Forgotten Old Acquaintances

Night.

In the dog days of winter, from school to her doorstep, her mother's kindly face glowed beneath the lights, making Xue Yuantong's mood even brighter.

She jumped off the bike and skipped eagerly over to her mother. "I'm back!"

Aunt Gu watched her daughter's careless movements and scolded her, "What's the rush? The bike hadn't even stopped properly!"

Xue Yuantong did not care in the slightest. "Don't you know how capable I am, Mom?"

Jiang Ning stopped the bike and greeted Aunt Gu.

Seeing Jiang Ning riding the bike, Aunt Gu felt deeply reassured. Her home was rather remote. The nearest bus stop was on Nanhong Road, and even after getting off there, it was still quite a walk to the single-story house by the River Dam.

Back when Tongtong was in middle school, Aunt Gu always made time to pick her up and drop her off. If she truly could not spare the time, she would have Tongtong take the bus home. Since middle school had no evening self-study, life was harder then, but she could still manage both work and her daughter.

Now that Tongtong was in high school, there was evening self-study. If her job had remained unchanged, if Jiang Ning had not appeared, Aunt Gu did not even want to think about how she would take proper care of her daughter.

So as she looked at Jiang Ning now, Aunt Gu's expression grew increasingly pleased. Renting this house had been such a worthwhile decision—it had solved her daughter's problem too.

Still, Aunt Gu looked Jiang Ning over and found him handsome and tall, which pleased her greatly. Then she looked at her own short daughter. So disappointing. Aunt Gu could not help feeling melancholy again.

She did not ask for much. If Tongtong could grow