Chen Qing nodded, "Then let's wait for them to arrive, and then we'll go to the house together."
The couple neither agreed nor disagreed, but thanked Chen Qing with smiles.
The little girl jumped for joy, exclaiming, "Yay! I can wait here to drink my sweet soup!"
Another ten minutes or so passed before Yu Shui and Li Yinhe returned.
Yu Shui rode his electric scooter with Li Yinhe to the residential area. Although they were both sweating profusely from helping carry the luggage, the cold wind on the way back made them sneeze several times as soon as they parked.
After finally stopping their sneezing, the two took out tissues from their pockets, wiped their noses and hands clean, and then went into the tent.
"Old Shen, I have something to tell you..."
Yu Shui's words, "I've suffered terribly," stuck in his throat. He looked at the three people sitting around the stove and smiled, "Are you from North Harbin? Welcome, welcome!"
The group found Yu Shui's appearance adorably silly and chuckled to themselves.
Shen Yanming stood up and offered the chair to Yu Shui, "Please sit down and warm yourself up. You've all worked hard today. Do you have a cold? You sound nasal!"
Bi Qiaoan also offered her chair to Li Yinhe, saying, "There's ginger and brown sugar water in the pot. You two can drink some to warm yourselves up after it boils."
Yu Shui and Li Yinhe didn't stand on ceremony and plopped down in the chairs.
They were both exhausted because they had helped each other carry their luggage up to the 11th floor.
Damn it, if it weren't for the fact that the other person had waited outside for more than two hours in the freezing cold, they wouldn't have gone through all that trouble.
Seeing Yu Shui and Li Yinhe slumped listlessly in their chairs, Cui Xian had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he hesitated to ask them because there were strangers around.
Yu Shui rested for two or three minutes, and the coal stove warmed his hands and feet a little.
He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and said to Shen Yanming, "On Friday night, a few of us came here to survey the terrain. This is a map showing the layout of all the rooms."
Shen Yanming took it and glanced at it; the rooms were fairly centrally located.
Then he took out his phone and took a picture, handed the paper back to Yu Shui, and asked, "Did you all write it down?"
Choi Hyun shook his head. "I have it saved on my phone, but I've been there in person, so I know the approximate location."
Li Yinhe and Chen Qing said they felt the same way.
Shen Yanming was somewhat puzzled, "Why didn't you send me the photos on Friday?"
“We’ve discussed it, and the four of us will be the ones leading the way. You and Qiao An will stay here to register and verify the information. I’m giving you this map so you have a better understanding of the situation.”
Shen Yanming didn't mince words and sincerely said to them, "Thank you!"
Yu Shui smiled and said, "Of course!"
Seeing this, the middle-aged man remarked, "You two have such a good relationship!"
The group smiled but didn't explain further.
A moment of silence fell over the tent. Bi Qiaoan seemed to remember something and said to the middle-aged couple, "This winter, a few of us are the administrators responsible for several surrounding residential areas. Please join our group. If there's anything we need to discuss, we can communicate in the group."
Then he took out a piece of paper from his bag, which had the QR code for the WeChat group that their six-person reception team had created.
The middle-aged couple nodded, took out their phones to scan the QR code to join the group, and the young girl followed closely behind.
Actually, only one person from their family needs to join the group, but since they are so cooperative, you can't refuse them!
After joining the group, Bi Qiaoan folded the QR code and put it in her bag. Shen Yanming asked softly, "When did you make this?"
"Yesterday, when you were out, I forgot to tell you!"
Shen Yanming nodded and said nothing more.
Not long after, the middle-aged man's son arrived.
He walked in carrying a three- or four-year-old boy who looked listless, followed by a young woman.
"Dad, are all the formalities completed?" the young man asked.
"We've verified all your information. Here are your and your wife's ID cards. Show them to this young man so we can check them," the middle-aged man said, pointing at Chen Qing.
The young man handed his son to his father, then he and his wife took out their ID cards and went to Chen Qing to register.
Because there was no need to search this time, the verification process was very fast.
After returning the ID card to the other party, Chen Qing said, "Let's go, I'll take you to your accommodation."
The young man nodded and was about to leave, followed closely by the middle-aged couple, but the little girl stared longingly at the pot and couldn't move an inch.
Bi Qiaoan lifted the pot lid and glanced at the water, which was already bubbling away. She patted the little girl's arm and said, "Go get a cup, I'll fill it for you, and you can drink it when we get home."
The little girl nodded excitedly, asked her dad for the car keys, rummaged through the luggage bag in the back seat for her water bottle, and ran back to the tent to hand it to Bi Qiaoan.
Bi Qiaoan scooped a full cup of ginger tea for the other person with a spoon, and added a red date because there was a child in the room.
This time, Chen Qing took the keys to show the house to the other party. Before leaving, he borrowed an electric scooter from Yu Shui.
"See, my little electric scooter is so useful! Otherwise, for a journey of just a few minutes, driving isn't worth it, and walking is too tiring and troublesome!" Yu Shui patted his little electric scooter and said proudly.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's just a bit tough." Chen Qing sat on the electric bike, turned the key, twisted the handlebars, and sped off.
Yu Shui watched Chen Qing's retreating figure, her anger rising, and shouted, "Even if it's the northwest wind, you still insist on drinking it!"
When he returned to the tent, he said to Bi Qiaoan, "I want to drink ginger tea too!"
"Cook it a little longer, the ginger flavor hasn't been infused yet!" Bi Qiaoan said.
Even though the water used in the pot is purified water, it's still drinkable even if it's not boiled. However, if the flavor of the ginger slices isn't extracted during the cooking process, then the ginger and brown sugar water will be useless.
Yu Shui nodded in disappointment, "Alright then, I'll wait a little longer!"
"By the way, have you had breakfast?" Bi Qiaoan asked.
"I left too early this morning and only ate a couple of bites of a steamed bun," Yu Shui said. "You don't realize it until you mention it, and now that you're talking about it, I feel a bit hungry."
Cui Xian and Li Yinhe nodded in agreement. "It was pitch black in the morning, and there was no electricity, so we didn't cook at home."
Bi Qiaoan sighed; thankfully, the two of them were well-prepared.
She opened the storage box, handed each of them a steamed bun and a salted egg, and said, "We can't supply more than that; these are all the two of us we can manage to get."
The steamed buns were originally meant for your lunch, but it's alright if you eat them now; we can talk about it again at lunchtime.
“We did bring lunch. We were just thinking that if we got too hungry, we could just grab a few bites,” Li Yinhe explained.
"No need for that. Yanming and I prepared plenty. It shouldn't be a problem for us to have enough to eat," Bi Qiaoan said.
Yu Shui took a bite of the steamed bun. "It's so cold, I feel like I can't swallow it!"
"Skewer them with chopsticks and roast them over the fire!" Shen Yanming suggested.
So the group moved the pot aside and each person placed a steamed bun over the fire to toast. They would flip it over every now and then, and a faint crackling sound could be heard.
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