Chapter 81 Buying Books

  After leaving the hospital, Mr. Gu took Gu Xiang to the book city.

  After summer vacation, Gu Xiang will be in third grade, so the more preview materials the better. After entering the book city, he went straight to the junior high school tutoring area.

  In junior high school, she had to start learning chemistry, but she couldn't remember anything about this subject at all. She couldn't even recite the periodic table of elements, let alone other things.

  Wang Hou Xiong must be taken, as for the other volumes, Gu Xiang has not seen some of them before, and each one needs to be flipped through to determine if it's useful or not.

  Her father saw her hesitant look and said: "Why don't we just buy them all, then you can use whichever one is useful to you later."

  There are over a dozen physical reference materials, and Gu Xiang certainly can't buy them all back. She said to her dad, "I won't be able to finish writing even if I buy them all back. Let me take another look and just choose two."

  The girl said she wanted to take her time, so Mr. Gu didn't rush her. After Gu Xiang flipped through over a dozen books, she finally chose two and took them to the counter to pay.

  It's rare for Dad to come with his daughter to buy books. She bought two chemistry books and while queuing up to pay, she kept looking around and asking if she should get this or that.

  Other extracurricular materials were available at home, but thinking of her father's unpleasant face when he came out of the hospital earlier, Gu Xiang still cooperated and went to pick another physics and chemistry material.

  She waited until she had picked out what she wanted and by then her father was almost at their place in line.

  They came out of the book city and it was also time for lunch.

  Mr. Gu said to take Gu Xiang out for dinner, but in fact, Gu Xiang was not very willing to go. Compared to the dishes in the restaurant, she would rather eat the food made by her grandparents. However, she still gave in to her father's face and happily followed him.

  Father Gu found a restaurant with good parking next to the book city and took someone to eat casually in the hall.

  After dinner, Gu Xiang wanted to go home. Originally, her father had brought his daughter out today, definitely thinking of taking her for a good stroll in the city. However, since the matter that was just investigated hadn't been settled yet, he ended up sending Gu Xiang back instead.

  The car stopped downstairs and Gu Xiang went up by herself.

  Grandma saw Gu Xiang return alone and asked her: "Where's your dad? Didn't he come back with you?"

  Gu Xiang said: "No, it's too hot outside, I wanted to come back, and he happened to have something to do, so he sent me back."

  Grandma heard and didn't say anything else about Dad, "Isn't it too hot? Go get ice cream from the fridge to eat."

  Before Gu Xiang arrived, Grandma had thought of everything except for buying popsicles.

  She just remembered it today and asked her stepmother to buy some back.

  Gu Xiang went to open the freezer and took a look. All three layers were full of neatly arranged items. She picked out a cute one and started eating it.

  Grandma was flipping through the reference books brought back by Gu Xiang.

  She can't understand it either, so she just flips through it casually.

  "How come you only bought so few books? Didn't I tell your dad to buy more for you? I heard the bookstores in the city are much bigger than ours, and many parents from our place come here to buy books."

  "These are all useful ones I picked out, even if I bought more, I wouldn't be able to finish writing them." As she spoke, Gu Xiang suddenly realized that the house was quiet.

  "Your grandfather has eaten and is taking a nap now, and your aunt went out, don't know where she ran off to."

  Her stepmother was not at home, so Gu Xiang felt more relaxed and went to the living room to watch TV.

  Grandma originally had the habit of taking a nap, but today Gu Xiang came and she wanted to make dumplings for Gu Xiang to eat. After eating, she didn't go to bed, but instead stayed in the kitchen with the filling.

  Gu Xiang saw her grandmother busy in the kitchen and followed her over.

  Grandma waved her hand to let her go back, "There's no air conditioning here, it's hot. Go outside and watch TV for a while, when it's time to eat snacks, grandma will cook dumplings for you."

  Although Gu Xiang is not very good at wrapping dumplings, let alone as beautiful as her grandmother's with sealed edges, she can still improve by simply pressing the edges tightly. She just helps her grandmother with the preparations.

