Chapter 313: My Water Is Your Water

The bus rumbled to life with the engine's hum, slowly pulling onto the main road, passing through Ningshan Avenue in the northern part of Yinjiang District, then swiftly entering the highway bound for Yuquan County.

Inside the bus, Li Luo stood at the very front with a microphone, opened the tour guide's cushion, and leaned his lower back against it to avoid stumbling from the bus's bumps.

"This trip to the farmstay is scheduled for three days and two nights."

"From today, the 17th, we'll arrive around 9:30 a. m. and regroup to return at 4 p. m. on the 19th."

"On the 17th—today—after we arrive at the farmstay, we'll first go to the lodging area to assign rooms."

"Then the farmstay owner will take us on a tour around the grounds."

"The place is huge, so during the tour, everyone must pay close attention and remember which areas are open to guests and which are off-limits."

"During these three days, except for organized group activities like hiking or fruit-picking, you are strictly forbidden to leave the farmstay grounds."

"Everyone has brought phones, and I have the contact numbers for each of you and your parents. For these three days, everyone must keep their phones on ring mode—no vibration or silent mode—and keep them powered on at all times so I can reach you anytime."

"After we tour and confirm the farmstay's activity zones in the morning, we'll have lunch."

"In the afternoon is free time—you can choose any activity you're interested in based on what you saw during the tour."

"At 6 p. m., we'll regroup at the prearranged spot to have dinner together."

"For safety, evenings are group time—we'll gather in one place to chat and play small games you like, like Zhen Yufei bringing Three Kingdoms Kill? Everyone can play then."

"Around 10 p. m., everyone returns to their rooms to sleep."

"The second day, wake up at exactly 7 a. m., wash up, eat breakfast, then at 8 a. m. we'll have a group hike."

"The afternoon remains free time—choose whatever you want to do."

"The evening features a bonfire party, with barbecues and other food."

"We'll sleep at 10 p. m. On the third morning, we'll go fruit-picking in the orchard—the fruit you pick you can take home, but it's charged separately; whether you take any is up to you, and prices should be slightly cheaper than in fruit stores."

"After lunch on the 19th, free time until 3 p. m., then return to your rooms to pack, gather at the bus by the farmstay entrance, and head home at exactly 4 p. m."

After explaining the full schedule, Li Luo gave them no time to react and immediately called out: "Lin Yuan!"

"Here!" Lin Yuan, still thinking about what to do during free time, was startled by his name being called and jumped to his feet reflexively.

"We're not in military training—roll call's already done. What's with 'here'?" Li Luo chuckled.

Everyone laughed. Lin Yuan's face flushed slightly as he muttered, "You scared me."

"Come on, let me test you," Li Luo said. "Which of the rules I just mentioned is most important to you?"

"Uh…" Lin Yuan froze, thinking, Can't you ask something simple? Why start with such an abstract question? He answered instinctively: "Free time is really important to me."

"Wrong," Li Luo said coldly. "Take out your phone."

"Huh?" Lin Yuan blinked again, then pulled out his phone. Li Luo walked over, took out his own phone, and dialed a number.

Soon, Lin Yuan's phone screen lit up—but it didn't vibrate. The incoming call remained on silent.

After all, he was in the phase of outsmarting his parents—everyone kept their phones on silent to avoid getting caught playing.

"This," Li Luo pointed at his phone, sternly said, "is what's most important to you. Not just Lin Yuan—all of you—take out your phones now and switch from silent or vibration to ring mode."

Immediately, everyone pulled out their phones and adjusted the settings.

Li Luo nodded in confirmation, then returned to the front tour guide seat and smiled at the parents in the front rows: "Uncles, aunts, and teachers—you too, set your phones to ring mode. Even though you're adults and won't get lost, we still need to be prepared for anything."

Kong Junxiang glanced at the parents; most hadn't taken out their phones, likely already on ring mode, so he smiled and said, "You think we're like you kids?"

"You sneak around with your phones, always switching to silent so no one notices."

"We always keep ours on ring mode."

"I was just saying," Li Luo chuckled, then turned to Ding Xiang. "Ding teacher, Kong teacher's bullying me—I'll test you now."

"Hey hey hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kong Junxiang glared at him. "What do you mean I'm bullying you? Why test Ding teacher and not me?"

The students behind them snickered.

Li Luo said matter-of-factly: "Husband and wife are one—no difference."

"Go ahead," Ding Xiang smiled.

