But when Bai Jiu saw the heated brick beds in the four rooms, she grew even more delighted. Anyone who had slept on a brick bed would probably never want to sleep on a regular one again. In this era without modern spring mattresses, there really wasn’t much difference between a brick bed and a wooden one. But come winter, a heated brick bed was an absolute treasure.
What surprised her even more was that there was a small outbuilding behind the yard. Though small, it was clearly meant for raising poultry. Not only that, but there was also a vegetable patch surrounding it. The vegetables were growing quite well. The previous owners had likely left in a hurry and hadn’t had time to harvest them, leaving crops still bearing fruit on the vines. Vegetables and weeds grew together in a thriving, vibrant mess.
"Mom, I like it here!" Xiuxiu was the first to run out, heading straight for the vegetable patch and picking the crops.
Zhengyang’s smile never faded either. He was much happier now than when they were climbing the stairs to the fourth floor.
"What about you, Zhengyang? Do you like it too?" Bai Jiu treated both children equally. Xiuxiu liked it, but she wanted to make sure he did as well.
"I like it, Mom."
"As long as you like it. From now on, this is our home," Bai Jiu said, standing up and waving at the two of them.
"Yeah, our home!" The two little ones were absolutely thrilled to hear the word "home."
Seeing them so happy made Bai Jiu’s heart ache slightly. Back at the Gao family, they had never felt the warmth of a home. When they stayed with the Bai family, they knew it was their grandparents’ and uncles’ home; they were just tagging along with their mother to visit her maiden family. Young as they were, the children were very sensible. Later on, they felt even less secure at the place they lived in the village, because that wasn’t their home either.
But now, this place was their home.
The handover process was quick. By the time Gao Zhijun returned, all the paperwork had been completed. As long as he continued to work here, this would always be their home. Of course, Bai Jiu was a modern woman with a distinct obsession with real estate. Given her savings, she would definitely buy a house of her own in the future. She wouldn’t feel truly secure until her name was on a property deed.
"The furniture here is pretty complete. How about we move in tonight?" Gao Zhijun asked after returning and taking a tour of the house.
Bai Jiu naturally had no objections. "Sounds good to me." She had been feeling quite uncomfortable staying at the guesthouse. "But we’ll have to go buy some daily necessities tomorrow since our mailed packages haven’t arrived yet."
All their heavy items, like pots and pans, had been shipped over and wouldn’t arrive anytime soon. Although their train ride had only taken four or five days, the shipped goods would take at least half a month.
"I’ll listen to you. You’re the head of this household," Gao Zhijun replied naturally.
Hearing this, Bai Jiu glanced at him and smiled. "Alright."
She wasn’t the type to be overly modest. What woman wouldn’t want to be the master of her own house? She was no exception and couldn’t resist the sweet appeal of the offer.
After bringing their things over, Bai Jiu began unpacking their luggage. There were four rooms in total. Since the two children were still young, they shared one. Originally, she had wanted all four of them to sleep in the same room, but Gao Zhijun wasn’t having it. When it came to things like this, men had a peculiar stubbornness that she was powerless to argue against. However, their father had coaxed the two children perfectly, and they agreed to sleep on their own.
Bai Jiu shot him an eye roll. He was such a scoundrel.
The commotion naturally attracted the attention of their neighbors. Although everyone was still unfamiliar with one another, some kind-hearted folks came over to check on them. Treating them as guests, Bai Jiu warmly welcomed them with a smile. For a while, this actually allowed her to get acquainted with the people living nearby. There were good ones and bad ones, but having been used to village life, there was nothing she couldn’t handle.
"Where are we eating tonight? We don’t have a pot to cook with," Bai Jiu noted. Packing and cleaning had taken them straight into the afternoon, and dinner had to be put on the agenda.
"I’ll go get some food from the cafeteria," Gao Zhijun said helplessly, looking at the empty kitchen.
That night, the family of four slept peacefully. Even Gao Zhijun, who had just gotten a taste of intimacy again, behaved himself and didn’t bother Bai Jiu, simply holding her in his arms as they slept dreamlessly through the night.
