CHAPTER 326: CHAPTER 325: A HOUSE FOR EVERYONE

"Right, right, right! Stay, let’s have a lively New Year’s celebration together! Dear sister, dear brother, you won’t have much to do once you go back anyway! Just stay and keep Cuihua company!" Bai Xianglan chimed in.

"Yeah! Grandma, Grandpa, why don’t you stay!"

The little ones joined in, trying their best to persuade.

If Wang Cuihua was here, she would definitely be persuading them to stay as well. Even Lin Daliang joined the persuasion team.

"Mom and Dad, since you want to relax and enjoy life, I think you might as well not go back. There are plenty of rooms here for you to stay in. Enjoy the tranquility because you’ve reached retirement age anyway!"

Li Xiuying and her husband were comforted by their son-in-law’s words, knowing that their only son-in-law is quite a good person, except that in the early years he was suppressed by his mother, and Cuihua suffered a lot.

"Retirement? Mom and Dad are not workers, we are farmers. There’s no talk of retirement—if we can still move, we must work! But, you saying this makes Mom and Dad very happy. However, we have rural household registration and can’t live in the city! Besides, after the New Year, you two old folks might get lost when you go back from here!"

Li Xiuying smiled warmly. When people get old, if the younger generations do not despise them, it’s already a great thing. Now, seeing everyone wanting them to stay, they are happy.

"Grandma, Grandpa, don’t worry about that! Haven’t we got our own car now? When the time comes, we’ll drive you back!"

Zhang Yuan also chimed in, surprising Lin Xue for a moment but making her smile as she turned and nodded, "Right! We’ll drive you back!"

In the end, after everyone’s persuasion, the two elderly agreed to stay for the New Year, but the third uncle and his wife had to go back to work and couldn’t stay.

Before they were about to leave, Feng Minghua quietly brought her daughter to Li Xiuying.

"Mom, if you’re staying here for the New Year, why don’t you leave my daughter here too? There’s nothing to do back home during this cold winter! Let her keep you company!" Feng Minghua warmly pushed her daughter towards her grandmother.

"Grandma, I’ll stay here and take good care of you!" Wang Junsheng’s daughter, Wang Xiaomin, obediently stepped forward. She had discussed it with her mom already—if she stayed here, she would eat well, live well, and occasionally go shopping for clothes. But going back was different. During the winter, not only was food unappetizing, but living conditions were also worse.

Here, the bedding was so thick and soft; she didn’t want to go back.

Just as Li Xiuying didn’t know how to respond, Liu Lingling came over with her three kids.

"Mom, there’s nothing to do during the winter, so why not let them stay? Won’t it be perfect to take them back with you after the New Year?" She stepped forward and added, "Mom, don’t worry, I will leave money for the kids!"

"Sister-in-law, why are you everywhere?" Feng Minghua was furious. Leaving behind four kids, surely the elderly wouldn’t agree.

With so many kids, even if there was no lack of space, the elder brother’s house had two boys who ate a lot, and even if the sister-in-law wasn’t bothered, the mother-in-law wouldn’t dare to have them stay.

"Sister-in-law, I’m just learning from you, aren’t I? Why? Your children are Grandma’s grandchildren, but mine aren’t? It’s all the same; if yours can stay, why can’t mine?" Liu Lingling had long been on bad terms with her, and felt no pressure to argue.

"Everyone shut up! Take the kids home with you! Nobody’s staying! I can’t keep an eye on them! In this big city, what if something happens if they run outside? Take them all back!" Li Xiuying waved her hand, sighed, turned around and went back into the house, not coming back out.

Liu Lingling turned and exchanged a look with Niu Yingying, both of them smiling.

See? Humph, the sneaky plan didn’t work out, did it?

Wang Xiaofang still had to help Niu Yingying with the children when going back, so how could she stay? This was something that both Liu Lingling and Niu Yingying had calculated on.

After everyone was sent off, Lin Xue and Zhang Yuan went home to catch up on sleep during the daytime.

They were really exhausted. They’ve been busy over the nights for the past few days, lacking sleep.

They slept straight through to dinnertime before waking up, intending to go next door to have a meal. Opening the door, they saw a bicycle at the entrance.

"Whose is this?" Lin Xue asked in confusion.

"It should be Mr. Liu’s! Only he knows the address; I haven’t told anyone else!" Zhang Yuan guessed, "He might have gone next door!"

"Mr. Liu? Who is he? What does he do?" Lin Xue asked further.

"He’s from the Housing Administration; Xiao Yu arranged to buy this house through him." Zhang Yuan took Lin Xue’s hand and walked next door.

"What’s his name?" Lin Xue casually asked, following Zhang Yuan’s steps.

"Mr. Liu!" Zhang Yuan replied.

"Oh, you don’t know his name either?" Lin Xue responded.

"His surname is Liu, first name Tongzhi, Mr. Liu!" Zhang Yuan laughed and explained.

Lin Xue was stunned for a moment, then stopped and laughed for a while, "That’s quite a fitting name."

As soon as they walked into the courtyard next door, Little Chuan ran over, "Big Sister, Brother-in-law! Where have you been? Someone was looking for you, knocked on the door for a while, and nobody answered, we could even hear them here, brought them over! Hurry and see, someone’s looking for you in the living room!"

"Alright, got it, just carry on with what you were doing!" Lin Xue was a bit embarrassed, sleeping during the day and not hearing the door knock was indeed awkward.

As they walked in, they indeed saw Mr. Liu, sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.

"Uncle Liu! You came looking for me for something?" Zhang Yuan spoke up first, then walked over to sit down, not forgetting to get his wife to sit next to him.

Mr. Liu looked up from the newspaper, "Xiao Zhang, you two are back? Uncle Liu’s been waiting for you a while! It’s like this, I’m here to ask for your help!" Mr. Liu quickly straightened up and said.

"What help? Is there anything I can assist with?" Zhang Yuan modestly responded.

"Here’s the situation: Uncle Liu has a few sets of houses, all in this courtyard area. The higher-ups have some new requirements, and now that more and more high-rise buildings are being built, there are more hutongs for sale! If you have any connections, help spread the word for Uncle Liu! After all, not many people can afford such expensive houses!" Mr. Liu said as he took out a cigarette to offer.

"I don’t smoke! Uncle Liu, are you saying you want me to help sell houses?" Zhang Yuan asked, looking at his wife. His eyes asked if she was interested.

Lin Xue nodded, and then Zhang Yuan spoke, "Perfect, my wife is thinking of buying one too. How are the conditions of the courtyard houses you have?"

Hearing this, Mr. Liu immediately stood up, "You want to buy? You really should consider these. I’ve got four courtyard houses in good condition, all similar in size to yours, and they’re well maintained, pretty new. Plus, the key is that they’re close by! It’s great for family and friends to live together!"

As Mr. Liu started talking about the houses, he became quite chatty.

Lin Xue and Zhang Yuan exchanged a glance and nodded.