My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 46: The Super Sandstorm

Time flew by, and before they knew it, it was Wednesday, May 11. On his way to work that morning, Xu Dong made a point of bringing two cans of infant formula—he’d been putting it off for five days, and today was the day he was finally going to complete the transaction with Gao Yuemei. When he arrived at the office, Gao Yuemei had already been waiting for quite some time. “Xu, you’re finally here. Did you bring the formula?” “Here it is!” Xu Dong lifted the bag in his hand and placed it on the desk in front of him. Gao Yuemei couldn’t wait to open the bag. Sure enough, inside were two unopened cans of formula, with English letters printed on them—undoubtedly imported formula. She checked the production date—it was from last October, so it definitely hadn’t expired. “Xu, I really can’t thank you enough.” Gao Yuemei put the formula away and immediately transferred 16,000 yuan to Xu Dong. “Sister Gao, you’re too kind. We’re colleagues—this is no big deal,” Xu Dong said politely. A smile finally spread across Gao Yuemei’s face. Xu Dong felt that helping others every now and then was a rewarding experience—after all, it’s more fulfilling to give than to receive. “Xiao Xu, I’ve prepared a small token of my appreciation for you. I’ve already placed it under your desk—take a look in a moment.” No sooner had Gao Yuemei finished speaking than she hurriedly left, carrying the bag, without waiting for Xu Dong to refuse. Xu Dong didn’t think much of it. He walked over to his desk, looked down, and sure enough, there was a black plastic bag under it. Since he had helped someone, Xu Dong accepted the gift with a clear conscience. He opened the bag to find two bottles of Moutai inside. After glancing at the label, Xu Dong looked up the price online: a 53° Moutai Five-Star, costing 1,200 yuan per bottle. That was definitely a generous gift! “Should I sell Sister Gao two cans of formula later?” Xu Dong wondered to himself. Never mind—I’ll think about that later. The next day, a sandstorm suddenly swept through several provinces in the northwest, then raced eastward, spanning thousands of kilometers all the way to the East China Sea. The situation was particularly severe in the capital region. At 10:45 a. m. , the sandstorm began to reach the western suburbs of Yanjing, and within less than ten minutes, it had swept directly across the entire city of Beijing. The instantaneous wind speed nearly reached Force 10, blowing passersby this way and that; as far as the eye could see, the world was a hazy yellow. In fact, since March, due to the worsening drought, sandstorms had been occurring sporadically in the Yanjing area, but none had ever been as extreme as today’s. The only silver lining brought by the sandstorm was that the Power Company had called a holiday. In fact, it wasn’t just the Yanjing Power Company—99 percent of businesses in the city, as well as schools, had all been closed on an emergency basis. Xu Dong was neither a manager, so he didn’t need to lead by example, nor was he a temporary worker, so he had no choice but to work hard and take it in stride. So being on duty was basically the last thing on his mind. As soon as he received the notice of the holiday, he couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz and drive away from the Power Company. Unfortunately, visibility on the road was so poor that traffic was backed up everywhere. It took Xu Dong over two hours to drive home—nearly five times longer than usual. “Honey, I’m home.” Xu Dong called out into the yard while spitting sand from his mouth. “Daddy, let me wipe that for you.” Ke Ke trotted over and handed him a wet towel. “Good girl!” Xu Dong was deeply touched and couldn’t help but ruffle the little bundle of joy’s hair, then asked, “Where’s Le Le?” As was customary, the twin sisters usually came out together to greet their dad, but today was an exception. Ke Ke replied in a clear, bright voice, “My little sister got sand in her eye, and Grandma’s blowing on it to help her right now!” Xu Dong roughly wiped his face and quickly headed toward his parents’ bedroom. “How’s she doing? Is it serious?” Xu’s mother glanced up at Xu Dong and whispered: “It’s not a big deal. We’ve already spotted the grain of sand; we’ll be able to remove it right away.” Little Le Le also heard her dad’s voice and immediately whined, “Daddy, my eye hurts.” “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine in a minute.” “Daddy, am I going to go blind?” “No, I promise you, Dad.” “Daddy, I want to eat big shrimp.” “Um, Daddy will figure something out. I’ll make you some big shrimp tomorrow.” “Daddy, I also want…” “Le Le, be a good girl and don’t move.” Mrs. Xu suddenly spoke up, interrupting the interaction between father and daughter. Dad Xu, holding a flashlight nearby, found Xu Dong to be in the way and a hindrance, so he urged him to go upstairs and help keep an eye on the triplets. The triplets were already two years old—at an age when they were full of energy and always on the move. Usually, even with both Mrs. Xu and Yang Lina there, they had a hard time keeping an eye on them. Upstairs in the master bedroom, Yang Lina was teaching the triplets to recite classical poems, but it wasn’t going very well—the three little ones weren’t cooperating at all and were too busy playing. “Da Bao, Er Bao, Xiao Bao, come to Daddy!” As soon as Xu Dong entered the room, he held out his arms to the triplets. “Daddy, pick… me up…” Da Bao was the most eager; he “ran” over, wobbling on his little stubby legs. Xu Dong hurried over and scooped him up, then planted a big kiss on his little face, making the little guy giggle. “Has Le Le’s eye been fixed yet?” Yang Lina asked as she stood up. “Not yet!” Xu Dong shook his head. “I’ll go downstairs and check. You keep an eye on these three,” Yang Lina said before heading downstairs. Xu Dong carried the triplets one by one to the bed, then began teaching them how to build with blocks. The four of them—father and sons—had a wonderful time playing together. About ten minutes later, Yang Lina returned. As soon as she walked in, she said to Xu Dong: “It’s all right—the sand has been removed.” Xu Dong finally felt much more at ease, and immediately asked what had happened: “Out of the blue, how did he get sand in his eye?” “It’s all because of ‘Hua Hua.’ When Le Le got home and didn’t see ‘Hua Hua,’ he insisted on coming out with me to look for it. In the end, he didn’t find the cat, but he got his eye irritated instead,” Yang Lina said helplessly. “That kid—such a handful. Did you end up finding Hua Hua in the end?” Yang Lina laughed as she scolded, “He ran back on his own, covered in dust. We never should have bought a tabby cat—he’s way too wild.” “A little wild is good—that’s how they catch mice,” Xu Dong muttered. “What did you say?” “Nothing. Is there anything to eat in the kitchen? I haven’t had lunch yet,” Xu Dong asked, rubbing his ravenous stomach. Hearing that her husband was still hungry, Yang Lina felt a pang of concern, but couldn’t help scolding him: “Seriously, if you hadn’t eaten, you should’ve said so earlier. I’ll go make you a bowl of noodles.” As soon as Yang Lina finished speaking, she went downstairs. Xu Dong called after her, “Don’t put any potatoes in!” “Got it. You’re such a nag.” A moment later, Yang Lina came back up carrying a bowl of steaming noodles. The snow-white noodles were generously topped with garlic-stir-fried cured pork, a sight that made anyone’s mouth water. “Hurry up and eat while it’s hot!” Xu Dong immediately jumped out of bed, took the bowl and chopsticks, and said with a grin, “You’re so sweet, honey.” “Stop being so cheeky. Once you’re done eating, go turn on the solar water heater—the power just went out,” Yang Lina reminded him.