After four years of hard study, Liu Xinyu successfully passed the defense of her doctoral thesis in February 1984.

It takes four and a half years to study for a master's and doctoral degree in English at the University of Edinburgh, but Liu Xinyu took only four years to complete all the subjects together with the graduate students who enrolled half a year earlier than her, and obtained a doctoral diploma.

It is rare to meet a student as willing and thoughtful as Liu Xinyu. Professor Federman certainly hopes that Liu Xinyu can stay in Edinburgh and continue to engage in related research.

However, Liu Xinyu declined Professor Federman’s enthusiastic invitation to stay and insisted on returning to China.

She has not returned to China for four full years, and has not had the chance to see her relatives.

In the past four years, Liu Xinyu has almost lost contact with her relatives at home, and only relies on a few rare letters to relieve her homesickness.

In this era, there are no mobile phones, no Internet, and extremely poor means of communication. It is completely different from the feeling of studying abroad during the Xin Yu period.

Almost not wanting to stay for one more day, Liu Xinyu received her graduation certificate, turned around and booked a flight back to China, waved goodbye to her mentors and friends in Edinburgh, and resolutely embarked on her journey home without leaving behind a cloud in Edinburgh.

The trip back to China was much smoother than when I went abroad. Although there is no direct flight from Edinburgh, I can fly directly from London to the capital.

After a nearly ten-hour flight, Liu Xinyu's flight landed at the Capital Airport at around 3 pm on March 4.

Although he had only been away for four years, Liu Xinyu couldn't help but burst into tears the moment he set foot on the country.

Liu Xinyu did not notify anyone before returning, so naturally no one could come to pick her up.

After getting off the plane and picking up her luggage, Liu Xinyu was carrying a heavy backpack and dragging two huge suitcases. She stood at the exit against the cold spring and looked up at the sky over the capital, with a bright smile on her face.

If it weren't for her image, Liu Xinyu would have wanted to look up to the sky and laugh, and then shout loudly: "Beijing, I'm back!"

If there hadn't been someone urging her from behind, Liu Xinyu would have stood at the exit and continued to act foolishly.

Originally, Liu Xinyu didn't plan to take a taxi, but she had a lot of luggage. She couldn't get to Changchun Lane by airport bus and had to change trains twice. She really didn't have the energy to bother.

Just as a taxi was coming, Liu Xinyu quickly waved and stuffed the luggage into the trunk with the help of the driver.

"Master, drive to Beijing University." Liu Xinyu got on the car and reported her whereabouts.

The driver glanced at Liu Xinyu in surprise, then started the car and left the airport and headed straight for Beijing University.

Along the way, Liu Xinyu felt the changes in the capital. Although the changes seemed small, the changes did exist. At least there were many more vehicles on the road than four years ago, and the city's sanitation had also been greatly improved.

When they were approaching Beijing University, Liu Xinyu gave the driver new directions and asked him to drive to Changchun Lane.

Changchun Alley has not changed much and is still a bit narrow. Considering the problem of the taxi turning around after entering, Liu Xinyu asked the driver to stop the car when the car reached the alley entrance.

The driver stopped the car, got out of the car, opened the trunk, and helped Liu Xinyu take down the luggage.

Liu Xinyu took out a large unity ticket that she had treasured for four years from her wallet, paid the fare, and walked to her home while dragging her luggage.

As soon as I entered the alley, I met two neighborhood committee ladies wearing red armbands patrolling the alley.

Although Liu Xinyu has lived in Changchun Lane for almost two years, because she is usually either at school or sitting at home reading calligraphy, painting and design drawings, she doesn’t have much communication, so there are not many people who know her, at least these two aunts in front of her must be.

Don't know her.

No, the two aunts stopped Liu Xinyu with vigilant faces and asked: "Girl, which one are you looking for?"

Liu Xinyu stopped, put down the suitcase in her hand, looked into the alley, pointed ahead and said: "303."

"What does the landlord of 303 have to do with you?" the fat lady frowned and looked at Liu Xinyu and asked.

Although the fat aunt's tone was not very friendly, with these vigilant aunts, the security of Changchun Lane was guaranteed, so Liu Xinyu would not feel disgusted by the fat aunt's attitude.

In order to avoid causing trouble, Liu Xinyu thought for a moment and took out her passport from her bag, opened it, and said with a dull smile: "I am the landlord of 303. My name is Liu Xinyu, and I just returned from studying in the UK. This is my passport."

Since the two aunts are street patrolmen of the neighborhood committee, they certainly know the residents of Changchun Lane. They may not be able to remember the name of the owner of 303, but they can remember the basic situation of the owner of 303.

They did know that the owner of 303 was a student of Peking University. He went to the UK to study four years ago, and the house was temporarily given to his classmates to live in.

There is a young couple living in 303 now, but they don't come here often, they only come here occasionally to visit and stay for a night or two.

Just as he was talking, someone who knew Liu Xinyu came over. He stared at Liu Xinyu several times, and then he shouted in surprise: "Hey, isn't this classmate Xiao Liu? He's back after completing his studies?"

The visitor was Aunt Lin, a resident of a large courtyard not far from Liu Xinyu's home. Liu Xinyu only knew her man's surname was Lin, but did not know her surname. She had always called her Aunt Lin before.

Finally someone came who knew her. Liu Xinyu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Yes, I've been away for four years and finally came back. Aunt Lin is still so energetic!"

"Four years? It seems like it was yesterday that you said you were going to study abroad!" Aunt Lin sighed with emotion, turned to the two aunts and said: "When Xiao Liu went to study abroad, the two aunts were still working in the unit, right?

I may not be familiar with classmate Xiao Liu, but I must have heard of classmate Xiao Liu, she is a top student at Peking University!"

"Yes, yes, I did hear about it, but I never had the opportunity to meet him. No, we didn't know each other when we met. We stopped him." The two aunts looked at Liu Xinyu apologetically and said with a little self-mockery.

"It is because we have serious and responsible people like aunt in Changchun Lane that we can live in peace of mind. I can't thank you enough!" Liu Xinyu said in a very sincere tone while putting her passport away.

The misunderstanding was resolved, Aunt Lin and the two aunts enthusiastically helped Liu Xinyu carry her luggage, and the group came to Liu Xinyu's house chatting and laughing.

Liu Xinyu took out the spare key from her bag and tried to open the door. She was not sure whether the key could still open her door, but the lock opened as soon as the key was twisted.

It’s great that Fang Jizhen has never changed the locks!

Aunt Lin helped carry the luggage to the door, then said goodbye and left.

The two aunts seemed to want to go into the house to have a look. Liu Xinyu frowned slightly, then quickly smiled and said: "Thank you two aunts for your help. I won't delay the two aunts' work. Wait for the two aunts someday."

If I don’t go to work, I’ll invite you to come over and sit down.”

Although they were not able to enter the house to take a look, the two aunts were a little dissatisfied, but Liu Xinyu's words were very polite, and they did have patrol duties, so the two of them smiled slightly awkwardly and turned around to patrol.

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Chapter completed!