Chapter 66: The Trouble Was Solved

  On the other hand, after Liu Liyan returned home, Zou Weiguo had not yet come back, and she also calmed down. Just now she was just impulsive when she saw their intimate movements, thinking of rushing over to reason with them, fortunately, Weiyang pulled herself back, if she had rushed over and made a scene, no matter whether it was true or not, it would have been irreparable.

  Their feelings had always been lukewarm, neither particularly good nor bad to any extent. Zou Weiguo's returns were limited every year, because as a fellow soldier, she could always understand him. All household matters were handled by her alone, whether it was the elderly or the children, and she never complained about him, allowing him to pursue his career without worries. However, she never expected that he would do something like this, disregarding their marital relationship.

  Just thinking about it makes me feel a deep sense of grievance that cannot be expressed in words, and tears start flowing uncontrollably again.

  Liu Lihua really wanted to confront him like this, ask him where he was wrong with her, and yet she thought that since he was hiding from her now, he should still care about this family. If she directly exposed his lies, it's very likely that she would force him to divorce her.

  For the sake of this family and the children, I couldn't do that. If I pretended to be unaware, maybe after a while, that young girl wouldn't be able to bear the loneliness of seeing him so infrequently, and they would break up. So in the end, I decided to endure it.

  When Zou Weiguo came back, Liu Lihua, who had already made up her mind, was as calm as every time he came back, washing and changing his clothes, cooking some dishes he loved to eat, without mentioning that matter.

  At dinner time, the three of them sat down at the table. If Ji Xinan were here, she would be very surprised to see that two of these people are actually familiar faces - one is Zou Weiguo and the other is surprisingly Zou Ze. These two men are father and son, and despite knowing them for so long, it never occurred to her. It seems like she will continue to be kept in the dark.

  Zou Zhe saw his father come back and immediately became silent, afraid that he would mention his music again, so he spoke less and didn't give him the opportunity. Liu Lihua, although she had calmed down, was still angry in her heart, so she also didn't speak. Zou Weiguo, who was usually the head of the household, lost the ease he had when facing Ji Xin'an and instead became more serious.

  The three people eating had different thoughts in their minds as they ate their own meals.

  Zou Weiguo didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, looking at Zou Ze who was only focused on eating and not speaking, thought he should show some concern for him, "When I wasn't around, did you slack off?"

  "No, he goes for a run every morning and during holidays, he trains with them at Zhou Shu's place every day. Don't believe me? Ask him." Zou Ze had long expected this question, so he answered fluently.

  "Not bad, how's your study going recently?" He was glad to hear that he didn't indulge in his music when I wasn't around.

  "It's okay, I've always been in the top ten." Zou Ze replied while eating.

  "Zou Weiguo thought that Zou Ze should be in the same year as Ji Xianan next year, so he said: 'You'll be going to high school next year, right?'"

  "You're wrong, I'm in high school now." Zou Ze thought that anyway he didn't care about himself at all, and must have just thought he remembered wrongly.

  "High one? How is that possible?" Zou Weiguo was stunned for a moment, wondering if he had really misremembered, "No, did you also skip grades?"

  "How did you know?" Zou Ze was startled.

  "How can you make such a big decision without even discussing it with your family?" Zhou Weiguo's face turned stern as soon as he heard that this was indeed the case.

  "This isn't that you're all never at home, I just wanted to give it a try back then, didn't expect to do pretty well." Zou Ze said with a hint of sincerity.

  "Hmm, you young man have grown wings and dare to act on your own now." Zhou Weiguo heard him say this and thought about how he had been away from home for many years, and indeed had shown less concern for him. His expression also softened a bit.

  "Alright, it's not easy to come back, and as soon as you're back, you scold the child. This isn't a bad thing." Liu Liyan absolutely supports Zou Ze in everything, and she has always thought this was a good thing.

  "I didn't say anything else, I'm his father, can't I just understand him?" Zhou Weiguo complained, then thought that if he could accept Ji Xin'an skipping grades, why couldn't he accept his own son?

  "Dad, don't worry, even if I skipped a grade now, my grades are still pretty good." Zou Ze intervened to mediate as the two were about to quarrel over him.

  "That's good. Why is skipping so popular now? They say it's easy, just jump and listen, it sounds easier than jumping rope?" Zhou Weiguo also stopped getting angry after hearing this.

  "Everyone skips levels? Who else do you know?" Zou Ze laughed, didn't expect that although his dad was far away, he still had quite the grapevine, must have known about Yu Yao.

  "You may not know even if I tell you, but you should have heard of her. She was also a skip-level student and the top scorer in your middle school entrance exam." Zou Weiguo smiled, he had always known they were from the same batch, but really hadn't connected these two people together before.

  "Dad, do you know Ji Xin'an?" Zou Ze looked at Zou Weiguo in surprise, unable to believe that two unrelated people would know each other.

  "Do you know him too? Are you classmates?" Zhou Weiguo also had doubts, but soon figured it out.

