"Sis, I'm going to Da Niu's house. You go back first." Before Xia Qingqing's bicycle had even come to a complete stop, Gou Dan nimbly jumped off and ran away.
When Zhang Hongyan saw her daughter return alone, her brows furrowed slightly: "Qingqing, where is your brother?"
“He went to Da Niu’s house to play,” Xia Qingqing answered as she parked her bicycle.
"That guy, he's never home," Zhang Hongyan muttered.
Seeing her mother start nagging again, Xia Qingqing quickly took out a bag of popsicles and handed it to her: "Mom, this is a milk-flavored popsicle, try it and see if it's good."
"Why are you buying all this stuff again? It won't even fill our stomachs," Zhang Hongyan said, calling it wasteful, but she had a smile on her face.
Xia Qingqing peeked into the room and asked, "Where's my dad? This popsicle will melt if we don't finish it quickly."
"He's busy in the back of the house. I'll go call your dad back to eat," Zhang Hongyan said, placing a half-eaten popsicle on the table before turning and heading to the backyard.
When Xia Heping was separated from his family, he obtained a plot of land from the brigade leader, which is the place where Xia Qingqing and her family live now.
However, the family was poor at that time, but fortunately there were not many people in the family, so they built two mud-brick houses first, and left a large plot of land in the backyard to build a new one when they had more money in the future.
More than ten years have passed, and the family has finally made money. Zhang Hongyan and Xia Heping discussed building three large brick and tile houses, one for the couple and one for their son and daughter.
As for the problem of three rooms not being enough for Gou Dan when he grows up, gets married, and has children, Zhang Hongyan had already thought it through.
When Gou Dan reaches marriageable age, we'll immediately apply for a homestead for him and allocate it to him.
Although she only has one son, Zhang Hongyan doesn't plan to live with him and his wife. She believes that distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Zhang Hongyan went to the backyard and called Xia Heping back. Xia Qingqing quickly handed over the two popsicles that were already showing signs of melting.
"Mom and Dad, hurry up and eat, it's about to melt."
Xia Heping smiled and took the popsicle: "You two siblings can eat it. Don't buy it for me and your mother next time, it's a waste."
"How can this be a waste? You work so hard every day, you deserve to eat more good food."
Many parents always like to save the best things for their children. Xia Qingqing doesn't quite understand this mentality; perhaps it's because she hasn't become a parent yet.
"Wow, these popsicles are really delicious! They smell so milky, you must have added milk to them," Xia Heping asked, pointing to the popsicle in his hand.
"Yes, this is milk-flavored ice cream. It has milk in it." Xia Qingqing had to praise the milk-flavored ice cream. Although it was a bit pricey, the milk flavor was really strong.
If it weren't for Gou Dan being there making things inconvenient, she would have liked to stock up on more and store it in the system warehouse to eat slowly. She can only find another opportunity to buy more next time.
Meanwhile, Gou Dan rushed into Da Niu's house with four comic books in his pocket, and ran right into Da Niu's mother.
Da Niu's mom was used to Gou Dan coming to their house to play, and asked with a smile, "Gou Dan, what treasure did you bring with you?"
Da Niu, who had just come out of the room, froze upon hearing his mother's question and frantically gave Gou Dan meaningful glances: Please don't expose me.
Although Gou Dan didn't receive his good brother's signal, he wasn't stupid. He immediately brought up his sister as an example: "Auntie, this is a comic book that my sister bought for me."
Da Niu's mother knew about comic books. Da Niu had been asking to buy one, but she had always refused, thinking that such things were a waste of time and would affect his studies.
However, upon hearing that even Xia Qingqing was buying comic books for Gou Dan, she immediately added a filter to her perception of comic books.
Qingqing is the top scorer in the province, so since it was Qingqing who bought it, it couldn't possibly affect her studies. It might even help her studies.
Da Niu's mother started to consider whether she should buy a few copies for her son to read as well.
After pulling Gou Dan back to the room, Da Niu visibly breathed a sigh of relief: "Gou Dan, it's a good thing you're smart enough not to betray me, otherwise I would be dead today."
Da Niu secretly hid all the money he earned from catching fish. His parents and younger brother had no idea. If his mother found out that he had hidden money to buy comic books, he would definitely get a beating.
"Of course! Don't you know who I am?" Gou Dan said arrogantly.
He laid out all four comic books on the bed: "Da Niu, hurry up and choose one."
Da Niu looked at the four completely different comic books, his face showing a dilemma. He couldn't make a decision for a long time, wondering what to do with each one.
Dog Egg chuckled and urged him to hurry up: "Actually, they're all the same. We were going to take turns watching them anyway."
“Oh right, then I’ll just grab one at random,” Da Niu suddenly realized. After choosing the comic book, he didn’t forget to hand over the 2 cents he had prepared to Gou Dan.
The two little ones lay on the bed reading comic books together, and were still somewhat reluctant to stop when Xia Qingqing came to call them. After agreeing to continue tomorrow, Gou Dan went home with his sister.
At the dinner table, Xia Qingqing began to probe Zhang Hongyan's opinion on living in Beijing.
When Zhang Hongyan heard her daughter say this, she thought she was joking: "Of course that's great! Beijing used to be under the emperor's nose. It's so prosperous. It's nothing like our rural place."
Xia Qingqing was very surprised; she never expected Zhang Hongyan to be so easy to talk to.
He pressed on while the iron was hot, saying, "Then you can come to Beijing with me when school starts. Let's leave a little earlier to transfer your household registration and find a school for Gou Dan."
"Stop, stop, stop! What nonsense are you talking about, child? What do you mean by going to Beijing?" Zhang Hongyan asked, completely bewildered. Wasn't he just joking? Why is he talking like it's the truth?
"Mom, didn't you just say you wanted our whole family to live in Beijing? Are you going to back out now?" Xia Qingqing immediately retorted.
Zhang Hongyan choked and scolded, "I was just joking. Besides, Beijing isn't a place we can just go whenever we want."
“You can go anytime you want. I bought a courtyard in Beijing. You, Dad, and Gou Dan can transfer your household registration there,” Xia Qingqing’s casual words stunned the whole family.
Three pairs of eyes turned to Xia Qingqing, as if questioning the veracity of her words.
But all three of them understood that Xia Qingqing would never joke about something like this.
Then there's only one possibility: she really did buy a courtyard house in Beijing!
Zhang Hongyan clutched her heart: "When did this happen? How come you've never mentioned it before?"
"It was last semester, I was afraid of scaring you, so I didn't tell you," Xia Qingqing said, half-jokingly. The house had been bought a long time ago, but she was really afraid of scaring her parents.
"How much did you pay for the house? How big is it? How far is it from your school?" Zhang Hongyan asked in a row.
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