Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

Qian Jia slapped her forehead, "Oh right, I completely forgot to ask that!"

"..." Seeing the firepower focused on him, Xu Ran looked at Xi Zirong in the driver's seat. Seeing that he still had that smiling look on his face, he twitched his lips: "He treats his girlfriend like the apple of his eye. Do you think he will say anything to us?"

Xu Ran said, "Some people in the dorm asked him how it felt to date the school beauty. As a result, our class monitor didn't say anything except to give us a disgusted look, for fear that others would covet his girlfriend."

“That’s the kind of thing Xi Shen would do.” Huang Feng nodded. “He’s not the kind of person who likes to show off.”

To be precise, Xi Zirong is much more mature than her peers and doesn't have the high-profile and flamboyant personality typical of people her age.

Rather than flaunting his girlfriend, he would cherish her and keep her close to his heart, knowing only how wonderful she is.

The girl he likes is becoming more and more dazzling every day. Does he think he doesn't have enough rivals? Why is he showing off?

......

Xu Su had warned that the country roads were difficult to navigate, so Xi Zirong specially picked out an off-road vehicle from home to drive out.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Xu Su felt that compared to the swaying shuttle bus, besides the bus itself being more stable, Xi Zirong's driving skills were indeed quite good.

The road is flanked by mountains and fields, and occasionally you pass through a few villages with mud houses that look poor and remote.

Huang Feng and Xu Ran both looked out the window with curiosity. It was their first time in the countryside and their first time seeing terraced fields, and they were very excited.

Qian Jia was much calmer. She grew up in the countryside, where all farmland was pretty much the same.

After passing the three-way intersection, Xu Su pointed out the way again and said with a smile, "We're almost at my grandma's house."

This time, she called ahead to let us know she would arrive around lunchtime.

So, as soon as the car stopped on the road, Chen Ni, who had been waiting for a long time, ran out in a flash, followed by Grandma Xu and her eldest uncle.

Xu Su and Huang Feng were the first to get off the bus. As soon as they got off, Chen Ni hugged them tightly. The girl's lively nature hadn't changed. She was overjoyed to see Xu Su return.

Xi Zirong drove the car into the yard of Uncle Xu's house and parked it before getting out of the car.

The boy, dressed in white shirt and black pants, had handsome features and a tall, straight figure. Just standing there, he attracted most people's attention.

Xu Su coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention back to Xi Zirong, and began to introduce her classmates to her family one by one.

When Xi Zirong was introduced, he greeted her with a gentle smile, just like Xu Su, and looked like someone with excellent upbringing.

Chen's two aunts kept their eyes on him the whole time, almost ignoring the other male classmate, Xu Ran.

"..."

Seeing her family's behavior, Xu Su began to wonder if she had gotten so used to spending time with Xi Zirong that she didn't find him that amazing. Why did her two aunts look so satisfied?

Fortunately, her maternal grandmother still loves her the most.

After Grandma Xu examined her closely, a kind smile appeared on her wrinkled face. "She's grown a bit taller than last year. Our Su Su looks like a young lady now."

Xu Su leaned over and hugged her. She was more than a head taller than the little old lady. She smiled and said coquettishly, "It's not that I'm looking down on you, but I'm already a big girl, Grandma. I'm eighteen years old."

"Okay, okay." The old man was overjoyed and patted his granddaughter on the back. "Come on, the food is ready. Let's eat first."

We had lunch at my eldest uncle's house. Knowing that Xu Su would be bringing some classmates back, we set up two tables at his house, and my younger uncle's family also joined us.

Unlike the Xu family, which separates tables by gender, the Chen family doesn't have such rules. After asking several of Xu Su's classmates who don't drink, they set up one table for the young people and another for the adults.

There were no different sizes of tables; they were all the same square dining tables.

Xu Su sat with her classmates and cousins, with Chen Ni next to her. They looked at the table full of farm-style dishes, all of which were to their liking.

She picked up her chopsticks and said to Huang Feng and the others, "Eat up, this was probably all made by my uncle. He's a very good cook."

"Sister Su, you haven't eaten yet, how can you tell just by looking?" Chen Ni was somewhat shocked.

Xu Su said, "Because I know that whenever I come back, my uncle will definitely cook delicious food for me himself."

Both of her uncles were very good, much better than her biological father, Xu Weiping.

If it weren't for her two good uncles making up for the lack of fatherly love, she might have become a person with low self-esteem, timidity, and cowardice.

Chen Ni pretended to be angry: "My dad loves you so much. He was so happy to hear you were coming back. I even suspected you were his biological daughter."

Xu Su picked up a piece of stir-fried pork with dried bamboo shoots for her and said, "Then just treat me like your own sister. Eat your food obediently, and I'll check your homework after you finish."

"..." Chen Ni looked at the food in her bowl with annoyance, and suddenly it didn't taste good anymore.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was great. Everyone was around the same age, and even the youngest, Chen Jun, was already fifteen. They all became quite familiar with each other by the end of the meal.

After lunch, Xu Su and the others took out their schoolbags and changes of clothes from the trunk.

Grandma Xu had already prepared the room in advance. Xu Su led the people into the front room, and she introduced, "This is the room I've slept in since I was a child."

A straw mat was laid on the old-fashioned bunk bed. The whole room was clean and tidy. There was a desk lamp on the desk against the wall, and books that Xu Su used during her primary and junior high school years were piled on it.

Xi Zirong walked to the desk in two steps and immediately saw the photo in the frame on the wall. The little girl was smiling sweetly and was already showing the beauty of a young girl.

Others also gathered around.

"Susu, is this your photo? When was it taken? You look so young."

"...I think it was the first year of junior high, when I was thirteen or fourteen." Xu Su hugged Huang Feng's neck, feigning anger, "Huang Fengfeng! How old am I now?"

"Spare me, spare me!...You're still too green, I misspoke..."

Xi Zirong watched them playfully bickering with a smile and asked Xu Su, "Any more? I'd like to see some photos of you when you were little."

Xu Su quickly looked towards the door. Fortunately, Chen Ni and the others hadn't followed, and her grandmother was still at her eldest uncle's house.

She glared at Xi Zirong. "No, there aren't any more. Where would you find so many photos!"

More than a decade ago, conditions in the countryside were already difficult, and unless absolutely necessary, few families would go out of their way to have their photos taken.

Even now, not many people in Chenjia Village take photos there from time to time.

Xu Su has very few photos developed from childhood to adulthood; most of them are lost and can't be found, perhaps somewhere in the background.

Xi Zirong flipped through the books on the table again, her mind filled with the image of the little girl sitting at her desk, studying day after day for years.

His heart softened, and he carefully flipped through the notebook in his hand. Xu Su's handwriting was already very neat in junior high school, and she looked like a good student.