Chatted and chatted, it seemed that no matter how many words were said, they couldn't be finished. However, by 9 o'clock in the evening, Wang Jinglu still had to go home. So Li Qian also went downstairs with her and drove to send her home.

  There was no navigation back then, and finding the way relied entirely on memory. Fortunately, Li Qian's sense of direction had always been decent, so although they took a wrong turn, it only took half an hour to get Wang Jinglu downstairs.

  The car stopped, Wang Jinglu turned her head to look at Li Qian, unfastened the seatbelt, leaned over and kissed him on the face, then opened the door and got out, saying: "You'd better hurry back too!" Then she closed the door.

  Watching her hop upstairs with a joyful look, Li Qian felt as if something was stuck in his heart, making him feel suffocated and anxious.

  At this moment, he suddenly wanted to smoke again.

  She's still... a bit too young after all!

  She said it solemnly, and she answered seriously, but actually, just by looking at her expression earlier, you can tell that this girl is all talk, but in fact, she didn't take it to heart from the very beginning.

  Li Qian still didn't touch cigarettes.

  He sighed and looked up.

  Before long, the windowsill on the third floor lit up, and then Wang Jinglu walked to the window and waved at those below.

  Li Qian's hand twisted the key, starting the car and preparing to head home, but his foot on the clutch pedal hesitated as he was about to shift gears.

  Yes, she is still too young.

  Although the social context and cultural atmosphere of the two time-spaces are different, people in this time-space, whether boys or girls, seem to be more inclined to get married at a relatively young age. However, eighteen years old... is still an age full of various dreams about the future, love, and career.

  Getting married is a serious and realistic matter for an eighteen-year-old girl.

  So... Maybe I was too hasty?

  A thought flashed through his mind, and he even stood from Wang Jinglu's point of view to consider it. Li Qian suddenly felt a little regretful - in fact, everyone was studying in the same city. There would be plenty of time to get in touch later, and there would be plenty of opportunities to slowly cultivate their relationship. Even if they had to endure four more years until everyone graduated from university, he didn't believe that his eloquence wouldn't be able to persuade her to marry him. So why was he in such a hurry to rush her into making a decision now?

  From the perspective of a thirty-year-old adult, she is still just a kid!

  Perhaps... it's all my fault, I had already prepared to propose in my past life, but in the end, I still couldn't put the ring on the girl I loved for many years with my own hands, and I also failed to fulfill my promise to bring her home.

  So this life is really too afraid of missing something again.

  Especially loved ones.

  …………

  Wang Jinglu said goodbye to Li Qian, saw the car lights below lit up, heard the roar of the engine, and knew he was about to leave. Just then Wang Jingxue asked her who sent her back. She turned around, answered her sister's question, picked up an apple from the tea table, and took a bite - tonight's dinner was a bit greasy and too much, just right to eat an apple to relieve the greasiness.

  Wang Jingxue was listlessly watching TV, waiting for her sister to sit down, and asked her how the shoot went today. Then, the two sisters chatted idly for about a minute or two. Suddenly, Wang Jinglu felt something was off. She leaned in to listen carefully, and it seemed that the engine sound was still there. She couldn't help but stop chatting with her sister, got up and walked back to the window.

  She looked down and indeed, the car was still there!

  She looked down, couldn't see what it was, and thought something had happened to Li Qian. She quickly turned around, put the apple on the tea table, and ran out hastily. When she arrived downstairs, she saw Li Qian sitting in the car staring blankly ahead. The car hadn't been turned off, but he didn't seem to be planning to leave either. She walked over and tapped on the window.

  …………

  Li Qian was suddenly awakened and turned his head to see Wang Jinglu. After thinking for a moment, he unfastened his seatbelt, opened the car door and got out of the car.

  Then, to Wang Jinglu's surprise, he suddenly picked up her face, gently kissed her forehead, and smiled: "Just now I was thinking, okay, maybe I was a bit too hasty, haha, so I won't rush you, and you don't have to give me an answer in a hurry either. We're not in a hurry, we're still young, we're still small, let's wait, I'll wait for when you want to get married, and then we can talk about it again, okay?"

