then looked at Liu Lihua, "Then I shouldn't call you Auntie, but rather Shifu's wife. I've known Shifu for many years, yet this is my first time visiting you, I'm really sorry."

  Liu Lihua looked at Ji Xin'an and found out that the two were a family, she was happy and didn't seem to be pretending. The worry in her heart finally dissipated. "What's there to be ashamed of? This isn't your fault, if anyone is to blame, it's only your master for being too busy. If he had brought you here earlier, I would have gained a daughter."

  "It's not too late now, and in the future when I have time, I'll come to visit you. You can treat me like your own daughter, and if there's anything, just let me know." Ji Xin'an said with a smile.

  "If only I really had a daughter like you, it would be great. Because I don't have a daughter, I'm quite regretful. Now this regret is gone, and I have both a son and a daughter." Liu Lihua held Ji Xin'an's hand, and this time she truly smiled, looking at Ji Xin'an with the eyes of an elder, and however she looked, she liked her more and more.

  "Don't worry, I will respect you just like my own parents." Because of Zou Weiguo's help, Ji Xin'an had never had the chance to thank him. Now that he knew his family, he could express it in this way.

  "Well, it seems daughters are better than sons after all." Liu Lihua smiled and also gave Zou Ze a sideways glance.

  "Mom, you're just like dad, now that Anan is here, you don't even want your own son anymore. It seems I'll have no status at home from now on." Zou Ze pretended to be unhappy, but the smile in his eyes gave him away.

  "With a son as careless as you, if I could swap, I'd rather have a daughter like Anan. Your father and I wouldn't have to constantly argue because of you." Liu Lihua looked at her resentful son, smiling as she ruffled his hair, though she was actually being affectionate towards him.

  "I won't tell you, if I keep saying it, I should be sweeping the floor out of the house. What delicious dishes have you made? An'an is coming for the first time, you must make some signature good dishes." Zou Ze had already prepared in the kitchen and asked about the food.

  "Just wait, I'll make some delicious dishes for you. Ah, I heard from Zou Ze that your family members are often not at home, so it's a good opportunity for me to cook something tasty for you and improve your diet." Liu Lihua asked them to sit there and wait while she went to cook, this time with even more enthusiasm.

  "Mother-in-law, I'm here to help you. I can cook too." Ji Xin'an stood up and wanted to go in and help, letting her sit here and wait, which was really embarrassing.

  "It's okay, just sit there and wait, you kids don't know how to cook." Liu Lihua smiled and pushed her out, but Ji Xin'an was just being polite and didn't believe she would do anything.

  "Mom, don't underestimate Ji Xin'an, her cooking is not worse than yours." Zou Ze followed over and leaned against the door frame to watch them, seeing that his mom didn't believe it, he quickly spoke up for her.

  "Really? An'an can still cook?" Liu Lihua looked at Ji Xin'an in surprise, seeing her beautiful and clean small hands, she couldn't imagine that she could still cook.

  "My parents are often away from home, so I'm used to cooking for myself." Ji Xin'an explained with a smile, not noticing her surprise.

  "That won't do, you said you wanted to taste my cooking skills, next time then. Next time when you come again, let's have a taste of your cooking skills." Liu Lihua smiled and refused, turning around to busy herself in the kitchen.

  Ji Xin'an had no choice but to follow Zou Ze back to the living room, sat back on the sofa, and started chatting.

  Zou Ze was afraid that she would be bored just sitting there, so he took out the family photos and looked at them with Ji Xin'an, while telling her the origin of each photo. When it came to Zou Wei's photo, Zou Ze would tell some embarrassing stories about him, making Ji Xin'an laugh, and he felt avenged.

  Ji Xin'an got along well with Zou Weiguo, but these things were impossible to know, so they just enjoyed the conversation.

  Just as the two were chatting enthusiastically, they heard a hurried knock at the door.

  "Zou Ze, go open the door." Liu Lihua stuck her head out of the kitchen, still holding the vegetables she was about to wash.

  "I know, you go ahead and take a look yourself." Zou Ze smiled as he got up to open the door.

