Chapter 44

Wei Linxuan apparently found the cafeteria food mediocre, so he had meals delivered from home every day. Old Zhou's cooking was impeccable, and the boxed meals were specially tailored to Wei Linxuan and Lu Heng's tastes. With Fang Yuqing's homemade soups arriving from time to time, Lu Heng, who had lost a shocking amount of weight from academic pressure, did not put the weight back on within a month, but his complexion improved considerably.

Maybe drinking too much soup really did nourish the brain, or maybe his chubby deskmate's class notes were just that useful. Lu Heng realized that he could finally barely understand the concepts in his textbooks.

Feeling that he had gotten back on track, Lu Heng relaxed a little and had the mood to improve his life—for instance, bringing Miao Miao, who attended Yanjing Affiliated Primary School, and his eldest brother, who attended the high school division, home on weekends and rolling up his sleeves to cook for everyone.

After eating his cooking more often, Wei Linxuan was pleased to discover that Lu Heng's culinary skills seemed even better than before.

However, Wei Linxuan failed to keep his promise to tutor Lu Heng. He was surprised to discover that even if he could write proposals for reality shows and talent competitions, that did not mean he could solve problems involving cubic equations. Forget tutoring Lu Heng—he needed a tutor himself.

And the "tutor" Wei Linxuan hired was Lu Heng's eldest brother, Lu Chi.

When it came to studying, talent really did matter. Lu Chi had transferred from a high school in J City to Yanjing University Affiliated High School in the second semester of his first year. When he first transferred, he even struggled to follow the lessons. Yet within a single semester, not only had he caught up, he had even placed tenth in the entire grade on the final exams.

The world of top students was simply incomprehensible!

Under Lu Chi's targeted tutoring, Lu Heng finally passed all nine subjects in his final exams. His entrance exams were looking promising~

A cause for universal celebration!

After finals came winter break. Lu Dad and Lu Mom, who had been working hard to build a business in Lu Family Village, headed north to Beijing for their three children's parent-teacher conferences and took the children home afterward.

This was probably the most transformative year the Lu family had seen in decades.

Half a year ago, Lu Dad had taken the ten thousand yuan the police awarded Lu Heng, returned to J City, rented a fleet of vehicles, and found several old comrades who had retired from the military. Then he began hauling freight.

He mainly transported vegetables and grain from Lu Family Village to the city or even farther away to sell.

Although Lu Dad was not much of a farmer, he was honest and loyal, and he had always been well-liked in the village. Everyone trusted him too. When it came time to harvest grain in late autumn, Lu Dad had no money to buy it from the villagers, so they simply handed their grain over to him and let him take it south with his convoy to sell. They would collect the money from the Lu family after he returned. They were not worried in the slightest that Lu Dad might run off with their goods.

After delivering the grain in the south, Lu Dad also bought back quite a few southern specialties to sell. The trucks did not make empty runs either way. After deducting the money owed to the villagers for their grain, his comrades' wages, the fleet rental fees, and fuel costs, he still had more than eight hundred thousand yuan left.

That was a huge sum the Lu family had never earned in all these years.

Lu Dad and Lu Mom could hardly believe that their family would ever have such prosperous days. More importantly, after several months of hard work, the Lu family's fleet had built up a stable customer base. Even after the grain-buying season ended, they could still take logistics orders.

With money in his pocket, Lu Dad felt secure. Ready to make a big push, he returned the rented fleet to the dealership and took his comrades to the vehicle market to buy several transport vehicles. There were large trucks for long-distance hauling and vans for local deliveries. They maintained their old customers while working hard to develop new ones.

Besides that, Lu Dad spent a thousand yuan renovating their home. He mainly tidied up the rooms, whitewashed the walls, and fixed up the kang beds. It was too cold to break ground, so they would make do for the year. Once spring came, they would tear down the old house and build a new one.

They would build a two-story house with a courtyard. Every child in the family would have their own room, just like city people, with a bed, desk, and wardrobe. They would have color TVs and refrigerators, and even use rice cookers in the kitchen...

Lu Dad and Lu Mom had taken the train to Beijing, but the family of five flew back together. After arriving in C City, Lu Dad drove everyone straight home.

The family had not seen one another for nearly half a year, and they seemed to have endless things to say. They either discussed the adults' business or asked about the three children's grades. How had school been? Were their classmates easy to get along with? When it came to Lu Heng, they also had to ask how things were on the production set. Were the director and other stars easy to get along with?

Lu Mom held Lu Miao in the front passenger seat, smiling as she listened to her husband and children talk. She believed their lives would only get better and better.

But Lu Heng had his mind on Lu Dad's business.

"Dad, have you ever thought about moving the fleet to Beijing?"

The moment he said it, the whole car fell silent.

Lu Heng continued, "Big Brother, Miao Miao, and I are all studying in Beijing now. The schools have great facilities, and the dormitories and cafeterias are pretty good too. But living in dorms and eating cafeteria food all the time never feels like home. I miss Mom's cooking."

Lu Miao immediately added, "I miss Mom's potato chicken stew too. Even though Big Brother's cooking is delicious too."

Lu Chi said as well, "I think Xiao Heng makes a lot of sense. Dad, Mom, can you come to Beijing to do business next year? I miss you so much."

Lu Mom could not hold it in any longer. She pulled Lu Miao into her arms and kissed her, choking up as she said, "I'm sorry. Dad and Mom are sorry. We haven't taken good care of you."

Lu Dad's eyes turned a little red too. The usually quiet, honest man moved his lips, stayed silent for a long time, then said firmly, "Then we'll go to Beijing. The children are right. A family should be together. Otherwise, what are we making all that money for?"

"But what could we do in Beijing?" Lu Mom asked softly.

To this woman, who had never left J City, Beijing was simply too large. So large that it made her lose all sense of direction. The overly prosperous metropolis instinctively filled her with fear.

Lu Dad smiled. "Didn't Xiao Heng say it? We'll move the fleet to Beijing. When you think about it, it's nothing much. We've already taken our business all the way to the south, so why can't we take it to Beijing too? I'll have the brothers keep an eye out for work. After the New Year, we'll head to Beijing."