Chapter 197 Neighbors Turned Enemies

Chapter 197: Close Neighbors Become Enemies

The next day, after breakfast, Su He hopped in the car and headed to her parents' house.

She wanted to see how her mom Wen Qing’s embroidery was coming along and bring the two kids to visit their grandparents.

As soon as the car stopped in front of Su Shiming's house, the engine noise made someone inside open the gate to take a look.

It was Su Shiming. Seeing the familiar car, he lit up with joy.

But then it hit him—wait, today was Monday, and Ting Hua was supposed to be at work.

When Su He climbed out of the driver’s seat, Su Shiming's eyes widened in shock.

Wait—his daughter was driving?

Oh right, she’d mentioned getting a license last time. Did she pick it up that fast?

He hurried over to where the car was parked.

Su He was helping Zai Zai and Niu Niu out of the back.

Zai Zai got out first and immediately saw Grandpa coming their way.

"Grandpa!" Zai Zai called out happily.

"Hey, my good grandson!"

Su Shiming swept Zai Zai into his arms, unable to hide his delight.

"Grandpa!" Niu Niu also came out and greeted him.

"Hahaha, my good granddaughter!"

Su Shiming put Zai Zai down and picked up Niu Niu instead.

"Dad, how did you know we were coming?" Su He asked with a smile.

"That car of yours *roars*—how could I miss it?" Su Shiming chuckled, then glanced around before dropping his voice to a whisper. "But... you did get your license, right? You're not driving without one, are you?"

Su He was both amused and exasperated by her father's question. Did he really think she was some kind of outlaw?

But in the eyes of Su Shiming and Wen Qing, she might actually fit that description—after all, she’d pretty much strong-armed Fu Tinghua into marrying her.

"Just wait, I’ll grab my license." Su He went back to the car to get it.

When Su Shiming held that little license in his hands, he was bursting with pride.

"That’s my girl!" he said, beaming.

In this era, getting a driver's license was tough to get.

Unless you knew the right people or were willing to spend extra money, most folks had to practice forever before passing the test.

Cars were still rare back then, and most people didn’t know much about them.

Besides, vehicles were mostly stick shift, which made them trickier to drive.

The car Su He was driving now was also a manual, but that didn’t even faze her.

Here's the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

In her past life, she had also obtained a C1 driver's license, though she mostly drove automatics later.

"Good morning, Mr. Su, Su He." A male voice interrupted their conversation at that moment.

Both Su Shiming and Su He turned to look at the source of the voice—it was actually Xu Runze.

Bumping into him so often, Su He couldn't tell if it was fate or just bad luck.

"Ah, Runze, good morning," Su Shiming greeted with a smile.

"Huh? You and Xiaoshuang haven't returned to the capital yet? That's quite a long leave, isn't it?"

Xu Runze was once Su Shiming's student, so whenever they met, Su Shiming couldn't help but chat a bit.

"She's already gone back. I plan to settle down here," Xu Runze replied with a bitter smile.

Su Shiming was surprised and couldn't help but ask further, "Oh? Why's that? Won't that mean you'll be living in different cities?"

One in the capital, the other in Wencheng—so far apart they'd rarely see each other. How would marriage even work?

Xu Runze's gaze inadvertently fell on Su He as he smiled and said, "Whatever happens to her in the future has nothing to do with me anymore."

Hearing this, Su Shiming paused, taken aback. Even he could tell something was off.

Both were his former students, so Su Shiming couldn't help but show concern.

"What's going on? Weren't you two doing fine when you came back this time?"

They'd seemed so happy together at first.

At his teacher's words, Xu Runze's eyes unconsciously drifted to the car Su He had driven.

Probably—

Tan Xiaoshuang thought he wasn't good enough.

Not just in this alley, but in the entire nearby area, most kids were outstanding from childhood, their families' pride and joy.

But after going to the capital together, Xu Runze and Tan Xiaoshuang realized how far behind they were.

Those who got into prestigious universities in the capital were mostly very smart, and at school, they were barely keeping up.

Even the jobs assigned after graduation fell short of what they'd hoped for.

As they grew older, Tan Xiaoshuang was ready to settle down.

Xu Runze was fine with that, so they came back specifically to have both families meet and discuss wedding plans.

Who knew Su He would show up out of nowhere? Seeing how beautiful Su He had become and that she'd found such an outstanding and handsome husband, Tan Xiaoshuang had second thoughts right away.

In fact, the very night they met Su He, Tan Xiaoshuang asked Xu Runze out and said she didn't see a future together.

Originally, both hadn't been happy in the capital, with their assigned workplaces far apart, and wanted to return to Wencheng for better prospects.

Here, there were more job options, while the capital was too cutthroat.

But Tan Xiaoshuang had a change of heart, saying she didn't want to come back and preferred the capital. Xu Runze tried talking her out of it, but no matter what he said, Tan Xiaoshuang remained unmoved.

How could she accept this? Su He, who used to be so much worse than her, was now living a much better life. How could she resign herself to marrying some mediocre guy like Xu Runze?

Later, Xu Runze told his family he and Tan Xiaoshuang had broken up.

The Xus couldn't believe it. The families had been on such good terms—why the sudden dissatisfaction?

Someone speculated, "Did Tan Xiaoshuang see how well Su He married and decide our Runze wasn’t good enough?"

This set the whole Xu family off, demanding to storm over to the Tans' place for an explanation.

Their Runze had always been the golden child of the family. What right did Tan Xiaoshuang have to look down on him?

Because of this, the once-friendly neighbors, the Tan and Xu families, now acted like the other didn’t exist.

Not only that, but they talked trash about each other nonstop, relentlessly disparaging the other side.

Xu Runze was completely drained during this time—like he'd never been this worn out in his life.

Staying up late studying or working overtime had never exhausted him as much as this.

Wencheng had become unbearable.

At home, he constantly saw his family looking at him with pity.

Yes, he was the dumped boyfriend. His family kept nagging him—even if things didn’t work out with Tan Xiaoshuang, he still had to get married.

He wasn’t getting any younger, and they didn’t want him to worry them.

The Xus introduced many women to Xu Runze, but he rejected them all.

Most of these women were from rural backgrounds—they couldn't hold a candle to Tan Xiaoshuang.

And they were nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to Su He now.