In the span of seven to eight days, the six rooms plus the kitchen were thoroughly tidied up, and the walls were freshly painted. The workers’ craftsmanship was good. From the outside, the house looked almost unchanged, just a bit larger, but inside there were significant changes. The previous subpar floorings were all replaced with marble, and the bedrooms were fitted with wooden floors. Many electrical wires were installed, with hidden outlets placed in usually-needed positions.
However, it was still not habitable due to the strong sll. By the end of August, everything was neatly arranged. Li Xianglu opened the warehouse, and Qin Xi, Qin Zhen, and two security guards brought by Grandpa Xun helped to carry out and install all the additions.
At that ti, the Whirlpool air conditioners were still those bulky models, yet their cooling effect was no worse than those seen twenty years later in the future.
Li Xianglu rembered that when she was about to graduate, there was a problem with her thesis, so she took it to her professor’s house during the hottest days of sumr. The air conditioner there had run out of refrigerant and needed a refill.
The maintenance person kept praising the air conditioner after looking at it – it was a Whirlpool from the United States, brought back in ’83, and after twenty years, it was still in use with an excellent cooling effect. Thus, Li Xianglu had so impression of this brand of air conditioner.
Mr. Li didn’t allow one to be installed in his bedroom, so they had to put it in the living room. Then one was installed in Li Xianglu’s room, and both Qin Xi’s and Qin Zhen’s rooms were equipped as well. That left three new ones still unused. Mr. Li instructed to keep them stored for now, as it was still early days and they might move again, in which case they could simply take them directly to the new place.
Two refrigerators and two small freezers were ntioned by Li Xianglu, but she only had one big refrigerator unpacked; the rest were said to be stored in the warehouse, but were actually all placed in the Storage Ring. Electrical appliances like refrigerators are not good if not used for a long ti.
A television, a 21 inch, color one, was placed in the living room. After installation, Qin Zhen couldn’t move from his spot – watching it during the day and at night, needing to watch while eating, and if it weren’t for Qin Xi dragging him away, he might have watched all night.
The washing machine was a single-cylinder type that could only wash and not spin-dry, but that was also quite good. They were about to install the municipal water supply in their area soon, which would make doing laundry outside convenient.
So large furniture pieces were also moved in, and the windows were kept open daily for ventilation. They could move in around the 7th or 8th of September.
And on this day, several guests arrived at the house.
It was hot at noon, and Li Xianglu made cold noodles and cooked mung bean porridge for lunch. Everyone ate and then returned to rest at their places. Except for Qin Zhen, of course – he wouldn’t part with the television.
At around 3 pm, as Qin Zhen lay on a lounge chair watching the news rebroadcast for the fifth ti, dozing off and on, he heard the sound of a car. After a while, he heard soone knocking on the door. At first, he thought he might have heard wrong, but when the knocking sounded again, he catapulted up and ran over to look through the peephole. Three people, voices of children too, faces familiar, but he couldn’t recall who they were.
Opening the door, he poked his head out and asked with a frown, "Who are you looking for?"
Just after he spoke, the man on the side called out, "Qin Zhen, wow, you have changed so much, little fatty has grown so tall."
Qin Zhen paused, looked at the kindly-faced tall and thin man, along with an old man curiously watching him, and a woman and two children beside him all smiling. Qin Zhen then rembered, slapped his forehead, "Ah, it’s you guys, no wonder you looked familiar."
Speaking of which, he opened the door and ran towards the house without looking back: "Grandpa, Chou Xiang, big brother, we have visitors at ho."
Qin Xi had already woken up, planning to boil so water and let it cool. This girl wants a cup of water as soon as she wakes up and doesn’t like it hot. Just as she reached the front yard, she heard her brother shouting loudly. Hearing that soone had co, she walked to the front and saw three adults and two children, two young n and an older man.
The man exclaid in surprise upon seeing Qin Xi: "I told you, I said it earlier, this young man insisted he is dad’s comrade, not admitting it’s soone sent by Uncle. Look, we’ve cornered them now."
The elderly man beside him also said with a smile, "Exactly, the old man is always babbling, just let people co if he wants, why all the secrecy, talking about ’my comrade’ and all, even I can’t recognize my own friends."
Qin Xi smiled gently and called out: "Grandpa An, Uncle, little aunt."
An Chenggang imdiately delightedly said to the two kids: "Do you rember? You’ve been to our house before."
The younger one, now nine years old, imdiately exclaid happily when he heard his father ask: "Peanuts, candy!"
An Chenggang, hearing his daughter’s answer, laughed and said: "Exactly, peanuts and candy, all given by Grandpa Li."
Li Huai Ren had already woken up. After Qin Zhen shouted and ran over, he quickly put on a short-sleeved shirt and rushed outside. Li Xianglu also rushed out, grabbed Grandpa to help him button up properly before letting him go outside. She then combed her hair, took so money and Foreign Exchange Voucher, and handed them to Qin Zhen, saying, "See if there’s good at or fish, buy so, we’ll have a good al tonight."
Hearing this, Qin Zhen cheered and ran out. Li Xianglu already knew about the visitors, so she first made so tea in the kitchen before heading to the front yard.
Just after Li Xianglu arrived, she heard a little boy saying: "It’s this auntie, grandpa, who gave us hats, even lied to us saying it’s 30 cents, my mom said it’s wool, at least a couple of yuan."
The childishly angry words caused laughter all around. Li Xianglu smiled and shook her head, saying: "Grandpa An, Uncle, little aunt, you’ve co all this way, don’t we have phones now? Why didn’t you say sothing in advance so we could prepare?"
An Xuexin, thin as a rake, clothes almost hanging on him, his fingers like a rake, bones visible, didn’t have Grandpa Li’s kind appearance. His drooping triangular eyes, thin lips, and a straight nose sowhat retained his past charm. Li Xianglu rembered Grandpa Li ntioning that Grandpa An was very handso when he was young, a beautiful Southern man, but now, even the refined An Chenggang doesn’t match up to him from back then.
An Xuexin, upon seeing this legendary beautiful aunt, smiled and said to Li Huai Ren: "Oh, your granddaughter is kind-hearted, my two grandsons keep saying she’s the most beautiful auntie."
Li Huai Ren imdiately glared, "That’s not true, my Xiangxiang is the prettiest!"
An Xuexin laughed out loud, the old man still hasn’t changed, always protective of his own, back then he also helped diate, otherwise the place where he was sent down would have had even worse conditions, reminiscing about those old friends who died tragically, he sighed.
ps: Didn’t eat well at noon, feeling really off. I want to eat hotpot... hotpot, hotpot, hotpot!
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