  "Yes, from the beginning of first year, she was my deskmate, all the way until junior high school graduation. Now although we're not deskmates anymore, we're still in the same class. Dad, how did you know her? Their family doesn't have anyone in the army either, and I've never heard her mention it." Zou Ze smiled, as if he had stumbled upon something interesting.

  "I've known her for many years, when she was still a little girl, learning military boxing from me. She had to call me 'Shifu' (master), but I could only come back a few times a year, so I found someone else to teach her. We wouldn't see each other more than once a year, but every time I came back, she'd still be calling me 'Shifu', which is more than your son does! Looking at how sensible she was, I really should have had a daughter like that." Zou Weiguo really wished he had such a sensible and martially-inclined daughter.

  "She's just a girl, how can she learn all that fighting and killing?" Liu Liyan heard this and instinctively thought of the girl who had eaten with Zou Weiguo at the restaurant.

  "Ji Xin'an's family didn't have any military background, but he wanted to take the military academy exam and become a professional soldier, which is much better than you, but instead of taking a good military school, he insisted on not doing his job properly and messing around with music." Although Zou Weiguo's attitude towards Zou Ze has changed now, whenever this matter is mentioned, he still feels angry.

  Zou Ze laughed and said, "Dad, you say that singing is not a proper job, but Qi Xin'an is even more improper than me."

  "How is it possible? She told me she must take the military school exam." Zhou Weiguo said disbelievingly.

  Liu Lihua felt uncomfortable listening to him defending Ji Xin'an, "How is it impossible? Nowadays, young girls say one thing and do another, they're really cunning."

  "Ji Xin'an isn't that kind of girl, she said she's going to take the military school exam, and it's true that she's going to take it. I said she's even less diligent than me, but her singing is not worse than mine at all, and she can also play the piano and violin, and even write songs. According to my dad's words, isn't she even less diligent than me?" Zou Ze couldn't bear to hear others say bad things about Ji Xin'an, let alone such baseless rumors, not even from his own mother.

  "I really didn't think this girl had such great abilities." Zou Weiguo not only wasn't unhappy, but instead praised her.

  "Why is the treatment so different? When I sing, it's just not doing a proper job, but when Ji Xin'an sings, it's considered having talent." Although Ji Xin'an was being praised and he also felt happy about it, in his heart, there was still some unfairness.

  "If you also promised me to take the military school exam, then as long as you don't fall behind in your studies and training, I won't object to whatever you want to do before going to college." Zhou Weiguo hummed.

  Zou Ze fell silent after hearing that. He was unwilling to spend his whole life for the sake of a few years of freedom.

  Liu Lihua saw that the father and son were both speaking in a way that maintained Qi Xin'an's innocence, and even Zhou Weiguo was treating her like a junior. She felt much more at ease, but still had some doubts in her heart. "I'm saying, Old Zhou, you're such a big person now, can't you think things through before doing them? I don't object to you taking on an apprentice, but why take on a female apprentice? You're always together like this, what do you think people will think? Don't you pay attention to that?"

  "What are you thinking, still choosing between boys and girls? It depends on talent and whether they want to or not. If it's someone like Zou Ze, I'd be eager for him to learn but he doesn't even want to. Besides, I treat her like my own daughter, just like all of you housewives who have nothing better to do, so idle that you can't help but stir up trouble." As soon as Zou Weiguo heard her words, he immediately became unhappy, thinking of himself as a father figure to Ji Xin'an, never expecting her to think of it in such a twisted way.

  "Come on, mom, what are you talking about? It's not like it's a big deal to acknowledge someone as a master. You're thinking too much into it. And you're even an educated person." Zou Ze couldn't help but feel sorry for Ji Xin'an after hearing this.

  "You see, even your son is more sensible than you." Zou Weiguo was still standing on the same front line as Zou Ze for the first time.

  "Hey, you guys are all good, but others have been calling you 'Master' for so long, yet they haven't even invited me to dinner. It's only now that I found out you're a classmate of Xiao Ze's. You're too careless." Seeing Zhou Weiguo's calm and composed eyes, she felt more at ease and wasn't as resistant to Ji Xin'an anymore.

  "This isn't every time you come back in a hurry, is it? Next time, when I get back, I'll call her over and introduce you to your teacher's wife." Zhou Weiguo rarely made jokes.

  "Still worried about his mother, with just this one son I've already worn out my heart, and now another daughter, don't they want my life?" Liu Lihua heard his words and finally felt at ease, thinking she had really misunderstood him.

  "Hmph, who's as troublesome as your son? If I could choose, I'd rather have a daughter like Ji Xin'an. Even if I had several, it wouldn't be a bother." Zou Weiguo looked at Zou Ze with a cold hum.

  Zou Ze wisely chose to remain silent, thinking that he had done nothing wrong and was being implicated unjustly. Moreover, the person they were talking about was Ji Xin'an, making it impossible for him to even express his grievances.

  The next morning, Zou Weiguo left to return to his unit and, like Ji Xin'an, had no idea that their relationship as both teacher and friend had been misunderstood by others. Although the matter with Zou's family was settled, not everyone else had let go of it yet.