Chapter 81: I'm Afraid That If I See Him, I Won't Be Able to Resist Giving Him a Beating!

When Lin Xiao woke up, it was already the next morning.

Perhaps it was the aftereffects of his hangover, but his head still felt a bit muddled. It seemed his tolerance for alcohol was truly abysmal. If he ever found himself in such a situation again, unless absolutely necessary, he should best avoid touching alcohol altogether.

Lin Xiao had no recollection of what he had done after drinking the night before. He could remember everything clearly up until he downed that glass, but everything that followed was a complete blank. He hadn’t checked his spatial ring yet, so he was entirely unaware of his midnight “raid” on the nursing home.

Seeing Lin Xiao awake, Sun Zhiyuan, who had risen much earlier, greeted him.

“Awake?”

Lin Xiao nodded, though he couldn’t help but notice that Sun Zhiyuan was looking at him rather strangely.

“Is there something on my face, brother?”

“No, but have you really forgotten everything from last night?”

By now, all the elderly residents knew about Lin Xiao’s drunken escapade. Liu Jiao had already told them he was the culprit behind the incident. The old folks were rendered speechless, but none of them could bring themselves to ask for their things back, so they tacitly agreed to treat it as a gift.

Lin Xiao, hearing Sun Zhiyuan’s question, was utterly bewildered. He genuinely couldn’t remember a thing. Had he done something outrageous while drunk last night?

“Brother, I didn’t do anything mortifying, did I? Like… a striptease?”

Sun Zhiyuan studied Lin Xiao’s face and, seeing no sign of pretense, realized that Lin Xiao truly had no memory of his actions. He had expected this; it was obvious to everyone that Lin Xiao had been thoroughly drunk last night.

No one could have guessed that, in his drunken state, he would go on to “loot” the nursing home.

“No, nothing outrageous like that. Today’s the day you leave the nursing home, after all. We’ll miss you. Here are your train ticket and your admission letter. Xiao Xu will take you to the station later. The rest of us won’t be seeing you off.”

Lin Xiao nodded and took the ticket from Sun Zhiyuan, checking the departure time—it was for noon, and it was already past nine in the morning. Time to get moving.

Drinking really had thrown everything off. For almost two months, he had been waking up at two or three in the morning, rain or shine, to learn cooking from Song Mingze. But just one night of drinking had completely disrupted his routine. Truly, alcohol was nothing but trouble.

“Brother, where are the others? I should at least say goodbye before I leave.”

“No need. We agreed yesterday that you’d leave on your own. We’re all getting on in years and don’t care much for farewells.”

Lin Xiao fell silent, feeling that leaving like this wasn’t quite right. But seeing Sun Zhiyuan’s expression, he knew that nothing he said would change things.

“I’ll come back to visit you all during the holidays!”

“You’d better. You’ll always be one of us here, so you have to come back during the breaks. All right, Xiao Xu’s waiting for you outside. I won’t see you off—he’ll take you to the station.”

Lin Xiao opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing more.

He had little luggage. After a moment’s thought, he went over and gave Sun Zhiyuan a hug.

“Brother, there’s nothing more to say. Thank you for looking after me all this time. I’m off!”

Sun Zhiyuan felt a sudden sting in his nose. From today on, he would be living alone again. For some reason, a wave of loneliness swept over him.

When Lin Xiao stepped out of his room, he found Xu Qing waiting for him outside.

After so many days together, he and Xu Qing had grown quite close. Of all the people in the nursing home, Xu Qing was the only one around his age.

“Xiao Xu, after I leave, take good care of all our uncles and aunties.”

Xu Qing couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was well acquainted with how shameless he was. Ever since he’d started calling her Xiao Xu, the nickname had stuck, and he truly acted as if he were the elder here. Normally, she would have argued with him, but since today was his departure, she let it go.

“Don’t worry, Grandpa Lin. I’ll look after everyone here.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you’re too reserved. If you keep holding yourself back, the elders will only distance themselves from you.”

Xu Qing understood his point. In truth, she envied Lin Xiao. Although he could be cheeky, he genuinely treated the elderly as family, and they enjoyed his company. Since Lin Xiao’s arrival, there were far more smiles on the residents’ faces.

She wished she could be like Lin Xiao. Maybe if she weren’t so uptight, the elders would be warmer towards her too. But knowing and doing were two different things.

She had grown up listening to the legendary stories of these elders. In their presence, she couldn’t help but feel nervous and constrained. There was nothing to be done—after all, not everyone could be as carefree as Lin Xiao.

“I understand, Grandpa Lin. I’ll try to change. But time’s running short—we have to drive to the station, so let’s not waste any more time.”

“Let’s get going. If only Brother Murong were here—he could just teleport me straight to the station. Why bother with all this trouble?”

Xu Qing rolled her eyes again. Only he would dare talk about the country’s number one spatial cultivator as if he were just a chauffeur.

As he left his dorm, Lin Xiao had hoped to bump into some of the other residents to say goodbye. But as he stepped outside, not a single one was in sight.

It left him with a pang of sadness.

When he reached the main gate, not even Grandpa Zhang was there. In that moment, he understood. These elders truly disliked farewells.

Outside the nursing home, the car was already waiting.

Lin Xiao did not get in right away. Instead, he turned and bowed deeply toward the home. Only after a long moment did he straighten, and then he called out loudly in the direction of the nursing home:

“Brothers and sisters, I’ll come back to visit often!”

Only then did he get into the car. Xu Qing took the driver’s seat, and as the car pulled away, the elders who had been hiding all along finally emerged from the shadows.

“Sigh, the boy’s finally gone. For some reason, I feel so empty inside.”

“It’s true—aging makes one far more sentimental.”

“Oh, enough of that. I was going to see him off, but he looted all my pills last night! If I saw him, I might not be able to resist giving him a beating!”

“Count me in!”

“Me too!”