  In no time, the two of them wrapped dozens of dumplings.

  There are six people in this family, and these dozens of dumplings can be enough for one meal.

  Gu Xiang thought that her grandmother would pack more, but unexpectedly, after counting the dumplings on the chopping board, she rewrapped the dumpling wrappers and put them back in the refrigerator.

  "Isn't this a bit too little to eat? There are quite a few people at home."

  "For the three of us to eat, it's enough. You can eat to your heart's content."

  It sounds like there's no room for Dad Gu and stepmom.

  After wrapping up the dumplings, Grandpa took a nap too.

  The three of them sat together chatting and watching TV.

  Gu Xiang accompanied them to watch an old version of Journey to the West for over an hour.

  Not to mention, although the picture quality is a bit poor, the performance of the characters and the plot are unmatched by later remakes.

  Later, at more than four o'clock, grandma was busy making dumplings for dinner.

  The filling of the dumplings was all shepherd's purse and pork, which Gu Xiang loved to eat. Also, it had been a long time since she had eaten handmade boiled dumplings, so she unknowingly stuffed herself again.

  She is quite restrained at home and rarely touches snacks. But every time she goes to her grandmother's house, she really has no resistance and eats too much if not careful.

  After finishing the dumplings, Gu Xiang hurriedly washed the dishes.

  Grandma didn't take it away from her either, so she went with it.

  Gu Xiang quickly washed the dishes, washed two apples, peeled them and put them in a small bowl to serve them.

  "Grandma exaggeratedly said: 'Our family's Xiaoyu has really grown up, now she can do everything.'"

  Gu Xiang said: "No, like today's dumpling filling I won't mix."

  Grandma listened and was quite proud: "Of course, that's all from decades of cooking experience."

  Because I ate dim sum a bit late and had too much, by dinner time I didn't feel hungry.

  Grandpa and grandma didn't have a good appetite originally, so they just cooked some porridge for dinner.

  After dinner, three people went for a walk in the street garden of the campus downstairs. Grandma brought a large fan and fanned the wind with a whooshing sound.

  They returned home after eight o'clock in the evening, and there was no one at home.

  Gu Xiang couldn't tell if Grandma was unhappy or not, so she went back to her room to take a bath.

  Waiting for her to finish bathing, Grandpa and Grandma were already preparing for bed, so she was left alone in the living room watching TV.

  Gu Xiang also thought it was strange and took the landline phone to call her mother.

  Her mother was also bored. When Gu Xiang was around, her life revolved around Gu Xiang. But now that Gu Xiang is gone, her life seems to have lost its center of gravity.

  Gu Xiang's phone had just rung and she answered it.

  "Mom, your speed of answering the phone is as fast as a dog's! Are you staring at your phone all day waiting for my call?"

  Her mother heard this and couldn't help but laugh and scold her: "Come on, how dare you. I'm just playing with my phone now."

  "Gu Xiang let out an 'oh' and said, 'You'd rather play with your phone than send me a text or make a call. You just don't want me to go back home, huh? Fine, I'll stay for another half month then, until the tutoring class starts."

  Her mother immediately changed her tone and said: "If there's nothing wrong, come back early, I'm bored at home alone."

  Gu Xiang couldn't help but complain to her mom, "I'm bored too. I spent the day with my dad going to the book city to buy materials, and when I got back, I spent half a day experiencing the life of a retired elderly person with my grandparents."

  "Then you're eating well, sleeping well, watching TV, going out to play, and still feeling bored?"

  Gu Xiang also couldn't figure out why, although at home she just watched TV, did her homework, and then went to her mom's store to wait for a while, but she just wouldn't feel bored.

  The two of them talked about what had happened that day and chatted for almost an hour before hanging up.

  After finishing the phone call, Gu Xiang returned to her room and lay down on the bed, listening to music with her earbuds in.

  Fell asleep soon after listening, and vaguely heard the sound of closing doors coming from outside, but didn't know who came back.

  Gu Xiang didn't bother either and turned over to continue sleeping.