Chapter 34 Return

  When he heard Zhao Yuqin's words and saw her face as beautiful as a peach blossom, Zhou Hao's heart couldn't help but beat rapidly. In fact, compared to Si Tu Jianying and Li Ruolan, Zhao Yuqin was more mature and plump, and her attraction to Zhou Hao was also greater.

  Looking at Zhou Hao's dazed expression, Zhao Yuke suddenly burst out laughing, "Gotcha, silly! Sister isn't that kind of casual woman."

  At this moment, Zhou Hao felt a deep sense of disappointment, but he thought to himself that his relationship with Li Ruolan was already unclear, and if something were to happen with Zhao Yuzhen as well, it would be really unbearable. Despite this, due to the surge of hot blood from earlier, Little Zhou had already reacted, and in Zhou Hao's crotch, a noticeable tent had been pitched.

  Zhao Yaqin also saw the unyielding tent, her face was extremely hot. She lightly kissed Zhou Hao's mouth and whispered: "Xiao Hao, come back tomorrow." Then she blushed and turned around to escape, leaving Zhou Hao with a lingering fragrance that couldn't be waved away.

  The sound of the door closing brought Zhou Hao back to his senses, and the air was still filled with Zhao Yuqin's fragrance. In Zhou Hao's mind, he was still echoing Zhao Yuqin's words "come day by day", pondering the meaning behind her words.

  Before his eyes appeared Zhao Yuqin's plump and mature figure, Zhou Hao felt his blood boiling again. Helpless, he went to take a cold shower and sat back on the bed to practice "Nourishing Qi Record" internal skill to calm himself down, until late at night before falling asleep.

  The next morning, Zhao Yuqin, dressed neatly, knocked on Zhou Hao's door. At this time, she had already recovered her spirits and there was no longer any fatigue or exhaustion on her face, apparently because Zhou Hao's safe return had put her mind at ease. However, when she saw Zhou Hao wearing only a pair of tight-fitting shorts, his robust physique was fully exposed, and with Zhou Hao's increasingly handsome face, Zhao Yuqin couldn't help but blush slightly, thinking to herself: "This little scamp, how could he still look like a 14-year-old? If someone said he was in his twenties, people would probably believe it."

  Zhou Hao also felt a bit awkward under Zhao Yuqin's gaze. "Sister Zhao, you go down first, I'll come over after I put on my clothes."

  But then Zhao Yuqin picked up Zhou Hao's shirt and said matter-of-factly, "What's the big deal? Let me help you." She then tenderly helped Zhou Hao put it on, looking just like a gentle wife. "Sister has never served a man like this before."

  "I'm deeply honored, little brother," Zhou Hao said jokingly.

  Zhao Yuqin pinched his nose, "Sarcastic mouth."

  After washing up, Zhou Hao and Zhao Yuqin came to the front of the hotel, where they saw two military trucks and two military jeeps parked. The soldiers from the fifth company had already boarded the vehicles. Zhou Hao looked around but didn't see Li Ruolan's figure, so he asked: "Where is Teacher Li? Hasn't she gotten up yet?"

  Hao Shibin said: "Just now a few officers wanted to go back to the city first to make a report, and Teacher Li followed them back."

  Zhou Hao was stunned, "Why didn't she tell me?"

  "Maybe he didn't want to disturb you." Hao Shibin replied.

  The image of Li Ruolan's gentle and weak figure emerged in his mind, Zhou Hao secretly sighed, it seemed that she was intentionally avoiding him.

  After that, he got on the jeep in front with Zhao Yuqin. Zhou Hao's face was very calm, and Zhao Yuqin couldn't guess that he was worried about Li Ruolan's affairs. She took out a few meat buns and handed them to him, "Little Hao, I had the hotel make these. Their meat buns taste great, try one."

  "Thank you, Aunt Zhao." Zhou Hao took the freshly steamed hot meat bun. The flavor of the meat bun was indeed very good, but Zhou Hao couldn't taste anything due to his preoccupation with Li Ruolan.

  Looking out the window, outside are the continuously retreating mountains. Thinking about all that has happened in the cave these past few days, thinking of Gong Sun Da Fu, thinking of Li Ruo Lan, Zhou Hao's heart is filled with emotion. At the same time, thinking that he can soon return home and see Yan Tong and Wang Xi Jun, Zhou Hao also feels very excited.

  "Xiao Hao, the over 40 million yuan you won has been deposited into Auntie's bank account under her name." Zhao Yuqin asked Zhou Hao, "What do you plan to do with this money?" She knew that although Zhou Hao was young, he had a strong sense of determination and once he made up his mind about something, no one else could change it.

  "I plan to use it to buy land." Zhou Hao also didn't hide from Zhao Yuqin.

  "Buy land?" Zhao Yuqin pondered for a moment, "Now many cities in the country are developing rapidly, and their scope is constantly expanding. Many originally rural wastelands have been developed. Xiaohao, are you buying land to wait for its development later, then sell it to the government and profit from the price difference?"

  As for Zhao Yuqin's cleverness, Zhou Hao was no longer surprised and had already anticipated that she would guess his purpose when he told her. He nodded, "That's right, I think the development of Xiangcheng is getting faster and faster, so I want to buy a piece of land in the suburbs and wait for the price to rise."