"Question: Suppose this afternoon you see Zhen Yufei and Zhang Guohuang fighting—what should you do?"

"That's beyond the scope," Ding Xiang laughed. "You didn't mention this earlier."

"During exams, you never let us practice the questions in advance," Li Luo said innocently.

Ding Xiang shook her head, smiled, then thought and said: "I'd definitely step in to stop them."

"Good," Li Luo said, "but better to call me or my dad. Ding teacher, you're female—if Zhen Yufei and Zhang Guohuang are angry, you going alone might get hurt."

"Pick someone else as an example," Zhen Yufei grumbled from the back. "I'd never fight this guy."

"Why not?" Zhang Guohuang raised his hand. "This guy bullies me daily in the dorm—Teacher Kong, uhhh—look! It's exactly this—uhh!"

Mid-sentence, Zhen Yufei angrily clamped his hand over Zhang Guohuang's mouth and shoved him back into his seat.

"See? Right there—they're already fighting."

Li Luo grinned, then suddenly turned to Lin Xiuhong: "Lin Xiuhong, I have a question for you too."

"You're asking me?" Lin Xiuhong raised an eyebrow, glanced at her son, and gave him face. "Go ahead."

"During free time this afternoon, what's your responsibility?"

The question left Lin Xiuhong stunned: "What responsibility? Just have fun."

"Comrade Lin Xiuhong, your ideological awareness needs improvement," Li Luo commented critically.

"You little brat," Lin Xiuhong stood up and swung a hand at him. "Looking for a beating?"

"Hey hey hey, everyone's watching—this is your parenting?" Li Luo dodged to the back, grinning. "Even though it's free time, your job, along with your husband's, is to make sure the uncles and aunts have fun."

"Sure, the uncles and aunts came to accompany their kids, but we're classmates—this class trip is mainly about having fun with your peers."

"The uncles and aunts are here to relax. Your kids are under my watch—just enjoy yourselves."

Hearing this, the parents understood Li Luo's meaning and laughed—they didn't mind him saying it.

After asking a few questions, Li Luo walked to his seat and asked Yan Zhusheng to hand him the guitar.

Then he walked to the empty seats in the fourth and fifth rows and said to the three who had failed to answer correctly: "Please, the three of you—unfortunately, you didn't pass the test. There will be a penalty."

"What kind of penalty do you want?" Lin Xiuhong asked.

"How about Mom sings a song?" Li Luo asked with a grin.

"No no no, I can't sing well," Lin Xiuhong waved her hands frantically—there were so many people here; if she sang off-key, how embarrassing.

"Come on, what's there to be afraid of?" Li Luo handed the microphone to Lin Xiuhong, then lightly strummed his guitar, and the familiar melody began, "Come on, sing along with me—I remember you always loved this song."

He softly hummed: "Slowly looking back~ nights we once shared~ red still is the radiant sun you gave me~"

This was the Cantonese song "A Thousand Broken Songs."

In Lin Xiuhong's era, Mandarin songs weren't as popular as now; everyone mostly listened to Cantonese songs that had spread to the mainland.

Hearing this familiar melody and lyrics, not only Lin Xiuhong, but also the other parents sitting nearby, stirred with anticipation, their lips moving along.

Under her son's influence, Lin Xiuhong picked up the microphone and gradually hummed: "Even if tomorrow a thousand songs drift along my distant path~ even if tomorrow a thousand evening stars outshine tonight's moon~"

After finishing the song, Lin Xiuhong was thoroughly delighted.

After Li Luo ended the guitar accompaniment, he immediately pointed at the students in the back and shouted: "Is my mom's singing bad? Where's the applause?"

Zhu Yufei was the first to cheer, standing up and clapping loudly.

Others followed, clapping as well; Xu Yinghuan, having grown close to Lin Xiuhong, stood up and called out: "Auntie, sing another! I love it!"

Yan Zhusheng heard this and shot a suspicious glance at Xu Yinghuan across the aisle, frowning slightly, then yanked her back down from her seat.

"What… why are you doing this, Zhusheng?" Xu Yinghuan plopped back into her chair, startled, and turned to ask Yan Zhusheng.

"Auntie singing one song is already tiring. Don't ask her to sing more," Yan Zhusheng said firmly.

Xu Yinghuan: "... You're hopeless."

"Don't rush, there are still two left." Li Luo took the microphone from Lin Xiuhong and handed it to Ding Xiang. "Miss Ding, how about you sing one too? Tell me what you want to sing—I'll accompany you."

