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Li Ping wanted to make a quick trip of it and planned to leave the next day.

Knowing he was going home, Zhao Danshi got up early, picked a cartload of vegetables from the fields, then used small baskets to harvest all the strawberries that had ripened over the past two days. Each plump, bright-red berry was placed in the baskets, looking utterly delightful.

By the time Li Ping came looking for him, Zhao Danshi had nearly finished picking the vegetables. When Li Ping touched his slightly cold hand, he could not help shooting him a disapproving look.

Zhao Danshi pulled his hand back and said guiltily, "I'm not cold. Senior Brother, take these vegetables back for Uncle and Auntie to try."

Li Ping said nothing. He found a pair of work gloves in a small box on the cart and handed them to him, then took the vegetables and loaded them into the car one by one.

Zhao Danshi rubbed his stomach and obediently put on the gloves, watching from the side.

"Even if you wanted to send vegetables, you didn't have to come pick them so early. It's not like I'm rushing to catch a train." Li Ping loaded the vegetables onto the cart and pulled it forward, unable to stop himself from saying, "Don't get up so early next time. It'll be troublesome if you catch a chill."

"I know. There won't be a next time." Zhao Danshi walked ahead and turned back with a smile. "Actually, I really wasn't cold while working. Moving around made me feel better."

His stomach had grown even bigger. The old man was beginning to suspect something, and Zhao Danshi was afraid of scaring him, so he could only say that he wore more clothes in winter and had put on weight. Nothing else was wrong.

Keeping it hidden like this was not a solution. Zhao Danshi planned to go to W City soon.

Li Ping looked at his back and said, "I'll be back in a week at most. Stay home and take good care of yourself."

Zhao Danshi agreed. "Okay, Senior Brother. I'll wait for you to come back, then we'll go to W City together."

They returned home through the morning light. The old man had already prepared breakfast, and after they ate, Li Ping loaded his things into the car and prepared to leave for X City.

Zhao Danshi stuffed Li Ping's trunk full. When there was no more room, he even put a box of oranges on the back seat.

The chickens at home had been raised well. Over the past two months, they had eaten plenty of vegetables grown by them, and their feathers were glossy and reddish while their meat was tender and fragrant. Zhao Danshi had originally wanted to catch two for Li Ping to take home, but Li Ping firmly refused.

Zhao Danshi could only replace them with a box of cured sausages, cured pork, cured duck, and other preserved meats.

Before getting into the car, Li Ping rubbed his head. "I'll call you tonight. If anything happens, you have to tell me."

Zhao Danshi nodded and solemnly promised, "I won't keep anything from you."

Li Ping's car slowly disappeared down the little road. Zhao Danshi sat in the courtyard basking in the sun, still feeling a little dazed.

The old man moved another chair over and sat beside him. Seeing his expression, he shook his head. "Lost your soul already?"

Zhao Danshi smiled at him.

The old man asked, "Yun Yun, do you like Li Ping?"

Zhao Danshi hesitated, then nodded in admission. "I do, but Senior Brother's feelings for me aren't that deep. Whether it works out will depend on how things go."

The old man said reassuringly, "Spend more time together. Maybe it'll work out. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it."

Zhao Danshi said, "We'll see what fate brings. I'll do my best to make it happen."

Li Ping returned home that evening and specifically asked his older brother to come to the garage and help move things.

Li Sheng asked curiously over the phone, "What is it that you need me to help carry?"

"Good stuff." Li Ping said only that before taking the things out of the car and setting them on the ground.

Besides the freshly picked vegetables and preserved meats from Zhao Danshi, there were also local specialties Zhao Danshi had bought from the village, such as shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, and honey. Li Ping had not brought back live chickens, so Zhao Danshi had separated out fifty eggs from the ones at home, carefully cushioning them with newspaper for him to bring back.

Zhao Danshi had also specifically stuffed two jars of pickles into the car.

Over the past few days, Li Ping had eaten with him and noticed that he could never resist reaching for the bowl of pickles, completely violating their ten-day agreement. So he took a few extra bites and finished the pickles before Zhao Danshi could eat much of them.

