Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

Chapter 420 We Can't Go Down the Same Old Path

"Dad Gu, do you cook?" Zhiyuan looked at him with concern.

Gu Juncheng hissed, "Weren't you just standing in the corner? Why do you have so much to say?"

"No... how about I do it? To make amends?" Zhiyuan asked him in a low voice.

Gu Juncheng kicked him, but of course, it was just a weak kick.

You brat! You made Lin Qingping angry, and now you're complaining about his cooking?

Gu Juncheng himself was also puzzled. Was his cooking really that bad? Xiao Tian and the others always said it was delicious!

Gu Juncheng opened the refrigerator to see what food was available, only to find a huge block of ice frozen in the freezer compartment.

Is this the raw material he used to sell shaved ice?

Gu Juncheng found it unbelievable and turned back to "interrogate" him: "Won't this lump of ice melt if you sell it as shaved ice? Also, is this much ice enough for yourselves? Why are you selling it?"

Zhiyuan scratched his head, "We... asked the cafeteria uncle to help us freeze... so much ice..."

Zhiyuan gestured, "I even borrowed a styrofoam box from the cafeteria, but unfortunately I lost it when I was beating people up..."

Gu Juncheng chuckled, "Add two more hours!"

Zhiyuan panicked, "I've already confessed, why are you still being strict?"

"If you don't confess, you'll see what it means to be severely punished!" Gu Juncheng said, then went into the kitchen.

The sentence, though not heavy, carried a powerful pressure, like a heavy hammer blow to Zhiyuan's chest, causing him to tremble involuntarily.

Zhiyuan sighed and stood up straight.

Gu Juncheng was decisive and efficient; he could prepare a meal in no time.

Braised fish, boiled shrimp, and a cucumber salad.

When you come to the island, meat is a bit harder to find than fish and shrimp, but fish and shrimp are easy to cook. Gu Juncheng usually sees Lin Qingping cook them this way, and they can be served in no time.

Zhiyuan had been out running around all day and was starving. He turned around at the smell of food, but Gu Juncheng glared at him and told him, "You can only eat if your mother agrees!"

Zhiyuan pouted, speechless.

Gu Juncheng knocked on the door again, calling Lin Qingping to eat. "Lin Qingping, can you come out for dinner? If you have something to say, you'll have the energy to do it properly after you eat."

This time, Lin Qingping opened the door, but her expression was still not good.

Gu Juncheng quickly went inside, closed the door, and tried to calm her down, saying, "Are you still angry with Zhiyuan?"

Lin Qingping rolled her eyes at him, "Which eye of yours saw me angry with Zhiyuan?"

Gu Juncheng took it as sarcasm, thinking to himself, "I can see with both eyes that you're angry with Zhiyuan," but he didn't dare say it like that. He sat down next to her and tried to persuade her, "Although fighting is wrong in itself, Zhiyuan didn't do anything completely bad; at least his intentions were good..."

At this point, Lin Qingping stared directly at him, her eyes blazing with fury.

Gu Juncheng quickly pressed her hand down, "Don't worry, don't be angry. Didn't we have a meeting with the police station chief today? We were talking about this. There are a few groups of people in the area who are always stealing chickens and dogs or fighting and causing trouble. They don't commit any major crimes, but they keep getting into small trouble. If we arrest them, they don't get a heavy sentence. If we release them after a while, it's the same thing again. The police station is having a real headache. In a way, Zhiyuan's actions this time were actually quite heroic. This kid is just a hot-blooded person, he has a chivalrous spirit..."

Gu Juncheng kept praising Zhiyuan to Lin Qingping, and his words even carried the pride of an old father, completely forgetting how he had just punished someone by making them stand in the corner and not letting them eat.

But these words sounded even more grating to Lin Qingping's ears.

"Gu Juncheng! Say that again!?" What passion! What loyalty! If it weren't for all this passion and loyalty in his past life, Zhiyuan wouldn't have ended up in prison!

Thinking of her past life, Lin Qingping gritted her teeth, her eyes red, and said, "Gu Juncheng! Say it again!"

When she heard Gu Juncheng say "whether you won or lost" today, she was completely blown away.

All the rebirth novels she had read in her previous life were about defying fate and changing one's destiny. But now that she had truly been reborn, she absolutely could not accept that the bad things that had happened in her previous life would happen again, nor could she accept that the important people in her life would follow the same old path.

Gu Juncheng was somewhat puzzled by her sudden outburst of rage. "Lin Qingping, what's wrong with your reaction..."

"What's wrong with my reaction? With what you said, do you even deserve to be a father? How old is he? He's not even ten years old! You want him to be a hero?"

"Lin Qingping, I know you're worried about Zhiyuan. Zhiyuan has already said..."

Lin Qingping got up and left before he could finish speaking.

Helpless, Gu Juncheng followed her out. He saw her walk into the restaurant, calling out as she went, "Zhiyuan, let's eat."

Zhiyuan thought he had misheard. Was he allowed to eat now?

He glanced at his father, Gu.

“He’s standing in the corner!” Gu Juncheng said.

Lin Qingping sneered, "Why is he standing in the corner? You go stand in the corner!"

Gu Juncheng: ...

Zhiyuan couldn't believe the drastic change in the situation before him. He must have heard it with his own ears, right?

As he hesitated, another voice came from the dining room, "Zhiyuan, aren't you coming yet?"

Zhiyuan was now absolutely certain, and said to his father, "Then...then I'll go in and eat."

Gu Juncheng's face was ashen: What kind of logic is this? The son makes a mistake, and the father takes the blame for him?

Zhiyuan shifted his feet and darted into the dining room.

At the dinner table, Lin Qingping had already served him rice, and she really only served his, not his father's...

Zhiyuan moved next to Lin Qingping, took something out of his pocket, blew on it like a precious treasure, and put it on the table. "Mom, luckily it wasn't broken."

Lin Qingping glanced at it; it was a beautiful brooch.

"Did you buy it?" Lin Qingping asked.

"Hmm." Zhiyuan nodded. He noticed that the female celebrities on the calendar were all wearing this, and they were even wearing clothes designed by Lin Qingping, but his mother was very simple and didn't wear any accessories.

Lin Qingping asked him, "Did you buy it for the price of a few bowls of shaved ice?"

"Mom..." Zhiyuan called her softly, "I won't sell shaved ice anymore. I'm sorry for making you worry..."

Lin Qingping's heart was touched, and her eyes immediately reddened.

“Mom…” Zhiyuan took another step toward her.

Lin Qingping gazed at his youthful face. The Zhiyuan with big eyes and a small round face in front of her overlapped with the shy Zhiyuan in her previous life in prison who called her "Auntie" and said, "Auntie, wait for me to get out..." Her heart softened and a little sad. She gently hugged Zhiyuan, rested her chin on Zhiyuan's small and not-so-broad shoulders, and whispered, "Zhiyuan, I have a wish in this life, and you must remember it."

"Mom, tell me." Zhiyuan felt a pang of sadness as well.

"Zhiyuan, you must live a peaceful and safe life for the rest of your life."