"Can we sing 'Little Dimples'?" Ding Xiang smiled sweetly at Kong Jun, winked at him, and placed the microphone between them.

Li Luo raised an eyebrow and laughed: "Looks like buy one, get one free—of course."

He then began accompanying Ding Xiang and Kong Jun.

With no choice, Kong Jun joined Ding Xiang in singing "Little Dimples"; the students in the back cheered and hooted, the back of the bus turning into a monkey mountain, a troop of monkeys and apes in uproar.

After the two "victims" finished singing, Li Luo handed the guitar to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan joyfully took the guitar, glanced at Hua Xiuxiu sitting behind him, cleared his throat, and began playing and singing.

He was singing Li Luo's own song, "Waiting for You After Class."

Hearing this song, many students' expressions turned strange, and they all turned to look at Li Luo.

But Li Luo was completely unaware; after Lin Yuan finished, noticing nearly half an hour had passed, he took the microphone and said: "We'll arrive at the farmstay in half an hour. Rest a bit, conserve your energy—let loose once we get there."

He put the microphone back and returned to his seat, exhaling deeply.

Honestly, managing a crowd like this was no longer difficult for him now.

In his youth, he'd probably have stumbled over his words on stage.

But after all he'd been through in his past life, things like this—livening up the atmosphere before a crowd—were trivial.

Still, he'd been kept up until 2 a. m. last night by Xu Youyu, then accompanied Ying Chanxi on a morning run, and just now had been standing at the front of the bus speaking nonstop.

Even though the driver drove smoothly, being on a moving bus meant that after speaking for over half an hour, Li Luo's head was starting to spin.

Back in his seat, he covered his forehead and closed his eyes.

"Li Luo."

Just as he was about to rest, he heard Yan Zhusheng's voice. He opened his eyes and turned to her; she effortlessly unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to him: "Drink up, hydrate your throat."

"Thanks." Li Luo's throat was dry; he reached out to take it, then suddenly asked suspiciously, "Didn't you drink this already?"

"No," Yan Zhusheng shook her head. "Just opened it."

Li Luo nodded, unsure whether he felt relieved or disappointed, took the bottle, and drank two sips to moisten his throat.

Watching him finish, Yan Zhusheng kindly took the bottle back and screwed the cap on.

Seeing Li Luo about to close his eyes again, Yan Zhusheng patted his shoulder, then reached out, hooked her arm around his head, and guided it toward her shoulder: "Don't lean on the window—it's too hard. Sleep like this."

Li Luo let her turn his head, resting it against her soft shoulder.

Yan Zhusheng was naturally tall, and with her spine straightened, Li Luo didn't need to tilt far; his body slid down slightly, easily settling against her rounded shoulder.

Still, Li Luo felt a little embarrassed and whispered: "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate?" Yan Zhusheng asked, puzzled. "Don't worry—no one else can see."

"Isn't Xu Yinghuan a person?"

"She's not an outsider," Yan Zhusheng patted Li Luo's head. "Go to sleep."

Since Yan Zhusheng said so, Li Luo stopped being polite, leaned against her shoulder, inhaled her faint fragrance, and fell into a peaceful sleep as the bus gently rocked.

After hearing Li Luo's soft snoring, Yan Zhusheng quietly retrieved the bottle he'd just drunk from.

She glanced left and right, checked on Li Luo, confirmed he was asleep, then quietly unscrewed the cap and sipped slowly.

As she drank, she smiled contentedly, eyes half-closed, like a kitten stealing sips from its master's cup.

After drinking her fill, Yan Zhusheng couldn't sleep. When Xu Yinghuan tried to chat with her, she immediately raised a finger to her lips, then pointed at the sleeping Li Luo, signaling Xu Yinghuan to stay quiet.

Xu Yinghuan, overwhelmed by the sugar rush, let out a "tsk," but couldn't help stealing more glances, indulging in the romance.

Yan Zhusheng then pulled out her phone and, while Li Luo slept, secretly took a selfie of the two of them.

Li Luo slept against her shoulder, his calm face serene, his slumber revealing a touch of innocence that softened the sharpness of his features.

So handsome.

Yan Zhusheng pressed her lips together, then quietly took photos from multiple angles, capturing every view of Li Luo sleeping against her shoulder.

Then, after spending over ten minutes struggling to choose, she picked one photo and set it as her phone's wallpaper.

Like a kitten caught doing something wrong, she immediately turned off her phone, terrified someone might spot her little secret.

……

Around 9:20, the bus pulled up smoothly in front of the agritourism center.

