Li Chu went straight to the kitchen. There were still some steamed buns at home, so he would cook some porridge, stir-fry some vegetables, and have some pickled vegetables for dinner.
When he finished cooking and brought the meal to the living room, the girl realized it was time to eat, put down her book, and ran to wash her hands.
During the meal, Ding Qiunan complained to Li Chu about how much she had to memorize.
Li Chu smiled and said to her, "Qiu Nan, remember the medicines I marked with solid asterisks in the catalog. Those are common medicines in hospitals. The ones marked with hollow asterisks are medicines you need to know. We'll talk about the rest later."
After taking a bite of food, Li Chu continued, "Starting tomorrow, I'll buy some of the medicines available in the market and hospitals and put them in the medicine drawer in the study. You can study by looking at the books and comparing them with the medicines; that way you'll remember them faster."
The girl, with a steamed bun in her mouth, mumbled, "So many kinds of medicine, that must cost a lot of money."
"No, we won't buy too much. Just a little of each will do. It won't cost much. I'll make a label and stick it on the medicine drawer so you can tell which medicine is in which drawer. You'll be able to recognize the medicinal properties and uses of each medicine just by seeing its name."
The girl stuck out her tongue, but didn't say anything about not wanting to learn. Since she had already made up her mind, she was determined to learn seriously.
After finishing the meal, Ding Qiunan took the initiative to wash the dishes. After cleaning up, Li Chu didn't let her continue reading, and instead took her out for a walk with Xiao Hei.
Their house was the second one from the west end of the alley. Just a few steps from the alley were the storefronts on the roadside. Many people were sitting under the streetlights; they were all residents of the alley.
Everyone knew that the young couple had just moved in, and they greeted Li Chu and Ding Qiunan warmly.
After chatting with the neighbors in the alley for a while, the two of them led Xiao Hei on a further tour.
This alley is close to the department store, and many of the people living there work at the department store.
"Li Chu, who lives to our west? I've noticed that the gate to that courtyard is always locked."
“I asked my sister, and she said that the family is now in the south. It seems that their son works in the south, and the old couple went there to look for their son.”
The first house on the west side of the alley was a two-courtyard siheyuan (traditional courtyard house) with a garden in the back; it was the family's ancestral property. It was much larger than Li Chu's house; Li Chu had stood on the wall and looked at it, his mouth watering.
The house next door to his was the same size as his, and it was also inhabited by another family. The couple were returned overseas students from years ago and are now professors at a prestigious university. Their eldest daughter just started normal university this year, and their youngest daughter is only in junior high school.
Thinking about the couple's identities and professions, Li Chu shook his head, wondering if they could survive the great era.
After wandering around for a while, the two of them turned back. As soon as they entered the alley, Xiao Hei barked at the front.
Looking ahead, Li Chu could vaguely see, by the moonlight, a person sitting on the steps of the gate to the east of his house.
The man was clearly startled by Xiao Hei's shout and stood up, ready to run at any moment.
Li Chu called out to Xiao Hei to stop barking. When he got to his front door, he could see clearly that there was a girl standing there, about ten years old, about the same age as Wang Jiadong.
"It must be the neighbor's youngest daughter," Li Chu muttered to himself.
Ding Qiunan also noticed the girl. She took a few steps forward and said, "Don't be afraid, Xiao Hei doesn't bite. Why are you sitting here?"
Li Chu opened the courtyard gate and turned on the light installed on it.
With the light on and knowing it was her neighbor, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the pretty older sister in front of her, she pointed to the yard behind her and said, "Hello, big sister, my home is here. I went out to play and forgot my keys. When I came back, my parents were nowhere to be found, so I sat at the door waiting for them."
Ding Qiunan smiled at the pretty little girl in front of her: "Hello, my name is Ding Qiunan, and I live next door to you. You can call me Sister Qiunan."
"Hello, Sister Qiunan. My name is Ran Ziye. You can call me Yezi."
