She withdrew her hand and walked over to the disembarkation area to wait.
Meanwhile, Lin Zhilan held onto Su Lang's hand and hopped ashore.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, a familiar voice rang in her ears: "Sister!"
Lin Zhilan looked up abruptly and saw Wang Rou.
Her eyes lit up. Letting go of Su Lang's hand, she ran over in a few quick steps.
The two friends embraced each other tightly.
Su Lang: "..."
He glanced at his empty hand, then at the two tightly embracing women opposite him, and expressionlessly withdrew his hand.
Forget it, he just needed to get used to it.
Su Lang turned around to carry the children down, then reached out to help his mother.
"Sister, I missed you so much," Wang Rou's voice was muffled, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at Lin Zhilan with a pitiful expression, "Why did it take you so long to come back?"
Lin Zhilan raised a hand to wipe the corners of her eyes and smiled. "It takes time to travel, you know. But how did you know I was coming back today? Have you been coming here every day to wait?"
Wang Rou pouted slightly and nodded.
Seeing her like this, Lin Zhilan's heart felt warm and soft. Right now, Wang Rou looked a bit like Linlin, acting like a little girl throwing a cute tantrum.
She smiled and tapped Wang Rou's nose. "That's nice too."
Wang Rou was originally feeling wronged, but upon hearing this, she immediately looked at her accusingly. Her eyes clearly said: Don't you feel sorry for me anymore?
Lin Zhilan couldn't help but laugh. "I was worried that while I was away, you would coop yourself up at home every day. Coming out to enjoy the sea breeze now, doesn't it feel pretty good?"
"Hmm..."
Wang Rou thought about it for a moment and had to admit it.
Xu Yueyun and Su Bingcheng had also disembarked by this time, watching their younger daughter-in-law catch up with her friend.
Linlin watched her mother and Auntie Wang Rou being so affectionate, and helplessly spread her hands.
She introduced them to her grandparents, "That is Auntie Wang Rou, Mom's good friend. Grandma, Auntie Wang Rou is so pretty, isn't she? She also draws a lot of beautiful pictures."
That's how children are; when they like a person or a thing, they use a boastful tone when introducing them to others.
Xu Yueyun examined the young woman standing opposite her daughter-in-law.
Jet-black hair, a fair and clean face, delicate and pleasing features, and an outstanding temperament—she was indeed beautiful.
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, very pretty."
Xu Yueyun had a quirk: she simply liked good-looking people.
When she fell for Su Bingcheng in her youth, it was also because Comrade Lao Su was a famously handsome young man in their area back then.
Now, upon meeting Wang Rou for the first time, she instantly took a liking to the girl.
First, because anyone with eyes could see that her daughter-in-law had a great relationship with this girl.
Second, because Wang Rou was very good-looking.
Hearing the conversation between her daughter and mother-in-law, Lin Zhilan finally came to her senses.
She pulled Wang Rou forward by the hand and introduced everyone one by one. "These are my parents-in-law. Mom, Dad, this is Wang Rou. She is my good friend and lives right next door."
Wang Rou stood up straight and politely greeted the elderly couple, "Hello, Uncle and Auntie."
"Hello."
Xu Yueyun nodded with a smile. "I heard from Zhilan that you neighbors get along very well. Thank you for taking care of the children on the island."
Wang Rou shook her head and said earnestly, "It's my sister who takes care of me."
As they spoke, the two women locked eyes again.
Su Lang finally couldn't hold back and interjected, "It's getting late. I'll go see if the car is here yet."
The dock was still some distance from the military base. With so much luggage and children in tow, Su Lang had arranged for someone to send a car over in advance.
As soon as he finished speaking, a military-green jeep drove over from the road.
Bai Yang jumped out of the car and saluted Su Lang. "Regiment Commander, Sister-in-law, you're back!"
Su Lang nodded and patted his shoulder. "Come on, help me move the luggage."
"Yes, sir!"
Bai Yang nodded in greeting to Su Bingcheng and Xu Yueyun, then enthusiastically went to move the luggage.
Su Bingcheng hurriedly followed him. "Xiao Lang, how long can we use this car? Can you drop me and your mother off at this address first?"
He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket.
An address was written on it.
It was a small village not far from the military base.
"Dad, what does this mean?" Su Lang was confused.
Xu Yueyun walked over and said, "I asked Chengzhou about the layout of your house. The two rooms downstairs are for the children, the upstairs is your room, and there's another room filled with clutter. We won't go over and crowd you."
Su Lang had indeed thought about finding another house for his parents.
But he hadn't expected the two elders to act so quickly and arrange everything before even arriving on the island.
Hearing this, Lin Zhilan frowned and said, "Mom, Dad, you don't have to worry about disturbing us. We still have an empty room upstairs. If you find climbing the stairs inconvenient, I'll have Chengzhou move upstairs, and you can sleep downstairs."
"No, no need," Xu Yueyun declined. "We old folks are used to living alone. We don't like living with you young people."
Xu Yueyun said this on purpose.
If she said she was afraid of disturbing them, the children definitely wouldn't agree.
But phrasing it this way made it hard for the children to refuse.
As expected, Lin Zhilan hesitated for a moment. "Su Lang, let's go check out this house first. If the conditions are good, we'll let Mom and Dad stay there for now. If not, we'll take them straight back with us."
Su Lang agreed.
Wang Rou had ridden her bicycle over.
The jeep couldn't fit so many people, so she took the initiative to tug at Lin Zhilan's hand. "Sister, I'll head back first and wait for you at home."
"Alright," Lin Zhilan agreed.
Just as Wang Rou was about to leave, she turned her head and caught sight of the few people who had been gossiping earlier.
She turned back and deliberately raised her voice, "Sister, for those drawings you told me to submit, the newspaper sent me my payment. This time it's over twenty dollars."
"That's because you draw well."
"No, it's because you taught me and told me to draw those. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to make this money."
These people only knew how to gossip; they had no idea how good her sister was to her.
Wang Rou just wanted them to know that she adored her sister, and her sister was worthy of her adoration.
Besides, why didn't Sister Zhilan help others make money, but only helped her?
It must be because her sister liked her too.
Wang Rou usually spoke very gently, and Lin Zhilan didn't know why she was suddenly speaking so loudly.
"We'll talk about this later. You head home first."
"Okay, I'll leave after I see your car drive away."
Wang Rou seemed docile on the surface, but she actually had a stubborn streak.
Lin Zhilan gave her a reproachful yet fond look, then turned and got into the car.
Wang Rou watched the jeep drive away, tucked her hair behind her ear, and walked past the group of gossiping people from earlier.
Sure enough, as soon as she left, the group started chattering again.
"Did you hear that just now? Over twenty dollars, just for a few drawings?"
"Who knows what kind of drawings they were."
"No drawing is worth that much! From what she just said, it was Doctor Lin who taught her. No wonder..."
