Qin Huai followed beside them, listening to Zhou Hu talk about various technical terms, watching Mr. Qin nod in agreement with complete trust, as they moved from the front yard to the backyard, and then began inspecting room by room.

When they reached the kitchen, Granny Qin was inside making tea with hot water, while Qin Luo was beside her slicing a fragrant lemon, looking like she was about to make homemade lemon tea.

Qin Huai quickly said, "Luoluo, use the Phoenix Dancong tea brought by Mr. Xu as the base; I want duck shit fragrance homemade lemon tea."

"Okay, brother," Qin Luo nodded quickly to indicate she remembered, "Does Mr. Xu also want duck shit fragrance homemade lemon tea?"

Qin Huai thought Mr. Xu's stomach might not handle such a cold drink, but wasn't entirely sure—what if Mr. Xu liked it?—so he said, "I'll go ask him; where is Mr. Xu?"

"Seems like he's in the room looking at your childhood homework books," Qin Luo replied.

Qin Huai: ?

Upon hearing this from Qin Luo, Qin Huai immediately couldn't pay attention to Zhou Hu anymore and quickly ran towards the room. As expected, in the study—though it's more like a small room with a table that could be used for homework while also piling up sundries—he found Mr. Xu flipping through his junior high math homework books, and Qin Congwen enthusiastically rummaging through a box to find more homework books.

Qin Huai: ...

It seems he'll need to send a WeChat reminder to Zhou Hu later, urging him to use Master Zhou's identity to advise Mr. Qin to practice the art of letting go and throw away all those useless things.

Especially his childhood homework books.

Qin Huai truly didn't quite understand how Director Qin and Mr. Qin both loved collecting things—they collected but never looked, just pure collection.

Now Qin Huai somewhat understood why Director Qin was so obsessed with collecting paintings from orphanage children. But he still couldn't comprehend why Mr. Qin loved collecting his homework books so much.

School textbooks and draft papers were all sold to scrap collectors for 60 cents a kilogram when Qin Huai graduated high school. But the homework books, and they were all used ones, Mr. Qin didn't sell a single one; they were all stored in the old house in the countryside, even specially delivered by Qin Congwen using a van from Qiu County.

"Mr. Xu, look, this is Huaihuai's handwriting practice book from when he was a child. I didn't expect my dad to even keep this, it's from so many years ago," Qin Congwen, astonished, found another treasure from the box, dusted off the old, yellowed, stiff pages of the handwriting practice book and handed it to Mr. Xu.

Mr. Xu took the handwriting practice book and started to look through it.

Qin Huai didn't expect after experiencing the orphanage's screenings of paintings, he would face the crisis of his old home handwriting viewing.

Compared to Director Qin's collection of those paintings, Mr. Qin's collection of homework and handwriting practice books seemed relatively normal, and Qin Huai's handwriting now was quite good, as he had formally learned hard pen calligraphy for several years during junior high. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The phrase "意在笔先" — "the intention precedes the pen" — Qin Huai had never forgotten.

But this doesn't mean there isn't embarrassment in having these things seen by others.

"Dad, why did you pull out all these things?" Qin Huai quietly observed at the door for a minute, unable to hold back and asked.

Qin Congwen was still searching, smiling as he said, "Your mom asked me to tidy up the study so it's convenient for Luoluo to do her worksheets tonight; Luoluo brought a few sheets to get them done before the New Year; otherwise, during the actual New Year, she'll go crazy with play."

"I'm just tidying up, and Mr. Xu happened by and asked if I wanted help. This task doesn't require help, so I got talking with Mr. Xu casually."

"Speaking of, this table has quite a history. When you and Luoluo were young, you spent your New Year at grandpa's, always doing homework at this table."

"Hey, your grandpa even kept Luoluo's childhood drawing sketchbook."

Qin Huai quickly stepped forward, suddenly understanding the joy Mr. Qin and Director Qin found: "This thing is still kept? Dad, let me see it quickly!"

Mr. Xu stood up with a smile, moved a chair from the corner behind Qin Huai, indicating for Qin Huai to sit and look.