Zhao Danshi thought he liked them, so he had specially made two more jars. There were no more pickled cucumbers, so he had replaced them with pickled radishes and sour scallion bulbs.

When Li Sheng arrived at the garage and saw Li Ping setting four or five boxes beside him, he could not help being startled. "You bought all this?"

"No. A friend gave it to me."

"Why did he give you so much? Don't tell me you robbed him?" Li Sheng crouched down and looked through the boxes. "Wow, this is really quite a spread. Does your friend run a farm in the countryside?"

Li Ping shook his head and chuckled. "What farm? He's just a small farmer."

Li Sheng bent down to lift a box, and his arm sank under the weight. "Good lord, this box has to weigh forty or fifty pounds."

Li Ping raised his brows, a trace of barely detectable pride in his expression. "Yeah. Freshly picked organic vegetables from the countryside this morning."

Seeing his expression, Li Sheng felt his teeth ache. He made two trips to help carry the boxes inside.

Auntie Qin, the housekeeper in the kitchen, saw so many boxes and circled around them as she inspected them. "Are these all vegetables?"

"Mm." Li Ping found a pair of scissors and opened the boxes. All sorts of leafy vegetables, radishes, garlic sprouts, tomatoes, winter bamboo shoots, cured sausages, and more were neatly stacked inside.

He carefully took out the vegetables, and the assorted local specialties soon covered the floor.

Auntie Qin could not help saying, "Oh, with so many vegetables, we won't need to buy any for half a month. These were picked fresh from the fields this morning, weren't they? They're so fresh."

"You can tell?"

"Of course. I farmed back in my hometown when I was young." Auntie Qin lovingly touched the vivid green vegetables, delighted by the sight. "These are organic vegetables, right?"

"More or less." Li Ping told her, "Auntie Qin, can you make dinner with these vegetables tonight?"

Auntie Qin readily agreed. "Sure, no problem. Oh, these shiitake mushrooms are wonderful, so fragrant. We happen to have an old hen at home. How about chicken soup tonight?"

Li Ping had no objections.

That evening, everyone came home for dinner unusually punctually. They had no choice but to be punctual. They had smelled the fragrance long ago and been tortured by it for over half an hour. Every stomach was growling, and everyone's appetite had been thoroughly whetted.

Li Sheng even said, "Why are today's dishes so fragrant? Did you cook the vegetables Li Ping's friend sent?"

"Mm. A Ping specifically asked me to make more for everyone to try." Auntie Qin brought out the dishes and said with a smile, "These should all be pure natural green vegetables from the countryside. You can't grow this flavor in city vegetables."

No one wasted words. They quickly sat down and started tasting the food.

The moment they tasted it, no one could remain calm.

No one knew why, but the vegetables Zhao Danshi had sent were especially fragrant. Shiitake mushrooms tasted like shiitake mushrooms, greens tasted like greens—pure and delicious. Li Ping's parents had only tasted such flavors when they were children.

Li Sheng's two children, Mumu and Yangyang, smelled the fragrance and clutched their bowls, using Spoon to shovel rice and dishes into their mouths until their cheeks bulged.

Usually, someone had to chase after the two little ones to feed them. It was rare to see them eat so obediently.

Li Sheng scraped their little cheeks and asked with a smile, "Is it good?"

"Good!"

"So yummy!"

The two children answered over each other, and the whole family laughed.

Li Sheng's wife, Liu Peisi, gave each of them a small helping of greens, then gave them each a spoonful of scrambled eggs with tomatoes at their request.

There were eight dishes and a soup on the table. The Li family made about the same number of dishes every day, and there were usually leftovers, but today every dish was finished. Li Sheng even poured the remaining sauce from the scrambled eggs with tomatoes into his bowl and mixed it with rice.

"These vegetables are wonderful. I haven't had vegetables this delicious in years."

The meal whetted everyone's appetite. Even Li Ping's mother, who was dieting, could not help drinking an extra bowl of soup. After dinner, everyone had to sit on the sofa holding their stomachs to digest.

