The Road Home

Chapter 28

As Lu Yanchen's identity was special, approval was not granted for his request to exit the border.

On the other end, Qin Xiaonan's mother had finally relented and agreed to take the train to bring the needed items to Erenhot, but then she still ended up backing out and standing them up. No matter how Gui Xiao persuaded her over the phone, it was no use, and it felt more like Gui Xiao was Qin Xiaonan's mother. This whole matter left her and Lu Yanchen very irked.

Fortunately, in the end, the brigade commander put on his airs of authority and got an authorization for "special circumstances warranting special measures," setting up for Qin Xiaonan a new hukou registered to the military barracks. The "head of the household" listed in the hukou booklet was Qin Xiaonan himself. When the maroon-coloured hukou booklet was opened, only a single name, the name of the child, was seen written inside.

Floating there alone, like duckweed being battered by the wind.

Prior to driving into Beijing, Gui Xiao made a phone call to Meng Xiaoshan.

Qin Xiaonan was asleep, so Gui Xiao and Lu Yanchen did not plan to pick him up and bring him back with them. The two arbitrarily ate something and then headed straight to Gui Xiao's home.

Lu Yanchen had some matters to attend to over the next two days, so he arranged with Meng Xiaoshan that they would go pick up Qin Xiaonan in a couple of days. While they were at it, they would get things in order to bring the child here to Gui Xiao's place so he could attend school. As for himself... He very calmly informed Gui Xiao, marriage was a must because, from the very beginning, the two of them had not used any contraceptive measures. Naturally, then, the sooner the better.

First and foremost, though, they needed to resolve the issues of their two families.

But tonight, they would first go home.

This was Lu Yanchen's first time in her home.

Gui Xiao's place was a small, loft-style home. The lower level consisted of the living room, a large study, a guest room, a bathroom, and the kitchen. On the upper level were two rooms, one of which was a bedroom with an attached bathroom and the other formerly a small study but had since become Qin Xiaonan's bedroom after he came here.

The home itself did not have a large layout, but its advantage was its good location. Previously, when Gui Xiao's little boss came here and saw it, she had insistently offered to buy it from Gui Xiao at a price higher than the market value, but Gui Xiao would not agree to it no matter what. This was the house she was going to live in after retirement and into old age. She had even thought through how she would renovate it when she was old and her legs were not strong and she was moving about with difficulty ...

"Go sit down on the couch for a bit. I'll get you some water."

Gui Xiao went to open the main water valve. When she came back, he was already nowhere to be seen.

The several travel duffels in the living room were all open, and inside the bathroom there was the noise of running water. She followed the sound.

Lu Yanchen had somehow managed to find the washbasin that she normally used for washing clothes, and he had added some liquid laundry detergent into it and turned on the faucet. Water from the tap flowed along his palm and gushed to the base of the washbasin. From the basin's bottom, clouds of suds swelled upwards. Clothing was piled by his feet. Without even turning his head to look at her, he said, "Sort through them a bit. How are you supposed to wash them?" So, Gui Xiao lightly raked through the pile and tossed into the corner the garments that required dry cleaning, then looked through the remaining clothes.