On Monday morning, taking advantage of the cool weather, Mu Qiu saw Zhao Yu off on a flight back to Yun City.

She had already begun handling her paperwork to go abroad and was handing over her job responsibilities, so Mu Qiu couldn’t keep her for long.

Leaving the airport, Mu Qiu drove back to her small villa. On the way, she passed a field of wildflowers in various colors in the suburbs and stopped to stay for a while.

The sun hung at the edge of the plain, and as she looked up into the empty surroundings, she felt an infinite vitality stirring in this desolate space, ready to seize the opportunity to grow wildly once the time was right.

She took out her sticky notes and pen, daydreamed for a while, wrote for a while, and when she felt words couldn’t fully capture it, she added some simple sketches alongside.

Sketches that were quite "crude."

While recording inspiration, she was often fully immersed; she couldn’t hear other sounds nor could she get distracted by other things.

So when the phone in the driver’s seat rang, she didn’t hear it at all.

It wasn’t until she had written and drawn on several sticky notes, and finally finished recording with a sense of satisfaction, that she opened the car door, picked up her phone, and realized that her parents had called her five or six times in a row.

Mu Qiu immediately got back into the car, frowned, shut the door, and called them back.

Her parents rarely called her several times in a row, so something must have happened.

The call quickly connected, and the other end was filled with a cacophony of noise.

Feeling anxious, she raised her voice and shouted into the phone, "Dad? Mom?!"

A moment later, Yuan Chun’s relatively normal voice came through, "We’re here, we’re here. What’s going on with you, my child? You keep not answering calls!"

Mu Qiu sighed with relief, turned on the speaker on the hot phone against her ear, placed it on the magnetic charger, and started the car.

"Mom, you scared me to death, calling so many times suddenly. Where are you guys?"

"You’re the one scaring us to death! Not answering the phone for so long. Don’t you usually get up early to write? The phone should be in your hand, but suddenly you didn’t answer any call, your dad was about to get Jiling to come and fetch you!"

Fetch me?

Mu Qiu urgently parked by the roadside, brought the phone back to her ear again, "Fetch me for what? Did you come to Hai City?!"

"Yes, we’re at the airport. Are you free now? Come pick us up..."

"Pick you up? What’s there to pick up?" Mu Zhi’s voice replaced Yuan Chun’s, scolding her, "She didn’t drive, even if she did, would you feel safe letting her come to pick us up? Let her give us an address, we’ll just take a cab there."

Just as Yuan Chun was about to relay these words, Mu Qiu had already heard everything and decisively said, "You guys stay put at the airport, find a cool spot, and wait for me. I’ll pick you up right away."

Yuan Chun asked, "Did you drive?"

"I did, just sent Zhao Yu to catch a flight. Mom, if you’d have told me earlier, I could have waited for you at the airport."

"It was your dad’s sudden idea. Drive slowly, don’t rush."

How could I not rush?

Mu Qiu hung up the phone, turned the car around at the intersection, and slammed on the gas, racing back the way she had just come.

The university hadn’t started its holiday yet, and the two professors chose a Monday to travel across cities. Who knows what happened?

Could it be some online negative reviews blew up again? Or did some of Cheng Zhirang’s haters or paparazzi find our home?

Otherwise, why would they suddenly come to Hai City? They couldn’t have even had time to let me know, arriving so early here must mean they were at the airport at least three hours ago.

Getting up so early, it’s definitely not simply wanting to come see me without reason.

She pursed her lips tightly and frowned, speeding up whenever traffic conditions allowed.

Before long, she returned to the airport, not bothering to wear a mask, and got out of the car immediately, calling Yuan Chun while scanning the surroundings and heading towards the airport.

"Hello? Mom? Where are you?"

"I see you, go back to the car, don’t come out. There are people staring at you from the side."

Mu Qiu frowned, ignored the warning, and followed the voice to find them.

Mu Zhi was pushing a big suitcase, Yuan Chun wore sunglasses, both walking fast and sweating on their foreheads from the heat.

Her heart suddenly felt a twinge of sourness.

"Mom, Dad."

...

Mu Qiu brought them back to her small villa.

They knew about the house when she bought it, but they couldn’t participate in the process, only entrusted Zhou Jilin to help her.

So it was their first time seeing her home there.

Mu Zhi emphasized the house’s safety, didn’t even go in to have a sip of water, walked around the villa once, and came back praising Zhou Jilin for doing a good job, but wouldn’t praise her for having good taste.

Yuan Chun went inside to look around, noticing there were hardly any items in the kitchen, the house was very simply furnished, obviously not often cooked in. Hence, feeling both worried and unable to refrain from chiding her.

"Once you start writing those things, you forget to eat. Now living alone, so far away, you must be even more relaxed. How long has it been since you’ve cooked yourself a proper meal?"

Mu Qiu didn’t like their nagging, but being apart for so long, she also missed this feeling.

She quietly placed some warm water in front of them, not daring to talk back.

Besides, she occasionally cooked too, especially breakfast, regularly, just not only here half the time.

However, she didn’t dare say that.

After placing water in front of them, she obediently sat beside Yuan Chun.

"Mom, why did you guys suddenly come over? It’s Monday, don’t you have classes?"

Mu Zhi drank some water silently; Yuan Chun glanced at him, then turned to Mu Qiu, softening her tone.

"Just wanted to visit you. Yesterday was Zhao Yu’s birthday, did you entertain her well?"

"Of course I did," she briefly replied, then pursued, "You must have some reason, did any fans find our home?"

"No."

She didn’t believe it, stubbornly watching them, frowning without speaking.

Yuan Chun sighed, seeing the identical stubbornness in the father and daughter.

"It really is just a visit. The other day when you finished recording that program, the camera scanned the place where you were having a meal."

She paused, carefully choosing her words as she looked at Mu Qiu’s expression: "All the others are famous celebrities, with several people following behind. Only you and Zhao Yu, no one prepared any meals for you, right? You ate the same takeaway as the staff?"

Mu Qiu was momentarily stunned, instinctively shook her head.

"There were preparations."

"What preparations?" Mu Zhi spoke sternly, "Among all those people, not one was there waiting for you. Even if someone prepared for you, they were doing you a favor. When you eat others’ meals, you need to remember to thank them. You can’t always trouble others."

The next words were going to be sentimental, but he forcibly switched the topic, speaking words that contradicted how he felt.

"You’re so stubborn, insisted on joining this program. You’re neither a celebrity nor with any backing, how could they treat you like those celebrities? If you’re wronged, who would you even tell?!"

His words painted her as if she were a neglected child, invisible to everyone on this show.

Mu Qiu’s eyes grew a bit warm.