When I woke up this morning, the sunlight outside the window seemed even brighter!

After having breakfast, Yu Yin and her family of six went to tidy up their new home.

Getting on and off the bus was quite convenient, and it didn't take long to get there. It will be easier to visit my second sister and her family in the future.

"Children, we're here, this is it." Yu Yin unlocked the door, and the children stared blankly at the empty, dusty yard.

"Mom, there are no fruit trees, and our swing seesaw isn't here either," An'an asked blankly, looking at the house that was completely different from her old home.

"The place is a bit small, not as spacious as our previous home," Pingping also expressed her opinion.

Without saying anything, he slowly walked around the courtyard wall.

Kuai Kuai didn't care much about any of this. He rushed to the door, wanting to go in and take a look. But the door was locked. He turned to his mother and said, "Mom, open the door."

Yu Yin opened the door, and the children rushed in, eager to see how the room differed from their own home.

"Mom, the toilet is inside the house!" An'an shouted excitedly.

Yu Yin felt helpless thinking about the toilet. The building had no drainage, so she had to use public toilets during the day and spittoons at night. The thought of queuing up every morning to empty the spittoon was enough to make her shudder!

"Mom, I want to stay in the room upstairs." Kuai Kuai had already taken a stroll upstairs.

She slowly stood in front of the window, holding her two little hands up to the sunlight; she seemed to really like this big window.

Pingping and An'an also went upstairs to see what the rooms were like.

"Yinyin, you take the child and look around first. I'm going out to call Shuqi and ask him to come and help." After saying that, Lu Shurui went outside to find a place to make a phone call.

Aunt Lu works at the neighborhood committee near their home, and they have a telephone.

Lu Shurui made a phone call, told his third aunt to ask Shuqi to come and help, gave her the address, and then hung up.

Phone calls aren't cheap these days, so I hung up quickly after finishing my sentence.

Lu Shurui went to the nearby supply and marketing cooperative and bought brooms, enamel basins, buckets, kettles... which he would need to clean the house later.

Over there, Aunt Lu hung up the phone, said goodbye to her colleagues, and went home.

"Shuqi, your brother wants you to help tidy up the house," Aunt Lu said to Shuqi as she entered the house while he was eating breakfast.

"Clean up the house? What house? My brother and his family found a house?" Lu Shuqi had heard his sister-in-law and her family mention that they were going to rent or buy a house.

"I don't know either. Your brother didn't explain in detail on the phone. He just left his address and hung up." Aunt Lu was also puzzled. Where did they get the house?

"Okay, I'll finish eating soon and head over after I've packed up," Lu Shuqi said to his mother, swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Put it there, I'll tidy it up. I'll find you some scraps of cloth to take with you and use as rags. I wonder how the house is? Is it missing anything?" Aunt Lu muttered to herself, sounding more like a mother than Lu's mother.

“Okay, I’ll take it. I’ll go and see what’s going on. Mom, please take a day off tomorrow and help my sister-in-law tidy up. The four kids are too young to be of much help.” Lu Shuqi took the bag of rags and some small tools his mother had found, then turned and left.

Following the address given by his brother, Lu Shuqi took a bus to Shanghai University and found it quickly.

"Brother, open the door." Lu Shuqi knocked on the door and called to his brother to open it.

"Come in, you came in pretty quickly." Lu Shurui opened the door and let Shuqi in.

"Brother, is the house rented or bought?" Lu Shuqi looked around and saw that, apart from being a bit run-down, the place was actually quite spacious.

"I bought it. My second brother-in-law found it for me. It's a house we just returned. No one has lived here for quite a while," Lu Shurui explained simply.

"Brother, how do you plan to clean this up? What can I do?" Lu Shuqi asked, this was no small project.

"We need to sweep the dust in the room first; it's too thick. After sweeping, wipe it twice with water. Then check what furniture we need so we can prepare it." Lu Shurui thought it best to sweep the dust away first, otherwise every movement would kick up a cloud of dust, especially after running around quickly.

The two brothers took brooms and went inside, telling Yu Yin and the children to go out first, as there was too much dust.

The house hadn't been lived in for a long time, and there was a thick layer of dust everywhere.

Lu Shurui and Shuqi started sweeping from the second-floor shed, and by the time they reached the first floor, quite a long time had passed.

“Shu Rui, it’s too cold outside, the children can’t stand it. Let’s take them to their grandparents first. They can’t help here and they’ll just get cold.” Yu Yin said to Lu Shu Rui, looking at the children whose noses were a little red.

Winter temperatures in Shanghai are not high, only around one or two degrees Celsius, which the children are not used to.

“Alright, I’ll take them there. I’ll also tell Grandpa and Grandma that the children will stay with them during the day for the next few days.” After saying that, Lu Shurui urged the four children to hurry up and leave so they wouldn’t get too cold.

"Shuqi, now that you've finished sweeping, go check around the neighborhood and see where you can buy honeycomb briquettes. I saw a honeycomb briquette stove in the kitchen, but I don't know if it's still usable. You'll need to boil some hot water; it'll be too cold to wipe with cold water," Yu Yin said to Shuqi after seeing the children off.

Yu Yin had only seen pictures of honeycomb briquette stoves, but had never used one and didn't know how to light it.

"Okay, sister-in-law, I understand. I'll go check if the stove works." Shuqi said as she walked towards the kitchen. They had learned how to use the honeycomb briquette stove since they were little.

Lu Shuqi moved the honeycomb briquette stove from the kitchen to the yard, swept off the dust, and examined it carefully. There were no cracks, so it should be usable.

Lu Shuqi searched along the courtyard wall again, and sure enough, he found quite a few chopped pieces of wood that could be used to start the stove.

Just as the two were tidying up, intending to put the wood into the coal stove and light it, Lu Shurui returned.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!