  Zhao Yaqin patted Zhou Hao's head, "Your idea is pretty good, but as far as I know, the Xiangcheng City government plans to focus on urban construction in the next few years and won't expand outward for a while. You're putting your money there, it's likely to take a long time to get a return. Moreover, you don't even know if the government will develop that land."

  Zhou Hao naturally couldn't tell Zhao Yuqin that he could predict the development of Xiangcheng, and those Japanese who wanted to establish a production base would come to Xiangcheng for inspection after a while. Even the municipal government was still unaware of this. So Zhou Hao just smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if the government doesn't develop it. I can be a landlord myself, anyway, as development progresses, land will become more valuable, so I'll just consider it a long-term investment."

  "That's also correct." Zhao Yuqin nodded and then jokingly said, "But if you want to be a landlord, aren't you afraid of being overthrown?"

  It's been nearly twenty years since the reform and opening up, so naturally there won't be such problems. Zhou Hao wrapped his arm around Zhao Yuqin's hand and smiled: "With Sister Zhao protecting me, I'm not afraid of anything." With Zhao Yuqin's identity and background, if she were to protect Zhou Hao, indeed not many people would dare to do anything to him.

  "You little devil." Zhao Yuqin smiled, but she was quite enjoying Zhou Hao's closeness to her.

  They soon returned to the city of Xiangcheng, and the two large trucks carrying the soldiers of the Fifth Regiment headed towards the military camp, while the jeep carrying Zhou Hao and Zhao Yuqin arrived at the gate of Yuning Middle School. This was because after learning that Zhou Hao had returned, Gao Houlü, Situ Li and people from Xiangcheng TV Station were all waiting for him in front of the school gate.

  The earthquake that caused the landslide in Qiuning Mountain was a big sensation not only in the city but also in the province, because it is not located in an earthquake-prone area and the probability of an earthquake occurring there is extremely low. The provincial government even sent a team of seismic experts to investigate the cause of the earthquake in Qiuning Mountain, but after investigation and research, no specific reason could be found for the earthquake in Qiuning Mountain, and it was finally attributed to crustal movement.

  Fortunately for the provincial government, except for Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan, no one from Yu Ning Middle School died in the earthquake while hiking in Autumn Ning Mountain. Now that both Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan have returned safely, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief. When Xiangcheng TV Station found out that the missing person in Autumn Ning Mountain was Zhou Hao, who had recently gained fame for his bravery in fighting against drug dealers, they rushed over to interview him.

  As soon as he got out of the car, Zhou Hao saw Yan Tong and Wang Xijun waiting there. Like Zhao Yuqin, Yan Tong and Wang Xijun were both worn out, especially Yan Tong, who had originally been exhausted from living a hard life, and this time, due to Zhou Hao's accident, his white hair had increased, and the wrinkles on his face had deepened.

  "Xiao Hao... Xiao Hao..." Yan Tong rushed towards Zhou Hao with tears streaming down her face, while Zhou Hao took a step forward and hugged Yan Tong tightly. Hot tears also welled up in his eyes, "Mom, I'm back. Sorry, I made you worry."

  Those reporters immediately took pictures of Zhou Hao and his mother embracing each other in tears, while the people around them also showed smiles.

  Zhou Hao also saw Wang Xijun in the crowd, seeing her also tearfully looking at him. Although she was as concerned about Zhou Hao as Yan Tong, in public, she was not willing to hug Zhou Hao like Yan Tong did. Moreover, there was a hint of confusion in her expression, apparently feeling strange about the changes in her body and appearance.

  Zhou Hao sighed inwardly, it seemed he had no choice but to explain things to Wang Xijun.

  Yan Tong stroked Zhou Hao's face, "Little Hao, how did you grow so tall?" As the saying goes, a mother and son are connected at heart. She had recognized Zhou Hao at first glance earlier, but it wasn't until after they hugged for a while that she realized her son had changed.

  Gao Houlu and Situ Li, as well as Principal Jian of Yu Ning Middle School, also walked over at this time, all saying to Zhou Hao: "Little Zhou, how did you grow so much in less than a month?"

  The TV station had also interviewed Zhou Hao before and now they too discovered the change in him, so they all came forward to ask questions.

  Zhou Hao naturally couldn't tell them about the Longwan fruit, so he could only reply: "I don't know what's going on either, in short, after I escaped from the cave I was trapped in, I became like this."

  People were guessing whether there was something in the cave that caused Zhou Hao's change, but Li Ruolan, who returned earlier, had only lost some weight and didn't seem any different. However, Zhou Hao told them that the exit of the cave collapsed after he and Li Ruolan came out, dispelling everyone's idea of going to the cave for research.

  Some people even speculated that the original Zhou Hao might have died in the earthquake, and the one in front of them was someone who looked similar to Zhou Hao but intentionally came to impersonate him, with ulterior motives. But as soon as he spoke, he was fiercely glared at by others. Yan Tong was Zhou Hao's biological mother, what reason did she have to mistake her own son? Moreover, Li Ruolan, who had encountered the disaster together with Zhou Hao, could also confirm that this was indeed the real Zhou Hao.

  In short, the commotion about this earthquake finally subsided after a long time of hubbub in the city.