"It’s past nine, hurry up and get out of bed, we’re going to look at houses together!" On the first day of the New Year, Yao Jiping woke him from his deep slumber bright and early.
The persistent "buzzing" sound of the vacuum cleaner, along with the knocking on the door and the drawing of curtains, completely drove away Xu Qingfan’s desire to sleep.
Forced to poke his head out of the blankets, he was met with the intense sunlight streaming through the window that made it hard to open his eyes. Guessing it was indeed around nine, "She didn’t lie after all," mumbled Qingfan as he got up and changed his clothes.
After coming out of his room, Xia Xiaoxiao, Lin Jing, and Wu Lingyu were all sitting in the living room, "Auntie, good morning. Yu, weren’t you going home today?"
"Good morning, Brother Fan. The wind car isn’t till this afternoon." The subway to Chu Gang City hadn’t been built yet, so Wu Lingyu either hitched a ride with Xu Aiguo or took the company car from Haowei Group.
"I see." Xu Qingfan waved his hand and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Xia Xiaoxiao’s expressionless face suddenly turned angry, revealing her neat, white teeth as she sneered at his retreating figure.
[So you’re not going to greet me, huh? Don’t think I’ll forgive you!]
Remembering the dream she had that morning, her cheeks involuntarily started to heat up again.
[Good thing no one was around when I got up... that was so embarrassing...]
In health class, they only taught her how to deal with her period, but never mentioned anything about wet dreams.
A girl’s wet dream is usually romantic, subtle, and lingering, like a movie from Wong Kar-wai’s camera. She dreamt she was being embraced by Qingfan just like when she was little, a warm haven of an embrace, his rough, warm hand sliding under her clothes soothingly stroking her belly.
Tingling, ticklish, like stripping naked in the dead of winter and soaking in a hot spring, and then uncontrollably feeling the urge to pee...
When she opened her eyes again, she realized she had wet her pants.
[Hmph~ It’s all Qingfan’s fault! Big stinky dog!!] The girl thought, puffing her cheeks in her mind.
"Xiao Xiao, what’s wrong? You keep frowning and puffing your cheeks,"
Lin Jing’s sudden question interrupted her wild thoughts, and Xia Xiaoxiao gave a little jump before replying with an indifferent expression, "Nothing much, mom. Are we going to sell our old house after we buy the new one?"
Having lived in the old house for thirteen years, Xia Xiaoxiao had poured a lot of emotion into it, after all, every item in the house could evoke a memory about him and her.
"If you really can’t bear to part with it, we don’t have to sell. We have enough money as it is, and besides, we can still come back here to stay whenever we want," responded Lin Jing with an indulgent smile, her daughter leaning her head on her shoulder.
Back in 2008 and 2009, property prices in Li City had just started at a little over three thousand, so selling a place like Lianhua Courtyard for two thousand five hundred per square meter was already considered a good deal.
"Then let’s not sell, mom!" Xia Xiaoxiao replied without hesitation.
"Alright~" Lin Jing nodded and smiled, and then remembering something else, she added, "Your grandparents called yesterday. They miss you and asked if you’d come back for the New Year. Do you want to visit them?"
"I don’t want to go!" Xia Xiaoxiao was very reluctant.
"It’s been five years since you’ve seen them. With their health not being great, every visit could be the last. They were good to you when you were younger," Lin Jing said, worryingly, hoping her daughter wouldn’t regret it later on.
"Qingfan hasn’t been back in five years either, and he’s one year ahead of me, six years!"
"Why do you always call Xiao Fan by his full name? It’s rude!" Scolded Lin Jing, tapping her daughter’s head lightly, "Why not call him ’Brother Fan’ like Yu?"
"I don’t want to." Xia Xiaoxiao thought of how Qingfan had touched her the night before and turned her head away, muttering quietly.
Lin Jing apparently had no way to handle her darling daughter and could only laugh helplessly, "Then at least call your grandparents when you have time. You’re a grown woman; you shouldn’t need your mom to do everything for you."
With nothing to add to their family matters, Wu Lingyu, who had been silent, watched the scene. At that moment, Yao Jiping’s voice came from the kitchen, "The Construction Bank seemed to have sent a new calendar last time, find it and hang it up after you finish brushing your teeth."
"Got it~" Xu Qingfan shouted from the bathroom.
Wu Lingyu stood up, opened the cabinet under the TV set, and took out the 2009 calendar, then removed the old one from the nail to put up the new one.
As for knowing where things were in Xu Qingfan’s home, she might just be the most clued-in person next to Yao Jiping.
After brushing his teeth, Qingfan went straight to the kitchen to find something for breakfast, obviously having forgotten what his mother had just reminded him.
Luckily, with Wu Lingyu around, he suffered fewer scoldings at home.
Watching Qingfan polish off the last bun after Yao Jiping finished cleaning the kitchen, the family went downstairs and got in the car heading to Donghui City to check out houses.
"Dad, with the new year approaching, consider getting a new car; it’s too cramped with six people!" squeezed between Lin Jing and Wu Lingyu, Qingfan struggled to breathe and spoke up.
Without thinking, Xu Aiguo’s gaze drifted to his wife; he had actually been considering getting a new car for a while now. His Hyundai’s low chassis was inconvenient for fishing trips.
"Look at the road, will you!" Yao Jiping snapped at him, "Then let’s get a new one, the convenience store did well this year."
Ever since they integrated an online portal, their family convenience store’s business had doubled. Previously, a good monthly turnover was fifty thousand; after deducting expenses like wages, making a profit of around ten thousand was quite good, and that’s without paying any rent.