To make up for the debt owed to Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

She deliberately put on a stern face, "Didn't you give me all your salary? Where did you get the money to buy this and that?"

His expression changed immediately. "I've done a good job... I'll receive the reward."

After saying that, he took the rest of the money out of his pocket and handed it to her. Seeing that her eyes were still red, he clumsily wiped away her tears with his other hand.

The money in his hand was practically nothing to her, but she still took it, letting his rough fingers caress the corner of her eye.

"Anything else?" she asked, reaching out her hand.

His eyes widened in surprise. "It's gone." He had given her all the money.

Lin Qingping glanced at him sideways, "You're planning to take back the box you just gave me? You weren't really serious about giving it to me, were you?"

That's really unfair to him. But when has Lin Qingping ever been reasonable?

He denied it repeatedly and handed her the small gift box, which Lin Qingping didn't know what it was.

She took it and opened it; under the night sky, the contents of the box shone with a dazzling golden light.

It turned out to be a gold necklace.

Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a long-established brand from the capital.

"When did you buy it?" Hasn't he been out for two months? This time-honored shop seems to mainly do custom orders, where old gold craftsmen make things to order, so you have to order in advance.

"I couldn't get out, so I asked Wu Tianping to place the order for me. I went down to pick it up today."

Lin Qingping snorted, "What if I go to someone else's birthday party today? What are you going to do with this necklace then?"

He was silent.

"Gu Juncheng, don't lie to me!" she warned first.

"Let my older sister give it to you," he said honestly.

Lin Qingping was both angry and speechless.

What angered me was that he had actually made up his mind: if she got together with someone else, he would let her go. So that's what he meant when he said, "I gave you a chance."

"Gu Juncheng! Do you have so little faith in me?" she glared at him angrily.

He gazed into her bright eyes and spoke his mind for the first time: "I lack confidence in myself."

Lin Qingping suddenly realized: He lacked confidence in himself! Was it because he was incapable as a man that he lacked confidence?

She felt a pang of regret. How could she have overlooked this? Besides, he hadn't been home for the past two months, so she hadn't been able to make the soup for him according to her mother-in-law's recipe...

Gu Juncheng noticed her gaze shifting eight hundred times in a second, and he felt a little strange. Then he saw her take his arm and say with great concern, "Gu Juncheng, don't think like that. What I care about is you as a person, nothing else. As long as you are a good person and treat me well, nothing else matters."

A wave of emotion welled up in Gu Juncheng's heart. He rarely revealed his thoughts, and a hint of worry flickered in his eyes. "You are all so young and full of energy, I..."

Lin Qingping didn't like hearing that!

She immediately interrupted him, "Gu Juncheng, are you looking down on me by saying that? Do you think I'm the kind of person who only knows low-level interests? What I value more is upright character, shared interests, and a connection of souls!"

As for other things... at least he's very strong. Even if he doesn't take medication anymore, and can't do it often... well, he won't need to do it often anyway, since he's away from home most of the time.

"So, Lin Qingping, I've given you a chance, you can't regret it now." He took her hand.

Of course she won't regret it!

She handed him the necklace. "Put it on!"

Gu Juncheng did as she asked and put it on for her.

Lin Qingping turned around and asked him vainly, "Does it look good?"

He smiled slightly and nodded. "It looks good."

Lin Qingping snorted, "Luckily you didn't say you'd give the gifts to someone else if you saw me celebrating my birthday with them! Let me tell you, Gu Juncheng! You can only give me gifts in this lifetime!"

The streetlights at that moment, reflected in his dark eyes, shone brighter than the stars.

He hopped on his bicycle and said softly, "Get on."

Lin Qingping jumped onto the back seat and hugged his waist.

It's April now, and the cold wind is no longer biting.

The wind was warm, carrying the fragrance of flowers from who-knows-where, the air was sweet enough to make you nauseous.

The gold necklace rested against Lin Qingping's neck, feeling slightly cool.

In a daze, she remembered that in her past life she had also asked Gu Juncheng for a gold necklace.

That was the last year of her marriage with him, not long after her birthday.

She was unhappy with the birthday gift he sent her. When she saw some of the girls she met in the county town wearing gold necklaces and showing them off in front of her, she was furious. She immediately sent a telegram to Gu Juncheng, asking him to buy her a gold necklace.

This was the only thing Gu Juncheng couldn't do for her in her past life—because, not long after she sent this telegram, he sacrificed himself…

She didn't receive the gold necklace he sent; instead, she received his belongings.

Later in life, she bought gold necklaces for many people: her mother, her sister-in-law, her niece, her friends...

Everyone had received a gold necklace from her, but she herself had never worn it.

No one bought her any. Most importantly, it seemed as if she was deliberately avoiding those three words her whole life. She never even wore gold jewelry, and even after she became financially independent, she only wore jade.

A lifetime later, he was the one who finally put the gold necklace on her finger...

She hugged him, pressed her face against his back, and inexplicably, tears soaked his clothes.

Gu Juncheng, thank you, fate, for letting me find you again.

Gu Juncheng originally wanted to take her out to eat something, but Lin Qingping thought about Zhiyuan and Xiaomai at home and told him to go home instead.

However, on the way, she packed a roast duck and stopped at the vegetable market near her home. There happened to be a stall selling fresh lamb. With Gu Juncheng as her helper, she bought half a duck, a large piece of beef, potatoes, and other vegetables. She loaded some onto her bicycle, and Gu Juncheng carried the rest. The two of them walked home.

Zhiyuan is really well-behaved. While she and her second sister have to go to school, and Sister Zhao and Gu Youlian are minding the shop, he takes his sister home to play. He even plays cat's cradle and hopscotch with her.

When she and Gu Juncheng returned, he was playing jump rope with Xiaomai in the yard. They tied one end of the rope to a tree and the other end to Zhiyuan's leg. Xiaomai was sweating profusely from jumping.

The two children were very happy to see them return and helped carry the vegetables.

"How about we have barbecue today?" Lin Qingping asked enthusiastically.

Zhiyuan and Xiaomai had never eaten this before and were very excited. Gu Juncheng had experience with outdoor cooking and grilling during field training, but it was nothing like a proper barbecue.

He's not picky about food; he can eat anything, and he can eat two big bowls of anything. But if she wants to eat, what can you say? Besides, she's a particularly good eater.

Following her "instructions," Gu Juncheng separated the mutton, marinated the lamb chops and legs, skewered the mutton, cut the beef into small pieces and skewered them as well, sliced ​​potatoes and blood sausage, washed various vegetables such as chives, and even plated the rice cakes...

Then they moved them all to the yard.