Chapter 145: House in the Capital
No one in the car expected that Cheng Fanying would come to pick them up in person.
Cheng Lin and Cheng Kai were about to get off the car.
Cheng Yang stopped them, turned the steering wheel and parked the car on the side of the road.
At this moment, Cheng Fanying opened the car door, waved at them, and said, "Don't get out yet. Go home first. The meal is ready."
Cheng Yang hesitated for a moment and glanced at his wife sitting beside him.
Cheng Fanying was obviously afraid that they would raise objections, so he didn't give them a chance to refuse. He called the driver and drove ahead to lead the way.
Now that this is the case, the car can only follow.
The retirement home where Cheng Fanying lives is located in a prime area of the capital, which can be said to be a good place to find peace and quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
The entrance of the retirement home is not big, and there are only two sentries quietly guarding the door.
But the area of the yard was not small. After the two cars entered the yard, they walked along the tree-lined road for almost ten minutes before they arrived at the house where Cheng Fanying lived.
Along the way, Shi Xiaoai looked around through the car window and found that the place was basically full of two-story red brick buildings.
There are single-family houses with small courtyards, and there are also those that look like townhouses, where two families share a small building.
No matter which one it is, they all look very impressive. To be able to live in such a retirement home, their status must be quite high.
Cheng Fanying lives in a detached house, located closer to the inside of the yard.
The location is very good. There is a driveway outside the yard and a large bamboo forest next to the driveway.
Behind the bamboo forest, you can vaguely see a small river, but I don’t know whether it is a real artificial river or a deliberately dug landscape.
Because of the moisture brought by the river water and the bamboo forest, the temperature here is at least two or three degrees lower than outside.
Even in the hottest days of summer, the few people felt a little cool when they got out of the car, and the heat disappeared immediately.
Seeing them come back, a young soldier ran out of the house quickly.
The little soldier's mouth was grinning the whole time, and he looked very happy.
Especially when he saw Cheng Lin and Kaikai, he ran over excitedly and pulled them aside to ask them all kinds of questions.
Xiao Ai was a little surprised when she saw him. She couldn't help but move closer to Cheng Yang and asked, "Hasn't your dad been retired for many years? How come he can still be admitted to the military retirement home?"
Cheng Yang looked back at her in surprise. "It's not the military retirement home! Didn't you notice when we were at the door just now that it said the name of the XX Department Retirement Home."
Shi Xiaoai was a little confused.
The car came in so quickly just now, how could she have noticed it?
She gestured towards the young soldier and asked, "Isn't he wearing a military uniform?"
Cheng Yang was speechless: "Take a closer look."
Shi Xiaoai squinted her eyes and took a closer look, only then did she realize that although the young soldier was wearing a military uniform, he was not wearing a collar badge.
"Is this...discharge from the army?"
"Yeah." Cheng Yang explained, "This is my dad's former civil servant in the army. After he retired, he didn't want to go home, so my dad asked him to come here to help."
While the two were whispering to each other, Cheng Fanying had already gotten out of the car and walked over.
He didn't look at Cheng Yang, but looked at Shi Xiaoai and said, "Shi Xiao, stay at home for a while. I can take Mingrui and Mingxi out to play more."
Shi Xiaoai didn't say anything, she didn't know how to respond.
Deep down, she didn't want to live here. She had a mediocre impression of this man and didn't consider him a relative.
But he is the father of three brothers after all, and she doesn't want to lose face to him in front of them.
Fortunately, Cheng Yang understood her thoughts very well and said immediately, "We're just having a meal and will be leaving soon. The guesthouse has already been booked."
He paused, then added, "It depends on what Xiaolin and Kaikai want. If they're willing to stay, that's fine too."
Cheng Fanying had obviously prepared himself for rejection before even asking. After hearing what Cheng Yang said, he was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "It's up to you. But you don't have to stay at the guesthouse. I've already had someone clean up the house over there, so you can move in there."
After saying that, he stopped looking at the couple and pulled Mingrui and Mingxi over and walked in front.
Mingrui and Mingxi had been taught by their two uncles along the way that this old man was their grandfather. In addition, Cheng Fanying had been to Yuncheng before, so the two children still had an impression of him.
