Chapter 789: Song Shisong: A Car Has Been Following Us

January 23, 2022, Rongcheng.

“After a year, I, Hu HanSan, have finally returned.”

Outside Tianfu Airport, Xu Qingzhou stepped out of the terminal pushing two suitcases, taking a deep breath.

Rare good weather: a deep blue sky drifted with wisps of white clouds, sunlight falling on his face, warming him completely.

Due to the basin terrain and warm, moist airflows from the Indian Ocean, Rongcheng spends most winter days overcast; whenever the sun appears on weekends, every wetland and park fills with people.

“Magic cloak.”

Song Yao was struck by Xu Qingzhou’s childishness; facing the sun, she raised her hand, letting light slip through her fingers onto her face.

A brown coat paired with a dark scarf gave her the aura of a leading female character from a Korean drama.

Pretty as she was, Xu Qingzhou couldn’t help saying, “Don’t you feel our styles are totally different? You look like a tourist at first glance, while I’m dragging all this luggage—anyone seeing us would think I’m fleeing a disaster.”

“Aren’t you full of energy? Perfect chance to burn it off.”

Song Yao felt no guilt; last night this guy had plenty of stamina—he kept arguing with her even after claiming he was tired.

“You seduced me first.”

Xu Qingzhou quietly reminded her.

“Shut up.”

Song Yao glared at Xu Qingzhou; she’d planned to tease him, then coldly reject him as punishment for his all-night lab work—but instead, she got caught red-handed.

After warning Xu Qingzhou, her gaze landed on the parked Volkswagen Passat in the distance.

Though she despised Xu Qingzhou, she still took one of his suitcases and pushed it toward the Passat.

“Perfect timing.”

Xu Qingzhou suspected that if Old Xu and Old Song hadn’t shown up just then, she’d have flown into a rage.

This was Old Xu’s new car, bought for just over 200,000 yuan.

Nowadays society is better, families are better, driving a good car is normal—but within the system, there’s invisible pressure, especially for those aiming upward; for deputy section-level officials, it doesn’t matter much, but once you reach department level, being low-key and steady may not bring advantages, but it certainly brings no harm—it avoids many unnecessary troubles.

Especially after Xu Qingzhou made such a splash, Xu Shou and Wang Xiaping, even Song Shisong and Zhang Junli, tried their best to stay low-key.

With lithium dendrite and shuttling effect problems solved, the EV market has exploded; cars with thousand-kilometer ranges are no longer novel—but Old Xu still preferred the feel of driving a gasoline car.

“Dad, Uncle Xu.”

Song Yao reverted to her quiet, demure little-girl persona.

Song Shisong told the two young people, “We got stuck in traffic a bit—did you two wait here long? Get in the car first, we’ll take your suitcases.”

“We just got out ourselves.”

Xu Qingzhou shook his head and went to open the trunk.

On the other side, Song Shisong took Song Yao’s suitcase and followed Xu Qingzhou to load the luggage.

In Xu Qingzhou’s trunk, he spotted two fish in a bucket: “Whoa—two Hualian? You two didn’t stop at the market on the way, did you?”

“Would bought fish be this lively?”

Xu Shouyun scowled.

“You’ve got a point—two of them? Impressive.”

Xu Qingzhou glanced at the fish; they were thin, probably from a wild pond—special fishing spots usually had their fish fattened up by anglers.

Old Xu and Old Song both raised an eyebrow, as if these two fish proved they weren’t just empty-headed bigwigs.

Xu Shouyun, helping stuff the luggage into the car, said, “When we get back, have your mom cook them up—this kid needs fish.”

“Dad, I was joking!” Xu Qingzhou quickly apologized.

The four of them got in the car, laughing and chatting, heading toward the house by Jinjiang.

Xu Shouyun asked, “You two came back so early—no problems at the institute or company?”

“No. If the place can’t run without us for a while, then let it collapse—it’s not worth wasting time on.”