My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 11: Moving

After the graduation banquet, Xu Dong sold his car to his older sister at a discount and asked her and her husband to keep an eye on the house to prevent the real estate agent from pulling any tricks. As for the real estate agent, Xu Dong made it clear: If the buyer was willing to pay in full, he could reduce the price by 10 percent from the original asking price—and even throw in all the furniture and appliances. This was a very generous offer; Xu Dong’s goal was to sell the old house before the Lunar New Year to free up as much capital as possible. On August 20, just past 6:00 a. m. Xu Dong led his entire family—including his parents—and chartered a minibus, heading straight to Luyang South High-Speed Rail Station. As soon as they got off the minibus, Xu Ting walked up with her two children; they had agreed last night that she would come to see them off that morning. Before everyone had even finished greeting each other, their eldest niece, Xu Jingyi, arrived as well; she’d been stuck in traffic and had just gotten out of her taxi. Although Mrs. Xu had been chatting and laughing all the way there, when the moment finally arrived, she couldn’t hold back her tears—after all, it was hard to let go of the city where she had lived for most of her life. Xu Ting handed her a tissue and comforted her, saying: “Yanjing isn’t far from Luyang—it’s only three or four hours by high-speed rail. It’ll be so convenient to come and go. I’m just worried that you and Dad will get so used to living in the big capital that you’ll forget all about home.” Mrs. Xu’s mood finally lightened a bit, and she teased with a laugh, “How can you use idioms like that? ‘So happy you’ll forget your hometown’? Once we’re in Yanjing, Dad and I will still be the ones helping to take care of Da Bao and the other two. It’s a debt we’ll never be able to repay in a lifetime.” Dabao, Er Bao, and Xiao Bao were the nicknames of the triplets; their formal names, chosen by Xu’s father, were Xu Wanxia, Xu Wanshang, and Xu Wan Zhou. “Mom, they say the youngest son, the eldest grandson, and the old lady’s pride and joy—you’ve got them all. What more is there to complain about?” Xu Ting teased. Xu Dong instinctively glanced at his eldest niece. His older sister’s words could easily be misinterpreted, so he quickly tried to set the record straight: “Sis, I was beaten by Mom all through my childhood—how is that being biased toward the youngest son?” “Hmph!” Mrs. Xu scolded playfully. “It’s your own fault for not studying properly—all you ever do is play. If you had even half the grades of our Jingyi, Mom would wake up smiling in her dreams.” Hearing this, Xu Jingyi blushed and quickly replied modestly, “Grandma, it was much harder to get into college back then than it is now—you can’t really compare the two.” “Haha, Jingyi is such a sensible girl—that makes perfect sense.” Xu Dong felt that the generous red envelope he’d given earlier hadn’t been in vain. Looking at a certain shameless person, Mrs. Xu and Xu Ting both shot him a disdainful glance. And so, amid Xu Dong’s banter, Xu’s mother unconsciously forgot her sadness at parting. At 6:50, boarding began. No matter how reluctant they were to part, they could only express it through repeated words of advice. At 11:44 a. m. , the train finally arrived at Yanjing South Station. Fortunately, the business-class seats were spacious and comfortable, so everyone was still in good spirits. After leaving the station, Xu Dong found a nearby restaurant, ordered a few home-style dishes, and had a simple lunch. After lunch, Xu Dong hailed three taxis just to fit all the luggage. Traffic in Yanjing was even worse than in Luyang, and it wasn’t until 2:00 p. m. that the group finally returned to their Siheyuan. “Mom, Dad, our Siheyuan is right up ahead.” “Hmm, it looks pretty good!” Mr. Xu said with a touch of reserve. Xu’s mother, however, was more outspoken: “Dongzi really knows how to get things done. If it were up to your dad, Mom would never have been able to live in a place like this in her whole life.” “What’s so great about luck?” Xu’s dad couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. Xu Dong stepped forward to open the front door, spread his arms wide, and boasted to his daughters, “Look… this is the empire Daddy’s built for you. Do you like it here?” “We love it!” the