Chapter 163: Going to College

Nanming City. The night was exceptionally deep.

"Is... is that really it?" Liu Liping asked, bewildered, as she pulled a lying-down Lu Kun back up.

"What else do you want? I have to go to work tomorrow, go back to sleep early, baby," Lu Kun said with heavy, drowsy eyes as she dragged him up.

"But... but wasn't that way too fast? Even milk delivery guys drop things off at the front door! What on earth was wrong with you tonight? Have you suddenly turned into some kind of great sage?" Liu Liping asked, feeling somewhat frantic.

"Wasn't it because of all that random pinching you did earlier?" Lu Kun retorted angrily.

"..."

"I... I didn't mean to do it," Liu Liping's voice gradually trailed off.

"I don't care, I'm going to sleep," Lu Kun turned his back directly, lay down again, and covered the back of his head firmly with the pillow.

"Don't be like that. If we're not going to do anything, at least wake up and keep me company by talking," Liu Liping said, directly rolling Lu Kun back over.

"I'm telling you, will you ever quit?" Lu Kun's temper flared up instantly.

...

"Look at what time it is, why aren't you sleeping yet?" Lu Kun asked helplessly, sporting dark circles under his eyes and yawning continuously.

"I can't sleep, and I don't want to sleep," Liu Liping felt more and more wide awake.

"Then go play by yourself, keep your hands to yourself, and don't reach them over here again," Lu Kun dropped back down into the duvet.

Lu Kun felt like Liu Liping was acting like an absolute lunatic tonight, endless with her tossing and turning. "Hey, what are you doing sitting on top of me?..."

...

"Wake up quickly, Yiming is crying," Lu Kun reached out to nudge Liu Liping, who was sleeping near the inside wall, and said sleepily.

"You're sleeping on the outside, you go coax him," Liu Liping shook her head, yawned, and burrowed back into the quilt.

"You're his mother, hurry up and change his diaper and feed him," Lu Kun said angrily.

"Not doing it! You're his father too. We need a division of labor," Liu Liping sat up straight and said to Lu Kun.

"What kind of division of labor?" Lu Kun asked, annoyed beyond measure as he yawned.

"How about this: you change Yiming's diaper, and I'll feed him, how does that sound?" Liu Liping straightened up, then added, "If Yiming can't finish it and there's extra, I'll let you taste it too."

"..." Lu Kun.

Lu Kun scrambled out of bed and deftly changed little Yiming's diaper.

"There, the diaper's changed, the kid is yours," Lu Kun yawned, handed the child into Liu Liping's arms, and dove back under the covers.

A quarter of an hour later.

"Hey, there's still some left, do you want it or not?" Liu Liping asked, nudging Lu Kun who was wrapped up tightly like a cocoon.

"I'm exhausted, just leave it there for now, I'll drink it later," Lu Kun said, letting out a long yawn.

"Don't, drink it while it's warm!" Liu Liping nudged Lu Kun again, only to find that this time he was too lazy to even reply.

Seeing this situation, realizing it was impossible unless she let her man get a full night's sleep, Liu Liping simply said, "Then should I call your company and tell them you won't be coming in today?"

"Just call my assistant and tell her I won't be coming in for the morning shift, I'll go in the afternoon," Lu Kun mumbled a reply.

...

The sun was high in the sky.

"Hey, why did you come out wearing just your boxers? All the kids are home today since it's Saturday," Liu Liping asked hastily as she saw Lu Kun emerge from the room in his slippers.

"I couldn't find my undershirt, who knows where you threw it when you stripped me last night," Lu Kun said, rubbing his eyes.

"Go back inside, I'll find it for you. Our daughter is growing up, you really need to be more mindful," Liu Liping pushed and pulled Lu Kun back into the bedroom, returning a moment later with a clean undershirt.

As Lu Kun slipped the garment on, he asked, "Have you had lunch yet?"