  "Is Little Zhe's mother at home?" It was actually Yao Wenhao's mother, Wei Yan, who was standing outside the door with a very anxious expression.

  " Wei Yi, come in quickly, my mom is cooking in the kitchen." Zou Ze smiled and reached out to take off his shoes, he was being cautious around her because of what had happened with Ji Xin'an.

  But Wei Yan heard it and didn't even have time to change her shoes, rushing directly into the kitchen.

  "Lihua, something has happened to your family's Zou Weiguo, he is currently being rescued in the hospital." Weiyan saw Liu Lihua and anxiously pulled her over.

  "What?" Liu Lihua heard this and the plate in her hand fell to the ground with a crash.

  "Mom, are you okay?" Zou Ze rushed over upon seeing Liu Lihua's appearance and only felt relieved when he saw that she was not injured.

  Ji Xin'an also came over to support Liu Lihua and looked at Wei Yan, "What's going on?"

  Wei Yan saw Ji Xin'an was also there, she was stunned at first, but soon understood what was most important now. She then explained to Liu Lihua: "Zou Weiguo was injured while executing the task and is currently being rescued in the hospital. Old Yao and the troops are accompanying him there, let me take you over."

  "How could you get hurt? Is it serious?" Liu Lihua heard her words and immediately tensely grabbed her hand, asking.

  "Let's not ask these questions for now, Mother. Let's go to the hospital first and we'll understand everything once we get there." Ji Xin'an couldn't say anything specific either, it was better to just hurry to the hospital.

  "Right, let's go to the hospital first." The others also came back to their senses and, without caring about anything else, hurriedly walked out.

  Several people were directly sent to the military district hospital by a car with license plate number 0001. When they arrived at the door of the operating room, except for two soldiers in plain clothes who looked normal, the others were wearing dirty camouflage uniforms with bloodstains on them. They had been anxiously waiting outside and stood up when they saw Liu Liyuan and the others approaching, looking very embarrassed.

  "How is Wei Guo?" Liu Lihua looked at them and asked anxiously.

  Several people looked at each other with a difficult expression, none of them knew how to speak up. Finally, the one who was most familiar with her, Yao Bo Xiang, spoke up, "She is still in emergency treatment, we are not very clear about the specific situation right now."

  "How was he injured? Where is he hurt? How badly is he hurt?" Liu Lihua asked a string of questions while still rushing to rescue.

  "When we were carrying out the task, we encountered danger. Zou Weiguo... in order to save a new recruit, was injured by an explosive device and when he was sent here... he had already lost consciousness." A colonel wearing civilian clothes next to him said with tears in his eyes.

  "Explosive?" Liu Lihua felt dizzy for a moment and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately was held up by people around her.

  "Master's wife, don't worry first, we still don't know what the situation is, maybe it's just a superficial wound, and after a few stitches, everything will be fine." Ji Xin'an supported Liu Lihua, although he was also worried, but no matter how much he couldn't compare to Master's wife, so he could only suppress his own worries and comfort Liu Lihua.

  "Mom, Anan is right, Dad will be fine, don't scare yourself, let's sit down and wait for him to come out, okay?" Zou Ze had just recovered from the shock and heard Ji Xin'an's words, and he also hurriedly comforted his mother.

  "Alright, I'll listen to you. Wait for him to come out." Although Liu Lihua really wanted to rush in and see what kind of injuries he had sustained right now, it was not realistic. For now, the only thing she could do was wait.

  She calmed down and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down quietly to wait.

  This is the most difficult time to get through, but it can't be avoided. Ji Xin'an was also worried about Master's safety in her heart. She remembered that Zou Ze's family should have been fine all along and nothing big had happened, so she comforted herself that nothing would happen, even if something did happen, taking a few days off would be okay, and when the time came, she would just tell Master to take it as a vacation.

  Ji Xin'an comforted herself here, but Liu Lihua didn't have this skill, the more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, her tense palms were even sweating.

  At this time, the door of the operating room was suddenly knocked open and the doctor walked out, everyone rushed over at the fastest speed...