Literary Master 1978

Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu, carrying their luggage, saw the car sent by Yanda to pick up the new students when they came out of Yanjing Station. Lin Chaoyang originally planned to get a ride, but Tao Yushu didn't feel like it because she was now a senior sister.

The two got on the bus. The body of the domestic articulated bus was very long. When it turned, the centrifugal force made people feel uncomfortable.

At the Yanjing University station, the two got off the bus with large and small bags. Tao Yushu walked along the way and explained to Lin Chaoyang about the plants and trees in Yanda.

She was a student of Yanyuan and was very familiar with this place. The two entered the campus from the west gate of Yanda. After walking through the lotus pond in midsummer, they saw the iconic Huabiao inside the west gate.

All the way north, the trees were lush in midsummer, and the buildings of Yanda were hidden in the green. The scenery was unique, but it was completely incomparable to the grand style of later generations.

The north of Langrun Garden is backed by Wanquan River, and opposite is Qichun Garden, one of the three Yuanming Gardens. In the first year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, this place became the second home of Yi Xin, the sixth son of Emperor Daoguang, and was named Langrun Garden.

After Yi Xin's death in 1898, this place was given by the last emperor Puyi to Zaitao, the brother of Emperor Guangxu. Soon after the establishment of Yenching University, Zaitao rented Langrun Garden to Yenching University as a teacher's residence.

After the lease expired in 1952, Yenching University bought Langrun Garden. From 1957 to 1960, six faculty and staff residences and a guesthouse were built on the east and north banks of the park. Since then, Langrun Garden has become one of the "Nine Gardens" of Yenching University.

After bypassing the circular Langrun Lake, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu came to a four-story building on the east bank of the lake. Lin Chaoyang knew that this was one of the family buildings built in the 1950s mentioned by Tao Yushu, and it was also where Tao Yushu lived.

Before entering the unit door, Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang to put down his luggage and carefully tidied his clothes.

Lin Chaoyang's clothes were newly changed before he got off the train. It was a navy blue Zhongshan suit with a white Dacron shirt underneath and a pair of black cloth shoes on his feet.

She looked at him for a long time and was quite satisfied with Lin Chaoyang's outfit, but she always felt a little uncomfortable looking at the pair of cloth shoes on his feet.

She wanted to buy a pair of leather shoes for Lin Chaoyang, but unfortunately the big purchase before returning to the Northeast had exhausted the pocket money given by her father and the subsidy money she usually saved.

"I'll buy you a pair of leather shoes in winter." Tao Yushu muttered.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Leather shoes and cloth shoes are all worn."

Tao Yushu no longer paid attention to the topic of shoes and asked, "The ugly son-in-law is about to meet his mother-in-law. Are you nervous?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at her clear eyes, the nervousness in them was about to overflow, but she pretended to be relaxed and asked herself if she was nervous.

He said with a relaxed expression: "You know my face, I think you should be nervous, right?"

Tao Yushu rolled her eyes at him and picked up her luggage, "Let's go!"

Climbing up the stairs, she heard a childish voice singing, and the smell of food wafted through the corridor.

Tao Yushu's home was on the third floor. She knocked on the door, and someone came to open it a moment later.

A young girl version of Tao Yushu appeared in front of the door, young and beautiful.

"Sister!"

"This is Yumo, this is Lin Chaoyang. Yumo, call me brother-in-law." Tao Yushu introduced.

On the way, Tao Yushu had already introduced her family situation.

The girl in front of her was her youngest sister Tao Yumo, who was 17 years old and was in the second year of high school.

Tao Yumo looked at the man in front of her. He was dressed neatly, but unfortunately he was plain-looking and didn't match his beautiful sister at all.

"Hello."

Her voice was level, which was fine at ordinary times, but when Lin Chaoyang's new son-in-law came to visit, Tao Yushu asked her to call him brother-in-law, but she said "Hello", which clearly showed that she had a lot of opinions about Lin Chaoyang.

Without waiting for Tao Yushu to speak, Lin Chaoyang seemed not to notice Tao Yumo's unfriendliness, and said with a smile: "Yumo, hello!"

Tao Yushu glared at her sister obscurely, and at this time another female comrade in plain clothes came out of the room.

Just now, Tao Yumo was the young version of Tao Yushu, and this female comrade was like the old version of Tao Yushu, so it was clear that she must be the mother-in-law.

Lin Chaoyang's smile became even bigger, and just when he wanted to say hello, he saw that his mother-in-law just nodded, turned around and went back to the kitchen.

It seems that his mother-in-law has a bigger opinion of him than his sister-in-law!

According to Tao Yushu, the letters she wrote to him in the past six months were "intercepted" by her mother-in-law, which shows how much she despised her rural son-in-law, so before entering the house, Lin Chaoyang had already made sufficient mental preparations.

He was not angry, but Tao Yushu's face was as cold as ice.

After entering the house and putting down her things, she asked in a cold tone: "Where is Dad?"

"He is in class!" Tao Yumo replied, then turned around and went into the room.

Tao Yushu was upset by the cold reception from her mother and sister. She looked at Lin Chaoyang, "Don't mind..."

"It's okay."

Lin Chaoyang looked normal and calm, so Tao Yushu couldn't tell whether he was pretending or not really angry.

She couldn't help but think of the psychological preparations she had made for him on the train before. It seemed to have some effect, but Tao Yushu felt that what was more important was Lin Chaoyang's good mentality.

The two got off the car at around nine o'clock and went to their home in Yanda Langrun Garden. It was already past eleven o'clock. Tao's mother Du Ruohui stayed in the kitchen under the pretext of making lunch.

"I wonder how long she can hide!"

Tao Yushu was packing his luggage with Lin Chaoyang in a huff. They brought six packages of different sizes back this time, three of which were gifts prepared by Lin Erchun and his wife for their in-laws.

While they were packing, there was a noise at the door. It was Tao Yushu's sister-in-law Zhao Li who came back with her children.

Zhao Li was not tall, with a round face and short hair, and she looked friendly.

When greeting, Zhao Li's attitude was much better than Tao's mother Du Ruohui and sister Tao Yumo.

Tao's father and mother had three children, one boy and two girls. Zhao Li's husband Tao Yucheng was the eldest in the family.

He was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama in 1965 and was one of the last batch of college students. After a few years, he was recruited to work in the local area, and then married Zhao Li, who came from a cadre family, by chance.

Tao's father and mother were ordinary last year. The two families worked together to transfer Tao Yucheng's job back to Yanjing. He is now a teacher in the Department of Drama and Literature of the Central Academy of Drama.

Zhao Li was not so lucky. In order to follow her husband, she had to give up her job in her hometown. Now she is a full-time housewife, taking care of two children on a daily basis.

Tao Yucheng and Zhao Li have two sons. The eldest is Tao Xiwen, who is five years old and is in kindergarten. The second is in Zhao Li's arms. His name is Tao Xiwu, who is only 23 months old and is learning to speak.

During lunch, Tao's mother had a cold face, Tao Yumo's eyes were rolling around, always glancing at Lin Chaoyang, and sister-in-law Zhao Li observed the situation. The expression on her face was not as bright as before, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was very subtle.

"Chaoyang, eat more!"

Tao Yushu unscrupulously picked up food for Lin Chaoyang to show his affection. He vaguely saw that the muscles of Tao's mother Du Ruohui's eyebrows were twitching.

This girl!

Lin Chaoyang smiled helplessly. He knew that Tao Yushu did it on purpose.