"Not yet, it's still early, Sister Jiang is busy preparing lunch in the kitchen."

Liu Liping continued, "What's wrong, are you hungry?"

"Feel it yourself, look at how sunken it is," Lu Kun said irritably, placing her hand on his abdomen.

"I can't really tell if it's sunken, I just think those abdominal muscles feel pretty good," Liu Liping said with a giggle behind her hand.

"Is there anything to eat? Hurry up. Struggling through all of last night felt even harder than hauling sacks of grain for a whole night," Lu Kun complained grumpily.

"Get out of here!" Liu Liping rolled her eyes, then said to Lu Kun, "Wait right here, I'll go bring it in for you!"

Before her voice had even faded, she had already dashed out with a flurry of energy.

...

"Ciba rice cakes? Savory or sweet?" Lu Kun raised an eyebrow and asked.

When it came to eating ciba, Liu Liping belonged to the 'sweet faction' while Lu Kun belonged to the 'savory faction'. Therefore, whenever the family made this snack, they always had to make both sweet and savory versions, and they even had to mark them to tell them apart so neither of them would end up with the wrong flavor.

"Savory," Liu Liping said huffily. "As if I wouldn't know that you like savory ciba."

"Hehe, thanks," Lu Kun said happily, his mouth full as he ate heartily.

...

"Wife, there's something I want to ask you," Lu Kun's eyes flickered as he spoke with deliberation.

"What is it?" Liu Liping asked, brushing a lock of hair from her forehead.

"Do you want to go back to school?" Lu Kun asked seriously.

"School?" Liu Liping froze, a look of utter bewilderment on her face.

"I'm almost thirty, what school would I go back to? Go back to high school with those punk kids and young girls?" Liu Liping said with a smile.

"Not high school, I mean for you to go straight to college," Lu Kun explained.

"Huh?" Liu Liping was dumbfounded. "I haven't even been to high school, how could I go to college?"

"You don't need to worry about that, just tell me whether you want to go to college or not," Lu Kun insisted.

As for the high school issue, in front of money, it wasn't an issue at all.

In recent years, specialized secondary schools had been all the rage, while regular high schools were merely a footnote, mostly filled with students from wealthy families and mediocre grades.

If Lu Kun really wanted to fabricate a high school diploma from a decade ago for Liu Liping, it wouldn't take any real effort.

He just needed to stuff some cash into any rural high school, and they could whip up a "perfectly reasonable" high school background history for Liu Liping.

"Can I really go to college?" Liu Liping grabbed Lu Kun's arm with her left hand while pointing her right index finger at her own nose, asking with a trace of disbelief.

"Of course you can," Lu Kun nodded seriously.

In recent years, all kinds of correspondence degrees were flying everywhere.

Anyone with solid family wealth would throw money at "buying" a correspondence diploma for their relatives, treating it as an insurance policy for their lives.

At this time, the value of a correspondence degree wasn't as low as in later generations.

To solve the problem of insufficient educational funding, the government had opened many doors for major universities, releasing a large quota for correspondence programs.

As long as you had money, even top-tier universities like Shuimu University, Peking University, and Renmin University were accessible, and the educational quality wasn't bad either.

The difference between attending a correspondence university and a regular university was almost nonexistent; the professors teaching the classes were the same.

On the contrary, many universities even gave special accommodations to correspondence students regarding food and housing.

"Since you can get me into college, that means you can go to college too, right?" Liu Liping bit her lip, her eyes lighting up as she tugged at Lu Kun's arm in excitement.

Lu Kun: "..."

"Should I also go to university to recharge my batteries?" Lu Kun touched his forehead in thought.

"Come with me to college!" Liu Liping pulled on Lu Kun's arm, saying with a cheerful smile.

Lu Kun felt a brief moment of daze; Liu Liping's childlike innocence made him feel as though they had returned to the time when they first met, where the slightest touch could instantly spark the flames of romance.