"Now that you're back, how are you?" Liu Siying asked.

"Wait for me to wash my face." Xu Qiang smiled and said, "Let's go out for dinner tonight."

"Go out to eat? Then the squad leader and the others..."

"Who cares? I bought them a bunch of fruits, enough to shut them up." Xu Qiang said.

"Okay, then I'll change my clothes." Liu Siying said, turned around and quickly went upstairs.

Ten minutes later, Xu Qiang and Liu Siying had walked out of the dormitory building.

During these two days, Xu Qiang's happiest time was when he went shopping with Liu Siying at night. When no one was around, he would hold her hand and say some sweet words that made her blush. The cool breeze at night made Xu Qiang feel particularly warm and comfortable.

Of course Xu Qiang could also see that although Liu Siying agreed to Xu Qiang's request to date, she was still a little slow to warm up to feelings. It would probably take a long time for them to get to the point of discussing marriage.

However, this is not a problem for Xu Qiang. After all, they are both at a critical period in their lives and careers, and four years of college life together is a long time, so Xu Qiang is not in a hurry to get married. On the contrary, the current situation makes them feel very relaxed.

The weather in Shanghai in March is the most comfortable. Accordingly, there are many people shopping at night, and there are more and more snack stalls on both sides of the streets.

Among them, there are the most stalls selling fried foods. Pan-fried buns, Shanghai spring rolls, and heavy-oil rapeseed buns are all Shanghainese people’s favorite street food. There are crowds of people in front of almost every stall.

The Shanghai spring rolls are filled with shredded pork, which is crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside. You have to eat it when it is hot, otherwise it will become limp and not worth eating. The heavy rapeseed buns should contain chopped shepherd's purse and chopped tofu, and the taste is quite good.

Following Xu Qiang, Liu Siying never asked for anything on her own initiative, but Xu Qiang immediately squeezed into the crowd and bought her some spring rolls and heavy rapeseed buns by observing how long her eyes stayed on the various stalls.

When Liu Siying saw the snacks handed to her by Xu Qiang, her eyes lit up and she reached out to take them.

Then, the two found a small wooden table next to the stall and sat down.

"How do you know these are my favorite foods?" Liu Siying said to Xu Qiang with a smile.

"You must have heard of the idiom 'hearts are connected'. Only people who like each other can see each other's mind. I think that's the case with us right now."

"You're so funny!" Liu Siying smiled and continued, "When I was a kid living in Shanghai, my favorite thing to eat was spring rolls. At that time, I felt that this thing was the most delicious food in the world, but it was a little hot..."

"Hahaha." Xu Qiang also laughed when he heard that. He said, "I'm different from you. When I was a child, my family was very poor. I was grateful to have enough to eat. As long as it was food, I would think it was delicious..."

"Was life in the village so hard when you were a kid?"

"Of course, I can't compare to people in big cities like you, but I'm not starving to death." Xu Qiang paused, then continued: "So at that time I was thinking that I must study hard and live in a big city in the future."

"It sounds very inspiring. You are doing very well now." Liu Siying smiled and continued, "Your current achievements are probably enough for me to look up to for the rest of my life. Becoming the person in charge of a key project in my country seems too far away..."

"Don't feel far away. This time you will join my project team, and we will develop this project together in the future." Xu Qiang said.

"By the way, were you at the School of Mechanical Engineering today? How was it?" Liu Siying took a bite of the spring roll and asked Xu Qiang.

"Dean Chen received me today and took me to visit the chemistry laboratory of their college. I also met Director Zhou of the Chemical Engineering Department..." Xu Qiang began to tell Liu Siying in detail what happened in the Chemical Engineering College this morning.

"You mean, we can all live in the university in the future?" Li Siying said excitedly after hearing the school arranged a place for their project team.

"Yes, I plan to let a few people go over here first, but we also need to leave two people in the dormitory here." Xu Qiang glanced at Liu Siying and said with a smile: "What? Are you happy?"

"Of course I'm happy!" Liu Siying nodded with a smile and said, "I've never been to college, so this time I can finally fulfill my dream."

When she said this, Liu Siying showed a childlike smile on her face.

In fact, Liu Siying has been living a somewhat depressed life over the years, both in work and in life. Due to her strong personality and the fact that she has just joined the factory not long ago, she has always wanted to perform well. She often works overtime and is also actively involved in industrial research and development projects. The long hours and high-intensity work have indeed made her a little tired.

As for her life, her father is quite strict with her, even though she has graduated from technical secondary school and started working. Currently, she is often introduced to boyfriends whom she doesn't like at all, which adds a lot of troubles to her.

This time going to college can be said to be the first time in Liu Siying's life that she can study and live so freely. Xu Qiang also arranged a dormitory for her in the university, which undoubtedly made Li Siying very happy.