  After speaking out what was on his mind, Li Qian suddenly felt much more relaxed. The feeling of having a block of wood stuck in his chest earlier also disappeared instantly.

  But at this time, Wang Jinglu was stunned instead.

  She had long known that Li Qian seemed to yearn for family life, but she hadn't taken it to heart because, in fact, although she also yearned for and looked forward to marriage and the life of two people together, as for the situation of building a new family with two people, she was still a bit confused until now.

  Moreover, whether it was her sister's words and deeds or the things she had seen since childhood that served as a warning to herself, in fact, she very much agreed with Wang Jingxue's view that women must first have a career. So once she discovered that she was indeed quite interested in acting, her mind immediately turned to it, and as for getting married or living together, she couldn't care less - after all, she was convinced that Li Qian was her soulmate, and the two of them were so good together, there was no need to worry about any changes.

  However, this made it so that even when Li Qian brought up the topic with her after dinner, with the most serious attitude, she seemed to vaguely sense something, but to be honest, she really didn't take it too seriously - she knew Li Qian was being sincere, but didn't think he was being that serious.

  But now he took back what he had just said, and explained it seriously, also seriously considering her feelings, even comforting her, but she suddenly understood.

  It turns out he really wants to... marry me!

  At this moment, Wang Jinglu's heart suddenly started pounding.

  Her eyes shone brightly, yet seemed to have lost focus as she stared straight at Li Qian, her heart racing so fast that she could hardly breathe, just looking at him, looking at him, looking at him.

  But at this moment, Li Qian suddenly felt enlightened about the marriage and felt an unprecedented sense of relief in his heart. He just smiled and, in the dark of night, didn't notice Wang Jinglu's face turning red and her increasingly rapid breathing. He simply raised his hand to touch her face and said with a smile: "Then I'll return to Jinan Prefecture tomorrow, before school starts, stay with my parents for a few more days, have you thought it through, really not going back with me?"

  "Huh?" Wang Jingluo subconsciously shook his head. He said somewhat anxiously: "Uh, I...I still have to film!"

  Li Qian shrugged his shoulders and smiled with a hint of abandon.

  He patted her face again, and Li Qian smiled and said: "Then I'll go, you hurry up!" As he spoke, he had already opened the car door and got in, waved at Wang Jingluo again, then shifted gears and slowly started the car.

  …………

  The car had been gone for a while, but Wang Jinglu was still standing in front of the building, seemingly still reeling from the shock of what had just happened.

  Wang Jingxue has come downstairs. Gently patted her shoulder.

  "What's wrong? What happened?"

  "Ah?" Wang Jinglu turned her head to look at her.

  Wang Jingxue looked at her sister calmly, "I'm saying, what happened between you two?"

  This time Wang Jinglu heard clearly and quickly shook his head.

  There was still a dazed and unreal feeling, but after a moment, she said to her sister: "He wants to marry me!"

  Wang Jingxue was just about to raise her hand to help her brush away a strand of messy hair, but upon hearing this, her hand paused in mid-air.

  But she quickly reacted, looking at her sister, a smile suddenly appeared on her face. She said: "That's great! You're 18 years old, he's also 18 years old, you can get married without telling mom and dad."

  She paused for a moment and asked: "So did you agree with him? Was he just proposing to you?"

  Wang Jinglu dazedly shook her head. She didn't know if she was responding to Wang Jingxue or muttering to herself, but she said: "He mentioned it twice before that he wanted to marry me and get the certificate directly. I thought he was just joking around. After dinner today, he brought it up again. If I really don't want to get married so early, we can live together for a while first, and when I'm willing to marry him, we'll get married then. But I still thought he was just...just...But earlier, I suddenly realized..." She suddenly turned her head, her eyes fixed intently on her sister, grasping her shoulders with both hands, and excitedly said: "Sister, he really wants to marry me!"

