The small courtyard behind Fan's Dessert Shop wasn't originally built for living, so it wasn't very big. Apart from the main room, kitchen, and outhouse, there were only two rooms in total.

Since Fan Siyuan is usually not home, two rooms are enough, but now that Xia Qingqing is here, it seems a bit cramped.

After discussing it with her daughter, Luo Suyue decided to vacate Fan Yao's room for Xia Qingqing to stay in, but Xia Qingqing did not agree.

She hadn't expected this at first. If the house were big enough, she would naturally be willing to stay, but since the house was clearly not big enough, she had to think of other solutions.

Xia Qingqing found Fan Sheng and told him her idea: "Brother Fan, I want to buy a small courtyard house nearby."

"What's wrong? Do you think the room is too small?" Fan Sheng asked, puzzled.

Xia Qingqing immediately shook her head: "No, I just thought that I would be staying here for several months. Right now, the few of us can barely squeeze in, but when Siyuan comes back for vacation, there will be nowhere for him to stay. So it would be better to buy a courtyard house. Anyway, it's not like we don't have the money, right?"

She said the last sentence with a hint of joking.

“What you said makes sense, but you don’t have local residency, so you can’t buy or sell houses,” Fan Sheng said with some worry.

Xia Qingqing chuckled nonchalantly, "What does it matter? Just put it under your name, and I'll pay for it."

Upon hearing this, Fan Sheng waved his hands repeatedly: "How can this be? Absolutely not."

It's not like he's short of money; he's just living in the backyard of the dessert shop because it's convenient.

"How about this, I'll go to the real estate agency this afternoon and see if they have any courtyards for sale. I'll buy one and we can all move there together?" Fan Sheng thought for a moment and said.

He suggested moving in together, mainly because he was worried about Xia Qingqing, a beautiful single woman, living alone. He feared she might be targeted by some thugs.

Xia Qingqing didn't hesitate and agreed immediately. There was no need to argue about this; the money could be made up from other sources later.

Xia Qingqing was very interested in the ancient brokerage business, and went to the brokerage business with Fan Sheng in the afternoon.

Although the two were friends, they were still a man and a woman alone. To avoid suspicion, Fan Sheng brought Luo Suyue along, and Fan Yao, not wanting to stay at home alone, also went along.

The four of them arrived at the brokerage firm in a grand procession, and Fan Sheng went directly to Zhao, the broker he knew well.

“Boss Fan, I do have a few courtyards on hand, but I don’t know how big you’re planning to buy?” Zhao Yaren asked with a smile.

Fan Sheng thought for a moment and said, "One or two entrances are fine, but it would be best if it were closer to the dessert shop."

Zhao Yaren quickly rolled his eyes and screened the houses in his hand: "There are two suitable ones on Zhenghe Street. Shall I take you to see them first?"

“Okay, let’s go take a look,” Fan Sheng nodded and said.

The first courtyard was about a fifteen-minute walk from the dessert shop. It was a two-courtyard house, and Xia Qingqing estimated it to be over 600 square meters.

There is more than enough room for Fan Sheng's family and Xia Qingqing to live in, and it won't feel too crowded if they want to add servants or something in the future.

The only downside is that it's quite expensive, costing 550 taels of silver.

The second courtyard is about a 20-minute walk from the dessert shop. It's a small courtyard with one entrance, and it looks rather old. The price is also cheaper, only 260 taels of silver.

Fan Sheng looked at Xia Qingqing and asked, "Qingqing, which one do you think is better?"

"Let's go with the first set. Since we've already bought it, it's better to go all the way and save ourselves the trouble of switching later, right?" Xia Qingqing said with a smile.

Fan Sheng then looked at Luo Suyue: "My wife, what do you think?"

“I think Qingqing makes a lot of sense, let’s buy the first set,” Luo Suyue said without hesitation.

Fan Sheng nodded: "Alright, I'll go and talk to Zhao Yaren."

Since they were all regular customers, Zhao Yaren didn't raise the price for this courtyard house. Fan Sheng readily paid the money and then went to the government office with the homeowner to transfer the ownership.

Fan Yao was overjoyed to learn that they were moving soon: "Mom, does that mean I'll have my own room again?"

“Yes, not only you have one, your brother also has a separate room,” Luo Suyue replied with a smile.

"That's great! My brother will be so happy to know!" Fan Yao clapped her hands excitedly.

The next day, the group moved their belongings to their new home.

Fan Sheng and Luo Suyue initially wanted to give up the main room for Xia Qingqing to live in, but she naturally could not agree.

“I won’t be staying here for long. When I leave, you’ll have to move back, which is too much trouble.”

Fan Sheng didn't force her when he saw that she was unwilling, and Xia Qingqing chose a room in the east wing by herself.

The room originally contained an old wooden bed and some dusty boxes. Xia Qingqing threw all of these things away and took out furniture from the system warehouse to rearrange the room.

Although she chose retro-style furniture, the designs were actually unique to this era, and Fan Yao praised them for being beautiful when she visited.

Xia Qingqing didn't have much furniture in her system's inventory, so it wasn't convenient to get a set for the little guy, but she did have quite a few mosquito nets.

Xia Qingqing found a pink princess-style mosquito net and helped Fan Yao put it on, making the little guy so happy that he didn't want to leave the room.

Fan Yao hugged Xia Qingqing and thanked her, saying, "Aunt Qing, this mosquito net is so pretty, I love it."

She had never seen such a beautiful mosquito net before; perhaps only princesses in the palace were entitled to use such exquisite items.

"I'm glad you like it. I have some other pretty toys here. Would you like to play with them, Yaoyao?" Xia Qingqing smiled and took out a bunch of toys from the system warehouse.

Fan Yao opened her mouth wide in surprise: "Wow, what are these? I've never seen them before."

Xia Qingqing pinched her fair cheek: "Yaoyao, promise Aunt Qing that you can't take these toys out and let others see them. You can only play with them in your room, okay?"

Actually, there wouldn't be much of a problem taking them out. To avoid causing trouble for Fan Sheng's family, she only took out some rag dolls and wooden toys, so that even if others saw them, she could say that she made them for her child to play with.

But better safe than sorry, and it's always better to avoid trouble.

"Okay, I understand. I won't take it out," Fan Yao nodded obediently, holding a toy bear tightly in her arms, reluctant to let go.

As soon as Luo Suyue entered the room, she saw a table full of all kinds of toys. Without asking, she knew that Xia Qingqing must have brought them out.

Her smile held a hint of helplessness: "Qingqing, just give Yaoyao one toy. There are so many, she'll never have enough time to play with them. We can't spoil the child."