Xia Youyou slept all night. When she woke up in the morning, Cao An had been waiting outside the door for half a day.
She glanced out the window, but the glass wasn't bright enough to tell what time it was outside.
"Youyou, are you awake?"
Cao An knocked on the door, thinking that she would have woken up long ago after sleeping for so long. But he knocked on the door for a long time without any response. Just when he was about to break the door, he heard her soft voice from inside.
"Just woke up! Brother, wait for me." She wanted to get up and put away the mattress, otherwise it would be difficult to explain if someone passing by saw her.
After she had finally finished washing up, she opened the door. Unlike last night's daze, Xia Youyou finally had some energy.
"I bought some buns, you can eat them first. Qi Siling should be here soon."
Xia Youyou thought about this and her appointment with Qi Siling yesterday. She took the bun from his hand and went back to her room. Then she remembered that she hadn't eaten dinner last night.
"Brother, close the door."
After he closed the door, he took out the food and put it on the table.
"Brother, come and eat with me. I was so sleepy last night that I didn't feel hungry at all."
Cao An walked into the room and sat down across from the table. He hadn't been eating well these days. Oil and water were scarce these days, so state-owned restaurants used greasy dishes as a selling point, and he couldn't get used to them.
The two of them were having breakfast in their room when Qi Siling arrived at the guesthouse. Xiao Hai had also arrived, each with a bicycle. They went up to the second floor and knocked on Cao An's door, but no one answered, so they assumed they had already left.
Just as I was about to knock again, the door of the little girl next to me opened.
Qi Siling was delighted and didn't leave.
Cao An opened the door and saw his surprised look, and motioned for the two to follow in.
"We are having breakfast, have you eaten yet?"
He turned sideways, and Qi Siling saw the little girl behind him sitting at the table chewing on a bun. Her little mouth was stuffed full, like the little hamsters he saw in the mountains eating, blinking at him.
"Sister Youyou!" Xiao Hai shouted, pushing Qi Siling aside and rushing to Xia Youyou. Glancing at the fierce man next to him, he felt a little scared again. "Brother Cao," he called out timidly.
Cao An's eyebrows twitched and he nodded to him.
"Why are you here so early?" Xia Youyou swallowed the food in her mouth and looked over the two of them with her big watery eyes.
Qi Siling originally wanted to come alone, but when Xiao Hai saw him pushing his bicycle out, he followed him.
"Don't you have something to tell me? I was afraid you would wait for too long. He insisted on coming with us, so he came along." She raised her chin towards Xiao Hai, indicating that he had come along on his own.
Xiao Hai touched his head awkwardly, "I thought he was going to take Youyou out to play again, so he left me behind that day!" As a result, Xiao Meili complained to him when he got home, and he was scolded by his mother.
Xia Youyou didn't mind, and neither did Cao An. Since they wanted to cooperate with them, they should definitely make things clear together.
"Sit down first. We'll talk business after this girl finishes eating."
"Brother~ Just tell me, I'll finish eating soon."
Cao An ignored her and took out the key to his room. "Xiao Hai, go to my room and bring a stool over. Sit down so we can talk."
So, while Xia Youyou was having breakfast, three grown men were already sitting in her room.
After she swallowed the last bite, Cao An unscrewed the lid of the kettle and handed it to her.
"Drink some water."
"Okay, brother, let's get down to business." Putting down the kettle, Xia Youyou took the handkerchief he handed her and wiped her mouth.
Qi Siling watched the two interact naturally, a hint of doubt flashing across her indifferent face. Was Cao An raising this little girl like his own daughter?
"Does Xiao Hai know about the college entrance examination?"
Cao An's casual words caught Xiao Hai off guard. He turned to look at Qi Siling, who had a blank expression on her face. What college entrance examination?
"I haven't had time to talk about it yet." They didn't meet yesterday and only returned to the dormitory at night. It was not convenient to talk about these things with so many people around.
"Then let me start from the beginning. The college entrance examination will resume at the end of the year, so you two should prepare. Next year, Youyou and I plan to move to Beijing to develop our business, and we originally needed to find a house. But then I remembered that we have a house deed, so I asked you to come here today so that you can take us over there to see what the situation is like. After all, you are native Beijingers, so you must be familiar with this place."
Xiao Hai was still digesting the news about the college entrance examination, but Qi Siling nodded and said, "Let me take a look."
Xia Youyou obediently took out the house deed from her bag and gave it to him.
She extended her small hand. Qi Siling glanced at her, curled up her lips beautifully, and spread out her palm, letting her put it in his palm.
Soft fingers accidentally brushed across his palm, and he subconsciously bent his hand and held the title deed tightly after her hand left.
"This is a four-courtyard house in Shichahai, not far from here." It's not far from the old house either, and it's the one I know. I didn't expect that the house deed would be in their hands.
"Can I ask how you got this deed?" he asked. As far as he knew, this family... seemed to be gone!
"Do you know this one?" Cao An did not answer directly.
Qi Siling nodded, not hiding anything. "Our old house is also here, not far away. But as far as I know, this family was sent down during the movement, and all these years..." He shook his head and didn't say anything else.
Cao An understood, it was similar to what Mr. Yan said.
"Youyou got this from an old man at a scrap yard. We wanted to give it back to him, but he said the family was gone and there was no point in him keeping it. We thought about it and decided it wouldn't be convenient to buy a house right now, so we decided to settle down there first. If things improve and the owner comes back, we'll give it back." He never considered keeping it for himself; he just had to make do with the situation. They wouldn't object to buying it or moving out later.
Now that the matter was clear, Cao An began to talk about cooperation.
"Yesterday, Youyou asked you to take her to the black market because she wanted to understand the situation there. She's working with someone in Bao City and wants to work with you in Beijing. After all, you have the transport team as a cover, so it should be much easier."
Qi Siling looked at Xia Youyou, who was rubbing her fingers boredly. She hadn't expected her to be so smart. She only knew she was from the transport team and was thinking of getting him to cooperate.
"What do you want to do?"
Cao An said seriously, "We have grain. It depends on how you sell it. The price is negotiable." He took out a small bag of grain from the bag on the side.
"I'm sure you've seen our grains before. They're all top-quality, and taste much better than regular grains. You can definitely sell better grains in the capital than in Baoshi."
Qi Siling knew how good the food was, and the children in the yard were reluctant to eat such good food, so she would always go home and cook a pot herself.
"Then what price do you suggest we sell it for? There are costs for the round trip fuel, and we have to go through Baoshi for transportation."
"13 cents is our base price, you can sell it for 25 cents without any problem."
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