Ke Ke sisters answered in unison. Hearing this, Xu Dong was deeply gratified. He ruffled the sisters’ hair one by one and encouraged them, “Hurry up and pick your rooms—don’t let Grandma and Grandpa snatch up the best ones.” Xu’s mom immediately clicked her tongue in disapproval, handed Da Bao to Xu Dong, and then took the sisters by the hand, one in each: “Don’t listen to your dad’s nonsense. Grandma will take you to pick out a room. Let’s choose the prettiest one, okay?” Ke Ke and her sister were, of course, more than happy to oblige, and with big smiles on their faces, they followed Xu’s mom straight to the small two-story wing. Meanwhile, Xu Dong led Xu Dad and Yang Lina; the three of them, carrying the triplets, arrived at the master bedroom on the first floor, where three cribs were lined up side by side. After placing the soundly sleeping triplets in their cribs, the family took a quick tour of their new home, then began cleaning—after all, no one had lived there for nearly half a month. By the time they finished cleaning and assigning rooms, it was already past six in the afternoon. In the end, as expected, Xu’s parents moved into the master bedroom on the first floor to help take care of the triplets; Ke Ke and Le Le chose an east-facing bedroom on the second floor; having been used to sharing a room since childhood, they decided to stay together for now—there would be plenty of time to separate once they were older; Xu Dong and Yang Lina also moved into the master bedroom on the second floor, mainly because they were concerned about the two sisters—after all, they were still young and far from ready to live on their own. Mrs. Xu and Yang Lina prepared dinner together using ingredients bought from a nearby supermarket. Since it was their first meal in the new home, they made it exceptionally lavish, cooking a total of twelve dishes. During the casual chat after dinner, Mr. Xu couldn’t help but ask, “Third son, what’s the point of that huge water tank you set up by the gatehouse?” “Dad, how did you know I was the one who set it up?” Xu Dong asked, puzzled. During the tour that afternoon, he’d only mentioned the water tank in passing; he hadn’t said anything else about it. “The water tank is brand new, and it still has the certification sticker on it—dated June 7. If it wasn’t you, then who else could it be?” Mr. Xu explained. Xu Dong rubbed his chin and offered the excuse he’d already thought of: “Oh, someone from my neighborhood committee said that to prepare for the Winter Olympics, the infrastructure in our whole area is going to be renovated. There’s bound to be a water outage then, so getting a water tank is just a precaution!” “So that’s how it is. Well, we definitely need one then,” Xu’s dad nodded. “Of course. I even set up a solar power system. Look at the roof tiles on our house—they’re actually solar panels.” Xu’s dad looked curious and asked, “So is the electricity we’re using right now generated by Sun power?” “Um, no. We’ll use the solar power during power outages—this is just a backup. We still get our electricity from the grid most of the time.” “Why not use it? It’d save us some money on the electric bill!” “Huh? Come on, Dad, we can afford the electricity bill. Besides, solar power isn’t very stable, and it can damage our appliances,” Xu Dong joked. Actually, the reason they don’t use solar power is, first, to preserve the battery’s lifespan; second, once the system is powered on, it’s bound to suffer damage from Sun flares, so it’s best to wait until the flares have passed before putting it into use. As they chatted, the conversation eventually turned to the supermarket, and Xu’s dad clearly had some ideas. “Third son, when is your supermarket reopening?” “I haven’t decided yet. Let’s talk about it in a few months!” Xu Dong replied vaguely. The supermarket was just a tool to serve a purpose; now that its job was done, Xu Dong planned to sell it off next month. “You’ve stockpiled so much merchandise in the basement—why aren’t you getting a move on? If the goods expire, you’ll lose a fortune,” Mr. Xu said in a tone of disappointment. Xu Dong had no good comeback, so he could only brush it off: “Once I get my household registration sorted out, I’ll get back to work on the supermarket.” “I’ll go with you then!” “That won’t be necessary, will it? I can handle it on my own.” “I’m just sitting around anyway…”------------