  Her strength suddenly became very great, unprecedentedly large and unprecedentedly forceful, which made Wang Jingxue slightly uncomfortable. However, she didn't hurry to push away her sister's hand. After thinking for a moment, she smiled slightly and said: "Li Qian is not like that, even if we don't talk about when he was young, in the past year, his words and actions have become very mature and stable, just like an adult. He wouldn't joke around with you about something like marriage. If he says he wants to marry you, then he must be serious! What's there to doubt? Did it only occur to you just now?"

  Wang Jinglu heard this and seemed somewhat embarrassed.

  It seems that suddenly, she felt that her trust in Li Qian was not even comparable to her sister, who had previously looked down on him. This was really her own fault.

  She smiled somewhat awkwardly then.

  But at this moment, her heart was still beating so fast, fast to the point where she involuntarily reached out to pat her own chest, taking two deep breaths.

  He actually wants to marry me!

  So I'm really going to get married?

  At this time, Wang Jingxue still looked at her calmly and asked faintly: "Then... did you agree or not?"

  "Uh..." Wang Jinglu was stunned for a moment before suddenly coming back to her senses.

  "After some thought, she said: 'I think I... didn't agree?'"

  Wang Jingxue looked at her with a sullen expression, "Have you agreed or not, don't you know yourself? Are you asking me?"

  Wang Jinglu waved her arms a few times, seemingly to help clear her mind, then she recounted everything Li Qian had said to her after dinner tonight, as well as what he had just said when he started the car but didn't move it, and waited for her to get in before speaking again, word for word, to Wang Jingxue.

  Standing under the building, without starlight or streetlights, Wang Jingxue quietly watched her and listened to her telling about today's events. As she listened, she suddenly let out a faint sigh.

  "You're really silly!" she said, "Now it's okay, he's hurt you, so instead of understanding, you're not in a hurry to get married. That's good, if you're not in a hurry to marry either, then that's fine. If you want to marry...then figure it out yourself from now on!"

  "Uh..."

  Wang Jinglu was taken aback by his words and stood there in a daze.

  …………

  The next morning, Li Qian set out alone by car and rushed back to Jinan Prefecture.

  Even if he doesn't mention that he has already set up a business in Shuntian Prefecture and started decorating, the studio can be said to be steadily preparing for construction. In the future, his career will definitely be developed in Shuntian Prefecture. Just because of the four years of university study there, it is destined that the time he can accompany his parents will become less and less.

  So this time back, he didn't arrange anything else for himself, only one thing, that is to stay with his parents for a few more days. Then, um, go back to grandfather and grandmother's place with his father.

  Li Qian is back, which is absolutely a big deal for Li's parents.

  A big off-road vehicle stopped downstairs, although it's not a good brand, at least it looks powerful, for Li Dad, this is a face-saving thing, he was overjoyed. Anyway, during the summer vacation, he didn't have classes, so he spent several hours every day squatting downstairs, staring at his neighbors going to and from work, fiddling with the two cars here and there.

  Someone asked, and he chuckled, saying it was his son's car. Between the lines, he complained a lot, saying young people are like this, earning two dollars and wanting to spend three, look at this, 700,000 or 800,000, buying such a big deal, isn't that just showing off?!

  Then, regardless of whether the neighbors were surprised or envious, Li's father was immediately pleased.

  As for Li's mother, seeing her son come back from a trip and getting sunburned to this extent, she was heartbroken. She scolded him in a good way, then hurriedly prepared dishes and made all sorts of delicious food. She wished that one meal could have ten plates of dumplings and ten plates of dishes, and hoped that Li Qian could finish eating everything in just a few mouthfuls.

  After Li's mother went to work, the two of them were idle. Li's father didn't read books or prepare lessons either. Each of them had a fishing rod, and they drove Li Qian's big off-road vehicle to the lower reaches of the Xiaoqing River outside the city. They found a spot by the river, set up their tent, and chatted idly while fishing, sometimes saying something, sometimes not, and before they knew it, several hours had passed.

  To be honest, this should be one of the most comfortable days Li Qian has had since arriving in this time and space.

  ***

  I'll try to write more tomorrow.