So I didn't resist being led by him and followed him into the house obediently.
Mingrui just looked back at his parents, and after Cheng Yang waved at him and asked him to follow, he became more frank and obedient.
Cheng Fanying put a lot of thought into this meal and prepared many dishes, including fish and meat. He also asked civil servants to buy roast duck, the very famous meat patties and pine nut tripe.
I heard from the civil servant that this was reserved a long time ago, and they agreed to pick it up whenever they wanted, just for the sake of novelty.
Not only that, Cheng Fanying even bought a box of soda and ice cream and stored it in the service center's refrigerator. As soon as he entered the door, he asked the driver to go and get it back. He also specially bought the two children the most popular fruit leather and hawthorn cakes among children in Beijing at that time, as well as various snacks.
In short, the table was full.
It must have been a long time since Cheng Fanying had any contact with children, and he just wanted to give his children everything he could remember.
In addition to food, he also bought a lot of stationery, comic books and children's books.
Those things were all in sets. Even without looking at what was inside, you could tell from the appearance that he bought the most expensive ones.
Seeing this situation, Xiao Ai didn't know what to say. She just felt that Cheng Fanying must be too lonely at this time.
It’s such a big house, with two floors upstairs and downstairs, a separate entrance and a bamboo forest just outside the door. There’s not even a single person nearby.
According to the previous introduction, the civil servant he found is currently living here with him, and the driver and the cook left after get off work.
Shi Xiaoai thought that maybe he was too lonely and that was why he brought the civil servant back?
She looked at Cheng Fanying's eyes, which were full of doting and even a little cautious when he looked at the two children, and she was a little confused.
What was he trying to achieve by doing that before?
When he coldly pushed all his loved ones away, did he ever think that this day would come?
Would you stay alone in a big house, counting the days silently and living a hopeless life?
However, everything in the world has a cause and an effect.
Since he chose a career in politics and devoted everything to his work, he deserves the treatment he receives now.
But at the same time, he abandoned his family for his career, so it was inevitable that he would grow old and lonely.
Shi Xiaoai did not sympathize with him, nor did she feel soft-hearted because of his desperate efforts to perform.
She wouldn't object if he came to visit occasionally like we were acquaintances, but more frequent contact was unnecessary.
Not long after the meal, Shi Xiaoai's family said goodbye, saying that the children were too tired and wanted to go to bed.
Cheng Lin and Kaikai did not leave. It was obvious that Cheng Fanlin still had something to talk to his two sons.
Cheng Lin drove his family to the house where he lived as a child, which was also left to him by his mother.
The house was located near the embassy area and was actually a small villa.
Such houses are rare even in Beijing.
The house had three floors, and it looked like it was originally painted a pale yellow, but unfortunately, the original color was no longer visible due to the passage of time.
Outside the house is a small courtyard, which is not too big and is separated from the road outside by an iron fence.
It can be seen that the fence was newly made later. Although it tried hard to imitate the old style, it still has the sharpness unique to new iron.
The yard had been renovated, the soil had been turned over, and flower beds had been created.
A large patch of roses has been newly planted along the iron railings, some of which have already bloomed, looking brilliant and beautiful.
Standing at the door, Shi Xiaoai narrowed her eyes and smiled.
She looked at Cheng Yang and praised him generously, "I like it here."
Cheng Yang touched her head happily, then took out the key from his pocket and handed it to her.
Shi Xiaoai took the key and opened the gate, and the whole family walked in together.
After entering, they discovered that there was a small fish pond built in the inner part, with fish and lotus flowers planted in it.
Now is the season when lotus flowers bloom. Several pink and white lotus flowers stand on the water, looking delicate and eye-catching.
When the two children saw the fish and lotus flowers, they were no longer sleepy.
They screamed and ran over, putting their hands in the pool and playing.
The pool was not deep, and the couple knew that their children were not the kind of children who would act recklessly, so they were not worried about them getting into any danger. So they let them play in the yard while they went to move the luggage from the car one by one.
The house here is indeed older than Cheng Fanying's house, and there is almost no furniture inside.