The whole family was in a good mood, and Li Suilun was not quite so stern.

When Li Ping said he needed to take leave, Li Suilun merely snorted. "Take leave if you want, but don't neglect the company's affairs. You can handle official business remotely."

Li Ping had not expected his father to be so easy to talk to this time. He paused in surprise. "I'll see if I can manage both."

Li Suilun was dissatisfied. "What do you mean, see? Since you hold that position, you should give it everything you have and do your best!"

The smile on Li Ping's face faded slightly. Seeing that her husband and son were about to argue again, Chen Yuxue interjected, "A Ping, have you been staying at your friend's house lately?"

"Mm."

"Did you have fun? How are things progressing?"

"Just so-so." Li Ping sat on the sofa. "If there's any new progress, I'll tell you."

Chen Yuxue asked carefully, "What kind of person is he?"

"Very filial." Li Ping listed Zhao Danshi's virtues. "Hardworking, intelligent, decisive, optimistic. He's an excellent person."

Chen Yuxue and Li Suilun exchanged a look, their expressions rather complicated.

How many years had it been since they had heard their younger son speak appreciatively of someone his age?

Nothing had been settled yet, so Li Ping did not want to say more. Still, the entire family could see what he was thinking from how he had become even more of a workaholic.

Li Ping spent four days dealing with company affairs. Apart from his unshakable hour-plus phone call with Zhao Danshi every night from eight until after nine, he spent all day at the company, fully focused on meetings. His team had worked so much overtime over the past few days that they wanted to cry. Countless reports and documents went back and forth, and meeting after meeting was held.

Everyone had dark circles under their eyes and exhausted faces. Only Li Ping, thinking of Zhao Danshi and the unborn child, fought harder and harder, looking more energetic than ever.

On the fifth day, Li Ping packed up early in the morning and prepared to return to the countryside once more.

Li Sheng came out to see him off and patted his shoulder. "If you need any help, tell me. I'll put in a good word for you these days."

"Thanks." Li Ping smiled at his brother. If not for his brother helping cover for him lately, he could not have dealt with official business so smoothly.

"What are brothers for? The important thing is getting your lifelong matter settled as soon as possible."

"Mm."

"Drive carefully. Have a safe trip."

For the first time, Li Ping understood what it meant to be eager to return home. He arrived at Zhao Danshi's house a little after three in the afternoon.

Zhao Danshi was still taking a nap. Dahei barked twice, then stood up to welcome Li Ping.

The old man had gone out to chat with his old friends, and the house was quiet. Li Ping could not bear to wake Zhao Danshi, so he quietly turned on the computer and began working remotely.

Zhao Danshi had installed the internet cable and set up the computer when he returned, so it was quite convenient for Li Ping to use.

Zhao Danshi slept until after four in the afternoon. He groggily opened his eyes and immediately saw Li Ping sitting at the desk. He asked vaguely, "You're back?"

Li Ping's heart jolted. He stood and walked to the bed, sitting on its edge as he looked at Zhao Danshi with eyes full of gentleness. "Mm, I'm back."

Zhao Danshi yawned and got up, finding the sweater piled at the foot of the bed and putting it on. "Senior Brother, did you eat lunch? I saved some food for you in the cupboard. You just need to heat it up."

Li Ping had eaten two dry buns in the car and was not hungry yet. He said, "I ate."

Zhao Danshi's face was flushed from sleep. Before he put on layer after layer of sweaters, his stomach was even more obvious.

Following Li Ping's gaze, Zhao Danshi smiled at him and said, "Dou Dou, move a little. Say hello to your father."

Their gazes both fell on his stomach. Sure enough, it moved. A small patch low on his belly protruded—it was the child greeting them.

Li Ping reached out and touched the child. "Maybe don't play anymore. Does it hurt when the child moves your stomach?"

"It's okay. It's a little uncomfortable, but not painful." Zhao Danshi covered his stomach, lifted his head, and said to Li Ping, "Senior Brother, welcome back."

Li Ping met his gaze and saw warmth in his eyes.