The next day, Bai Jiu and Gao Zhijun took the children and hitched a ride on the cafeteria’s procurement truck. They had no other choice; to get to the city center, they had to catch a ride with the cafeteria staff. There were a few other family members of the workers on the truck. They didn’t know each other, and quite a few people stared at their family of four with scrutinizing eyes. Fortunately, the ride wasn’t long. Otherwise, Bai Jiu wouldn’t have been able to stand their unblinking gazes.
Upon arriving in the city, Bai Jiu and Gao Zhijun headed straight for the local Supply and Marketing Cooperative. As expected, it had the most complete selection of daily necessities. She wanted to buy everything in one go without having to run around to different places. A big city was indeed a big city; this cooperative was much larger than any she had seen before. It had five whole floors.
Carefully calculating what they already had, she took out her ration coupons and cash to buy the missing essentials. Meanwhile, Gao Zhijun took the children to pick up some lighter items.
Why didn’t she just pull things out of her secret spatial dimension? Because she didn’t dare risk it in times like this. She had no desire to be dissected for research or burned at the stake.
Since they had to accommodate the cafeteria truck’s schedule, the couple shopped quickly, afraid of missing their ride back. However, upon returning to the compound, they bumped into Chi.
"Mr. Gao, Mrs. Gao, why didn’t you call for me when you went out? Professor Mu knows you’re busy these days, so he told me to accompany you," Chi said. He hadn’t expected them to head out so early. He thought the professor had already informed Mr. Gao, so since it was still early, he had stayed behind to finish some assignments given by Professor Mu. To his surprise, they were already gone by the time he arrived.
"It’s fine. We still haven’t bought everything we need today anyway," Bai Jiu said. She and Gao Zhijun exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes. Neither of them had expected this arrangement, but they were too polite to make an issue of it.
"Exactly. My wife is right. We only bought a few things today. In a couple of days, we’ll need to go to the post office to check if our packages have arrived." Gao Zhijun stepped forward and patted Chi’s shoulder with a smile, not wanting the young man to feel like he had done something wrong.
"By the way, Chi, why don’t you stay for dinner tonight?" Bai Jiu offered. Although she hadn’t bought a proper wok, she had purchased a ceramic pot meant for stewing soup. It could be used for stir-frying as well, though it would be a bit more troublesome. "Oh, Chi, you’re here at the perfect time. Take Gao Zhijun to buy some coal." Bai Jiu took out some coal ration coupons and money, handing them to her husband.
Hearing that there was work to be done, Chi was absolutely delighted. "There’s no need for dinner, Mrs. Gao. I’ll take Mr. Gao to haul the coal right now." He completely forgot that the car he drove was meant for top officials. He didn’t find it the least bit shameful to use it for hauling coal.
Gao Zhijun was left speechless. Looking at Chi was like looking at his younger self—so cautious and eager to please. "There’s no need. The previous owner left a wheelbarrow behind. I’ll just use that to haul it back. You can just lead the way."
Seeing Gao Zhijun take the money and coupons, Bai Jiu didn’t linger any longer. It was about time she started preparing dinner anyway.
Days passed one by one. Previously, when Gao Zhijun wasn’t at the research institute, no one could look for him when issues arose. But now that he was back, he naturally had to step up whenever needed. Sure enough, right after they had just settled into their new home, he was called into work. Bai Jiu merely shrugged, looking completely unbothered. It was actually much easier for her to get things done when he wasn’t around.
"Don’t buy any large items yet. Wait for me to come back and handle it," Gao Zhijun instructed worriedly as he was heading out. "If you’re free these next couple of days, go check on our packages. Even if they’ve arrived, don’t rush to bring them back yourself. Ask Chi to go with you to pick them up."
Having spent these past few days together, he knew she didn’t really need him anymore. The time when she truly needed him had long passed. He felt deeply remorseful about this, but he was powerless to change the past. He could only try to make her rely on him for the little things. At the very least, it would make him feel like he was still of some use to her, giving him a slight sense of peace.
"Go do your work. I know what to do," she replied. She certainly wasn’t going to make things hard on herself. With so many things, she obviously wouldn’t try to carry them all back on her own. Besides, she still had two children in tow. Even if she wanted to carry it all, she wouldn’t be able to.