There is a set of sofas, a dining table and a few other necessities. You can tell from looking at them that they were added later. They were all chosen temporarily to make do.
Cheng Yang put his luggage on a chair and said, "This house was occupied by a company before it was taken back, so the damage to the house isn't too severe, but the furniture is definitely gone.
These should be temporarily borrowed by my dad from the retirement home. He knew that I would definitely not want the things he bought, so he lent me some to make do with for now."
Shi Xiaoai nodded and thought this was pretty good.
In this way, she can decorate the house according to her own ideas without any burden.
The rooms were indeed cleaned and were spotless inside and out.
The bedding on the bed is all new and has been carefully taken out to dry repeatedly. As soon as you enter the bedroom, you can smell a pleasant smell of the sun.
Shi Xiaoai asked curiously, "Did your father ask someone to do this?"
Cheng Yang shook his head: "He should be a civil servant, right? My dad, he would never think of such things."
Shi Xiaoai laughed.
She felt the same way. If that man could be so attentive, he wouldn't have ended up being looked down upon by his wife and children.
After all, it’s your own house, and you should feel at ease living in it.
Shi Xiaoai was afraid that she would not be able to sleep if she changed the place, but she did not expect that she could sleep without any dreams all night and until dawn.
When she woke up, the brother and sister were still snoring like little pigs and couldn't be woken up even by her calling.
She came out of the bedroom on the second floor, and before she even went downstairs, she heard Kaikai's voice downstairs: "Is sister-in-law still awake? Brother, go and call her. She said she wanted to eat fried dough sticks, so I bought them early this morning. If you don't get up soon, they'll be cold."
Shi Xiaoai hurried downstairs: "I'm coming, I'm coming."
After she walked down, she saw that there were not only fried dough sticks on the table, but also spicy hot pot, tofu pudding, and rice porridge.
I guess this kid bought everything he thought was delicious.
Shi Xiaoai asked while eating, "Where's your second brother?"
"He went to pick up someone from their sales department. He said we would go look at houses together after that and would come over in the evening," Kaikai said.
Cheng Lin came here with a mission this time, so naturally there were more than just him.
Their whole family drove here, and the rest of them came by train, so they should have arrived by now.
Xiao Ai has always recognized Cheng Lin's abilities. Since he said he wanted to be busy, she naturally wouldn't interfere too much.
And according to Cheng Lin's personality, once he finds the right one, he probably won't be able to hold back and will come to show off to her immediately.
Shi Xiaoai felt that she could just take a break and go watch it later.
So before that, the whole family was completely idle.
This is Kaikai's first time in this house, and it's very fresh.
While Shi Xiaoai was eating, he couldn't help but start looking around.
Of course, the result of the visit was to run into Mingrui and Mingxi's room and wake them up.
The three children had only not seen each other for one night, but they all behaved like relatives who had not seen each other for decades, and were extremely affectionate.
Mingxi even clung to Kaikai's thighs and kept asking her uncle to hold her, but Shi Xiaoai pulled her down without any hesitation.
After watching the two kids finish their breakfast, the couple decided to take them out for a walk.
Because it’s a little late today and we definitely can’t go somewhere far, the family decided to go to the zoo first.
There is also a small zoo in Yuncheng, but there are very few animals in it.
There was only a monkey mountain, a large bird cage, and a pond with a few pairs of wild ducks and mandarin ducks.
It is said that there is also a fox and a wolf, but Xiao Ai has been there twice and has never seen them.
So when they heard that they were being taken to the zoo to see lions, tigers and pandas, the two children were so excited that they almost went crazy.
When it comes to familiarity with the capital, the couple together are no match for Kaikai alone.
When they arrived at the zoo, he took the initiative to act as a guide and explained things to his two little nephews along the way.
This puts the couple at ease.
The two people followed slowly behind, and soon arrived in front of the panda house.
Looking at the long line that had made countless turns, Cheng Yang took a breath.
After holding it in for a long time, he finally said, "You guys line up first, I'll go buy the tickets."
Shi Xiaoai glanced at the long line and was about to say something, but her eyes were attracted by a row of houses under construction not far away.
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