72: Anxiety

"Ridiculous."

Li Ningqiang was a bit angry when he saw Li Chuxia ignoring him.

He then turned to An Sihua and said apologetically, "Xiao An, this girl has been rebellious since she was a child. I'm sorry you had to see this."

When Li Chuxia returned, An Sihua's gaze was completely captured by her, as if he could never see enough of her.

He smiled faintly and said, "Uncle, you can't blame Chuxia. My younger sister is the same way at home."

"That's not true, Brother Sihua. I would never be like that. Li Chuxia has lacked upbringing since she was a child," Li Weixiao said disdainfully from where she sat... Li Weixiao was Li Chuxia's younger half-sister. Li Chuxia's mother had passed away when she was five years old.

The name Chuxia was given to her by her mother.

She hoped her life would be as full of life and vitality as early summer.

In the second year after her mother's death, Li Chuxia's father, Li Ningqiang, brought two people home.

They were Li Weixiao's mother, Fang Rong, and Li Weixiao, who was only three years old at the time.

From that moment on, little Chuxia knew that her mother would never come back.

When Li Chuxia was eight, Li Ningqiang prepared to move the whole family to the Shanghai for business reasons.

At the age of ten, she suffered from a serious mental illness. When her grandparents found out, they brought her back to Maple City for counseling and treatment for quite a while before she recovered.

Since then, she had stayed in Maple City for school, living with her grandparents.

Except for during the New Year, when they would have a meal together at her grandparents' house, she barely saw Li Ningqiang's family.

They almost never met at any other time... The first time An Sihua saw Li Chuxia was the year Li Weixiao turned eighteen.

Li Ningqiang held an eighteenth birthday coming-of-age ceremony for her.

At that time, Li Ningqiang's company was doing very well, and his business friends were all willing to come and show their support.

An Sihua came to attend with his father.

Grandpa Li and Grandma Li also attended that coming-of-age ceremony.

Li Chuxia hadn't planned to attend, but Grandma Li insisted on taking her to show her face.

She was afraid people would forget that the Li family still had her, the eldest young lady.

That night, Grandma Li dressed Li Chuxia up beautifully.

The moment she stood on the stage, everything around her instantly paled in comparison.

Li Weixiao, the protagonist of the night, stood beside her and was instantly overshadowed to the point of being insignificant.

After that night, everyone knew that the Li family had an eldest young lady with stunningly beautiful looks.

An Sihua fell deeply in love with Li Chuxia from the very first moment he saw her.

Of course, this was just his wishful thinking.

After An Sihua returned home, the first thing he did was ask his father to look for information about Li Chuxia.

Upon learning that Li Chuxia was going to study abroad at Yale University, he resolutely followed her there... Li Ningqiang's main purpose for returning to Maple City this time was to play matchmaker for An Sihua and his daughter, Li Chuxia.

In recent years, the economic situation had been getting worse, and his company's main business was related to traditional industries.

With technology changing every day, the company was gradually failing to keep up with the times.

The result of not keeping up was being ruthlessly abandoned by the era.

Because of this, he urgently needed to transform.

An Sihua's family company had already begun positioning itself in new fields such as Big Health and New Energy a few years ago.

After learning that An Sihua liked his daughter Chuxia, Li Ningqiang's mind began to work.

Cooperating with the An Family would be just the thing to solve his urgent problem... At the open-air banquet in Xiulin Village.

Huang Da had arranged three tables specifically for his former classmates from the village.

"Come on, classmates, let's all have a drink together."

Huang Da, along with his bride and both sets of parents, came over to toast.

"Congratulations, congratulations~"

"Thank you all so much for coming to support us. Please, eat and drink your fill!!"

"Here, have some candy!" Huang Da's wife, Zhang Yu, held out a shallow red basin to everyone.

The red basin was filled with cigarettes, peanuts, red dates, and various kinds of candies.

"May you have a baby soon!"

..."May you have a big, healthy boy soon!"

From the moment they graduated from primary school and left the classroom.

Their class had never gathered so completely... "Chen Su, are you still developing your career in Maple City?" said a girl sitting at the same table as Chen Su.

The girl's name was Xie Li. In high school, she had tested into the county's No. 1 Middle School just like Chen Su. Both were admitted through early recruitment and were assigned to the same class.

She had also gotten into a key 211 University in the country, making her one of the few people from the village's current generation to get into a top university.

"Yeah, I've been in Maple City ever since I graduated from university."

..."We also moved to Maple City for work at the beginning of this month. Jinhua also switched jobs to a good company called Tiansheng Group. Since we'll all be in Maple City from now on, let's keep in touch when we're free," Xie Li said.

Jinhua was Xie Li's boyfriend. He was also in the same class as Chen Su in high school. His surname was Dai, and his home was in the county town.

The two officially became a couple after the college entrance examination ended.

Chen Su smiled and said, "Definitely, let's hang out when we're free. Did Jinhua not come with you?"

Many of the classmates in this group had brought their partners.

"He has something to do today and couldn't make it."

Zhang Kai, sitting nearby, teased, "Xie Li, the environment in the big city really suits you. You've become even more radiant after staying there."

"Yeah, you've become prettier." Several classmates around them joined in the teasing.

Xie Li was very beautiful and was considered one of the best-looking among the village classmates of her year.

"Hate you guys." Xie Li rolled her eyes at them... Chen Su seemed out of sorts tonight, clicking on his phone from time to time to check the time.

On the thirty-fifth time he clicked on his phone.

A message popped up on his phone.

"Let me see what delicious things you're eating tonight."

The message was from Li Chuxia... When Chen Su saw the message, the anxiety in his heart seemed to vanish instantly.

He took a photo of the dishes on the table with his phone.

"Banquet.jpg."

"What are those long, small, strip-like things? They look delicious."

Li Chuxia circled a dish of strip-shaped food in the photo.

The other dishes were common ones that she had eaten before.

This was the only one she hadn't seen.

"Bracken. It was picked from the mountains. It's unique to our rural mountain areas; they don't sell it in Maple City."

"Then could you bring some back when you return? (Acting cute)"

"Sure. I'll stir-fry it for you when I get back to Maple City. I guarantee you'll be able to eat three big bowls of rice with it."

"It's a deal."

..."So, what did you eat tonight?"

Chen Su edited these few words several times and deleted them several times.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he sent the message.

He had originally wanted to ask Li Chuxia directly what she was doing tonight.

But he was afraid of hearing the outcome he feared.

So, Chen Su compromised and asked Li Chuxia what she was eating tonight.

Because he cared, he was cautious.

Li Chuxia quickly sent a photo.

"Instant noodles + marinated egg.jpg."

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