Li Chu stood silently to the side. Now, when he heard the little girl's name, it sounded very familiar, but after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out.
"Yezi, come to our house and wait for your parents. It's too dark outside," Ding Qiunan invited Ran Ziye.
The little girl hesitated. Although they were neighbors, it was the first time they had met. However, it was indeed a bit dark outside, and she had been a little scared sitting alone on the steps.
"Come on, our door is open like this, your parents will see it when they come back." Ding Qiunan walked over, took Ran Ziye's hand, and walked into their yard.
After watching the two of them go inside, Li Chu turned off the light on the outside door and followed them inside.
Ran Ziye entered the courtyard and looked around curiously. Her family knew that the neighbor's yard was being cleaned up, but they had never seen this neighbor before. Today was the first time she had entered this yard.
The yard was the same size as their house, but it looked much cleaner and tidier. There were trees and a swing in the yard.
Following Ding Qiunan into the living room and sitting on the sofa, Ran Ziye saw the book that Ding Qiunan was reading.
"Wow, it's so thick!" she thought to herself. Her parents had many books, but none of them were this thick.
Seeing the male host bring her a glass of water, Ran Ziye quickly stood up and took it, saying, "Thank you, big brother."
"Ye Zi, his name is Li Chu. You can call him Brother Chu from now on," Ding Qiunan introduced to Ran Ziye.
Ran Ziye smiled sweetly at Li Chu and called out, "Brother Chu."
Li Chu smiled and nodded, then pointed to the coffee table: "There's candy on the coffee table, Yezi, you can have some."
Then he said to Ding Qiunan, "Qiunan, you two sit here. I'll prepare Xiao Hei's nest in the yard."
After saying that, Li Chu went to the yard and put the cotton pad that Xiao Hei used to live in over there, which was placed in the box, into this new nest.
Pulling Xiao Hei along, I told it about its new home. Xiao Hei stood outside the new den for a while, sniffing the familiar scent on the mat inside, before finally crawling inside.
Li Chu filled the water basin with water again and put it outside. When it gets colder in a while, Xiao Hei will have to move into the living room.
Seeing that Xiao Hei had become familiar with its new home, Li Chu clapped his hands, stood up, and went to the kitchen to seal the stove.
As soon as I came out of the kitchen, I heard someone calling Ran Ziye from the alley outside.
Li Chu glanced back at the living room, where the two people were chatting enthusiastically and hadn't heard the shouts outside. He then walked directly to the front door and turned on the light.
The lights that came on attracted the attention of the two people outside.
Li Chu stood at the door, looking at the middle-aged couple, who should be Ran Ziye's parents.
The man appeared to be around fifty years old, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and had a refined and scholarly air. The woman was at most in her early forties, and was dignified and beautiful.
156n.
Li Chu looked at the two people who were looking over and said, "Hello, are you calling Ran Ziye?"
"Yes, yes, do you know where she is?" Upon hearing their daughter's name, the two men became visibly excited, and the man hurriedly asked.
"You must be Ran Ziye's parents, right? My name is Li Chu, and I'm your neighbor. I just moved in today. When my wife and I came back just now, we saw her sitting alone on the steps in front of your house, so my wife invited her in to wait for you. She's in my house now, please come in."
"Oh, Comrade Li, thank you so much. My name is Ran Xiuchen, and this is my wife, Zhang Dongmei. We were so worried when we got back and couldn't find our child. It's too late for us to go in, so please just call her out."
Seeing that they didn't want to go in, Li Chu didn't insist and went in after asking them to wait a moment.
Soon Ran Ziye ran out, followed by Li Chu and Ding Qiunan.
Ran Ziye ran out and hugged her mother's arm tightly, talking incoherently.
"Mom, I went out and forgot my keys. When I came back, no one was home and I couldn't get in. Where did you go? I was sitting alone at the door, all in the dark, and I was terrified. Luckily, Sister Qiunan and Brother Xiaochu told me to wait for you at their house."
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