Chapter 427: Returning Home

On the beach, Xu Qingzhou clutched his waist, looking at the girl in front, his gaze resentful: "Song Yao, I will never trust you again."

"Believe it or not."

Song Yao gave a "che" sound, her steps light. After dealing with Xu Qingzhou, she was in a very good mood.

"It hurts~"

Xu Qingzhou played the victim.

"I didn't even use any strength!" Song Yao glared.

Xu Qingzhou supported his waist and continued: "You didn't use strength? Don't you know how strong you are? My waist will be pinched broken by you sooner or later."

"Then what do you want?"

"Tonight... Hm? No, if it's not okay, it's not okay. Why are you clenching your fist..."

The sun fell from the horizon, night fell, and the temperature dropped sharply. The two didn't stand there like fools and decided to return. On the way home, Xu Qingzhou came to the passenger seat.

Arriving at a traffic light, the vehicle slowly stopped.

"Let's go play in Plymouth next time." With a car, Song Yao was already planning to drive around the surrounding areas.

Plymouth is a small town around Boston, one of the earliest colonies in American history, and also the landing site of the Mayflower.

"Sure, but it looks like it'll be after the New Year."

"After the New Year is fine, anyway, time is also..."

Song Yao's words got stuck, and she looked down at the claw placed on her thigh.

"Cough, I just wanted to experience this feeling..."

Xu Qingzhou hurriedly withdrew his hand, paused, and said sincerely: "If you feel you've been taken advantage of, you can touch back next time."

"..."

If she weren't driving, she would definitely pull this shameless guy over and beat him up.

Song Yao's two-day vacation ended, and she returned to her previous busyness, needing to submit various reports while also having to finish reading books like *Advanced Microeconomics III*, *Advanced Macroeconomics III*, and *Advanced Econometrics III*.

Xu Qingzhou, on the other hand, was buried in calculations, working on the proof of the existence of zeros between 14.1≤t≤14.2, currently dedicated to the correction of the z(t) formula, a tool for hunting zeros.

Adopting a simple linear approximation ot≈o{2cos【o(t)】}/{2cos【o(t)】}.

In the process of calculation.

t takes the minimum value in t≤25.

Of course, even if the above corrections were completed, it could only be considered a firepower reconnaissance for hunting zeros; it still needed to cast a net within this interval by calculating the sign of z(t).

After hunting the zeros, he planned to publish, expand, and perfect z(t), which meant gradually expanding this kind of net so that it could hunt all non-trivial zeros.

Obviously, this would be an extremely complex and massive project.

While busy with calculations, the two spent two weeks and, before stepping onto the plane back home, got their driver's licenses.

February 13th, Chengdu Tianfu Airport.

"Finally back."

Looking at the familiar scene, Xu Qingzhou let out a long breath. After sitting on a plane for more than ten hours, his whole body was numb.

"Mm... we're out..."

Song Yao was on the phone with Old Song, who had come to pick them up.

Xu Qingzhou pushed two suitcases behind Song Yao and soon saw the two middle-aged men in the crowd: "I see Uncle Song and my dad."

Song Yao hung up the phone.

Song Shisong saw the two young people from far away, wearing the same style of down jacket, one black and one white—oh, just the couple style that was very popular now.

They were all adults now.

Xu Shouyun said with a chuckle: "Ho, just right, they see us too."

"Dad, Uncle Xu."

"Dad, Uncle Song."

Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao greeted them respectively.

Song Shisong nodded, took the two suitcases from Xu Qingzhou's hands together with Xu Shouyun, and said: "Let's go, let's get out first; they don't allow parking here for too long."

Still the same as before, the two families would eat a meal together.

The four walked out, and Song Shisong and Xu Shouyun stuffed the suitcases into the back of the car.

Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao sat in the back row, thinking of the fishing gear they saw in the trunk just now: "Dad, Uncle Song, did you just come back from fishing?"

"Right, found a pretty good fishing spot." Xu Shouyun nodded, paused, and added: "The two families are eating together today; the fish caught were all given to Old Zhang."

Xu Qingzhou nodded, showing an expression of "I believe you."

The final stubbornness of an "Air Force" big shot.

Song Shisong thought of the small fish two fingers wide that they caught today, felt a bit awkward, coughed dryly, and changed the subject: "Didn't bring the cat?"

"It's too far; left it at the shop to be boarded for a while."

"Uncle Song looks more spirited than before."

"Retired to the second line. Now when I have time, I go fishing with your dad and the others. Heh heh, gained more than ten pounds in half a year." Song Shisong said while driving.

"It's good to retire, saves Mom and me from always worrying." Song Yao played with Xu Qingzhou's hand. His hand was a circle larger than hers, very warm, and a bit rougher compared to a girl's, but it felt very comfortable to touch.

Song Shisong took in the small movements of his daughter and Xu Qingzhou, and the resentment of his own cabbage being arched by a pig surged again.

He suppressed his resentment and said with a smile: "In the past, I was worried that young people couldn't handle things, but after retiring, I discovered that young people today understand much more than we do."

Xu Shouyun felt the same way and said: "Yeah, a few young people also came to our unit this year; they know everything."

The four talked and laughed. At 6:00 PM, the car drove into the hotel where they often ate.

Getting out of the car, Wang Xiaping and Zhang Junli pulled Song Yao over for a round of concern.

"You've been on the plane for so long, you must be tired."

"It must be that the food abroad didn't suit your taste; look, you've lost weight."

Xu Qingzhou stood to the side, thinking to himself that he was already used to it.

The atmosphere of the two families eating together was as good as ever, quite lively. It wasn't until 9:00 PM that Xu Qingzhou returned home with his parents.

Xu Qingzhou dragged his suitcase back to his bedroom.

There was no change in the bedroom. In the corner, there were still bags of rice, flour, and oil that his parents had brought back from their unit. Although the windows had been opened for ventilation, the air still carried a faint musty smell.

A layer of dust had fallen on the Changhong Sword, and the yellowing of the rolled-up page corners of the complete *Dragon Ball* collection was even more obvious.

Xu Qingzhou tidied up his things simply and went out to sit with his parents and watch TV.

"Stayed abroad for half a year, are you used to it?" Xu Shouyun asked after holding his teacup and taking a sip. Although he asked on his phone usually, seeing him in person, he definitely still needed to confirm it.

Xu Qingzhou peeled a banana, nodded, and said: "Used to it. Actually, everything abroad is about the same as in the country; you don't need to worry."

"How can it be the same? I see on the internet that abroad they just eat bread or steak or something; how can those things fill you up?"

Wang Xiaping rambled on.

"Diet is a minor issue; we cook often." Xu Qingzhou said indifferently.

Wang Xiaping: "If Xiao Yao wasn't with you, could you cook for yourself?"

"You don't seem to be wrong in saying that."

Back when he was abroad...

Xu Qingzhou felt a bit ashamed. It seemed he really hadn't cooked for himself many times. At the time, he was only concerned with studying and doing experiments; how could he have thought of finding time to cook?

(End of chapter)