Called an agritourism center, but it wasn't much like traditional rural households.

It was specially built by Li Guoru's friend, nestled at the foot of a mountain as an agritourism entertainment center.

Primarily used by that friend to host business clients, while also accepting group gatherings organized by companies.

Because it had only been completed for a little over half a year, aside from occasional clients and guests referred by friends, there wasn't much business here.

So Li Guoru happened to come by and reserved the entire three days.

Out of respect for Li Guoru's face, the price was quite reasonable—even if each student in Class Eight paid only 200 yuan, Li Luo didn't need to subsidize much.

When the bus stopped at the parking lot in front of the agritourism center, everyone stood up and got off under Kong Junxiang's call.

But Li Luo was probably so tired that even this commotion didn't wake him.

So Yan Zhusheng sat calmly, letting the other classmates disembark first, hoping to let Li Luo sleep just a little longer.

As a result, any classmate walking past the back rows couldn't help but glance at Yan Zhusheng and Li Luo.

Seeing the class monitor sleeping against Yan Zhusheng's shoulder while his parents sat up front, everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of respect.

Getting away with flirting so brazenly under his parents' noses—no wonder he's the class monitor!

Only after all the back-row classmates had disembarked did Yan Zhusheng gently shake Li Luo awake, saying as he was still half-asleep: "Li Luo, we've arrived. Time to get off."

"Mmm… hmm…" Li Luo lifted his head from Yan Zhusheng's shoulder, rubbed his temples, stood up dazedly, glanced around, and froze, "Where is everyone?"

"They're all waiting downstairs," Yan Zhusheng pointed out the window.

Li Luo pulled back the curtain and saw everyone already waiting outside, arranged by Kong Junxiang.

Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang, the two class athletes, stood directly beneath Li Luo's window, waved cheerfully when they saw the curtain move, and gave him a thumbs-up.

Seeing this, Li Luo's face darkened: "Didn't you promise to wake me up when we arrived?"

"I did," Yan Zhusheng nodded. "I already woke you up."

"But everyone got off. Didn't they see me sleeping on your shoulder?"

"They did," Yan Zhusheng nodded happily. "I saw you were sleeping soundly, so I let you sleep a bit longer."

"So I should thank you, then?"

"You're welcome."

Li Luo rolled his eyes and hurried Yan Zhusheng to stand up; the two quickly got off and arrived at the agritourism center's entrance.

Under the leadership of Zhu Yufei and Yan Zhusheng, the two class sports committee members, the boys and girls formed two lines and followed behind in formation.

Li Luo walked at the very front, walking side by side with the parents and teachers.

Li Guoru had already walked cheerfully toward the agritourism center's main gate, embraced and chatted with his old friend, then called out for Li Luo and the others to follow.

The group followed the owner at the front, passed through three small fish ponds, and arrived at the accommodation area deep within the agritourism center.

The six-story building looked hardly different from a small hotel.

Ten rooms per floor—more than enough to accommodate all of them.

Before arriving at the agritourism center, the boys and girls had already paired up with their friends, so there was no dispute during room assignments.

This time, excluding Li Luo, the remaining thirty people consisted of fourteen boys and sixteen girls—perfectly paired off.

The boys stayed in eight rooms on the first floor.

The girls stayed in eight rooms on the second floor.

The parents stayed on the third floor.

Of course, many rooms remained empty—even if everyone wanted a room to themselves, it would be fine.

But that would cost extra.

As class monitor, Li Luo unhesitatingly chose to have his own room.

Yan Zhusheng was somewhat tempted, but Li Luo forcibly paired him with Xu Yinghuan, sending them both to sleep on the second floor.

After everyone settled into their rooms and put away their luggage, the time neared ten in the morning.

At the owner's instruction, several waiters led everyone on a tour of the agritourism center to familiarize themselves with the surroundings.

Around eleven, at lunchtime, they went to the central restaurant for lunch.

"How come your water's so much less?"

Before the food arrived, Li Luo sat by the round table, glanced at the mineral water bottle Yan Zhusheng pulled from his bag, and asked suspiciously.

"I got thirsty on the way, so I drank a few sips," Yan Zhusheng blinked innocently, holding the bottle out to Li Luo. "Want some?"

Li Luo: "... You keep it."

"I don't mind sharing."

"I think it's unnecessary."

"Li Luo, are you rejecting me?"

"No."

"Then drink the rest," Yan Zhusheng said. "I've already had my fill."