"But you may have to work harder in the future." Xu Qiang pondered for a moment, then continued, "Our project this time is very important. When I went to BJ before, Minister Zhang specifically told me something. He not only hopes that this project will succeed, but also that it will succeed as soon as possible. So our project team will have to work overtime in the future. As for academic studies, they may be affected..."

"It doesn't matter. The freshman courses overlap with my technical secondary school courses. Many of them are things I have already learned, so it doesn't matter if I don't study them for a while." Liu Siying said.

In fact, Xu Qiang was not worried that Liu Siying would not be able to keep up. With her learning ability, she could easily cope with the university courses. Moreover, in Xu Qiang's opinion, as long as the funds and equipment from the department were in place, he could complete the project in a very short time. After all, the conditions provided by the department were much better than those of Shengli Machinery Factory.

"Then I feel relieved." Xu Qiang nodded when he heard that.

Afterwards, the two continued to talk about what happened today in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

After eating the spring rolls, Xu Qiang and Liu Siying continued strolling on the street.

Before they knew it, the two had arrived at Liu Siying's former residence.

Seeing the home where she used to live, Liu Siying couldn't help but stop.

Like Xu Qiang, Liu Siying is also a very nostalgic girl.

Besides, she lived and studied here from the time she was born until she graduated from high school, and this small building holds too many memories of her.

"Why don't we try again and see if the people inside will let us in." Xu Qiang said when he saw Liu Siying was reluctant to leave.

In fact, Xu Qiang knew that the current owner of the house was an overseas Chinese who did not live here normally and would not allow outsiders to enter.

Speaking of which, overseas Chinese are indeed a privileged group these days, but the local government does this for the sake of economic development.

At the beginning of reform and opening up, when domestic conditions in all aspects were very backward, introducing foreign capital was indeed an important means to develop the economy. In this situation, in order to attract capital injection from overseas Chinese, the state did give them many preferential treatments beyond the scope of nationals.

In fact, if the people living here were not overseas Chinese, with Xu Qiang's current financial resources, even if he could not buy the whole house, he could at least rent it for a long time. But the current situation is that even if he has money, Xu Qiang cannot buy a house here.

"No need, I'll just take a look. Let's go." Hearing this, Liu Siying reluctantly withdrew her gaze and said to Xu Qiang.

"Don't worry, one day in the future, I will buy this house and give it to you." Xu Qiang said seriously.

Even if the people living here are overseas Chinese, a house is still a house. If national policies begin to allow house transactions, Xu Qiang will have the opportunity to buy a house here. As long as the price is high enough, even overseas Chinese will not refuse this deal.

Besides, these overseas Chinese are businessmen. There is nothing that businessmen cannot sell. It’s just a matter of price.

"Stop bragging. Houses in Shanghai are very expensive. We probably won't be able to afford one in our lifetime." Liu Siying smiled and shook her head when she heard that.

"No matter how expensive it is, it has a price. If there is a price, you can buy it."

"Xu Qiang, I know you're good to me, but we have to face reality, right?" Liu Siying smiled and glanced at Xu Qiang, then said, "Speaking of which, our family's salary is actually not low, but this is Shanghai. Even if we work until retirement, we probably won't be able to afford it..."

"Do you only make money from salary? What if I become rich and a millionaire in the future?" Xu Qiang said with a raised eyebrow.

"You just know how to brag. Let's go..." Liu Siying smiled and pulled the corner of Xu Qiang's clothes, motioning him to leave.

"Just wait and see. Sooner or later, I will buy this building for you." Xu Qiang said, and took Liu Siying's hand. The two of them left immediately...

……

The next morning, after Xu Qiang got up and washed, he was about to go to the School of Mechanical Engineering when he almost bumped into someone at the door.

"Old He!!"

When Xu Qiang saw that the person coming was He Yonghong, he was immediately surprised.

"You guys live here." He Yonghong glanced at Xu Qiang and said with some complaints: "You said you didn't study hard when you came to Shanghai, and you wanted to start a new project, but the department notified the factory and transferred me here directly..."

Since Xu Qiang left, He Yonghong has been living a carefree life in the factory.

Since he was the only one left in the chemical laboratory and there were no new projects, He Yonghong had been doing nothing for a while. All he did at work was sleep and drink, and he lived a pretty comfortable life.

However, the good times did not last long as the ministry notified the machinery factory and asked He Yonghong to report to Xu Qiang in Shanghai and let him engage in the research and development of new projects.

Unlike Xu Qiang, He Yonghong didn't have so many ambitions. He just wanted to drink a little wine and live a carefree life. He had achieved his goal, but in the end, man proposes, God disposes, and he was sent to Xu Qiang by the factory... (End of this chapter)